I meant to do so, but the whirl of things delayed me until, as I bitterly regret, it was too late.

I am not sure that I have any important letter of your father’s but one, written to me some fifteen years ago, on the occasion of the death of a child who was then my only son.  It was in reply to a letter of my own written in a humour of savage grief.  Most likely he burned the letter, and his reply would be hardly intelligible without it.  Moreover, I am not at all sure that I can lay my hands upon your father’s letter in a certain chaos of papers which I have never had the courage to face for years.  But if you wish I will try.

I am very grieved to hear of Mrs. Kingsley’s indisposition.  Pray make my kindest remembrances to her, and believe me your very faithfully,

T.H.  Huxley.

P.S.—­By the way, letters addressed to my private residence,

4 Marlborough Place, N.W.,

are sure not to be delayed.  And I have another reason for giving the address—­the hope that when you come to Town you will let my wife and daughters make your acquaintance.

[His continued interest in the germ-theory and the question of the origin of life ("Address at the British Association” 1870 see 2 page 14, sq.), appears from the following:—­]

4 Marlborough Place, October 15, 1875.

My dear Tyndall,

Will you bring with you to the x to-morrow a little bottle full of fluid containing the bacteria you have found developed in your infusions?  I mean a good characteristic specimen.  It will be useful to you, I think, if I determine the forms with my own microscope, and make drawings of them which you can use.

Ever yours,

T.H.  Huxley.

I can’t tell you how delighted I was with the experiments.

[Throughout this period, and for some time later, he was in frequent communication with Thomas Spencer Baynes, Professor of Logic and English Literature at St. Andrews University, the editor of the new “Encyclopaedia Britannica,” work upon which was begun at the end of 1873.  From the first Huxley was an active helper, both in classifying the biological subjects which ought to be treated of, suggesting the right men to undertake the work, and himself writing several articles, notably that on Evolution. (Others were “Actinozoa,” “Amphibia,” “Animal Kingdom,” and “Biology.”)

Extracts from his letters to Professor Baynes between the years 1873 and 1884, serve to illustrate the work which he did and the relations he maintained with the genial and learned editor.]

November 2, 1873.

I have been spending my Sunday morning in drawing up a list of headings, which will I think exhaust biology from the Animal point of view, and each of which does not involve more than you are likely to get from one man.  In many cases, i.e.  “Insecta,” “Entomology,” I have subdivided the subjects, because, by an unlucky peculiarity of workers in these subjects, men who understand zoology from its systematic side are often ignorant of anatomy, and those who know fossils are often weak in recent forms.