296 LIFE OF PROFESSOR HUXLEY CHAP. XII 



1881, "The salmon brought to me here have not been 

 so badly diseased as I could have wished, and the fungus 

 dies so rapidly out of the water that only one specimen 

 furnished me with materials in lively condition. These 

 I have cultivated : and to my great satisfaction have got 

 some flies infected. With nine precious muscoid corpses, 

 more or less ornamented with a lovely fur trimming of 

 Saprolegnia, I shall return to London to-morrow, and 

 shall be ready in a short time, I hope, to furnish Salmon 

 Disease wholesale, retail, or for exportation." 



In carrying out the duties of our office, Professor 

 Huxley and I were necessarily thrown into very close 

 communication. There were few days in which we did 

 not pass some time in each other's company : there were 

 many weeks in which we travelled together through the 

 river basins of this country. I think that I am justified 

 in saying that official intercourse ripened into warm 

 personal friendship, and that, for the many months in 

 which we served together, we lived on terms of intimacy 

 which are rare among colleagues or even among friends. 



It is needless to say that, as a companion, Professor 

 Huxley was the most delightful of men. Those who 

 have met him in society, or enjoyed the hospitality of 

 his house, must have been conscious of the singular charm 

 of a conversation, which was founded on knowledge, 

 enlarged by memory, and brightened by humour. But, 

 admirable as he was in society, no one could have realised 

 the full charm of his company who had not conversed 

 with him alone. He had the rare art of placing men, 

 whose knowledge and intellect were inferior to his own, 

 at their ease. He knew how to draw out all that was 

 best in the companion who suited him ; and he had 

 equal pleasure in giving and receiving. Our conversation 

 ranged over every subject We discusssed together the 

 grave problems of man and his destiny ; we disputed on 

 the minor complications of modern politics ; we criticised 

 one another's literary judgments ; and we laughed over 



