1887 LETTERS FROM SWITZERLAND ^3 



Hotel Righi Vaudois, Glion, Switzerland, 

 Sept. 21, 1887. 



My dear Hooker — I saw in the Times yesterday the an- 

 nouncement of Mr. Symonds' death. I suppose the deliverance 

 from so painful a malady as heart-disease is hardly to be 

 lamented in one sense ; but these increasing gaps in one's inti- 

 mate circle are very saddening, and we feel for Lady Hooker 

 and you. My wife has been greatly depressed by hearing of 

 Mrs. Carpenter's fatal disorder. One cannot go away for a few 

 weeks without finding somebody gone on one's return. 



I got no good at the Maderaner Thai, so we migrated to our 

 old quarters at Arolla, and there I picked up in no time, and 

 in a fortnight could walk as well as ever. So if there are any 

 adhesions they are pretty well stretched by this time. 



I have been at the Gentians again, and worked out the de- 

 velopment of the flower in G. purpurea and G. campestris. The 

 results are very pretty. They both start from a thalamifloral 

 condition, then become corollifloral, G. purpurea at first re- 

 sembling G. lutea and G. campestris, an Ophelia, and then 

 specialise to the Ptychantha and Stephanantha forms respec- 

 tively. 



In G. campestris there is another very curious thing. The 

 anthers are at first introrse, but just before the bud opens they 

 assume this position [sketch] and then turn right over and be- 

 come extrorse. In G. purpurea this does not happen, but the 

 anthers are made to open outwards by their union on the inner 

 side of the slits of dehiscence. 



There are several other curious bits of morphology that have 

 turned up, but I reserve them for our meeting. 



Beyond pottering away at my Gentians and doing a little 

 with that extraordinary Cynanchum I have been splendidly idle. 

 After three weeks of the ascetic life of Arolla, we came here to 

 acclimatise ourselves to lower levels and to fatten up. I go 

 straight through the table d'hote at each meal, and know not 

 indigestion. 



My wife has fared not so well, but she is all right again 

 now. We go home by easy stages, and expect to be in Marlbor- 

 ough Place on Tuesday. 



With all our best wishes to Lady Hooker and yourself — 

 Ever yours, T. H. Huxley. 



The second visit to Arolla did as much good as the first. 

 Though unable to stay more than a week or two in London 



