Queenwood College. | April 30th 1854
My dear John.
On looking at Wertheims paper1 of which I am to give a report in the next Phil. Mag.2 I find that before I can well understand it I shall have to make myself conversant with a good deal of optics, especially of the portion which has reference to the Polarization of Light. This will involve considerable labour which I am very willing to give though it interferes very much with a Mathematical investigation I had in hand, for I find that I must put the latter aside in order to give this report and prepare my lectures on Acoustics,3 which will commence immediately. I mention this because you asked me to finish your translation of Kohlrausch’s paper4 and I cannot promise to do both before the end of the month. Wertheim alludes to an apparatus of Ruhmkorff’s5 connected with the Polarization of Light and having two electro-magnetic coils. Can you tell me in what this instrument consists and for what purpose it is used. It must be somewhat similar to that which shews Faradays experiment on the solution of Sugar.6
More new boys have come since Easter, we have now 95 or 96, only 4 short of our maximum! From Mr Iliff I learnt that Mr Mummery has given Mr Edmondson notice7 that he will leave at Midsummer. How this has been brought about I do not know. Mr Iliff thinks of leaving also. Why I cannot exactly tell but I suspect it is because of Mr E’s treatment. Iliff is a shrewd, good fellow and was not long before he discovered what our principal was. He says that from Mr E’s professions and from the Prospectus (!)8 he was induced to think that Queenwood was quite a model school and he finds it quite the contrary He expected to learn something and says he is disappointed, so that he thinks he might as well be working for his father as for Mr Edmondson. Indeed, said he, there is no satisfaction whatever in working for the latter gentleman. I replied that he was quite right, that Queenwood was no place for anyone who did not find satisfaction enough in working for the lads and not for the principal. ‘But I can do that at home’ said he. ‘Most assuredly,’ I replied, ‘you can and in your place I should do so. You came to Queenwood expecting to find in Mr Edmondson a man with whom you could work well & thus see your own principles carried out into practice. In this sense of course you will be disappointed. But I do not think that your time at Queenwood will be without profit. You came to learn how a school should be conducted, you expected to find here a system which you could transplant home and experience has shewn you that there are here 7 different systems corresponding to 7 different masters That it is fruitless to go seek a system for yourself but that you must stop at home and from experiment make your own system. If you leave with this conviction the six months will have been well spent. And now you have mentioned the prospectus which you say mislead you I may tell you that it was the production of a different man from Mr Edmondson. Not Mr Edmondsons but Dr Tyndalls system is there recorded for the most part. It was what he aimed at and induced Mr E. to aim at and I may add that I am working here with a similar purpose.’ With all this he agreed indeed I have since heard that it is by no means certain that he will leave us. Debus has had similar conversations with him and told him much the same. It is possible that the little fellow feels more interest in the place now that he has learnt to know Debus and myself better. He is a hard working, conscientious and sensible little fellow at bottom and if he can stop and work with us I shall be glad.
Henry Hill will be married at Whitsuntide.9 He told me of another characteristic act of Bevington’s which nearly made me cry when I read it, it was so beautiful. One morning he gave Henry a parcel containing some silver spoons marked H. and R.H. Henry & Rebecca Hill.10 In his quiet way he told him that he hoped some day to visit him and drink a cup of tea with one of them.
Yours affectionately | T.A. Hirst.
Mr Haas wishes me to ask you where you left the ‘Question Book’11 it is wanted. Send me Mrs Allan’s address12 please.
RI MS JT/1/H/198
RI MS JT/1/HTYP/337–337a
Wertheims paper: G. Wertheim, ‘Sur la double refraction temporairement produite dans les corps isotropes, et sur la relation entre l’élasticité mécanique et entre l’élasticité optique’, Annal. Chim. et Phys. 3:30 (1854), pp. 156–221.
a report in the next Phil. Mag.: the report was eventually published in two parts as G. Wertheim, ‘On the Double Refraction Temporarily Produced in Isotropic Bodies’, Phil. Mag. 8:52 (October 1854), pp. 241–61; Phil. Mag. 8:53 (November 1854), pp. 342–57.
my lectures on Acoustics: in May 1854, Hirst delivered a lecture at Queenwood on ‘the nature of sound, the conditions on which it depends, and the powers of conducting it, as possessed by various gases, liquids and solids’ (‘Lectures’, Queenwood Observer 2:4 [31 May 1854], pp. 25–32, on p. 25).
translation of Kohlrausch’s paper: See R. Kohlrauch, ‘Theory of the Electric Residue in the Leyden Jar’, Phil. Mag. 8: 46 (May 1854), pp. 305–20; Phil. Mag. 8: 47 (June 1854), pp. 412–26; Phil. Mag. 8: 48 (June 1854), pp. 476–89.
an apparatus of Ruhmkorff’s: the apparatus is described on p. 242 of Wertheim’s article (see n. 2).
Faradays experiment on the solution of Sugar: refers to what is known as the Faraday effect, ‘the rotation of the plane of polarization of light or other electromagnetic waves when transmitted through certain substances in a magnetic field that has a component parallel to the direction of transmission’ (OED). Faraday discovered the effect and published experiments using various solutions, including sugar, thus revealing a relationship between light and electromagnetism (Faraday, ‘Experimental Researches in Electricity’, Phil. Trans. 136 [1846], pp. 1–20, on p. 8).
Mr Mummery has given Mr Edmondson notice: Tyndall and Hirst had much discussed their wish to see Mummery tender his resignation after his purchase of a spurious doctoral degree (see letter 0817, n. 4 for full references).
the Prospectus (!): a document on the philosophy of education followed at Queenwood and a description of how the school was ran.
Whitsuntide: the festive season that surrounds Whitsunday (see letter 0759, n. 2).
Rebecca Hill: Henry Hill’s wife. Not further identified.
the ‘Question Book’: likely a book of questions used for teaching students at Queenwood.
Mrs Allan’s address: Hirst was likely asking for the permanent address of Margaret Allen, which was Stanley Terrace, in Preston, Lancashire, England. Hirst had recently met her while visiting Blackburn, England, where Allen was temporarily residing (see letter 0918, n. 10).
Please cite as “Tyndall0926,” in Ɛpsilon: The John Tyndall Collection accessed on