XL] FAILURE OF HEALTB. 369 



Saturday Renew, had been said by me, or by others 

 years ago ; and I suspect tbat it is to be, in part at least, 

 a dressing up of old ideas in new phrases. No one can 

 fairly say that I have not acknowledged the difficulties 

 and mysteries which attend processes which I have as- 

 certained to take place, though I shall gladly acknow- 

 ledge any advance in this direction on the part of Faraday, 

 Tyndall, or any other. 



My first knowledge of the London- world being stirred 

 on the glacier theory came in not the most pleasant 

 manner. Two letters arrived one after the other from a 

 London celebrity, whom I shall not at present name, to 

 my colleague, Balfour, evidently glorying in my coming 

 defeat in terms sufficiently provoking, but which showed 

 that it was to be made a regular party question in scien- 

 tific circles there. I wrote to Sir Charles Lyell for some 

 information about it, which he kindly gave me in a letter 

 with which I also trouble you. . . . All I can do is to sit 

 still till the indictment is made out, and I cordially wish 

 my enemy to write a book and print it speedily, as any- 

 thing is better than inuendo and suspense. 



* On the whole I can thank God that I take these things 

 more coolly than I once could do.' 



To the Same. 



'EDINBURGH, 10 & 11 March, 1857. 

 ' . . . Now I will say something of our plans or 



>ects, still rather indefinite. 



'Since I last wrote on the subject, the then scale of 



" home " and " abroad " has certainly been inclining rather 



towards the latter ; and this not as a vague impression 



ly, but in consequence of circumstances not under 



our control. . . . 



' Alicia thinks, perhaps, more strongly than I do, that 

 the im ig air and scenery of Switzerland mi^ht 



restore the power of my limbs, and, of course, I cannot 

 help having some hope of it too. If you consider it other- 

 wise a safe experiment, if cautiously made, as, of course, 

 it would be, I shall think about it. ... What 1 f<rl 



B B 



