Deanery, Hereford. | Dec. 18th 1860.
My dear Tyndall
You must not suppose that your Glaciers of the Alps have not been read by me; I got the book on its first coming out and I don’t know that I ever read anything with greater interest or which gave me more pleasure, in fact you are both a philosopher and a poet, and I shall only make you too vain if I tell you the way in which I hear many of my friends speaking of Tyndall on Glaciers.
Your sending me a copy1 has given me very great pleasure, and I shall value it as a memorial of your friendship. I cannot resist sending you a few schoolboy answers to questions set by Mr With the schoolmaster, you recollect him, to the senior boys in the school, and which have arisen out of reading the Glaciers. The lark soaring in the air and the volume of air put in motion when she sings. He, (With) has been giving a few lectures on light and he gave me the enclosed2 yesterday to look at, being their first attempts at answering in writing two or three questions which he had set them; these are selected out of a dozen or 15 which are much the same, but for boys so young not a bad attempt. Just cast your eye over them and then throw them into your waste-paper basket.
We have just now adopted some of Constable’s reading books in two of our schools here, and seeing your name as a writer in one called the Advanced Reading Book,3 led to our ordering and the lessons on Light suggested this subject as within their reach.
With, the master,4 is a very excellent fellow and has a great deal of science in him. I gave him your note this morning with which he was much pleased and I told him I should send a few of his boys’ papers to shew you that we take a hint and show you that the throwing stones into a pool of water, or seeing a bird rise on its wings in the air were becoming with us more than mere matters of amusement.
And now, my dear Tyndall, let me tell that I have for the last two or three months almost every day been threatening to write both to yourself and to Frankland,5 to ask what you were about and if there was any chance of our being able to persuade you both to pay us a visit here. You are both of you such busy men that I fear it is difficult to persuade you to leave London. I can only say that whenever you can come and spend a week or ten days with us, at whatever time of year suits you best, we should be most glad to see you, and I shall write to Frankland in a few days and tell him we hope to have Mrs Frankland with him.
I have few friends that I should be more glad to see than Frankland and yourself, or in whom I feel a greater interest, and Mrs Dawes begs me to add you must come although you did not send your kind regards to her today, which she missed much, but begs me to give hers to you.
It is post-time so I must conclude, and with our kindest regards,
Believe me, my dear Tyndall, | Always sincerely yours | R. Dawes.
It was with much regret that I heard of our friend Barlow’s resignation6 of his post at the Royal Institution, and still more so to hear his health is not good.
RI MS JT/1/TYP/1/320A–20B
LT Transcript Only
Your sending me a copy: see letter 1753.
the enclosed: enclosure missing.
the Advanced Reading Book: Constable’s Educational Series, Advanced Reading Book, Literary and Scientific (1860) (Edinburgh: Thomas Constable and Co., 1860). The section on Light is on pp. 51–60. Tyndall also contributed sections on Sound, Heat, and Electricity.
the master: George Henry With.
Frankland: Edward Frankland.
our friend Barlow’s resignation: The Reverend John Barlow (1798–1869), Secretary of the Royal Institution 1843–60. He was succeeded by Henry Bence Jones.
Please cite as “Tyndall1754,” in Ɛpsilon: The John Tyndall Collection accessed on