My dear Tom.
I think it better to send this2 to you than to return it direct to Lordon3 as if you do not agree with the few changes I have made you may strike them out. Do you think that the statement in the second paragraph ‘In the material universe &c’ will not be miscomprehended – are not the planetary motions examples of that persistency to which you deny an existence. If you limit your statement to this world it is perfectly true. and in your sense which is somewhat latent it is true of the planets – also for they may be looked as incessant labourers.* You use too many commas. What would you think of striking out the bit between the braces in page 4 – The two ‘its’ coming together but referring evidently to two different things is a construction which ought to be avoided as much as possible. You will I think see the justice of the small correction in page 5 – ‘more general properties &c’ would imply that you had been speaking of properties whereas you have been speaking of Kingdoms. – The word conformed4 refers almost exclusive to a chemical combination. an electric spark is not necessary you know – any spark will do.
I like the lecture exceedingly. Its suitability for the occasion appears to me as perfect as could be desired. Edmondson has shewn much wisdom in having it published and would have shewn more had he seen the wisdom of this without being prompted to it.
If you have that £20 beside you I wish you would send it to me.
ever yours | John
* you mean to say perhaps that there is no such thing as rest. this is universally true.5
RI MS JT/1/T/926
RI MS JT/1/HTYP/272
[12 or 13 October 1853]: LT dated this letter to either 12 or 13 October. On 12 October, Tyndall mentioned correcting a portion of Hirst’s lecture, making it likely that he also wrote the letter on this date (Journal, JT/2/13b/627).
this: the first part of Hirst’s introductory lecture at Queenwood (see letter 0794, n. 3), which he was working on for publication. The entire lecture would be published as Introductory Lecture to the Course on Natural Philosophy: At Queenwood College, Hampshire (Romsey: C. L. Lordan, 1853).
Lordon: Christopher Legge Lordan, a publisher and writer located in Romsey, England. It was Lordan who sent Tyndall the first part of Hirst’s lecture (Journal, 12 October, JT/2/13b/627).
conformed: in chemistry, conformation refers to ‘Each of the different three-dimensional structures that may be adopted by a particular molecule and can interconvert freely, esp. by rotations about single bonds’ (OED).
no such thing as rest … universally true: while it is unclear to what exactly Tyndall is referring, it may refer to William Thomson’s assertion that all particles are in vibratory motion (W. Thomson, ‘On the Dynamical Theory of Heat, with numerical results deduced from Mr. Joule’s equivalent of a Thermal Unit, and M. Regnault’s Observations on Steam’, Phil. Mag. 22 [1852], pp. 8–21). Alternatively, it may be an evocation of Leibniz’s view that there is no absolute motion, contrasting Newton’s view of space implying that there can be absolute motion.
Please cite as “Tyndall0808,” in Ɛpsilon: The John Tyndall Collection accessed on