To Annette Roche   20th, Sep, 1864

Royal Institution. 20th, Sep, 1864.

My dear Miss Roche

Thank you a hundred times over for your great kindness. Of the two designs¹ which you have been kind enough to send me I think I like No 1 best. I should like it as solid as possible, and with as little unnecessary ornament as possible.

I shall write to Mr Diegan² and ask him to undertake the work for me. I shall also write to my mother³ as you suggest, though hitherto I have been accustomed to have my own way.

I grew in strength during my stay in Switzerland and did very little in the way of adventurous mountaineering. Nevertheless I was in greater danger this year than ever I have been in before. Descending a mountain I found myself for a time riding on an avalanche to apparent destruction.⁴ There were five of us roped together and the slipping of one of the party on a steep ice slope produced all the mischief. Nevertheless we pulled up just in time after having shot over a space of about 1000 feet. We were somewhat knocked about, and my watch was jerked out of my pocket; I found the broken chain dangling about my neck, and a fragment of the chain in my pocket. The watch was gone.

I went to Italy and stayed there nearly a fortnight—returned to Pontresina,⁵ and made an expedition in search of the watch. I thought that if it had not fallen into a crevasse (we were shot over two of them) the sun might melt the snow and thus bring it to the surface. The watch was found after having lain three weeks embedded! It had simply ran down, was in no way damp within—I wound it up and the creature came to life once more and has continued ticking ever since. Perhaps no watch in the world has had such a romantic adventure.⁶

Believe me | Yours most truly | John Tyndall

RI MS JT/1/TYP/11/3852

LT Typescript Only