My dear Pollock,
Would you kindly look over this preface2 for me—I am <1 word missing> doubt about the last paragraph—ought it to stand, or would you advise me to expunge it?
My feelings would lead me to dedicate the book to our Managers,3 but if a shade of doubt could attach itself to the act I would not do it—advise me here pray.
By the Managers I mean the ruling body of the Institution, not of course excluding any of its officers—but I should object to making a parade of President Vice presidents &c. Perhaps on the whole it is safest to omit it—Ask Mrs Pollock4 what she thinks.
Yours ever | J. Tyndall
I have got a capital Valentine from Fred.5 “Break!” “Make!”—with awful explosions as a consequence6
RI MS JT/1/TYP/6/2001
LT Typescript Only
[after 14 February 1863]: the date is given by reference to a Valentine and to Tyndall’s soon-to-be published book Heat as a Mode of Motion.
this preface: to Heat as a Mode of Motion.
dedicate the book to our Managers: Tyndall in fact dedicated Heat as a Mode of Motion to the Members of the Royal Institution, rather than the Managers. It is unclear whether this was under Pollock’s advisement.
Mrs Pollock: Juliet Pollock.
Fred: Frederick Pollock, the oldest son of William Frederick and Juliet Pollock.
“Break!” “Make!”—with awful explosions as a consequence: in the Valentine, Frederick Pollock was making a reference to Tyndall’s conception of fracture and regelation in relation to the structure and motion of glaciers (see Tyndall Correspondence, vol. 6). The Valentine is held by the RI (RI MS JT/8/3/2).
Please cite as “Tyndall1973,” in Ɛpsilon: The John Tyndall Collection accessed on