424 LIFE OF PROFESSOR HUXLEY chap, xxvii 



The following letters to Sir H. Roscoe and Dr. Tyndall 

 were written during this tour : — 



Le Puy, Haute Loire, France, 

 July 17, 1873. 



My dear Roscoe — Your very kind letter reached me just as 

 I was in the hurry of getting away from England, and I have 

 been carrying it about in my pocket ever since. 



Hooker and I have been having a charming time of it 

 among the volcanoes of the Auvergne, and we are now on our 

 way to those of the Velay and Vivarrais. The weather has been 

 almost perfect. Perhaps a few degrees of temperature could 

 have been spared now and then, especially at Clermont, of which 

 somebody once said that having stayed there the climate of hell 

 would have no terrors for him. 



It has been warm in the Mont Dore country and in the 

 Cantal, as it is here, but we are very high up, and there is a 

 charming freshness and purity about the air. 



I do not expect to be back before the end of September, and 

 my lectures begin somewhere in the second week of October. 

 After they commence I shall not be able to leave London even 

 for a day, but I shall be very glad to come to the inaugura- 

 tion of your new buildings if the ceremony falls within my 

 possible time. And you know I am always glad to be your 

 guest. 



I am thriving wonderfully. Indeed all that plagues me now 

 is my conscience, for idling about when I feel full of vigour. 

 But I promised to be obedient, and I am behaving better than 

 Auld Clootie did when he fell sick. 



I hope you are routing out the gout. This would be the 

 place for you — any quantity of mineral waters. 



Pray remember me very kindly to Mrs. Roscoe, and believe 

 me, ever yours very faithfully, T. H. Huxley. 



Hotel de France, Baden-Baden, 

 July 30, 1873. 

 My dear Ty^ndall — We find ourselves here after a very 

 successful cruise in the Auvergne and Ardeche, successful at 

 least so far as beauty and geological interest go. The heat was 

 killing, and obliged us to give up all notion of going to Ursines, 

 as we had at first intended to do. So we turned our faces north 

 and made for Grenoble, hoping for a breath of cool air from the 

 mountains of Dauphiny. But Grenoble was 'hotter even than 



