least of all, with my own part in it. This discontent affected me
for some days, during which I wrote to Faraday, giving him no
details, but expressing, in a general way, my dissatisfaction.
I give the following extract from his reply:--

'Sydenham, Oct. 6, 1855.

'My Dear Tyndall,--These great meetings, of which I think very well
altogether, advance science chiefly by bringing scientific men
together and making them to know and be friends with each other;
and I am sorry when that is not the effect in every part of their
course. I know nothing except from what you tell me, for I have not
yet looked at the reports of the proceedings; but let me, as an old
man, who ought by this time to have profited by experience, say that
when I was younger I found I often misinterpreted the intentions of
people, and found they did not mean what at the time I supposed they
meant; and, further, that as a general rule, it was better to be a
little dull of apprehension where phrases seemed to imply pique,
and quick in perception when, on the contrary, they seemed to imply
kindly feeling. The real truth never fails ultimately to appear;
and opposing parties, if wrong, are sooner convinced when replied to
forbearingly, than when overwhelmed. All I mean to say is, that it
is better to be blind to the results of partisanship, and quick to
see good will. One has more happiness in oneself in endeavouring to
follow the things that make for peace. You can hardly imagine how
often I have been heated in private when opposed, as I have thought,
unjustly and superciliously, and yet I have striven, and succeeded,
I hope, in keeping down replies of the like kind. And I know I have
never lost by it. I would not say all this to you did I not esteem
you as a true philosopher and friend.[1]