the History of Calcescence, 149 



was I who, at his request, had granted him a share in the cul- 

 tivation of a field which I had opened up*, and upon which, as 

 he has himself acknowledged to me, he has since been but 

 trespassing; and it was not a little preposterous to expect, to 

 say the least of it, that I would consent to accept as a boon, 

 or stoop to petition for, a share in the produce of what was my 

 own undoubted intellectual property. 



J have understood that the well-known fate of Dr. Mayer, 

 in whose behalf Prof. Tyndall has written so feelingly and mag- 

 nanimously, was brought about by the vexation he encountered 

 in connexion with his speculations on Heat. In former years I 

 should have considered such a statement as a mere piece of senti- 

 mental invention. The experience of the last three years, however, 

 has taught me different ; only, while with certain constitutions 

 continued vexation of this kind, coupled as it but too often is with 

 troubles of another kind, attacks the brain, with different con- 

 stitutions it undermines other, but not less vital, parts of the 

 system. Prof. Tyndall, who is charitable enough to express an 

 implied wish for my non-existence, will no doubt be gratified to 

 learn that the experience I have met with at his hands has acted 

 upon me in the manner he would seem to desire. Yet, strange 

 as it may appear, there are moments when I myself am inclined 

 to palliate his conduct. The colleague of a Paraday, and the 

 successor, virtual or real, of a Davy and a Young, may well 

 consider himself under the obligation to enrich science by at 

 least one signal discovery. Circulars issued by the Royal Insti- 

 tution might ascribe to him the discovery of the Absorption of 

 Heat by Gases ; too kind and partial patrons or friends might 

 speak of the " lustre" of his researches; but Prof. Tyndall well 

 knew that the discovery of the absorption of heat by gases — 

 or even that of the so-called " principles'''' of "dynamic radia- 

 tion/'' and of " accord and discord " — was not his, and that the 

 lustre of his researches, however meritorious some of them 

 might be, had been hitherto far from dazzling. But here there 

 was a genuine discovery, which the best authority on the sub- 

 ject had said would be a great one, and which, though virtu- 

 ally made, yet, being still in want of ocular demonstration, 

 almost any one possessed of the necessary instruments might 

 attach his name to. What neither the qualities of his mind 

 nor the genius of the scene of his labours had hitherto supplied 

 him with, seemed thus suddenly placed within Prof. TyndalPs 

 reach. By writing to the editor of the ' Saturday Review'-^ 

 Prof. Tyndall attempted to claim the discovery in question for 



* At our interview in April, at which Prof. Tyndall seems to have had a 

 clearer conception of our mutual position than before or ever after, he 

 observed to me that he would not " touch at the subject " on which I was 

 making experiments unless I "permitted'* him. 



t Prof. Tyndall, having read the article previously referred to in the 



