1888 LETTER TO HOOKER 221 



ing as to the effect of the last (that is, of the struggle for exist- 

 ence which it involves) upon the varieties resulting from the 

 operation of the former. Nor is it essential that one should take 

 up any particular position in regard to the mode of variation, 

 whether, for example, it takes place per saltum or gradually; 

 whether it is definite in character or indefinite. Still less are 

 those who accept the theory bound to any particular views as to 

 the causes of heredity or of variation. 



The remaining letters of the year trace the gradual bet- 

 tering of health, from the " no improvement " of October 

 to the almost complete disappearance of bad symptoms in 

 December. He had renounced Brighton, which he detested, 

 in favour of Eastbourne, where the keen air of the downs 

 and the daily walk over Beachy Head acted as a tolerable 

 substitute for the Alps. Though he would not miss the 

 anniversary meeting of the Royal Society, when he was to 

 receive the Copley medal, one more link binding him to 

 his old friend Hooker, he did not venture to stay for the 

 dinner in the evening. 



This autumn also he resigned his place on the board of 

 Governors of Eton College. " I think it must be a year 

 and a half," he writes, " since I attended a meeting, and 

 I am not likely to do better in the future." 



4 Marlborough Place. Oct. 28, 1888. 



My dear Hooker — Best thanks for your suggestion about 

 the cottage, viz. " that before you decide on Brighton Mrs. 

 Huxley should come down and look at the cottage below my 

 house " at Sunningdale, but I do not see my way to adopting 

 it. A house, however small, involves servants and ties one to 

 one place. The conditions that suit me do not seem to be found 

 anywhere but in the high Alps, and I can't afford to keep a 

 second house in the country and pass the summer in Switzer- 

 land as well. 



We are going to Brighton (not because we love it, quite 

 t'other) on account of the fine weather that is to be had there 

 in November and December. We shall be back for some weeks 

 about Christmas, and then get away somewhere else — Malvern 

 possibly — out of the east winds of February and March. 



I do not like this nomadic life at all, but it appears to be 

 Hobson's choice between that and none. 



