1848 AN IMPORTANT DISCOVERY 57 



hold she has upon my mind, for I have seen hundreds of 

 prettier women. But I never met with so sweet a 

 temper, so self-sacrificing and affectionate a disposition, 

 or so pure and womanly a mind, and from the perfectly 

 intimate footing on which I stand with her family I have 

 plenty of opportunities of judging. As I tell her, the 

 only great folly I am aware of her being guilty of was 

 the leaving her happiness in the hands of a man like 

 myself, struggling upwards and certain of nothing. 



As to my future intentions I can say very little about 

 them. With my present income, of course, marriage is 

 rather a bad look-out, but I do not think it would be at 

 all fair towards N. herself to leave this country without 

 giving her a wife's claim upon me. ... It is very un- 

 likely I shall ever remain in the colony. Nothing but a 

 very favourable chance could induce me to do so. 



Much must depend upon how things go in England. 

 If my various papers meet with any success, I may 

 perhaps be able to leave the service. At present, how- 

 ever, I have not heard a word of anything I have sent. 

 Professor Forbes has, I believe, published some of 

 Macgillivray's letters to him, but he has apparently 

 forgotten to write to Macgillivray himself, or to me. So 

 I shall certainly send him nothing more, especially as Mr. 

 Macleay (of this place, and a great man in the naturalist 

 world) has offered to get anything of mine sent to the 

 Zoological Society. 



In the paper mentioned in the letter of March 

 21, above ("On the Anatomy and Affinities of the 

 Family of the Medusae "), Huxley aimed at " giving 

 broad and general views of the whole class, considered 

 as organised upon a given type, and inquiring into 

 its relations with other families," unlike previous 

 observers whose patience and ability had been devoted 

 rather to " stating matters of detail concerning par- 



