Dec[em]b[e]r. 25. 1863.
Dear Sir,
I have no doubt that the course you propose to have in the lectures at Osborne1 will be the best to make them interesting and instructive. From the lectures at the Royal Institution I know very well what beautiful experiments may be introduced when the subject treated of is in any way connected with Light; but unfortunately there would be no possibility of finding here a room capable of being darkened. It will be sufficient to say that there is no gas in the rooms.
The Queen proposes to have the lectures in the evening from 6 to 7 o’clock, and her Majesty very probably would be present herself with the Princesses,2 Prince Leopold3 and the Ladies and Gentlemen of the Household.
As the Queen is very anxious that the Princesses should know something more of natural sciences than may be learnt from books alone, and especially as the late Prince Consort4 took so great an interest in the cultivation of science, her Majesty will very likely have a continuation of the lectures at a later time. It is to be hoped that the Court may be then at Windsor or London, that the arrangements for the lectures might be made easier.
Believe me, | dear Sir, | very sincerely yours | M. Halzmann
John Tyndall, Esq., F.R.S.
RI MS JT/2/11/308
course you propose to have in the lectures at Osborne: see letter 2052, n. 5.
Princesses: see letter 2052, n. 5.
Prince Leopold: Leopold George Duncan Albert (1853–84), the eighth child and youngest son of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert (ODNB).
the late Prince Consort: Francis Albert Augustus Charles Emmanuel (1819–1861), Prince Albert, husband of Queen Victoria (ODNB).
Please cite as “Tyndall2056,” in Ɛpsilon: The John Tyndall Collection accessed on