CHAPTEK IV 



1888 



It was not till June 23 that Huxley was patched up 

 sufficiently by the doctors for him to start for the 

 Engadine. His first stage was to Lugano ; the second 

 by Menaggio and Colico to Chiavenna ; the third to 

 the Maloja. The summer visitors who saw him 

 arrive so feeble that he could scarcely walk a hundred 

 yards on the level, murmured that it was a shame to 

 send out an old man to die there. Their surprise 

 was the greater when, after a couple of months, they 

 saw him walking his ten miles and going up two 

 thousand feet without difficulty. As far as his heart 

 was concerned, the experiment of sending him to the 

 mountains was perfectly justified. With returning 

 strength he threw himself once more into the 

 pursuit of gentians, being especially interested in 

 their distribution and hybridism, and the possibility 

 of natural hybrids explaining the apparent connecting 

 links between species. No doubt, too, he felt some 

 gratification in learning from his friend Mr. (now 

 Sir W.) Thiselton Dyer, that the results he had 



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