3i8 Edward Livingston Yoiimans. 



Winthrop, w^ho came over in 1630, and who married Mar- 

 garet Tyndale, whose great-grandson was the most distin- 

 guished professor of natural science in New England of his 

 time. Is not this curious ? 



The lectures are going on, but they are difficult. The 

 people crowd to hear them, and Mr. Lowell declares that 

 never previously were they held so fast in the lecture 

 room. I give them an hour and a half, though warned 

 that they would not stand more than an hour. Still the 

 lectures by no means please myself, one reason being that 

 I am at sea as regards the intellectual level of my audi- 

 ence.* . . . 



Go on and prosper, my dear Youmans, in the work you 

 have undertaken. I hardly know any man in Europe or 

 America who enjoys your opportunity of doing good, and 

 the best of it is that it is an opportunity created by your- 

 self. 



Give my affectionate regards to the Methodists. I will 

 not return railing for railing, but, contrariwise, blessing. 

 Yours ever, John Tyndall. 



From Tyndall's numerous letters to Youmans, 

 many of which are concerned with business or else 

 with affairs of strictly private interest, I have culled a 

 few pleasant and characteristic passages : 



* An error which has played the mischief with more than one British 

 lecturer in America, notably with the lamented Freeman, who thought it 

 necessary to tell his audiences in Boston and St. Louis simple outlines of 

 English history known to every schoolboy. As I remember Tyndall's 

 lectures, however, he did not go far astray in this direction. Any British 

 lecturer will always be safe in addressing any American audience he is 

 likely to meet in exactly the same way that he addresses his audiences at 

 the Royal Institution in London or at the Philosophical Institution in 

 Edinburgh. 



