the said "Naturalist's Journal." Short of the gratification I felt in
getting the book out, I know no greater than your kind, hearty acceptation
of the dedication; and, had the reviewers gibbeted me, the dedication would
alone have given me real pain. I have no wish to assume a stoical
indifference to public opinion, for I am well alive to it, and the critics
might have irritated me sorely, but they could never have caused me the
regret that the association of your name with a bad book of mine would
have.

You will laugh when I tell you that, my book out, I feel past the meridian
of life! But you do not know how from my earliest childhood I nourished
and cherished the desire to make a creditable journey in a new country, and
write such a respectable account of its natural features as should give me
a niche amongst the scientific explorers of the globe I inhabit, and hand
my name down as a useful contributor of original matter. A combination of
most rare advantages has enabled me to gain as much of my object as
contents me, for I never wished to be greatest amongst you, nor did rivalry
ever enter my thoughts. No ulterior object has ever been present to me in
this pursuit. My ambition is fully gratified by the satisfactory
completion of my task, and I am now happy to go on jog-trot at Botany till
the end of my days--downhill, in one sense, all the way. I shall never
have such another object to work for, nor shall I feel the want of it...As
it is, the craving of thirty years is satisfied, and I now look back on
life in a way I never could previously. There never was a past hitherto to
me. The phantom was always in view; mayhap it is only a "ridiculus mus"
after all, but it is big enough for me...


(PLATE: T.H. HUXLEY, 1857. Maull & Polyblank photo., Walker & Cockerell
ph. sc.)