Royal Institution of Great Britain | 5th July 1859
Dear <1-2 words excised>1
I feel truly obliged to you, and I know the best way of proving to you how I appreciate your kindness is to show you that it has not been misapplied—I shall endeavour therefore to make these plates of rocksalt2 perform a piece of work which I trust when completed will not be unworthy of your attention. —With many thanks believe me
Most truly yours | John Tyndall
The Waller Manuscript Collection, Uppsala University, alb-13:143
Dear <1-2 words excised>: Recipient name excised or never written. It is possible that this is a draft letter, given the lack of recipient. In the article, ‘The Bakerian Lecture. – On the Absorption and Radiation of Heat by Gases and Vapours, and on the Physical Connexion of Radiation, Absorption, and Conduction’, Phil. Trans., 151 (1861), pp. 1–36, Tyndall wrote that he had received one plate of rocksalt from the Trustees of the British Museum and one from Mr Harlin, and received a piece of salt which was later turned into two plates from Mr. Lettsom and Mr. Darker. It is likely that this letter was intended for one of them.
plates of rocksalt: this was likely the plates Tyndall used for his research for his Bakerian Lecture. In this article (see reference in n. 1), he noted that, ‘Rock-salt immediately suggests itself as the proper substance; but to obtain plates of suitable size and transparency was exceedingly difficult.’ (p. 3).
Please cite as “Tyndall1626,” in Ɛpsilon: The John Tyndall Collection accessed on