1855 HIS MARRIAGE 187 



and devotion that had passed through so many 

 dangers of absence and isolation, so many temptations 

 to renounce the ideal course under stress of circum- 

 stance, only to emerge strengthened and ennobled by 

 the stern discipline of much sacrifice. 



Great as was his new happiness, he hardly stood 

 in need of Darwin's word of warning : "I hope your 

 marriage will not make you idle; happiness, I fear, 

 is not good for work." Huxley could not sit idle for 

 long. If he had no occupation on hand, something 

 worth investigation and thorough investigation 

 was sure to catch his eye. So he writes to Hooker 

 from Tenby : 



15 ST. JULIAN'S TERRACE, TENBY, 

 Aug. 16, 1855. 



MY DEAR HOOKER I am so near the end of the honey- 

 moon that I think it can hardly be immodest if I emerge 

 from private life and write you a letter, more particularly 

 as I want to know something. I went yesterday on an 

 expedition to see the remains of a forest which exists 

 between tidemarks at a place called Amroth, near here. 



So far as I can judge, there can be no doubt that this 

 really is a case of downward movement. Tbe stools of the 

 trees are in their normal position, and their roots are 

 embedded and interwoven in a layer of stiff blue clay, 

 wbich lies immediately beneath tbe superficial mud of tbe 

 shore. Layers of leaves, too, are mixed up with the clay 

 in other parts, and the bark of some of the trees is in 

 perfect preservation. Tbe condition of tbe wood is very 

 curious. It is like very bard cheese, so tbat you can 

 readily cut slices with a spade, and yet where more of the 

 trunk has been preserved some parts are very hard. The 

 trees are, I fancy, Beech and Oak. Could you identify 

 slices if I were to send you some ? 



