On board the Cunard R.M.S, Franconia 



July 24, 1912. 

 My dear Smyth: 



In the enforced and most dreary idleness of shipboard life I find 

 opportunity to fulfill my promise and give you some account of the 

 Royal Society junketings. 



I sailed from Boston on July 2 in the Arabic and had a very quiet and 

 comfortable (with the usual reservations) voyage of something less than 

 nine days, landing at Liverpool early on the morning of the nth, and 

 w^as in London by lunch time. Awaiting me was a very nice letter from 

 Poulton with the news, equally astonishing and delightful, that an 

 Oxford degree was impending over my head. 



Saturday and Sunday were very agreeably spent in Cambridge and 

 I was back in London in time for the preliminary reception of "the 

 Royal" on Monday evening. There was a big bunch of Americans there, 

 including Hibben and Fine, Hadley, Butler, etc., etc. Each country was 

 to select its spokesman for the addresses on Tuesday, and the lightning 

 hit me. No particular compliment was implied in this, for the dele- 

 gation wished both to avoid the discussion of personal fitness and to 

 head off some that might be thought to have claims, so the place was 

 given to the A. P. S., as the oldest of American scientific societies, rather 

 than to me. I wanted very much to refuse, but could hardly do so under 

 the circumstances. 



Tuesday morning there was a short service in the choir of Westmin- 

 ster Abbey, which was extremely impressive and the singing was quite 

 wonderful; most of the delegates attended in Academic costume, which 

 the damp, muggy heat rendered almost intolerable. 



At 2.30 came the presentation of addresses, one speech limited to 

 three minutes, for each nation; then all the delegates of that country, 

 as their names were called, filed before the president and made their 

 bow to him, handing in the written addresses at the same time. At this 

 game the Germans scored heavily, for they presented a beautiful bronze 

 tablet from the "Universitates Germaniae," which aroused great enthu- 

 siasm. The whole function was made very trying and oppressive by the 

 suffocating heat, three hundred or more delegates being jammed into 

 the Society's library and a heavy silk gown being no alleviation. 



In the evening was the great dinner at the Guild Hall, a beautiful 

 sight and a magnificent dinner, but the speeches were dreary for the 

 most part. Mr, Asquith was very disappointing; he merely read some 



C 293 3 



