34 



Gogga Brown 



it, so that it will not fall into other hands. Hoping 

 you receive it safely at your present destination, 

 and that you will favour me with a reply consonant 

 with my desires, 



M I beg to subscribe myself, 



Yours faithfully, 

 A. B." 



Scientists at the best of times are not ideal 

 husbands, in that they are more apt than other 

 men to carry their work as well as their worries 

 home with them. An amateur scientist is even 

 less qualified for matrimony, for he has no place 

 but his own house in which to carry out his 

 investigations ; but a Naturalist who wants to 

 make his home both a Museum and a Menagerie 

 at the same time, well, he has no right to think 

 of marrying at all. 



This the lady knew more about than Brown 

 imagined, so she helped him to make his final 

 renunciation by not replying to his registered 

 letter. Without a doubt this is the pivot on which 

 Brown's life turned. From now onward his back 

 was to the modern world, his face towards Nature 

 and the Eternal in perfect sublimation. But, if I 

 may be permitted for once to read between Brown's 

 cryptic lines, I think I see some evidence that the 



