Dear Prof. Forbes,
Your letter1 has set me pondering, and as is usual with me under such circumstances, a stable resolution has been preceded by sundry oscillatory movements which must first swing themselves out before any thing definite can be said. This is the cause of my not replying sooner to the query at the end of your letter.2
The more I thought upon your statement the more clearly did one great obstacle arise before me. I was not frightened by the number of lectures, for this is so near what I should be willing to undertake that I hardly think a serious difficulty could arise here. But it is the other points you mention which, though apparently of minor importance, reveal to me the difficulty which lie in the way of an arrangement. Were I free I do not know a position which I should prefer to one at Jermyn Street;3 nor, if I except Faraday, do I know a man in England at whose side I should work with greater goodwill than at your own. But I have plighted my faith to the Royal Institution, and I am sure it would not exalt me in your estimation if I showed a willingness to enter into other engagements, the direct tendency of which must be to weaken my fealty. I know my liability to be grappled by subjects which interest me, and I could not meddle in the discussion of questions bearing upon the general interests of the School of Science4 without giving myself up wholly to them. My being a member of your Council5 would have this result, and hence it is that I could not conscientiously accept this otherwise enviable position.
I know that you will not misunderstand me here, and I trust your colleagues will accept the assurance that were I not held back by other engagements I should feel a pride in working along with them with all my strength towards the noble future which I trust awaits the School of Science. But my duty is distinct, beyond lecturing I cannot go. My wedded spouse is at Albermarle Street and if I go elsewhere it must be as a visitor.
Believe me | ever yours sincerely | John Tyndall
RI MS JT/2/13b/652
LT Typescript Only
Your letter: see letter 0861.
the query at the end of your letter: after outlining the requirements of the lectureship at the Government School of Mines Forbes asked, ‘What think you?’ (see letter 0861).
one at Jermyn Street: Tyndall was offered a position as lecturer at the Government School of Mines (see letters 0824, n.1 and 0827, n. 19).
the School of Science: the Government School of Mines (see n. 2).
your Council: see letter 0861, n. 6.
Please cite as “Tyndall0863,” in Ɛpsilon: The John Tyndall Collection accessed on