Owens College | Oct. 22/55
My dear Tyndall
I have made careful determinations of the Sp gravities1 of the two specimens of Bismuth with the following results:
No.1. Bismuth submitted to prepare Sp. Gr. 9.8501.
No.2. Bismuth not submitted to prepare Sp. Gr. 9.8468.
I do not however think that you can draw any safe conclusion from this isolated experiment because I find that the errors of observation might amount to .0035 which is rather more than the difference between the two specific gravities.
Although I could easily weigh to the 1/10 milligram in air yet I found it impossible to estimate less than ½ milligram in water, hence the liability to the above error. If the pieces were nearly ten times as heavy the error might probably be reduced to 1/7 or 1/8 of the above amount.
Although I was 10 days in Bristol I found it impossible to get over to Queenwood. The more I think of that British Association2 the more am I convinced of the deep injury it annually inflicts upon science; with the exception of the Red Lion Dinner3 and Loch Katrine4 which are the two bright gems of the occasion I look back upon the whole thing with unmitigated regret. When we go to the Tyrol next year5 we must contrive to take in the Naturforscher-versammlung in Vienna6 as I should much like to see how they manage those things in Germany. On my way back to Windermere I bought the Lady of the Lake7 & have since read it through with enthusiasm.
I hope you will seriously think about taking up your quarters at Windermere next Summer. You will find on enquiry that you can travel, to & from London 3rd class by fast trains, this privilege is accorded to all stations North of Lancaster. I feel sure you would find the locality very congenial for thought, work, and recreation; I have facilities there for performing any chemical operation of moderate character, so that you need be at no loss in that respect, & we could seize a fine day now and then for an aquatic or mountain excursion, when I will give you full liberty to pour out your poetical spirit to the most boundless extent. Do think seriously of the matter.
You once promised me a ‘rocker’8 made on your improved plan; could you direct Anderson to send me one down during this week together with a few square inches of German Tinder9 for igniting Iron Wire in Oxygen, I cannot get it here.
Very sincerely yours | E. Frankland.
RI MS JT/1/F/44
Sp gravities: specific gravities. In an earlier (missing) letter Tyndall had presumably asked Frankland to determine the specific gravities of two specimens of bismuth that he was using in his experiments on diamagnetism. The magnetic properties of specimens of bismuth under different degrees of compression – hence, different specific gravities – were of interest to Tyndall, Faraday and a number of their contemporaries: see Tyndall’s Bakerian Lecture (letter 1029, n. 2) and letter 1054.
that British Association: the recent meeting in Glasgow of the BAAS.
the Red Lion Dinner: The Red Lion Club was one of the ‘Fringe groups [at the BAAS] devoted to scientific comradeship and disciplinary specialization’, in this case botany and zoology. It “was started by some young naturalists who were unhappy with the expense and oligarchy of the [1839] Meeting at Birmingham. They dined daily at the Red Lion” (J. Morrell and A. Thackray, Gentlemen of Science: Early Years of the British Association for the Advancement of Science (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1981), p. 128). Frankland and Tyndall attended the Red Lion dinner in Glasgow on 18 September 1855. ‘Had a most pleasant and cordial meeting of the Red Lions. Monckton Miles was in the Chair, beside him was a fine old Swedish Count, he was rather amazed when he first heard the Lions roar. Gassiot, Ramsay, Lankester, Best, Col. James, George Nelson, David Forbes and others. The evening passed off in a very hearty genial manner’ (Tyndall’s Journal: RI MS JT/2/13c/791).
Loch Katrine: A freshwater loch (lake) in the Trossachs, 30 miles north of Glasgow.
the Tyrol next year: ;The Tyrol […] is the most westerly of the German territories of the empire, and borders upon Bavaria and Switzerland. It is also the most lofty and rugged of all the alpine regions of Austria; (H. Murray et al, The Encyclopædia of Geography, 3 vols (Philadelphia: Lea & Blanchard, 1840), vol. 2, pp. 101). On 12 June 1856 Tyndall departed for the Continent, including a visit to the Tyrol.
Naturforscher-versammlung in Vienna: see letter 1087, n. 10. Tyndall attended the meeting, which ran from 16 to 22 September 1856.
the Lady of the Lake: see letter 1138, n. 17.
rocker: A rocker is metal block or bar having one surface convex with a groove along its length, made in order to demonstrate the ability of heat to produce audible vibration (OED). Tyndall had first experimented on rockers while in Berlin in August 1853 (RI MS JT/2/13b/613). See letter 1142, n. 5, for Tyndall’s lectures and publications on rockers.
German Tinder: Amadou or German tinder, is prepared from species of fungus Polyporus and Boletus, that grow on trees, employed as a match and a styptic (OED).
Please cite as “Tyndall1149,” in Ɛpsilon: The John Tyndall Collection accessed on