348 LIFE OF PROFESSOR HUXLEY CHAP. XIV 



On this occasion Lord Granville had written 

 back : 



11 CARLTON HOUSE TERRACE, 

 July 28, 1883. 



MY DEAR PROFESSOR HUXLEY Clay, the great whist 

 player, once made a mistake and said to his partner, " My 

 brain is softening," the latter answered "Never mind, I 

 will give you 10,000 down for it, just as it is." 



On that principle and backed up by Paget I shall 

 write to Harcourt on Monday. Yours sincerely, 



GRANVILLB. 



The Commission of course cut short the stay at 

 Milford, and on September 12, he writes : 



We shall leave this on Friday as my wife has some 

 fal-lals to look after before we start for the north on 

 Monday. 



The worst of it is that it is not at all certain that the 

 Commission will meet and do any work. However I am 

 pledged to go, and I daresay that Brechin Castle is a very 

 pleasant place to stay in. 



Lastly, he was thinking over the obituary notice 

 of Darwin which he had undertaken to write for the 

 Royal Society though it did not appear till 1888 

 that on F. Balfour being written by Sir M. Foster. 



HlGHCROFT HOUSE, MlLFORD, GODALMING, 



Aug. 27, 1883. 



MY DEAR FOSTER I do not see anything to add or alter 

 to what you have said about Balfour, except to get rid of 

 that terrible word " urinogenital," which he invented, 

 and I believe I once adopted, out of mere sympathy I 

 suppose. 



Darwin is on my mind, and I will see what can be 



