Grange | [Alresford, Hampshire] | Feb. 10.
My dear Mr Tyndall
Your letter1 has only just been forwarded to me with the accompanying report2 which I now return with many thanks. Dr. Frankland will be a valuable witness.3 You must give me more opportunity of making his acquaintance.
There is another evil besides the scarcity of lecturers, and that is the demand for them. What we want is masters not lecturers, class teaching, not professional enlightenment.
My heart is sick to see so much energy so much healthy craving for knowledge wasted in the purveyance and consumption of [crumbs] instead of food.
Yours very truly | Ashburton
I will send the report4 shortly.
RI MS JT/1/121
LT Typescript Only
Your letter: letter missing. It was evidently written in response to Ashburton’s request (letter 1187, n. 14) for information on science teaching.
accompanying report: it is unclear what this was, but possibly the RI series of lectures on science education, Lectures on Education (London: Parker, 1855), to which Tyndall had contributed an essay on physics education.
Dr Frankland will be a valuable witness: Tyndall had evidently promised to ask Frankland’s opinion on the state of science teaching.
the report: it is unclear what this referred to.
Please cite as “Tyndall1189,” in Ɛpsilon: The John Tyndall Collection accessed on