CHAPTER XIV 



HARVEY AND HUME — CRAYFISHES — DUBLIN AND 

 CAMBRIDGE DOCTORATES [ 1 878-79]. 



During the early part of 1878, immediately after the 

 marriage of his eldest daughter, Huxley's work was 

 greatly interfered with by an outbreak of diphtheria in 

 his family, which occasioned the most serious anxiety. 

 His then demonstrator, the late Prof. T. J. Parker, 

 writes of this : — 



" I never saw a man more crushed than he was during the 

 dangerous illness of one of his daughters, and he told me that, 

 having then to make an after-dinner speech, he broke down for 

 the first time in his life, and for one painful moment forgot 

 where he was and what he had to say." 



To which his private assistant at the time, the late 

 Prof. G. B. Howes, adds :— 



" When, after two days, he looked in at the laboratory, his 

 dejected countenance and tired expression betokened only too 

 plainly the intense anxiety he had undergone" (Life, i, 

 p. 492). 



While the above exemplifies Huxley's devotion as a 

 father, the visit of Prof. Marsh to England just after 

 this trying time, illustrates his character as a friend. Of 

 this Marsh himself writes as follows (Recollections, 

 p. 6) :- 



" How kind Huxley was to every one who could claim his 

 friendship, I have good cause to know. Of the many instances 



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