Cambridge Observatory, | Oct 8th 1862.
My dear Tyndall,
I meant before now to have written a line to ask how you are getting on, and to tell you how sorry we all are that you were obliged to leave so soon, especially for such a cause. I hope, however, that the unpleasant consequences of the accident will soon pass away.1
Stokes tells me that he was once in an exactly similar case, and was not long in getting right again, though he had slight occasional reminders of the strain to which he had been subjected, for some time afterwards.
Our meeting2 is now almost over, and has, I think, passed off tolerably well. We had a great crush yesterday in Section A,3 listening to Glaisher’s4 account of his Balloon ascent,5 which he gave very well and clearly.
Please give us a line as soon as convenient, and tell me how you are.
Yours very truly, | J. C. Adams.
RI MS JT/1/TYP/1/2
LT Typescript Only
accident will soon pass away: Tyndall had injured his back while he was at Cambridge, while trying to lift a one hundred pound bag of ice when preparing the experiments for his lecture (see letter 1932, n. 6 and letter 1937). Afterward he went to the Isle of Wight to recuperate.
Our meeting: the BAAS held its thirty-second meeting in Cambridge from 1–7 October 1862 (see letter 1904, n. 9).
Section A.: Section A is the Mathematical and Physical Science section of the BAAS.
Glaisher: James Glaisher (1809–1903), a British meteorologist, aeronaut, and astronomer. He is most noted for his balloon ascents to measure temperature and humidity (ODNB).
Balloon ascent: this refers to Glaisher’s 5 September ascent, in which he is estimated to have risen as much as 10,900 meters above sea level, and passed out around 8,800 meters. Tyndall was a member of the BAAS Balloon Committee, which had been established at the 1858 Meeting and ran for several years (‘Recommendations of the General Committee’, Brit. Assoc. Report 1858, p. xxxix; and ‘An Account of Meteorological and Physical Observations in Eight Balloon Ascents, made, under the Auspices of the Committee of the British Association for the Advancement of Science at Manchester, by James Glaisher, F.R.S., at the request of the Committee, consisting of Colonel Sykes, Mr. G B. Airy, Lord Wrottesley, Sir D. Brewster, Sir J. Herschel, Dr. Lloyd, Admiral FitzRoy, Dr. Lee, Dr. Robinson, Mr. Gassiot, Mr. Glaisher, Dr. Tyndall, Mr. Fairbairn, and Dr. W. A. Miller’, Brit. Assoc. Report 1862, pp. 376–503).
Please cite as “Tyndall1933,” in Ɛpsilon: The John Tyndall Collection accessed on