II HIS SCIENTIFIC LIFE AND WORK 31 



valuable information on the social and economic condi- 

 tion of Ireland, which Huxley was equally keen to 

 learn from him ; and I think that, on the whole, there 

 was as much talk on history, politics, and the various 

 social problems of the day as on biology or the natural 

 sciences. The Irish question was then beginning to 

 get serious, and Huxley seemed determined to get at 

 the root of the whole matter ; and it was during this visit 

 that both he and I became convinced of the errors of that 

 policy which has since been identified with the name of 

 Mr. Gladstone. Certainly up to this time Colebrooke 

 seemed to be a model estate, and nothing could be 

 happier than the relations of the landlord with his nine 

 hundred tenants. 



Sir Victor Brooke was engaged for some years 

 in collecting materials for an exhaustive monograph on 

 the antelopes, sheep, and goats. With this object he 

 visited most of the continental museums and made 

 copious notes on the specimens belonging to this 

 group of animals contained in them. He also care- 

 fully studied all that had been written about them 

 by previous authors, and had brought together a large 

 number of extracts and translations from works in 

 various languages bearing upon the subject. Unfor- 

 tunately his work was interrupted by the state of Lady 

 Brooke's health compelling him to leave England for 

 the greater part of the year. The specimens in his own 

 large collection were all in London or at Colebrooke, 

 and away from them and from the books necessary 

 for continuing his researches, he was obliged, though 

 reluctantly, to give up what had been for several years 

 the principal object of his life. After the year 1880, 

 or thereabouts, he did little more in science ; but, as will 

 be seen by the preceding memoir, transferred to 

 foreign travel and other pursuits the energy he had 



