My dear Clausius,
It is a very long time since a letter has passed between you and me,1 and I believe I am to blame for this long silence. I have many times thought of writing to you; but I have been so hard worked and my health at intervals has been so poor, that when I could write I had not the time, and when I had the time I was too unwell. Now however the weight of my work has been accomplished and I lose no time in endeavouring to make atonement for my neglect of duty.
I ought long ago to have sent Prof. Escher his book2—indeed I am quite ashamed when I think of the great length of time which I have kept it from him. But the fact is that the discussions of the glacier question interested a great many scientific men in England, and made them anxious to become acquainted with Rendu’s memoir. For their sakes I delayed sending it. It was also my intention to make use of it in some remarks which I thought of writing with reference to Prof. Forbes’s last pamphlet:3 but I dislike personal discussion so much that I thought it better not to publish any formal answer to Forbes, but to wait until my book should reach a second edition,4 and then make my statement. Tomorrow, or the day following I hope to send away Prof. Escher’s volume, and I hope you will have the kindness to return my warmest thanks to him for his great kindness in permitting me to keep it so long.
Along with it I will send three copies of my book on the Alps,5 one for you, one for Mousson6 and one for Escher; I hope they will be accepted as a testimony of my sincere regard, and that I shall be excused the neglect of not having sent them many months ago.
I had some correspondence with Wiedemann and Vieweg7 regarding a German translation of the book: but like every thing else I have neglected answering the last letter which I received upon the subject, and thus it remains undecided.
During the past half year I have been able to do but little original work; my lectures having occupied all my time. But I have just sent in the proof of my paper on the Absorption and Radiation of heat by gases and vapours.8 A translation of it will soon appear in Poggendorff,9 and I hope it will interest you when you read it. What splendid things Kirchhof and Bunsen have been doing of late!10
Magnus it appears has been working at the same subject as I have. I had a letter from him some time ago11 which appeared to have been written under feelings of disappointment. If I understood him right he thought that his results were obtained before mine. The fact is that all my results were obtained in 1859, a year before Magnus touched the subject: I took possession of the field by the note I published and circulated in France, Italy, Switzerland and Germany;12 and having done so waited until my apparatus had reached a high degree of perfection before I published in full. So that as regards both my published and my unpublished work I was first in the field, and indeed had no idea that any body else had entered it. The results of Magnus are of great value, for a subject so important ought not to be permitted to rest upon the testimony of any single individual.
I have given up the glaciers for the present, but have not given up Switzerland. Early in August I start;13 and hope after spending some time at the Aeggischorn14 to go on to the Monte Rosa district, and perhaps try to climb the Matterhorn.15 In company with a friend I attempted it last year,16 and had we time I think we should have surmounted it. This year it will probably be ascended before I arrive, as several of the best climbers in England start in July to make the attempt.
I gave a lecture some days ago on Kirchhof’s researches17 and managed to make the reversal of the sodium line manifest to 500 people. I first steeped my coal points in chloride of sodium: they gave the yellow band on an otherwise continuous spectrum. In front of the electric lamp I placed a hot flame, and in the flame a bit of sodium, it was volatilysed, and cut out the yellow line, leaving an intense dark band in its place. It is quite a glorious experiment: according as the sodium flame was absent or present the yellow line or the black line appeared.
Goodbye | Kindest greetings to my Zürich friends | & believe me | very sincerely yours | John Tyndall | 29th June 1861
RI MS JT/1/T/180
It is a very long time since a letter has passed between you and me: the last extant letter from Tyndall to Clausius is 1664, dated 7 December 1859.
I ought long ago to have sent Prof. Escher his book: Arnold Escher von der Linth. The book referred to may be a copy of Rendu’s Théorie des Glaciers de la Savoie (see letter 1708, n. 4), which Clausius sent to Tyndall after Mousson (see n. 6) had taken it from Escher von der Linth’s library in his absence. See also letter 1619, n. 13.
Prof. Forbes’s last pamphlet: see letter 1731, n. 4.
until my book should reach a second edition: in the event a second edition was not published until 1896, after Tyndall’s death.
three copies of my book on the Alps: Glaciers of the Alps, see also letter 1595, n. 4.
Mousson: Albert Mousson (1805–90), professor of physics at the University of Zürich.
I had some correspondence with Wiedemann and Vieweg: letters missing.
I have just sent in the proof of my paper on the Absorption and Radiation of heat by gases and vapours: Tyndall (1861).
A translation of it will soon appear in Poggendorff: see letter 1767, n. 2. See also letters 1771 and 1792.
What splendid things Kirchhof and Bunsen have been doing of late!: Tyndall is referring to their work on spectra. See letter 1747, n. 3.
I had a letter from him some time ago: letter 1771.
the note I published and circulated in France, Italy, Switzerland and Germany: France: ‘Sur la transmission de la chaleur de qualité différente à travers les diverses espèces de gaz, par M. John Tyndall’, Cosmos, 15 (1859): p. 321–5; Italy: ‘Della trasmissione del calore di diverse qualita attraverso al diversi gas, di J. Tyndall’, Il Nuovo Cimento, 10 (1859): p. 196; Switzerland: ‘Sur la diathemansie des gaz, Lettre de M. John Tyndall a M. le prof. Auguste de la Rive’, Bibliothèque Universelle, 5, (1859): p. 232 (letter 1617). The German note was not published until 1861, hence explaining why Magnus may not have been aware of it: ‘Note on the transmission of radiant heat through gaseous bodies’, Die Fortschritte der Physik im Jahre 1859, 15 (1861), pp. 368–9. A summary also appeared in Journal de Pharmacie et de Chimie, 37 (1860), pp. 204–8 and in Phil. Mag., 19 (1860), pp. 60–1.
Early in August I start: Tyndall left on 31 July 1861.
after spending some time at the Aeggischorn: The Eggishorn stands by the Aletsch Glacier.
perhaps try to climb the Matterhorn: Tyndall was unsuccessful in 1861. His guide, Johann Bennen, declared the attempt impossible, and they did not even set foot on the mountain.
In company with a friend I attempted it last year: see letter 1726, n. 13..
I gave a lecture some time ago on Kirchhof’s researches: see letter 1783, n. 4.
Please cite as “Tyndall1793,” in Ɛpsilon: The John Tyndall Collection accessed on