Address delivered before the British Association assembled at Belfast

London: Longmans, Green, and Co., 1874. FIRST EDITION. Blue publisher’s cloth, author and title in gilt on front cover; some rubbing on cloth boards, hinges starting but otherwise a very good copy from the library of Chichester Fortescue, Baron Carlingford, with his bookplate and ownership signature dated 1874. First edition. The eminent physicist Tyndall lambasted religion in this inflammatory address, given at the 1874 annual meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science. In vivid descriptive language, he argues that theology has impeded scientific progress and must entirely submit to science on matters of truth and the cosmos. The Belfast Address was widely criticized by the Church, the scientific community, and the press—all of whom Tyndall addresses in the preface. The Address tarnished his reputation, exemplified by his depiction in numerous contemporary publications. For example, William Hurrell Mallock unfavorably satirized Tyndall in his novel The new republic (1877), where Tyndall appears as a long-winded and naïve atheist.

The present copy was owned by Chichester Samuel Parkinson-Fortescue (1823-98), Baron Carlingford and 2nd Baron Clermont, Chief Secretary of Ireland (1865-66, 1868-71). One of the most prominent Irish members of the Liberal party, he was a formative part of Gladstone’s ministry. This edition was published the same year that Fortescue was elected to the peerage as Baron Carlingford.

Tyndall (1820-93) was an Irish physicist and philosopher. In the early stages of his career, he worked on diamagnetism and the movement of glaciers. This work influenced him to focus on climate science and thermodynamics in the later half of his life. He published important works on heat and solar radiation, atmospheric light and particle interactions, and the color of the sky. He served as the superintendent of the Royal Institution from 1867 to 1885. Not content to leave his work in the laboratory or the academy, Tyndall was an outspoken, sometimes controversial, public intellectual.

Tyndall: DNB, XIX, pp. 1358-1363; Fortescue: DNB, XXII, pp. 652-654.