23rd Feb. | 1860
My dear Heins,
I want you to tell me whether it was not Berthelot1 who first produced organic bodies out of inorganic.2 You remember the speculations which we indulged in on the banks of the Dinan in Brittany3—I am about introducing some similar thoughts into my book,4 referring of course to the relationship of organic & inorganic, so I want to know whether it was not Berthelot who first broke down the division wall between both.
I think you & Tom5 & myself ought to have a rum somewhere during the Easter holidays6—I should like much to take a race through North Wales and to climb Snowdon & other mountains—would that be too far for you?—It would do us all three a great deal of good.
Seven of my lectures7 are over today—five only are now to come. I am working very hard at my book8 and I hope when its ready I shall have no occasion to be ashamed of it.
Simpson9 is here at present and purposes working in some of the laboratories for some time—in which I do not know.
Now goodbye Heins: I wish you success in all your undertakings—the longer I live however the more I feel what a grand thing patience is. A man with brains and patience can conquer any thing—It is really what a wonderful power we obtain over a subject by continuing to look at it.
Goodbye Heins | & believe me | Yours most Sincerely | John Tyndall
RI MS JT/1/T/259
RI MS JT/1/TYP/TYP/2366/2
Berthelot: Pierre Eugène Marcellin Berthelot (1827–1907), a French chemist best known for his work in synthetic organic chemistry.
who first produced organic bodies out of inorganic: Friedrich Wöhler is typically credited with the first instance of producing an organic compound from an inorganic. Wöhler synthesised urea from the inorganic materials ammonium cyanate in 1828, a process which is known as the Wöhler synthesis. However, Wöhler’s synthesis was neither a definitive blow to vitalism, nor did it unify organic and inorganic chemistry. For a brief overview of Wöhler’s synthesis and its role in the development of organic chemistry, see Peter Ramberg ‘Myth 7: That Friederich Wöhler’s synthsis of urea in 1828 destroyed vitalism and gave rise to organic chemistry’ in Ronald Numbers and Kostas Kampourakis (eds), Newton’s Apple and Other Myths about Science, (Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press, 2015) pp 59–66. In the late 1850s, Berthelot formulated an ambitious program to synthesize all organic compounds, and published Chimie organique fondée sur la synthèse, 2 vols (Paris: Mallet-Bachelier, 1860).
Dinan in Brittany: Dinan is a small town in Brittany, France.
I am about introducing some similar thoughts into my book: May refer to what later became the book, Heat as a Mode of Motion (1863), where Tyndall addressed the topic of organic structures.
Tom: Thomas Archer Hirst.
to have a rum somewhere during the Easter holidays: according to Hirst’s journal, Hirst was very sick over the Easter period and Tyndall was also unwell. (Hirst Journal, RI MS JT/2/32c/1531–3).
my lectures: Tyndall lectured on ‘Light’ at the RI in 1860.
my book: likely refers to Glaciers of the Alps published in 1860.
Simpson: likely James Simpson (1811–70); see letter 1648, n. 3.
Please cite as “Tyndall1682,” in Ɛpsilon: The John Tyndall Collection accessed on