[late January or early February 1860]: The year is suggested by LT, the month by the context of Valentine’s Day.
boy Walter: Walter Herries Pollock. His tenth birthday was on 21 February 1860. See letter 1744.
the axe with which I ascended Monte Rosa: Tyndall ascended Monte Rosa twice, a week apart, in 1858. On the second occasion, making the first solo ascent, he dropped his ice axe at the summit and only realised on the descent what a disaster it would have been had it slid out of reach. See Glaciers of the Alps, p. 160.
Please cite as “Tyndall1678,” in Ɛpsilon: The John Tyndall Collection accessed on