24th. July 1862.
My dear Tom
Huxley will soon see you and explain to you all that I have been doing of late: it is not much. This day I reached Zermatt and tomorrow I cross to Breuil.1 I know not what the future may afterwards bring forth. Huxley will tell you of the accident on the Aletsch glacier.2 I never was so shocked in my life, but the lost man was rescued, and is now in perfect health. The accident is to be ascribed mainly to carelessness.
My health is growing very strong. In fact I am nearly as strong at present as ever I have been in my life. Huxley also improved greatly. I wish sincerely that when you commence your holiday your recovery may be as quick and as complete.
Yours affectionately | John
RI MS JT/1/HTYP/520
LT Typescript Only
Breuil: a village on the Italian side of the Matterhorn which serves as a base for climbing the mountain from that side, and is reached from Zermatt via the Théodule pass.
Aletsch glacier: the largest glacier in the Swiss Alps; Tyndall’s climbing party suffered an accident when, Bielander, one of their number, fell into a crevasse (see letter 1915).
Please cite as “Tyndall1916,” in Ɛpsilon: The John Tyndall Collection accessed on