I40 LIFE OF PROFESSOR HUXLEY chap, ix 



It was not a large party that assembled at the George 

 Huxleys for the wedding, but all were life-long friends, in- 

 cluding, besides the Fanning clan and Mrs. Griffiths, an 

 old Australian ally. Hooker, Tyndall, and Dr. and Mrs. 

 Carpenter. There was none present but felt that abundant 

 happiness was at least well earned after eight years of trial, 

 and still more that its best guarantee was the firm loyalty 

 and devotion that had passed through so many dangers of 

 absence and isolation, so many temptations to renounce the 

 ideal course under stress of circumstance, only to emerge 

 strengthened and ennobled by the stern discipline of much 

 sacrifice. 



Great as was his new happiness, he hardly stood in need 

 of Darwin's word of warning : " I hope your marriage will 

 not make you idle ; happiness, I fear, is not good for work." 

 Huxley could not sit idle for long. If he had no occupation 

 on hand, something worth investigation — and thorough in- 

 vestigation — was sure to catch his eye. So he writes to 

 Hooker from Tenby : — 



15 St. Julian's Terrace, Tenby, 

 Aug. 16, 1855. 



My dear Hooker — I am so near the end of the honeymoon 

 that I think it can hardly be immodest if I emerge from private 

 life and write you a letter, more particularly as I want to know 

 something. I went yesterday on an expedition to see the re- 

 mains of a forest which exists between tidemarks at a place 

 called Amroth, near here. 



So far as I can judge there can be no doubt that this really 

 is a case of downward movement. The stools of the trees are 

 in their normal position, and their roots are embedded and in- 

 terwoven in a layer of stiff blue clay, which lies immediately 

 beneath the superficial mud of the shore. Layers of leaves, 

 too, are mixed up with the clay in other parts, and the bark of 

 some of the trees is in perfect preservation. The condition of 

 the wood is very curious.. It is like very hard cheese, so that 

 you can readily cut slices with a spade, and yet where more of 

 the trunk has been preserved some parts are very hard. The 

 trees are, I fancy. Beech and Oak. Could you identify slices if 

 I were to send you some? 



Now it seems to me that here is an opportunity one does 

 not often have of getting some information about the action of 



