Wednesday night
My dear Tom
Here I am once more, my campaignings being ended for the present year. I will not boast of the amount of strength which I have collected as I know full well a day’s imprudent work would send my brain all astray but I do hope to be able to husband the strength I possess so as to carry me victoriously over the duties of the coming year. I was not at all annoyed at the part Thomson acted in Liverpool.2 I was surprised and nothing more. I believe he is very kindly disposed towards me, and you will see if you get the Athenaeum of Sept. 30 and of Oct. 7th.3 from Fox4 (to whom remember me kindly) that he did not hesitate to express a frank and favourable opinion regarding the experiments I brought forward. Your estimate of him is I think a correct one: One thing astonishes me, that he is able to do so much. He gave me two memoirs in Liverpool,5 and I saw the proofs of a third large one in his hand on Thermo-electricity. This day I received a voluminous paper sent to me for my opinion6 by the Council of the Royal Society7 and containing an investigation by Thomson and Joule8 – the most of it written by Thomson – I can only say that, if he thinks over his subjects as I am obliged to think over mine, that9 nature has given him an immensely stronger brain than she has given to me. The two numbers of the Athenaeum to which I have referred will give you a far better account of the proceedings than I could possibly write. I did not see the papers myself until to day, otherwise I would have sent them to you.
After my trip in Wales had ended I went to Ireland and endured such a tossing in the passage that I almost swore never to cross the Channel again – on returning however it was so smooth that I quite forgot my former misery. I was not absolutely sick that is to say my sickness did not reach the dynamic stage it was sea sickness rendered static and the tension was far more disagreeable than if it had amounted to an open rupture.10 On Friday night last while crossing the cabin of the steamer I thought I saw the countenance of a lady which was familiar to me – I turned my head aside to think who it could be and in doing so my eye met another face which assisted me – It was Dr Simpson and Mrs Simpson11 who were going to Paris to meet John Martin12 who has recently arrived there We had a good deal of pleasant chat together and I bade them good bye in Liverpool.
I do not think you can possibly estimate the value of having a garden to dig in,13 for your strong brain has never been reduced to that state of utter prostration which would enable you to appreciate the inestimable value of an hour’s digging. I hope you will continue to dig for depend upon it it is time saved eventually. For three hours imprudently occupied yesterday I have lost 6 to day. Had one of these three hours been devoted to digging I should not have lost a minute. I am learning more of my own constitution daily and I trust in the end to be able accurately to apportion the load which I am able to bear. I shall rejoice when I am permitted to seize a spade in your garden and to shew you how digging ought to be done. Little Tommy Grieve has written to me14 and given me a cheery picture of Queenwood – I think arrangements ought to be made to have those little concerts pretty often – Any thing that diffuses a feeling of cheerfulness and happiness throughout such a number is of great value. Let play be liberal but let work be earnest. I am now engaged with the writing out of my memoir; it will be a long one and will take me a long time15 as I wish to have it well done. Ruhmkorff is in London at present: he was with me to day. It would be a great blessing to me if I could withdraw myself from the thoughts of every body for a time as I find replying to letters and enquiries a dreadful draw upon my time, and what is worse, a dreadful distraction to my thoughts. I often long for a time similar to that which I enjoyed at Marburg when you were almost my only correspondent and when I felt a sweet refreshment in laying my work aside and writing to you. I have had a letter from Despretz16 asking me to purchase some books from him. A letter from Magnus17 who has been suffering from bad eyes but who is now better. A paper from the President of the Royal Irish Academy18 – a letter from a Mr Sturm in Vienna19 asking me to permit him to make use of me as a reference with regard to an invention of his, which I have declined doing – a book from Mrs Allen20 containing an unusually good poem by a person named Bigg.21 – Letters from sundry others too numerous to mention and all of which demand replies – Faraday returns to town tomorrow – He has been spending the last 9 weeks in the country. Barlow has been made Chaplain to the Queen, which is perhaps about the highest earthly reward that could be conferred upon him.
Good bye Tom. Remember me lovingly to Anna22 | Yours as ever | John
RI MS JT/1/HTYP/366
LT Typescript Only
[18 October 1854]: Hirst wrote ‘Oct. 20th’ at the top of the letter, reflecting the date of receipt. It was presumably written on 18 October, which was a Wednesday.
at Liverpool: Tyndall had told Hirst that ‘Thomson completely backed out of the position, which he had assumed in Belfast’ (see letter 0975, n. 12).
Athenaeum: a British periodical on literature, science, and art established in 1828, edited by William Hepworth Dixon (1821–79) between 1853 and 1869. For the named issues see letter 0967, n. 4.
Fox: see letter 0800, n. 29.
gave me … in Liverpool: not identified, as Thomson wrote a number of papers in 1854 (see ‘Thomson, (Sir) William’, RS Catalogue, vol. 5, pp. 9779–81, on p. 979).
for my opinion: Tyndall wrote a referee report of Thomson and Joule’s manuscript (see RS RR/2/239, 31 October 1854, letter 993).
the Council of the Royal Society: the Royal Society of London, which published the Phil. Trans.
investigation by Thomson and Joule: J. P. Joule and W. Thomson, ‘On the Thermal Effects of Fluids in Motion. – Part II’, Phil. Trans. 144 (1854), pp. 321–64. See letter 0994 for Tyndall’s report.
that: LT appears to have penciled square brackets around this word, suggesting she may have added it to her typescript.
Ireland … open rupture: Tyndall noted this experience in his journal entry of 6 October, ‘Heavy pitching through the night; lay awake in my birth with the wind playing on my face, not absolutely sick; but within a touch of it’ (Journal, JT/2/13b/694).
Dr Simpson and Mrs Simpson: see letter 0816, n. 11.
John Martin: John Martin (1812–75), a Young Irelander, politician, and brother to Mary (née Martin) Simpson and Anna Martin. He had been indicted for treason in 1848 after publishing a paper advocating for an Irish Parliament. He moved to Paris after being pardoned in 1854 on the condition that he not return to England or Ireland; he was later unconditionally pardoned in 1856 (ODNB). See also Hirst, ‘Journals’, 15 October 1854.
a garden to dig in: Hirst had mentioned to Tyndall that his new home had a garden, which he was looking forward to spending time digging in (see letter 0977).
written to me: letter 0978.
my memoir … long time: while Tyndall did not specifically identify the paper, it must be J. Tyndall, ‘The Bakerian Lecture. – On the nature of the Force by which Bodies are repelled from the Poles of a Magnet; to which is prefixed, an Account of some Experiments on Molecular Influences’, Phil. Trans. 145 (1855), pp. 1–51. Although the Phil. Trans. stated that the memoir was received in October 1854 (see p. 1), Tyndall noted in his journal that he turned it in to the Royal Society on 2 November 1854 (Journal, JT/2/13b/697).
Despretz: see letter 0803, n. 10. Letter and books not identified.
letter from Magnus: letter 0979.
paper … President of the Royal Irish Academy: the Royal Irish Academy, founded in 1785, was established for the promotion and investigation of science, literature, and antiquities (‘History of the Academy’, Royal Irish Academy, 2016, https://www.ria.ie/about/history [accessed 22 December 2016]). The president of the Academy in 1854 was Thomas Romney Robinson (1792–82), an Irish astronomer and physicist known for inventing a device for measuring the speed of wind. The paper is missing.
letter … Mr Sturm in Vienna: may refer to Salomon Sturm (n.d.), who patented a lens grinding machine in 1854 (S. Sturm, ‘Sturm’s Machinery for the Manufacture of Optical Lenses’, British Patent 2608, 10 May 1854, pp. 1–9); see also E. J. Atzema, ‘Charles François Sturm’s Writings on Optics’, in J. C. Pont [ed.], Collected Works of Charles François Sturm [Basel: Birkhäuser Basel, 2009], pp. 49–65, on p. 49, n. 1). An article on the device and a discussion surrounding its novelty and provenance appeared in Athenaeum’s report of the BAAS meeting in Liverpool (‘On a Method of Manufacturing Cylindrical Lenses’, The Athenaeum 1406 [7 October 1854], pp. 1202–1212, on p. 1204). Letter missing.
book from Mrs Allen: possibly S. Bigg, Night and the Soul; A Dramatic Poem (London: Groombridge and Sons, 1854). Not further identified.
Bigg: likely John Stanyan Bigg (1828–65), an English poet and journalist who spent time in Ireland.
Anna: Anna Martin.
Please cite as “Tyndall0981,” in Ɛpsilon: The John Tyndall Collection accessed on