1852 DISAPPOINTMENTS ABROAD AND AT HOME 115 



less pleased that it is now a fait accompli. I am, my dear 

 Tyndall, faithfully yours, T. H. HUXLEY. 



P.S. I have heard nothing of Toronto, and I begin 

 to think that the whole affair, University and all, is a 

 myth. 



His hopes of the Colonies failing, he tried each of 

 the divisions of the United Kingdom in turn, with 

 uniform ill-success; in 1852-53 at Aberdeen and at 

 Cork; in 1853 at King's College, London, He had 

 great hopes of Aberdeen at first; the appointment 

 lay with the Home Secretary, a personal friend of 

 Sir J. Clark, who was interested in Huxley though 

 not personally acquainted with him. But no sooner 

 had he written to urge the latter's claims than a 

 change of ministry took place, and other influences 

 commanded the field. It was cold comfort that 

 Clark told him only to wait something must turn 

 up. There was still a great probability of the 

 Toronto chair falling to a Cork professor; so with 

 this in view, he gave up a trip to Chamounix 

 with his brother, and attended the meeting of the 

 British Association at Belfast in August 1852, in 

 order to make himself known to the Irish men of 

 science, for, as his friends told him, personal influence 

 went for so much, and while most men's reputations 

 were better than themselves, he might flatter himself 

 that he was better than his reputation. But this, 

 too, came to nothing, and the King's College appoint- 

 ment also went to the candidate who was backed by 

 the most powerful influence. 



