1882.] CONCLUSION. 529 



Down, March 27, 1882. 



" MY DEAR HUXLEY, Your most kind letter has been a 

 real cordial to me. I have felt better to-day than for three 

 weeks, and have felt as yet no pain. Your plan seems an ex- 

 cellent one, and I will probably act upon it, unless I get very 

 much better. Dr. Clark's kindness is unbounded to me, but 

 he is too busy to come here. Once again, accept my cordial 

 thanks, my dear old friend. I wish to God there were more 

 automata* in the world like you. 



Ever yours, 



CH. DARWIN." 



The allusion to Sir Andrew Clark requires a word of ex- 

 planation. Sir Andrew Clark himself was ever ready to 

 devote himself to my father, who, however, could not endure 

 the thought of sending for him, knowing how severely his 

 great practice taxed his strength. 



No especial change occurred during the beginning of 

 April, but on Saturday i5th he was seized with giddiness 

 while sitting at dinner in the evening, and fainted in an at- 

 tempt to reach his sofa. On the iyth he was again better, 

 and in my temporary absence recorded for me the progress of 

 an experiment in which I was engaged. During the night of 

 April 1 8th, about a quarter to twelve, he had a severe attack 

 and passed into a faint, from which he was brought back to 

 consciousness with great difficulty. He seemed to recognise 

 the approach of death, and said, " I am not the least afraid 

 to die." All the next morning he suffered from terrible 

 nausea and faintness, and hardly rallied before the end 

 came. 



He died at about four o'clock on Wednesday, April igih, 

 1882, in the seventy- fourth year of his age. 



I close the record of my father's life with a few words of 



* The allusion is to Mr. Huxley's address ' On the Hypothesis that Ani- 

 mals are Automata, and its History,' given at the Belfast meeting of the 

 British Association in 1874, and republished in 'Science and Culture.' 



