Ponte | Engädin1 | Aug[u]st 26th/63
My dear John.
I arrived at St. Moritz2 more than a week ago, and made, daily, enquiries for you at Samaden3 and Pontresina.4 On Sunday last I received your letter,5 written from the Eggischorn6 and forwarded to me by Mrs Tunstall,7 and to my great disappointment learned that our projected tour together was impossible this year.8 If you had but persevered a little longer, and come to the Engädin9 you would have been rewarded with magnificent weather. I was preparing to leave this neighbourhood on Monday when I learned that precisely on that day the Naturforschende Gesellschaft10 would meet in Samaden. This induced me to prolong my visit and I am glad I did so for I have spent three very pleasant days with the Swiss Naturforscher.11 Clausius was here and Wartmann.12 The former and his friend Dedikind,13 the mathematician, have been my companions in the three excursions that the Society have made. Your absence was greatly regretted by all—Clausius Wartmann Studer,14 Desor,15 Martins16 Escher von der Linth and all others to whom I was introduced. Your theory of the formation of Glaciers17 was attacked, I hear, in the Geological Section; probably by Studer for from his conversation I gathered that he was not a convert of yours—I wish you had been here to defend yourself. I will give you further particulars when I return. I am just going to walk over the Albula pass to Chur18 whence I shall proceed northwards through Frankfort & Marburg to Hamburg perhaps. I am at a loss what to do with myself however, and unless I come to a speedy decision I shall simply return home to scold you. I am well and gaining strength daily. I finished my dictionary19 before I started, and please God when I return I will occupy myself more profitably.
Mrs Tunstall tells me you are looking well. I trust you may not have cause to regret your too hasty return and with love remain as ever Dear John
Yours affectionately | T A Hirst
[Envelope] Prof. Tyndall F.R.S. | Royal Institution | Albermarle Street | London
RI MS JT/1/H/249
Ponte | Engädin: Pontresina, a small town about 3 miles to the east of St. Moritz, in the Engadine, a long Alpine Valley in southeastern Switzerland.
St. Moritz: an alpine resort town in southeastern Switzerland in the Engadine.
Samaden: a small town in the Maloja Region of southeastern Switzerland around 3 miles to the northeast of St. Moritz, also in the Engadine.
Pontresina: see n. 1.
I received your letter: letter 2025.
Eggischorn: see letter 1907, n. 6.
Mrs Tunstall: Tyndall and Hirst’s housekeeper at 14 Waverley Place in London.
our projected tour together was impossible this year: in letter 2025, Tyndall wrote that the weather had been ‘bad’ and ‘defeats all plans’, and thus cancelled his plans to climb in the region.
Engädin: see n. 1.
Naturforschende Gesellschaft: see letter 1906, n. 6.
Naturforscher: naturalists (German).
Wartmann: Elie Wartmann (1817–86), a Swiss physicist and Professor of Natural Philosophy at the Academy of Geneva (HLS).
Dedikind: Julius Wilhelm Richard Dedekind (1831–1916), a German mathematician who made important contributions to abstract algebra (particularly ring theory), algebraic number theory, and the definition of the real numbers (CDSB).
Studer: Bernhard Studer (1794–1887), a Swiss geologist, mountaineer, and professor of geology at the University of Bern. He was elected foreign member of the Geological Society of London and the president of the Geological Survey of Switzerland (HLS).
Desor: Pierre Jean Édouard Desor (1811–82), a German-Swiss geologist and naturalist (HLS).
Martins: Charles Frédéric Martins (1806–89), a French physician, botanist, and geologist. He held several professorships at the Faculté de Médecine, Paris, the Sorbonne, and Montpellier (see ‘Charles Frédéric Martins’, Annals of Botany, 3 (1889–91), pp. 480–2).
Your theory of the formation of Glaciers: after Tyndall’s first alpine explorations in the late 1850s, he proposed a theory of glacial formation counter to James Forbes, in which he described the motion and structure as due to fracture and regelation of the ice, rather than viscosity, as the glacier also slid under gravity (see The Glaciers of the Alps; and the introductions to the Tyndall Correspondence, vol. 6 and vol. 7).
Albula pass to Chur: the Albula Pass is an alpine pass in eastern Switzerland in the Central Eastern Alps. Chur, one of the oldest towns in Switzerland, lies in the Grisonian Rhines Valley, where the Rhine River turns north.
I finished my dictionary: in his journal entry for 12 October 1862, Hirst recorded that he began working on articles for W. T. Brande and G. W. Cox (eds), Dictionary of Arts, Literature and Science, 3rd ed, 3 vols (London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, 1866) which he finished in 1863 (Brock and MacLeod, Hirst Journals, p. 1624).
Please cite as “Tyndall2028,” in Ɛpsilon: The John Tyndall Collection accessed on