1892 LONDON UNIVERSITY REFORM 227 



Government to grant further inquiry before legislat- 

 ing on the subject. 



The protest, which received over 100 signatures 

 of weight, contributed something towards the rejec- 

 tion of the Bill in the House of Commons. It became 

 possible to hope that there might be established in 

 London a University which should be something 

 more than a mere collection of teachers, having as 

 their only bond of union the preparation of students 

 for a common examination. It was proposed to 

 form an association to assist in the promotion of a 

 teaching university for the metropolis ; but the first 

 draft of a scheme to reconcile the complication of 

 interests and ideals involved led Huxley to express 

 himself as follows : — 



HoDESLEA, Eastbourne, 

 March 27, 1892. 



Dear Professor Weldon ^ — I am sorry to have kept 

 you waiting so long for an answer to your letter of the 

 17th : but yoiir proposal required a good deal of con- 

 sideration, and I have had a variety of distractions. 



So long as I am a member of the Senate of the 

 University of London, I do not think I can with 

 propriety join any Association which proposes to meddle 

 with it. Moreover, though I have a good deal of 

 sympathy with the ends of the Association, I have my 

 doubts about many propositions set forth in your 

 draft. 



I took part in the discussions preliminary to Lord 



^ Then at University College, London ; now Linacre Professor 

 of Physiology at Oxford. 



