128 Life and Letters of Francis Gallon 



lust year. As you understand the circumstances in which I was placed as regards 

 juniority, I shall not attempt any further to justify my failure. If it is not infra <li<j. 

 after a Cambridge degree, I shall of course go in again. . . . 



I have secured my berth in the Ostend steamer and start to-morrow at 12. 

 I will send you my medical books in a parcel. Don't let them be opened. My other 

 lx>oks I will pack up separately. My chemicals too I had rather were not touched. 

 I have been unavoidably prevented from calling on Leonard Homer. Will you write 

 to him and tell him of my proceedings 1 1 saw the Gurneys to-day. She talks about 

 coaxing Bessy or Emma to Chiswick. As I have much to do, I will wish you good-bye. 



Loves to all. 



Your affectionate Son, 



FRAS. GALTON. 



Of this " stay in Giessen " Francis's letters must themselves speak. 

 There are two dated Giessen, the others are from Vienna, Buda Pest 

 and Constantinople ! A sketch-book diary shows that Francis, then 

 18 years of age, went down the Danube to Vienna, thence to Con- 

 stantinople, thence to Smyrna, Syra, Athens. Beyond this records 

 are obscure. Sketches show that he was at the Bay of Navarino 

 on Sept. 13, and at Missolonghi on Sept. 14. A projected itinerary 

 in the early part of the book gave a return by Rome, Pisa, Genoa, 

 Marseilles and Paris. But he was still in Ithaca, when he should have 

 been near Pisa, and from Constantinople he requested money to be 

 sent to Trieste. The brief notes ceased after Sept. 14, and I do not 

 know how Francis got home ! 



Those who had seen the Wanderlust rising to full intensity in 

 the planned Norwegian expedition might have been fairly sure that 

 Liebig would not hold him. His diary tells only the external side of 

 the attack : 



"Giessen, July 30th, 4J p.m. Being thoroughly ennuied and kicking about on 

 the sofa, I suddenly thought of a voyage to Constantinople and made up my mind 

 in a quarter of an hour and sent off my passport to be viseed to Frankfurt ; then went 

 to Herr Prof. Adrian for my grammar lesson, who it seems went the same route last 

 year, and who gave me several good hints. Wrote a penitent letter home begging for 

 absolution, and without waiting for an answer packed up." 



MONDAY, 27 July, 1840, 



GIESSEN, 1 o'clock. 

 MY DEAR FATHER, 



I arrived yesterday at Giessen in the afternoon. I find that Liebig's 

 laboratory is under quite different arrangements to those which Mr Daniell, Mr Miller 

 and myself had expected. The plan with which it is conducted is as follows : 

 A number of men (30 at present), who have long studied practical Chemistry, wish 



