CHAPTER XVI 



BREAKDOWN AND RETIREMENT CRITICAL 



THEOLOGY [ 1 884-86]. 



Dyspepsia and hypochondria during 1884 made life a 

 burden, though the correspondence of this time contains 

 many flashes of humour. Among other annoyances, 

 Huxley had to submit to the extraction of all his remaining 

 teeth, and this greatly depressed him, for his zoological 

 studies had led to the conviction that the end of the 

 dentition meant the end of the animal. 



Some improvement was effected by a trip to Cornwall 

 and Wales in the second half of the summer, but at 

 the end of this he was imperatively ordered to go abroad 

 for some months, Italy being chosen as the country to 

 be visited. Unfortunately, family trouble added to the 

 burden of physical disability, for while arrangements 

 were being made for the marriage of his third daughter, 

 his second one (Mrs. Collier) was prostrated with serious 

 illness, which left little hope of ultimate recovery. 



Some of the impressions of Italy are interesting. 

 Thus in a letter written from Lugano to Sir Michael 

 Foster : — 



" Venice itself just suited me. I chartered a capital gondolier, 

 and spent most of my time exploring the Lagoons. Especially 

 I paid a daily visit to the Lido, and filled my lungs with the sea 

 air, and rejoiced in the absence of stinks. For Venice is like 

 her population (at least the male part of it), handsome but 

 odorous. Did you notice how handsome the young men are 

 and how little beauty there is among the women ? . . . Verona 



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