1888 WORKING AT THE DARWIN OBITUARY 2 03 



ment, for the obituary notice. Nothing entertains me more than 

 to hear people call it easy reading. 



Exposition was not Darwin's forte — and his English is 

 sometimes wonderful. But there is a marvellous dumb sa- 

 gacity about him— like that of a sort of miraculous dog— and 

 he gets to the truth by ways as dark as those of the Heathen 

 Chinee. 



I am getting quite sick of all the " paper philosophers," as 

 old Galileo called them, who are trying to stand upon Darwin's 

 shoulders and look bigger than he, when in point of real knowl- 

 edge they are not fit to black his shoes. It is just as well I am 

 collapsed or I believe I should break out with a final " Fur Dar- 

 win." 



I will think of you when I get as far as the fossils. At 

 present I am poking over P. sylvestris and P. pinnata in the 

 intervals of weariness. 



My wife joins with me in love to you both. — Ever yours 

 very faithfully, T. H. Huxley. 



Snow and cold winds here. Hope you are as badly off at 

 Cambridge. 



Bournemouth, Feb. 21, 1888. 



My dear Foster — We have had nothing but frost and snow 

 here lately, and at present half a gale of the bitterest north-easter 

 I have felt since we were at Florence is raging.* 



I believe I am getting better, as I have noticed that at a par- 

 ticular stage of my convalescence from any sort of illness I pass 

 through a condition in which things in general appear damnable 

 and I myself an entire failure. If that is a sign of returning 

 health you may look upon my restoration as certain. 



If it is only Murray's speculations he wants to publish sepa- 

 rately, I should say by all means let him. But the facts, whether 

 advanced by him or other people, ought all to be in the official 

 record. I agree we can't stir. 



I scented the " goak." How confoundedly proud you are of 

 it ! In former days I have been known to joke myself. 



I will look after the questions if you like. In my present 

 state of mind I shall be a capital critic — on Dizzy's views of 

 critics. . . . — Ever yours, T. H. H. 



* Similarly to Sir J. Evans on the 2Sth — "I get my strength back 

 but slowly, and think of migrating to Greenland or Spitzbergen for a 

 milder climate. 



