1878 OUTBREAK Ol<' DIPHTHERIA 247 



I am giving him as much independence of action as 

 possible, in order that he may learn to take care of himself. 



Now that is enough about my children. Yours must 

 yet be young and you have not yet got to the marriage 

 and university stage which I assure you is much more 

 troublesome than the measles and chicken-pox period. 



My wife unites with me in kindest remembrances and 

 good wishes. Ever yours very faithfully, 



T. H. HUXLEY. 



An outbreak of diphtheria among his children 

 made the spring of 1878 a time of overwhelming 

 anxiety. How it told upon his strong and self- 

 contained chief is related by T. J. Parker " I never 

 saw a man more crushed than he was during the 

 dangerous illness of one of his daughters, and he told 

 me that, having then to make an after-dinner speech, 

 he broke down for the first time in his life, and for 

 one painful moment forgot where he was and what 

 he had to say." This was one of the few occasions 

 of his absence from College during the seventies. 

 " When, after two days, he looked in at the laboratory," 

 writes Professor Howes, "his dejected countenance 

 and tired expression betokened only too plainly the 

 intense anxiety he had undergone." 



The history of the outbreak was very instructive. 

 Huxley took a leading part in organising an inquiry 

 and in looking into the matter with the health officer. 

 " As soon as I can get all the facts together," he writes 

 on Dec. 10, "I am going to make a great turmoil 

 about our outbreak of diphtheria and see whether 

 I cannot get our happy-go-lucky local government 



