1838 WORKING AT THE DARWIN OBITUARY 203 



ment, for the obituary notice. Nothing entertains me more than 

 to hear people call it easy reading. 



Exposition was not Darwin's forte and his English is 

 sometimes wonderful. But there is a marvellous dumb sa- 

 gacity about him like that of a sort of miraculous dog and 

 he gets to the truth by ways as dark as those of the Heathen 

 Chinee. 



I am getting quite sick of all the " paper philosophers," as 

 old Galileo called them, who are trying to stand upon Darwin's 

 shoulders and look bigger than he, when in point of real knowl- 

 edge they are not fit to black his shoes. It is just as well I am 

 collapsed or I believe I should break out with a final " Fiir Dar- 



win.' 



I will think of you when I get as far as the fossils. At 

 present I am poking over P. sylvestris and P. pinnata in the 

 intervals of weariness. 



My wife joins with me in love to you both. Ever yours 

 very faithfully, T. H. HUXLEY. 



Snow and cold winds here. Hope you are as badly off at 

 Cambridge. 



BOURNEMOUTH, Feb. 21, 1888. 



MY DEAR FOSTER We have had nothing but frost and snow 

 here lately, and at present half a gale of the bitterest north-easter 

 I have felt since we were at Florence is raging.* 



I believe I am getting better, as I have noticed that at a par- 

 ticular stage of my convalescence from any sort of illness I pass 

 through a condition in which things in general appear damnable 

 and I myself an entire failure. If that is a sign of returning 

 health you may look upon my restoration as certain. 



If it is only Murray's speculations he wants to publish sepa- 

 rately, I should say by all means let him. But the facts, whether 

 advanced by him or other people, ought all to be in the official 

 record. I agree we can't stir. 



I scented the " goak." How confoundedly proud you are of 

 it ! In former days I have been known to joke myself. 



I will look after the questions if you like. In my present 

 state of mind I shall be a capital critic on Dizzy's views of 

 critics. . . . Ever yours, T. H. H. 



* Similarly to Sir J. Evans on the 28th " I get my strength back 

 but slowly, and think of migrating to Greenland or Spitzbergen for a 

 milder climate. 



