Paris. Feb. 6th 1858
My dear John.
It is late and high time that I put aside my pen for the night. Before doing so however I will say a word if it be but to tell you that I am alive and well. In fact my health is far better than it was when I last wrote to you.1 For the last three weeks I have been able to work very well though I have taken great care never to push my forces too far. I often regret my small capacity for work or rather I wish for a greater but I begin to see that to gain what I desire I must commence by caring for my health.
How are you? Tell me some day soon. Little as I deserve a letter from you I long for one often. I read hastily in the R.S. Proceedings the account of your experiments on Ice.2 They appeared to me good and important. By the bye Wertheim told me to night that Moncel3 had given the Geological Society4 an account of your researches on Ice and Glaciers and made some remarks thereon which would have interested me. In the ‘Institut’ or in ‘Cosmos’5 you may perhaps see some notice of the same. I will look out & let you know. The memoir of Brücke you have given in the Phil. Mag.6 interested me much. In many respects it is exceedingly good but he has not yet handled the subject as I could wish to see it handled. I have a great desire to look into the matter myself. Perhaps I may. Nous verrons.7
Yours affectionately | T.A. Hirst
P.S. | My Aunt Mrs Battersby of Bristol8 has been and still is seriously ill. It is just possible that events might call me to England (for a short time) sooner than I intended. I hope not, but God’s will be done. Poinsot too is dangerously ill.
RI MS JT/1/H/239
last wrote to you: the letter is probably missing. Letter 1472 (dated 19 December 1857) is the previous letter in this volume from Hirst to Tyndall.
in the R.S. Proceedings the account of your experiments on Ice: J. Tyndall, ‘On Some Physical Properties of Ice,’ Roy. Soc. Proc., 9 (1858), pp. 76–80.
Moncel: Théodose Achille Louis Du Moncel (1821–84), a French physicist who promoted the use of electricity (CDSB)
Geological Society: Société géologique de France.
‘Institut’ or in ‘Cosmos’: L'Institut, journal universel des sciences et des sociétés savantes en France et à l'étranger, and Cosmos, Revue encyclopédique hebdomadaire des progrès des sciences.
memoir of Brücke you have given in the Phil. Mag.: Tyndall translated papers for publication in the Phil. Mag., such as the mentioned paper by German physiologist Ernst Brücke (1819–92): E. Brücke, ‘On Gravitation and the Conservation of Force,’ Phil. Mag., 15 (1858), pp. 81–90.
Nous verrons: see letter 1359, n. 7.
Aunt Mrs Battersby of Bristol: Eliza Battersby (c. 1806–?), sister of Thomas Hirst’s mother, was married to an Anglican clergyman.
Please cite as “Tyndall1489,” in Ɛpsilon: The John Tyndall Collection accessed on