Hanse House | Richmond Grove | Feb. 19/54
My dear Wat1
I am heartily glad to find you bubbling up again in that semicircular fountain of eloquence behind the R. I. lecture table, for I really had begun to think that you were gone spark out.
I have read your abstract2 with much interest & think you have clearly demonstrated your point but do you think that the two solids ever come in contact at all, does not the rocker rather vibrate in free air, being repelled from the heated point below it and again falling back as the heat is abstracted from that point. I have not expressed myself very clearly but you know what I mean.
You are a decent fellow for providing 2 beds & if I come to London alone I shall certainly avail myself of your kind invitation; it is however my present intention to bring with me my sister-in-law Miss Fick3 & therefore unless you turn Benedict4 in the mean time I cannot have the pleasure of staying with you. My Sister-in-law whom we have expected since Friday comes to England with Frl.5 Ballin.6 A propos, I understand that this latter pretty little girl is an importation of yours, ostensibly to make a Governess of her, but in reality I know not what!
I was in London on the 1st, 2nd, 3rd & 4th of Jan. last & intended seeing you at the Royal Inst. on the latter day but it being the snow blockade I could get no cab and was obliged to make the best of my way from Waterloo7 to Euston Station8 with my luggage on my back. Had I known what was to follow I would quietly have taken up my quarters with you for 2 days as I had the pleasure of spending that night in a snowdrift between Birmingham & Stafford9 & the 2 following days in Birmingham.
Thank you Mrs F10 is quite well and desires to be very especially remembered to you. The little dot11 is also thriving famously & will soon loose its title of ‘baby’.
Will you not take a run down to Manchester at Easter or at all events in June when we shall be delighted to see you.
very sincerely yours | E. Frankland
RI MS JT/1/F/41
Wat: Wat Ripton, one of Tyndall’s most common pseudonyms, under which he published a number of articles, poems, and translations (see, especially, Volume 1).
your abstract: J. Tyndall, ‘On the Vibrations and Tones produced by the contact of bodies having different Temperatures’, Roy. Soc. Proc., vol. 6, pp. 392–3. See also letter 0876, n. 14.
my sister-in-law Miss Fick: sister of Sophie Frankland (see n. 11). Not further identified.
Benedict: a man newly married, especially one who initially appeared to be a confirmed bachelor (OED).
Frl.: abbreviation of fraulein, German ‘miss’.
Ballin: see letter 0880, n. 6.
Waterloo: Waterloo Station (see letter 0705, n. 2).
Euston Station: a train station in London, England located north of the Thames River.
Stafford: a town in the West Midlands, England.
Mrs F: Sophie C. Frankland, née Fick (1821–74). Edward Frankland and Sophie Fick first met in Marburg in 1847 and married in 1851.
The little dot: Margaret Nannie Frankland (1853–1941), the first child of Edward and Sophie Frankland (Russell, Edward Frankland, p. 344).
Please cite as “Tyndall0885,” in Ɛpsilon: The John Tyndall Collection accessed on