Deanery Hereford. | April 26th 1859
My dear Sir
Your note by post1 reaches me at Hereford2 where I have been staying for a few days with my excellent friend the Dean.3
My absence from London has prevented me from carrying out a duty towards you imposed upon me by Prof. De la Rive of Geneva from whom a note reached me4 a few days ago at Windermere5 charging me to transmit to you a diploma of the Societe de Physique of Geneva.6
With regards to the glaciers the question7 is so large that one can only attack it piecemeal and after each attack many questions will remain. I know the place to which you allude8 very well; and as far as I have been able to look into the matter the following is the explanation that appears to be correct.
The ice near the bed of the glacier is forcibly compressed by the mass above it, and I should undoubtedly expect to find horizontal veining there if one could get at the place. The portions of the glacier above this (supposed) horizontally veined ice is undergoing continual waste, and near the terminus of the glacier has so far disappeared as to permit of the horizontal veining to show itself. I do not think the homogenous ice of the foreground has been converted into the veined ice lower down; but the veined ice lower down comes to view by the wasting of the pyramids.
I omitted in the lecture9 to state that I had a few observed cases of slipping like those to which you referred as having seen upon the places of the Rhone10—The Allalin Glacier11 shews numerous such cases with great distinctness
I am now throwing my thoughts upon the subject of glaciers into a more compacted form, and hope to present them to you thus before the expiration of another year.
Believe me dear Sir | very faithfully yours | John Tyndall
RGO Archives/MS.RGO.6/378
Your note by post: letter 1612, dated 23 April 1859.
Hereford: city in Herefordshire.
the Dean: Richard Dawes.
from whom a note reached me: letter 1607.
at Windermere: Tyndall spent time in the Lake District during April 1859, see also letters 1606 and 1609.
a diploma of the Societe de Physique of Geneva: Tyndall and Airy had been elected Honorary Members of Société de Physique et d'Histoire Naturelle de Genève.
With regards to the glaciers the question: Airy asked Tyndall about the formation of the horizontal veins in glaciers.
the place to which you allude: an unspecified place on the Lower Glacier of Grindelwald, see also letter 1612, n. 2.
I omitted in the lecture: see letter 1612, n. 1.
the Rhone: The Rhone is a major river in Europe, originating in the Rhone Glacier.
The Allalin Glacier: the Allalin Glacier in the Pennine Alps, under the Allalinhorn, which Tyndall explored.
Please cite as “Tyndall1614,” in Ɛpsilon: The John Tyndall Collection accessed on