456 . MEMOIR OF GEORGE WILSON. CHAP. XI. 



other weighed with me was the possibility of my allowing 

 a valetudinarian pusillanimity to keep me from hazarding new 

 duties. 



" So farewell the dream that I should fill the Chair of Black, 

 though I should have taken my chance as a public chemical 

 prelector against any of my contemporaries, and not been afraid 

 though the eidolon of Black himself had attended without a 

 ticket^ 



This letter is written apparently with effort, the writing being 

 unsteady. The next to Daniel, of June 4, gives evidence of 

 improvement in the " write arm," as he calls it, in its clear, firm 

 characters : 



" Many thanks for your kind letter. By this time you will 

 have learned the issue of the Chemistry Chair election so far as 

 I am concerned. I need not repeat that to withdraw was a sore 

 trial, which is not lessened by finding on every side assurances 

 from Councillors that I should have been unanimously elected. 

 Nevertheless, I do not doubt that I did right. My intellectual 

 vigour is, I think, what it was. My moral faculties are, I trust, 

 disciplined for the better ; but my body is frailer, especially 

 lungwards. Even in unusually balmy, genial weather like this, 

 I find walking or climbing infallibly bring on difficulty of 

 breathing and frequently spitting of blood ; and in winter, when 

 the weather is otherwise, I scarcely walk at all. In these cir- 

 cumstances, I could contemplate with no prospect of success the 

 cares of the Chemical Chair. I gave way last winter in Feb- 

 ruary, and, till a week ago, have not known what painless exist- 

 ence is for an hour at a time. I can endure this with some 

 (though far too little) patience, but it leaves no surplus for the 

 energetic work of an important Chair. I therefore resign with 

 a composed air, hiding any disappointment I may feel. They 

 are in the thick of the canvass, and I am whirled into it, visiting 

 Councillors. It is work I exceedingly dislike, and it is not 

 made more likeable by Councillors on all sides telling me that 

 I might have saved them all this trouble by not withdrawing. 



