5th March 1858
My dear Sir.
Mr. Matthiesen’s1 paper on the Thermoelectric series2 appears to me to be a highly valuable one, and well worthy of a place in the Philosophical Transactions.3 The following points are, I think, worthy of Mr. Matthiesen’s attention:—When a statement is made from which important deductions are to be drawn, or upon which calculations are to be based, the statement, if new, ought to be proved, and if old, the reference to the proof of it ought to be given. It ought also to be borne in mind that there are terms, arising and originally out of theoretic considerations, which though familiar, and determinate in Germany are not so in England; and it would be well to avoid a cause of obscurity so easily received. An explanatory phrase here and there would add much to the perscuity4 of the paper. The introduction I think is capable of considerable improvement in the above respect, and it would be a pity to see the interest of a paper on which so much skill and labour have been bestowed diminished, in any degree, by a defect of style or arrangement.
Very truly yours | John Tyndall
Prof. Stokes | Sec. R.S.
RS RR/3/198 Tyndall 5 March 1858
Mr. Matthiesen’s: see letter 1495, n. 2.
paper on the Thermoelectric series: A. Matthiessen, ‘On the Thermo-electric Series’, Phil. Trans., 148 (1858), pp. 369–81.
well worthy of a place in the Philosophical Transactions: Tyndall acted as a referee for the Phil. Trans., reviewing submissions and sending reports to Stokes, the journal’s editor.
perscuity: Tyndall most likely meant to write ‘perspicuity’, meaning ‘lucidity’ (OED).
Please cite as “Tyndall1498,” in Ɛpsilon: The John Tyndall Collection accessed on