286 LIFE OF PROFESSOR HUXLEY chap, xxi 



microbes of which would be seen under a strong enough micro- 

 scope to have this form. 



[Sketch of an active little black demon.] 



T. H. Huxley. 



Though not so strikingly as before, the high Alpine air 

 was again a wonderful tonic to him. His diary still con- 

 tains a note of occasional long walks ; and once more he was 

 the centre of a circle of friends, whose cordial recollections 

 of their pleasant intercourse afterwards found expression in 

 a lasting memorial. Beside one of his favourite walks, a 

 narrow pathway skirting the blue lakelet of Sils, was placed 

 a gray block of granite. The face of this was roughly 

 smoothed, and upon it was cut the following inscription : — 



In memory of the illustrious English Writer and Naturalist, 

 Thomas Henry Huxley, who spent many summers at the Kur- 

 saal, Maloja. 



In a letter to Sir J. Hooker, of October i, he describes 

 the effects of his trip, and his own surprise at being asked 

 to write a critical account of Owen's work : — • 



Hodeslea, Eastbourne, Oct. i, 1893. 



My dear Hooker — I am no better than a Gadarene swine for 

 not writing to you from the Maloja, but I was too procrastinat- 

 ingly lazy to expend even that amount of energy. I found ,1 

 could walk as well as ever, but unless I was walking I was ever- 

 lastingly seedy, and the wife was unwell almost all the time. I 

 am inclined to think that it is coming home which is the most 

 beneficial part of going abroad, for I am remarkably well now, 

 and my wife is very much better. 



I trust the impaled and injudicious Richard * is none the 

 worse. It is wonderful what boys go through (also what goes 

 through them). 



You will get all the volumes of my screeds. I was horrified 

 to find what a lot of stuff there was — but don't acknowledge 

 them unless the spirit moves you. ... I think that on Natural 

 Inequality of Man will be to your taste. 



Three, or thirty, guesses and you shall not guess what I am 

 about to tell you. 



* Sir J. Hooker's youngest son, who had managed to spike himself 

 on a fence. 



