1859- HEALTH VISIBLY DECLINING. 353 



frequently used by him. Further than that he was aware 

 his time on earth could not be prolonged much longer, we 

 believe he had no presentiment such as has been imagined. 

 In October he writes : " I find myself steadily getting 

 weaker, and less fit for work. Constant attacks of bleed- 

 ing from the lungs sap my strength, and warn me how 

 easily I would give way under any acute attack of illness. 

 I am cheerful enough, nevertheless, and it may please God 

 to prolong my days ; but I am compelled to look gravely at 

 the opposite possibility." 



He has himself been the narrator of his life. Once again, 

 and for the last time, let us listen to him telling his brother 

 how the busy month has passed : 



"ELM COTTAGE, Nov. 17, 1859. 



" MY DEAR DANIEL, I have determined not to let 

 another week pass without writing, although duty seems to 

 say, ' Write at your lectures,' and a pair of barking lungs 

 bid me lie down and sleep. I write in bed, which is the 

 explanation of any zigzagginess you may perceive in the 

 slope of the words. I am thankful to creep early to my 

 couch, but I don't ' turn in' till about i A.M. generally. 



" We have had a month of great excitement, in which I 

 have had my full share. First came, as a sort of preliminary 

 gymnastic, an address to the Pharmaceutical Society. 1 Then 

 the Brougham Banquet set us all astir. It was a totally un- 

 sectarian meeting, and, so long as I was able to remain, it 

 went off famously; but I lost, I believe, the second-best 

 speech, that, namely, from the Lord Justice-General M'Neill. 



" Two days after came on one day the installation of Sir 



i "The Education of the Pharmaceutical Chemist." " Pharmaceu- 

 tical Journal, " Dec. 1859. 



GW A A 



