London. | 17th April 1854.
Dear Professor Riess,
I received your note1 this morning and shall feel the greatest pleasure in complying with your desire. I translated a letter from Dr. Clausius2 upon the same subject which was published in the Magazine3 of last month. It is certainly very unpleasant to be compelled to claim your undoubted right in this manner, but your note will be of service and will teach some of our scientific men not to be hasty in assigning the credit of a discovery concerning which they have not given themselves the trouble of acquiring accurate information. I may truly say that it will always give me pleasure to see the honour of a discovery secured to him who deserves it, and I trust the Philosophical Magazine will be ever ready to open its columns to the claims of justice. Might I beg of you to present my kind remembrance to Mrs. Riess4 and to your family.
Believe me | most sincerely yours | John Tyndall.
You would oblige me by sending the accompanying note5 to Prof. Magnus.
Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin (Stabi) Slg Darmstaedter 1855 Tyndall Be. 1–58, 42–3
your note: letter 0920.
a letter from Dr. Clausius: R. Clausius, ‘On the Heat Produced by an Electric Discharge’, Phil. Mag. 7:45 (April 1854), p. 297.
the Magazine: the Phil. Mag.
Mrs. Riess: Fanny Riess (née Güterbock) (1810–89), the daughter of the merchant Levin Isaac Güterbock (1745–1815), married Peter Riess in 1835. They had three children, including daughter Rebecca Riess (1836–1924), who married the physicist Georg Quincke (1834–1924).
accompanying note: letter missing.
Please cite as “Tyndall0922,” in Ɛpsilon: The John Tyndall Collection accessed on