Wednesday night | 11½ o’c
My dear Huxley
I have just finished my lecture at the London1 and have been lucky enough to please them all – I am spirited off tomorrow to Swindon2 by the Government Inspector of Railways3 to see a boiler which has exploded. Friday I have two engagements but Saturday God willing I shall meet you at Ramsay’s.4 You mean to go there of course. I interpret your dining out on Saturday to mean so much. We will talk of the breakfast then.
Thank you for the Syllabus5 – it is a deep one – I breakfasted with Owen6 a few days ago and ventured at the time upon one or two of your ‘heretical’ remarks–
I dare say the people would not shut the door against me if I presented myself.7 So if no other matters interfere I shall contrive to be present at your next lecture.
Goodbye till Saturday | Ever yours | John Tyndall
IC MS HP 1.333
my lecture at the London: see letter 1040, n. 4.
Swindon: Located 70 miles to the west of London, Swindon was a railway town with the major locomotive workshops of the Great Western Railway, which Isambard Kingdom Brunel had designed.
the Government Inspector of Railways: Colonel George Wynne of the Royal Engineers.
Ramsay’s: The Scottish geologist Andrew Ramsay (1814–91), was professor of geology at the Royal School of Mines. ‘Spent the evening [Saturday, 17 February] at Ramsay’s. Huxley was there, and we had much philosophic talk’ (Journal, RI MS JT/2/13c/729).
the Syllabus: see letter 1043, n. 7.
Owen: On 10 February Tyndall recorded in his Journal (RI MS JT/2/13c/727) that he had breakfasted at the home of the surgeon William White Cooper, where he met Richard Owen.
if I presented myself: if Tyndall attended Huxley’s lecture at the LI; see letter 1043, n. 7.
Please cite as “Tyndall1044,” in Ɛpsilon: The John Tyndall Collection accessed on