From Thomas Archer Hirst   Sunday¹

Hotel Corneille, | Rue Corneille, | Paris, | Whit Sunday,²

My dear John,

Thy letter, or rather Bence Jones’s,³ pleased me very much. Thy prayer for strength to keep thyself humble is not unnecessary, for thy prosperity and the brilliant prospect before thee are sufficient to upset any resolution a whit weaker than thine. Nevertheless to me it causes no surprise, it seems to be but the natural order of things. I did actually prophecy it and that four years ago. It was in Perkinton’s⁴ back snuggery.⁵ Tom himself, and Jemmy Craven were present, the room was full of smoke, we were talking about you. Tom called you a ‘damned fool’ and me another because I was going to follow in your foolish footsteps. I got earnest in my enthusiasm and offered to wager any amount that before 6 years were past we should see you acknowledged amongst the first men of your profession. Tom said you would be acknowledged as one of the greatest fools of the day, but at bottom he did not think so for he did not accept my wager. If he had, you see, he would have lost. I shall wait anxiously for their decision next fortnight, don’t neglect to send me word.

We are quite settled here now,⁶ we hear some splendid lectures at the College de France and Sorbonne – Chiefly mathematical of course. Lamé⁷ on the mathematical theory of heat, an exceedingly able series of lectures of which I hope to make some use. I have a little project in view with respect to your investigation on the conductive power of wood, of which we will talk some time. Then Liouville⁸ on Differential Equations, very elaborate but which I do not yet thoroughly understand. Then again Bertrand⁹ on Analytical Mechanics, also of the very highest class. I hear also Dessain¹⁰ on Physics (Light), very interesting but rather popular, the experiments please me best, they are excellent and on a grand scale. Regnault’s lectures unfortunately are at the same time as Lamé’s, so that I have not heard him yet. I shall do so however before I leave. Come and see us by all means in June if possible. I have to-day called on Verdet Professeur de Physique a l’Ecole Normale, Du Bois¹¹ introduced me to him, apparently a decent fellow. Has he done anything? We were speaking of you and Plücker. He is a thorough partisan of yours and impeaches Plücker with unfairness. I left two boxes of books etc. in Berlin to be forwarded to England, I want you to tell me two things: 1^st Whether I can order them to be sent direct to Queenwood, or whether it is requisite that I should be present in London to allow the Custom House officer to examine them. 2^nd; If the latter be the case where must I order them to be left in London until I come.

I want you to order the back numbers of the Cambridge and Dublin Journal¹² for me, and to get them to Queenwood. Are the Scientific Memoirs¹³ published? Is Magnus’s paper therein? If so send him a few separate copies. Did my translation¹⁴ of Wiedemann’s paper arrive in time?

An interesting letter or two has passed between me and Phillips which I will show you when you come. A week ago I wrote to him for the first time since seeing him in England and spoke rather plainly to him. The letter touched him rather sorely, so that to-day I have had an answer of four pages (!!) extraordinarily long for January,¹⁵ and very characteristic. I have only room to give you here his concluding words. ‘And now, good-bye, old Praise God Bare Bones! Old Puritan Long Shanks!¹⁶ Old Roundhead!¹⁷ Old Pharisee!¹⁸ Old friend! and believe me most | Affectionately yours, | Geo. Phillips.’

Tell Debus that his letter has been forwarded to me here and received. I learn from it that the Sirene¹⁹ arrived safely. Has your lecture on the Geysers²⁰ come off yet? It is a new subject for you. How did you come at it?

Yours affectionately, | T. A. Hirst.

RI MS JT/1/HTYP/241–242

LT Typescript Only