1853 ADVICE TO TYNDALL 167 



trying to ferret out more nearly your chances of a post, 

 and here are my results (which, I need not tell you, must 

 be kept to yourself). 



At the Museum in Jermyn Street, Playfair, Forbes, 

 Percy, 1 and I think Sir Henry would do anything to get 



you, and eliminate ; but, so far as I can judge, the 



probability of his going is so small that it is not worth 

 your while to reckon upon it Nevertheless it may be 

 comforting to you to know that in case of anything 

 happening these men will help you tooth and nail. 

 Cultivate Playfair when you have a chance he is a 

 good fellow, wishes you well, has great influence, and 

 will have more. Entre nous, he has just got a new and 

 important post under Government. 



Next, the Koyal Institution. This is where, as I told 

 you, you ought to be looking to Faraday's place. Have 

 no scruple about yoiir chemical knowledge ; you won't be 

 required to train a college of students in abstruse analyses ; 

 and if you were, a year's work would be quite enough to 

 put you at ease. What they want, and what you have, 

 are clear powers of exposition so clear that people may 

 think they understand even if they don't. That is the 

 secret of Faraday's success, for not a tithe of the people 

 who go to hear him really understand him. 



However, I am afraid that a delay must occur before 

 you can get placed at the Royal Institution, as you cannot 

 hold the Professorship until you have given a course of 

 lectures there, and it would seem that there is no room 

 for you this year. However, I must try and learn more 

 about this. 



Under these circumstances the London Institution 

 looks tempting. I have been talking over the matter 

 with Forbes, whose advice I look upon as first-rate in all 

 these things, and he is decidedly of the opinion that you 



1 Dr. John Percy, 1817-1889, Professor of Metallurgy at the 

 Royal School of Mines from 1851 till its removal to South Ken- 

 sington in 1879. 



