Sunday
My dear Francis.
I have read Carmichael2 through. It is short, and this is its best recommendation. I only wish the magazine were in a position to deal as sparingly as it wished in such communications. There is Adamson spinning his yarn further in the last number3 and promising to continue it. All these matters may be interesting in themselves but the Phil. Mag. is not their arena. Chowne I have also read,4 and cannot recommend its publication in the magazine – such a thing would be best published as a detached work, and then the magazine if [I] saw anything in it might communicate such in the form of a review. From the abstract it is hard to form an idea of even the nature of the results – here and there an expression occurs which suggests a doubt as to the scientific qualifications of the writer. At all events I am afraid your readers would derive but little satisfaction from the perusal of the article
If you have any more papers don’t hesitate to send them to me.
ever yours sincerely | John Tyndall
I will send you the ticket.5 Does Daubeny mention the geysers in his work?6 have you a [dirty] copy that you could permit me to look into?
I hope I shall soon have the pleasure of seeing Mr Taylor.7
StBPL T&F Author letters
[15 May 1853]: as this letter was written on a ‘Sunday’ and appears to precede letter 0761, a likely date is 15 May.
I have read Carmichael: refers to Robert Bell Booth Carmichael (1823–61), Irish mathematician and Fellow of Trinity College, Dublin. The manuscript is not identified.
Adamson … last number: not identified.
Chowne … read: although the paper is not identified, W. D. Chowne M.D. (n.d.) had conducted research on the movement of atmospheric air in tubes in 1847 and again in 1853, as outlined in a paper received by the Royal Society on 14 June 1855 (‘Experimental Researches on the Movement of Atmospheric Air in Tubes’, Roy. Soc. Proc., vol. 7, pp. 466–475).
the ticket: possibly admission to Tyndall’s lecture on 21 May at the RI, although it is unclear if Francis attended, as Tyndall mentioned in letter 0761 that he did not see him while in London.
his work: this is most likely in reference to C. Daubeny, Sketch of the Geology of North America Being the Substance of a Memoir Read Before the Ashmolean Society Nov. 26, 1853 (Oxford: T. Combe, 1839). (See also letter 0761, n. 5.)
Mr Taylor: Richard Taylor.
Please cite as “Tyndall0760,” in Ɛpsilon: The John Tyndall Collection accessed on