XXX11 MEMOIR. 



But if this letter shows the maturity of his scientific 

 judgment, another, written in the same year, shows his over- 

 taxed physical condition. It is addressed (January 30, 

 1844) to Mr. Doubleday of the British Museum, the favor- 

 ite entomological correspondent of his later years : 



" Your letter shows me what I feared would be the case, that the cares 

 and responsibilities of your situation absorb most of your time, and under- 

 mine your health. My friend, be warned in season, if it be not now too 

 late, by my own sad experience, that the unremitting devotion to duties in a 

 public establishment will wear out body and spirit, will deprive you of 

 leisure, of necessary exercise and relaxation, and will give you in return 

 only a petty compensation, at the expense of your time, health and happi- 

 ness. Your account of your own labors, cares and anxieties in the museum, 

 seems to me an echo of my own in the public library of the University, 

 which now for two years has added a double burden to my before overtaxed 

 powers of mind and body." 



In spite of this habitual overwork, sometimes leading to 

 nervous exhaustion or severe headaches, the general health 

 of Dr. Harris was good. It was a rare thing for him to be 

 confined to the house by illness. During his later years he 

 had occasional attacks of pain in the chest, which he thought 

 to be pleurisy. On the 9th of November, 1855, he was 

 attacked with pleurisy of the right side, followed by an effu- 

 sion into the cavity of the chest. This confined him to the 

 house, which he never again left, although it did not prevent 

 him from receiving the visits of his friends. During the 

 month of December he suffered mainly from shortness of 

 breath and weakness ; later he had an affection of the veins 

 of the legs, followed by their obstruction. Early in January 



