Royal Institution | Monday
My dear Tom.
I wish I was near you—by Jove I would stir you up. I can answer that question for you:2 it is bodily weakness & it is not indolence—My dear fellow I could shew you half a dozen entries in my journal where I mourn over my lost mental vigour—and blame myself as the cause of it, calling myself unfaithful & so forth, when at the same time it was my bodily mechanism that did the whole mischief. Stay away as long as you can—you will be all the better for it—Do not let the women3 nurse you—ride as much as you can & never mind what Mrs Hirst4 says about the walking (don’t shew her this) I walked 20 miles a day while on the Isle of Wight,5 and after 4 days just felt myself becoming myself. I wish I had stayed two days more away, but Debus’s time was up. I am hard at work at the proofs6 but it is terrible work. I will never write a book again.
am now preparing for my lecture this ev[enin]g.7 and have half a dozen other letters to answer;—good bye dear Tom: walk, ride, jump & be patient—all will come right in the end
Affec[tionaltel]y John
RI MS JT/1/T/949
The date is suggested based on a visit by Hirst to relatives in Yorkshire, to recover from an attack of blindness, and by the dates of Tyndall’s evening lectures at the Royal School of Mines (see n. 7). Hirst left London on 5 April and wrote to Tyndall in the week ending 15 April (Hirst Journal, RI MS JT/2/32c/1534). His journal says he was ‘conscious of a great want of energy’ (Hirst Journal, RI MS JT/2/32c/1534). He noted receipt of a letter from Tyndall in the week ending 22 April (Hirst Journal, RI MS JT/2/32c/1535), which may be this one. We do not know Tyndall’s exact movements in the weeks prior to this, though if the date is correct, he must have made a trip with Debus to the Isle of Wight.
I can answer that question for you: not identified. The letter from Hirst written in the week ending 15 April is missing.
the women: Hirst’s journal mentions that he is with Rachel and Emily. Rachel was the wife of William Hirst, Thomas Hirst’s younger brother, who was a farmer, and Emily was their daughter.
Mrs Hirst: Rachel (see n. 3).
while on the Isle of Wight: see n. 1.
I am hard at work at the proofs: Glaciers of the Alps published on 6 July 1860.
my lecture this evg.: on 16 April, Tyndall was due to give one of the Lectures to Working Men at the Royal School of Mines. These were scheduled for Mondays 12th, 19th, 26th March; and 2nd, 16th, 23rd April, though a note minuted in the meeting of the Council of the Royal School of Mines on 18 February 1860 relates that Tyndall felt unable to give all the lectures that he was scheduled to do, because of pressure of work (Anne Barrett, personal communication).
Please cite as “Tyndall1694,” in Ɛpsilon: The John Tyndall Collection accessed on