52 GEORGE JOHN EOMANBS i876- 



Society the most suitable companion for you was Dr. 

 Sharpey. 



Perhaps a ' secretary ' ought not to be giving all 

 the details about committee meetings, but if not, 1 

 know you will take it in confidence. It seems to me 

 that you never fully realise the height of your 

 pedestal, so that I am glad of any little opportunity 

 of this kind to show you the angle at which the 

 upturned faces are inclined. I am glad, too, to see 

 from the inscription in Hackel's essay, that he is still 

 doing his best to show that in Germany this angle is 

 fast being lost in horizontality. 



As the spring was so backward, the plants at Kew ■ 

 were too small to graft before I had to leave for the 

 Medusas. But this does not much matter, as I had 

 a lot of vegetables planted down here also, which are 

 doing well. Pangenesis I always expected would 

 require a good deal of patience, and one year's work 

 on such a subject only counts for apprenticeship. If, 

 by the time I am a skilled workman, I am not able 

 to send anything to the international exhibitions, I 

 shall not envy any one else who may resolve to enter 

 the same trade. 



I am working hard at the jelly-fish just now, and 

 have succeeded in extracting several new confessions. 

 The nerve-plexus theory, in particular, is coming out 

 with greater clearness. The new poisons, too, are 

 giving very interesting results. I suppose you do 

 not happen to know where I could get any snake 

 poison. The ' Phil. Trans.' seem very long in coming 

 out. I have not yet got the proofs of my paper. 



