8 LIVE OF PROFESSOR HUXLEY OHAP. I 



The following letter also touches upon the function 

 of the Institute from the commercial side : — 



4 Marlborough Place, 

 Fch. 20, 1887. 



My dear Donnelly — Mr. Law's suggestion gives 

 admirable definition to the notions that were floating in 

 my mind when I wrote in my letter to the Times, that I 

 imagined the Institute would be " a place in which the 

 fullest stores of industrial knowledge would be made 

 accessible to the public." A man of business who \\ants to 

 know anything about the prospects of trade with say, 

 Borrioboola-Gha {vide Bleak House) ought to be able to 

 look into the Institute and find there somebody who will 

 at once fish out for him among the documents in the 

 place all that is known about Borrioboola. 



But a Commercial Intelligence Department is not all 

 that is wanted, vide valuable letter aforesaid. 



I hope your appetite for the breakfast was none the 

 worse for last night's doings— mine was rather improved, 

 but I am dog-tired. — Ever yours very faithfully, 



T. H. Huxley. 



I return Miss 's note. She evidently thinks my 



cage is labelled " These animals bite." 



Later in the year, the following letters show him 

 continuing the campaign. But an attack of pleurisy, 

 which began the very day of the Jubilee, prevented 

 him from coming to speak at a meeting upon 

 Technical Education. In the autumn, however, he 

 spoke on the subject at Manchester, and had the 

 . satisfaction of seeing the city " go solid," as he 

 expressed it, for technical education. The circum- 

 stances of this visit are given later. 



