Philip Henry Gosse. 3bTj 



of self-repression difficult to her social, cheerful nature, for 

 Philip Crosse's " ideal of life was to exist in an even tern 

 perature of domestic solitude, absorbed in intellectual work, 

 buried in silence." However, as time passed on, the two 

 grew nearer together and daily became more harmonious 

 in feelings and tastes. 



In 1849, their son Edmund was born. But an event of 

 far greater interest to G-osse marked the year for in June, 

 " he made his first independent examination of a rotifer 

 under the microscope, and the date may be worth noting, 

 as that of the opening of one of the most important of all 

 the branches of his labours. The extreme ardour with 

 which he took up subjects sometimes wore itself out rather 

 rapidly. He grew tired of birds, afterwards he grew tired 

 of his once well-beloved sea-anemones. But in the rotifers, 

 the exquisite little wheel animalcules, whose history he did 

 so much to elucidate, in these he never lost his zest, and 

 they danced under his miscroscope when he put his faded 

 eye to the tube for the last time." 



For the last five years Gosse had been leading a life of 

 severe work, almost without social interests and unbroken 

 by holidays. Its monotony proved injurious to his health, 

 and he consequently left London in 1852 and for a time 

 established himself at St. Marychurch, South Devon. He 

 remained there long enough to develop the idea of the 

 marine aquarium, and to carry on the researches described 

 in '' A Naturalist's Kambles on the Devonshire Coast.'' 

 After a few months however the climate proved enervating, 

 and he removed to ilfracombe, where he threw himself with 

 ardour into the work of exploration and made several dis- 

 coveries recorded in " The Devonshire Coast." 



The chatty style of his books seems to have suggested 

 the idea that he might prove a popular lecturer, and though 

 he had never attempted such a thing, in 1853 he con- 

 sented to make a few remarks about sponges which he 

 was studying at the time. He illustrated his lecture with 

 large drawings in chalk upon the blackboard, and the suc- 

 cess of the novel experiment was such that he continued 

 lecturing for several }'ears. 



