Richmond Grove | Longsight Nov. 16/54
My dear Tyndall
Dr. Gerland1 has finished the analysis of that piece of shale.2 It yielded the following results
SiO3 ---------------------------- 41.29
Al2O3 --------------------------- 22.00
FeO ----------------------------- 13.46
CaO ----------------------------- .52
MgO ---------------------------- .42
KO2NaO ------------------------- 3.01
Organic Matter & Loss 19.30
100.00
I am glad to hear that you had such pleasant company to London,3 it did not seem very promising on your entrance into the carriage.
I have just finished my first article for Hughes’ 2nd Book on ‘Chemical Nomenclature’4 but have still two others to write one on ‘Chemical Equivalents’ & the other on ‘Fuel’ I expect the latter will cost me a good deal of labour to bring it down to the comprehension of boys. I am also making satisfactory progress with my research on Organo metallic bodies5 & hope soon to have a memoir for the Royal ready.6
The chemical milk still answers admirably the little skeleton of a fellow7 is getting quite fat & has never had a day’s bad digestion since he began to use his lactochemic food.8
I understand that the Empress of Russia9 exists exclusively upon 6 Wet nurses who accompany her wherever she goes & I have therefore some intention of making overtures to Old Nick10 to the effect that if he will knuckle under & give up the war11 I will relieve his wife of this intolerable bore!
Maggie12 still talks about you & wishes now to repay your scotch kiss.13
With kindest regards from Mrs Frankland | Believe me very sincerely yours | E. Frankland
RI MS JT/3/45, interleaved in Volume
Gerland: Frankland’s assistant. In his journal entry of 15 October 1854, Tyndall noted ‘he is an intelligent young fellow but if he limited his speech to half its present amount it would be a great recommendation – he talks too much’ (Journal, JT/2/13b/695).
shale: ‘an argillaceous fissile rock, the lamnae of which are usually fragile and uneven, and mostly parallel to the bedding; often overlaying a coal formation’ (OED). Tyndall had sent a piece of ‘shell’, possibly the very ‘shale’ Frankland spoke of here, to Debus for chemical analysis (see letters 0897, n. 2 and 0973, n. 1). The results here are similar to those in letter 0973.
such pleasant company to London: Tyndall had stopped to visit Frankland on his way back from Liverpool and Wales in October, as he stayed with Frankland on 15–6 October 1854. He must have written to Frankland about the young boy and his father seated opposite him in the carriage, and to whom he conversed during the journey (Journal, JT/2/13b/695–6).
my first article … ‘Chemical Nomenclature’: see E. Frankland, ‘Chemistry’, in E. Hughes (ed.), Hughes Reading Lessons. Second Book (London: Longman, Brown, Green, & Longmans, 1855), pp. 204–16.
Organo metallic bodies: ‘chemical compounds in which a metal atom is bonded directly to the carbon atom of an organic group’ (OED).
hope soon … the Royal ready: Frankland published a series of memoirs on organometallic bodies. See E. Frankland, ‘On a New Series of Organic Bodies Containing Metals’, Phil. Trans. 142 (1852), pp. 417–44; ‘Researches on Organo-Metallic Bodies. – Second Memoir: Zincethyl’, Phil. Trans. 145 (1855), pp. 259–76; ‘Researches on Organo-Metallic Bodies. Third Memoir: On a New Series of Organic Acids Containing Nitrogen. [1856.]’, Phil. Trans 147 (1857), pp. 59–78; and ‘The Bakerian Lecture: Researches on Organo-Metallic Bodies. Fourth Memoir’, Phil. Trans. 159 (1859), pp. 401–15.
little skeleton of a fellow: Frankland’s son, Frederick William Frankland (1854–1916), who had contracted diarrhea and was quite sick (D. Valenze, Milk: A Local and Global History [New Haven: Yale University Press, 2011], p. 172).
lactochemic food: in 1854, Frankland developed a formula milk for infants after his wife Sophie was unable to breastfeed and his son had fallen ill (ibid., p. 172, n. 36).
Empress of Russia: Alexandra Feodorovna (1798–1860), born Princess Charlotte of Prussia, was Empress consort of Russia and the wife of Tsar Nicholas I (see letter 0873, n. 32). She had one son, Alexander II Nikolaevich (1818–81), who later became Tsar (1855–81).
Old Nick: Tsar Nicholas I (see letter 0873, n. 32).
Give up the war: the Crimean War (see letter 0873, n. 30).
Maggie: Margaret Frankland (see letter 0885, n. 11).
scotch kiss: possibly sweets.
Please cite as “Tyndall1003,” in Ɛpsilon: The John Tyndall Collection accessed on