16th December 1863
Dear Sir
In reply to the first of the two questions which you have done me the honour of addressing to me1 I have to state that though my aim is to make the Christmas lectures2 an organic whole, still the appliances which we possess at the Royal Institution will enable me to illustrate the last two lectures of the Course in a manner which, I think, would render them agreeable and instructive to His Royal Highness the Prince Arthur.3
It is not in the amount of knowledge conveyed by such lectures that their chief value consists, but in the intelligent interest which they excite in the works of Nature;—an interest which often abides long after its exciting cause has passed away. My opinion therefore is that even the last two lectures of the Course would not be without value to the Prince.
With regard to the second question I would beg to state that at all times my duty and my delight will go hand in hand in imparting to any member of the Royal Family such knowledge as it is in my power to communicate. If I were permitted to make a remark as to the best way of carrying out the wishes of Her Majesty,4 I would say that I do not think a formal lecture the most suitable means of securing the interest and instruction of their Royal Highnesses the Princesses, for, as you rightly observe, the apparatus necessary to illustrate such a lecture could hardly be introduced into a drawing room. Instead of a lecture I should therefore propose a conversation on such a series of experiments as I could by simple appliances execute in the presence of their Royal Highnesses.5 My desire indeed would be to employ the humblest means and to show their Royal Highnesses the wonders which underlie common things, and the wealth of interest which Nature possesses for those who appeal to her aright.
The arrangement of my duties at the Royal Institution gives me a little breathing time from the 9th to the 16th of January inclusive. On any one day or on any two days of this period I shall be prepared to execute to the best of my ability her Majesty's commands.
Believe me | dear Sir | very faithfully yours | John Tyndall
M. Holzmann Esq[ui]r[e]. | &c &c &c
RI MS JT/2/11 (in loose plastic sleeve)
of addressing to me: letter missing.
Christmas lectures: the RI’s annual juvenile Christmas Lectures began in 1827 and still continue. Tyndall delivered the Christmas Lectures a dozen times over his time with the RI, his first in 1861 (see F. A. J. L. James (ed.), Christmas at the Royal Institution: An Anthology of Lectures (Hackensack, NJ: World Scientific, 2007)). This season’s lectures, his second time, was on ‘Electricity at Rest and Electricity in Motion’, and the lectures were given on 26, 29, and 31 December 1863, and 2, 5, and 7 January 1864 (Roy. Inst. Proc., 4 (1862–6), pp. 157; RI Guard Book, vol. 3, p. 29). The reference here is to the lectures on 5 and 7 January.
Prince Arthur: Arthur William Patrick Albert (1850–1942), Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn, the seventh child and third son of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert (ODNB).
Her Majesty: Queen Victoria.
their Royal Highnesses: following the end of his Christmas lectures on ‘Electricity at Rest and Electricity in Motion,’ Tyndall lectured at Osborne House on 30 and 31 January 1864 to Queen Victoria and the Princesses Victoria Adelaide Mary Louisa (1840–1901), Alice Maud Mary (1843–78), Helena Augusta Victoria (1846–1923), Louise Caroline Alberta (1848–1939), and Beatrice Mary Victoria Feodore (1857–1944) (ODNB; Ascent of John Tyndall, p. 181). Osborne House was the royal residence in East Cowes, on the Isle of Wight. The house, designed by Prince Albert, served as a summer home and rural retreat. Thomas Hirst noted in his journal entry for Sunday, 31 January 1864, that Tyndall ‘left for Osborne’ on Friday (Brock and Macleod, Hirst Journals, p. 1663).
Please cite as “Tyndall2052,” in Ɛpsilon: The John Tyndall Collection accessed on