PROFESSOR TYNDALL.

Auckland Star, Volume XXIV, Issue 289, 6 December 1893, Page 4

PROFESSOR TYNDALL.

\By the death of Professor Tyndall, ab the age of sevehby-tbree years, science, no b only in England, bub throughout the whole world, Lac lost one of her most di 8 . tinguiabed sons. The newa of the decease of the author of the popular *• Fragments of Science," which appears in our cablegrams to-nighb, was by no means unexpected It ba ß been known here for some time past thab Professor Tyndall was n a very precarious etate ot health..

Writing to a gentleman in Auckland only a few tuunbiiH buck he said that he was puttering from a com plication of seven diseases, and be evidently did not entertain any hope of hia recovery. He wag, however, most cheerful under his sufferings, and though he had censed to take an active part in scientific investigations, hia interest in the advancement of science was as fresh as ever. To young students ha was always willing to give any assistance he could, and bis courtesy towards his many correspondents, was a marked feature of his active life. "As an exponent of scientific discoveries," cays a recent authority, " Professor Tyndall occupies the foremost place among his contemporaries, his only rival being his friend Professor Huxley. It would be impossible to over estimate their labours, or their importance, in the modification of the thought of the present generation. To sketch his life and enumerate the works would not give to the general public anything but a very inadequate estimate of his place in the scientific world, bub it might convey some idea of his industry. Born ac Carlow, Ireland, where his father wax 3 member of the Irish constabulary, he joined the Irish Orduunce Survey whon niisetuen years of age. Five years later he bee me a railway engiueer, and in 1847 he vv.t- appointed master at Queen wood Co; lege, Bn. •■-, where he devoted himself to cheixuen- research. His first appearance as an author wa* in his 31st year, when he published a treatise on "The Magnetoptic Properties of Crystals." Thi& volume was tho result of his studies under the great Bunson, This treatise brought him into notice, and two years afterwards ho rt.-i* elected F.R.S., and appointed to chair of natural, philosophy ii Royal Institution of Great Briuii... la 1870 ho published the result of his studios in diamagnetism in a volume entitled "Researches on Diamagnetism | and Magne Crystallic Action." Having visited tue Aips lor purpot>os of recreation in 1849, he became interested in the glacier formation and he renewed his visit yearly in order to carry on his investigations. These resulted in a treatise published jointly with Protessor Huxley on "The Structure ami Motion of Glaciers." Following this came "The Glaciers of the Alps," "Mountaineering," " A Vacation Tour," and other works. The work by which he leaped into the leading ranks as a writer on physics was hia " Heat as a Mode of Motion," in which he summarised his researches into the relations of radiant heat to gaees and vapours. Two yeafs later, in 1C65, he published his popular volume on " Sound," and in 1870 a companion work on "Light." His lectures on this latter subject, delivered while on a tour in the United States, have run through numerous editions. In 1874, as President of tho meeting of the British Association at Belfast!, he delivered an address attacking several of the dogmas of revealed religion, | which produced great talk in (fome circles. i For years lie was scientific adviser to the Board or Trade and tho lighthouse authorities, but resignoil thoae posts in 1883. Among Ijib works not enumerated above wo may mention: ''Faraday aa a Dis- ! coverer," '' Natural Philosophy in Eaey i Lessons," "On the Scientific Use of j tho Imagination," " Fragments of Science," i'%On tho'Transmission of Sound by the ! Atmosphere," " Fermentation," "Lessons iin Electricity," and '• Es.»ayi? on the Floati ing Mutter in the Air in Relation to Putrej faction and Infection." \ The valuo of such a man as Professor i Tyndall can only be fully estimated by a ! few. The great mass of people knew him j only a* a distinguished name, or at best, j their acquaintance with hi* works was eon- ■ fined to thoce lectures of hip which have [done co much to popu^ari^e the study of ■ science in certain of its branches. Only those, however, who were his co workers, j understand the range of his researches,, ami tlio importance of the contributions ho has rrride to the scientific knowledge of the present day. Such men as he are rare, and their value to the world inestimable. They, and such as they, constitute whac Carlylb calls "The celostial body-guard of the empire of mankind." They are the remnant by which the world is saved. Wothing is better calculated to impress on us the value of 6uch men than Kenan's remarK that even at the present hour there aro not more than fifty minds capable of keeping abreast of the progress of certain sciences and carrying them forward. "Culture such as this residing in a very small number of brains may be easily destroyed. An inquisition of do greater severity than such as Italy witnessed in the 16th century, measures such as Louis XIV. employed agninst tho Huguenots, would BufKco." Happily, such calamities as Renan refers to aro not likely to befall us now, but there is a danger, as ho elsewhere points out, of such a fall' of several degrees in the intellectual atmopphero of the civilised world as would produce the eamo effect. By all that wo can do to show honour to our highest in every department, we aid in maintaining that temperature which is necessary for their existence. Greut men are not so numerous that we can make too much of them while they live or soon cease to deplore their decease.