Royal Institution | 28 Jul 1857
My dear Tyndall,
I received your very welcome letter1 just on our return from Derbyshire,2 and thank you heartily for its news. So far you seem to have gone on well, i.e. increasing in health and spirits. I trust it will be so, and that your pursuit of nature and her truth will be such a labour of love as to bring health to both body and mind. So you are at Chamouni,3 and on the ice, and likely to meet Forbes there. I am not sorry for it. I have trust enough in you as to believe that two such men as yourself, though you may have differed on some conclusions, cannot meet in the face of nature, with like love of truth, without advantage. I shall hope the best. You both have a very important witness and mistress to refer to in nature, and I know she will favour the most right minded.
Since you were at Paris, I have had a very pleasant letter from Biot. It would give you a just pleasure to know the terms in which he speaks of you. What a fine old man he is! I am very glad that you saw him, and that he has seen you.
We have no news just now, except about drains and painting and such like matters. The house is in such a state that I cannot work, and if it were in order, I am too weary. Perhaps I ought to say, too lazy. All I know is that I feel tired in creeping up stairs, and find the sofa and a book the best things for me.
We have many foreigners, visitors here. De Vry4 has shewn himself, and is now off for Java. Soret5 of Geneva6 is here. He brought me a letter from De la Rive,7 speaking of your visit to him. The brothers Schlagintweit8 from India are here also, as wiry and active as ever; there is no wearing out about them, and they bring me excellent accounts of Humboldt.9
You see what poor things I have to tell you about; but great is nature and will prevail. I wish I had a little Schönbein power,10 and then you should have some letters fit to class as such. But indeed you do not want to be teased with many. All things are well as they are, if we would only be content.
My dear wife11 and niece12 desire their kindest remembrances and wishes. You know we are of one mind in these thoughts towards you. I am glad to hear you are able to have your friend13 with you. I hope it will be some comfort to him, and some pleasure to you. Pray make my sincere respects to him. I have no right to intrude with sympathy, but I do feel deeply for his loss.14
Ever, my dear Tyndall | Most truly yours | M. Faraday
RI MS JT/1/TYP/12/4142
Faraday Correspondence, 5:3324
Typed Transcript Only
your very welcome letter: letter 1415.
Derbyshire: a county in the East Midlands of England.
Chamouni: see letter 1353, n. 9.
DeVry: Willem Hendrik de Vriese (1806–62), a Dutch botanist who beginning in October 1857 researched plants in the Dutch East Indies, Borneo, Sumatra, and the Moluccas.
Soret: Jacques-Louis Soret (1827–90), a Swiss chemist later known for determining the chemical composition of ozone (HLS).
Geneva: see letter 1293, n. 3.
letter from De la Rive: on 11 July Tyndall had visited de la Rive in Geneva during his journey to the Alps, having dinner at his country house with his family (Journal, JT/2/13c/954). See letter 1348 of this volume for de la Rive’s invitation.
brothers Schlagintweit: Hermann Schlagintweit (1826–82) and Robert Schlagintweit (1833–85), members of a German family of five brothers, all explorers. Adolf Schlagintweit (1829–57) had gone to India with Hermann and Robert in 1854 to study the territory of the East India Company. Adolf remained exploring in Asia when his brothers returned to Europe and he was beheaded in Kashgar when suspected of being a Chinese spy. The two other brothers were Eduard Schlagintweit (1831–66) and Emil Schlagintweit (1835–1904) (NDB).
Humboldt: Alexander von Humboldt (1769–1859), a world famous Prussian explorer and naturalist, who went on expeditions in Latin America and Russia. His seven-volume Personal Narrative of Travels to the Equinoctial Regions of the New Continent during the years 1799–1804, written with Aimé Bonpland (1773–1858) and published in French between 1814 and 1829, was influential to many other explorers and naturalists including Charles Darwin, who read the English translation by Helen Maria Williams (London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme and Brown, 1818–29) (CDSB).
Schönbein power: Faraday’s humorous way of saying he wished he had more energy. Christian Schönbein (1799–1868), a German-Swiss chemist, discovered the principle of the fuel cell in 1838 (ADB).
My dear wife: Sarah Faraday.
niece: Jane Barnard.
your friend: Thomas Hirst.
his loss: Thomas Hirst’s wife Anna had passed away on 1 July.
Please cite as “Tyndall1417,” in Ɛpsilon: The John Tyndall Collection accessed on