Edinburgh Nov. 29. 54
My dear Dr. Tyndall,
Your answer1 quite embodies my own views and it is only in the event of the chair2 being offered to you that I hope or wish ever to see you amongst us. What may be the course of events is hidden from our view, but I know how to act under certain contingencies, and this is all that is wanted in the meantime.
Whether you will be sorry or glad to hear that Alick3 has got a Cadetcy4 and goes to Addiscombe5 after Christmas? I agree with you6 that we shall yet hear of him in the world.
Always very truly yours | James Coxe.
RI MS JT/2/13b/702
Your answer: see letter 1012.
the chair: the Chair of Natural Philosophy at the University of Edinburgh.
Alick: Alick, or Alexander Cummings.
Cadetcy: refers to the role undertaken when entering the service of the East India Company, ‘a cadetcy, which is in truth the first step in the military service of the [East India] company’ (‘Reg. v. Charretie and Others. Sale of cadetcy in the service of the East–India Company’, The Law Times and Journal of Property 13 [14 April 1849], pp. 41–60, on p. 48).
Addiscombe: the East India Company Military Seminary at Addiscombe, Surrey, England, where young officers were trained for service in India.
I agree with you: Tyndall had discussed Alexander Cumming’s education with the Coxes (see letters 0993 and 1002).
Please cite as “Tyndall1014,” in Ɛpsilon: The John Tyndall Collection accessed on