He went up to town, and saw various doctors, and had some thoughts of taking a voyage. He was, however, well enough to attend the Conversazione at the Royal Society, and showed some experiments on rabbits and rats which bore on questions of acquired characters. He writes:
To Mrs. Romanes.
I have been thinking of you a great deal, and, with a somewhat literal application of a certain expletive addressed by a fast man to his eyes, am driven to address you through my goggles.
Nettleship has appointed to-morrow morning to see me, so I shall not be able to get home sooner than 6 train. Don't trouble to meet me, as I must take a cab for the rabbits and rats. The latter are now at the Royal Society, where ample space has been provided for their exhibition. The Zoological paper[96] went off very well, and Flower made a very good remark on it, the substance of which I will tell you when we meet, it had not previously occurred to me. Your letter to the Pollocks never reached them, so they had given me up. They were as enthusiastically kind as usual, and very sympathetic about my eyes.
He returned to Oxford, and was persuaded to rest, and not to go to London again to pay a promised visit to Professor Palgrave.
To Miss C. E. Romanes.
94 St. Aldate's, Oxford: June 18, 1892.
My dearest Charlotte,—Your little differences of opinion with regard to the rats are very amusing to me, and I quite see how the matter stands.
I am very glad to hear of your improvement in general health, and also of James' continued vigour. As regards myself I have no very satisfactory account to give. The headaches indeed are not worse—if anything they are better; but the gout is at work on other parts of this vile body, and the latest assault is a very serious one for a man of my pursuits. About ten days ago I found myself partially blind in the right eye—the upper half of the field of vision being totally obliterated. I have seen an Oxford and also a London oculist, who have both examined the eye and pronounce the sudden seizure to be one of serous effusion upon the retina. It seems probable that the impairment of vision will be permanent, and so prevent all operative work where any delicacy is required. The blindness is so complete, that if I look about an inch below the electric light placed at a distance of a very few yards, I am not able to perceive any luminosity. Meanwhile, I have to wear the darkest of possible goggles, and generally to live the life of a blind man. Per contra, this may prove a blessing in disguise, as it compels me to abstain from work for some considerable time to come, and I had been advised to this course on account of the headaches. How I am to spend the six months' rest which is prescribed I have not yet determined. Shooting will be probably out of the question, as I cannot use the left eye in any form of recreation. My idea is rather to go to Egypt and Palestine, to take a voyage to the Cape, or in some other such way to break my usual habits without altogether wasting time.
All the rest of the household are flourishing, and with love to both,