7th May 1856
My dear Tom
In the midst of my preparations your letter1 has broken in upon me, absorbing all else by its intense interest. I do not recollect to have read of any thing more truly painful than the position of poor Taylor;2 I do not know any man who has been subjected to a stronger temptation and trial than you have been, and my admiration of the manner in which you have borne yourself through it corresponds fully to the difficulty of your task. Had it been the boy himself – he confined his sin in his own heart we might have yielded under the circumstances, but I can see nothing but the most disastrous consequences had you given way as matters really were. You have done your duty in a truly noble manner: time heals the necessary lacerations which accompany such an act, but time only brings out into fairer relief the merit of such a deed. I would not thrash if I were you. that is, I would not thrash for the act itself, though for a lie a thrashing may be the best thing possible. Try and make yourself acquainted with the length breadth and depth of this problem, become to a certain extent devoid of feeling, investigate the thing as you would a physical question. God only knows to what valuable account your experience may be turned at a future day. You must not be a sacrifice to the neglect of fathers and teachers, but you can and ought now to make yourself acquainted with the full depth of their negligence, your word upon this subject at a future day may have a weight and influence which will be a blessed recompense for your present labours – Meanwhile, act like a physician who has to arm himself with inhumanity in order to attack a difficult case aright. Relax a little now and then – deviate from your routine, and think a little now & then upon the subject. – New modes of action may thus suggest themselves, and you may try these new methods with fresh hope & fresh vigour. You ought I think to procure that French work of which we spoke when we were last together – Saland3 I think it was. You are now low Tom, and things appear dark to you – this will not continue – At all events I never regarded your present position in any other light than that of a transitory one – but while you are there sound all the depths of your position – make yourself acquainted with its joy & its sorrow. Store your journal4 with the account of your experience – it may yet be a blessing to humanity. Besides Tom. hard as these boys seem now a day will come when the consciousness of right and wrong has ripened, and when they can estimate the magnitude of your efforts to save them, when the very memory of these efforts will be an inspiration and a safeguard – encouraging them against temptation, and thus bring forth effectual though tardy fruit. God bless you my dear fellow and strengthen your hands & heart in the task that lies before you.
affectionately yours | John Tyndall
I am greatly pleased to find that Anna is improving. I hope by the time that the mid summer concert5 takes place that I shall see the roses on her cheeks once more.
As yet I have not received my dismissal.6
RI MS JT/1/T/621
your letter: letter 1220.
poor Taylor: the Queenwood parent discussed in letter 1220, n. 3.
that French work…– Saland: Tyndall misremembered the name of Claude François Lallemand (1790–1854), French pathologist, Professor of Surgery at the University of Montpellier (1819–45). He published Des Pertes Séminales Involontaires, 3 vols. (Paris: Béchet Jeune, 1836–42), a work which attributed male physical and mental degeneration to masturbation. The work, which appeared in English as A Practical Treatise on the Causes, Symptoms and Treatment of Spermatorrhea (London: J. Churchill, 1847), influenced the English physician William Acton in his The Functions and Disorders of the Reproductive Organs in Childhood, Youth, Adult Age ( London: J. Churchill,1857), a work that led to further masturbation hysteria.
Store your journal: In fact Hirst had already written a long account of the affair on 4 May (RI MS JT/2/32c/ 1193–5).
mid summer concert: a concert held annually at Queenwood College to which parents and sponsors were invited.
my dismissal: Tyndall’s concern that he would be sacked for writing letters 1213 and 1217.
Please cite as “Tyndall1221,” in Ɛpsilon: The John Tyndall Collection accessed on