28th May 1858
My dear Clausius
I feel very much gratified by the proof of your friendship which you have just given,1 and greatly honoured by the distinction conferred upon me by the Naturforschenden Gesellschaft2 of Zurich.3 I hope you will endeavour to express this my feeling to the society in better words than I can make use of.
To M. Mousson personally I would beg of you to convey my best thanks for the trouble which he has so kindly taken. I hope soon to prove both to you and the Society4 that my interest in the glacier question is unabated, and I hope the facts which I have to bring forward, whether they lead to any modification of our theoretic views or not, will still be regarded as a contribution to our knowledge.
The paper to which you refer was more upon the physical properties of Ice than upon the glaciers. —As soon as it is printed5 I will send it to you, but the Royal Society is very slow in printing its memoirs. I communicated the first part of the observations upon the Mer de Glace6 to the Society a few days ago,7 and of this paper8 I hope to be able to send you a pretty full abstract within the coming fortnight.
All your papers reach me with the greatest regularity, and free of all charge. This is not the case with others. An abhandlung9 has sometimes cost me more than two Thalers:10 but I do not now take them in. Your paper on Ozone11 reached me yesterday, but I have not yet had time to look at it. It shall appear in due time in the Philosophical Magazine.
Suppose a verdampfende12 drop of water to be placed in the centre of an indefinitely large space. Then, according to your theory, the quantity of vapour in a given volume of this space would be inversely proportional to the square of the distance. Do you think facts support this inference?
We are about to lose the present president of the Royal Society,13 and, to the honour of the council be it said, a deputation, headed by Lord Wrottesley, waited upon Faraday a few days ago asking him to accept the presidency.14 I wish he felt himself strong enough to do so—it would be an immense gain to science in England. But he will live and die plain Michael Faraday. He is one of the most glorious spirits that God ever sent upon the earth. —noble, true, and simple as a child.
I hope the day will come when I shall be able to return the compliment you have conferred on me. At present the claims of older men weigh with the council of the R.S. very much: but the day must come sooner or later, when we shall be colleagues in a double sense.
Believe me dear Clausius | Ever sincerely yours | John Tyndall
RI MS JT/1/T/174
proof of your friendship which you have just given: see letter 1522.
Naturforschenden Gesellschaft: a Swiss scientific society founded in 1746 to promote the study of the natural sciences, of which Tyndall was recently elected an Honorary Member. See letter 1522.
Zurich: see letter 1333, n. 11.
the Society: see n. 1.
As soon as it is printed: J. Tyndall, ‘On Some Physical Properties of Ice’, Phil. Trans., 148 (1858), pp. 211–29.
Mer de Glace: see letter 1301, n. 12.
a few days ago: 20 May 1858.
this paper: see letter 1468, n. 1.
abhandlung: a treatise (German)
Thalers: German silver coins. Reference note on money here?
Your paper on Ozone: R. Clausius, ‘On the Nature of Ozone’, Phil. Mag., 16 (1858), pp. 45–51. Actually, he is referring to the German one, which was later translated and published in Phil Mag. Perhaps just “see letter 1521, n. 7.”
verdampfende: vaporizing (German).
the present president of the Royal Society: John Wrottesley, from 1854–8.
to accept the presidency: Faraday did not accept the request, and Wrottesley was succeeded by Benjamin Brodie, see letter 1353, n. 21.
Please cite as “Tyndall1524,” in Ɛpsilon: The John Tyndall Collection accessed on