31st. May 1864.
My dear Tom
I wrote to you yesterday1 and enclosed such documents as had come here for you. This morning some proofs have come from Longman2 which I send you, and a long memoir from Signor Cremona,3 which, as you are now probably near its author, I have detained.
My health has been very shaky4 of late, but by care I am petting it and making it strong. It has been a mixed disturbance of body and mind; but the body as in most cases has been the chief cause of my suffering. My mental ills I have driven away by a kind of occupation which has interested me for the last week or so. In connexion with the new edition of my book I have had to look over the second Essay of Mayer,5 which is as yet unpublished in England. And I was so much struck by its beauty and importance that I set to to make a kind of resume6 of it. I have connected it with the work of others, and put Mayer in the position which he ought to occupy in the current of history. In doing this I have had occasion to refer to controverted points and at first feeling the power which the strength of my case conferred upon me I was disposed to use a strong hand; but I returned to my work again and again, discharging more and more personal feeling from my heart, and finally attaining such perfect philosophical tranquility that no one could detect a trance of temper in what I have written. And I have thus purged my writing of personal feeling without diminishing its strength in any degree. As it at present stands I think it will produce general conviction, and make my enemies somewhat ashamed of themselves.
This piece of work has thrown my preparations for my Friday evening7 in the back ground; but I will commence them to day and God knows ten days are sufficient to expend upon a thing of the kind. I intend to give them an evening on magnetism,8 in which I will gather a number of interesting experiments round a kernel of original matter which belongs to myself.
Lubbock and Mrs Lubbock9 are going to Turin this week. Write to her Poste Restante there. She speaks of leaving Lubbock in Turin to transact his banking business and of going to Bologna to pay you a visit! I have not yet decided any thing regarding my summer campaign, but today I must try to meet my friend Forester10 and to arrange something.
I have been very much alone of late and have but rarely dined out. After my slice of mutton at dinner I have strolled up the Finchley Road and sought the groves of Hampstead. Hampstead is lovely just now, and I like a peaceful stroll there. I return between nine and ten, and find that exposure to the air helps me to sleep.
Sylvester has been enquiring about you many times since you went away.
I don’t think I have any thing more to say to you worth hearing. The news from Leighlin Bridge11 is better on the whole. I hope the cloud will pass away.
Believe me dear Tom | Ever yours affectionately | John Tyndall
RI MS JT/1/HTYP/531
LT Typescript Only
I wrote to you yesterday: letter 2096, written on 17 May but not sent until 30 May.
Longman: either Thomas Longman (1804–79) or William Longman (1813–77), brothers who ran the publishing firm Longman, Green, Longman, and Roberts.
Signor Cremona: Antonio Luigi Gaudenzio Giuseppe Cremona (1830–1903), an Italian mathematician and professor of geometry at the University of Bologna (CDSB).
My health has been very shaky: see letter 2090.
second Essay of Mayer: see letter 1904, n. 3.
kind of resume: J. Tyndall, ‘Notes on Scientific History’, Phil. Mag., 28 (1864), pp. 25–51.
preparations for my Friday evening: see letter 2091, n. 7.
an evening on magnetism: see letter 2091, n. 7.
Lubbock and Mrs Lubbock: John Lubbock and Ellen Frances Horden Lubbock.
Forester: probably William Edward Forster (see letter 2095, n. 15), whom Tyndall had been planning to climb with. See also letter 2110.
The news from Leighlin Bridge: a reference to Tyndall’s mother’s health. See letters 2090 and 2095.
Please cite as “Tyndall2098,” in Ɛpsilon: The John Tyndall Collection accessed on