Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 44.djvu/526

512. The concluding part of the last lecture of the course was without experiments, and consisted of an estimate of the work of science and. of the claims of original investigators. This was listened to by the vast audience present with almost breathless attention and made a profound impression.

A remarkable test of the public enthusiasm occurred on the evening of one of the lectures. During the preceding twentyfour hours the city was the scene of a raging snowstorm, a heavy body of snow falling, which was piled into drifts by the violent wind. With all his Alpine experience Tyndall spoke of this as "stupendous weather." Although it stopped snowing and the wind went down at nightfall, the horse cars were blocked and the streets were almost impassable. Tyndall, thinking there would be no audience on such a night, questioned whether it would be worth while to go to the hall, but finally decided to do so. To his astonishment and that of everybody else, the crowd was again on hand, not a seat remaining unoccupied. Prof. Tyndall afterward alluded to "that heroic audience which paid me the memorable compliment of coming to hear me on such an inclement night."

Tyndall had always said that it was not for him to exploit the United States as a lecturer for money, and that he should not take away a dollar of the profits that might accrue from his lectures. This was not generally known, and when it was publicly announced, the statement was received with a good deal of incredulity. A widely circulated weekly said "it was a pleasant story, but not exactly true. . . . After paying all expenses he will take home about fifteen thousand dollars, which on the whole is what the printers call a 'fat take' for three months' work." But the truth is that for nearly six months' labor he did not take a dollar of his earnings above actual expenses.

The total receipts for his lectures were $23,100, made up as follows: Boston (six lectures), $1,500; Philadelphia (six lectures), $3,000; Baltimore (three lectures), $1,000; Washington (six lectures), $2,000; New York (six lectures), $8,500; Brooklyn (six lectures), $6,100; New Haven (two lectures), $1,000. After deducting expenses, $13,033 remained, and before leaving the country Prof. Tyndall placed this fund in the hands of a board of trustees consisting of Prof. Joseph Henry, Dr. E. L. Youmans, and General Hector Tyndale, with the recommendation, as expressed in his deed of trust, that they appropriate the interest of the fund in supporting or assisting to support, at such European universities as they may consider most desirable, two American pupils who may evince decided talents in physics, and who may