with impunity. Prompted by high motives, Tyndall LITTLE 

 tended too much to disregard the protests of his body. JOURNEYS 

 Over-application in Germany caused at one time abso- 

 lute sleeplessness for, I think he told me, more than a 

 week ; and this, with kindred transgressions, brought 

 on that insomnia by which his after-life was troubled, 

 and by which his power for work was diminished; for, 

 as I have heard him say, a sound night's sleep was 

 followed by a marked exaltation of faculty. 

 And then, in later life, came the daring which, by its 

 results, brought his active career to a close. He con- 

 scientiously desired to fulfill an engagement to lecture 

 at the British Institution, and was not deterred by 

 fear of consequences. He gave the lecture, notwith- 

 standing the protest which for days before his system 

 had been making. The result was a serious illness, 

 threatening, as he thought at one time, a fatal result; 

 and notwithstanding a year's furlough for the recovery 

 of health, he was eventually obliged to resign his po- 

 sition. But for this defiance of nature there might have 

 been many more years of scientific exploration, pleas- 

 urable to himself and beneficial to others ; and he 

 might have escaped that invalid life which for a long 

 time he had to bear. 



In his case, however, the penalties of invalid life had 

 great mitigations mitigations such as fall to the lot 

 of few. It is conceivable that the physical discomforts 

 and mental weariness which ill-health brings may be 

 almost compensated, if not even quite compensated, 

 by the pleasurable emotions caused by unflagging at- 

 tentions and sympathetic companionship. If this ever 

 happens, it happened in his case. All who have known 

 the household during these years of nursing are aware 

 of the unmeasured kindness he has received without 

 ceasing. I happen to have had special evidence of this 

 devotion on the one side and gratitude on the other, 



83 



