Sept[em]b[e]r 22d 1864
My dear John,
Thanks for your liberality.1 I sincerely hope you have not given me too much and deprived yourself of a portion of your own. If you have time would you have the kindness and improve the English of some examination questions I have prepared? I should feel very thankful if you would. I have read the accounts about the Br. Association2 published from day to day by the papers, and have been struck by the superiority of interest manifested by the public in the labours of the geographical section over that in the proceedings of the other departments. Livingstone3 is no doubt a very courageous and enterprising man but it appears to me as if there was a bit of the Humbug about him.
Ever yours | H Debus
RI MS JT/1/D/32
Thanks for your liberality: Tyndall had arranged to pay Debus for his work marking examinations for South Kensington (see letter 1926, n. 3 and letter 2137). Tyndall had clearly responded to Debus in a subsequent letter which is missing.
Br. Association: see letter 2138, n. 1.
Livingstone: David Livingstone (1813–73), a Scottish physician, Christian missionary, and explorer in Africa (ODNB). Livingstone had just returned to England from the Second Zambesi Expedition (1858–64), which had been organised by the Royal Geographical Society to explore South East Africa for mineral and other resources and to open up the Zambesi River to navigation. Although Livingstone was lauded by many as a national hero (which only increased after his death), a number of expedition members recorded that Livingstone was an inept leader incapable of managing a large-scale project.
Please cite as “Tyndall2144,” in Ɛpsilon: The John Tyndall Collection accessed on