1840-42. DAILY WORK. 265 



" I sent out for some ells of pocket-handkerchief, and blew 

 and blew till I nearly blew both nose and brains away, then 

 with great circumspection I inserted my neb into the paper bag 

 with the stuff. Praised be the gods, a noisome odour was dis- 

 cernible ; by and by, according to Scott [an assistant], it tainted 

 the whole place. Such plenitude of perception was not vouch- 

 safed to me, but I was grateful for what I got. I distilled from 

 the stuff a liquid having a formidable odour, which I gave the 

 lawyer to sniff. ' That's it, sir,' said he, ' put the bottle in your 

 pocket, and bring it to court ;' lawyers know nothing of chemistry, 

 but they know a bad smell when they feel it. 



" I hope, like Vespasian, to coin some money out of the 

 noisome odour." 



In January, James Eussell is informed, "All your friends 

 that I see are well and thriving ; Cairns grows taller every day, 

 and will require to be stopped by Act of Parliament. My life 

 is the most dull and monotonous possible, and bears no fruit by 

 way of thought or work. I work a little in the laboratory ; 

 analyse delightful (?) things and make some little discoveries. 

 But I am easily knocked up, and after standing on my feet from 

 nine till four, am fit for very little when the evening comes." 



To his brother, who had been indisposed, the following letter 

 is addressed : 



" February 4, 1842. 



" I have just read your letter to mother received this morning, 

 and mourned over the sad news. I have suffered myself this 

 winter much from cold and cough, and others have done so, to 

 a much greater extent than is common even in winter. The 

 great variableness of the weather has occasioned such illnesses 

 to a much greater extent than ordinary ; and you must take 

 hope from this, and believe you have not fared worse than your 

 neighbours. Kheumatic headache is a sore thing, as I know, 

 having had a taste of it lately ; at present, however, my rheu- 

 matics are quite aristocratic, setting up it would seem for gout, 

 and have, besides various outposts for desultory skirmishing 

 about shoulder joints and elbows, established a strong position 



