Though I say it that shouldn’t, I don’t believe there is so good a training in physical science to be got anywhere as in our College at South Kensington.  But Bernard could hardly with advantage take this up until he is seventeen at least.  What he would profit by most as a preliminary, is training in the habit of expressing himself well and clearly in English; training in mathematics and the elements of physical science; in French and German, so as to read those languages easily—­especially German; in drawing—­not for hifalutin art, of which he will probably have enough in the blood—­but accurate dry reproduction of form—­one of the best disciplines of the powers of observation extant.

On the other hand, in the way of practical advantage in any career, there is a great deal to be said for sending a clever boy to Oxford or Cambridge.  There are not only the exhibitions and scholarships, but there is the rubbing shoulders with the coming generation which puts a man in touch with his contemporaries as hardly anything else can do.  A very good scientific education is to be had at both Cambridge and Oxford, especially Cambridge now.

In the case of sending to the university, putting through the Latin and Greek mill will be indispensable.  And if he is not going to make the classics a serious study, there will be a serious waste of time and energy.

So much in all these matters depends on the x contained in the boy himself.  If he has the physical and mental energy to make a mark in science, I should drive him straight at science, taking care that he got a literary training through English, French, and German.  An average capacity, on the other hand, may be immensely helped by university means of flotation.

But who in the world is to say how the x will turn out, before the real strain begins?  One might as well prophesy the effect of a glass of “hot-with” when the relative quantities of brandy, water, and sugar are unknown.  I am sure the large quantity of brandy and the very small quantity of sugar in my composition were suspected neither by myself, nor any one else, until the rows into which wicked men persisted in involving me began!

And that reminds me that I forgot to tell the publishers to send you a copy of my last peace-offering [The “Essays on Controverted Questions."], and that one will be sent you by to-morrow’s post.  There is nothing new except the prologue, the sweet reasonableness of which will, I hope, meet your approbation.

It is not my fault if you have had to toil through this frightfully long screed; Mrs. Riviere, to whom our love, said you wanted it.  “Tu l’as voulu, Georges Dandin.”

Ever yours very faithfully,

T.H.  Huxley.

[The following deals with State intervention in intermediate education:—­]

(For Sunday morning’s leisure, or take it to church and read it in your hat.)

Hodeslea, Eastbourne, October 1, 1892.