5 io THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



I go to Niagara next week, so that the fortnight will be one of relaxation in 

 part and in part of preparation. 



I have pledged myself to lecture in New Haven in January. They would be 

 sorely disappointed if I did not do this. ... I remain here till Wednesday, when 

 I propose starting for Niagara. 



The following letter gives Tyndall's first impressions of Ni- 

 agara Falls : 



INTERNATIONAL HOTEL, NIAGARA FALLS, Monday morning, November 4, 1872. 



MY DEAE YOUMANS : I came here on Friday afternoon and have been active 

 ever since. The first impression made upon me by the Falls was tame, because 

 my point of view was not a good one ; but they have grown in strength and 

 majesty as I have seen more of them. I had a somewhat exciting day on Satur- 

 day, penetrating into unexpected regions under the Horseshoe Fall. I had a fine, 

 strong fellow with me as guide ; he had been put upon his mettle, and he led me 

 into extraordinary places into places, indeed, where no prudent man ought to 

 be found. . . . 



I remain here doing some work until Thursday, when I start for Philadelphia. 

 If I find from my assistants that matters are all right in Philadelphia, I may be 

 induced to stay till Friday. There is nothing, I suppose, to be arranged regarding 

 New York ? If there were, I could go that way and have a word with you. 



I arn stronger than when I came, and my work will gradually become easier 

 to me at least I hope so. I quitted Boston on Thursday, not completing all I 

 wished to do, nor seeing all I wished to see. Still, my sojourn there was a mo>t 

 pleasant one. The only drawback was that many people thousands I was told 

 wished to hear the lectures who were unable to hear them. 



With kind regards to Mrs. Youmans and your sister, also to Mr. Appleton, 

 Believe me ever faithfully yours, 



JOHN TYNDALL. 



I find by contact with intelligent people here and there that you are well 

 known in your own country and that your work is duly appreciated. 



In the following letters Prof. Tyndall gives his impressions of 

 his audiences in Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Washington : 



PHILADELPHIA, November S3, 1812. 



MY DEAE YOUMANS : The second ordeal has been passed, and I believe success- 

 fully. The audience at first might have damped a person who reckoned on ap- 

 plause, for the Quaker element is strong in Philadelphia, and Quakers eschew 

 the clapping of hands. But the attention was unflagging throughout. I drew 

 heavily upon their patience, occupying them sometimes for nearly two hours. I 

 did not see one yawn in the assembly, nor one mark of weariness from begin- 

 ning to end. 



They warmed up, moreover, and behaved very much as other Christians in the 

 end. I hardly think any Englishman ever spoke so freely to an American audi- 

 ence as I did to mine last night. I repeated one of De Tocqueville's hardest say- 

 ings with reference to the poverty of their achievements in the higher walks of 

 science. I took to pieces the claims of the so-called practical man, not attenuat- 

 ing his merit in the slightest, but opening to their view a region of antecedent 

 discovery to which practical men were not contributors, but from which they 



