6 Windsor Villas | Plymouth | 27 March 1862.
My dear Tyndall,
You will be, I am sure, sorry to hear that I have had a long and suffering illness, of, now, seven months duration, owing to an attack of Iritis, and inflammation of the left eye, and altho’ now progressing favourably, my medical friends will not permit me the free use of my eyesight —hence I am unable to address you in my own handwriting.
My son, who I hope one day to present to you, is a candidate for admission into the Athenaeum Club, and will probably come on for ballot about the end of May2 or the beginning of June: may I venture to hope that you will honor him with my your signature upon the Ballot Certificate, in common with many of my other influential friends?
Allow me to state for your information that he is at present Resident Engineer in Superintendence of the new forts in progress at Portsmouth:—he is the inventor of a new method of atmospheric railway of which he made a beautiful working model: he is the proposer of a new harbor of Refuge and Coaling Depot in Plymouth Sound, for H.M. Ships—which has received the approbation of the best Engineers in the country and relative to which he printed a very interesting paper which was most favourably received by the Admiralty.
He has received, as you may well suppose, a good classical mathematical and physical education: he is much devoted to physical science and I can vouch for, this being a perfect gentleman, having the highest sense of honour.
As the object of these signatures is to assure the Club of the respectability of the candidate, I trust you will see no objection to comply with my request on my son being made known to you.
The Ballot Certificate will lie on the table a week before the day of election of which I will give you due notice.
This late attack of mine has been a sad affair for me; it has thrown back my scientific pursuits dreadfully and prevented me from getting a new work on electricity into the press.3
I look forward with hope and expectation to the pleasure of a visit from you sometime for the summer in order that you may see my cabinet of electrical instruments: I think I have some of the most beautiful instruments for electrical research which have as yet been constructed: I mean of course instruments for illustrating the laws of statical electricity. I am quite satisfied that the scientific work so far as the received opinions go, are very ill-formed upon this very interesting subject.
I should be very loath to leave this world without some provision for the security of those Instruments in their proper place, and have an idea that the geological museum would be a fitting place for their reception: upon this question, and the general laws of electrical force I should like to have a conference with you—could you manage to come and see us some time for this summer?
Believe me to be | My dear Tyndall | Your very sincere friend | W. Snow Harris.
P.S. I hope to be in town about the middle of May.
RI MS JT/1/TYP/2/476–7
William Snow Harris: Sir William Snow Harris (1781–1867), natural philosopher known for his work in electricity and magnetism. He was elected FRS in 1831 and lectured at the RI in the 1830s (ODNB).
come on for ballot about the end of May: Thomas Harris was elected a member on 26 May 1862, proposed by his father and seconded by William Fairbairn (FRS). Tyndall signed his Candidate’s Certificate for Ballot. We are grateful to Jennie de Protani, archivist at the Athenaeum Club, for this information.
a new work on electricity into the press: the work appeared posthumously, with a memoir of the author, in 1867. W. Harris, A Treatise on Frictional Electricity (London: Virtue and Co., 1867).
Please cite as “Tyndall1874,” in Ɛpsilon: The John Tyndall Collection accessed on