Olveston | 29 Mar.1
My dear Sir,
You will see from the enclosed2 that we cannot have Prof. Christison.3
My only doubt about Prof. Henfrey4 arises from our having already one King’s Coll. Professor in our list of Examiners and must perhaps have a second. Prof Henfrey would make a third. As we must be above the suspicion of partiality for any particular Institution, I fear this would not do? Perhaps he does not know Zoology. I think however that would easily be learned in London.
Is the Mr Babington5 of whom you speak of St. John’s Coll Cambridge?
Yours truly | Henry Moseley.
RI/JT/3/887
LT Typescript Only
29 Mar: The letter is unyeared. It has been tentatively dated as 1856 on the basis that it appears to be Moseley’s reply to a missing letter in which Tyndall suggested a number of possible examiners for questions on botany.
the enclosed: enclosure missing.
Prof. Christison: Robert Christison (1797–1882), toxicologist and Professor of Medicine at the University of Edinburgh since 1822. Why Tyndall should have suggested him as an examiner for admissions to the Royal Military Academy is unclear.
Prof. Henfrey: Arthur Henfrey (1819–59; FRS 1852), Professor of Botany at King’s College London since 1853.
Mr Babington: Charles Cardale Babington (1808–95; FRS 1851, botanist who taught at St John’s College, Cambridge. The founder and secretary of the Ray Club in 1836.
Please cite as “Tyndall1206,” in Ɛpsilon: The John Tyndall Collection accessed on