DEAR SIR,—I have just received your letter of today,2 and intend to shortly reply to such portions as seem to me to require it.
As regards the way in which your attention was turned to the subject which is in question, of course you are the best as well as the only authority, and I have no intention of challenging any statement on your part, deliberately made, and where there are no facts within my knowledge proving that your recollection misleads you. Such, however, I believe to be the case in reference to what occurred at the Royal Institution in April, in the course of our conversation. You then spoke of a ‘triple alliance’a (those were the words you used). I replied, ‘Leave the sun to us at Oxford,’3 but added that, as regarded experiments on artificial sources of rays (the expressions, I believe, were ‘the other two experiments,’ meaning those described in my paper), I should be happy to cooperate with you separately. If there was ‘no closing’4 with any offer, it must have been on your part, and as regards this last-mentioned offer, which I made in answer to your own.5
a That was after I had said that I was bound to Mr. Griffith.6
J. Tyndall, ‘On the History of Calorescence’, Phil. Mag., 29 (1865), pp. 218–31, on p. 224
[1 November 1864]: date provided by Tyndall in his recollections of his dispute with Akin recorded in J. Tyndall, ‘On the History of Calorescence,’ Phil. Mag., 29 (1865), pp. 218–31, on p. 224. Tyndall noted that this was the second letter he received from Akin in this dispute out of five; the fifth, which has not been found, was dated 9 November 1864. See also letters 1925, 2075, 2076, 2079, 2114, 2162, 2167, 2168, 2170, 2173, 2182, 2183, 2190, 2197, 2198, 2201, 2204, 2208, 2214, and letters in volume 9.
your letter of today: letter missing.
‘Leave the sun to us at Oxford’: Tyndall could only work by electric light in the basement of the RI, while Akin and Griffith could work with natural light.
‘no closing’: Tyndall indicated that the word ‘closing’ was placed between inverted commas, because in his reply to Akin’s first letter he had reminded him that ‘he had not “closed” with my proposal’ (Tyndall, ‘History of Calorescence’, p. 224).
your own: Tyndall did not include the manner in which Akin closed this letter, although he stated in the article that the ‘extract’ appears ‘in extenso’ (Tyndall, ‘History of Calorescence’,’ p. 224).
Mr. Griffith: George Griffith (c. 1834–1902), an English science educator. He taught at Oxford from 1857–67 (where he worked with Akin), but left after the professorship of Experimental Philosophy was given to Robert Clifton in 1865. He was afterward the first natural science master at Harrow (1867–93). Griffith also took an active role in the BAAS, serving as its assistant general secretary for thirty years (1862–78, 1881, and 1890–1903) (B. P. L., ‘George Griffith’, Nature, 66 (1902), p. 64).
Please cite as “Tyndall2165,” in Ɛpsilon: The John Tyndall Collection accessed on