valuable matter they would pick up and carry home that I pass by- I hope you may sometime in your lives have the opportunity if you wish it- but hope it may be earlier and before you are so nearly worn out as your father and I are- the meeting at Ed[inburgh]. was one of very great interest- I enjoyed it more than I expected-the faces of some of those great men such as Sir David Brewster Sir Roderick Murchison- Prof. Jameson, Dr Mantell &c &c. became quite familiar to me- I attended all the public meetings- heard many of the papers read in the sections- went to the conversazione’s & attended one party at Prof. Jameson’s where things were done up in very good style- the Prof- by which title your father only is recognized here was often invited to breakfast & dinner & frequently went- I think he endured the fatigue of the meeting very well- and I hope has gained some in regard to this health since I last wrote. & is in better spirits- I think it cheers him some to begin to talk of setting our faces homeward before very long or rather it would do so if it were not for crossing that perilous ocean again- In crossing before surely God was better to us than our fears & though the return is a more dangerous voyage at that season of the year we do know and try to feel that the same Almighty power will carry us back in safety, if it will