CHAPTER NINE 



CAMBRIDGE 



PROFESSOR HUXLEY, who had advised me to go to Cambridge 

 and continue my embryological studies with Balfour, gave me a 

 letter of introduction to Michael Foster, the distinguished professor 

 of physiology at Cambridge. This letter I had forwarded by mail and, 

 in return, received a very kind letter from Dr. Foster, inviting me to 

 make a preliminary visit and be his guest at Shelford. A blockade on 

 the "Underground Railway" made me miss my train at King's Cross 

 and, when I finally reached Cambridge, Foster had gone to London. 

 To quote from a letter of March 20, 1879: "I set out for Trinity Col- 

 lege, in the faint hope that Foster might have mentioned me to his 

 colleague Balfour. This, to my great joy, I found to be the case and 

 I met with a most kind and courteous reception. Balfour took me all 

 over the place, showed me all the sights and introduced me to all 

 the swells. As usual, everybody treated me with marked attention, my 

 nationality being an almost sure passport to favour here." 



I lunched with Balfour in his rooms and dined with him in "Hall," 

 ending a memorable and delightful day and beginning an admiration 

 and love of Cambridge that are as strong now as they were sixty years 

 ago. We love the places where we have been happy and so, in all 

 Europe, the places for which I have a sincere affection are London, 

 Cambridge and Heidelberg; other places were interesting, or beauti- 

 ful, but they did not make a personal appeal to me. 



An event of the first order of importance to me was the coming over 

 of Osborn to join me at Cambridge. 



Our position at Cambridge was somewhat anomalous, as we were 

 not in statu pupilari and were subject to no rules, nor were we mem- 

 bers of any college. Rather, we were privileged guests of the Univer- 

 sity, to whom all facilities were thrown open. Though we worked very 

 hard, our toil was lightened by much charming hospitaUty and we 

 made many friends, very few of whom are left alive. Balfour, in par- 



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