1876 VISITS AMERICA 199 



my Saturdays and Sundays are mortgaged to one or 

 other of your judges (good judges, obviously). 



Shall you be at home on Monday or Tuesday? If 

 so, I would put on a kilt (to be as little dressed as 

 possible), and find my way out and back ; happily im- 

 proving my mind on the journey with the tracts you 

 mention. Ever yours very faithfully, 



T. H. HUXLEY. 



4 MELVILLE STREET, EDINBURGH, 

 July 1, 1876. 



MY DEAR SKELTON Very many thanks for the copy 

 of the Comedy of the Nodes, which reached me two or 

 three days ago. Turning over the pages I came upon 

 the Shepherd's " Terrible Journey of Timbuctoo," which 

 I enjoyed as much as when I first read it thirty odd years 

 ago. Ever yours very faithfully, T. H. HUXLEY. 



On June 23 he writes home : 



Did you read Oilman's note asking me to give the 

 inaugural discourse at the Johns Hopkins University, 

 and offering 100 on the part of the trustees? I am 

 minded to do it on our way back from the south, but 

 don't much like taking money for the performance. Tell 

 me what you think about this at once, as I must reply. 



This visit to America had been under discussion 

 for some time. It is mentioned as a possibility in a 

 letter to Darwin two years before. Early in 1876 

 Mr. Frederic Harrison was commissioned by an 

 American correspondent who, by the way, had 

 named his son Thomas Huxley to give my father the 

 following message : " The whole nation is electrified 

 by the announcement that Professor Huxley is to 

 visit us next fall. We will make infinitely more of 



