18th. Oct. 1854.
My dear Huxley,
I should feel happy and proud in being your colleague in any enterprise whatever; and were I not afraid of this poor miserable brain of mine which continually admonishes me that I am dilapidated used up mortal I would at once say ‘yes’ to your proposal regarding the Westminster.1 The terms appear to me to be very fair. I will tell you how I am circumstanced at present: I have been working during the summer and have gathered materials for a heavy memoir2 the writing out of which is only commenced. Some months ago I undertook, at his urgent request, to furnish Hughes of Greenwich3 with 120 pages for his new schoolbooks4 and there are but 30 pages as yet done. Before I undertake anything else this engagement must be fulfilled; then my lectures are looming upon me like a cloud. All these things combined render it impossible for me to undertake anything for the Westminster at present. But if you could drag on for another 6 months I should not mind trying what I could do. The engagement however looks rather formidable, to give ‘an account critical, analytical or anything else of the books sent by Chapman.’ Why he might send me more than I could possibly digest and I should not like to deal with matters I had not digested. Have you no voice in the choice of the books that you review? Why I thought that Chapman had been taken away by cholera5 and here I find him, to my great satisfaction, turning up again. I was rather dismayed to read of what I conceived to be his death in the coffee room of a hotel in Llanrwst;6 for, though I do not know the man, something of his that I have read has engendered within me a respect for him. I have read the articles to which you refer me7 and have found great pleasure in them, I do not wonder at the reluctance of the publisher to lose the services of the writer of them. I shall see Francis tomorrow and convey your message to him – he is in capital condition – I envy his ruddy cheeks and copious digestion. You show your wisdom in keeping away from Babylon8 as long as you can, and I shall certainly, follow your example next year if the gods spare me so long.
Believe me, dear Huxley | ever Yours most truly | John Tyndall.9
IC HP: 8.17
RI MS JT/1/TYP/9/2867
your proposal regarding the Westminster: Huxley had asked Tyndall to assist him in contributing to the ‘Science’ column of the Westminster Review (see letter 0980, n. 3).
heavy memoir: see letter 0981, n. 15.
Hughes of Greenwich: see letter 0900, n. 9.
schoolbooks: see letter 0900, n. 10.
Chapman … taken away by cholera: see letter 0985, n. 4.
Llanrwst: Llanrwst, Conwy County Borough, Wales.
the articles … refer me: not identified.
Babylon: see letter 0980, n. 2.
Tyndall: a handwritten note appears on the bottom of the copy of the letter from Imperial College’s Huxley Collection: ‘H to J “I am rejoiced”’.
Please cite as “Tyndall0982,” in Ɛpsilon: The John Tyndall Collection accessed on