24th March
My dear Heinrich2
I shall be delighted to see you on the 3rd.—The testimonial of Wurtz3 is very nice, but it is not to be compared with that of Frankland—one is shadow in comparison with the solid substance of the other.
I have not yet decided regarding my Easter trip: I think I shall run down to Portland to see my friend Eddy Wynne4 & have a rush about the County there. We will talk of the subject when we meet.
You certainly are very strongly supported as regards Aberdeen.5 If the chair were to go by testimonial I should say that it would surely be yours. I suppose the decision will soon be made known.
I am working very hard—Lecturing three courses a week,6 and engaged on two books7 at the same time. One of the latter is now complete & will soon be published.8
Goodbye till we meet │Yours ever │John Tyndall
RI MS JT/1/T/309
RI MS JT/5/11/1375
[1862]: Debus applied for the Chair of Chemistry in Aberdeen in 1862. See n. 5.
My dear Heinrich: Debus crossed out before ‘Heinrich’ in handwritten original.
Wurtz: Charles Adolphe Wurtz (1817–84), the Alsatian French organic chemist.
Eddy Wynne: Edward Toler Wynne (1837–89) son of George Wynne, military officer and head of the Irish Ordnance Survey division that Tyndall worked for in the late 1830s.
as regards Aberdeen: the Chair of Chemistry had become vacant with the death of the previous incumbent, Andrew Fyfe, on 31 December 1861. The University Court appointed James Brazier on 8 April 1862, noting that he had already discharged the duties of the Chair for a number of years. [Anon.], ‘Professor of Chemistry,’ Aberdeen Journal, 9 April 1862, p. 5.
Lecturing three courses a week: Tyndall was giving a course of 12 evening lectures on heat at the Royal Institution. The course began on Thursday 23 January. He was also delivering a series of 10 evening lectures on light at the Government School of Mines. The third course has not been identified.
engaged on two books: Mountaineering in 1861 (see letter 1804, n. 9) and J. Tyndall, Heat Considered as a Mode of Motion (London: Longman, Green, Longman, Roberts and Green, 1863).
will soon be published: Mountaineering in 1861 was published on 16 April 1862, see also letter 1804, n. 9.
Please cite as “Tyndall1869,” in Ɛpsilon: The John Tyndall Collection accessed on