i62 SIR GEORGE DARWIN 



life. During these years we find the first indica- 

 tions of the circumstances which forced him to give 

 up a legal career — namely, his failing health and 

 his growing inclination towards science.^ Thus in 

 the summer of 1 869, when we were all at Caerdeon 

 in the Barmouth valley, he writes that he "fell 

 ill," and again in the winter of 1871. His health 

 deteriorated markedly during 1872 and 1873. In 

 the former year he went to Malvern and to Homburg 

 without deriving any advantage. I have an 

 impression that he did not expect to survive these 

 attacks, but I cannot say at what date he made this 

 forecast of an early death. In January 1873 he 

 visited Cannes, and ' ' came back very ill. " It was in 

 the spring of this year that he first consulted Dn 

 (afterwards Sir Andrew) Clark, from whom he 

 received the kindest care. George suffered from 

 digestive troubles, sickness, and general discomfort 

 and weakness. Dr. Clark's care probably did 

 what was possible to make life more bearable, and 

 as time went on his health gradually improved. 

 In 1894 he consulted the late Dr. Eccles, and by 

 means of the rest-cure, then something of a novelty, 

 his weight increased from 9 stone to 9 stone 1 1 

 pounds. I gain the impression that this treatment 

 produced a permanent improvement, although 

 his health remained a serious handicap throughout 

 his life. 



1 As a boy he had energetically collected Lepidoptera during 

 the Years 1858-61 ; the first vague indications of a leaning towards 

 physiceil science may perhaps be found in his joining the Sicilian 

 eclipse expedition, December, 1870 — January, 1871. It appears 

 from Nature, December i, 1870, that George was told off to make 

 sketches of the Corona. 



