Sunday
My dear Francis
I am rejoiced to learn that you have got over your difficulties2 successfully. I wish you were here, the sun is aloft and Debus and myself are going to have a ramble3 – I wish you were along with us. The country is splendid. The corn-crops [1 word illeg] velvet, the trees sprouting and the birds singing – God knows I want a few hours rest. The lining of my scull is creeping and simmering, but the fresh air will set me all right again. I am working hard at my lectures.4 Thank you for the bit of intelligence from Sabine.5 The circular6 will do admirably. I think your remarks regarding the stamps &c are quite to the point – Let it be addressed to you. Hirst is in Paris. I had a note from him this morning7 – he will probably come to fill my place here.8 – On second thought I would not put stamps on the circulars. The man who would let this be an obstacle is not worth hearing from. But you will be the best judge yourself. I have just got a splendid work on the Beugungs Erscheinungen9 by Schwerd. though published in 1835 I believe it is not yet known in England. It would be admirable for the Scien. Mem.10 were it not so large – it contains about 160 pages small quarto, and a number of plates. It would be well if one of us would write to Challis11 or Baden Powell and ask him whether the work or any portion of it has appeared in English – I think not.
ever yours truly | John Tyndall
RDS 27/31
[29 May or 5 June 1853]: this letter was probably written on 29 May as it was written on a ‘Sunday’ and refers to lectures that Tyndall was working on (see n. 4). Moreover, Hirst mentioned in his journal entry of 29 May that ‘It is now certain that in August I shall commence my life as Tutor there [Queenwood]’ (Hirst, ‘Journals’, 29 May 1853), which suggests that he and Tyndall were corresponding about this around that time (see n. 8).
your difficulties: not identified.
a ramble: a recreational walk or wander without a definite route (OED).
my lectures: presumably his ‘Air and Water’ lectures, the final two of which were delivered on 4 and 11 June (see letter 0717).
intelligence from Sabine: not identified.
The circular: not identified.
a note from him this morning: letter missing.
fill my place here: Tyndall had previously suggested that Hirst could be his replacement at Queenwood College (see letter 0746, n. 8).
Beugungs Erscheinungen: Schwerd’s Die Beugungserscheinungen aus den Fundamentalgesetzen der Undulationstheorie analytisch entwickelt und in Bildern daegestellt, (Mannheim: Schwan und Goetz, 1835) was a treatise on diffraction and wave theory.
Scien. Mem.: see letter 0698, n. 8.
Challis: James Challis (1803–82), English physicist and astronomer who was a supporter of the wave theory of light.
Please cite as “Tyndall0763,” in Ɛpsilon: The John Tyndall Collection accessed on