1S7S ILLNESS OF W. K. CLIFFORD 537 



Settle your own terms with Macniillan. They will be as 

 joyful as I shall be to know you are going to take part in the 

 enterprise. — Ever yours faithfully, T. H. Huxley. 



4 Marlborough Place, Dec. 31, 1S78. 



My dear Tyndall — I would sooner have your Boyle, how- 

 ever long we may have to wait for it, than anybody else's d— — d 

 simmer. (Now that's a " goak," and you must ask Mrs. Tyn- 

 dall to explain it to you.) 



Two years will I give you from this blessed New Year's eve, 

 1878, and if it isn't done on New Year's Day 1881 you shall 

 not be admitted to the company of the blessed, but your dinner 

 shall be sent to you between two plates to the most pestiferous 

 corner of the laboratory of the Royal Institution. I am very 

 glad you will undertake the job, and feel that I have a proper 

 New Year's gift. 



By the way, you ought to have had Hume ere this. Mac- 

 millan sent me two or three copies, just to keep his word, on 

 Christmas Day, and I thought I should have a lot more at once. 



But there is no sign — not even an advertisement — and I 

 don't know what has become of the edition. Perhaps the bishops 

 have bought it up. — With all good wishes. Ever yours, 



T. H. Huxley. 



Two letters — both to Tyndall — show his solicitude for 

 his friends. The one speaks of a last and unavailing at- 

 tempt made by W. K. Clifford's friends to save his life by 

 sending him on a voyage (he died not long after at Ma- 

 deira) ; the other urges Tyndall himself to be careful of his 

 health. 



4 Marlborough Place, April 2, 1878. 



My dear Tyndall — \Ve had a sort of council about Clifford 

 at Clark's house yesterday morning — H. Thompson, Corfield, 

 Payne, Pollock, and myself, and I am sure you will be glad to 

 hear the result. 



From the full statement of the nature of his case made by 

 Clark and Corfield, it appears that though grave enough in all 

 conscience, it is not so bad as it might be, and that there is a 

 chance, I might almost say a fair chance, for him yet. It 

 appears that the lung mischief has never gone so far as the 

 formation of a cavity, and that it is at present quiescent, and no 

 other organic disease is discoverable. The alarming symptom 



