4 Marlborough Place, London, N.W., July 5 [1881?].
My dear Skelton,
It is a great deal more than I would say for everybody, but I am sure Tyndall will be very much obliged to me for making you known to him; and if you, insignificant male creature, how very much more for the opportunity of knowing Mrs. Skelton!
For which last pretty speech I hope the lady will make a prettier curtsey. So go boldly across the Aletsch, and if they have a knocker (which I doubt), knock and it shall be opened unto you.
I wish I were going to be there too; but Royal Commissions are a kind of endemic in my constitution, and I have a very bad one just now. [The Medical Acts Commission 1881-2.]
With kind remembrances to Mrs. Skelton,
Ever yours very faithfully,
T.H. Huxley.
[The ecclesiastical sound of his new title of Dean of the College of
Science afforded him a good deal of amusement. He writes from
Grasmere, where he had joined his family for the summer vacation:—]
August 18, 1881.