17th Sept[embe]r. 1862
My dear Sir.
Your letter2 reached me a few minutes ago and I hasten to tell you that I read it with great gratification. I had already, through the kindness of Mr. Holmes3 made myself acquainted with your recent expeditions, which are described in an extremely interesting style.4 Certainly you must have made good use of your time as a student of English, and but few Englishmen could put their adventures in a more captivating form than you do yours.
I shall be most happy to take charge of any papers or maps that you may send and to deliver them to the Geographical Society.5 Sir Roderick Murchison, a former president, who takes great interest in the proceedings of the Society is my personal friend, & I am sure he will have due acknowledgement made of your contributions.
I have had an excursion of 5 or 6 weeks in the Alps this year my chief object of scientific interest being the extension of ancient glaciers. From an inspection of the Alps it must occur to any man with a power of mechanical reasoning that the present valleys are in almost all cases, valleys of erosion. But by what agent? The traces of the ancient glaciers, clearly stamped as if they had occurred last year, may be traced to the bottom of the present valleys and their presence proves how comparatively feeble ordinary atmospheric denudation is; since during the stretch of ages which have intervened since the glacier epoch the said denudation has been unable to obliterate their superficial marks. But what a mighty plough a glacier must have been. With a thousand feet of depth every square foot of the glacier’s bed is pressed upon by a force of 25 tons! Imagine a tool thus pressed & at the same time urged downward by the vis à tergo and you have an agent competent to scoop out the valleys of the Alps.
Wishing you every success in your researchers
Believe me dear Sir | Yours most truly | John Tyndall
Your letter bears upon its envelope the words “TOO LATE.”
Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand, MS-Papers Turnbull 0037-143
[Julius Haast]: probably Julius Haast, a German-born New Zealand explorer and geologist (H. F. Haast, The Life and Times of Sir Julius von Haast: Explorer, Geologist, Museum Builder (Wellington: H. F. von Haast, 1948), based on the content of the letter and New Zealand archive address.
Your letter: letter missing.
Mr. Holmes: not identified.
your recent expeditions… interesting style: between 1860–61, Haast carried out several geological surveys in New Zealand, namely near Auckland and Nelson (J. Haast, Topographical and Geological Exploration of the Western Districts of the Nelson Province, New Zealand (Nelson, New Zealand: C. and J. Elliott, 1861).
Geographical Society: the Geographical Society of London.
Please cite as “Tyndall1928,” in Ɛpsilon: The John Tyndall Collection accessed on