CHAPTER XII 



EGYPT LORD RECTOR OF ABERDEEN UNIVERSITY 



PRACTICAL BIOLOGY [1872-75]. 



A CONSIDERABLE part of 1872 was necessarily spent in 

 the pursuit of health, for overwork and a variety of 

 worries, including financial ones, had led to a recurrence 

 of the old malady, dyspepsia, and a complete break-down 

 resulted. The necessary means for meeting the ex- 

 penses of a complete rest abroad were subscribed by 

 eighteen friends, and Huxley was apprised by an affec- 

 tionate and most delicately-worded letter from Darwin 

 (Life, i, p. 366), that his banking account had been 

 credited with the sum of 2000 guineas. 



On January ii, he left Southampton for Egypt, 

 visiting Gibraltar on the way, partly for the purpose of 

 investigating, on behalf of the Admiralty, the infestation 

 of stored biscuits by the grubs of a small beetle (Ephestia 

 elatella). The source of infection was discovered, and a 

 term put to the insects' ravages. On February i, 

 Huxley reached Alexandria, and went up the Nile as 

 far as Assouan. Of the effect of Egypt upon his mind, 

 Mr. Leonard Huxley thus speaks (Life, i, pp. 369-70) : — 



" Egypt left a profound impression upon him. His artistic 

 delight in it apart, the antiquities and geology of the country 

 were a vivid illustration to his trained eye of the history of man 

 and the influence upon him of the surrounding country, the link 

 between geography and history." 



Returning from Egypt by way of Italy, Catania, 

 Naples, Pozzuoli, Pompeii, and Rome were visited, and 



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