308 THE LIFE OF PHILIP HENRY GOSSE. 



" Old age creeps sensibly upon me, and makes 

 " its advance perceptible in many little ways ; yet, 

 "though I have occasional reminders that I must be 

 "cautious of overwork, I am remarkably free from 

 "pains, and life is full of enjoyment to me. In many 

 " things — in enthusiasm, in the zest with which I enter 

 " into pursuits, in the interest which I feel in them, even 

 " in the delight of mere animal existence, and the sense 

 "of the beautiful around me — I feel almost a youth 

 "still." 

 This sense of health and capacity for enjoyment in- 

 creased as time went on, and the intellectual vigour was 

 gradually turned back into the old professional channels. In 

 November, 1875, after having wholly neglected the marine 

 aquarium for fifteen years, he began to collect and keep sea- 

 beasts in captivity once more. He commenced with nothing 

 more ambitious than an old shallow flat-bottomed pan of 

 brown earthenware, and for some time he was content to 

 buy specimens from the men who made it their business to 

 sell seaweeds and anemones to winter visitors at Torquay. 

 But in February, 1876, he ceased to be satisfied with 

 pleasures so tame to an old sportsman, and, armed with 

 a new collecting-belt and his ancient water-proof boots, he 

 sallied down to Petit Tor at the low spring tide, and began 

 to search for himself in the fearless old fashion. This 

 was the beginning of a revival in zoological enthusiasm, 

 which steadily increased, and was sustained almost to the 

 close of his life, culminating in his remarkable aftermath 

 of scientific publications. He determined to establish at 

 Sandhurst an aquarium of large size and on modern 

 principles, and he was finally moved to undertake this 

 project from the disappointment he experienced in failing 

 to keep alive some specimens of the scarlet and yellow 

 Balanophyllia in his earthen jars. On June 23 Mr. W. A. 



