To John Frederick William Herschel   17th Sep. 1864.

Royal Institution of Great Britain | 17^th Sep. 1864.

Dear Sir John,

Your excellent letter¹ in the Athenaeum, which I trust will have the effect of stifling that contemptible ‘Declaration’² reminds me that I received in a remote corner of the Italian Alps a most interesting letter³ from your pen; that I on my arrival in Bormio⁴ posted a note to you in reply to that letter; that I enclosed the note in a letter to my friend Mrs Frederick Pollock,⁵ but that I now find that the letter never reached Mrs Pollock,⁶ and that consequently the enclosure never reached you.

I told you in that note that I purposed reprinting that fine passage from the Outlines of 1833⁷ regarding the operations of the sun, in the 2^nd edition of my book⁸ now in preparation, I have already copied it, and it will duly reach the printer’s hands.

I also referred to the extremely philosophical views of muscular contraction contained in your letter,⁹ and suggested the desirability of publishing that portion of the letter which referred to this subject.

If delay therefore has occurred in replying to a letter which I valued very much it has been caused by the ineffable stupidity and carelessness of the post office people in the Italian valleys of the Alps.

Yours most truly | John Tyndall.

RS HS 394a

RI MS JT/1/TYP/2/528