The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1894-02-11
RE minis cE NC e s
or the Late
PROFESSOR TYNDALL.
o-y-sS Isst. ~ sA NOE. E-os1

last honoru to . valued friend; and sometimes
another II the undue postponement Of such
tribute to his memory &c remains possible. OF
both these evils have just had experience
IL was. I think. in 1852 that Prot Tyndsll
gave at the Royal Institution the lecture by
which he won his spurs. proving. as he then
did, to Fsraday himself that he had been
wrong In denying dismagnetlo polarity. /
was present at that lecture and when In
troduced TO Tyndall very shortly after II,
there commenced one OF those friendships
which enter into the fabric OF life and leave
their marks Though both had pronounced
opinions about most things. and though
neither had much reticence. the forty years
which have elapsed since we frat met wit
messed no lntsrruptlon OF our cordial relations
Indeed. during recent years OF invalid life SUI
fered by both OF us the warmth Of nature
characteristic ot him has had increased oppor-
tunity for manifesting itself A letter from
him. dated Nov. 20. inquirinR my impressions
concerning the climate OF this place tst Leon
srd'sL raised the hope that something more
than intercourse BY CORES 20 dence would fol-
low: but before I received response to my
reply there came the news OF the sad cstas-
trophe.
Insed not dwell on the more conspicuous OF
Prof Tyndalrs intellectual traits. for these
are familiar to multitudes OF readers. His
eopiousness OF illustration. his closeness Of
reasoning. and his lucdity Of statement have
been sufficiently emphasized by others Here
/ will remark only on certain powers Of
thought. not quite so obvious. which have had
much to do with his successes OF these the
chief lie the scientific use OF the magma
ton" He has himself insisted upon the need
for this. and his own career exemplifes IL
There prevail. almost universally very or
neous ideas concerning the nature OF i'm
agination. Superstltious peoples. whose folk
lore is full OF tales OF fairies and the like. are
said to be Imaginative; while nobody as
cribea imagination to the inventor OF a new
machine. We're this conception Of imagina-
tion the true one. it would imp ply that whereas
children and savages are largely endowed with
It. and whereas II is displayed in high degree
by poets OF the first order. It Is deficient In
those having interim diate types OF mind. But
as rightly conceived. Imagination is the power
OF mental representation. and Is measured By
the vividness and truth OF this represent ation.
30 conceived IL Is seen to disting uish not poets
only. but men OF science: for in them. too.
Imagination bodies forth the forms land ac-
tionsl OF things unknown" It does this In
an equal and sometimes even in q higher
degree; for. strange as tho assertion will
seem to most, It Is nevertheless true
that the mathematician who discloses to US
some previously unknown order Of space re-
lations. does SO by n greater effort Of imagina-
ton than 10 implied By any poetic creation.
Tho difference lies In the fact that whereas
the Imagination OF the poet is exercised upon
objects OF human interest and his ideas glow
with emotion. the Imagination OF the mathe-
matician Is exercised upon things utterly re-
mote from human interest. and which excite
no emotion. the contrasted appropriations OF
their respective powers being due to the cir
-
follow. to q greater Of less extent. the imagi-
matthew aticiau lie In q field inaccessible to
them. and practically non existent
This constructive Imagination tfor We are
not concerned with mere reminiscent imagi.
nationl here resulting In the creations Of the
poet and there in the discoveries OF the man
OF science. 10 tho highest OF human faculties
With this faculty Prot. Tyndall was largely
endowed. In common with successful in
vestigators in general. he displayed 1t in
forming true conceptions OF physical processes
previously misinterpreted or uninterrupted;
and. again. in conceivinR modes by which the
actual relations OF the phenomena could be
dem nstrated; and. again. In devising ut ap-
pliances to this end. But to n much greater
extent than usual he displayed constructive
in agination in other fields He was ex-
cellent expositor: and good exposition i'm
plies much constructive lima gination. A pre-
requisite Is the forming OF true ideas OF the
mental states OF those who are to be taught;
and further prerequisite Is tho Ina Rining OF
methods by which. beginning with concep-
tions they possess. there may be built up in
their minds the conceptions they do not pos
sess. OF constructive Imagination. as dis
played in this sphere men at large appear to
be almost devoid; MS witness the absurd sys-
tens OF teaching which In past times and In
large measure at present have stupefled and
still stupe;y. children by presenting abstract
ideas before thcy have any concrete ideas
from which they can be drawn. Whether as
lecturer or writer. Prof Tyndall carefully
avoided this vicious practice.
In one further way was his constructive i'm
Aeinstion exemplined. When at Queenwood
College he not only took care to set forth
truths in such ways and In such order. that tho
comprehension OF them develop ped naturally in
the minds OF those he taught. He did more: he
those minds themselves in construc-
tive Imagination. He SO presented his prob
lens as to exercise their powers Of investiga-
tion. He did not. like most teachers. make his
pupils mere passive recipients. but made them
active exploEerA
AZ these facts imply Prot Tyndalrs thoughts
were not limited to physics and allied sciences.
but passed into psychology. and though this
WAS not one OF his ropcs. It was a subject OF
interest, to him. Led as he was to make ex-
cuTsions into the science OF mind. he
was led also into that indeterminAte |
region through which this science passes |
into the science Of being; II we can
call that a science OF which the issue is nes-
eenea. He was much more conscious than |
physicists usually are. that every physical in |
luiry. pursued to the end brings us down to
and leaves us face to face with |
IN insolIblo problem Sundry propositions |
which physicists include as lying within their |
domain. do not belong to physics at all. but |
are co ""-ned with our eognitions Of matter
and force. fact clearly shown by the contro-
versy at present going on about the fundamsn-
tails OF dynAnica Bot in him the conscious
ness that there here exists = door which. |
though open science cannot pass through. II |
not always present, was ever ready to emerge.
Not 'improbaGly his early familiarity with /
theological questions. given him By the con-
troversy between Catholicism aud Protestant
ism. which occupied his mind much dur
ing youth, may have had to do with
1.