My dear Sir
Balmat has just shewn me a letter2 in which you have been kind enough to invite me to meet M. Agassiz at Geneva on the 25th.3 —I have long desired to make the acquaintance of M.Agassiz, and it would give me great delight to do so in your company.
Tomorrow we start on an expedition up Mont Blanc.4 I intend to divide the mountain into 6 stations at each of which I intend to place registering thermometers both in the air and in the ice. The Summit, the Corridor, the Grand Plateau, the Grand Mulets and two other stations on the glacier des Bossons5 will I hope teach us something regarding the atmospheric temperature, and the depth to which the cold of winter penetrates.
We purpose lodging two nights upon the summit. If we can get our work sufficiently advanced it will give both Balmat and myself the greatest pleasure to join you, but we have a heavy piece of work before us—however we shall do all in our power to reach you by the 25th.
If I cannot come so soon it will give me great pleasure to call upon you on my return through Geneva—it was always my intention to do so.
If the weather be favourable I intend to make several other observations of which I shall render you an account in due time.
Ever Yours Most truly | John Tyndall
Chamouni6 | Thursday night.
RI MS JT/1/TYP/1/361
LT Typescript Only
[18 August 1859]: This is a conjectured date. Tyndall left London on 8 August, a Monday and returned around 29 August. Assuming that Tyndall would not be able to climb Mont Blanc on Thursday 11 August, the date of this letter would be 18 August. That also allows time for Tyndall to have seen the letter concerning the gathering in Geneva.
Balmat has just shewn me a letter: De la Rive sent a letter to Balmat, as well as to Tyndall (addressed both to Chamonix and London), inviting both to an event in honour of Agassiz. See letter 1633.
on the 25th.: De la Rive invited Tyndall to an event that extended from 23–25 August 1859, see letter 1633.
Mont Blanc: the tallest mountain in the French Alps. Tyndall first ascended the mountain in 1857.
glacier des Bossons: Bossons Glacier, a large glacier on Mont Blanc.
Chamouni: Chamonix. See letter 1633, n. 2–3.
Please cite as “Tyndall1634,” in Ɛpsilon: The John Tyndall Collection accessed on