Tuesday | June 1857
My dear Tom.
I send you a note2 from Playfair3 referring to the subject concerning which you wrote to me.4 Be good enough to burn the note when you have read it—It is quite private.5
affectionately yours | John Tyndall
I am no longer an examiner for the Artillery & Engineers.6 They thought proper to cut down the rates of remuneration, and on asking me whether I was prepared to undertake the examinations at the reduced rate I answered ‘No!’7—
RI MS JT/1/T/963
[9 June 1857]: the date, written on the letter but presumably not by Tyndall, is based on an exchange of letters between Tyndall and Hirst from 31 May and 14 June (see n. 4). It seems unlikely to be written Tuesday 2 June since Tyndall would have had to wait for the reply from Playfair that was enclosed with this letter.
a note: letter missing.
Playfair: Lyon Playfair. Playfair oversaw the Museum of Irish Industry, a Dublin museum founded in 1854 for displaying material from the Irish mining and manufacturing industries, in his role as secretary of the Department of Science and Art during the 1850s. See n. 4 and n. 5.
you wrote to me: Hirst wrote in his journal on 31 May 1857: ‘On arriving at Paris I found a letter from Mrs Simpson informing me that a mathematical master was about to be appointed at the Museum of Irish Industry, if I cared to apply. I enclosed her letter to Tyndall, and asked his advice’. Hirst noted on 14 June that he received a letter from Tyndall and replied the same day (Brock & MacLeod, Hirst Journals, pp. 1265, 1267). For Hirst’s reply, see letter 1402.
quite private: Hirst wrote in his journal on 14 June 1857: ‘Tyndall tells me there is to be no Professor of Mathematics at the Museum of Irish Industry this year, otherwise he would have probably used his influence for me. He has also declined continuing his examinership for military appointments in consequence of a proposition to diminish the remuneration. He is quite right’ (Brock & MacLeod, Hirst Journals, pp. 1267–8).
Artillery & Engineers: from 1856–7, Tyndall wrote and graded examinations in scientific topics for commissioned officers of the Royal Artillery and Royal Engineers at the Royal Military Academy at Woolwich. See letter 1306, n. 2, and letters 1375 and 1376.
I answered ‘No!’: see letters 1375 and 1376.
Please cite as “Tyndall1398,” in Ɛpsilon: The John Tyndall Collection accessed on