Tired of the army, and possessing a great amount of energy and physical power, Murchison longed for a profession, and at one time seriously contemplated entering the Church. But money was scarce, and he went with his wife to live economically in Italy. This was an epoch in his life, and he went by way of Paris, and there he heard Cuvier lecture. At Geneva he met De Candolle, and as his wife had relatives at Vevay, they spent some time there, and Murchison began taking walking tours. On one occasion he walked four hundred and thirty-two miles over mountain ground, in fourteen days, finishing with a last day’s walk of thirty-seven miles. In another excursion to Mont Blanc he walked one hundred and twenty miles in three days. This was characteristic of the man. But it was not simple exercise that he took, for his retentive memory and eye for landscape were occupied; and such walks always produced good results in after years. Arrived at Rome they went into lodgings, and Murchison became a confirmed visitor of galleries, museums, and churches. Then Mrs. Murchison fell ill, and they went, on her recovery, to Naples, where, of course, Vesuvius was seen, but oddly enough, his written impressions of the scene do not tell of any geological tastes. Two years glided away, and they founded his intellectual life, and impressed him that it was better than gaiety. When returned to England, Murchison sold his Scotch estate and went to live in a most out of the way old mansion at Barnard Castle, in Durham. Then there was no art, and therefore Murchison became a sportsman, and for five years rode as hard and as well to the front as any of his fox-hunting friends. Every now and then some intellectual society was enjoyed at some of the great houses of the neighbourhood, and Murchison made the acquaintance of Sir Humphrey Davy. Mrs. Murchison did not care about the everlasting hunting, and tried, in her wise manner, to wean him from the purposeless life he was leading. She knew botany, and tried to interest her husband in it, but he did not care for it; then she tried to learn mineralogy to get him to help her. But Murchison got deeper and deeper into the love of field sports, and took a house at Melton Mowbray and hunted six days in the week. Murchison got tired at last, and having met Sir Humphrey Davy again, was advised by him to interest himself about chemistry. So Murchison sold his horses and gave up his establishment, really intending to settle in London. But probably want of means prevented his having an establishment in the West End at first, so he led a less active but still sporting life in the south of Scotland for some time.