1858. THREATENED WITH ERYSIPELAS. 459 



first George's mother had difficulty in distinguishing it, but one 

 night she announced having seen it. " Did you see it wag 

 its tail ? " asked he gravely, as if no other evidence could be 

 received. " Ah ! George," was the reply, " the waggery is all 

 in you." 



The Memoir of Edward Forbes made some progress this sea- 

 son, but the associations it recalled made it very trying work. 

 " The reading of Ed. Forbes's papers," he says, " continually 

 brings before me the fate of my fellow- students, and often sad- 

 dens me beyond endurance. I would lose heart and hope my- 

 self but for the hope of an endless and blessed life beyond the 

 grave ; yet is not the life of Christ enough to show us that on 

 this earth sorrow and suffering are the appointed rule for most 

 (I do not say for all), and may we not suffer with Him that we 

 may rise in glory with Him also ? May the blessed Saviour lead 

 us in His own bleeding footsteps to the rest that remaineth for 

 the children of God ! " 



To Dr. Cairns he writes, after returning to town : " Greatly 

 did I desire to see you, greatly wish to have a long, long talk 

 about heaven and earth, the world that is, and the world that is 

 to be. ... Come to see us as soon as you can, and give me the 

 benefit of a long Christian gossip with you. The way of life 

 grows, blessed be God, clearer and clearer to me, and I know 

 Christ better and better, though there is much darkness and 

 despondency still, and weak faith, and downright sin. But I 

 am thankful for much light and peace, and hope for more." 



The introductory lecture on Technology for 1858-9 has been 

 published, under the title ' The Progress of the Telegraph.' l 

 Under what circumstances the session was opened, a letter to 

 his brother Daniel, of date November 25, explains: 



" Lest to-morrow should prove, like all recent Fridays for a 

 long time back, a letterless day, I take a sheet of paper into 

 bed with me and begin an epistle. ... In spite, as seemed, of 

 all needful rustication, I was threatened on the very eve of be- 

 ginning this winter's course with erysipelas in the legs, and had 

 to spend the day before opening in bed. I was induced to think 



1 Macmillan & Co., Cambridge and London. 1859. 



