a 
ET. 53.] TO R. W. CHURCH. 525 
England, in normal times worth only from $4.90 to 
$5.00, is worth nearly or quite $8.00, so that a con- 
tribution of £5 sterling really now counts here for 
about forty dollars!! So you see how hard it is for 
me to discourage your kind intentions. But I really 
feel that the sum which I specified, as the condition 
of my own gift to our university, is really quite sure, 
though slower in coming than we had hoped. 
As to the building for the herbarium, I have only 
to state it goes on famously. It is considerably 
enlarged in plan from what was at first contemplated, 
and a favorable early spring has allowed of more pro- 
gress than could have been expected at this season. 
The generous donor of the building not only 
adopted at once the larger plans as soon as suggested, 
but himself proposed improvements and additions. 
The building, the foundations of which are already 
laid, in the most substantial manner, is 382 by 57 
feet, and is connected with my private study in the 
house I reside in by a neat conservatory 18 feet long, 
which takes the place of the simple wooden corridor 
at first intended. The whole will cost Mr. Thayer, 
the donor, by the contracts, more than $11,000, and 
is likely, by extras, to reach the round sum of $12,- 
000. And all will be done before the summer is 
over, we trust. 
See how the expression of your interest to me has 
led me on, to the neglect of everything else I want to 
write about. . . . I wish to say something about the 
troubles in your Old World, which, with all its age 
and wisdom, falls into “ difficulties ” hardly less grave 
than ours. I hope poor brave Denmark will not be 
crushed out of existence. There are English ques- 
tions which we regard with much attention, ecclesias- 
