122 LIFE OF GEORGE WILSON. CHAP. VI. 



" SATURDAY, December 5, 1841. 



" My own affairs look a little brighter ; a few more pupils 

 drop in, and with a desperate effort the year may be got 

 over. At present it is unpaid, thankless drudgery, which 

 makes me at times seriously contemplate the necessity of 

 packing off to some other corner of the globe." 



In January, James Russell is informed, " All your friends 

 that I see are well and thriving ; Cairns grows taller every 

 day, and will require to be stopped by Act of Parliament. 

 My life is the most dull and monotonous possible, and 

 bears no fruit by way of thought or work. I work a little 

 in the laboratory; analyse delightful (?) things and make 

 some little discoveries. But I am easily knocked up, and 

 after standing on my feet from nine till four, am fit for very 

 little when the evening comes." 



To his brother, who had been indisposed, the following 

 letter is addressed : 



" February 4, 1842. 



"I have just read your letter to mother received this 

 morning, and mourned over the sad news. I have suffered 

 myself this winter much from cold and cough, and others 

 have done so, to a much greater extent than is common 

 even in winter. The great variableness of the weather has 

 occasioned such illnesses to a much greater extent than 

 ordinary ; and you must take hope from this, and believe 

 you have not fared worse than your neighbours. Rheumatic 

 head-ache is a sore thing, as I know, having had a taste of 

 it lately ; at present, however, my * rheumatics ' are quite 

 aristocratic, setting up it would seem for gout, and have, 

 besides various outposts for desultory skirmishing about 

 shoulder joints and elbows, established a strong position in 

 my ankles, where they manoeuvred last night to an extent 



