324 MEMOIR OF GEORGE WILSON. CHAP. XI. 



Black, though I should have taken my chance as a public 

 chemical prelector against any of my contemporaries, and 

 not been afraid though the eidolon of Black himself had 

 attended without a ticket." 



This letter is written apparently with effort, the writing 

 being unsteady. The next to Daniel, of June 4, gives 

 evidence of improvement in the " write arm," as he calls it, 

 in its clear, firm characters : 



" Many thanks for your kind letter. By this time you 

 will have learned the issue of the Chemistry Chair election 

 so far as I am concerned. I need not repeat that to with- 

 draw was a sore trial, which is not lessened by finding on 

 every side assurances from Councillors that I should have 

 been unanimously elected. Nevertheless, I do not doubt 

 that I did right. My intellectual vigour is, I think, what it 

 was. My moral faculties are, I trust, disciplined for the 

 better \ but my body is frailer, especially lungwards. Even 

 in unusually balmy, genial weather like this, I find walking 

 or climbing infallibly bring on difficulty of breathing and 

 frequently spitting of blood ; and in winter, when the 

 weather is otherwise, I scarcely walk at all. In these 

 circumstances, I could contemplate with no prospect of 

 success the cares of the Chemical Chair. I gave way last 

 winter in February, and, till a week ago, have not known 

 what painless existence is for an hour at a time. I can 

 endure this with some (though far too little) patience, but 

 it leaves no surplus for the energetic work of an important 

 Chair. I therefore resign with a composed air, hiding any 

 disappointment I may feel. They are in the thick of the 

 canvass, and I am whirled into it, visiting Councillors. It 

 is work I exceedingly dislike, and it is not made more 



