Mon cher Mons. Tyndall
Je vous ai écrit, il y a un certain temps. J’ai mal mis votre adresse. J’ai écrit. Institution Royale de la Grande Bretagne Pall Mall Street au lieu de Albemarle Street.
Je vous prierais de m’envoyer la note de vos principaux mémoires, avec l’indication des journaux dans lesquels ils se trouvent et quelques lignes (7 à 8 à chaque mémoire ou davantage) pour faire ressortir le fait fondamental démontré dans chaque mémoire. Je voulais essayer de vous admettre parmi les candidats à une place de correspondant. La liste est déjà nombreuse, elle contient douze noms.
Comme [j’écrivais] que vous n’avez pas reçu ma lettre, je vous écris de nouveau.
Rappelez-moi, je vous prie, au bon souvenir de Mr Faraday.
Votre dévoué | C. Despretz | Rue Cassette 20
Il faudrait que j’eusse la note dimanche.
My dear Mr Tyndall,
I sent you a letter2 some time ago. I miswrote your address. I wrote. Royal Institution of Great Britain on Pall Mall Street,3 instead of Albemarle Street.
I would ask you to please send me the memorandum of your main essays, with the indication of the journals in which they appear and a few lines (7 or 8 for each essay or more) to highlight the fundamental outcome demonstrated in each essay. I wanted to try and enrol you among the candidates to a seat as a corresponding member.4 The list is already long, it includes twelve names.5
As I wrote that you did not receive my letter, I am writing again.
I ask you to please send my regards to Mr Faraday.
Faithfully yours | C. Despretz | 20 Rue Cassette
I must have the memorandum by Sunday.
RI MS JT/1/D/126
[6 February 1857]: the estimated date is given based on a note left on the letter by LT, and Tyndall’s mention of the letter in his journal for 6 February 1857 (Journal, JT/2/13c/918).
I sent you a letter: letter missing.
Pall Mall Street: a street in central London not far from Albemarle Street (location of the RI).
among the candidates to a seat as a corresponding member: probably the corresponding member seat of the French Académie des Sciences, left vacant by the death of Macedonio Melloni (1798–1854).
The list is already long, it includes twelve names: Despretz presented a list at the meeting of the Académie des Sciences on 11 May 1857 and on 18 May Matteucci was elected a corresponding member. Tyndall’s name did not appear on the list. See Paris, Comptes Rendus, 44 (1857), pp. 1007, 1013.
Please cite as “Tyndall1332,” in Ɛpsilon: The John Tyndall Collection accessed on