138 Dr. Akin's further Statements concerning 



which then arose, I could continue to give my time and attention 

 to scientific researches only at a great sacrifice, I yet returned 

 towards the end of June to Oxford, in order to complete the ex- 

 periments, if possible, in time for the Meeting of the British As- 

 sociation, which was to assemble towards the end of the August 

 ensuing at Newcastle ; yet, although my return originated in 

 previous arrangements, for reasons which have never been ex- 

 plained to me, no opportunity was given me after my return to 

 proceed with the experiments. The suspense which I then un- 

 derwent, my mind being full yet of other pressing anxieties, has 

 left an indelible mark of pain on my memory. This, however, 

 is not now the question; I will therefore merely state that, 

 although greatly depressed and discouraged in mind, I attended 

 in August the Meeting of the British Association ; that I read 

 the papers which I had prepared before the Mathematical and 

 Physical Section ; and that the Committee of the Section, in con- 

 sequence, resolved to recommend the principal paper I had read 

 for publication in extenso among the Reports of the Association. 

 The Association further resolved to appoint Mr. Griffith and my- 

 self a committee to carry out the experiments proposed by me, for 

 which purpose a special grant was placed at our disposal. In 

 consequence of this latter resolution, I again took up my residence 

 at Oxford in the spring of 1864, although at some sacrifice to my 

 feelings; but the proceedings which I had. experienced in the 

 summer of 1863, I am sorry to say, were soon recommenced, and 

 my plans were again defeated. Instead of a report, I was thus 

 obliged to forward to the President of the Mathematical and 

 Physical Section of the British Association, for the Meeting 

 at Bath in September 1864, a letter of which the following is the 

 substance :— " I am sorry to have to state that, owing to the 

 scarcity of clear sunshine at Oxford last summer, and to Mr. 

 Griffith being mostly unable to give his time to our work when 

 the weather happened to be favourable to it, the experiments in- 

 tended to have been made were left in August unfinished. I 

 had the greater reason to feel disappointed at such a conclusion, 

 as the methods and apparatus devised for the purpose appeared, 

 from preliminary trials, competent to effect, in part at least, the 

 proposed object, and as our preparations for the more decisive 

 experiments were in a very forward state." 



2. Meanwhile, in the abstract of a lecture delivered by Prof. 

 Tyndall at the Royal Institution, and which was published in 

 the ' Reader ' in March 1864, a sentence had attracted my atten- 

 tion which will presently be mentioned. Being then on the point 

 of writing a letter to the editor of the ' Reader ' on a different 

 subject, I took occasion to add the following postscript, which, 

 together with the letter to which it was appended, appeared in 



