BR TO ALYS RUSSELL, 6 APR. 1908
BRACERS 21099. ALS. McMaster. SLBR 1: #147
Edited by N. Griffin. Proofread by A. Duncan and K. Blackwell

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Hotel Minerva,
Roma
High Buildings,
Fernhurst, Near Haslemere.
April 6. ’08

Dearest Alys

Thy letter duly reached me this morning — it took a good deal longer than I did. It is a pity thee was just unable to get to Charing X. The crossing was all right, though a French woman near me was sick all over her clothes, which she attributed to the cold, while her husband advised her not to waste her handkerchief on it, but to wait for Boulogne and borrow a towel.

The Congress here is a very grand affair — there are an amazing number of mathematicians. Last night we had a party at the University, where the Rector made a speech; this morning we had the opening session in the Capitol, and the King himself was present. The George Darwins,1 as was to be expected, were on the platform beside him. The Minister of Education and various bigwigs made speeches, and at last we got to business. They run special motor busses for us, and admit us to most sights gratis. We meet in the Palazzo Corsini.2 Yesterday I did the statues in the Capitol, the Forum, and St. Peter’s; today the Congress took all the time. Most of the mathematical bigwigs are here. I have had some pleasant talk with Peano. Poincaré is staying in the same hotel.3 The hotel is grander than I should have chosen, but I haven’t the energy to move. Forsyth read a paper this afternoon, but many people were having tea at the time and therefore missed it.4 Tomorrow we begin at 9. I leave here Sunday morning.

Uncle Rollo is seriously ill.5

Thine aff
Bertie. 

• 1

  George Darwins Sir George Howard Darwin (1845–1912), Charles Darwin’s second son and Plumian Professor of Astronomy at Cambridge. He lived at Newnham Grange, next to the Old Granary where the Russells had lived in 1899. He was a member of the international committee responsible for organizing the Congress.

• 2

  Palazzo Corsini An eighteenth-century palace in which the art collection of the Galleria Nazionale was housed.

• 3

  Poincaré is staying in the same hotel. Given Russell’s ongoing dispute with Poincaré about the importance of formal logic, one might have expected the Congress to provide an opportunity for them to exchange views. But Poincaré fell ill during the conference and was unable to take part.

• 4

  Forsyth … missed it. A.R. Forsyth gave one of the plenary lectures of the Congress, “On the Present Condition of Partial Differential Equations of the Second Order as Regards Formal Integration”.

• 5

  Uncle Rollo is seriously ill. He had blood poisoning, which remained undiagnosed for so long that one of his legs had to be amputated.