Queenwood College. | near Stockbridge. | Hampshire. | June 2th 1861.
My dear John,
Although I have nothing in particular to say yet I feel inclined to write, and so I sit down in order to send you a few lines.
The other day whilst walking up and down the corridor, before going to lecture, I stepped into No 101 and there I found on the table the Roy. Inst. lectures delivered by you and others some years ago.2 Naturally, I turned to your lecture, and when I read the old familiar style I took the book away with me and read the whole of your work and Faraday’s.3 I feel transported to days gone by and pictures and images, thoughts and arguments, which had almost been obliterated from my mind began to revive and regain their original freshness. I was pleased with your conclusion and thought it eloquent. When I hear such questions mentioned, as: Is language an original gift of the Creator, or is it an artificial production of the human mind, &c I cannot help thinking that men who can propose such questions are not of the highest calibre. And if I come to consider the value, pains and time devoted to philosophical stories I must think that people do not know exactly the requirements of the age, the country or the mind. Language is a Form, a mode, how the mind expresses the results of its labors so as to be intelligible to other men. I am certain that it has as such its laws, like Logic and other abstractions from the working of our nature, and that it is a connecting link between mind, matter, and mind. But the realities of the world, the substance created, the things that be, their motions, transitions, relations, in fact the substance of all, is one Kingdom, it is the land where mathematics and the sciences hold their sway, and where twattle has no mask to delude the world. Nature is the mind of the Creator revealed to mortal eye, read it, be its true exponent, and you shall know more of Him then all the schools can teach you.
I saw a few days ago your name in the paper as one of the guests of my Lord Mayor at the Mansion House.4 Then it has come to this at last, you have turned a companion of Aldermen and turtle-soup5 and are reckoned one of the great of the land. To be serious, I liked to see that my Lord Mayor recognizes such a body as the Roy Soc and the Roy Acad. It is a great sign and will no doubt bring good fruit. After this week, which commenced to day, our examination commences, and another half year has gone down in the gorge of time. I have not yet decided where to go during the holidays. If it is possible for you to arrange, then we must have another day together either in this part of the country or when I come to London. George has quite recovered6 and appears as jolly as usual. Do you feel inclined to come to the concert?7
Now I have written you a long letter just as thoughts appeared in my mind and you must receive its shortcomings in an indulgent manner. With my kind remembrance to Tom
yours always | H. Debus.
RI MS JT/1/D/29
No 10: not identified, but perhaps one of the classrooms. Plans of Queenwood College have not been found.
the Roy. Inst. lectures delivered by you and others some years ago: This series of seven weekly lectures, given between 29 April and 10 June 1854, were a consequence of Faraday’s intense concern about the popularity of spiritualism and table-turning. He criticised the system of education that could produce such credulity, and commissioned with Bence Jones a series of seven Lectures to highlight the wider issues. The series was opened by William Whewell, speaking on ‘The Influence of the History of Science upon Intellectual Education’, Lectures on Education, delivered at the Royal Institution of Great Britain (London: J W Parker & Son,1854).
your work and Faraday’s: Tyndall gave his lecture ‘On the Study of Physics as a Branch of Education’ on 20 May 1854 (see ref n. 2, pp. 171–211). Faraday’s lecture ‘Observations on Mental Education’ was given two weeks earlier, on 6 May (see ref. n. 2, pp. 39–88).
one of the guests of my Lord Mayor at the Mansion House: Tyndall dined at the Mansion House on 25 May 1861 (Journal, RI MS JT/2/13c/1217).
turtle-soup: a reference to the reputation at big dinners of guests dining on turtle-soup.
George has quite recovered: possibly George William, son of George Edmondson, headmaster of Queenwood College.
Do you feel inclined to come to the concert?: The date of the concert, which ended the term at Queenwood and which Tyndall often attended, is unknown. Though Tyndall went to the Isle of Wight from 16–19 June, he does not mention going via Queenwood in his journal.
Please cite as “Tyndall1786,” in Ɛpsilon: The John Tyndall Collection accessed on