Dr John Tyndall | Queenwood college | near Stockbridge | Hampshire | England
with a little | box in black | under the same | address. | containing crystals | 24 Thaler Worth. | franco.1
Marburg April 16th 1853
My dearest friend.
I have just received the crystals from Mr Albert2 and I am very happy to be able to send them to you in time before the 1st of May.
It has not been my fault that you must wait such a long time I have requested very often but always in vain. I hope you will be satisfied with them, though you will find them a little expensive.
I copy Mr Albert’s bill:
1 cube of brasilian topaz3 6fl. 30 x
1 ——— green turmaline4 5 30
1 ——— white fluate of lime5 4 30
1 ——— beryl6 6 30
1 ——— dichroite7 4
1 ——— brown rock crystal8 4
1 ——— amethyst9 5 30
1 ——— arragonite10 4 30
41fl. = 23 Thaler 13 [Sgr.]11
I shall send the original with the money to Mr Albert, to get the bill „quittirt“12 and then shall send it to Mr Hirst according to your wish in your letter.13
I beg you, to give me notice whether the crystals have reached you in time. I am in a great hurry to send them immediately to the post-office. Do you wish still other crystals or instruments from Germany? I shall always be very happy to render you any service in my power.
I have marked the optical axes14 on the cubes. – My serene15 costs 25 Thaler. – The whole series of pipes, bellows etc (inside the serene) costs 100 Thaler, but this series is only the chief part; a more complete one (such as my own for instance) will cost about 115 Thaler.
I am very glad to hear of your great success, and that you have given up the Toronto- and Sidney-affair.16
I am just returned from Berlin where I have engaged myself for a professorship in Halle (the „ordinariat“,17 1200 Thaler a year, 200 for instrument, and the directory of the public cabinet18). So I shall leave my good Marburg as you did, my Dear friend, and the little room, where we have worked together and which I leave with „Wehmuth“.19 – I shall read the last time in Marburg this summer.20
Pray, keep me your friendship and don’t forget me, when your thoughts coming over to our lovely Marburg don’t find me more in your working room. I hope we shall see each other again.
Can you perhaps send my a copy of my memoir21 on the different transmissive power of crystals in different directions? I have not yet seen the translation in the scientific Memoirs.
Mrs Knoblauch sends her kind regards22 to the friend of her husband and wishes to have soon the opportunity (to make)23 his acquaintance.
You must try to get married also! You will find it much better than to remain alone.
Excuse my bad letter with my great hurry. It is the last moment to send it off. Wishing you every success in your experiments
I am | most faithfully yours | Hermann Knoblauch.
Marburg Apr. 17th. I am very angry, that they have sent back my letter and the crystalls. They tell me that letter and box must be separated, and the letter sent with a French adress. So I do now.
I add a notice. You are asking in your letter,24 from whom you can get the sticks for longitudinal vibrations.
You can get these as well as all acustic instruments for the purpose of lectures, experiments etc in Berlin from a man, whom I can fully recommend as a „gewißenhafter und sorgfältiger Arbeiter“.25
Ferdinand Lange, Orgelbauer, Instrumentenmacher und academischer Künstler26 in Berlin.
My acustic apparatus, bellows, pipes, sticks, plates, discs, bells etc are all from him
As you know them, you are able to judge yourself;
RI MS JT/1/K/19
Dr Tyndall … franco: the address and note regarding the contents of an accompanying box appeared on the back of the letter along with the wax seal.
crystals from Mr Albert: Tyndall first ordered the crystals in June or July of 1852 (see letters 0698, n. 3 and 0743, n. 4). Tyndall noted receiving the crystals in his journal on 26 April (JT/2/13b/403–4). Albert is Johann Wilhelm Albert of Frankfurt, who dealt in optical and physical objects (Central-Organ für den deutschen Handelsstand [ed.], Sammlung der Deutschen Handels-Register, vol. 1 [Köln: M. DuMont-Schauberg, 1862], p. 41) (see letter 0651, n. 5).
brasilian topaz: a deep yellow colored topaz gemstone.
green tourmaline: tourmalines are semiprecious stones found in shades of red, green, blue, and brown.
white fluate of lime: a phosphorescent, brittle crystal that can be produced by passing fluoric acid through limewater; it can also be found in veins in sandstone, limestone, and slate.
beryl: a mineral crystal, clear in its purest form, coloured blue, yellow, red, white, and green by impurities. The green form is commonly known as emerald.
dichroite: a synonym of the gem corderite or iolite, dichroite is glass-like in appearance, while often found in shades of blue or yellowish-grey. The term ‘dichroite’ means ‘two-colored rock’.
brown rock crystal: brown rock crystal refers to brown quartz.
amethyst: a purple variety of quartz.
arragonite: a naturally occurring carbonate mineral formed through biological and physical processes, often in aqueous environments. Corals and stalactites are forms of aragonite.
23 Thaler: at an exchange rate of 52 guldens/pound of silver, 41 guldens = .79 pounds of silver.
quittirt: German term for ‘receipted’.
your letter: letter missing.
optical axes: the optical axis refers to the direction which when light is transmitted along it, the internal structure is such that the light will pass through without being refracted. Crystals are classified as either having one (uniaxial) or two (biaxial) optical axes.
serene: misspelling of siren (see letter 0733, n. 8).
the Toronto- and Sidney-affair: Tyndall had hoped to receive a position in either Toronto or Sydney (see letter 0728, n. 2).
ordinariat: more correctly, ‘Ordinariate’; German for ‘full professorship’, i.e., one with a chair.
public cabinet: public museum.
Wehmuth: German for ‘sorrow’.
I shall … summer: this note appeared in the left-hand margin.
my memoir: Knoblauch’s article in the Scientific Memoirs that Tyndall was working on (see letter 0698, n. 8): ‘On the Dependence of Radiant Heat in its passage through Crystals upon the direction of transmission’, in Tyndall and Francis (eds.), Scientif. Mem., pp. 99–113.
Mrs Knoblauch sends her kind regards: this sentence (with the exception of the added correction ‘of making’) is written in another hand, probably Knoblauch’s wife.
(to make): ‘of making’ is written above ‘(to make)’.
your letter: letter missing.
gewißenhafter und sorgfältiger Arbeiter: German for ‘conscientious and meticulous worker’.
Orgelbauer, Instrumentenmacher und academischer Künstler: German for ‘organ builder, instrument maker, and academic artist’.
Please cite as “Tyndall0748,” in Ɛpsilon: The John Tyndall Collection accessed on