312 LIFE OF PROFESSOR HUXLEY chap, xxi 



Station at Naples, on his first visit to England, made my 

 father's acquaintance by accepting his invitation to stay with 

 him " for as long as you can make it convenient to stay " 

 at Swanage, " a little country town with no sort of amuse- 

 ment except what is to be got_by walking about a rather 

 pretty country. But having warned you of this, I repeat 

 that it will give me much pleasure to see you if you think 

 it worth while to come so far." 



Dr. Dohrn came, and came into the midst of the family 

 — seven children, ranging from ten years to babyhood, with 

 whom he made himself as popular by his farmyard reper- 

 tory, as he did with the elders by other qualities. The im- 

 pression left upon him appears from a letter written soon 

 after — 



" Ich habe heute mehrere Capitel in Mill's Utilitarianism 

 gelesen and das Wort happiness mehr als einmal gefunden: 

 hatte ich eine Definition dieses vielumworbenen Wortes irgend 

 Jemand zu geben, ich wiirde sagen : * go and see the Huxley 

 family at Swanage ; and if you would enjoy the same I enjoyed, 

 you would feel what is happiness, and never more ask for a 

 definition of this sentiment." 



Swanage, Sept. 22, 1867. 



My dear Dohrn — Thanks to my acquaintance with the 

 Mikroskopische Anatomie, and to the fact that you employ our 

 manuscript characters, and not the hieroglyphics of what I ven- 

 ture to call the " cursed " and not " cursiv " Schrift, your letter 

 was as easy as it was pleasant to read. We are all glad to have 

 news of you, though it was really very unnecessary to thank 

 us for trying to make your brief visit a pleasant one. Your 

 conscience must be more " pungent " than your talk, if it pricks 

 you with so little cause. My wife rejoices saucily to find that 

 phrase of hers has stuck so strongly in your mind, but you must 

 remember her fondness for " Tusch." 



You must certainly marry. In my bachelor days, it was 

 unsafe for anyone to approach me before mid-day, and for all 

 intellectual purposes I was barren till the evening. Breakfast 

 at six would have upset me for the day. You and the lobster 

 noted the difference the other day. 



* I have been reading several chapters of Mill's Utilitarianism 

 to-day, and met with the word " happiness " more than once ; if / had 

 to give anybody a definition of this much debated word, I should say — 



