London
My dear Hector,
For many a day I have been thinking of writing to you, but my head has been in so bad a state that I could hardly muster power to do so.1 I go to Switzerland on Friday2 in the firm hope of being able there to restore my strength, but I must write to you before I go. What a fearful business this is in which you are engaged3—History I suppose has no parallel to it. I heard with alarm that Harper’s Ferry4 was involved in recent actions, knowing that you were there. I never doubted that wherever you might be you would behave as a man & a soldier, but I wish that instead of being where you are you were here with me. Reflection would perhaps cause me to cancel this wish; for you no doubt are where your duty calls you, that is to say where each of us ought to be. Is there any hope of its being settled? any prospect of this awful shedding of blood being about to cease? Your first brush with the confederates was mentioned in the English newspapers—old Anderson,5 our assistant at the R.I., asked me soon afterwards whether I had any relatives in America, as he had seen your name. It is idle now to ask whether it would not have been better at first to let the South go her way—the fire has been lighted and must burn itself out.
Well my dear Hector however my general sympathies may tend in this quarrel be assured of it that there is at least one man in England who would glory in your success, and sympathise with you in reverse. My whole interest in the grounds of the quarrel is I confess merged in its actual consummation. Excuse this rambling note—I am unfit to write a better one. Hirst & Debus often speak of you, and with the strongest desire to learn something of your fate:—I know Hirst has been purposing to write to you for many weeks; but like myself his head has been confused & his work heavy. For a good while after your leaving6 England Col. Yorke7 enquired after you. Do write to me like a good fellow—Your last letter8 was a great delight to me. Were I a praying man I would say may God guard you. Give me credit for a wish equivalent to the prayer.
Affection[atel]y yours | John Tyndall.
RI MS JT/1/T/1445
RI MS JT/1/TYP/1635–6
my head has been in so bad a state: Tyndall suffered from headaches, dyspepsia, and insomnia from the late 1850s until his death (U. DeYoung, A Vision of Modern Science: John Tyndall and the Role of the Scientist in Victorian Culture (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2011), p.16). They are a recurrent theme in his letters throughout this and other volumes.
I go to Switzerland on Friday: Tyndall took a tour of the Swiss Alps from 4 July until mid-August.
What a fearful business this is in which you are engaged: a reference to Tyndale’s military service as a Union General in the American Civil War.
Harper’s Ferry: a small town in West Virginia. Prior to and during the American Civil War, the town was the site of a famous raid on an arsenal by abolitionist John Brown (1800–59) on 16 October 1859. During the war, the town changed hands several times because of strategic location, particularly for railroad access.
Anderson, our assistant at the R.I.: Charles Anderson (1790–1866) served in the Royal Artillery, achieving the rank of sergeant. In 1827 he was first employed at the RI to assist Faraday in the project (on behalf of the Board of Longitude) of improving optical glass.
With the termination of that project in 1830 Anderson became Faraday’s laboratory assistant and also assisted him in his RI lectures. He remained in this position until his death in 1866.
after your leaving: Tyndale visited London in 1854, staying at 142 Strand, the
boarding house and publishing business of John Chapman, proprietor of the Westminster
Review (Ascent of John Tyndall, p. 90).
Col. Yorke: Philip James Yorke (1799–1874), a British army officer and keen amateur chemist and mineralogist. He was one of the founder members of the Chemical Society of London (ODNB).
last letter: see letter 1860 (23 January 1862), Tyndall Correspondence, vol. 7.
Please cite as “Tyndall1912,” in Ɛpsilon: The John Tyndall Collection accessed on