1876 LETTERS FROM NEWPORT 



497 



On the i6th he left to join the " Alexander Agassiz " at 

 Newport, whence he wrote the following letters : — 



Newport, Aug. 17, 1876. 



My dear Marsh — I really cannot say how much I enjoyed 

 my visit to New Haven. My recollections are sorting them- 

 selves out by degrees and I find how rich my store is. The 

 more I think of it the more clear it is that your great work is 

 the settlement of the pedigree of the horse. 



My wife joins with me in kind regards. I am yours very 

 faithfully, T. H. Huxley. 



To Mr. Clarence King 



Newport, Aug. 19, 1876. 



My dear Sir — In accordance with your wish, I very will- 

 ingly put into writing the substance of the opinion as to the 

 importance of Professor Marsh's collection of fossils which I 

 expressed to you yesterday. As you are aware, I devoted four 

 or five days to the examination of this collection, and was en- 

 abled by Prof. Marsh's kindness to obtain a fair conception of 

 the whole. 



I am disposed to think that whether we regard the abun- 

 dance of material, the number of complete skeletons of the vari- 

 ous species, or the extent of geological time covered by the 

 collection, which I had the good fortune to see at New Haven, 

 there is no collection of fossil vertebrates in existence, which 

 can be compared with it. I say this without forgetting Mont- 

 martre, Siwalik, or Pikermi — and I think that I am quite safe 

 in adding that no collection which has been hitherto formed 

 approaches that made by Professor Marsh, in the completeness 

 of the chain of evidence by which certain existing mammals 

 are connected with their older tertiary ancestry. 



It is of the highest importance to the progress of Biological 

 Science that the publication of this evidence, accompanied by 

 illustrations of such fulness as to enable palaeontologists to form 

 their own judgment as to its value, should take place without 

 delay. — I am yours very faithfully, 



Thomas H. Huxley. 



Breaking their journey at Boston, they went from 

 Newport to Petersham, in the highlands of Worcester 

 County, where they were the guests of Mr. and Mrs. John 



