vi.] PROFESSORIAL LIFE. 143 



' I wish I could send you any news worth having ; but 

 you know my winter habits are not such as to furnish 

 me with much chit-chat. 



' Young Mackintosh, of Geddes, is attending my lec- 

 tures. He brought me a letter from Albyne. I like 

 him extremely. He tells me that he is acquainted with 

 von. and he had heard somehow or other that you did 

 not like your present situation, and, like me, he was 

 sorry for it. We had a very pleasant walk together 



The summer of 1837, from May to October, was 

 spent in an extended tour through North Germany 

 and Austria, and in the summer of 1838 he returned to 

 the same country for a less extensive tour and for a 

 shorter time. 



The summer of May 1839, from May till August, was 

 spent in the South of France and more or less among the 

 Alps. In August he was recalled by the meeting of the 

 ish Association, which took place at Birmingham. 

 These foreign summers fall to be noticed not in this, but 

 in another chapter. 



The winter of 1837-8 was busy with experiments on 

 radiant heat, till these as well as his lectures were inter- 

 rupted for a time by an attack of scarlet fever, in March 

 1838. Th< rinit nts were, however, again recom- 



menced, and continued to engage him during the winters 

 S38-39 and of 1839-40. At the close of the latter 

 winter .-L.ssion they were dropped for a considerable 

 .ill of time, and though afterwards taken up, never 

 received a long and undivided attention, 

 following letters belong to this period, and bear 

 on this subject : 



To M. < 1 AUCHY. 



;.M:rn<,ii, December 11M, 1839. 



... I receive with the #r- ntrrest your sugges- 



aubject of radiant heat, and your promise to 

 Dry, In my third paprr I ha\v proved 

 ration, I think, that all kinds of radiant i 



