21st. Sept 1859
My dear Tom.
11d to pay! —Mr. Tardy1 deserves to be fined 2/6. But perhaps he is sending you a diploma which may be worth the money.2
I have just come in from Queenwood, and tomorrow commence my experiments. I wrote a good deal while in the country. My book is getting on but it is horrible work and I hate it.3
I think I shall never undertake to write a book again. If one were a scamp the work would be easy enough; but for an honest man it is dreadful.
I have accepted the Chair in the School of Mines.4 All the good fellows wrote to me about it.5 It has long been a project with Huxley, and now it is accomplished – nothing could be nicer than the tone of Murchison’s letters6—they do not sound in the least as if he were conferring a favour upon me.
When are you coming to London. I am now fixed here & the sooner you come the better. Don’t you think we might keep a horse & have a gallop out in the country sometimes?
ever affectionately | John.
RI MS JT/1/T/653
RI MS JT/1/HTYP/518
Mr. Tardy: not identified.
Mr. Tardy deserves to be fined 2/6. But perhaps he is sending you a diploma which may be worth the money: not identified.
My book is getting on but it is horrible work and I hate it: Tyndall was working on his book, Glaciers of the Alps (see letter 1595, n. 4).
I have accepted the Chair in the School of Mines: Following Stokes’s resignation, a position opened up at the Royal School of Mines which was offered to Tyndall; see letters 1635, 1638, 1639, 1640, and 1642.
All the good fellows wrote to me about it: see letters 1638, 1639, n. 7, and 1640.
Murchison’s letters: While Murchison’s letters to Tyndall are missing, Tyndall mentioned the correspondence in letter 1587, n. 7.
Please cite as “Tyndall1641,” in Ɛpsilon: The John Tyndall Collection accessed on