Queenwood | 5th June, 1853
My Dear Dr. Jones,
I have to acknowledge the receipt of your note2 of the 28th of May,3 stating that in consequence of the recommendation of Professor Faraday, the Managers of the Royal Institution were desirous of proposing me for election as Professor of Natural Philosophy in the Institution.
I will not dwell upon the gratification which this proof of the confidence of the Managers; and more especially of him4 whom I have long regarded as my chieftain and exemplar in scientific matters, has afforded me. – but will proceed at once to state as clearly and as briefly as I can, the reflections which your communication has suggested
On one point in the Bye Laws to which you have drawn my attention5 I would beg to make a remark. It is stated to be one of the duties of the Professors, ‘to superintend all experiments ordered by the Committee of Managers.’ Now mind has its affinities as well as matter, and upon them the successful progress of scientific investigation must in a great measure depend. These affinities are not always under the control of the investigator himself, and much less under external direction. The poems of our Laureates which are destined for immortality, are rarely those which are made to order – – their spontaneous utterance is best; and I think freedom of choice ought, if possible, to be granted to the man of science. It would, I think, paralyze his best force to have his field of enquiry determined for him before hand. To be brief: – I would undertake to give a Lecture every week during the season – 19 in all – but beyond this I trust the Managers will grant me freedom of action.
On Thursday afternoon you mentioned to me a subject which I think may with propriety be introduced here. What you then said, and what I have learned from other quarters, make it very probable that a Professorship at the Museum of Practical Geology6 will be offered to me. I have been swayed variously by this communication. – but to one simple principle I have remained fixed, and that is to act in an upright honourable manner towards the Royal Institution; not merely in a manner which I might deem upright; but in a manner which the men who have given me such proofs of their kindness and confidence would deem so. My determination throughout has been to adhere to that rule of action, which Professor Faraday might consider right, – not grudgingly or of necessity, but cheerfully and dutifully. – From this resolve I have never for an instant swerved, nor shall I. – no matter how tempting my prospects may appear in other quarters. – This premised, let me express my feelings here.
The Museum of Practical Geology has many attractions. It is a Government Institution. It has high hopes and aims; and is probably the herald of a new state of things in England. If it could be arranged I would gladly connect myself with it; but if not, I am content. I have the utmost confidence that the Managers of the Royal Institution will demand nothing of me but what they have a right to demand; and by their decision, whatever that may be, I will cheerfully abide.
Believe me ever most truly yours, | John Tyndall
Minutes of the Managers’ Meeting, RI MS AD/02/B/02/A/11/17–18
RI MS JT2/13b/606–7
Clerk’s Handwriting and LT Typescript Only
Henry Bence Jones: there are two versions of this letter: the above transcript from the RI’s Minutes of the Managers’ Meeting, and a typescript from Tyndall’s journal entry of 26 May. The Managers’ Minutes have been followed here, as the journal copy is, as the entry states, ‘considerably different’. While the content is roughly the same, in the journal entry Tyndall wondered if it would be possible ‘to have a nook [of the laboratory] partitioned off for me where I might quietly work whenever the laboratory’ was otherwise in use. Moreover, in the final paragraph of the draft letter he also mentioned some concern about the fact that there were ‘two classes’ of people that attend RI lectures, namely men of science and the general public. Because of this Tyndall admitted that ‘I am sometimes haunted by the fear that if I go deeply into a subject I shall not be understood by some while if I treat it popularly others may deem me superficial. When weak in health as I was yesterday for example this difficulty hampers me and almost deprives me of the power of utterance’ (26 May, JT/2/13b/606–7).
your note: see letter 0762.
28th of May: this is either a transcription error or Tyndall misread ‘28’ when the letter was actually dated ‘23’. The letter could not have been dated 28 May because Tyndall noted that he received it the ‘previous day’ in his journal entry for 26 May and had transcribed an approximate copy of his own response; see n. 1.
him: Faraday.
Bye Laws … attention: see letter 0762, n. 2.
Museum of Practical Geology: See letter 0764, n. 6.
Please cite as “Tyndall0765,” in Ɛpsilon: The John Tyndall Collection accessed on