1893 LETTERS ON HIS ILLNESS 341 



Since my last letter to you I have been at death's 

 door. On July 11, I was struck down by paralysis 

 of the left side, and am now a wreck. Not the least 

 of my sorrow is that I fear I shall have to leave the 

 verification of phys. sel. to other hands in larger mea- 

 sure than I had hoped. I have little doubt that it will 

 eventually prevail; but more time will probably be 

 needed before it does. 



Yours very sincerely, 



GT. J. ROMANES. 



Oxford : September 18, 1893. 



Dear Dyer, I am not a little touched by the 

 kind sympathy expressed in your letter of the 16th. 

 When one is descending into the dark valley, scien- 

 tific squabbles seem to fade away in those elementary 

 principles of good will which bind mankind together. 

 And I am glad to think that in all the large circle of 

 my friends and correspondents there is no vestige of 

 ill will in any quarter, unless it be with and 



, who both seem to me half-crazy in their 

 enmity, and therefore not of much count. 



As for ' fortitude,' sooner or later the night must 

 come for all of us ; and if my daylight is being sud- 

 denly eclipsed, there is only the more need to work 

 while it lasts. But, to tell the truth, I do not on this 

 account feel less keenly the pity of it. With five 

 boys the eldest not yet in his teens and the youngest 

 still in his weeks ; with piles of note-books which 

 nobody else can utilise, and heaps of experimental 

 researches in project which nobody else is likely to 

 undertake, I do bitterly feel that my lot is a h-; 



