1881 FORGETFULNESS 37 



strongly from his way of looking at things than I ; but I should 

 not yield to the most devoted of his followers in gratitude for 

 the bracing wholesome influence of his writings when, as a very 

 young man, I was essaying without rudder or compass to strike 

 out a course for myself. 



Mention has already been made (p. 31) of his ill-health 

 at the end of the year, which was perhaps a premonition of 

 the breakdown of 1883. An indication of the same kind 

 may be found in the following letter to Mrs. Tyndall, who 

 had forwarded a document which Dr. Tyndall had meant to 

 send himself with an explanatory note. 



4 Marlborough Place, March 25, 1881. 



My dear Mrs. Tyndall — But where is his last note to me ? 

 That is the question on which I have been anxiously hoping for 

 light since I received yours and the inclosure, which contains 

 such a very sensible proposition that I should like to know how 

 it came into existence, abiogenetically or otherwise. 



As I am by way of forgetting everything myself just now, 

 it is a comfort to me to believe that Tyndall has forgotten he 

 forgot to send the letter of which he forgot the inclosure. The 

 force of disremembering could no further go. — In affectionate 

 bewilderment, ever yours, T H Huxley. 



His general view of his health, however, was much more 

 optimistic, as appears from a letter to Mrs. May (wife of the 

 friend of his boyhood) about her son, whose strength had 

 been sapped by typhoid fever, and who had gone out to 

 the Cape to recruit. 



4 Marlborough Place, June 10, 1881. 



My dear Mrs. May — I promised your daughter the other 

 day that I would send you the Bishop of Natal's letter to me. 

 Unfortunately I had mislaid it, and it only turned up just now 

 when I was making one of my periodical clearances in the chaos 

 of papers that accumulates on my table. 



You will be pleased to see how fully the good Bishop appre- 

 ciates Stuart's excellent qualities, and as to the physical part 

 of the business, though it is sad enough that a young man should 

 be impeded in this way, I think you should be hopeful. Delicate 

 young people often turn out strong old people — I was a thread 



