From Thomas Archer Hirst   April 17th 1858

Paris. April 17^th 1858

My dear John

Although I was a little disappointed you did not accept my invitation¹ and come to spend your Easter holidays with me I was glad to learn that you had done the next best thing—been to the Isle of Wight² and made the acquaintance of Tennyson.³ You tell me little or nothing about him simply because you write your letter in a hurry I hope when you have a little more leisure you will give me more particulars of your interview.

A few days ago I went to hear a popular lecture by Jamin on the Theory of Glaciers.⁴ It was delivered at a kind of club ‘Cercle du sociéte des Chemins de Fer’⁵ to an amateur audience and consequently essentially popular—It was a good lecture nevertheless and interested me amongst other things I was conscious of a pardonable throb of pride when I heard him refer to the experiment of Tyndall ‘un physicien Anglais trés distinguê’⁶ at the same time I thought he might have made more use of the researches of that same Tyndall. He only mentioned your experiments on the capability of ice to take any form under pressure. He did not enter into the subject of regelation even but accepted Forbes Theory of plasticity⁷ together with that of the infiltration and subsequent freezing of water in the body of the glacier. As a consequence his lecture whilst it pleased me as far as its style was concerned disappointed me. I expected to hear more of what you had done.

You ask me if I intend to make Paris my residence always. No. My intention was to spend the winter in Paris and on the whole I am well satisfied with the result. I have made myself tolerably familiar with French and at the same time I have made more progress with my own work than if I had been living elsewhere and avoiding less that contact with the world which simply disturbs. I trust you will find that I shall not shirk any other contact whenever the same is demanded from me.

My present intentions are not to stir from Paris until my winters work is put into order. After that, unless I should be called to England by more important affairs, I think of turning my steps towards Italy and there spending next winter as I have here spent the last. I have entertained this project for many years and in all probability I shall never have again so good an opportunity of carrying it out.

I do not lead so lonely a life as you appear to fear in fact I am becoming almost a diner out. Last night I was at a party at Chasles’ again.

I am sorry to hear of Col. Wynne’s departure for China⁸ it must be a source of great regret to M^rs Wynne.⁹ Let us hope however that he will not be long absent. I was a little amused at Thompson’s¹⁰ letter in the last number of the ‘Proceedings’.¹¹ He receives the account of your experiments one day & writes off the next to shew how those experiments confirm his brothers theory¹² and ‘to add in his own part a physical explanation of the blue veins in glaciers’ Fortunately for himself, perhaps, he ‘has not time to execute the latter intention’. What he has to say on the former subject is to me very obscure and unsatisfactory. When will the full account of your experiments in question be published?¹³

Yours affectionately—TA Hirst

RI MS JT/1/H/241