14th June 1864
My dear Tom,
It was a great relief to me to see your handwriting last night as I was beginning to be very anxious with you. I had pictured to myself a thousand ugly possibilities, nor could the consciousness that somebody would assuredly write to me in case any thing serious had happened to you quite dispel my uneasiness. Well it is a relief to hear from yourself though I could wish that you were able to send me better intelligence.
I am aiming to get away from this place as near the first of July as I can. I go straight to the Engadin,1 and make Pontresina2 my headquarters. Ball3 joins me there on the 20th & from the 20th to the 25th we spend in the Lower Engadin. We are afterwards to be found by Forster4 at Santa Caterina5—not far from Bormio6, where we all there hope to attack the Ortler Group,7 and spend a week together among its fastnesses. Afterwards Ball purposes that we should visit the Dolomite Mountains,8 but this is a part of the expedition to which I have not yet committed myself.
Now what do you think of joining me at Pontresina?—I hope to be there about the 6th of July, & we could then have a clear fortnight together—afterwards if you thought well of it you might accompany us on our excursion. I am disposed to think that this would be of great & mighty benefit to you.
Only one letter has come for you: lots of suspicious looking documents have arrived, but all those I opened were either advertisements or something equally worthless. A large quantity of proofs has come from Spottiswoode, but I forwarded you the only copy of the Educational Trans9 that came to me. This morning I received a characteristic note from Henry Hill.10 Pridie11 has evidently been giving him a bad account of your health—‘If I was a single man’ says this poor fellow ‘I would most willingly die for him.’ I read the note for Faraday this morning—it brought tears to his eyes—there is something very genuine about it—so genuine that I wish to keep it.
My Friday evening I am told passed off extremely well. In fact though the subject was a slender one, the success of every thing appeared to please the audience mightily—There was a Queen’s ball, and a meeting of the Astronomical Society—still the house was full.
Many people have been enquiring after you—among others Sylvester whom I see frequently. Busk, Carpenter,12 Huxley, Ramsay & many others constantly ask about you: so that you are certainly not forgotten in London.
I wish I could have you with me for one clear month. The belief has forsaken me that that month could do more for you than any thing else. My poor sister13 was sent to the sea, and in the little town where she resides lives a namesake—a Miss Margaret Tyndall—a ‘veritable third cousin’ she calls herself. It is funny how these people turn up. I am also asked to spend next Friday on the Thames between Marlowe and Windsor with my friends the Tyndale’s of London.14
I hope you will soon write to me and that when you write you will be able to send me better news.
Yours affectionately | John
BL Add MS 63092, ff. 31-2
RI MS JT/1/HTYP/532
Engaden: the Engadine, a long Alpine valley in southeastern Switzerland.
Pontresina: a small town about 3 miles to the east of St. Moritz, in the Engadine.
Ball: John Ball.
Forster: see letter 2098, n. 10.
Santa Caterina: a small commune in northern Italy, twenty kilometers to the southeast of Bormio.
Bormio: a town in northern Italy.
Ortler Group: a mountain range of the Southern Limestone Alps mountain group in the Central Eastern Alps, in Italy and Switzerland.
Dolomite Mountains: a mountain range located in northeastern Italy. They form a part of the Southern Limestone Alps and extend from the River Adige in the west to the Piave Valley in the east.
Educational Trans: not identified.
note from Henry Hill: letter 2109; Hill was a friend of Hirst’s.
Pridie: see letter 2109, n. 2.
Carpenter: William Benjamin Carpenter (1813–85), a prominent physiologist and devout Unitarian who dedicated much of his intellectual life to advocating for the compatibility of science and religious belief. He had many friends among the scientific community. Although in his youth his views on natural law had been viewed as theologically suspect, he rose to become one of the most eminent men of science of his day. He won the Royal Medal, was elected FRS, succeeded Faraday as Lecturer at the Royal Institution, and was appointed Registrar of the University of London in 1856. From 1869 he was a prominent member of the Metaphysical Society (ODNB). While he was on friendly terms with Huxley and Clifford, he and Tyndall did not enjoy a friendly relationship.
my poor sister: Emma Tyndall.
Tyndale’s of London: possibly John William Warre Tyndale and his family who lived in London. See letter 2095.
Please cite as “Tyndall2110,” in Ɛpsilon: The John Tyndall Collection accessed on