During the first months on this reel White was touring the British Isles and northern Europe with his nineteen·year-old nephew. In October Ernest sailed for home in company with the Leland Stanfords, but White cancelled his speaking engagements and remained in London to study and write. On July 20 White wrote Thurston of his observations of tubular bells and electric welding in Edinburgh, while Adams, Fuertes, Sage and Thurston wrote from Ithaca to discuss building plans and other university matters. George Sherman Batcheller and George Ebers sent White advice and letters of introduction as he prepared to visit Egypt with Fiske. There were lengthy letters exchanged following the decision against the university by the New York Court of Appeals in the McGraw-Fiske suit on November 27. He received letters from Burr, Helen Magill, and White's son, who reported his investigation into the management of the Porter Manufacturing Co., and a large amount of family correspondence. He had communications from Century Magazine, the Forum, and Scribner's, and notes from Bryce in late summer asking White to check the proofs of his chapter on American universities. Robert G. Ingersoll wrote on December 27 and on the 30th, Goldwin Smith commented on the Fiske suit and Canadian-American politics; he also recalled his first meeting with White twenty years earlier.