1862 | 20th. Aug.
My dear Tom,
I was very glad to hear from you. I am happy to be able to report myself in excellent health. Up the Matterhorn1 I had some desperate climbing, and for an hour was as sure of the summit as I am of finishing this letter, but the last 200 feet are deadly and from these we recoiled.2 We of course moaned and groaned & I believe swore; but it was all to no purpose—the Matterhorn sent us home again.
I almost had a fearful accident on the Aletsch glacier.3 We had to dig a man out of a crevasse in which he had been jammed for nearly two hours4
I have been writing a letter to Joule about Mayer—the proof of which is now in my hand.5 I have also sent a short paper to the Phil. Mag. on the conformation of the Alps.6
Where do you intend to go. Take my advice Tom & do not choose a hot climate: I shrank from Italy this year—I dared not even visit the Lakes.
Goodbye | Yours affectionately | John
Poggendorff & his daughter7 seem very happy. The house is very nice.
RI MS JT/1/T/920
RI MS JT/1/HTYP/520
Matterhorn: see letter 1913, n. 9.
from these we recoiled: see letter 1918.
Aletsch glacier: see letter 1917, n. 6.
I almost had a fearful accident… for nearly two hours: Tyndall recounted this tale in detail in his earlier letter to Faraday (1915). The man who had fallen into the crevasse was Bielander, one of the porters for their trip.
I have been writing a letter to Joule… now in my hand: letter 1920.
I have also sent a short paper to the Phil. Mag. on the conformation of the Alps: J. Tyndall, ‘On the Conformation of the Alps’, Phil. Mag., 24 (1862), pp. 169–73.
Poggendorff & his daughter: Johann Christian Poggendorff and his daughter Marie (b. 1838) visited London to attend the International Exhibition of London. Tyndall had offered them the use of 14 Waverley Place while he was away climbing (see Tyndall Correspondence, vol. 7, letter 1900; and letters 1910 and 1931 of this volume).
Please cite as “Tyndall1921,” in Ɛpsilon: The John Tyndall Collection accessed on