21st July 1858
My dear Sir
It is very kind of you to write to me, for indeed I do not deserve it at your hands. Your last letter1 reached me as I was on the point of starting from London, and until now, when I find myself confined by the rain to a little Inn at Alpnacht2 by the lake of Lucerne,3 I have not had a quiet half hour to reply to it.
With regard to the meeting at Berne4 it would give me great pleasure to go there, and to meet the gentleman you mention. Many of them I have never seen. M.M. Matteucci, Studer & Escher are among this number, and I have long wished to see them. If I can contrive to join you I will, but the demands upon me this year are so imperative, and the quantity of work which I must accomplish is so great that I fear to encourage myself with the hope of being able to join you. Should you see M. Matteucci would you kindly become my mediator and ask him not to think harshly of me for not answering his last letter.5 I deferred doing so from day to day, the chief cause of my delay being ill health which compelled me to cut away almost all my correspondence.6
Let me now say that I cannot help regretting that you should think it necessary to make me any return for the little labour which I expended in the reading of your proofs.7 It was a pleasure to me to do so; and I only wish that I could render you ten times the service. If you have not sent those books away, then I beg of you to keep them. I frankly confess to you that a friendly thought on your part towards me would be of more value in my estimation than your whole library were it transported bodily to London.
If I can at all accomplish it, be assured that I shall feel great delight in paying you a visit and in witnessing your experiment. My only fear is that the large demands for work made upon me this year will compel me to forego pleasure altogether. However if I find that I can make the work and a visit to Geneva8 harmonise I shall be truly rejoiced to do so.
Believe me my dear Sir | Ever most sincerely yours | John Tyndall
I expect to be at Zermatt9 at the time the Berne meeting10 commences. Excuse this bad paper.
RI MS JT/1/T/372
RI MS JT/1/TYP/1/356
your last letter: letter 1531.
Alpnacht: a village in the canton of Unterwalden (now Obwalden) in Switzerland, on the west side of the Lake of Lucerne.
lake of Lucerne: Lake of Lucerne, or Luzerner See, in central Switzerland.
the meeting at Berne: see letter 1531, n. 2.
his last letter: possibly letter 1477.
cut away almost all my correspondence: there is a noticeable decrease in correspondence by Tyndall for the months of June and July 1858.
reading of your proofs: see letter 1293, n. 16 and n. 17.
Geneva: see letter 1293, n. 3.
Zermatt: see letter 1297, n. 7.
Berne meeting: see letter 1531, n. 2.
Please cite as “Tyndall1534,” in Ɛpsilon: The John Tyndall Collection accessed on