Berlin 21st Aug. 1853
Dear Dr. Clausius
I am very much obliged to you for your kind, prompt and useful letter.1 I am not without a hope that the instrument2 may be so modified as to come very near to the conditions you mention, however my present object is simply to detect qualitative differences and when I come to quantitative matters I hope to be able either to change it or to invent something else. Helmholtz was here sometime ago we had a pleasant walk together through Zoological Garden.3 I wish you had been here as I would very much like to hear you converse together über die Erhaltung der Kraft4 I think he seems inclined to adopt Thomson’s notion with regard to heat developed by friction when steam rushes out of a high pressure boiler.5 You and Rankine6 have found that if steam be permitted to exhaust a portion will be precipitated.7 Helmholtz seems to think the heat developed by friction sufficient to prevent this precipitation and thus keep the steam dry.8 He does not see exactly how you can make out a loss of heat here, as stated in your paper.9 He also if I understand him aright thinks that it is not die Bewegungs große welche constant bleibt während die Lebendigekraft sich ändert sondern umgekehrt.10 I wished very much that you were here as I know I should have derived great profit from listening to you converse on the subject.
Tomorrow I leave Berlin my purpose making a foot journey through the Harz.11 This is necessary for my health which is not at all so strong as I should like it to be.12 In about a week I hope to be at Marburg and I proceed thence to Paris. Magnus is already there. Indeed his being there has caused me to leave Berlin sooner than I otherwise should have done. He knows all the instrument makers &c. and it will therefore be pleasant to be there along with him.
I shall always be very glad to hear from you whenever you can spare time to favour me with a letter.
Believe me | most sincerely yours | John Tyndall
RI MS JT/1/T/170
your kind … useful letter: letter missing.
the instrument: not identified.
Zoological Garden: the Berlin Zoological Garden, first opened in 1844 and located in the Tiergarten.
über die Erhaltung der Kraft: German, ‘on the conservation of force’. Also the title of Helmoltz’s Über die Erhaltung der Kraft: eine physikalische Abhandlung, vorgetragen in der Sitzung der physikalischen Gesellschaft zu Berlin am 23sten Juli 1847 (Berlin: Druck und Verlag von G. Reimer, 1847).
Thomson’s notion … high pressure boiler: see W. Thomson, ‘On a remarkable property of Steam connected with the Theory of the Steam-Engine’, Phil. Mag. 37:251 (November 1850), pp. 386–9. In this letter originally written to James P. Joule (1818–89), Thomson claimed that steam passing through a high-pressure boiler heats up through friction, thus supporting Joule’s mechanical theory of heat. Tyndall had an interest in steam boilers, as seen in his discussion in March and April 1854 with Robert Bunsen (see letter 0751, n. 5).
Rankine: William John Macquorn Rankine (1846–1922), a Scottish physicist and civil engineer notable for his work on thermodynamics, who was elected to the Royal Society of London in June 1853.
You and Rankine … be precipitated: see R. Clausius, ‘On the Moving Force of Heat, and the Laws regarding the Nature of Heat itself which are deducible therefrom’, Phil. Mag. 2:8 (July 1851), pp. 1–21; and W. Rankine, ‘On the Mechanical Action of Heat, especially in Gases and Vapours’, Trans. Roy. Soc. Edin. 20:1 (1853), pp. 147–90. This lecture was given in 1850, but was not published until 1853.
Helmholtz … steam dry: not identified.
your paper: see R. Clausius, ‘On the Deportment of Vapour during its Expansion under different circumstances’, Phil. Mag. 1:5 (May 1851), pp. 398–405.
die Bewegungs große … sondern umgekehrt: German, ‘the momentum which remains constant while the kinetic energy changes but rather the other way round’.
the Harz: the Harz Mountains (see letter 0795, n. 1).
my health … to be: Tyndall was experiencing poor health, and recently had nervous attacks (see letter 0800).
Please cite as “Tyndall0801,” in Ɛpsilon: The John Tyndall Collection accessed on