LIFE AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HENRY HUXLEY

BY HIS SON

LEONARD HUXLEY. 

IN THREE VOLUMES. 

VOLUME 2. 

(PLATE: T. H. HUXLEY, PHOTOGRAPH BY WALKER AND COCKERILL, PH. SC. SIGNED T. H. HUXLEY, 1857. )

CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER 2. 1. 1870. 

CHAPTER 2. 2. 1871. 

CHAPTER 2. 3. 1872. 

CHAPTER 2. 4. 1873. 

CHAPTER 2. 5. 1874. 

CHAPTER 2. 6. 1875-1876. 

CHAPTER 2. 7. 1875-1876. 

CHAPTER 2. 8. 1876. 

CHAPTER 2. 9. 1877. 

CHAPTER 2. 10. 1878. 

CHAPTER 2. 11. 1879. 

CHAPTER 2. 12. 1881. 

CHAPTER 2. 13. 1882. 

CHAPTER 2. 14. 1883. 

CHAPTER 2. 15. 1884. 

CHAPTER 2. 16. 1884-1885. 

CHAPTER 2. 17. 1885. 

CHAPTER 2. 18. 1886. 

CHAPTER 2. 19. 1886. 

CHAPTER 2. 1. 1870. 

[With the year 1870 comes another turning-point in Huxley's career. From his return to England in 1850 till 1854 he had endured four yearsof hard struggle, of hope deferred; his reputation as a zoologist hadbeen established before his arrival, and was more than confirmed byhis personal energy and power. When at length settled in theprofessorship at Jermyn Street, he was so far from thinking himselfmore than a beginner who had learned to work in one corner of thefield of knowledge, still needing deep research into all kindredsubjects in order to know the true bearings of his own little portion, that he treated the next six years simply as years of furtherapprenticeship. Under the suggestive power of the "Origin of Species"all these scattered studies fell suddenly into due rank and order; thephilosophic unity he had so long been seeking inspired his thoughtwith tenfold vigour, and the battle at Oxford in defence of the newhypothesis first brought him before the public eye as one who not onlyhad the courage of his convictions when attacked, but could, and more, would, carry the war effectively into the enemy's country. And for thenext ten years he was commonly identified with the championship of themost unpopular view of the time; a fighter, an assailant oflong-established fallacies, he was too often considered a mereiconoclast, a subverter of every other well-rooted institution, theological, educational, or moral. 

It is difficult now to realise with what feelings he was regarded inthe average respectable household in the sixties and early seventies. His name was anathema; he was a terrible example of intellectualgravity beyond redemption, a man with opinions such as cannot be held"without grave personal sin on his part" (as was once said of Mill byW. G. Ward), the representative in his single person of rationalism, materialism, atheism, or if there be any more abhorrent "ism"--intoken of which as late as 1892 an absurd zealot at the headquarters ofthe Salvation Army crowned an abusive letter to him at Eastbourne bythe statement, "I hear you have a local reputation as a Bradlaughite. "

But now official life began to lay closer hold upon him. He cameforward also as a leader in the struggle for educational reform, seeking not only to perfect his own biological teaching, but to show, in theory and practice, how scientific training might be introducedinto the general system of education. He was more than once asked tostand for Parliament, but refused, thinking he could do more usefulwork for his country outside. 

The publication in 1870 of "Lay Sermons, " the first of a series ofsimilar volumes, served, by concentrating his moral and intellectualphilosophy, to make his influence as a teacher of men more widelyfelt. The "active scepticism, " whose conclusions many feared, was yetacknowledged as the quality of mind which had made him one of theclearest thinkers and safest scientific guides of his time, while hiskeen sense of right and wrong made the more reflective of those whoopposed his conclusions hesitate long before expressing a doubt as tothe good influence of his writings. This view is very clearlyexpressed in a review of the book in the "Nation" (New York 1870 11407). 

And as another review of the "Lay Sermons" puts it ("Nature" 3 22), hebegan to be made a kind of popular oracle, yet refused to prophesysmooth things. 

During the earlier period, with more public demands made upon him thanupon most men of science of his age and standing, with the burden offour Royal Commissions and increasing work in learned societies inaddition to his regular lecturing and official paleontological work, and the many addresses and discourses in which he spread abroad in thepopular mind the leaven of new ideas upon nature and education and theprogress of thought, he was still constantly at work on biologicalresearches of his own, many of which took shape in the Hunterianlectures at the College of Surgeons from 1863-1870. But from 1870onward, the time he could spare to such research grew less and less. For eight years he was continuously on one Royal Commission afteranother. His administrative work on learned societies continued toincrease; in 1869-70 he held the presidency of the EthnologicalSociety, with a view to effecting the amalgamation with theAnthropological, ] "the plan, " [as he calls it, ] "for uniting theSocieties which occupy themselves with man (that excludes 'Society'which occupies itself chiefly with woman). " [He became President ofthe Geological Society in 1872, and for nearly ten years, from 1871 to1880, he was secretary of the Royal Society, an office which occupiedno small portion of his time and thought, "for he had formed a veryhigh ideal of the duties of the Society as the head of science in thiscountry, and was determined that it should not at least fall shortthrough any lack of exertion on his part" (Sir M. Foster, RoyalSociety Obituary Notice). (See Appendix 2. )

The year 1870 itself was one of the busiest he had ever known. Hepublished one biological and four paleontological memoirs, and sat ontwo Royal Commissions, one on the Contagious Diseases Acts, the otheron Scientific Instruction, which continued until 1875. 

The three addresses which he gave in the autumn, and his election tothe School Board will be spoken of later; in the first part of theyear he read two papers at the Ethnological Society, of which he wasPresident, on "The Geographical Distribution of the ChiefModifications of Mankind, " March 9--and on "The Ethnology of Britain, "May 10--the substance of which appeared in the "Contemporary Review"for July under the title of "Some Fixed Points in British Ethnology"("Collected Essays" 7 253). As President also of the GeologicalSociety and of the British Association, he had two important addressesto deliver. In addition to this, he delivered an address before theY. M. C. A. At Cambridge on "Descartes' Discourse. "

How busy he was may be gathered from his refusal of an invitation toDown:--]

26 Abbey Place, January 21, 1870. 

My dear Darwin, It is hard to resist an invitation of yours--but I dine out onSaturday; and next week three evenings are abolished by Societies ofone kind or another. And there is that horrid Geological addresslooming in the future!

I am afraid I must deny myself at present. 

I am glad you liked the sermon. Did you see the "Devonshire man's"attack in the "Pall Mall?"

I have been wasting my time in polishing that worthy off. I would nothave troubled myself about him, if it were not for the politicalbearing of the Celt question just now. 

My wife sends her love to all you. 

Ever yours, T. H. Huxley. 

[The reference to the "Devonshire Man" is as follows:--Huxley had beenspeaking of the strong similarity between Gaul and German, Celt andTeuton, before the change of character brought about by the Latinconquest; and of the similar commixture, a dash of Anglo-Saxon in themass of Celtic, which prevailed in our western borders and many partsof Ireland, e. G. Tipperary. 

The "Devonshire Man" wrote on January 18 to the "Pall Mall Gazette, "objecting to the statement that "Devonshire men are as littleAnglo-Saxons as Northumbrians are Welsh. " Huxley replied on the 21st, meeting his historical arguments with citations from Freeman, andespecially by completing his opponent's quotation from Caesar, to showthat under certain conditions, the Gaul was indistinguishable from theGerman. The assertion that the Anglo-Saxon character is midway betweenthe pure French or Irish and the Teutonic, he met with the previousquestion, Who is the pure Frenchman? Picard, Provencal, or Breton? orthe pure Irish? Milesian, Firbolg, or Cruithneach?

But the "Devonshire Man" did not confine himself to science. Heindulged in various personalities, to the smartest of which, a parodyof Sydney Smith's dictum on Dr. Whewell, Huxley replied:--]

"A Devonshire Man" is good enough to say of me that "cutting upmonkeys is his forte, and cutting up men is his foible. " With yourpermission, I propose to cut up "A Devonshire Man"; but I leave it tothe public to judge whether, when so employed, my occupation is to bereferred to the former or to the latter category. 

[For this he was roundly lectured by the "Spectator" on January 29, inan article under the heading "Pope Huxley. " Regardless of the rightsor wrongs of the controversy, he was chidden for the abusive languageof the above paragraph, and told that he was a very good anatomist, but had better not enter into discussions on other subjects. 

The same question is developed in the address to the EthnologicalSociety later in the year and in "Some Fixed Points in BritishEthnology" (see above), and reiterated in an address from the chair inSection D at the British Association in 1878 at Dublin, and in aletter to the "Times" for October 12, 1887, apropos of a leadingarticle upon "British Race-types of To-day. "

Letter-writing was difficult under such pressure of work, but theclaims of absent friends were not wholly forgotten, though left on oneside for a time, and the warm-hearted Dohrn, could not bear to thinkhimself forgotten, managed to get a letter out of him--not onscientific business. ]

26 Abbey Place, January 30, 1870. 

My dear Dohrn, In one sense I deserve all the hard things you may have said andthought about me, for it is really scandalous and indefensible that Ihave not written to you. But in another sense, I do not, for I havevery often thought about you and your doings, and as I have told youonce before, your memory always remains green in the "happy family. "

But what between the incessant pressure of work and an inborn aversionto letter-writing, I become a worse and worse correspondent the longerI live, and unless I can find one or two friends who will [be] contentto bear with my infirmities and believe that however long before wemeet, I shall be ready to take them up again exactly where I left off, I shall be a friendless old man. 

As for your old Goethe, you are mistaken. The Scripture says that "aliving dog is better than a dead lion, " and I am a living dog. By theway, I bought Cotta's edition of him the other day, and there hestands on my bookcase in all the glory of gilt, black, and marbleedges. Do you know I did a version of his "Aphorisms on Nature" intoEnglish the other day. [For the first number of "Nature, " November1869. ] It astonishes the British Philistines not a little. When theybegan to read it they thought it was mine, and that I had suddenlygone mad!

But to return to your affairs instead of my own. I received yourvolume on the "Arthropods" the other day, but I shall not be able tolook at it for the next three weeks, as I am in the midst of mylectures, and have an annual address to deliver to the GeologicalSociety on the 18th February, when, I am happy to say, my tenure ofoffice as President expires. 

After that I shall be only too glad to plunge into your doings and, asalways, I shall follow your work with the heartiest interest. But Iwish you would not take it into your head that Darwin or I, or any oneelse thinks otherwise than highly of you, or that you need"re-establishing" in any one's eyes. But I hope you will not havefinished your work before the autumn, as they have made me Presidentof the British Association this year, and I shall be very busy with myaddress in the summer. The meeting is to take place in Liverpool onthe 14th September, and I live in hope that you will be able to comeover. Let me know if you can, that I may secure you good quarters. 

I shall ask the wife to fill up the next half-sheet. But for Heaven'ssake don't be angry with me in English again. It's far worse than ascolding in Deutsch, and I have as little forgotten my German as Ihave my German friends. 

[On February 18 he delivered his farewell address to the GeologicalSociety, on laying down the office of President. ("Palaeontology andthe Doctrine of Evolution" "Collected Essays" 8. ) He took theopportunity to revise his address to the Society in 1862, and pointedout the growth of evidence in favour of evolution theory, and inparticular traced the paleontological history of the horse, through aseries of fossil types approaching more and more to a generalisedungulate type and reaching back to a three-toed ancestor, orcollateral of such an ancestor, itself possessing rudiments of the twoother toes which appertain to the average quadruped. ]

If [he said] the expectation raised by the splints of horses that, insome ancestor of the horses, these splints would be found to becomplete digits, has been verified, we are furnished with very strongreasons for looking for a no less complete verification of theexpectation that the three-toed Plagiolophus-like "avus" of the horsemust have been a five-toed "atavus" at some early period. 

[Six years afterwards, this forecast of paleontological research wasto be fulfilled, but at the expense of the European ancestry of thehorse. A series of ancestors, similar to these European fossils, butstill more equine, and extending in unbroken order much farther backin geological time, was discovered in America. His use of this in hisNew York lectures as demonstrative evidence of evolution, and theimmediate fulfilment of a further prophecy of his will be told in duecourse. 

His address to the Cambridge Y. M. C. A, "A Commentary on Descartes''Discourse touching the method of using reason rightly, and of seekingscientific truth, '" was delivered on March 24. This was an attempt togive this distinctively Christian audience some vision of the world ofscience and philosophy, which is neither Christian nor Unchristian, but Extra-christian, and to show] "by what methods the dwellerstherein try to distinguish truth from falsehood, in regard to some ofthe deepest and most difficult problems that beset humanity, "in orderto be clear about their actions, and to walk sure-footedly in thislife, " as Descartes says. For Descartes had laid the foundation of hisown guiding principle of "active scepticism, which strives to conqueritself. "

[Here again, as in the "Physical Basis of Life, " but with more detail, he explains how far materialism is legitimate, is, in fact, a sort ofshorthand idealism. This essay, too, contains the often-quotedpassage, apropos of the] "introduction of Calvinism into science. "

I protest that if some great Power would agree to make me always thinkwhat is true and do what is right, on condition of being turned into asort of clock and wound up every morning before I got out of bed, Ishould instantly close with the offer. The only freedom I care aboutis the freedom to do right; the freedom to do wrong I am ready to partwith on the cheapest terms to any one who will take it of me. 

[This was the latest of the essays included in "Lay Sermons, Addressesand Reviews, " which came out, with a dedicatory letter to Tyndall, inthe summer of 1870, and, whether on account of its subject matter orits title, always remained his most popular volume of essays. 

To the same period belongs a letter to Matthew Arnold about his book"St. Paul and Protestantism. "]

My dear Arnold, Many thanks for your book which I have been diving into at odd timesas leisure served, and picking up many good things. 

One of the best is what you say near the end about science graduallyconquering the materialism of popular religion. 

It will startle the Puritans who always coolly put the matter theother way; but it is profoundly true. 

These people are for the most part mere idolaters with a Bible-fetish, who urgently stand in need of conversion by Extra-christianMissionaries. 

It takes all one's practical experience of the importance of Puritanways of thinking to overcome one's feeling of the unreality of theirbeliefs. I had pretty well forgotten how real to them "the man in thenext street" is, till your citation of their horribly absurd dogmasreminded me of it. If you can persuade them that Paul is fairlyinterpretable in your sense, it may be the beginning of better things, but I have my doubts if Paul would own you, if he could return toexpound his own epistles. 

I am glad you like my Descartes article. My business with myscientific friends is something like yours with the Puritans, naturebeing OUR Paul. 

Ever yours very faithfully, T. H. Huxley. 

26 Abbey Place, May 10, 1870. 

[From the 14th to the 24th of April Huxley, accompanied by his friendHooker, made a trip to the Eifel country. His sketch-book is full ofrapid sketches of the country, many of them geological; one day indeedthere are eight, another nine such. 

Tyndall was invited to join the party, and at first accepted, but thenrecollected the preliminaries which had to be carried out before hislectures on electricity at the end of the month. So he writes on April6:--

Royal Institution, 6 April. 

My dear Huxley, I was rendered drunk by the excess of prospective pleasure when youmentioned the Eifel yesterday, and took no account of my lectures. They begin on the 28th, and I have studiously to this hour excludedthem from my thought. I have made arrangements to see variousexperiments involving the practical application of electricity beforethe lectures begin; I find myself, in short, cut off from theexpedition. My regret on this score is commensurable with thepleasures I promised myself. Confound the lectures!

And yours on Friday is creating a pretty hubbub already. (On thePedigree of the Horse" April 8, 1870, which was never brought out inbook form. ) I am torn to pieces by women in search of tickets. Anything that touches progenitorship interests them. You will have acrammed house, I doubt not. 

Yours ever, John Tyndall. 

Huxley replied:--]

Geological Survey of England and Wales, April 6, 1870. 

My dear Tyndall, DAMN the L e c t u r e s. 

T. H. H. 

That's a practical application of electricity for you. 

[In June he writes to his wife, who has taken a sick child to theseaside:--]

I hear a curious rumour (which is not for circulation), that Froudeand I have been proposed for D. C. L. 's at Commemoration, and that theproposition has been bitterly and strongly opposed by Pusey. [Huxleyultimately received his D. C. L. In 1885. ] They say there has been aregular row in Oxford about it. I suppose this is at the bottom ofJowett's not writing to me. But I hope that he won't fancy that Ishould be disgusted at the opposition and object to come [i. E. To payhis regular visit to Balliol]. On the contrary, the more completePusey's success, the more desirable it is that I should show my facethere. Altogether it is an awkward position, as I am supposed to knownothing of what is going on. 

[The situation is further developed in a letter to Darwin:--]

Jermyn Street, June 22, 1870. 

My dear Darwin, I sent the books to Queen Anne St. This morning. Pray keep them aslong as you like, as I am not using them. 

I am greatly disgusted that you are coming up to London this week, aswe shall be out of town next Sunday. It is the rarest thing in theworld for us to be away, and you have pitched upon the one day. Cannotwe arrange some other day?

I wish you could have gone to Oxford, not for your sake, but fortheirs. There seems to have been a tremendous shindy in the Hebdomadalboard about certain persons who were proposed; and I am told thatPusey came to London to ascertain from a trustworthy friend who werethe blackest heretics out of the list proposed, and that he was gladto assent to your being doctored, when he got back, in order to keepout seven devils worse than that first!

Ever, oh Coryphaeus diabolicus, your faithful follower, T. H. Huxley. 

[The choice of a subject for his Presidential Address at the BritishAssociation for 1870, a subject which, as he put it, ] "has lainchiefly in a land flowing with the abominable, and peopled with meregrubs and mouldiness, " [was suggested by a recent controversy upon theorigin of life, in which the experiments of Dr. Bastian, thenProfessor of Pathological Anatomy at University College, London, whichseemed to prove spontaneous generation, were shown by ProfessorTyndall to contain a flaw. Huxley had naturally been deeply interestedfrom the first; he had been consulted by Dr. Bastian, and, I believe, had advised him not to publish until he had made quite sure of hisground. This question and the preparation of the course of ElementaryBiology [See below. ] led him to carry on a series of investigationslasting over two years, which took shape in a paper upon "Penicillium, Torula, and Bacterium", first read in Section D at the BritishAssociation, 1870 ("Quarterly Journal of Micr. Science" 1870 10 pages355-362. ); and in his article on "Yeast" in the "Contemporary Review"for December 1871. He laboriously repeated Pasteur's experiments, andfor years a quantity of flasks and cultures used in this work remainedat South Kensington, until they were destroyed in the eighties. Ofthis work Sir J. Hooker writes to him:--

You have made an immense leap in the association of forms, and Icannot but suppose you approach the final solution... 

I have always fancied that it was rather brains and boldness, thaneyes or microscopes that the mycologists wanted, and that there wasmore brains in Berkeley's [Reverend M. J. Berkeley. ] crude discoveriesthan in the very best of the French and German microscopicverifications of them, who filch away the credit of them from underBerkeley's nose, and pooh-pooh his reasoning, but for which we shouldbe, as we were. 

In his Presidential Address, "Biogenesis and Abiogenesis" ("CollectedEssays" 8 page 229), he discussed the rival theories of spontaneousgeneration and the universal derivation of life from precedent life, and professed his belief, as an act of philosophic faith, that at someremote period, life had arisen out of inanimate matter, though therewas no evidence that anything of the sort had occurred recently, thegerm theory explaining many supposed cases of spontaneous generation. The history of the subject, indeed, showed] "the great tragedy ofScience--the slaying of a beautiful hypothesis by an ugly fact--whichis so constantly being enacted under the eyes of philosophers, " andrecalled the warning "that it is one thing to refute a proposition, and another to prove the truth of a doctrine which, implicitly orexplicitly, contradicts that proposition. "

[Two letters to Dr. Dohrn refer to this address and to the meeting ofthe Association. ]

Jermyn Street, April 30, 1870. 

My dear Whirlwind, I have received your two letters; and I was just revolving in my mindhow best to meet your wishes in regard to the very important projectmentioned in the first, when the second arrived and put me at rest. 

I hope I need not say how heartily I enter into all your views, andhow glad I shall be to see your plan for "Stations" carried intoeffect. [Dr. Dohrn succeeded in establishing such a zoological"station" at Naples. ] Nothing could have a greater influence upon theprogress of zoology. 

A plan was set afoot here some time ago to establish a great marineAquarium at Brighton by means of a company. They asked me to be theirPresident, but I declined, on the ground that I did not desire tobecome connected with any commercial undertaking. What has become ofthe scheme I do not know, but I doubt whether it would be of any useto you, even if any connection could be established. 

As soon as you have any statement of your project ready, send it to meand I will take care that it is brought prominently before the Britishpublic so as to stir up their minds. And then we will have a regularfield-day about it in Section D at Liverpool. 

Let me know your new ideas about insects and vertebrata as soon aspossible, and I promise to do my best to pull them to pieces. Whatbetween Kowalesky and his Ascidians, Miklucho-Maclay [A Russiannaturalist, and close friend of Haeckel's, who later adventuredhimself alone among the cannibals of New Guinea. ] and his Fish-brains, and you and your Arthropods, I am becoming schwindelsuchtig, and spendmy time mainly in that pious ejaculation "Donner and Blitz, " in which, as you know, I seek relief. Then there is our Bastian who is makingliving things by the following combination:--

Prescription: Ammoniae Carbonatis Sodae Phosphatis Aquae destillatae quantum sufficit Caloris 150 degrees Centigrade Vacui perfectissimi Patientiae. 

Transubstantiation will be nothing to this if it turns out to be true, and you may go and tell your neighbour Januarius to shut up his shopas the heretics mean to outbid him. 

Now I think that the best service I can render to all you enterprisingyoung men is to turn devil's advocate, and do my best to pick holes inyour work. 

By the way, Miklucho-Maclay has been here; I have seen a good deal ofhim, and he strikes me as a man of very considerable capacity andenergy. He was to return to Jena to-day. 

My friend Herbert Spencer will be glad to learn that you appreciatehis book. I have been HIS devil's advocate for a number of years, andthere is no telling how many brilliant speculations I have been themeans of choking in an embryonic state. 

My wife does not know that I am writing to you, or she would sayapropos of your last paragraph that you are an entirely unreasonablecreature in your notions of how friendship should be manifested, andthat you make no allowances for the oppression and exhaustion of thework entailed by what Jean Paul calls a "Tochtervolles Haus. " I hope Imay live to see you with at least ten children, and then my wife and Iwill be avenged. Our children will be married and settled by thattime, and we shall have time to write every day and get very wrothwhen you do not reply immediately. 

Ever yours faithfully, T. H. Huxley. 

All are well, the children so grown you will not know them. 

July 18, 1870. 

My dear Dohrn, Notwithstanding the severe symptoms of "Tochterkrankheit" under whichI labour, I find myself equal to reply to your letter. 

The British Association meets in September on the 14th day of thatmonth, which falls on a Wednesday. Of course, if you come you shall beprovided for by the best specimen of Liverpool hospitality. We haveample provision for the entertainment of the "distinguishedforeigner. "

Will you be so good as to be my special ambassador with Haeckel andGegenbauer, and tell them the same thing? It would give me and all ofus particular pleasure to see them and to take care of them. 

But I am afraid that this wretched war will play the very deuce withour foreign friends. If you Germans do not give that crowned swindler, whose fall I have been looking for ever since the coup d'etat, such ablow as he will never recover from, I will never forgive you. Publicopinion in England is not worth much, but at present, it is entirelyagainst France. Even the "Times, " which generally contrives to be onthe baser side of a controversy, is at present on the German side. Andmy daughters announced to me yesterday that they had converted a youngfriend of theirs from the French to the German side, which is onegained for you. All look forward with great pleasure to seeing you inthe autumn. 

Ever yours faithfully, T. H. Huxley. 

[In addition to this address on September 14, he read his paper on"Penicillium, " etc. , in Section D on the 20th. Speaking on the 17th, after a lecture of Sir J. Lubbock's on the "Social and ReligiousCondition of the Lower Races of Mankind, " he brought forward his ownexperiences as to the practical results of the beliefs held by theAustralian savages, and from this passed to the increasing savagery ofthe lower classes in great towns such as Liverpool, which was thegreat political question of the future, and for which the only curelay in a proper system of education. 

The savagery underlying modern civilisation was all the more vividlybefore him, because one evening he, together with Sir J. Lubbock, Dr. Bastian, and Mr. Samuelson, were taken by the chief of the detectivedepartment round some of the worst slums in Liverpool. In thieves'dens, doss houses, dancing saloons, enough of suffering andcriminality was seen to leave a very deep and painful impression. Inone of these places, a thieves' lodging-house, a drunken man with acut face accosted him and asked him whether he was a doctor. He said"yes, " whereupon the man asked him to doctor his face. He had beenfighting, and was terribly excited. Huxley tried to pacify him, but ifit had not been for the intervention of the detective, the man wouldhave assaulted him. Afterwards he asked the detective if he were notafraid to go alone in these places, and got the significant answer, "Lord bless you, sir, drink and disease take all the strength out ofthem. "

On the 21st, after the general meeting of the Association, which woundup the proceedings, the Historical Society of Lancashire and Cheshirepresented a diploma of honorary membership and a gift of books toHuxley, Sir G. Stokes, and Sir J. Hooker, the last three Presidents ofthe British Association, and to Professors Tyndall and Rankine and SirJ. Lubbock, the lecturers at Liverpool. Then Huxley was presented witha mazer bowl lined with silver, made from part of one of the rooftimbers of the cottage occupied as his headquarters by Prince Rupertduring the siege of Liverpool. He was rather taken aback when he foundthe bowl was filled with champagne, after a moment, however, he drank]"success to the good old town of Liverpool, " [and with a wave of hishand, threw the rest on the floor, saying, ] "I pour this as a libationto the tutelary deities of the town. "

[The same evening he was the guest of the Sphinx Club at dinner at theRoyal Hotel, his friend Mr. P. H. Rathbone being in the chair, and inproposing the toast of the town and trade of Liverpool, declared thatcommerce was a greater civiliser than all the religion and all thescience ever put together in the world, for it taught men to betruthful and punctual and precise in the execution of theirengagements, and men who were truthful and punctual and precise in theexecution of their engagements had put their feet upon the first rungof the ladder which led to moral and intellectual elevation. 

There were the usual clerical attacks on the address, among the rest aparticularly violent one from a Unitarian pulpit. Writing to Mr. Samuelson on October 5 he says:--]

Be not vexed on account of the godly. They will have their way. Ifound Mr. --'s sermon awaiting me on my return home. It is an ablepaper, but like the rest of his cloth he will not take the trouble tomake himself acquainted with the ideas of the man whom he opposes. Atleast that is the case if he imagines he brings me under the range ofhis guns. 

[On October 2 he writes to Tyndall:--]

I have not yet thanked you properly for your great contribution to thesuccess of our meeting [i. E. His lecture "On the Scientific Uses ofthe Imagination"]. I was nervous over the passage about the clergy, but those confounded parsons seem to me to let you say anything, whilethey bully me for a word or a phrase. It's the old story, "one man maysteal a horse while the other may not look over the wall. "

[Tyndall was not to be outdone, and replied:--

The parsons know very well that I mean kindness; if I correct them Ido it in love and not in wrath. 

One more extract from a letter to Dr. Dohrn, under date of November17. The first part is taken up with a long and detailed description ofthe best English microscopes and their price, for Dr. Dohrn wished toget one; and my father volunteered to procure it for him. The rest ofthe letter has a more general interest as giving his views on thegreat struggle between France and Germany then in progress, hisdistrust of militarism, and above all, his hatred of lying, politicalas much as any other:--]

This wretched war is doing infinite mischief; but I do not see whatGermany can do now but carry it out to the end. 

I began to have some sympathy with the French after Sedan, but theRepublic lies harder than the Empire did, and the whole country seemsto me to be rotten to the core. The only figure which stands out withanything like nobility or dignity, on the French side, is that of theEmpress, and she is only a second-rate Marie-Antoinette. There is noRoland, no Corday, and apparently no MAN of any description. 

The Russian row is beginning, and the rottenness of Englishadministration will soon, I suppose, have an opportunity of displayingitself. Bad days are, I am afraid, in store for all of us, and theworst for Germany if it once becomes thoroughly bitten by the militarymad dog. 

The "happy family" is flourishing and was afflicted, even over itsbreakfast, when I gave out the news that you had been ill. 

The wife desires her best remembrances, and we all hope you arebetter. 

[The high pressure under which Huxley worked, and his abundant output, continued undiminished through the autumn and winter. Indeed, he wasso busy that he postponed his Lectures to Working Men in London fromOctober to February 1871. On October 3 he lectured in Leicester on"What is to be Learned from a Piece of Coal, " a parallel lecture tothat of 1868 on "A Piece of Chalk. " On the 17th and 24th he lecturedat Birmingham on "Extinct Animals intermediate between Reptiles andBirds"--a subject which he had made peculiarly his own by long study;and on December 29 he was at Bradford, and lectured at thePhilosophical Institute upon "The Formation of Coal" ("CollectedEssays" 8. ). 

He was also busy with two Royal Commissions; still, at whatever costof the energy and time due to his own investigations and thoseadditional labours by which he increased his none too abundant income, he felt it his duty, in the interests of his ideal of education, tocome forward as a candidate for the newly-instituted School Board forLondon. This was the practical outcome of the rising interest ineducation all over the country; on its working, he felt, dependedmomentous issues--the fostering of the moral and physical well-beingof the nation; the quickening of its intelligence and the maintenanceof its commercial supremacy. Withal, he desired to temper"book-learning" with something of the direct knowledge of nature: onthe one hand, as an admirable instrument of education, if properlyapplied; on the other, as preparing the way for an attitude of mindwhich could appreciate the reasons for the immense changes alreadybeginning to operate in human thought. 

Moreover, he possessed a considerable knowledge of the working ofelementary education throughout the country, owing to his experienceas examiner under the Science and Art Department, the establishment ofwhich he describes as "a measure which came into existence unnoticed, but which will, I believe, turn out to be of more importance to thewelfare of the people than many political changes over which the noiseof battle has rent the air" ("Scientific Education" 1869; "CollectedEssays" 3 page 131. )

Accordingly, though with health uncertain, and in the midst ofexacting occupations, he felt that he ought not to stand aside at socritical a moment, and offered himself for election in the Marylebonedivision with a secret sense that rejection would in many ways be agreat relief. 

The election took place on November 29, and Huxley came out second onthe poll. He had had neither the means nor the time for a regularcanvass of the electors. He was content to address several publicmeetings, and leave the result to the interest he could awaken amongsthis hearers. His views were further brought before the public by theaction of the editor of the "Contemporary Review, " who, before theelection, "took upon himself, in what seemed to him to be the publicinterest, " to send to the newspapers an extract from Huxley's article, "The School Boards: what they can do, and what they may do, " which wasto appear in the December number. 

In this article will be found ("Collected Essays" 3 page 374) a fullaccount of the programme which he laid down for himself, and which toa great extent he saw carried into effect, in its fourfolddivision--of physical drill and discipline, not only to improve thephysique of the children, but as an introduction to all other sorts oftraining--of domestic training, especially for girls--of education inthe knowledge of moral and social laws and the engagement of theaffections for what is good and against what is evil--and finally, ofintellectual training. And it should be noted that he did not onlyregard intellectual training from the utilitarian point of view; heinsisted, e. G. On the value of reading for amusement as] "one of itsmost valuable uses to hard-worked people. "

[Much as he desired that this intellectual training should beefficient, the most cursory perusal of this article will show how farhe placed the moral training above the intellectual, which, by itself, would only turn the gutter-child into] "the subtlest of all the beastsof the field, " [and how wide of the mark is the cartoon at this periodrepresenting him as the Professor whose panacea for the raggedchildren was to] "cram them full of nonsense. "

[In the third section are also to be found his arguments for theretention of Bible-reading in the elementary schools. He reproachedextremists of either party for confounding the science, theology, withthe affection, religion, and either crying for more theology under thename of religion, or demanding the abolition of] "religious" [teachingin order to get rid of theology, a step which he likens to] "burningyour ship to get rid of the cockroaches. "

[As regards his actual work on the Board, I must express my thanks toDr. J. H. Gladstone for his kindness in supplementing my informationwith an account based partly on his own long experience of the Board, partly on the reminiscences of members contemporary with my father. 

The Board met first on December 15, for the purpose of electing aChairman. As a preliminary, Huxley proposed and carried a motion thatno salary be attached to the post. He was himself one of the fourmembers proposed for the Chairmanship; but the choice of the Boardfell upon Lord Lawrence. In the words of Dr. Gladstone:--

Huxley at once took a prominent part in the proceedings, and continuedto do so till the beginning of the year 1872, when ill-healthcompelled him to retire. 

At first there was much curiosity both inside and outside the Board asto how Huxley would work with the old educationists, the clergy, dissenting ministers, and the miscellaneous body of eminent men thatcomprised the first Board. His antagonism to many of the methodsemployed in elementary schools was well known from his variousdiscourses, which had been recently published together under the titleof "Lay Sermons, Addresses, and Reviews. " I watched his course withinterest at the time; but for the purpose of this sketch I have latelysought information from such of the old members of the Board as arestill living, especially the earl of Harrowby, Bishop Barry, theReverend Dr. Angus, and Mr. Edward North Buxton, together with Mr. Croad, the Clerk of the Board. They soon found proof of his greatenergy, and his power of expressing his views in clear and forciblelanguage; but they also found that with all his strong convictions andlofty ideals he was able and willing to enter into the views ofothers, and to look at a practical question from its several sides. Hecould construct as well as criticise. Having entered a public arenasomewhat late in life, and being of a sensitive nature, he hadscarcely acquired that calmness and pachydermatous quality which isneedful for one's personal comfort; but his colleagues soon came torespect him as a perfectly honest antagonist or supporter, and one whodid not allow differences of conviction to interfere with friendlyintercourse. 

The various sections of the clerical party indeed looked forward withgreat apprehension to his presence on the Board, but the more liberalamongst them ventured to find ground for hoping that they and he wouldnot be utterly opposed so far as the work of practical organisationwas concerned, in the declaration of his belief that true educationwas impossible without "religion, " of which he declared that all thathas an unchangeable reality in it is constituted by the love of someethical ideal to govern and guide conduct, ] "together with the awe andreverence, which have no kinship with base fear, but rise whenever onetries to pierce below the surface of things, whether they be materialor spiritual. " [And in fact a cleavage took place between him and theseven extreme "secularists" on the Board (the seven champions ofunchristendom, as their opponents dubbed them) on the question of thereading of the Bible in schools (see below (Bishop Barry callsparticular attention to his attitude on this point, "because, " hesays, "it is (I think) often misunderstood. In the "Life of the RightHonourable W. H. Smith" (for instance), published not long ago, Huxleyis supposed, as a matter of course to have been the leader of theSecularist party. ")

One of the earliest proposals laid before the Board was a resolutionto open the meetings with prayer. To this considerable opposition wasoffered; but a bitter debate was averted by Huxley pointing out thatthe proposal was ultra vires, inasmuch as under the Act constitutingthe Board the business for which they were empowered to meet did notinclude prayer. Hereupon a requisition--in which he himselfjoined--was made to allow the use of a committee-room to those whowished to unite in a short service before the weekly meetings, anarrangement which has continued to the present time. 

At the second meeting, on December 21, he gave notice of a motion toappoint a committee to consider and report upon the scheme ofeducation to be adopted in the Board Schools. 

This motion came up for consideration on February 15, 1871. Inintroducing it, he said that such a committee ought to consider:--]

First, the general nature and relations of the schools which may comeunder the Board. Secondly, the amount of time to be devoted toeducational purposes in such schools; and Thirdly, the subject-matterof the instruction or education, or teaching, or training, which is tobe given in these schools. 

[But this, by itself, he continued, would be incomplete. At one end ofthe scale he advocated Infant schools, and urged a connection with theexcellent work of the Ragged schools. At the other end he desired tosee continuation schools, and ultimately some scheme of technicaleducation. A comprehensive scheme, indeed, would involve aneducational ladder from the gutter to the university, whereby childrenof exceptional ability might reach the place for which nature hadfitted them. 

The subject matter of elementary instruction must be limited by whatwas practicable and desirable. The revised code had done too little;it had taught the use of the tools of learning, while denying allsorts of knowledge on which to exercise them afterwards. And hereincidentally he repudiated the notion that the English child wasstupid; on the contrary, he thought the two finest intellects inEurope at this time were the English and the Italian. 

In particular he advocated the teaching of] "the first elements ofphysical science"; "by which I do not mean teaching astronomy and theuse of the globes, and the rest of the abominable trash--but a littleinstruction of the child in what is the nature of common things abouthim; what their properties are, and in what relation this actual bodyof man stands to the universe outside of it. " "There is no form ofknowledge or instruction in which children take greater interest. "

[Drawing and music, too, he considered, should be taught in everyelementary school, not to produce painters or musicians, but ascivilising arts. History, except the most elementary notions, he putout of court, as too advanced for children. 

Finally, he proposed a list of members to serve on the EducationCommittee in a couple of sentences with a humorous twist in them whichdisarmed criticism. ] "On a former occasion I was accused of having aproclivity in favour of the clergy, and recollecting this, I have onlygiven them in this instance a fair proportion of the representation. If, however, I have omitted any gentleman who thinks he ought to be onthe committee, I can only assure him that above all others I shouldhave been glad to put him on. "

[That day week the committee was elected, about a third of the membersof the Board being chosen to serve on it. At the same meeting, Dr. Gladstone continues:--

Mr. W. H. Smith, the well-known member of Parliament, proposed, and Mr. Samuel Morley, M. P. , seconded, a resolution in favour of religiousteaching--"That, in the schools provided by the Board, the Bible shallbe read, and there shall be given therefrom such explanations and suchinstruction in the principles of religion and morality as are suitedto the capacities of children, " with certain provisos. Severalantagonistic amendments were proposed; but Professor Huxley gave hissupport to Mr. Smith's resolutions, which, however, he thought mightbe trimmed and amended in a way that the Reverend Dr. Angus hadsuggested. His speech, defining his own position, was a veryremarkable one. He said] "it was assumed in the public mind that thisquestion of religious instruction was a little family quarrel betweenthe different sects of Protestantism on the one hand, and the oldCatholic Church on the other. Side by side with this much shivered andsplintered Protestantism of theirs, and with the united fabric of theCatholic Church (not so strong temporally as she used to be, otherwisehe might not have been addressing them at that moment), there was athird party growing up into very considerable and daily increasingsignificance, which had nothing to do with either of those greatparties, and which was pushing its own way independent of them, havingits own religion and its own morality, which rested in no way whateveron the foundations of the other two. " [He thought that] "the action ofthe Board should be guided and influenced very much by theconsideration of this third great aspect of things, " [which he calledthe scientific aspect, for want of a better name. ]

"It had been very justly said that they had a great mass of lowhalf-instructed population which owed what little redemption fromignorance and barbarism it possessed mainly to the efforts of theclergy of the different denominations. Any system of gaining theattention of these people to these matters must be a system connectedwith, or not too rudely divorced from their own system of belief. Hewanted regulations, not in accordance with what he himself thought wasright, but in the direction in which thought was moving. " [He wantedan elastic system, that did not oppose any obstacle to the free playof the public mind. 

Huxley voted against all the proposed amendments, and in favour of Mr. Smith's motion. There were only three who voted against it; while thethree Roman Catholic members refrained from voting. This basis ofreligious instruction, practically unaltered, has remained the law ofthe Board ever since. 

There was a controversy in the papers, between Professor Huxley andthe Reverend W. H. Fremantle, as to the nature of the explanations ofthe Bible lessons. Huxley maintained that it should be purelygrammatical, geographical, and historical in its nature; Fremantlethat it should include some species of distinct religious teaching, but not of a denominational character. (Cp. Extract from LordShaftesbury's journal about this correspondence ("Life and Work ofLord Shaftesbury" 3 282). "Professor Huxley has this definition ofmorality and religion:] 'Teach a child what is wise, that is morality. Teach him what is wise and beautiful, that is RELIGION!' Let no onehenceforth despair of making things clear and of givingexplanations!")

[In taking up this position, Huxley expressly disclaimed any desirefor a mere compromise to smooth over a difficulty. He supported whatappeared to be the only workable plan under the circumstances, thoughit was not his ideal; for he would not have used the Bible as theagency for introducing the religious and ethical idea into educationif he had been dealing with a fresh and untouched population. 

His appreciation of the literary and historical value of the Bible, and the effect it was likely to produce upon the school children, circumstanced as they were, is sometimes misunderstood to be anendorsement of the vulgar idea of it. But it always remained hisbelief] "that the principle of strict secularity in State education issound, and must eventually prevail. " [(As a result of some remarks ofMr. Clodd's on the matter in "Pioneers of Evolution, " a correspondent, some time after, wrote to him as follows:--

"In the report upon State Education in New Zealand, 1895, drawn up byR. Laishly, the following occurs, page 13:--'Professor Huxley gives meleave to state his opinion to be that the principle of strictsecularity in State education is sound, and must eventually prevail. '"

His views on dogmatic teaching in State schools, may be gatheredfurther from two letters at the period when an attempt was being madeto upset the so-called compromise. 

The first appeared in the "Times" of April 29, 1893:--]

Sir, In a leading article of your issue of to-day you state, with perfectaccuracy, that I supported the arrangement respecting religiousinstruction agreed to by the London School Board in 1871, and hithertoundisturbed. But you go on to say that "the persons who framed therule" intended it to include definite teaching of such theologicaldogmas as the Incarnation. 

I cannot say what may have been in the minds of the framers of therule; but, assuredly, if I had dreamed that any such interpretationcould fairly be put upon it, I should have opposed the arrangement tothe best of my ability. 

In fact, a year before the rule was framed I wrote an article in the"Contemporary Review, " entitled "The School Boards--what they can doand what they may do, " in which I argued that the terms of theEducation Act excluded such teaching as it is now proposed to include. And I support my contention by the following citation from the speechdelivered by Mr. Forster at the Birkbeck Institution in 1870:--

["I have the fullest confidence that in the reading and explaining ofthe Bible what the children will be taught will be the great truths ofChristian life and conduct, which all of us desire they should know, and that no efforts will be made to cram into their poor little mindstheological dogmas which their tender age prevents them fromunderstanding. "

I am, sir, your obedient servant, T. H. Huxley. 

Hodeslea, Eastbourne, April 28. 

[The second is to a correspondent who wrote to ask him whetheradhesion to the compromise had not rendered nonsensical the teachinggiven in a certain lesson upon the finding of the youthful Jesus inthe temple, when, after they had read the verse, "How is it that yesought me? Wist ye not that I must be about my Father's business?" theteacher asked the children the name of Jesus' father and mother, andaccepted the simple answer, Joseph and Mary. Thus the point of thestory, whether regarded as reality or myth, is slurred over, theresult is perplexity, the teaching, in short, is bad, apart from alltheory as to the value of the Bible. 

In a letter to the "Chronicle, " which he forwarded, this correspondentsuggested a continuation of the "incriminated lesson":--

Suppose, then, that an intelligent child of seven, who has just heardit read out that Jesus excused Himself to his parents for disappearingfor three days, on the ground that He was about His father's business, and has then learned that His father's name was Joseph, had said, "Please, teacher, was this the Jesus that gave us the Lord's Prayer?"The teacher answers, "Yes. " and suppose the child rejoins, "And is itto His father Joseph that he bids us pray when we say Our Father?" Butthere are boys of nine, ten, eleven years in Board Schools, and manysuch boys are intelligent enough to take up the subject of the lessonwhere the instructor left it. "Please, teacher, " asks one of these, "what business was it that Jesus had to do for His father Joseph? HadHe stopped behind to get a few orders? Was it true that He had beenabout Joseph's business? And, if it was not, did He not deserve to bepunished?"

Huxley replied on October 16, 1894:--]

Dear Sir, I am one with you in hating "hush up" as I do all other forms oflying; but I venture to submit that the compromise of 1871 was not a"hush-up. " If I had taken it to be such I should have refused to haveanything to do with it. And more specifically, I said in a letter tothe "Times" (see "Times, " 29th April 1893) at the beginning of thepresent controversy, that if I had thought the compromise involved theobligatory teaching of such dogmas as the Incarnation I should haveopposed it. 

There has never been the slightest ambiguity about my position in thismatter; in fact, if you will turn to one paper on the School Boardwritten by me before my election in 1870, I think you will find that Ianticipated the pith of the present discussion. 

The persons who agreed to the compromise, did exactly what all sinceremen who agree to compromise, do. For the sake of the enormousadvantage of giving the rudiments of a decent education to severalgenerations of the people, they accepted what was practically anarmistice in respect of certain matters about which the contendingparties were absolutely irreconcilable. 

The clericals have now "denounced" the treaty, doubtless thinking theycan get a new one more favourable to themselves. 

From my point of view, I am not sure that it might not be well forthem to succeed, so that the sweep into space which would befall themin the course of the next twenty-three years might be complete andfinal. 

As to the case you put to me--permit me to continue the dialogue inanother shape. 

Boy. --Please, teacher, if Joseph was not Jesus' father and God was, why did Mary say, "Thy father and I have sought thee sorrowing"? Howcould God not know where Jesus was? How could He be sorry?

Teacher. --When Jesus says Father, he means God; but when Mary saysfather, she means Joseph. 

Boy. --Then Mary didn't know God was Jesus' father?

Teacher. --Oh, yes, she did (reads the story of the Annunciation). 

Boy. --It seems to me very odd that Mary used language which she knewwas not true, and taught her son to call Joseph father. But there'sanother odd thing about her. If she knew her child was God's son, whywas she alarmed about his safety? Surely she might have trusted God tolook after his own son in a crowd. 

I know of children of six and seven who are quite capable of followingout such a line of inquiry with all the severe logic of a moral sensewhich has not been sophisticated by pious scrubbing. 

I could tell you of stranger inquiries than these which have been madeby children in endeavouring to understand the account of themiraculous conception. 

Whence I conclude that even in the interests of what people arepleased to call Christianity (though it is my firm conviction thatJesus would have repudiated the doctrine of the Incarnation as warmlyas that of the Trinity), it may be well to leave things as they are. 

All this is for your own eye. There is nothing in substance that Ihave not said publicly, but I do not feel called upon to say it overagain, or get mixed up in an utterly wearisome controversy. 

I am, yours faithfully, T. H. Huxley. 

[However, he was unsuccessful in his proposal that a selection be madeof passages for reading from the Bible; the Board refused to becomecensors. On May 10 he raised the question of the diversion from theeducation of poor children of charitable bequests, which ought to beapplied to the augmentation of the school fund. In speaking to thismotion he said that the long account of errors and crimes of theCatholic Church was greatly redeemed by the fact that that Church hadalways borne in mind the education of the poor, and had carried outthe great democratic idea that the soul of every man was of the samevalue in the eyes of his Maker. 

The next matter of importance in which he took part was on June 14, when the Committee on the Scheme of Education presented its firstreport. Dr. Gladstone writes:--

It was a very voluminous document. The Committee had met every week, and, in the words of Huxley, ] "what it had endeavoured to do, was toobtain some order and system and uniformity in important matters, whilst in comparatively unimportant matters they thought some playshould be given for the activity of the bodies of men into whose handsthe management of the various schools should be placed. " [Therecommendations were considered on June 21 and July 12, and passedwithout any material alterations or additions. They were very much thesame as existed in the best elementary schools of the period. Huxley'schief interest, it may be surmised, was in the subjects ofinstruction. It was passed that, in infants' schools there should bethe Bible, reading, writing, arithmetic, object lessons of a simplecharacter, with some such exercise of the hands and eyes as is givenin the Kindergarten system, music, and drill. In junior and seniorschools the subjects of instruction were divided into two classes, essential and discretionary, the essentials being the Bible, and theprinciples of religion and morality, reading, writing, and arithmetic, English grammar and composition, elementary geography, and elementarysocial economy, history of England, the principles of book-keeping insenior schools, with mensuration in senior boys' schools. All throughthe six years there were to be systematised object lessons, embracinga course of elementary instruction in physical science, and serving asan introduction to the science examinations conducted by the Scienceand Art department. An analogous course of instruction was adopted forelementary evening schools. In moving] "that the formation of scienceand art classes in connection with public elementary schools beencouraged and facilitated, " [Huxley contended strongly for it, saying, ] "The country could not possibly commit a greater error thanin establishing schools in which the direct applications of scienceand art were taught before those who entered the classes were groundedin the principles of physical science. " [In advocating object lessonshe said, ] "The position that science was now assuming, not only inrelation to practical life, but to thought, was such that those whoremained entirely ignorant of even its elementary facts were in awholly unfair position as regarded the world of thought and the worldof practical life. " [It was, moreover, ] "the only real foundation fortechnical education. "

[Other points in which he was specially concerned were, that theuniversal teaching of drawing was accepted, against an amendmentexcluding girls; that domestic economy was made a discretionarysubstitute for needlework and cutting-out; while he spoke in defenceof Latin as a discretionary subject, alternatively with a modernlanguage. It was true that he would not have proposed it in the firstinstance, not because a little Latin is a bad thing, but for fear of]"overloading the boat. " [But, on the other hand, there was greatdanger if education were not thrown open to all without restriction. If it be urged that a man should be content with the state of life towhich he is called, the obvious retort is, How do you know what isyour state of life, unless you try what you are called to? There is nomore frightful] "sitting on the safety valve" [than in preventing menof ability from having the means of rising to the positions for whichthey, by their talents and industry, could qualify themselves. 

Further, although the committee as a whole recommended thatdiscretionary subjects should be extras, he wished them to be coveredby the general payment, in which sense the report was amended. 

This Education Committee (proceeds Dr. Gladstone) continued to sit, and on November 30 brought up a report in favour of the Prussiansystem of separate classrooms, to be tried in one school as anexperiment. This reads curiously now that it has become the systemalmost universally adopted in the London Board Schools. 

In regard to examinations Huxley strongly supported the view that theteaching in all subjects, secular or sacred, should be periodicallytested. 

On December 13, Huxley raised the question whether the selection ofbooks and apparatus should be referred to his Committee or to theSchool Management Committee, and on January 10 following, a smallsub-committee for that object was formed. Almost immediately afterthis he retired from the Board. 

One more speech of his, which created a great stir at the time, mustbe referred to, namely his expression of undisguised hostility to thesystem of education maintained by the Ultramontane section of theRoman Catholics. (Cp. "Scientific Education" "Collected Essays" 3 page111. ) In October the bye-laws came up for consideration. One of themprovided that the Board should pay over direct to denominationalschools the fees for poor children. This he opposed on the ground thatit would lead to repeated contests on the Board, and further, might beused as a tool by the Ultramontanes for their own purposes. Believingthat their system as set forth in the syllabus, of securing completepossession of the minds of those whom they taught or controlled, wasdestructive to all that was highest in the nature of mankind, andinconsistent with intellectual and political liberty, he considered ithis earnest duty to oppose all measures which would lead to assistingthe Ultramontanes in their purpose. 

Hereupon he was vehemently attacked, for example, in the "Times" forhis "injudicious and even reprehensible tone" which "aggravated thedifficulties his opponents might have in giving way to him. " Was this, it was asked, the way to get Roman Catholic children to the Boardschools? Was it not an abandonment of the ideal of compulsoryeducation?

It is hardly necessary to point out that the question was not betweenthe compulsory inclusion or exclusion of poor children, but betweentheir admission at the cost of the Board to schools under the Board'sown control or outside it. In any case the children of Roman Catholicswere not likely to get their own doctrines taught in Board Schools, and without this they declared they would rather go without educationat all. 

Early in 1872 Huxley retired. For a year he had continued at thistask; then his health broke down, and feeling that he had done hispart, from no personal motives of ambition, but rather at some cost tohimself, for what he held to be national ends, he determined not toresume the work after the rest which was to restore him to health, andmade his resignation definite. 

Dr. Gladstone writes:--

On February 7 a letter of resignation was received from him, statingthat he was] "reluctantly compelled, both on account of his health andhis private affairs, to insist on giving up his seat at the Board. "[The Reverend Dr. Rigg, Canon Miller, Mr. Charles Reed, and LordLawrence expressed their deep regret. In the words of Dr. Rigg, "theywere losing one of the most valuable members of the Board, not onlybecause of his intellect and trained acuteness, but because of hisknowledge of every subject connected with culture and education, andbecause of his great fairness and impartiality with regard to allsubjects that came under his observation. "

Though Huxley quitted the Board after only fourteen months' service, the memory of his words and acts combined to influence it longafterwards. In various ways he expressed his opinion on educationalmatters, publicly and privately. He frequently talked with me on thesubject at the Athenaeum Club, and shortly after my election to theBoard in 1873, I find it recorded in my diary that he insistedstrongly on the necessity of our building infants' schools, --] "Peoplemay talk about intellectual teaching, but what we principally want isthe moral teaching. "

As to the sub-committee on books and apparatus, it did little atfirst, but at the beginning of the second Board, 1873, it becamebetter organised under the presidency of the Reverend Benjamin Waugh. At the commencement of the next triennial term I became the chairman, and continued to be such for eighteen years. It was our duty to putinto practice the scheme of instruction which Huxley was mainlyinstrumental in settling. We were thus able indirectly to improve boththe means and methods of teaching. The subjects of instruction haveall been retained in the Curriculum of the London School Board, except, perhaps, "mensuration" and "social economy. " The mostimportant developments and additions have been in the direction ofeducating the hand and eye. Kindergarten methods have been promoted. Drawing, on which Huxley laid more stress than his colleaguesgenerally did, has been enormously extended and greatly revolutionisedin its methods. Object lessons and elementary science have beenintroduced everywhere, while shorthand, the use of tools for boys, cookery and domestic economy for girls are becoming essentials in ourschools. Evening continuation schools have lately been widelyextended. Thus the impulse given by Huxley in the first months of theBoard's existence has been carried forward by others, and is nowaffecting the minds of the half million of boys and girls in the BoardSchools of London, and indirectly the still greater number in otherschools throughout the land. 

I must further express my thanks to Bishop Barry for permission tomake use of the following passages from the notes contributed by himto Dr. Gladstone:--

I had the privilege of being a member of his committee for definingthe curriculum of study, and here also--the religious question beingdisposed of--I was able to follow much the same line as his, and Iremember being struck not only with his clear-headed ability, but withhis strong commonsense, as to what was useful and practicable, and theutter absence in him of doctrinaire aspiration after idealimpossibilities. There was (I think) very little under hischairmanship of strongly-accentuated difference of opinion. 

In his action on the Board generally I was struck with these threecharacteristics:--First, his remarkable power of speaking--I may say, of oratory--not only on his own scientific subjects, but on all thematters, many of which were of great practical interest and touchedthe deepest feelings, which came before the Board at that criticaltime. Had he chosen--and we heard at that time that he was consideringwhether he should choose--to enter political life, it would certainlyhave made him a great power, possibly a leader, in that sphere. Next, what constantly appears in his writings, even those of the mostpolemical kind--a singular candour in recognising truths which mightseen to militate against his own position, and a power ofunderstanding and respecting his adversaries' opinions, if only theywere strongly and conscientiously held. I remember his saying on oneoccasion that in his earlier experience of sickness and suffering, hehad found that the most effective helpers of the higher humanity werenot the scientist or the philosopher, but] "the parson, and thesister, and the Bible woman. " [Lastly, the strong commonsense, whichenabled him to see what was] "within the range of practical politics, "[and to choose for the cause which he had at heart the line of leastresistance, and to check, sometimes to rebuke, intolerant obstinacyeven on the side which he was himself inclined to favour. Thesequalities over and above his high intellectual ability made him, forthe comparatively short time that he remained on the Board, one of itsleading members. 

No less vivid is the impression left, after many years, upon anothermember of the first School Board, the Reverend Benjamin Waugh, whoselife-long work for the children is so well known. From hisrecollections, written for the use of Professor Gladstone, it is myprivilege to quote the following paragraphs:--

I was drawn to him most, and was influenced by him most, because ofhis attitude to a child. He was on the Board to establish schools forchildren. His motive in every argument, in all the fun and ridicule heindulged in, and in his occasional anger, was the child. He resentedthe idea that schools were to train either congregations for churchesor hands for factories. He was on the Board as a friend of children. What he sought to do for the child was for the child's sake, that itmight live a fuller, truer, worthier life. If ever his great tolerancewith men with whom he differed on general principles seemed to failhim for a moment, it was because they seemed to him to seek other endsthan the child for its own sake... 

His contempt for the idea of the world into which we were born beingeither a sort of clergyhouse or a market-place, was too complete to bemarked by any eagerness. But in view of the market-place idea he wasthe less calm. 

Like many others who had not yet come to know in what high esteem heheld the moral and spiritual nature of children, I had thought he wasthe advocate of mere secular studies, alike in the nation's schools, and in its families. But by contact with him, this soon became animpossible idea. In very early days on the Board a remark I had madeto a mutual friend which implied this unjust idea was repeated tohim. ] "Tell Waugh that he talks too fast, " [was his message to me. Iwas not long in finding out that this was a very just reproof... 

The two things in his character of which I became most conscious bycontact with him, were his childlikeness and his consideration forintellectual inferiors. His arguments were as transparently honest asthe arguments of a child. They might or might not seem wrong toothers, but they were never untrue to himself. Whether you agreed withthem or not, they always added greatly to the charm of hispersonality. Whether his face was lighted by his careless and playfulhumour or his great brows were shadowed by anger, he was alikeexpressing himself with the honesty of a child. What he countediniquity he hated, and what he counted righteous he loved with thecandour of a child... 

Of his consideration for intellectual inferiors I, of course, needed alarge share, and it was never wanting. Towering as was hisintellectual strength and keenness above me, indeed above the whole ofthe rest of the members of the Board, he did not condescend to me. Theresult was never humiliating. It had no pain of any sort in it. He wastoo spontaneous and liberal with his consideration to seem consciousthat he was showing any. There were many men of religious note uponthe Board, of some of whom I could not say the same. 

In his most trenchant attacks on what he deemed wrong in principles, he never descended to attack either the sects which held them or theindividuals who supported them, even though occasionally muchprovocation was given him. He might not care for peace with some ofthe theories represented on the Board, but he had certainly and at alltimes great good-will to men. 

As a speaker he was delightful. Few, clear, definite, and calm asstars were the words he spoke. Nobody talked whilst he was speaking. There were no tricks in his talk. He did not seem to be trying topersuade you of something. What convinced him, that he transferred toothers. He made no attempt to misrepresent those opposed to him. Hesought only to let them know himself... Even the sparkle of his humour, like the sparkle of a diamond, was of the inevitable in him, and wasas fair as it was enjoyable. 

As one who has tried to serve children, I look back upon having fallenin with Mr. Huxley as one of the many fortunate circumstances of mylife. It taught me the importance of making acquaintance with facts, and of studying the laws of them. Under his influence it was that Imost of all came to see the practical value of a single eye to thosein any pursuit of life. I saw what effect they had on emotions ofcharity and sentiments of justice, and what simplicity and grandeurthey gave to appeals. 

My last conversation with him was at Eastbourne some time in 1887 or1888. I was there on my society's business. ] "Well, Waugh, you'restill busy about your babies, " [was his greeting. "Yes, " I responded"and you are still busy about your pigs. " One of the last discussionsat which he was present at the School Board for London had been on theproximity of a piggery to a site for a school, and his attack on Mr. Gladstone on the Gadarene swine had just been made in the "NineteenthCentury. "] "Do you still believe in Gladstone?" [he continued. ] "Thatman has the greatest intellect in Europe. He was born to be a leaderof men, and he has debased himself to be a follower of the masses. Ifworking men were to-day to vote by a majority that two and two madefive, to-morrow Gladstone would believe it, and find them reasons forit which they had never dreamed of. " [He said it slowly and withsorrow. 

Two more incidents are connected with his service on the School Board. A wealthy friend wrote to him in the most honourable and delicateterms, begging him, on public grounds, to accept 400 pounds sterling ayear to enable him to continue his work on the Board. He refused theoffer as simply and straightforwardly as it was made; his means, though not large, were sufficient for his present needs. 

Further, a good many people seemed to think that he meant to use theSchool Board as a stalking horse for a political career. To one ofthose who urged him to stand for Parliament, he replied thus:--]

November 18, 1871. 

Dear Sir, It has often been suggested to me that I should seek for a seat in theHouse of Commons; indeed I have reason to think that many personssuppose that I entered the London School Board simply as a road toParliament. 

But I assure you that this supposition is entirely without foundation, and that I have never seriously entertained any notion of the kind. 

The work of the School Board involves me in no small sacrifices ofvarious kinds, but I went into it with my eyes open, and with theclear conviction that it was worth while to make those sacrifices forthe sake of helping the Education Act into practical operation. Ayear's experience has not altered that conviction; but now that themost difficult, if not the most important, part of our work is done, Ibegin to look forward with some anxiety to the time when I shall berelieved of duties which so seriously interfere with what I regard asmy proper occupation. 

No one can say what the future has in store for him, but at present Iknow of no inducement, not even the offer of a seat in the House ofCommons, which would lead me, even temporarily and partially, toforsake that work again. 

I am, dear sir, yours very faithfully, T. H. Huxley. 

[I give here a letter to me from Sir Mountstuart Grant Duff, who alsoat one period was anxious to induce him to enter Parliament:--

Lexden Park, Colchester, 4th November, 1898. 

Dear Mr. Huxley, I have met men who seemed to me to possess powers of mind even greaterthan those of your father--his friend Henry Smith for example; but Inever met any one who gave me the impression so much as he did, thathe would have gone to the front in any pursuit in which he had seenfit to engage. Henry Smith had, in addition to his astonishingmathematical genius, and his great talents as a scholar, a rarefaculty of persuasiveness. Your father used to speak with muchadmiration and some amusement of the way in which he managed to getpeople to take his view by appearing to take theirs; but he nevercould have been a power in a popular assembly, nor have carried withhim by the force of his eloquence, great masses of men. I do not thinkthat your father, if he had entered the House of Commons and thrownhimself entirely into political life, would have been much behindGladstone as a debater, or Bright as an orator. Whether he had thestamina which are required not only to reach but to retain a foremostplace in politics, is another question. The admirers of PrinceBismarck would say that the daily prayer of the statesman should bethere "une bonne digestion et un mauvais coeur. " "Le mauvais coeur"does not appear to be "de toute necessite, " but, assuredly, the "bonnedigestion" is. Given an adequate and equal amount of ability in twomen who enter the House of Commons together, it is the man of strongdigestion, drawing with it, as it usually does, good temper and powerof continuous application, who will go furthest. Gladstone, who wasinferior to your father in intellect, might have "given points" to theDragon of Wantley who devoured church steeples. Your father couldcertainly not have done so, and in that respect was less well equippedfor a lifelong parliamentary struggle. 

I should like to have seen these two pitted against each other withthat "substantial piece of furniture" between them behind which Mr. Disraeli was glad to shelter himself. I should like to have heard themdiscussing some subject which they both thoroughly understood. Whenthey did cross swords the contest was like nothing that has happenedin our times save the struggle at Omdurman. It was not so much abattle as a massacre, for Gladstone had nothing but a bundle ofantiquated prejudices wherewith to encounter your father's luminousthought and exact knowledge. 

You know, I daresay, that Mr. William Rathbone, then M. P. ForLiverpool, once proposed to your father to be the companion of myfirst Indian journey in 1874-5, he, William Rathbone, paying all yourfather's expenses. (Of this, Dr. Tyndall wrote to Mrs. Huxley:--"Iwant to tell you a pleasant conversation I had last night withJodrell. He and a couple more want to send Hal with Grant Duff toIndia, taking charge of his duties here and of all necessities ghostlyand bodily there!") Mr. Rathbone made this proposal when he found thatLubbock, with whom I travelled a great deal at that period of my life, was unable to go with me to India. How I wish your father had said"Yes. " My journey, as it was, turned out most instructive anddelightful; but to have lived five months with a man of hisextraordinary gifts would have been indeed a rare piece of goodfortune, and I should have been able also to have contributed to thework upon which you are engaged a great many facts which would havebeen of interest to your readers. You will, however, I am sure, takethe will for the deed, and believe me, very sincerely yours, M. E. Grant Duff. ]

CHAPTER 2. 2. 

1871. 

["In 1871" (to quote Sir M. Foster), "the post of Secretary to theRoyal Society became vacant through the resignation of WilliamSharpey, and the Fellows learned with glad surprise that Huxley, whomthey looked to rather as a not distant President, was willing toundertake the duties of the office. " This office, which he held until1880, involved him for the next ten years in a quantity of anxiouswork, not only in the way of correspondence and administration, butthe seeing through the press and often revising every biological paperthat the Society received, as well as reading those it rejected. Then, too, he had to attend every general, council, and committee meeting, amongst which latter the "Challenger" Committee was a load in itself. Under pressure of all this work, he was compelled to give up activeconnection with other learned societies. (See Appendix 2. )

Other work this year, in addition to the School Board, includedcourses of lectures at the London Institution in January and February, on "First Principles of Biology, " and from October to December on"Elementary Physiology"; lectures to Working Men in London fromFebruary to April, as well as one at Liverpool, March 25, on "TheGeographical Distribution of Animals"; two lectures at the RoyalInstitution, May 12 and 19, on "Berkeley on Vision, " and the"Metaphysics of Sensation" ("Collected Essays" 6). He published onepaleontological paper, "Fossil Vertebrates from the Yarrow Colliery"(Huxley and Wright, "Irish Academy Transactions"). In June and July hegave 36 lectures to schoolmasters--that important business of teachingthe teachers that they might set about scientific instruction in theright way. (See below. ) He attended the British Association atEdinburgh, and laid down his Presidency; he brought out his "Manual ofVertebrate Anatomy, " and wrote a review of "Mr. Darwin's Critics" (seebelow), while on October 9 he delivered an address at the MidlandInstitute, Birmingham, on "Administrative Nihilism" ("CollectedEssays" 1). This address, written between September 21 and 28, andremodelled later, was a pendant to his educational campaign on theSchool Board; a restatement and justification of what he had said anddone there. His text was the various objections raised to Stateinterference with education; he dealt first with the upholders of akind of caste system, men who were willing enough to raise themselvesand their sons to a higher social plane, but objected onsemi-theological grounds to any one from below doing likewise--neatlysatirising them and their notions of gentility, and quoting Plato insupport of his contention that what is wanted even more than means tohelp capacity to rise is "machinery by which to facilitate the descentof incapacity from the higher strata to the lower. " He repeats in newphrase his warning] "that every man of high natural ability, who isboth ignorant and miserable, is as great a danger to society as arocket without a stick is to people who fire it. Misery is a matchthat never goes out; genius, as an explosive power, beats gunpowderhollow: and if knowledge, which should give that power guidance, iswanting, the chances are not small that the rocket will simply runamuck among friends and foes. "

[Another class of objectors will have it that government should berestricted to police functions, both domestic and foreign, that anyfurther interference must do harm. ]

Suppose, however, for the sake of argument, that we accept theproposition that the functions of the State may be properly summed upin the one great negative commandment--"Thou shalt not allow any manto interfere with the liberty of any other man, "--I am unable to seethat the logical consequence is any such restriction of the power ofGovernment, as its supporters imply. If my next-door neighbour choosesto have his drains in such a state as to create a poisonousatmosphere, which I breathe at the risk of typhoid and diphtheria, herestricts my just freedom to just as much as if he went about with apistol threatening my life; if he is to be allowed to let his childrengo unvaccinated, he might as well be allowed to leave strychninelozenges about in the way of mine; and if he brings them up untaughtand untrained to earn their living, he is doing his best to restrictmy freedom, by increasing the burden of taxation for the support ofgaols and workhouses, which I have to pay. 

The higher the state of civilisation, the more completely do theactions of one member of the social body influence all the rest, andthe less possible is it for any one man to do a wrong thing withoutinterfering, more or less, with the freedom of all hisfellow-citizens. So that, even upon the narrowest view of thefunctions of the State, it must be admitted to have wider powers thanthe advocates of the police theory are disposed to admit. 

[This leads to a criticism of Mr. Spencer's elaborate comparison ofthe body politic to the body physical, a comparison vitiated by thefact that "among the higher physiological organisms there is nonewhich is developed by the conjunction of a number of primitivelyindependent existences into a complete whole. "]

The process of social organisation appears to be comparable, not somuch to the process of organic development, as to the synthesis of thechemist, by which independent elements are gradually built up intocomplex aggregations--in which each element retains an independentindividuality, though held in subordination to the whole. 

[It is permissible to quote a few more sentences from this address forthe sake of their freshness, or as illustrating the writer's ideas. 

Discussing toleration, ] "I cannot discover that Locke fathers the petdoctrine of modern Liberalism, that the toleration of error is a goodthing in itself, and to be reckoned among the cardinal virtues. "[(This bears on his speech against Ultramontanism. )

Of Mr. Spencer's comparison of the State to a living body in theinterests of individualism:--]

I suppose it is universally agreed that it would be useless and absurdfor the State to attempt to promote friendship and sympathy betweenman and man directly. But I see no reason why, if it be otherwiseexpedient, the State may not do something towards that end indirectly. For example, I can conceive the existence of an Established Churchwhich should be a blessing to the community. A Church in which, weekby week, services should be devoted, not to the iteration of abstractpropositions in theology, but to the setting before men's minds of anideal of true, just, and pure living; a place in which those who areweary of the burden of daily cares should find a moment's rest in thecontemplation of the higher life which is possible for all, thoughattained by so few; a place in which the man of strife and of businessshould have time to think how small, after all, are the rewards hecovets compared with peace and charity. Depend upon it, if such aChurch existed, no one would seek to disestablish it. 

The sole order of nobility which, in my judgment, becomes aphilosopher, is the rank which he holds in the estimation of hisfellow-workers, who are the only competent judges in such matters. Newton and Cuvier lowered themselves when the one accepted an idleknighthood, and the other became a baron of the empire. The great menwho went to their graves as Michael Faraday and George Grote seem tome to have understood the dignity of knowledge better when theydeclined all such meretricious trappings. [(On the other hand, hethought it right and proper for officials, in scientific as in otherdepartments, to accept such honours, as giving them official power andstatus. In his own case, while refusing all simple titular honours, heaccepted the Privy Councillorship, because, though incidentallycarrying a title, it was an office; and an office in virtue of which aman of science might, in theory at least, be called upon to act asresponsible adviser to the Government, should special occasion arise. )

The usual note of high pressure recurs in the following letter, written to thank Darwin for his new work, "The Descent of Man, andSelection in relation to Sex. "]

Jermyn Street, February 20, 1871. 

My dear Darwin, Best thanks for your new book, a copy of which I find awaiting me thismorning. But I wish you would not bring your books out when I am sobusy with all sorts of things. You know I can't show my face anywherein society without having read them--and I consider it too bad. 

No doubt, too, it is full of suggestions just like that I have hitupon by chance at page 212 of volume 1, which connects the periodicityof vital phenomena with antecedent conditions. 

Fancy lunacy, etc. , coming out of the primary fact that one's nthancestor lived between tide-marks! I declare it's the grandestsuggestion I have heard of for an age. 

I have been working like a horse for the last fortnight, with the fagend of influenza hanging about me--and I am improving under theprocess, which shows what a good tonic work is. 

I shall try if I can't pick out from "Sexual Selection" some practicalhint for the improvement of gutter-babies, and bring in a resolutionthereupon at the School Board. 

Ever yours faithfully, T. H. Huxley. 

[This year also saw the inception of a scheme for a series of scienceprimers, under the joint editorship of Professors Huxley, Roscoe, andBalfour Stewart. Huxley undertook the Introductory Primer, but itprogressed slowly owing to pressure of other work, and was notactually finished till 1880. ]

26 Abbey Place, June 29, 1871. 

My dear Roscoe, If you could see the minutes of the Proceedings of the Aid to ScienceCommission, the Contagious Diseases Commission and the School Board(to say nothing of a lecture to Schoolmasters every morning), youwould forgive me for not having written to you before. 

But now that I have had a little time to look at it, I hasten to saythat your chemical primer appears to me to be admirable--just what iswanted. 

I enclose the sketch for my Primer primus. You will see the bearing ofit, rough as it is. When it touches upon chemical matters, it woulddeal with them in a more rudimentary fashion than yours does, and onlyprepare the minds of the fledglings for you. 

I send you a copy of the Report of the Education Committee, theresolutions based on which I am now slowly getting passed by ourBoard. The adoption of (c) among the essential subjects has, I hope, secured the future of Elementary Science in London. Cannot you get asmuch done in Manchester?

Ever yours faithfully, T. H. Huxley. 

[Sir Charles Lyell was now nearly 74 years old, and though he livedfour years longer, age was beginning to tell even upon his vigorouspowers. A chance meeting with him elicited the following letter:--]

26 Abbey Place, July 30, 1871. 

My dear Darwin, I met Lyell in Waterloo Place to-day walking with Carrick Moore--andalthough what you said the other day had prepared me, I was greatlyshocked at his appearance, and still more at his speech. There is nodoubt it is affected in the way you describe, and the fact gives mevery sad forebodings about him. The Fates send me a swift and speedyend whenever my time comes. I think there is nothing so lamentable asthe spectacle of the wreck of a once clear and vigorous mind!

I am glad Frank enjoyed his visit to us. He is a great favourite here, and I hope he will understand that he is free of the house. It was thegreatest fun to see Jess and Mady [aged 13 and 12 respectively] ontheir dignity with him. No more kissing, I can tell you. Miss Mady wasespecially sublime. 

Six out of our seven children have the whooping-cough. Need I saytherefore that the wife is enjoying herself?

With best regards to Mrs. Darwin and your daughter (and affectionatelove to Polly) believe me, Ever yours faithfully, T. H. Huxley. 

[The purchase of the microscope, already referred to, was the subjectof another letter to Dr. Dohrn, of which only the concluding paragraphabout the School Board, is of general interest. Unfortunately theEnglish microscope did not turn out a success, as compared to the workof the Jena opticians: this is the "optical Sadowa" of the secondletter. ]

I fancy from what you wrote to my wife that there has been some reportof my doings about the School Board in Germany. So I send you thenumber of the "Contemporary Review" [Containing his article on "TheSchool Boards, " etc. ] for December that you may see what line I havereally taken. Fanatics on both sides abuse me, so I think I must beright. 

When is this infernal war to come to an end? I hold for Germany asalways, but I wish she would make peace. 

With best wishes for the New Year, Ever yours, T. H. Huxley. 

26 Abbey Place, July 7, 1871. 

My dear Dohrn, I have received your packet, and I will take care that your Report isduly presented to the Association. But the "Happy Family" in general, and myself in particular, are very sorry you cannot come to Scotland. We had begun to count upon it, and the children are immeasurablydisgusted with the Insects which will not lay their eggs at the righttime. 

You have become acclimatised to my bad behaviour in the matter ofcorrespondence, so I shall not apologise for being in arrear. I havebeen frightfully hard-worked with two Royal Commissions and the SchoolBoard all sitting at once, but I am none the worse, and things aregetting into shape--which is a satisfaction for one's trouble. I lookforward hopefully towards getting back to my ordinary work next year. 

Your penultimate letter was very interesting to me, but the glimpsesinto your new views which it affords are very tantalising--and I wantmore. What you say about the development of the Amnion in your lastletter still more nearly brought "Donner und Blitz!" to my lips--and Ishall look out anxiously for your new facts. Lankester tells me youhave been giving lectures on your views. I wish I had been there tohear. 

He is helping me as Demonstrator in a course of instruction in Biologywhich I am giving to Schoolmasters--with the view of converting theminto scientific missionaries to convert the Christian Heathen of theseislands to the true faith. 

I am afraid that the English microscope turned out to be by no meansworth the money and trouble you bestowed upon it. But the glory ofsuch an optical Sadowa should count for something! I wish that youwould get your Jena man to supply me with one of his best objectivesif the price is not ruinous--I should like to compare it with my 1/12inch of Ross. [In this connection it may be noted that he himselfinvented a combination microscope for laboratory use, still made byCrouch the optician. (See "Journal of Queckett Micr. Club" volume 5page 144. )]

All our children but Jessie have the whooping-cough--Pertussis--Idon't know your German name for it. It is distressing enough for them, but, I think, still worse for their mother. However, there are noserious symptoms, and I hope the change of air will set them right. 

They all join with me in best wishes and regrets that you are notcoming. Won't you change your mind? We start on July 31st. 

Ever yours faithfully, T. H. Huxley. 

[The summer holiday of 1871 was spent at St. Andrews, a place ratherlaborious of approach at that time, with all the impedimenta of alarge and young family, but chosen on account of its nearness toEdinburgh, where the British Association met that year. I wellremember the night journey of some ten or eleven hours, the freshnessof the early morning at Edinburgh, the hasty excursion with my fatherup the hill from the station as far as the old High Street. The returnjourney, however, was made easier by the kindness of Dr. MatthewsDuncan, who put up the whole family for a night, so as to break thejourney. 

We stayed at Castlemount, now belonging to Miss Paton, just oppositethe ruined castle. Among other visitors to St. Andrews known to myfather were Professors Tait and Crum Brown, who inveigled him intomaking trial of the "Royal and Ancient" game, which then, as now, wasthe staple resource of the famous little city. I have a vividrecollection of his being hopelessly bunkered three or four holes fromhome, and can testify that he bore the moral strain with more thanusual calm as compared with the generality of golfers. Indeed, despitehis naturally quick temper and his four years of naval service at atime when, perhaps, the traditions of a former generation had notwholly died out, he had a special aversion to the use of expletives;and the occasional appearance of a strong word in his letters must beput down to a simply literary use which he would have studiouslyavoided in conversation. A curious physical result followed the vigourwith which he threw himself into the unwonted recreation. For the lasttwenty years his only physical exercise had been walking, and now hisarms went black and blue under the muscular strain, as if they hadbeen bruised. 

But the holiday was by no means spent entirely in recreation. One weekwas devoted to the British Association; another to the examination ofsome interesting fossils at Elgin; while the last three weeks wereoccupied in writing two long articles, "Mr. Darwin's Critics, " and theaddress entitled "Administrative Nihilism" referred to above, as wellas a review of Dana's "Crinoids. " The former, which appeared in the"Contemporary Review" for November ("Collected Essays" 2 120-187) wasa review of (1) "Contributions to the Theory of Natural Selection, " byA. R. Wallace, (2) "The Genesis of Species, " by St. George Mivart, F. R. S. , and (3) an article in the "Quarterly" for July 1871, onDarwin's "Descent of Man. "]

"I am Darwin's bull-dog, " [he once said, and the "QuarterlyReviewer's" treatment of Darwin, ] "alike unjust and unbecoming, "[provoked him into immediate action. ] "I am about sending you, " [hewrites to Haeckel on November 2, ] "a little review of some of Darwin'scritics. The dogs have been barking at his heels too much of late. "[Apart from this stricture, however, he notes the] "happy change"[which] "has come over Mr. Darwin's critics. The mixture of ignoranceand insolence which at first characterised a large proportion of theattacks with which he was assailed, is no longer the sad distinctionof anti-Darwinian criticism. " [Notes too] "that, in a dozen years, the'Origin of Species' has worked as complete a revolution in biologicalscience as the 'Principia' did in astronomy--and it has done so, because, in the words of Helmholtz, it contains 'an essentially newcreative thought. '"

[The essay is particularly interesting as giving evidence of his skilland knowledge in dealing with psychology, as against the "QuarterlyReviewer, " and even with such an unlikely subject as scholasticmetaphysics, so that, by an odd turn of events, he appeared in thenovel character of a defender of Catholic orthodoxy against an attemptfrom within that Church to prove that its teachings have in realityalways been in harmony with the requirements of modern science. ForMr. Mivart, while twitting the generality of men of science with theirignorance of the real doctrines of his church, gave a reference to theJesuit theologian Suarez, the latest great representative ofscholasticism, as following St. Augustine in asserting, not direct, but derivative creation, that is to say, evolution from primordialmatter endued with certain powers. Startled by this statement, Huxleyinvestigated the works of the learned Jesuit, and found not only thatMr. Mivart's reference to the Metaphysical Disputations was not to thepoint, but that in the "Tractatus de opere sex Dierum, " Suarezexpressly and emphatically rejects this doctrine and reprehendsAugustine for asserting it. ]

By great good luck [he writes to Darwin from St. Andrews] there is anexcellent library here, with a good copy of Suarez, in a dozen bigfolios. Among these I dived, to the great astonishment of thelibrarian, and looking into them as "the careful robin eyes thedelver's toil" (vide "Idylls"), I carried off the two venerableclasped volumes which were most promising. 

So I have come out in the new character of a defender of Catholicorthodoxy, and upset Mivart out of the mouth of his own prophet. 

[Darwin himself was more than pleased with the article, and wroteenthusiastically (see "Life and Letters" 3 148-150). A few of hisgenerous words may be quoted to show the rate at which he valued hisfriend's championship. 

What a wonderful man you are to grapple with those oldmetaphysical-divinity books... The pendulum is now swinging against ourside, but I feel positive it will soon swing the other way; and nomortal man will do half as much as you in giving it a start in theright direction, as you did at the first commencement. 

And again, after "mounting climax on climax, " he continues:--"I musttell you what Hooker said to me a few years ago. 'When I read Huxley, I feel quite infantile in intellect. '"

This sketch of what constituted his holiday--and it was not very muchbusier than many another holiday--may possibly suggest what his busytime must have been like. 

Till the end of the year the immense amount of work did not apparentlytell upon him. He rejoiced in it. In December he remarked to his wifethat with all his different irons in the fire, he had never felt hismind clearer or his vigour greater. Within a week he broke down quitesuddenly, and could neither work nor think. He refers to this in thefollowing letter:--]

Jermyn Street, December 22, 1871. 

My dear Johnny, You are certainly improving. As a practitioner in the use of coldsteel myself, I have read your letter in to-day's "Nature, " "mitEhrfurcht und Bewunderung. " And the best evidence of the greatness ofyour achievement is that it extracts this expression of admirationfrom a poor devil whose brains and body are in a colloid state, andwho is off to Brighton for a day or two this afternoon. 

God be with thee, my son, and strengthen the contents of thygall-bladder!

Ever thine, T. H. Huxley. 

PS. --Seriously, I am glad that at last a protest has been raisedagainst the process of anonymous self-praise to which our friend isgiven. I spoke to Smith the other day about that dose of it in the"Quarterly" article on Spirit-rapping. 

CHAPTER 2. 3. 

1872. 

[Dyspepsia, that most distressing of maladies, had laid firm hold uponhim. He was compelled to take entire rest for a time. But his firstholiday produced no lasting effect, and in the summer he was againvery ill. Then the worry of a troublesome lawsuit in connection withthe building of his new house intensified both bodily illness andmental depression. He had great fears of being saddled with heavycosts at the moment when he was least capable of meeting any newexpense--hardly able even to afford another much-needed spell of rest. But in his case, as in others, at this critical moment the circle offellow-workers in science to whom he was bound by ties of friendship, resolved that he should at least not lack the means of recovery. Intheir name Charles Darwin wrote him the following letter, of which itis difficult to say whether it does more honour to him who sent it orto him who received it:--

Down, Beckenham, Kent, April 23, 1873. 

My dear Huxley, I have been asked by some of your friends (eighteen in number) toinform you that they have placed through Robarts, Lubbock & Company, the sum of 2100 pounds sterling to your account at your bankers. Wehave done this to enable you to get such complete rest as you mayrequire for the re-establishment of your health; and in doing this weare convinced that we act for the public interest, as well as inaccordance with our most earnest desires. Let me assure you that weare all your warm personal friends, and that there is not a strangeror mere acquaintance amongst us. If you could have heard what wassaid, or could have read what was, as I believe, our inmost thoughts, you would know that we all feel towards you, as we should to anhonoured and much loved brother. I am sure that you will return thisfeeling, and will therefore be glad to give us the opportunity ofaiding you in some degree, as this will be a happiness to us to thelast day of our lives. Let me add that our plan occurred to several ofyour friends at nearly the same time and quite independently of oneanother. 

My dear Huxley, your affectionate friend, Charles Darwin. 

It was a poignant moment. ] "What have I done to deserve this?" [heexclaimed. The relief from anxiety, so generously proffered, entirelyovercame him; and for the first time, he allowed himself to confessthat in the long struggle against ill-health, he had been beaten; but, as he said, only enough to teach him humility. 

His first trip in search of health was in 1872, when he obtained twomonths' leave of absence, and prepared to go to the Mediterranean. Hislectures to women on Physiology at South Kensington were taken over byDr. Michael Foster, who had already acted as his substitute in theFullerian course of 1868. But even on this cruise after health he wasnot altogether free from business. The stores of biscuit at Gibraltarand Malta were infested with a small grub and its cocoons. Complaintsto the home authorities were met by the answer that the stores wereprepared from the purest materials and sent out perfectly free fromthe pest. Discontent among the men was growing serious, when he wasrequested by the Admiralty to investigate the nature of the grub andthe best means of preventing its ravages. In the end he found that thebiscuits were packed within range of stocks of newly arrived, unpurified cocoa, from which the eggs were blown into the stores whilebeing packed, and there hatched out. Thereafter the packing was donein another place and the complaints ceased. ]

January 3, 1872. 

My dear Dohrn, It is true enough that I am somewhat "erkrankt, " though beyond generalweariness, incapacity and disgust with things in general, I do notprecisely know what is the matter with me. 

Unwillingly, I begin to suspect that I overworked myself last year. Doctors talk seriously to me, and declare that all sorts of wonderfulthings will happen if I do not take some more efficient rest than Ihave had for a long time. My wife adds her quota of persuasion andadmonition, until I really begin to think I must do something, if onlyto have peace. 

What if I were to come and look you up in Naples, somewhere inFebruary, as soon as my lectures are over?

The "one-plate system" might cure me of my incessant dyspeptic nausea. A detestable grub--larva of Ephestia elatella--has been devouring HerMajesty's stores of biscuits at Gibraltar. I have had to look into hisorigin, history, and best way of circumventing him--and maybe I shallvisit Gibraltar and perhaps Malta. In that case, you will see me turnup some of these days at the Palazzo Torlonia. 

Herbert Spencer has written a friendly attack on "AdministrativeNihilism, " which I will send you; in the same number of the"Fortnightly" there is an absurd epicene splutter on the same subjectby Mill's step-daughter, Miss Helen Taylor. I intended to publish thepaper separately, with a note about Spencer's criticism, but I havehad no energy nor faculty to do anything lately. 

Tell Lankester, with best regards, that I believe the teaching ofteachers in 1872 is arranged, and that I shall look for his help indue course. 

The "Happy family" have had the measles since you saw them, but theyare well again. 

I write in Jermyn Street, so they cannot send messages; otherwisethere would be a chorus from them and the wife of good wishes and kindremembrances. 

Ever yours, T. H. Huxley. 

[He left Southampton on January 11, in the "Malta. " On the 16th, henotes in his diary, ] "I was up just in time see the great portal ofthe Mediterranean well. It was a lovely morning, and nothing could begrander than Ape Hill on one side and the Rock on the other, lookinglike great lions or sphinxes on each side of a gateway. "

[The morning after his arrival he breakfasted with Admiral Hornby, whosent him over to Tangier in the "Helicon, " giving the Bishop ofGibraltar a passage at the same time. This led him to note down, ] "Howthe naval men love Baxter and all his works. " [A letter from Dr. Hooker to Sir John Hay ensured him a most hospitable welcome, thoughcontinual rain spoiled his excursions. On the 21st he returned toGibraltar, leaving three days later in the "Nyanza" for Alexandria, which was reached on February 1. At that "muddy hole" he landed inpouring rain, and it was not till he reached Cairo the following daythat he at last got into his longed-for sunshine. 

Seeing that three of his eight weeks had been spent in merely gettingto sunshine, his wife and doctor conspired to apply for a third monthof leave, which was immediately granted, so that he was able to acceptthe invitation of two friends to go with them up the Nile as far asAssouan in that most restful of conveyances, a dahabieh. 

Cairo more than answered his expectations. He stayed here till the13th, making several excursions in company with Sir W. Gregory, notably to Boulak Museum, where he particularly notes the "man withape" from Memphis; and, of course, the pyramids, of which he remarksthat Cephren's is cased at the top with limestone, not granite. Hisnotebook and sketch-book show that he was equally interested inarcheology, in the landscape and scenes of everyday life, and in thepeculiar geographical and geological features of the country. Hisfirst impression of the Delta was its resemblance to Belgium andLincolnshire. He has sections and descriptions of the Mokatta hill, and the windmill mound, with a general panorama of the surroundingcountry and an explanation of it. He remarks at Memphis how theunburnt brick of which the mounds are made up had in many placesbecome remanie into a stratified deposit--distinguishable from Nilemud chiefly by the pottery fragments--and notes the bearing of thisfact on the Cairo mounds. It is the same on his trip up the Nile; hejots down the geology whenever opportunity offered; remarks, asindication of the former height of the river, a high mud-bank beyondEdfou, and near Assouan a pot-hole in the granite fifty feet above thepresent level. Here is a detailed description of the tomb of Aahmes;there a river-scene beside the pyramid of Meidum; or vivid sketches ofvulture and jackal at a meal in the desert, the jackal in possessionof the carcass, the vulture impatiently waiting his good pleasure forthe last scraps; of the natives working at the endless shadoofs; of agroup of listeners around a professional story-teller--unfinished, forhe was observed sketching them. 

Egypt left a profound impression upon him. His artistic delight in itapart, the antiquities and geology of the country were a vividillustration to his trained eye of the history of man and theinfluence upon him of the surrounding country, the link betweengeography and history. 

He left behind him for a while a most unexpected memorial of hisvisit. A friend not long after going to the pyramids, was delighted tofind himself thus adjured by a donkey-boy, who tried to cut out hisrival with "Not him donkey, sah; him donkey bad, sah; my donkey good;my donkey 'Fessor-uxley donkey, sah. " It appears that the Cairodonkey-boys have a way of naming their animals after celebrities whomthey have borne on their backs. 

While at Thebes, on his way down the river again, he received news ofthe death of the second son of Matthew Arnold, to whom he wrote thefollowing letter:--]

Thebes, March 10, 1872. 

My dear Arnold, I cannot tell you how shocked I was to see in the papers we receivedyesterday the announcement of the terrible blow which has fallen uponMrs. Arnold and yourself. 

Your poor boy looked such a fine manly fellow the last time I saw him, when we dined at your house, that I had to read the paragraph over andover again before I could bring myself to believe what I read. And itis such a grievous opening of a wound hardly yet healed that I hardlydare to think of the grief which must have bowed down Mrs. Arnold andyourself. 

I hardly know whether I do well in writing to you. If such troublebefell me there are very few people in the world from whom I couldbear even sympathy--but you would be one of them, and therefore I hopethat you will forgive a condolence which will reach you so late as todisturb rather than soothe, for the sake of the hearty affection whichdictates it. 

My wife has told me of the very kind letter you wrote her. I wasthoroughly broken down when I left England, and did not get muchbetter until I fell into the utter and absolute laziness of dahabiehlife. A month of that has completely set me up. I am as well as ever;and though very grateful to Old Nile for all that he has done forme--not least for a whole universe of new thoughts and pictures oflife--I begin to feel strongly

 'the need of a world of men for me. '

But I am not going to overwork myself again. Pray make my kindestremembrances to Mrs. Arnold, and believe me, always yours veryfaithfully, T. H. Huxley. 

[Leaving Assouan on March 3, and Cairo on the 18th, he returned by wayof Messina to Naples, taking a day at Catania to look at Etna. AtNaples he found his friend Dohrn was absent, and his place as host wasfilled by his father. Vesuvius was ascended, Pozzuoli and Pompeiivisited, and two days spent in Rome. ]

Hotel de Grande Bretagne, Naples, March 31, 1872. 

My dear Tyndall, Your very welcome letter did not reach me until the 18th of March, when I returned to Cairo from my expedition to Assouan. Like JohnnyGilpin, I "little thought when I set out, of running such a rig"; butwhile at Cairo I fell in with Ossory of the Athenaeum, and a verypleasant fellow, Charles Ellis, who had taken a dahabieh, and wereabout to start up the Nile. They invited me to take possession of avacant third cabin, and I accepted their hospitality, with theintention of going as far as Thebes and returning on my own hook. Butwhen we got to Thebes I found there was no getting away again withoutmuch more exposure and fatigue than I felt justified in facing justthen, and as my friends showed no disposition to be rid of me, I stuckto the boat, and only left them on the return voyage at Rodu, which isthe terminus of the railway, about 150 miles from Cairo. 

We had an unusually quick journey, as I was little more than a monthaway from Cairo, and as my companions made themselves very agreeable, it was very pleasant. I was not particularly well at first, but bydegrees the utter rest of this "always afternoon" sort of life did itswork, and I am as well and vigorous now as ever I was in my life. 

I should have been home within a fortnight of the time I hadoriginally fixed. This would have been ample time to have enabled meto fulfil all the engagements I had made before starting; and Donnellyhad given me to understand that "My Lords" would not trouble theirheads about my stretching my official leave. Nevertheless I was veryglad to find the official extension (which was the effect of my wife'sand your and Bence Jones's friendly conspiracy) awaiting me at Cairo. A rapid journey home via Brindisi might have rattled my brains backinto the colloid state in which they were when I left England. Lookingback through the past six months I begin to see that I have had anarrow escape from a bad breakdown, and I am full of good resolutions. 

As the first-fruit of these you see that I have given up the SchoolBoard, and I mean to keep clear of all that semi-political workhereafter. I see that Sandon (whom I met at Alexandria) and Millerhave followed my example, and that Lord Lawrence is likely to go. Whata skedaddle!

It seems very hard to escape, however. Since my arrival here, ontaking up the "Times" I saw a paragraph about the Lord Rectorship ofSt. Andrews. After enumerating a lot of candidates for that honour, the paragraph concluded, "But we understand that at present ProfessorHuxley has the best chance. " It is really too bad if any one has beenmaking use of my name without my permission. But I don't know what todo about it. I had half a mind to write to Tulloch to tell him that Ican't and won't take any such office, but I should look rather foolishif he replied that it was a mere newspaper report, and that nobodyintended to put me up. 

Egypt interested me profoundly, but I must reserve the tale of all Idid and saw there for word of mouth. From Alexandria I went toMessina, and thence made an excursion along the lovely Sicilian coastto Catania and Etna. The old giant was half covered with snow, andthis fact, which would have tempted you to go to the top, stopped me. But I went to the Val del Bove, whence all the great lava streams haveflowed for the last two centuries, and feasted my eyes with its ruggedgrandeur. From Messina I came on here, and had the great good fortuneto find Vesuvius in eruption. Before this fact the vision of goodBence Jones forbidding much exertion vanished into thin air, and onThursday up I went in company with Ray Lankester and my friend Dohrn'sfather, Dohrn himself being unluckily away. We had a glorious day, anddid not descend till late at night. The great crater was not veryactive, and contented itself with throwing out great clouds of steamand volleys of red-hot stones now and then. These were thrown towardsthe south-west side of the cone, so that it was practicable to walkall round the northern and eastern lip, and look down into the HellGate. I wished you were there to enjoy the sight as much as I did. Nolava was issuing from the great crater, but on the north side of this, a little way below the top, an independent cone had established itselfas the most charming little pocket-volcano imaginable. It could nothave been more than 100 feet high, and at the top was a crater notmore than six or seven feet across. Out of this, with a noise exactlyresembling a blast furnace and a slowly-working high pressure steamengine combined, issued a violent torrent of steam and fragments ofsemi-fluid lava as big as one's fist, and sometimes bigger. These shotup sometimes as much as 100 feet, and then fell down on the sides ofthe little crater, which could be approached within fifty feet withoutany danger. As darkness set in, the spectacle was most strange. Thefiery stream found a lurid reflection in the slowly-drifting steamcloud, which overhung it, while the red-hot stones which shot throughthe cloud shone strangely beside the quiet stars in a moonless sky. 

Not from the top of this cinder cone, but from its side, a couple ofhundred feet down, a stream of lava issued. At first it was not morethan a couple of feet wide, but whether from receiving accessions ormerely from the different form of slope, it got wider on its journeydown to the Atrio del Cavallo, a thousand feet below. The slopeimmediately below the exit must have been near fifty, but the lava didnot flow quicker than very thick treacle would do under likecircumstances. And there were plenty of freshly cooled lava streamsabout, inclined at angles far greater than those which that learnedAcademician, Elie de Beaumont, declared to be possible. Naturally Iwas ashamed of these impertinent lava currents, and felt inclined tocall them "Laves mousseuses. " [Elie de Beaumont "is said to have'damned himself to everlasting fame' by inventing the nickname of 'lascience moussante' for Evolutionism. " See "Life of Darwin" 2 185. ]

Courage, my friend, behold land! I know you love my handwriting. I amoff to Rome to-day, and this day-week, if all goes well, I shall beunder my own roof-tree again. In fact I hope to reach London onSaturday evening. It will be jolly to see your face again. 

Ever yours faithfully, T. H. Huxley. 

My best remembrances to Hirst if you see him before I do. 

[My father reached home on April 6, sunburnt and bearded almost beyondrecognition, but not really well, for as soon as he began work againin London, his old enemy returned. Early hours, the avoidance ofsociety and societies, an hour's riding before starting at nine forSouth Kensington, were all useless; the whole year was poisoned untila special diet prescribed by Dr. (afterwards sir) Andrew Clark, followed by another trip abroad, effected a cure. I remember hissaying once that he learned by sad experience that such a holiday asthat in Egypt was no good for him. What he really required wasmountain air and plenty of exercise. The following letters fill up theoutline of this period:--]

26 Abbey Place, May 20, 1872. 

My dear Dohrn, I suppose that you are now back in Naples, perambulating the Chiaja, and looking ruefully on the accumulation of ashes on the foundationsof the aquarium! The papers, at any rate, tell us that the ashes ofVesuvius have fallen abundantly at Naples. Moreover, that abominablemunicipality is sure to have made the eruption an excuse for all sortsof delays. May the gods give you an extra share of temper andpatience!

What an unlucky dog our poor Ray is, to go and get fever when of alltimes in the world's history he should not have had it. However, Ihear he is better and on his way home. I hope he will be well enoughwhen he returns not only to get his Fellowship, but to help me in myschoolmaster work in June and July. 

I was greatly disgusted to miss you in Naples, but it was something tofind your father instead. What a vigorous, genial YOUNGSTER of threescore and ten he is. I declare I felt quite aged beside him. We had aglorious day on Vesuvius, and behaved very badly by leaving him at theinn for I do not know how many hours, while we wandered about thecone. But he had a very charming young lady for companion, andpossibly had the best of it. I am very sorry that at the last I wentoff in a hurry without saying "Good-bye" to him, but I desiredLankester to explain, and I am sure he will have sympathised with myanxiety to see Rome. 

I returned, thinking myself very well, but a bad fit of dyspepsiaseized me, and I found myself obliged to be very idle and very carefulof myself--neither of which things are to my taste. But I am rightagain now, and hope to have no more backslidings. However, I am afraidI may not be able to attend the Brighton meeting. In which case youwill have to pay us a visit, wherever we may be--where, we have notyet made up our minds, but it will not be so far as St. Andrews. 

Now for a piece of business. The new Governor of Ceylon is a friend ofmine, and is proposing to set up a Natural History Museum in Ceylon. He wants a curator--some vigorous fellow with plenty of knowledge andpower of organisation who will make use of his great opportunities. Hetells me he thinks he can start him with 350 pounds sterling a year(and a house) with possible increase to 400 pounds sterling. I do notknow any one here who would answer the purpose. Can you recommend meany one? If you can, let me know at once, and don't take so long inwriting to me as I have been in writing to you. 

I await the "Prophecies of the Holy Antonius" anxiously. [His work onthe development of the Arthropoda or Spider family. ] Like the Jews ofold, I come of an unbelieving generation, and need a sign. The breadand the oil, also the chamber in the wall shall not fail the prophetwhen he comes in August: nor Donner and Blitzes either. 

I leave the rest of the space for the wife. 

Ever yours, T. H. Huxley. 

[The following is in reply to a jest of Dr. Dohrn's--who was still abachelor--upon a friend's unusual sort of offering to a young lady. ]

I suspected the love affair you speak of, and thought the young damselvery attractive. I suppose it will come to nothing, even if he bedisposed to add his hand to the iron and quinine, in the next presenthe offers... And, oh my Diogenes, happy in a tub of arthropodousEntwickelungsgeschichte [History of Development. ], despise notbeefsteaks, nor wives either. They also are good. 

Jermyn Street, June 5, 1872. 

My dear Dohrn, I have written to the Governor of Ceylon, and enclosed the first halfof your letter to me to him as he understands High Dutch. I have toldhim that the best thing he can do is to write to you at Naples andtell you he will be very happy to see you as soon as you can come. Andthat if you do come you will give him the best possible advice abouthis museum, and let him have no rest until he has given you a site fora zoological station. 

I have no doubt you will get a letter from him in three weeks or so. His name is Gregory, and you will find him a good-humoured acute manof the world, with a very great general interest in scientific andartistic matters. Indeed in art I believe he is a considerableconnoisseur. 

I am very grieved to hear of your father's serious illness. At his agecerebral attacks are serious, and when we spent so many pleasant hourstogether at Naples, he seemed to have an endless store of vigour--verymuch like his son Anton. 

What put it into your head that I had any doubt of your power of work?I am ready to believe that you are Hydra in the matter of heads andBriareus in the matter of hands. 

... If you go to Ceylon I shall expect you to come back by way ofEngland. It's the shortest route anywhere from India, though it maynot look so on the map. 

How am I? Oh, getting along and just keeping the devil of dyspepsia atarm's length. The wife and other members of the H. F. Are well, andwould send you greetings if they knew I was writing to you. 

Ever yours faithfully, T. H. Huxley. 

[A little later Von Willemoes Suhm] ("why the deuce does he have sucha long name, instead of a handy monosyllable are dissyllable likeDohrn or Huxley?") [was recommended for the post. He afterwards wasone of the scientific staff of the "Challenger, " and died during thevoyage. ]

Morthoe, near Barnstaple, North Devon, August 5, 1872. 

My dear Dohrn, I trust you have not been very wroth with me for my long delay inanswering your last letter. For the last six weeks I have been verybusy lecturing daily to a batch of schoolmasters, and looking aftertheir practical instruction in the laboratory which the Governmenthas, at last, given me. In the "intervals of business" I have beentaking my share in a battle which has been raging between my friendHooker of Kew and his official chief... And moreover I have just hadstrength enough to get my daily work done and no more, and everythingthat could be put off has gone to the wall. Three days ago, the "HappyFamily, " bag and baggage, came to this remote corner, where I proposeto take a couple of months' entire rest--and put myself in order fornext winter's campaign. It is a little village five miles from thenearest town (which is Ilfracombe), and our house is at the head of aravine running down to the sea. Our backs are turned to England andour faces to America with no land that I know of between. The countryabout is beautiful, and if you will come we will put you up at thelittle inn, and show you something better than even Swanage. There areslight difficulties about the commissariat, but that is the Hausfrau'sbusiness, and not mine. At the worst, bread, eggs, milk, and rabbitsare certain, and the post from London takes two days!

Morthoe, Ilfracombe, North Devon, August 23, 1872. 

My dear Whirlwind, I promise you all my books, past, present, and to come for theAquarium. The best part about them is that they will not take up muchroom. Ask for Owen's by all means; "Fas est etiam ab hoste doceri. " Iam very glad you have got the British Association publications, as itwill be a good precedent for the Royal Society. 

Have you talked to Hooker about marine botany? He may be able to helpyou as soon as X. The accursed (may jackasses sit upon hisgrandmother's grave, as we say in the East) leaves him alone. 

It is hateful that you should be in England without seeing us, and forthe first time I lament coming here. The children howled in choruswhen they heard that you could not come. At this moment the wholetribe and their mother have gone to the sea, and I must answer yourletter before the post goes out, which it does here about half an hourafter it comes in. 

Ever yours very faithfully, T. H. Huxley. 

[In 1872 Huxley was at length enabled to establish in his regularclasses a system of science teaching based upon laboratory work by thestudents, which he had long felt to be the only true method. Itinvolved the verification of every fact by each student, and was atraining in scientific method even more than in scientific fact. Hadcircumstances only permitted, the new epoch in biological teachingmight have been antedated by many years. But, as he says in thepreface to the "Practical Biology, " 1875:--]

Practical work was forbidden by the limitations of space in thebuilding in Jermyn Street, which possessed no room applicable to thepurpose of a laboratory, and I was obliged to content myself, for manyyears, with what seemed the next best thing, namely, as full anexposition as I could give of the characters of certain plants andanimals, selected as types of vegetable and animal organisation, byway of introduction to systematic zoology and paleontology. 

[There was no laboratory work, but he would show an experiment or adissection during the lecture or perhaps for a few minutes after, whenthe audience crowded round the lecture table. 

The opportunity came in 1871. As he afterwards impressed upon thegreat city companies in regard to technical education, the teaching ofscience throughout the country turned upon the supply of trainedteachers. The part to be played by elementary science under theEducation Act of 1870, added urgency to the question of properteaching. With this in view, he organised a course of instruction forthose who had been preparing pupils for the examinations of theScience and Art Department, "scientific missionaries, " as he describedthem to Dr. Dohrn. 

In the promotion of the practical teaching of biology (writes the lateJeffery Parker, "Natural Science" 8 49), Huxley's services can hardlybe overestimated. Botanists had always been in the habit ofdistributing flowers to their students, which they could dissect ornot as they chose; animal histology was taught in many colleges underthe name of practical physiology; and at Oxford an excellent system ofzoological work had been established by the late Professor Rolleston. ("Rolleston (Professor Lankester writes to me) was the first tosystematically conduct the study of Zoology and Comparative Anatomy inthis country by making use of a carefully selected series of animals. His 'types' were the Rat, the Common Pigeon, the Frog, the Perch, theCrayfish, Blackbeetle, Anodon, Snail, Earthworm, Leech, Tapeworm. Hehad a series of dissections of these mounted, also loose dissectionsand elaborate manuscript descriptions. The student went through thisseries, dissecting fresh specimens for himself. After some ten years'experience Rolleston printed his manuscript directions and notes as abook, called 'Forms of Animal Life. '

"This all preceded the practical class at South Kensington in 1871. Ihave no doubt that Rolleston was influenced in his plan by yourfather's advice. But Rolleston had the earlier opportunity of puttingthe method into practice. 

"Your father's series of types were chosen so as to include plants, and he gave more attention to microscopic forms and to microscopicstructure than did Rolleston. "

It was distinctive of the lectures that they were on biology, onplants as well as animals, to illustrate all the fundamental featuresof living things. )

But the biological laboratory, as it is now understood, may be said todate from about 1870, when Huxley, with the cooperation of ProfessorsFoster, Rutherford, Lankester, Martin, and others (T. J. Parker, G. B. Howes, and the present Sir W. Thiselton Dyer, K. C. M. G. , C. I. E. , ), heldshort summer classes for science teachers at South Kensington, thedaily work consisting of an hour's lecture followed by four hours'laboratory work, in which the students verified for themselves factswhich they had hitherto heard about and taught to their unfortunatepupils from books alone. The naive astonishment and delight of themore intelligent among them was sometimes almost pathetic. Oneclergyman, who had for years conducted classes in physiology under theScience and Art Department, was shown a drop of his own blood underthe microscope. "Dear me!" he exclaimed, "it's just like the picturein Huxley's 'Physiology. '"

Later, in 1872, when the biological department of the Royal School ofMines was transferred to South Kensington, this method was adopted aspart of the regular curriculum of the school, and from that time theteaching "of zoology by lectures alone became an anachronism. "

The first of these courses to schoolmasters took place, as has beensaid, in 1871. Some large rooms on the ground floor of the SouthKensington Museum were used for the purpose. There was no properlaboratory, but professor and demonstrators rigged up everything aswanted. Huxley was in the full tide of that more than natural energywhich preceded his breakdown in health, and gave what Professor RayLankester describes as "a wonderful course of lectures, " one every dayfrom ten to eleven for six weeks, in June and half July. The threedemonstrators (those named first on the list above) each took a thirdof the class, about thirty-five apiece. "Great enthusiasm prevailed. We went over a number of plants and of animals--including microscopicwork and some physiological experiment. The 'types' were more numerousthan in later courses. "

In 1872 the new laboratory--the present one--was ready. ] "I have alaboratory, " [writes Huxley to Dohrn, ] "which it shall do your eyesgood to behold when you come back from Ceylon, the short way. " [(i. E. Via England. ) here a similar course, under the same demonstrators, assisted by H. N. Martin, was given in the summer, Huxley, though veryshaky in health, making a point of carrying them out himself. ]

26 Abbey Place, June 4, 1872. 

My dear Tyndall, I MUST be at work on examination papers all day to-day, but to-morrowI am good to lunch with you (and abscond from the Royal Commission, which will get on very well without me) or to go with you and call onyour friends, whichever may be most convenient. 

Many thanks for all your kind and good advice about the lectures, butI really think they will not be too much for me, and it is of theutmost importance I should carry them on. 

They are the commencement of a new system of teaching which, if Imistake not, will grow into a big thing and bear great fruit, and justat this present moment (nobody is necessary very long) I am thenecessary man to carry it on. I could not get a suppleant if I would, and you are no more the man than I am to let a pet scheme fall throughfor the fear of a little risk of self. And really and truly I findthat by taking care I pull along very well. Moreover, it isn't mybrains that get wrong, but only my confounded stomach. 

I have read your memorial [In the affair of Dr. Hooker alreadyreferred to. ] which is very strong and striking, but a difficultyoccurs to me about a good deal of it, and that is that it won't do toquote Hooker's official letters before they have been called for inParliament, or otherwise made public. We should find ourselves in thewrong officially, I am afraid, by doing so. However we can discussthis when we meet. I will be at the Athenaeum at 4 o'clock. 

Ever yours faithfully, T. H. Huxley. 

[As for the teaching by "types, " which was the most salient feature ofhis method, and therefore the most easily applied and misapplied, Professor Parker continues:--

Huxley's method of teaching was based upon the personal examination bythe student of certain "types" of animals and plants selected with aview of illustrating the various groups. But, in his lectures, thesetypes were not treated as the isolated things they necessarily appearin a laboratory manual or an examination syllabus; each, on thecontrary, took its proper place as an example of a particular grade ofstructure, and no student of ordinary intelligence could fail to seethat the types were valuable, not for themselves, but simply asmarking, so to speak, the chapters of a connected narrative. Moreover, in addition to the types, a good deal of work of a more generalcharacter was done. Thus, while we owe to Huxley more than to any oneelse the modern system of teaching biology, he is by no meansresponsible for the somewhat arid and mechanical aspect it has assumedin certain quarters. 

The application of the same system to botanical teaching wasinaugurated in 1873, when, being compelled to go abroad for hishealth, he arranged that Mr. (now Sir W. ) Thiselton Dyer should takehis place and lecture on Botany. 

The "Elementary Instruction in Biology, " published in 1875, was atext-book based upon this system. This book, in writing which Huxleywas assisted by his demonstrator, H. N. Martin, was reprinted thirteentimes before 1888, when it was "Revised and Extended by Howes andScott, " his later assistants. The revised edition is marked by oneradical change, due to the insistence of his demonstrator, the lateProfessor Jeffery Parker. In the first edition, the lower forms oflife were first dealt with; from simple cells--amoeba, yeast-plant, blood-corpuscle--the student was taken through an ascending series ofplants and of animals, ending with the frog or rabbit. But] "theexperience of the Lecture-room and the Laboratory taught me, " [writesHuxley in the new preface, ] "that philosophical as it might be intheory, it had defects in practice. " [The process might be regarded asnot following the scientific rule of proceeding from the known to theunknown; while the small and simple organisms required a skill inhandling high-power microscopes which was difficult for beginners toacquire. Hence the course was reversed, and began with the morefamiliar type of the rabbit or frog. This was Rolleston's practice;but it may be noted that Professor Ray Lankester has always maintainedand further developed "the original Huxleian plan of beginning withthe same microscopic forms" as being a most important philosophicimprovement on Rolleston's plan, and giving, he considers, "the truer'twist, ' as it were, to a student's mind. "

When the book was sent to Darwin, he wrote back (November 12, 1875):--

My dear Huxley, Many thanks for your biology, which I have read. It was a real strokeof genius to think of such a plan. Lord, how I wish that I had gonethrough such a course. 

Ever yours, Charles Darwin. 

A large portion of his time and energy was occupied in theorganisation of this course of teaching for teachers, and itselaboration before being launched on a larger scale in October, whenthe Biological Department of the Jermyn Street school was transferredto the new buildings at South Kensington, fitted with laboratorieswhich were to excite his friend Dr. Dohrn's envy. But he was also atwork upon his share of the "Science Primers, " so far as his stilluncertain health allowed. This and the affairs of the BritishAssociation are the subject of several letters to Sir Henry Roscoe andDr. Tyndall. ]

26 Abbey Place, April 8, 1872. 

My dear Roscoe, Many thanks for your kind letter of welcome. My long rest hascompletely restored me. As my doctor told me, I was sound, wind andlimb, and had merely worn myself out. I am not going to do that again, and you see that I have got rid of the School Board. It was an awfulincubus!

Oddly enough I met the Ashtons in the Vatican, and heard about yourperplexities touching Oxford. I should have advised you to do as youhave done. I think that you have a great piece of work to do at OwensCollege, and that you will do it. If you had gone to Oxford you wouldhave sacrificed all the momentum you have gained in Manchester; andwould have had to begin de novo, among conditions which, I imagine, itis very hard for a non-University man to appreciate and adjust himselfto. 

I like the look of the "Primers" (of which Macmillan has sent mecopies to-day) very much, and shall buckle to at mine as soon aspossible. I am very glad you did not wait for me. I remained in a veryshaky condition up to the middle of March, and could do nothing. 

Ever yours very faithfully, T. H. Huxley. 

The wife unites with me in kind regards to Mrs. Roscoe and yourself. 

Morthoe, Ilfracombe, North Devon, September 9, 1872. 

My dear Tyndall, I was very glad to have news of you, and to hear that you arevigorous. 

My outing hitherto has not been very successful, so far as the inwardman is concerned at least, for the weather has been good enough. But Ihave been worried to death with dyspepsia and the hyperchondriacalbedevilments that follow in its train, until I am seriously thinkingof returning to town to see if the fine air of St. John's Wood (as theman says in "Punch") won't enable me to recover from the effects ofthe country. 

I wish I were going with you to Yankee Land, not to do any lecturing, God forbid! but to be a quiet spectator in a corner of theenthusiastic audiences. I am as lazy as a dog, and the role oflooker-on would just suit me. However, I have a good piece of work todo in organising my new work at South Kensington. 

I have just asked my children what message they have to send to you, and they send their love; very sorry they won't see you before you go, and hope you won't come back speaking through your nose!

I shall be in town this week or next, and therefore shall see you. 

Ever yours faithfully, T. H. Huxley. 

26 Abbey Place, September 17, 1872. 

My dear Roscoe, Your letter has followed me from Morthoe here. We had good enoughweather in Devon--but my stay there was marred by the continuousdyspepsia and concurrent hyperchondriacal incapacity. At last, I couldnot stand it any longer, and came home for "change of air, " leavingthe wife and chicks to follow next week. By dint of living on cocoaand Revalenta, and giving up drink, tobacco, and all other things thatmake existence pleasant, I am getting better. 

What was your motive in getting kicked by a horse? I stopped away fromthe Association without that; and am not sorry to have been out of theway of the X. Business. What is to become of the association if -- isto monopolise it? And then there was that scoundrel, LouisNapoleon--to whom no honest man ought to speak--gracing the scene. Iam right glad I was out of it. 

I am at my wits' end to suggest a lecturer for you. I wish I couldoffer myself, but I have refused everything of that sort on the scoreof health; and moreover, I am afraid of my wife!

What do you say to Ramsay? He lectures very well. I have done nothingwhatever to the Primer. Stewart sent me Geikie's letter this morning, and I have asked Macmillan to send Geikie the proofs of my Primer sofar as they go. We must not overlap more than can be helped. 

I have not seen Hooker yet since my return. While all this row hasbeen going on, I could not ask him to do anything for us. And until X. Is dead and d--d (officially at any rate), I am afraid there will belittle peace for him. 

Ever yours very faithfully, T. H. Huxley. 

Please remember me very kindly to Mrs. Roscoe. 

[In a letter of September 25 is a reference to the way in which hisincreasing family had outgrown his house in Abbey Place. Early in thepreceding year, he had come to the decision to buy a small house inthe same neighbourhood, and add to it so as to give elbow-room to eachand all of the family. This was against the advice of his friend andlegal adviser, to whom he wrote announcing his decision, as follows. The letter was adorned with a sketch of an absurd cottage, "Ye House!"perched like a windmill on a kind of pedestal, and with members of thefamily painfully ascending a ladder to the upper story, above theominous legend, "Staircase forgotten. "]

March 20, 1871. 

My dear Burton, There is something delightfully refreshing in rushing into a piece ofpractical work in the teeth of one's legal adviser. 

If the lease of a piece of ground whereon I am going to build minehouse come to you, will you see if it's all right. 

Yours wilfully, T. H. Huxley. 

[This house, Number 4 Marlborough Place, stands on the north side ofthat quiet street, close to its junction with Abbey Road. It is nextdoor to the Presbyterian Church, on the other side of which again is aJewish synagogue. The irregular front of the house, with the originalcottage, white-painted and deep eaved, joined by a big porch to thenew uncompromising square face of yellow brick, distinguished only byits extremely large windows, was screened from the road by a high oakpaling, and a well-grown row of young lime-trees. Taken as a whole, itwas not without character, and certainly was unlike most Londonhouses. It was built for comfort, not beauty; designed, withinstringent limits as to cost, to give each member of the family room toget away by himself or herself if so disposed. Moreover, the gain inspace made it more possible to see something of friends or put up aguest, than in the small and crowded house in Abbey Place. 

A small garden lay in front of the house; a considerably larger gardenbehind, wherein the chief ornament was then a large apple-tree, thatnever failed to spread a cloud of blossom for my father's birthday, the 4th of May. 

Over the way, too, for many years we were faced by a long garden fullof blossoming pear-trees in which thrushes and blackbirds sang andnested, belonging to a desolate house in the Abbey Road, which wastenanted by a solitary old man, supposed to be a male prototype ofMiss Havisham in "Great Expectations. "

The move was accompanied by a unique and unpleasant experience. Aknavish fellow, living in a cottage close to the foot of the garden, sought to blackmail the new comer, under threat of legal proceedings, alleging that a catchment well for surface drainage had made hisbasement damp. Unfortunately for his case, it could be shown that thepipes had not yet been connected with the well, and when he carriedout his threat, he gained nothing from his suit in Chancery and hissubsequent appeal, except some stinging remarks from Vice-ChancellorMalins. ]

I am afraid the brute is impecunious [wrote my father after the firstsuit failed], and that I shall get nothing out of him. So I shall havehad three months' worry, and be fined 100 pounds sterling or so forbeing wholly and absolutely in the right. 

[Happily the man turned out to have enough means to pay the bulk ofthe costs; but that was no compensation for the mental worry andconsequent ill-health entailed from November to June. 

The only amusing point in the whole affair was when the plaintiff'ssolicitors had the face to file an affidavit before theVice-Chancellor himself in answer to his strictures upon the case, "about as regular a proceeding, " reports Mr. Burton, "as for a middyto reply upon the Post Captain on his own quarter-deck. "

The move was made in the third week of December (1872) amid endlessrain and mud and with workmen still in the house. It was attended byone inconvenience. He writes to Darwin on December 20, 1872:--]

I am utterly disgusted at having only just received your note ofTuesday. But the fact is, there is a certain inconvenience abouthaving FOUR addresses as has been my case for the most part of thisweek, in consequence of our moving--and as I have not been to JermynStreet before to-day, I have missed your note. I should run round toQueen Anne Street now on the chance of catching you, but I am boundhere by an appointment. 

[One incident of the move, however, was more agreeable. Mr. HerbertSpencer took the opportunity of sending a New Year's gift for the newhouse, in the shape of a handsome clock, wishing, as he said, "toexpress in some way more empathic than by words, my sense of the manykindnesses I have received at your hands during the twenty years ofour friendship. Remembrance of the things you have done in furtheranceof my aims, and of the invaluable critical aid you have given me, withso much patience and at so much cost of time, has often made me feelhow much I owe you. "

After a generous reference to occasions when the warmth of debatemight have betrayed him into more vigorous expressions than heintended, he concludes:--

But inadequately as I may ordinarily show it, you will (knowing that Iam tolerably candid) believe me when I say that there is no one whosejudgment on all subjects I so much respect, or whose friendship I sohighly value. 

It may be remembered that the 1872 address on "AdministrativeNihilism" led to a reply from the pen of Mr. Spencer, as the championof Individualism. When my father sent him the volume in which thisaddress was printed, he wrote back a letter (September 29, 1873) whichis characterised by the same feeling. It expresses his thanks for thebook, "and many more for the kind expression of feeling in thepreface. If you had intended to set an example to the Philistines ofthe way in which controversial differences may be maintained withoutany decrease of sympathy, you could not have done it more perfectly. "

In connection with the building of the house, Tyndall had advanced asum of money to his friend, and with his usual generosity, not onlyreceived interest with the greatest reluctance, but would have likedto make a gift of the principal. He writes, "If I remain a bachelor Iwill circumvent you--if not--not. It cleaves to me like dirt--and thatis why you wish to get rid of it. " To this he received answer:--

February 26, 1873. 

I am not to be deterred by any amount of bribery and corruption, frombringing you under the yoke of a "rare and radiant, "--whenever Idiscover one competent to undertake the ticklish business of governingyou. I hope she will be "radiant, "--uncommonly "rare" she certainlywill be!

Two years later this loan was paid off, with the following letter:--]

4 Marlborough Place, January 11, 1875. 

My dear old Shylock, My argosies have come in, and here is all that was written in thebond! If you want the pound of flesh too, you know it is at yourservice, and my Portia won't raise that pettifogging objection toshedding a little blood into the bargain, which that other one did. 

Ever yours faithfully, T. H. Huxley. 

[On October 24 Miss Jex Blake wrote to him to ask his help for herselfand the other women medical students at Edinburgh. For two years theyhad only been able to get anatomical teaching in a mixed class; butwishing to have a separate class, at least for the present, they hadtried to arrange for one that session. The late demonstrator at theSurgeons' Hall, who had given them most of their teaching before, hadundertaken to teach this separate class, but was refused recognitionby the University Court, on the ground that they had no evidence ofhis qualifications, while refusing to let him prove his qualificationby examination. This the women students understood to be an indirectmeans of suppressing their aspirations; they therefore begged Huxleyto examine their instructor with a view to giving him a certificatewhich should carry weight with the University Court. 

He replied:--]

To Miss Jex Blake. 

October 28, 1872. 

Dear Madam, While I fully sympathise with the efforts made by yourself and others, to obtain for women the education requisite to qualify them formedical practice, and while I think that women who have theinclination and the capacity to follow the profession of medicine aremost unjustly dealt with if any obstacles beyond those which arenatural and inevitable are placed in their way, I must neverthelessadd, that I as completely sympathise with those Professors of Anatomy, Physiology, and Obstetrics, who object to teach such subjects to mixedclasses of young men and women brought together without any furtherevidence of moral and mental fitness for such association than thepayment of their fees. 

In fact, with rare exceptions, I have refused to admit women to my ownLectures on Comparative Anatomy for many years past. But I should nothesitate to teach anything I know to a class composed of women; and Ifind it hard to believe that any one should really wish to preventwomen from obtaining efficient separate instruction, and from beingadmitted to Examination for degrees upon the same terms as men. 

You will therefore understand that I should be most glad to help youif I could--and it is with great regret that I feel myself compelledto refuse your request to examine Mr. H--. 

In the first place I am in the midst of my own teaching, and withhealth not yet completely re-established I am obliged to keep clear ofall unnecessary work. Secondly, such an examination must be practical, and I have neither dissecting-room available nor the anatomicallicense required for human dissection; and thirdly, it is not likelythat the University authorities would attach much weight to my reporton one or two days' work--if the fact that Mr. H-- has already filledthe office of anatomical Demonstrator (as I understand from you) doesnot satisfy them as to his competency. 

I am, dear Madam, yours very faithfully, T. H. Huxley. 

[The last event of the year was that he was elected by the studentsLord Rector of Aberdeen University--a position, the duties of whichconsist partly in attending certain meetings of the University Court, but more especially in delivering an address. This, however, was notrequired for another twelvemonth, and the address on "Universities, Actual and Ideal, " was delivered in fulfilment of this duty inFebruary 1874. 

CHAPTER 2. 4. 

1873. 

[The year opens with a letter to Tyndall, then on a lecturing tour inAmerica:--]

4 Marlborough Place, Abbey Road, N. W. , January 1, 1872 [1873]. 

My dear Tyndall, I cannot let this day go by without wishing you a happy New Year, andlamenting your absence from our customary dinner. But Hirst andSpencer and Michael Foster are coming, and they shall drink yourhealth in champagne while I do the like in cold water, making up bythe strength of my good wishes for the weakness of the beverage. 

You see I write from the new house. Getting into it was an awful job, made worse than needful by the infamous weather we have had for weeksand months, and by the stupid delays of the workmen, whom we hadfairly to shove out at last as we came in. We are settling down bydegrees, and shall be very comfortable by and by, though I do notsuppose that we shall be able to use the drawing-room for two or threemonths to come. I am very glad to have made the change, but there is adrawback to everything in "this here wale, " as Mrs. Gamp says and mypresent thorn in the flesh is a neighbour, who says I have injured himby certain operations in my garden, and is trying to get something outof me by Chancery proceedings. Fancy finding myself a defendant inChancery!

It is particularly hard on me, as I have been especially careful tohave nothing done without Burton's sanction and assurance that I wasquite safe in law; and I would have given up anything [rather] thanhave got into bother of this kind. But "sich is life. "

You seem to have been making a Royal Progress in Yankee-land. We havebeen uncommonly tickled with some of the reports of your lectureswhich reached us, especially with that which spoke of your having "astrong English accent. "

The loss of your assistant seems to have been the only deduction to bemade from your success. I am afraid you must have felt it much in allways. 

"My Lord" received your telegram only after the business of "securingHirst" was done. That is one of the bright spots in a bad year for me. Goschen consulted Spottiswood and me independently about the headshipof the new Naval College, and was naturally considerably surprised bythe fact that we coincided in recommending Hirst... The upshot was thatGoschen asked me to communicate with Hirst and see if he would bedisposed to accept the offer. So I did, and found to my greatsatisfaction that Hirst took to the notion very kindly. I am sure heis the very best man for the post to be met with in the threekingdoms, having that rare combination of qualities by which he getson with all manner of men, and singularly attracts young fellows. Hewill not only do his duty, but be beloved for doing it, which is whatfew people can compass. 

I have little news to give you. The tail of the X. -Hooker storm isdrifting over the scientific sky in the shape of fresh attacks by Owenon Hooker. Hooker answered the last angelically, and I hope they areat an end. 

The wife has just come in and sends her love (but is careful to add"second-best"). The chicks grow visibly and audibly, and Jess looksquite a woman. All are well except myself, and I am getting betterfrom a fresh breakdown of dyspepsia. I find that if I am to exist atall it must be on strictly ascetic principles, so there is hope of mydying in the odour of sanctity yet. If you recollect, Lancelot did notknow that he should "die a holy man" till rather late in life. I haveforgotten to tell you about the Rectorship of Aberdeen. I refused tostand at first, on the score of health, and only consented oncondition that I should not be called upon to do any public work untilafter the long vacation. It was a very hard fight, and although I hadan absolute majority of over fifty, the mode of election is such thatone vote, in one of the four nations, would have turned the scale bygiving my opponent the majority in that nation. We should then havebeen ties, and as the chancellor, who has under such circumstances acasting vote, would have (I believe) given it against me, I shouldhave been beaten. 

As it is, the fact of any one, who stinketh in the nostrils oforthodoxy, beating a Scotch peer at his own gates in the most orthodoxof Scotch cities, is a curious sign of the times. The reason why theymade such a tremendous fight for me, is I believe, that I may carry onthe reforms commenced by Grant Duff, my predecessor. Unlike other LordRectors, he of Aberdeen is a power and can practically govern theaction of the University during his tenure of office. 

I saw Pollock yesterday, and he says that they want you back again. Curiously the same desire is epidemically prevalent among yourfriends, not least here. 

Ever yours, T. H. Huxley. 

[In spite of his anxieties, his health was slowly improving undercareful regimen. He published no scientific memoirs this year, but inaddition to his regular lectures, he was working to finish his "Manualof Invertebrate Anatomy" and his "Introductory Primer, " and to writehis Aberdeen address; he was also at work upon the "Pedigree of theHorse" and on "Bodily Motion and Consciousness. " He delivered a courseto teachers on Psychology and Physiology, and was much occupied by theRoyal Commission on Science. As a governor of Owens College he hadvarious meetings to attend, though his duties did not extend, as someof his friends seem to have thought, to the appointment of a Professorof Physiology there. ]

My life (he writes to Sir Henry Roscoe) is becoming a burden to mebecause of --. Why I do not know, but for some reason people havetaken it into their heads that I have something to do withappointments in Owens College, and no fewer than three men of whoseopinion I think highly have spoken or written to me urging --'s meritsvery strongly. 

[This summer he again took a long holiday, thanks to the generosity ofhis friends, and with better results. He went with his old friendHooker to the Auvergne, walking, geologising, sketching, and graduallydiscarding doctor's orders. Sir Joseph Hooker has very kindly writtenme a letter from which I give an account of this trip:--

It was during the many excursions we took together, either byourselves or with one of my boys, that I knew him best at his best:and especially during one of several weeks' duration in the summer of1873, which we spent in central France and Germany. He had beenseriously ill, and was suffering from severe mental depression. Forthis he was ordered abroad by his physician, Sir A. Clark, to whichstep he offered a stubborn resistance. With Mrs. Huxley's approval, and being myself quite in the mood for a holiday, I volunteered towrestle with him, and succeeded, holding out as an inducement a visitto the volcanic region of the Auvergne with Scrope's classical volume, which we both knew and admired, as a guide book. 

We started on July 2nd, I loaded with injunctions from his physicianas to what his patient was to eat, drink, and avoid, how much he wasto sleep and rest, how little to talk and walk, etc. , that would havemade the expedition a perpetual burthen to me had I not believed thatI knew enough of my friend's disposition and ailments to be convincedthat not only health but happiness would be our companions throughout. Sure enough, for the first few days, including a short stay in Paris, his spirits were low indeed, but this gave me the opportunity ofappreciating his remarkable command over himself and his ever-presentconsideration for his companion. Not a word or gesture of irritationever escaped him; he exerted himself to obey the instructions laiddown; nay, more, he was instant in his endeavour to save me trouble athotels, railway stations, and ticket offices. Still, some mentalrecreation was required to expedite recovery, and he found it first bypicking up at a bookstall, a "History of the Miracles of Lourdes, "which were then exciting the religious fervour of France, and theinterest of her scientific public. He entered with enthusiasm into thesubject, getting together all the treatises upon it, favourable or thereverse, that were accessible, and I need hardly add, soon arrived atthe conclusion, that the so-called miracles were in part illusions andfor the rest delusions. As it may interest some of your readers toknow what his opinion was in this early stage of the manifestations, Iwill give it as he gave it to me. It was a case of two peasantchildren sent in the hottest month of the year into a hot valley tocollect sticks for firewood washed up by a stream, when one of themafter stooping down opposite a heat-reverberating rock, was, inrising, attacked with a transient vertigo, under which she saw afigure in white against the rock. This bare fact being reported to thecure of the village, all the rest followed. 

Soon after our arrival at Clermont Ferrand, your father had so farrecovered his wonted elasticity of spirits that he took a keeninterest in everything around, the museums, the cathedral, where heenjoyed the conclusion of the service by a military band which gaveselections from the Figlia del Regimento, but above all he appreciatedthe walks and drives to the geological features of the environs. Hereluctantly refrained from ascending the Puy de Dome, but managed thePic Parion, Gergovia, Royat, and other points of interest withoutfatigue... 

After Clermont they visited the other four great volcanic areasexplored by Scrope, Mont Dore, the Cantal, Le Puy, and the valley ofthe Ardeche. Under the care of his friend, and relieved from thestrain of work, my father's health rapidly improved. He felt no badeffects from a night at Mont Dore, when, owing to the crowd ofinvalids in the little town, no better accommodation could be foundthan a couple of planks in a cupboard. Next day they took up theirquarters in an unpretentious cabaret at La Tour d'Auvergne, one of thevillages on the slopes of the mountain, a few miles away. 

Here (writes Sir J. Hooker), and for some time afterwards, on ourfurther travels, we had many interesting and amusing experiences ofrural life in the wilder parts of central France, its poverty, penury, and too often its inconceivable impositions and overcharges toforeigners, quite consistently with good feeling, politeness, andreadiness to assist in many ways. 

By the 10th of July, nine days after setting out, I felt satisfied (hecontinues) that your father was equal to an excursion upon which hehad set his heart, to the top of the Pic de Sancy, 4000 feet above LaTour and 7 miles distant. 

It was on this occasion that the friends made what they thought a newdiscovery, namely evidence of glacial action in central France. Besides striated stones in the fields or built into the walls, theynoticed the glaciated appearance of one of the valleys descending fromthe peak, and especially some isolated gigantic masses of rock on anopen part of the valley, several miles away, as to which they debatedwhether they were low buildings or transported blocks. Sir Josephvisited them next day, and found they were the latter, brought downfrom the upper part of the peak. (He published an account of theseblocks in "Nature" 8 31, 166, but subsequently found that glaciationhad been observed by von Lassaul in 1872 and by Sir William Guise in1870. )

Lepuy offered a special attraction apart from scenery and geology. Inthe museum was the skeleton of a prehistoric man that had been foundin the breccia of the neighbourhood, associated with the remains ofthe rhinoceros, elephant, and other extinct mammals. My father'ssketch-book contains drawings of these bones and of the ravine wherethey were discovered, although in spite of directions from M. Aymard, the curator, he could not find the exact spot. Under the sketch is adescription of the remains, in which he notes, ] "The bones do not lookfresher than some of those of Elephas and Rhinoceros in the same oradjacent cases. "

[As for the final stage of the excursion:--

After leaving the Ardeche (continues Sir J. Hooker), with no Scrope tolead or follow, our scientific ardours collapsed. We had vague viewsas to future travel. Whatever one proposed was unhesitatingly accededto by the other. A more happy-go-lucky pair of idlers never joinedcompany. 

As will be seen from the following letters, they made their way to theBlack Forest, where they stayed till Sir Joseph's duties called himback to England, and my mother came out to join my father for the restof his holiday. (You ask me (Sir Joseph adds) whether your fathersmoked on the occasion of this tour. Yes, he did, cigars inmoderation. But the history of his addiction to tobacco that grew uponhim later in life, dates from an earlier excursion that we tooktogether, and I was the initiator of the practice. It happened in thiswise; he had been suffering from what was supposed to be gastricirritation, and, being otherwise "run down, " we agreed to go, incompany with Sir John Lubbock, on a tour to visit the great monolithsof Brittany. This was in 1867. On arriving at Dinan he suffered somuch, that I recommended his trying a few cigarettes which I had withme. They acted as a charm, and this led to cigars, and finally, about1875 I think, to the pipe. That he subsequently carried the use oftobacco to excess is, I think, unquestionable. I repeatedlyremonstrated with him, at last I think (by backing his medicaladviser) with effect. 

I have never blamed myself for the "teaching him" to smoke, for thepractice habitually palliated his distressing symptoms when nothingelse did, nor can his chronic illness be attributed to the abuse oftobacco. )

The following letters to Sir H. Roscoe and Dr. Tyndall were writtenduring this tour:--]

Le Puy, Haute Loire, France, July 17, 1873. 

My dear Roscoe, Your very kind letter reached me just as I was in the hurry of gettingaway from England, and I have been carrying it about in my pocket eversince. 

Hooker and I have been having a charming time of it among thevolcanoes of the Auvergne, and we are now on our way to those of theVelay and Vivarrais. The weather has been almost perfect. Perhaps afew degrees of temperature could have been spared now and then, especially at Clermont, of which somebody once said that having stayedthere the climate of hell would have no terrors for him. 

It has been warm in the Mont Dore country and in the Cantal, as it ishere, but we are very high up, and there is a charming freshness andpurity about the air. 

I do not expect to be back before the end of September, and mylectures begin somewhere in the second week of October. After theycommence I shall not be able to leave London even for a day, but Ishall be very glad to come to the inauguration of your new buildingsif the ceremony falls within my possible time. And you know I amalways glad to be your guest. 

I am thriving wonderfully. Indeed all that plagues me now is myconscience, for idling about when I feel full of vigour. But Ipromised to be obedient, and I am behaving better than Auld Clootiedid when he fell sick. 

I hope you are routing out the gout. This would be the place foryou--any quantity of mineral waters. 

Pray remember me very kindly to Mrs. Roscoe, and believe me, everyours very faithfully, T. H. Huxley. 

Hotel de France, Baden-Baden, July 30, 1873. 

My dear Tyndall, We find ourselves here after a very successful cruise in the Auvergneand Ardeche, successful at least so far as beauty and geologicalinterest go. The heat was killing, and obliged us to give up allnotion of going to Ursines, as we had at first intended to do. So weturned our faces north and made for Grenoble, hoping for a breath ofcool air from the mountains of Dauphiny. But Grenoble was hotter eventhan Clermont (which, by the way, quite deserves its reputation as acompetitor with hell), a neighbour's drains were adrift close to thehotel, and we got poisoned before we could escape. Luckily we got offwith nothing worse than a day or two's diarrhoea. After this the bestthing seemed to be to rush northward to Gernsbach, which had beendescribed to me as a sort of earthly paradise. We reached the placelast Saturday night, and found ourselves in a big rambling hotel, crammed full of people, and planted in the bottom of a narrow valley, all hot and steaming. A large pigstye "convenient" to the housemingled its vapours with those of the seventy or eighty people who ateand drank without any other earthly occupation that we could discernduring the three days we were bound, by stress of letters and dirtylinen, to stop. On Monday we made an excursion over here, prospecting, and the air was so fresh and good, and things in general looked sopromising that I made up my mind to put up in Baden-Baden until thewife joins me. She writes me that you talk of leaving England onFriday, and I may remark that Baden is on the high road toSwitzerland. Verbum sap. 

I am wonderfully better, and really feel ashamed of loafing about whenI might very well be at work. But I have promised to make holiday, andmake holiday I will. 

No proof of your answer to Forbes' biographer reached me before Ileft, so I suppose you had not received one in time. I am dying to seeit out. 

Hooker is down below, but I take upon myself to send his love. He isin great force now that he has got rid of his Grenoble mulligrubs. 

Ever yours, T. H. Huxley. 

[After parting company with Hooker, he paid a flying visit toProfessor Bonnet at Geneva; then he was joined by his wife and son forthe last three weeks of the holiday, which were spent at Baden and inthe Bernese Oberland. Before this, he writes home:--]

I feel quite a different man from what I was two months ago, and youwill say that you have a much more creditable husband than thebroken-down old fellow who has been a heart-ache to you so long, whenyou see me. The sooner you can get away the better. If the rest onlydoes you as much good as it does me, I shall be very happy. 

Axenstein, Luzerne, August 24, 1873. 

My dear Tyndall, The copies of your booklet ["Principal Forbes and his Biographers. "]intended for Hooker and me reached me just as I left Baden lastTuesday. Hooker had left me for home a fortnight before, and I hardlyknow whether to send his to Kew or keep them for him till I return. Ihave read mine twice, and I think that nothing could be better thanthe tone you have adopted. I did not suspect that you had such a shotin your locker as the answer to Forbes about the direction of the"crevasses" referred to by Rendu. It is a deadly thrust; and I shallbe curious to see what sort of parry the other side will attempt. Forof course they will attempt something. Scotland is, I believe, theonly country in the world in which you can bring in action for"putting to silence" an adversary who will go on with an obviouslyhopeless suit. The lawgivers knew the genius of the people; and it isto be regretted that they could not establish a process of the samesort in scientific matters. 

I wrote to you a month ago to tell you how we had been getting on inFrance. Hooker and I were very jolly, notwithstanding the heat, and Ithink that the Vivarrais is the most instructive country in the worldfor seeing what water can do in cutting down the hardest rocks. Scrope's book is very good on the whole, though the pictures are alittle overdone. 

My wife and Leonard met me at Cologne on the 11th. Then we went on toBaden and rested till last Tuesday, when we journeyed to Luzerne and, getting out of that hot and unsavoury hole as fast as we could, camehere last Thursday. 

We find ourselves very well off. The hotel is perched up 1800 feetabove the lake, with a beautiful view of Pilatus on the west and ofthe Urner See on the south. On the north we have the Schwyz valley, sothat we are not shut in, and the air is very good and fresh. There areplenty of long walks to be had without much fatigue, which suits thewife. Leonard promises to have very good legs of his own with plentyof staying power. I have given him one or two sharp walks, and I findhe has plenty of vigour and endurance. But he is not thirteen yet andI do not mean to let him do overmuch, though we are bent on a visit toa glacier. I began to tell him something about the glaciers the otherday, but I was promptly shut up with, "Oh, yes! I know all about that. It's in Dr. Tyndall's book. "--which said book he seems to me to havegot by heart. He is the sweetest little fellow imaginable; and eitherhe has developed immensely in the course of the last year, or I havenever been so much thrown together with him alone, and have not hadthe opportunity of making him out. 

You are a fatherly old bachelor, and will not think me a particularlygreat donkey for prattling on in this way about my swan, who probablyto unprejudiced eyes has a power of goose about him. 

I suppose you know that in company with yourself and Hooker, thepaternal gander (T. H. H. ) has been honoured by the King of Sweden andmade into a Polar Goose by the order of the North Star. Hooker hasexplained to the Swedish Ambassador that English officials areprohibited by order in Council from accepting foreign orders, and Ibelieve keeps the cross and ribbon on these conditions. If it were anordinary decoration I should decline with thanks, but I am told it isa purely scientific and literary affair like the Prussian "pour lemerite"; so when I get back I shall follow Hooker's line. 

I met Laugel on board the Luzerne steamboat the other day, and he toldme that you were at the Belalp--gallivanting as usual, and likely toremain there for some time. So I send this on the chance of findingyou. 

With best love from us all, ever yours, T. H. Huxley. 

I am as well as I ever was in my life--regularly set up--in tokenwhereof I have shaved off my beard. 

[In another letter to his wife, dated August 8, from Baden, there is avery interesting passage about himself and his aims. He has just beenspeaking about his son's doings at school:--]

I have been having a great deal of talk with myself about my futurecareer too, and I have often thought over what you say in the letteryou wrote to the Puy. I don't quite understand what -- meant about thedisputed reputation, unless it is a reputation for getting intodisputes. But to say truth I am not greatly concerned about anyreputation except that of being entirely honest and straightforward, and that reputation I think and hope I have. 

For the rest... The part I have to play is not to found a new school ofthought or to reconcile the antagonisms of the old schools. We are inthe midst of a gigantic movement greater than that which preceded andproduced the Reformation, and really only the continuation of thatmovement. But there is nothing new in the ideas which lie at thebottom of the movement, nor is any reconcilement possible between freethought and traditional authority. One or other will have to succumbafter a struggle of unknown duration, which will have as side issuesvast political and social troubles. I have no more doubt that freethought will win in the long run than I have that I sit here writingto you, or that this free thought will organise itself into a coherentsystem, embracing human life and the world as one harmonious whole. But this organisation will be the work of generations of men, andthose who further it most will be those who teach men to rest in nolie, and to rest in no verbal delusions. I may be able to help alittle in this direction--perhaps I may have helped already. For thepresent, however, I am disposed to draw myself back entirely into myown branch of physical science. There is enough and to spare for me todo in that line, and, for years to come, I do not mean to be temptedout of it. 

[Strangely enough, this was the one thing he was destined not to do. Official work multiplied about him. From 1870 to 1884 only two yearspassed without his serving on one or two Royal Commissions. He wasSecretary of the Royal Society from 1871 to 1880, and President from1883 to his retirement, owing to ill-health, in 1885. He became Deanas well as Professor of Biology in the College of Science, andInspector of Fisheries. Though he still managed to find some time foranatomical investigations, and would steal a precious hour orhalf-hour by driving back from the Home Office to his laboratory atSouth Kensington before returning home to St. John's Wood, the amountof such work as he was able to publish could not be very great. 

His most important contributions during this decennium (writes Sir M. Foster) were in part continuations of his former labours, such as thepaper and subsequent full memoir on Stagonolepis, which appeared in1875 and 1877, and papers on the Skull. The facts that he called acommunication to the Royal Society, in 1875 (written 1874. ), onAmphioxus, a preliminary note, and that a paper read to the ZoologicalSociety in 1876, on Ceratodus Forsteri, was marked Number 1 of theseries of Contributions to Morphology, showed that he still had beforehim the prospect of much anatomical work, to be accomplished whenopportunity offered; but, alas! the opportunity which came was small, the preliminary note had no full successor, and Number 1 was onlyfollowed, and that after an interval of seven years, by a brief Number2. A paper "On the Characters of the Pelvis, " in the "Proceedings ofthe Royal Society, " in 1879, is full of suggestive thought, but itsconcluding passages seem to suggest that others, and not he himself, were to carry out the ideas. Most of the papers of this decennium dealwith vertebrate morphology, and are more or less connected with hisformer researches, but in one respect, at least, he broke quite freshground. He had chosen the crayfish as one of the lessons for the classin general biology spoken of above, and was thus drawn into aninteresting study of crayfishes, by which he was led to a novel andimportant analysis of the gill plumes as evidence of affinity andseparation. He embodied the main results of his studies in a paper tothe Zoological Society, and treated the whole subject in a morepopular style in a book on the Crayfish. In a somewhat similar way, having taken the dog as an object lesson in mammalian anatomy for hisstudents, he was led to a closer study of that common animal, resulting in papers on that subject to the Zoological Society in 1880, and in two lectures at the Royal Institution in 1880. He had intendedso to develop this study of the dog as to make it tell the tale ofmammalian morphology; but this purpose, too, remained unaccomplished. 

Moreover, though he sent one paper (on Hyperodapedon Gordoni) to theGeological Society as late as 1887, yet the complete breakdown of hishealth in 1885, which released him from nearly all his officialduties, at the same time dulled his ardour for anatomical pursuits. Stooping over his work became an impossibility. 

Though he carried about him, as does every man of like calibre andexperience, a heavy load of fragments of inquiry begun but neverfinished, and as heavy a load of ideas for promising investigationsnever so much as even touched, though his love of science and beliefin it might never have wavered, though he never doubted the value ofthe results which further research would surely bring him, there wassomething working within him which made his hand, when turned toanatomical science, so heavy that he could not lift it. Not even thatwhich was so strong within him, the duty of fulfilling a promise, could bring him to the work. In his room at South Kensington, wherefor a quarter of a century he had laboured with such brilliant effect, there lay on his working table for months, indeed for years, partlydissected specimens of the rare and little studied marine animal, Spirula, of which he had promised to contribute an account to theReports of the "Challenger" Expedition, and hard by lay the alreadyengraven plates; there was still wanted nothing more than some furtherinvestigation and the working out of the results. But it seemed as ifsome hidden hands were always being stretched out to keep him from thetask; and eventually another labourer had to complete it. (Ibid. )

The remaining letters of this year include several to Dr. Dohrn, whichshow the continued interest my father took in the great project of theBiological Station at Naples, which was carried through in spite ofmany difficulties. He had various books and proceedings of learnedsocieties sent out at Dr. Dohrn's request (I omit the details), andproposed a scheme for raising funds towards completing the buildingwhen the contractor failed. The scheme, however, was not put intoexecution. ]

4 Marlborough Place, February 24, 1873. 

My dear Dohrn, I was very glad to receive the fine sealed letter, and to get somenews of you--though to be sure there is not much of you in the letter, but all is "Station, Station. "

I congratulate you heartily on your success with your undertaking, andI only wish I could see England represented among the applicants fortables. But you see England is so poor, and the present price of coalsobliges her to economise. 

I envy you your visit from "Pater Anchises" Baer, and rejoice to hearthat the grand old man is well and strong enough to entertain such aproject. I wish I could see my way to doing the like. I have had along bout of illness--ever since August--but I am now very muchbetter, indeed, I hope I may say quite well. The weariness of all thishas been complicated by the trouble of getting into a new house, andin addition a lawsuit brought by a knavish neighbour, in the hope ofextracting money out of me. 

I am happy to say, however, that he has just been thoroughly andeffectually defeated. It has been a new experience for me, and I hopeit may be my last as well as my first acquaintance with English law, which is a luxury of the most expensive character. 

If Dr. Kleinenberg is with you, please to tell him, with mycompliments and thanks for the copy of his Memoir, that I went overhis Hydra paper pretty carefully in the summer, and satisfied myselfas to the correctness of his statements about the structure of theectoderm and about the longitudinal fibres. About the Endoderm I amnot so clear, and I often found indications of delicate circularfibres in close apposition with the longitudinal ones. However, I hadnot time to work all this out, and perhaps might as well say nothingabout it. 

Pray make my very kind remembrances to Mr. Grant. I trust that hisdramas may have a brilliant reception. 

The Happy Family flourishes. But we shall look to your coming to seeus. The house is big enough now to give you a bedroom, and you knowyou will have no lack of welcome. 

I have said nothing about my wife (who has been in a state not only ofsuperhuman, but of superfeminine, activity for the last three months)meaning to leave her the last page to speak for herself. 

With best compliments to the "ladies downstairs, " ever yours veryfaithfully, T. H. Huxley. 

4 Marlborough Place, October 17, 1873. 

My dear Dohrn, Your letter reached me nearly a week ago, and I have been turning overits contents in my mind as well as I could, but have been able to cometo no clear conclusion until now. I have been incessantly occupiedwith other things. 

I will do for you, and gladly, anything I would do for myself, but Icould not apply on my own behalf to any of those rich countrymen ofmine, unless they were personally well known to me, and I had theopportunity of feeling my way with them. But if you are disposed toapply to any of the people you mention, I shall be only too glad toback your application with all the force I am master of. You may makeuse of my name to any extent as guarantor of the scientific value andimportance of your undertaking and refer any one to whom you may applyto me. It may be, in fact, that this is all you want, but as you havetaken to the caprice of writing in my tongue instead of in thatvernacular, idiomatic and characteristically Dohrnian German in whichI delight, I am not so sure about your meaning. There is a rub foryou. If you write to me in English again I will send the letter backwithout paying the postage. 

In any case let me have a precise statement of your financialposition. I may have a chance of talking to some Croesus, and thefirst question he is sure to ask me is--How am I to know that this isa stable affair, and that I am not throwing my money into the sea?... 

[Referring to an unpleasant step it seemed necessary to take]... Youmust make up your mind to act decidedly and take the consequences. Nogood is ever done in this world by hesitation... 

I hope you are physically better. Look sharply after your diet, takeexercise and defy the blue-devils, and you will weather the storm. 

Ever yours very faithfully, T. H. Huxley. 

[Tyndall, who had not attended the 1873 meeting of the BritishAssociation, had heard that some local opposition had been offered tohis election as President for the Belfast meeting in 1874, and hadwritten:--

I wish to have an you had not persuaded me to accept that Belfastduty. They do not want me... But Spottiswoode assures me that noindividual offered the slightest support to the two unscientificpersons who showed opposition. 

The following was written in reply:--]

4 Marlborough Place, September 25, 1873. 

My dear Tyndall, I am sure you are mistaken about the Belfast people. That blunderingidiot of -- wanted to make himself important and get up a sort of"Home Rule" agitation in the Association, but nobody backed him and hecollapsed. I am at your disposition for whatever you want me to do, asyou know, and I am sure Hooker is of the same mind. We shall not beashamed when we meet our enemies in the gate. 

The grace of god cannot entirely have deserted you since you are awareof the temperature of that ferocious epistle. Reeks [The late TrenhamReeks, Registrar of the School of Mines, and Curator of the Museum ofPractical Geology. ], whom I saw yesterday, was luxuriating in it, andsaid (confound his impudence) that it was quite my style. I forgot totell him, by the bye, that I had resigned in your favour ever sincethe famous letter to Carpenter. Well, so long as you are better afterit there is no great harm done. 

Somebody has sent me the two numbers of Scribner with Blauvelt'sarticles on "Modern Skepticism. " They seem to be very well done, andhe has a better appreciation of the toughness of the job before himthan any of the writers of his school with whom I have met. But it israther cool of you to talk of his pitching into Spencer when you arechief target yourself. I come in only par parenthese, and I am glad tosee that people are beginning to understand my real position, and toseparate me from such raging infidels as you and Spencer. 

Ever thine, T. H. Huxley. 

[He was unable to attend the opening of Owens College this autumn, andhaving received but a scanty account of the proceedings, wrote asfollows:--]

4 Marlborough Place, London, N. W. , October 16, 1873. 

My dear Roscoe, I consider myself badly used. Nobody has sent me a Manchester paperwith the proceedings of the day of inauguration, when, I hear, greatspeeches were made. 

I DID get TWO papers containing your opening lecture, and the"Fragment of a Morality, " for which I am duly grateful, but two copiesof one days' proceedings are not the same thing as one copy of twodays' proceedings, and I consider it is very disrespectful to aGovernor (large G) not to let him know what went on. 

By all accounts which have reached me it was a great success, and Icongratulate you heartily. I only wish that I could have been there tosee. 

Ever yours very faithfully, T. H. Huxley. 

[The autumn brought a slow improvement in health--]

I am travelling [he writes] between the two stations of dyspepsia andhealth thus [illustrated by a zigzag with "mean line ascending". 

[The sympathy of the convalescent appears in various letters tofriends who were ill. Thus, in reply to Mr. Hyde Clarke, thephilologist and, like himself, a member of the Ethnological Society, he writes:--]

November 18, 1873. 

I am glad to learn two things from your note--first, that you aregetting better; second, that there is hope of some good coming out ofthat Ashantee row, if only in the shape of rare vocables. 

My attention is quite turned away from Anthropological matters atpresent, but I will bear your question in mind if opportunity offers. 

[A letter to Professor Rolleston at Oxford gives a lively account ofhis own ailments, which could only have been written by one nowrecovering from them, while the illness of another friend raised adelicate point of honour, which he laid before the judgment of Mr. Darwin, more especially as the latter had been primarily concerned inthe case. ]

4 Marlborough Place, October 16, 1873. 

My dear Rolleston, A note which came from Mrs. Rolleston to my wife the other day, kindlyanswering some inquiries of ours about the Oxford Middle ClassExamination, gave us but a poor account of your health. 

This kind of thing won't do, you know. Here is -- ill, and I doing allI can to persuade him to go away and take care of himself, and nowcomes ill news of you. 

Is it dyspeps again? If so follow in my steps. I mean to go about thecountry, with somebody who can lecture, as the "horridexample"--cured. Nothing but gross and disgusting intemperance, Sir, was the cause of all my evil. And now that I have been a teetotallerfor nine months, and have cut down my food supply to about half ofwhat I used to eat, the enemy is beaten. 

I have carried my own permissive bill, and no canteen (except for myfriends who still sit in darkness) is allowed on the premises. And asthis is the third letter I have written before breakfast (a thing Inever could achieve in the days when I wallowed in the stye ofEpicurus), you perceive that I am as vigorous as ever I was in mylife. 

Let me have news of you, and believe me, Ever yours very faithfully, T. H. Huxley. 

Athenaeum Club, November 3, 1873. 

My dear Darwin, You will have heard (in fact I think I mentioned the matter when Ipaid you my pleasant visit the other day) that -- is ill and obligedto go away for six months to a warm climate. It is a great grief tome, as he is a man for whom I have great esteem and affection, apartfrom his high scientific merits, and his symptoms are such as causevery grave anxiety. I shall be happily disappointed if that accursedconsumption has not got hold of him. 

The college authorities have behaved as well as they possibly could tohim, and I do not suppose that his enforced retirement for a whilegives him the least pecuniary anxiety, as his people are all well off, and he himself has an income apart from his college pay. Nevertheless, under such circumstances, a man with half a dozen children alwayswants all the money he can lay hands on; and whether he does or no, heought not to be allowed to deprive himself of any, which leads me tothe gist of my letter. His name was on your list as one of thosehearty friends who came to my rescue last year, and it was the onlyname which made me a little uneasy, for I doubted whether it was rightfor a man with his responsibilities to make sacrifices of this sort. However, I stifled that feeling, not seeing what else I could dowithout wounding him. But now my conscience won't let me be, and I donot think that any consideration ought to deter me from getting hiscontribution back to him somehow or other. There is no one to whosejudgment on a point of honour I would defer more readily than yours, and I am quite sure you will agree with me. I really am quite unhappyand ashamed to think of myself as vigorous and well at the expense ofhis denying himself any rich man's caprice he might take a fancy to. 

So, my dear, good friend, let me know what his contribution was, thatI may get it back to him somehow or other, even if I go like Nicodemusprivily and by night to his bankers. 

Ever yours faithfully, T. H. Huxley. 

CHAPTER 2. 5. 

1874. 

[My father's health continued fairly good in 1874, and while carefulto avoid excessive strain he was able to undertake nearly as much asbefore his illness outside his regular work at South Kensington, theRoyal Society, and on the Royal Commission. To this year belong threeimportant essays, educational and philosophical. From February 25 toMarch 3 he was at Aberdeen, staying first with Professor Bain, afterwards with Mr. Webster, in fulfilment of his first duty as LordRector to deliver an address to the students. (It may be noted thatbetween 1860 and 1890 he and Professor Bain were the only Lord Rectorsof Aberdeen University elected on non-political grounds. ) Taking ashis subject "Universities, Actual and Ideal, " he then proceeded tovindicate, historically and philosophically, the claims of naturalscience to take the place from which it had so long been ousted in theuniversal culture which a University professes to give. Moreespecially he demanded an improved system of education in the medicalschool, a point to which he gave practical effect in the Council ofthe University. ]

In an ideal University, as I conceive it, a man should be able toobtain instruction in all forms of knowledge, and discipline in theuse of all the methods by which knowledge is obtained. In such aUniversity the force of living example should fire the student with anoble ambition to emulate the learning of learned men, and to followin the footsteps of the explorers of new fields of knowledge. And thevery air he breathes should be charged with that enthusiasm for truth, that fanaticism of veracity, which is a greater possession than muchlearning; a nobler gift than the power of increasing knowledge; by somuch greater and nobler than these, as the moral nature of man isgreater than the intellectual; for veracity is the heart of morality. [("Collected Essays" 3 189 sqq. )

As for the "so-called 'conflict of studies, '" he exclaims:--]

One might as well inquire which of the terms of a Rule of Three sumone ought to know in order to get a trustworthy result. Practical lifeis such a sum, in which your duty multiplied into your capacity anddivided by your circumstances gives you the fourth term in theproportion, which is your deserts, with great accuracy. 

[The knowledge on which medical practice should be based is] "the sortof practical, familiar, finger-end knowledge which a watchmaker has ofa watch, " [the knowledge gained in the dissecting-room andlaboratory. ]

Until each of the greater truths of anatomy and physiology has becomean organic part of your minds--until you would know them if you wereroused and questioned in the middle of the night, as a man knows thegeography of his native place and the daily life of his home. That isthe sort of knowledge which, once obtained, is a lifelong possession. Other occupations may fill your minds--it may grow dim and seem to beforgotten--but there it is, like the inscription on a battered anddefaced coin, which comes out when you warm it. 

[Hence the necessity to concentrate the attention on these cardinaltruths, and to discard a number of extraneous subjects commonlysupposed to be requisite whether for general culture of the medicalstudent or to enable him to correct the possible mistakes ofdruggists. Against this "Latin fetish" in medical education, as heused to call it, he carried on a lifelong campaign, as may be gatheredfrom his published essays on medical education, and from letters givenin later chapters of this book. But there is another side to suchlimitation in professional training. Though literature is an essentialin the preliminary, general education, culture is not solely dependentupon classics. ]

Moreover, I would urge that a thorough study of Human Physiology is initself an education broader and more comprehensive than much thatpasses under that name. There is no side of the intellect which itdoes not call into play, no region of human knowledge into whicheither its roots or its branches do not extend; like the Atlanticbetween the Old and New Worlds, its waves wash the shores of the twoworlds of matter and of mind; its tributary streams flow from both;through its waters, as yet unfurrowed by the keel of any Columbus, lies the road, if such there be, from the one to the other; far awayfrom that North-west Passage of mere speculation, in which so manybrave souls have been hopelessly frozen up. 

[Of the address he writes to his wife, February 27:--]

I have just come back from the hall in which the address wasdelivered, somewhat tired. The hall was very large, and contained, Isuppose, a couple of thousand people, and the students made a terrificrow at intervals, though they were quiet enough at times. As theaddress took me an hour and a half to deliver, and my voice has beenvery shaky ever since I have been here, I did not dare to put too muchstrain upon it, and I suspect that the people at the end of the hallcould have heard very little. However, on the whole, it went offbetter than I expected. 

[And to Professor Baynes:--]

I am very glad you liked my address. The students were abnormallyquiet for the first half-hour, and then made up for their reticence bya regular charivari for the rest of the time. However, I was consoledby hearing that they were much quieter than usual. 

Dr. John Muir's appreciation is worth having. It did not occur to methat what I had to say would interest people out of Britain, but to mysurprise I had an application from a German for permission totranslate the address the other day. 

[Again to his wife, March 1:--]

... I was considerably tired after my screed on Friday, but Bain and Itook a long walk, and I was fresh again by dinner-time. I dined withthe Senators at a hotel in the town, and of course had to make aspeech or two. However I cut all that as fast as I could. They wereall very apologetic for the row the students made. After the dinnerone of the Professors came to ask me if I would have any objection toattend service in the College Chapel on Sunday, as the students wouldlike it. I said I was quite ready to do anything it was customary forthe Rector to do, and so this morning in half an hour's time I shallbe enduring the pains and penalties of a Presbyterian service. 

There was to have been another meeting of the University Courtyesterday, but the Principal was suffering so much from an affectionof the lungs that I adjourned the meeting till to-morrow. Did I tellyou that I carried all my resolutions about improving the medicalcurriculum? Fact, though greatly to my astonishment. To-morrow we goin for some reforms in the arts curriculum, and I expect that the jobwill be tougher. 

I send you a couple of papers--"Scotsman, " with a very good leadingarticle, and the "Aberdeen Herald" also with a leading article, whichis as much favourable as was to be expected... The Websters are makingme promise to bring you and one of the children here next autumn. Theyare wonderfully kind people. 

March 2. 

My work here finishes to-day. There is a meeting of the Council at oneo'clock, and before that I am to go and look over laboratories andcollections with sundry Professors. Then there is the supper athalf-past eight and the inevitable speeches, for which I am not in theleast inclined at present. I went officially to the College Chapelyesterday, and went through a Presbyterian service for the first timein my life. May it be the last!

Then to lunch at Professor Struthers' and back here for a smalldinner-party. I am standing it all well, for the weather is villainousand there is no getting any exercise. I shall leave here by the twelveo'clock train to-morrow. 

[On August 2 he delivered an address on "Joseph Priestley" ("CollectedEssays" 3 1) at Birmingham, on the occasion of the presentation of astatue of Priestley to that town. The biography of this pioneer ofscience and of political reform, who was persecuted for opinions thathave in less than a century become commonplaces of orthodox thought, suggested a comparison between those times and this, and evoked asincere if not very enthusiastic tribute to one who had laboured tobetter the world, not for the sake of worldly honour, but for the sakeof truth and right. 

As the way to Birmingham lay through Oxford, he was asked by ProfessorRay Lankester, then a Fellow of Exeter College, if he could not breakhis journey there, and inspect the results of his investigations onLymnaeus. The answer was as follows:--]

We go to Birmingham on Friday by the three o'clock train, but there isno chance of stopping at Oxford either going or coming, so that unlessyou bring a Lymnaeus or two (under guise of periwinkles forrefreshment) to the carriage door I shall not be able to see them. 

[The following letters refer both to this address on Priestley, and tothe third of the important addresses of this year, that "On theHypothesis that Animals are Automata, and its History" ("CollectedEssays" 1 199, see also below). The latter was delivered at Belfastbefore the British Association under Tyndall's presidency. It appearsthat only a month before, he had not so much as decided upon hissubject--indeed, was thinking of something quite different. 

The first allusion in these letters is to a concluding phase ofTyndall's controversy upon the claims of the late Principal Forbes inthe matter of Glacier theory:--]

4 Marlborough Place, London, N. W. , June 24, 1874. 

My dear Tyndall, I quite agree with your Scotch friend in his estimate of Forbes, andif he were alive and the controversy beginning, I should say draw yourpicture in your best sepia or lampblack. But I have been thinking overthis matter a good deal since I received your letter, and my verdictis, leave that tempting piece of portraiture alone. 

The world is neither was nor just, but it makes up for all its follyand injustice by being damnably sentimental, and the more severelytrue your portrait might be the more loud would be the outcry againstit. I should say publish a new edition of your "Glaciers of the Alps, "make a clear historical statement of all the facts showing Forbes'relations to Rendu and Agassiz, and leave the matter to the judgmentof your contemporaries. That will sink in and remain when all thehurly-burly is over. 

I wonder if that address is begun, and if you are going to be as wiseand prudent as I was at Liverpool. When I think of the temptation Iresisted on that occasion, like Clive when he was charged withpeculation, "I marvel at my own forbearance!" Let my example be aburning and a shining light to you. I declare I have horrid misgivingsof your kicking over the traces. 

The "x" comes off on Saturday next, so let your ears burn, for weshall be talking about you. I have just begun my lectures toSchoolmasters, and I wish they were over, though I am very well on thewhole. 

Griffith [for many years secretary to the British Association. ] wroteto ask for the title of my lecture at Belfast, and I had to tell him Idid not know yet. I shall not begin to think of it till the middle ofJuly when these lectures are over. 

The wife would send her love, but she has gone to Kew to one ofHooker's receptions, taking Miss Jewsbury, who is staying with us. [Miss Geraldine Jewsbury (1812-1880) the novelist, and friend of theCarlyles. After 1866 she lived at Sevenoaks. ] I was to have gone tothe College of Physicians' dinner to-night, but I was so weary when Igot home that I made up my mind to send an excuse. And then came thethought that I had not written to you. 

Ever yours sincerely, T. H. Huxley. 

[The next letter is in reply to Tyndall, who had written as followsfrom Switzerland on July 15:--

I confess to you that I am far more anxious about your condition thanabout my own; for I fear that after your London labour the labour ofthis lecture will press heavily upon you. I wish to Heaven it could betransferred to other shoulders. 

I wish I could get rid of the uncomfortable idea that I have drawnupon you at a time when your friend and brother ought to be anxious tospare you every labour... 

PS. --Have just seen the Swiss "Times"; am intensely disgusted to findthat while I was brooding over the calamities possibly consequent onyour lending me a hand, that you have been at the Derby Statue, andare to make an oration apropos of the Priestley Statue in Birminghamon the 1st August!!!]

4 Marlborough Place, London, N. W. , July 22, 1874. 

My dear Tyndall, I hope you have been taking more care of your instep than you did ofyour leg in old times. Don't try mortifying the flesh again. 

I was uncommonly amused at your disgustful wind-up after writing mesuch a compassionate letter. I am as jolly as a sandboy so long as Ilive on a minimum and drink no alcohol, and as vigorous as ever I wasin my life. But a late dinner wakes up my demoniac colon and gives mea fit of blue devils with physical precision. 

Don't believe that I am at all the places in which the newspapers putme. For example, I was not at the Lord Mayor's dinner last night. Asfor Lord Derby's statue, I wanted to get a lesson in the art of statueunveiling. I help to pay Dizzie's salary, so I don't see why I shouldnot get a wrinkle from that artful dodger. 

I plead guilty to having accepted the Birmingham invitation [to unveilthe statue of Joseph Priestley]. I thought they deserved to beencouraged for having asked a man of science to do the job instead ofsome noble swell, and, moreover, Satan whispered that it would be agood opportunity for a little ventilation of wickedness. I cannot say, however, that I can work myself up into much enthusiasm for the dryold Unitarian who did not go very deep into anything. But I think Imay make him a good peg whereon to hang a discourse on the tendenciesof modern thought. 

I was not at the Cambridge pow-wow--not out of prudence, but because Iwas not asked. I suppose that decent respect towards a Secretary ofthe Royal Society was not strong enough to outweigh Universityobjections to the incumbent of that office. It is well for me that Iexpect nothing from Oxford or Cambridge, having burned my ships so faras they were concerned long ago. 

I sent your note on to Knowles as soon as it arrived, but I have heardnothing from him. I wrote to him again to-night to say he had betterlet me see it in proof if he is going to print it. I am right glad youfind anything worth reading again in my old papers. I stand by theview I took of the origin of species now as much as ever. 

Shall I not see the address? It is tantalising to hear of yourprogress, and not to know what is in it. 

I am thinking of taking Development for the subject of my eveninglecture, the concrete facts made out in the last thirty years withoutreference to Evolution. [I. E. At the British Association; he actuallytook "Animals as Automata. "] If people see that it is Evolution, thatis Nature's fault, and not mine. 

We are all flourishing, and send our love. 

Ever yours faithfully, T. H. Huxley. 

[The paper on Animal Automatism is in effect an enlargement of a shortpaper read before the Metaphysical Society in 1871, under the title of"Has a Frog a Soul?" It begins with a vindication of Descartes as agreat physiologist, doing for the physiology of motion and sensationthat which Harvey had done for the circulation of the blood. A seriesof propositions which constitute the foundation and essence of themodern physiology of the nervous system are fully expressed andillustrated in the writings of Descartes. Modern physiologicalresearch, which has shown that many apparently purposive acts areperformed by animals, and even by men, deprived of consciousness, andtherefore of volition, is at least compatible with the theory ofautomatism in animals, although the doctrine of continuity forbids thebelief that] "such complex phenomena as those of consciousness firstmake their appearance in man. " [And if the volitions of animals do notenter into the chain of causation of their actions at all, the factlays at rest the question] "How is it possible to imagine thatvolition, which is a state of consciousness, and, as such, has not theslightest community of nature with matter in motion, can act upon themoving matter of which the body is composed, as it is assumed to do involuntary acts?"

[As for man, the argumentation, if sound, holds equally good. Statesof consciousness are immediately caused by molecular changes of thebrain-substance, and our mental conditions are simply the symbols inconsciousness of the changes which take place automatically in theorganism. 

As for the bugbear of the] "logical consequences" [of thisconviction, ] "I may be permitted to remark [he says] that logicalconsequences are the scarecrows of fools and the beacons of wise men. "[And if St. Augustine, Calvin, and Jonathan Edwards have held insubstance the view that men are conscious automata, to hold this viewdoes not constitute a man a fatalist, a materialist, nor an atheist. And he takes occasion once more to declare that he ranks among none ofthese philosophers. ]

Not among fatalists, for I take the conception of necessity to have alogical, and not a physical foundation; not among materialists, for Iam utterly incapable of conceiving the existence of matter if there isno mind in which to picture that existence; not among atheists, forthe problem of the ultimate cause of existence is one which seems tome to be hopelessly out of reach of my poor powers. Of all thesenseless babble I have ever had occasion to read, the demonstrationsof these philosophers who undertake to tell us all about the nature ofGod would be the worst, if they were not surpassed by the stillgreater absurdities of the philosophers who try to prove that there isno God. 

[This essay was delivered as an evening address on August 24, theMonday of the Association week. A vast stir had been created by thetreatment of deep-reaching problems in Professor Tyndall'spresidential address; interest was still further excited by thisunexpected excursion into metaphysics. "I remember, " writes Sir M. Foster, "having a talk with him about the lecture before he gave it. Ithink I went to his lodgings--and he sketched out what he was going tosay. The question was whether, in view of the Tyndall row, it was wisein him to take the line he had marked out. In the end I remember hissaying, ] 'Grasp your nettle, that is what I have got to do. '" [Butapart from the subject, the manner of the address struck the audienceas a wonderful tour de force. The man who at first disliked publicspeaking, and always expected to break down on the platform, now, without note or reference of any kind, discoursed for an hour and ahalf upon a complex and difficult subject, in the very words which hehad thought out and afterwards published. 

This would have been a remarkable achievement if he had planned to doso and had learned up his speech; but the fact was that he wascompelled to speak offhand on the spur of the moment. He describes thesituation in a letter of February 6, 1894, to Professor RayLankester:--]

I knew that I was treading on very dangerous ground, so I wrote outuncommonly full and careful notes, and had them in my hand when Istepped on to the platform. 

Then I suddenly became aware of the bigness of the audience, and theconviction came upon me that, if I looked at my notes, not one halfwould hear me. It was a bad ten seconds, but I made my election andturned the notes face downwards on the desk. 

To this day, I do not exactly know how the thing managed to rollitself out; but it did, as you say, for the best part of an hour and ahalf. 

There's a story pour vous encourager if you are ever in a like fix. 

[He writes home on August 20:--]

Johnny's address went off exceedingly well last night. There was amighty gathering in the Ulster Hall, and he delivered his speech verywell. The meeting promises to be a good one, as there are over 1800members already, and I daresay they will mount up to 2000 before theend. The Hookers' arrangements [i. E. For the members of the x club andtheir wives to club together at Belfast] all went to smash as I ratherexpected they would, but I have a very good clean lodging well outsidethe town where I can be quiet if I like, and on the whole I think thatis better, as I shall be able to work up my lectures in peace... 

August 21. 

Everything is going on very well here. The weather is delightful, andunder these circumstances my lodgings here with John Ball for acompanion turns out to be a most excellent arrangement. Ca va sansdire, though, by the way, that is a bull induced by the locality. I amnot going on any of the excursions on Sunday. I am going to have aquiet day here when everybody will suppose that I have acceptedeverybody else's invitation to be somewhere else. The Ulster Hall, inwhich the addresses are delivered, seems to me to be a terrible roomto speak in, and I mean to nurse my energies all Monday. I sent you acutting from one of the papers containing an account of me that willamuse you. The writer is evidently disappointed that I am not aturbulent savage. 

August 25. 

... My work is over and I start for Kingstown, where I mean to sleepto-night, in an hour. I have just sent you a full and excellent reportof my lecture. ["On Animals as Automata": see above. ] I am glad to sayit was a complete success. I never was in better voice in my life, andI spoke for an hour and a half without notes, the people listening asstill as mice. There has been a great row about Tyndall's address, andI had some reason to expect that I should have to meet a franticallywarlike audience. But it was quite otherwise, and though I spoke mymind with very great plainness, I never had a warmer reception. And Iam not without hope that I have done something to allay the storm, though, as you may be sure, I did not sacrifice plain speaking to thatend... I have been most creditably quiet here, and have gone to nodinners or breakfasts or other such fandangoes except those I acceptedbefore leaving home. Sunday I spent quietly here, thinking over mylecture and putting my peroration, which required a good deal of care, into shape. I wandered out into the fields in the afternoon, and sat along time thinking of all that had happened since I was here a youngbeginner, two and twenty, and... You were largely in my thoughts, whichwere full of blessings and tender memories. 

I had a good night's work last night. I dined with the President ofthe College, and then gave my lecture. After that I smoked a bit withFoster till eleven o'clock, and then I went to the "Northern Whig"office to see that the report of my lecture was all right. It is thebest paper here, and the Editor had begged me to see to the report, and I was anxious myself that I should be rightly represented. So Isat there till a quarter past one having the report read andcorrecting it when necessary. Then I came home and got to bed abouttwo. I have just been to the section and read my paper there to alarge audience who cannot have understood ten words of it, but wholooked highly edified, and now I have done. Our lodging has turned outadmirably, and Ball's company has been very pleasant. So that thefiasco of our arrangements was all for the best. 

[I take the account of this last-mentioned paper in Section D from thereport in "Nature":--

Professor Huxley opened the last day of the session with an account ofhis recent observations on the development of the Columella auris inAmphibia. (He described it as an outgrowth of the periotic capsule, and therefore unconnected with any visceral arch. )... 

In the absence of Mr. Parker there was no one competent to criticisethe paper from personal knowledge; but a word dropped as to the manychanges in the accepted homologies of the ossicula auditus, elicited amasterly and characteristic exposition of the series of new facts, andthe modifications of the theory they have led to, from Reichert'sfirst observations down to the present time. The embryonic structuresgrew and shaped themselves on the board, and shifted their relationsin accordance with the views of successive observers, until a graphicepitome of the progress of knowledge on the subject was completed. 

He and Parker indeed (to whom he signs himself, "Ever yoursamphibially") had been busy, not only throughout 1874, but for severalyears earlier, examining the development of the Amphibia, with aparticular view to the whole theory of the vertebrate skull, for whichhe had done similar work in 1857 and 1858. Thus on May 4, 1870, hewrites to Parker:--]

I read all the most important part of your Frog-paper last night, anda grand piece of work it is--more important, I think, in all itsbearings than anything you have done yet. 

From which premisses I am going to draw a conclusion which you do notexpect, namely, that the paper must by no manner of means go into theRoyal Society in its present shape. And for the reasons following:--

In the first place, the style is ultra-Parkerian. From a literarypoint of view, my dear friend, you remind me of nothing so much as adog going home. He has a goal before him which he will certainly reachsooner or later, but first he is on this side the road, and now onthat; anon, he stops to scratch at an ancient rat-hole, or maybe hecatches sight of another dog, a quarter of a mile behind, and boltsoff to have a friendly, or inimical sniff. In fact, his courseis... (here a tangled maze is drawn) not --. In the second place, youmust begin with an earlier stage... That is the logical starting-pointof the whole affair. 

Will you come and dine at 6 on Saturday, and talk over the wholebusiness?

If you have drawings of earlier stages you might bring them. I suspectthat what is wanted might be supplied in plenty of time to get thepaper in. 

[In 1874 he re-dissects the skull of Axolotl to clear up the questionas to the existence of the] "ventral head or pedicle" [which Parkerfailed to observe:] "If you disbelieve in that pedicle again, I shallbe guilty of an act of personal violence. " [Later, ] "I am benevolentto all the world, being possessed of a dozen live axolotls and four orfive big dead mesobranchs. Moreover, I am going to get endless Frogsand Toads by judicious exchange with Gunther. [Dr. A. C. L. G. Gunther, of the British Museum, where he was appointed Keeper of the Departmentof Zoology in 1875. ] We will work up the Amphibia as they have notbeen done since they were crea-- I mean evolved. "

[The question of the pedicle comes up again when he simplifies some ofParker's results as to the development of the Columella auris in theFrog. ] "Your suprahyomandibular is nothing but the pedicle of thesuspensorium over again. It has nothing whatever to do with theColumella auris... The whole thing will come out as simply as possiblewithout any of your coalescences and combotherations. How you willhate me and the pedicle. "

[Tracing the development of the columella was a long business, but itgrew clearer as young frogs of various ages were examined. ] "Don't beaggravated with yourself, " [he writes to Parker in July, ] "it's toughwork, this here Frog. " [And on August 5:] "I have worked over Toad andI have worked over Frog, and I tell an obstinate man that s. H. M. [suprahyomandibular] is a figment--or a vessel, whichever saidobstinate man pleases. " [The same letter contains what he calls hisfinal views on the columella, but by the end of the year he has gonefurther, and writes:--]

Be prepared to bust-up with all the envy of which your malignantnature is capable. The problem of the vertebrate skull is solved. Fourteen segments or thereabouts in Amphioxus; all but one (barringpossibilities about the ear capsule) aborted in higher vertebrata. Skull and brain of Amphioxus shut up like an opera-hat in highervertebrata. So! (Sketch in illustration. )

P. S. --I am sure you will understand the whole affair from this. Probably published it already in "Nature!"

[A letter to the "Times" of July 8, 1874, on women's education, wasevoked by the following circumstances. Miss Jex Blake's difficultiesin obtaining a medical education have already been referred to. Afurther discouragement was her rejection at the Edinburgh examination. Her papers, however, were referred to Huxley, who decided that certainanswers were not up to the standard. ]

As Miss Jex Blake may possibly think that my decision was influencedby prejudice against her cause, allow me to add that such prejudice asI labour under lies in the opposite direction. Without seeing anyreason to believe that women are, on the average, so strongphysically, intellectually, or morally, as men, I cannot shut my eyesto the fact that many women are much better endowed in all theserespects than many men, and I am at a loss to understand on whatgrounds of justice or public policy a career which is open to theweakest and most foolish of the male sex should be forcibly closed towomen of vigour and capacity. 

We have heard a great deal lately about the physical disabilities ofwomen. Some of these alleged impediments, no doubt, are reallyinherent in their organisation, but nine-tenths of them areartificial--the products of their modes of life. I believe thatnothing would tend so effectually to get rid of these creations ofidleness, weariness, and that "over-stimulation of the emotions"which, in plainer-spoken days, used to be called wantonness, than afair share of healthy work, directed towards a definite object, combined with an equally fair share of healthy play, during the yearsof adolescence; and those who are best acquainted with theacquirements of an average medical practitioner will find it hardestto believe that the attempt to reach that standard is like to proveexhausting to an ordinarily intelligent and well-educated young woman. 

[The Marine Biological Station at Naples was still struggling forexistence, and to my father's interest in it is do you the followingletter, one of several to Dr. Dohrn, whose marriage took place thissummer:--]

4 Marlborough Place, June 24, 1874. 

My dear Dohrn, Are you married yet or are you not? It is very awkward to congratulatea man upon what may not have happened to him, but I shall assume thatyou are a benedict, and send my own and my wife's and all the happyfamily's good wishes accordingly. May you have as good a wife and asmuch a "happy family" as I have, though I would advise you--thehardness of the times being considered--to be satisfied with fewerthan seven members thereof. 

I hear excellent accounts of the progress of the Station fromLankester, and I hope that it is now set on its legs permanently. Asfor the English contribution, you must look upon it simply as theexpression of the hearty goodwill of your many friends in the land offogs, and of our strong feeling that where you had sacrificed so muchfor the cause of science, we were, as a matter of duty, --quite apartfrom goodwill to you personally--bound to do what we could, eachaccording to his ability. 

Darwin is, in all things, noble and generous--one of those people whothink it a privilege to let him help. I know he was very pleased withwhat you said to him. He is working away at a new edition of the"Descent of Man, " for which I have given him some notes on the brainquestion. 

And apropos of that, how is your own particular brain? I back la belleM-- against all the physicians in the world--even against mine ownparticular Aesculapius, Dr. Clark--to find the sovereignest remedyagainst the blue devils. 

Let me hear from you--most abominable of correspondents as I am. Andwhy don't you send Madame's photograph that you have promised?

Ever yours very faithfully, T. H. Huxley. 

Pray give my kind remembrances to your father. 

4 Marlborough Place, March 31, 1874. 

My dear Darwin, The brain business is more than half done, and I will soon polish itoff and send it to you. [A note on the brain in man and the apes forthe second edition of the "Descent of Man. "] We are going down toFolkestone for a week on Thursday, and I shall take it with me. 

I do not know what is doing about Dohrn's business at present. Fostertook it in hand, but the last time I heard he was waiting for reportsfrom Dew and Balfour. 

You have been very generous as always; and I hope that other folk mayfollow your example, but like yourself I am not sanguine. 

I have had an AWFULLY tempting offer to go to Yankee-land on alecturing expedition, and I am seriously thinking of making anexperiment next spring. 

The chance of clearing two or three thousand pounds in as many monthsis not to be sneezed at by a pere de famille. I am getting sick of thestate of things here. 

Ever yours faithfully, T. H. Huxley. 

I have heard no more about the spirit photographs!

4 Marlborough Place, April 16, 1874. 

My dear Darwin, Put my contribution into the smallest type possible, for it will beread by none but anatomists; and never mind where it goes. 

I am glad you agree with me about the hand and foot and skullquestion. As Ward [W. G. Ward. ] said of Mill's opinions, you can onlyaccount for the views of Messrs. -- and Co. On the supposition of"grave personal sin" on their part. 

I had a letter from Dohrn a day or two ago in which he tells me he haswritten to you. I suspect he has been very ill. 

Let us know when you are in town, and believe me, Ever yours very faithfully, T. H. Huxley. 

[The allusion in the letter of March 31 to certain "spiritphotographs" refers to a series of these wonderful productions sent tohim by a connection of Mr. Darwin's, who was interested in thesematters, and to whom he replied, showing how the effect might havebeen produced by simple mechanical means. 

It was at this gentleman's house that in January a carefully organisedseance was held, at which my father was present incognito, so far asthe medium was concerned, and on which he wrote the following reportto Mr. Darwin, referred to in his "Life, " volume 3 page 187. 

It must be noted that he had had fairly extensive experience ofspiritualism; he had made regular experiments with Mrs. Haydon at hisbrother George's house (the paper on which these are recorded isundated, but it must have been before 1863); he was referred to as adisbeliever in an article in the "Pall Mall Gazette" during January1869, as a sequel to which a correspondent sent him an account of theconfessions of the Fox girls, who had started spiritualism forty yearsbefore. At the houses of other friends, he had attended seances andmet mediums by whom he was most unfavourably impressed. 

Moreover, when invited to join a committee of investigation intospiritualistic manifestations, he replied:--]

I regret that I am unable to accept the invitation of the Committee ofthe Dialectical Society to cooperate with a committee for theinvestigation of "Spiritualism"; and for two reasons. In the firstplace, I have not time for such an inquiry, which would involve muchtrouble and (unless it were unlike all inquiries of that kind I haveknown) much annoyance. In the second place, I take no interest in thesubject. The only case of "Spiritualism" I have had the opportunity ofexamining into for myself, was as gross an imposture as ever cameunder my notice. But supposing the phenomena to be genuine--they donot interest me. If anybody would endow me with the faculty oflistening to the chatter of old women and curates in the nearestcathedral town, I should decline the privilege, having better thingsto do. And if the folk in the spiritual world do not talk more wiselyand sensibly than their friends report them to do, I put them in thesame category. The only good that I can see in the demonstration ofthe truth of "Spiritualism" is to furnish an additional argumentagainst suicide. Better live a crossing-sweeper than die and be madeto talk twaddle by a "medium" hired at a guinea a seance. [(Quotedfrom a review in the "Daily News, " October 17, 1871, of the Report onSpiritualism of the Committee of the London Dialectical Society. )

To the report above-mentioned, Professor G. Darwin, who also waspresent, added one or two notes and corrections. ]

REPORT ON SEANCE. 

January 27, 1874. 

We met in a small room at the top of the house with a window capableof being completely darkened by a shutter and curtains opposite thedoor. A small light table with two flaps and four legs, unsteady andeasily moved, occupied the middle of the room, leaving not much morethan enough space for the chairs at the sides. There was a chair ateach end, two chairs on the fireplace side, and one on the other. Mr. X (the medium) was seated in the chair at the door end, Mr. Y (thehost) in the opposite chair, Mr. G. Darwin on the medium's right, Mr. Huxley on his left, Mr. Z between Mr. Huxley and Mr. (Darwin) Y. Thetable was small enough to allow these five people to rest their handson it, linking them together. On the table was a guitar which layobliquely across it, an accordion on the medium's side of the guitar, a couple of paper horns, a Japanese fan, a matchbox, and a candlestickwith a candle. 

At first the room was slightly darkened (leaving plenty of light fromthe window, however) and we all sat round for half an hour. My rightfoot was against the medium's left foot, and two fingers of my righthand had a good grip of the little finger of his left hand. I comparedmy hand (which is NOT small and IS strong) with his, and was edifiedby its much greater massiveness and strength. (No, we didn't linkuntil the darkness. G. D. )

G. D. 's left hand was, as I learn, linked with medium's right hand, andleft foot on medium's (left) right foot. ]

We sat thus for half an hour as aforesaid and nothing happened. 

The room was next thoroughly darkened by shutting the shutters anddrawing the curtains. Nevertheless, by great good fortune I espiedthree points of light, coming from the lighted passage outside thedoor. One of these came beneath the door straight to my eye, the othertwo were on the wall (or on a press) obliquely opposite. By stillgreater good fortune, these three points of light had such a positionin reference to my eye that they gave me three straight linestraversing and bounding the space in which the medium sat, and I atonce saw that if Medium moved his body forwards or backwards he mustoccult one of my three rays. While therefore taking care to feel hisfoot and keep a good grip of his hand, I fixed my eyes intently onrays A and B. For I felt sure that I could trust to G. D. Keeping asharp look-out on the right hand and foot; and so no instrument ofmotion was left to the medium but his body and head, the movements ofwhich could not have been discernible in absolute darkness. Nothinghappened for some time. At length a very well executed musculartwitching of the arm on my side began, and I amused myself bycomparing it with the convulsions of a galvanised frog's leg, but atthe same time kept a very bright look-out on my two rays A and B. 

The twitchings ceased, and then after a little time A was shut out. Bthen became obscure, and A became visible. "Hoho!" thought I, "Medium's head is well over the table. Now we are going to have somemanifestations. " Immediately followed a noise obviously produced bythe tumbling over of the accordion and some shifting of the positionof the guitar. Next came a twanging--very slight, but of course veryaudible--of some of the strings, during which B was invisible. By andby B and A became visible again, and Medium's voice likewise showedthat he had got back to his first position. But after he had returnedto this position there was a noise of the guitar and other things onthe table being stirred, and creeping noises like something lightmoving over the table. But no more actual twanging. 

To my great disgust, G. D. Now began to remark that he saw two spots oflight, which I suppose must have had the same origin as my rays A andB, and, moreover, that something occasionally occulted one or other ofthem. [Note: no, not till we changed places. G. H. D. ] I blessed him forspoiling my game, but the effect was excellent. Nothing more happened. By and by, after some talk about these points of light, the mediumsuggested that this light was distracting, and that we had better shutit out. The suggestion was very dexterously and indirectly made, andwas caught up more strongly [I think by Mr. Z). Anyhow, we agreed tostop out all light. The circle was broken, and the candle was lightedfor this purpose. I then took occasion to observe that the guitar wasturned round into the position noted in the margin, the end being nearmy left hand. On examining it I found a longish end of one of thecatgut strings loose, and I found that by sweeping this end over thestrings I could make quite as good twangs as we heard. I could havedone this just as well with my mouth as with my hand--and I could havepulled the guitar about by the end of the catgut in my mouth and sohave disturbed the other things--as they were disturbed. 

Before the candle was lighted some discussion arose as to why thespirits would not do any better (started by Mr. Y and Mr. Z, I think), in which the medium joined. It appeared that (in the opinion of thespirits as interpreted by the medium) we were not quite rightlyplaced. When the discussion arose I made a bet with myself that theresult would be that either I or G. D. Would have to change places withsomebody else. And I won my wager (I have just paid it with theremarkably good cigar I am now smoking). G. D. Had to come round to myside, Mr. Z went to the end, and Mr. Y took G. D. 's place. "Good, Medium, " said I to myself. "Now we shall see something. " We were inpitch darkness, and all I could do was to bring my sense of touch tobear with extreme tension upon the medium's hand--still well in mygrip. 

Before long Medium became a good deal convulsed at intervals, and soona dragging sound was heard, and Mr. Y told us that the arm-chair (markits position) had moved up against his leg, and was shoving againsthim. By degrees the arm-chair became importunate, and by the manner ofMr. Y's remarks it was clear that his attention was entirely given toits movements. 

Then I felt the fingers of the medium's left hand become tense--insuch a manner as to show that the muscles of the left arm werecontracting sympathetically with those of the other arm, on which aconsiderable strain was evidently being put. Mr. Y's observations uponthe eccentricities of the arm-chair became louder--a noise was heardas of the arm-chair descending on the table and shoving the guitarbefore it (while at the same time, or just before, there was a crashof a falling thermometer), and the tension of the left arm ceased. Thechair had got on to the table. Says the medium to Mr. Y, "Your handwas against mine all the time. " "Well, no, " replied Mr. Y, "not quite. For a moment as the chair was coming up I don't think it was. " But itwas agreed that this momentary separation made no difference. I saidnothing, but, like the parrot, thought the more. After this nothingfurther happened. But conversation went on, and more than once themedium was careful to point out that the chair came upon the tablewhile his hand was really in contact with Mr. Y's. 

G. D. Will tell you if this is a fair statement of the facts. I believeit is, for my attention was on the stretch for those mortal two hoursand a half, and I did not allow myself to be distracted from the mainpoints in any way. My conclusion is that Mr. X is a cheat and animposter, and I have no more doubt that he got Mr. Y to sit on hisright hand, knowing from the turn of his conversation that it would beeasy to distract his attention, and that he then moved the chairagainst Mr. Y with his leg, and finally coolly lifted it on to thetable, than that I am writing these lines. 

T. H. Huxley. 

As Mr. G. Darwin wrote of the seance, "it has given me a lesson withrespect to the worthlessness of evidence which I shall alwaysremember, and besides will make me very diffident in trusting myself. Unless I had seen it, I could not have believed in the evidence of anyone with such perfect bona fides as Mr. Y being so worthless. "

[On receiving this report Mr. Darwin wrote ("Life" 2 page 188):--

Though the seance did tire you so much, it was, I think, really worththe exertion, as the same sort of things are done at all theseances... And now to my mind an enormous weight of evidence would berequisite to make me believe in anything beyond mere trickery. 

The following letter to Mr. Morley, then editor of the "FortnightlyReview, " shows that my father was already thinking of writing uponHume, though he did not carry out this intention till 1878. 

The article referred to in the second letter is that on Animals asAutomata. ]

4 Marlborough Place, N. W. , June 4, 1874. 

My dear Mr. Morley, I assure you that it was a great disappointment to me not to be ableto visit you, but we had an engagement of some standing for Oxford. 

Hume is frightfully tempting--I thought so only the other day when Isaw the new edition advertised--and now I would gladly write about himin the "Fortnightly" if I were only sure of being able to keep anyengagement to that effect I might make. 

But I have yet a course of lectures before me, and an eveningdiscourse to deliver at the British Association--to say nothing ofopening the Manchester Medical School in October--and polishing off alot of scientific work. So you see I have not a chance of writingabout Hume for months to come, and you had much better not trust tosuch a very questionable reed as I am. 

Ever yours very faithfully, T. H. Huxley. 

4 Marlborough Place, N. W. , November 15, 1874. 

My dear Morley, Many thanks for your abundantly sufficient cheque--rather too much, Ithink, for an article which had been gutted by the newspapers. 

I am always very glad to have anything of mine in the "Fortnightly, "as it is sure to be in good company; but I am becoming as spoiled as amaiden with many wooers. However, as far as the "Fortnightly" which ismy old love, and the "Contemporary" which is my new, are concerned, Ihope to remain as constant as a persistent bigamist can be said to be. 

It will give me great pleasure to dine with you, and December 1 willsuit me excellently well. 

Ever yours very faithfully, T. H. Huxley. 

[The year winds up with a New Year's greeting to Professor Haeckel. ]

4 Marlborough Place, N. W. , December 28, 1874. 

My dear Haeckel, This must reach you in time to wish you and yours a happy New Year inEnglish fashion. May your shadow never be less, and may all yourenemies, unbelieving dogs who resist the Prophet of Evolution, bedefiled by the sitting of jackasses upon their grandmothers' graves!an oriental wish appropriate to an ex-traveller in Egypt. 

I have written a notice of the "Anthropogenie" for the Academy, but Iam so busy that I am afraid I should never have done it--but for beingput into a great passion--by an article in the "Quarterly Review" forlast July, which I read only a few days ago. My friend Mr. --, to whomI had to administer a gentle punishment some time ago, has been at thesame tricks again, but much worse than his former performance--youwill see that I have dealt with him as you deal with a "Pfaffe. "[Parson. ] There are "halb-Pfaffen" as well as "halb-Affen. " [Lit. Half-apes; the Prosimiae and Lemurs. ] So if what I say about"Anthropogenie" seems very little--to what I say about the "QuarterlyReview"--do not be offended. It will all serve the good cause. 

I have been working very hard lately at the lower vertebrata, andgetting out results which will interest you greatly. Your suggestionthat Rathke's canals in Amphioxus [The Lancelet. ] are the Wolffianducts was a capital shot, but it just missed the mark because Rathke'scanals do not exist. Nevertheless there are two half canals, thedorsal walls of which meet in the raphe described by Stieda, and theplaited lining of this wall (a) is, I believe, the renal organ. Moreover, I have found the skull and brain of Amphioxus, both of whichare very large (like a vertebrate embryo's) instead of beingrudimentary as we all have thought, and exhibit the primitivesegmentation of the "Urwirbelthier" skull. [Primitive vertebrate. ]

Thus the skull of Petromyzon answers to about fourteen segments of thebody of Amphioxus, fused together and indistinguishable in even theearliest embryonic state of the higher vertebrata. 

Does this take your breath away? Well, in due time you shall beconvinced. I sent in a brief notice to the last meeting of the RoyalSociety, which will soon be in your hands. 

I need not tell you of the importance of all this. It is unlucky forSemper that he has just put Amphioxus out of the Vertebrataaltogether--because it is demonstratable that Amphioxus is nearer thancould have been hoped to the condition of the primitive vertebrate--afar more regular and respectable sort of ancestor than even yoususpected. For you see "Acrania" will have to go. 

I think we must have an English translation of the "Anthropogenie. "There is great interest in these questions now, and your book is veryreadable, to say nothing of its higher qualities. 

My wife (who sends her kindest greetings) and I were charmed with thephotograph. [As for our] publication in that direction, the sevenvolumes are growing into stately folios. You would not know them. 

Ever yours very faithfully, T. H. Huxley. 

How will you read this scrawl now that Gegenbaur is gone?

[In the article here referred to, a review of a book by Professor G. H. Darwin, a personal attack of an unjustifiable character was made uponhim, and through him, upon Charles Darwin. The authorship of thereview in question had come to be known, and Huxley writes to hisfriend:--]

I entirely sympathise with your feeling about the attack on George. Ifanybody tries that on with my boy L. , the old wolf will show all thefangs he has left by that time, depend upon it... 

You ought to be like one of the blessed gods of Elysium, and let theinferior deities do battle with the infernal powers. Moreover, theseverest and most effectual punishment for this sort of moralassassination is quietly to ignore the offender and give him the coldshoulder. He knows why he gets it, and society comes to know why, andthough society is more or less of a dunderhead, it has honourableinstincts, and the man in the cold finds no cloak that will cover him. 

CHAPTER 2. 6. 

1875-1876. 

[In the year 1875 the bitter agitation directed against experimentalphysiology came to a head. It had existed in England for severalyears. In 1870, when President of the British Association, Huxley hadbeen violently attacked for speaking in defence of Brown Sequard, theFrench physiologist. The name of vivisection, indifferently applied toall experiments on animals, whether carried out by the use of theknife or not, had, as Dr. (afterwards Sir) William Smith put it, theopposite effect on many minds to that of the "blessed wordMesopotamia. " Misrepresentation was rife even among the most estimableand well-meaning of the opponents of vivisection, because they fanciedthey saw traces of the practice everywhere, all the more, perhaps, fornot having sufficient technical knowledge for proper discrimination. One of the most flagrant instances of this kind of thing was a letterin the "Record" charging Huxley with advocating vivisections beforechildren, if not by them. Passages from the Introduction to his"Elementary Physiology, " urging that beginners should be shown thestructures under discussion, examples for which could easily beprovided from the domestic animals, were put side by side with laterpassages in the book, such, for instance, as statements of fact as tothe behaviour of severed nerves under irritation. A sinister inferencewas drawn from this combination, and published as fact without furtherverification. Of this he remarks emphatically in his address on"Elementary Instruction in Physiology, " 1877 ("Collected Essays" 3300):]

It is, I hope, unnecessary for me to give a formal contradiction tothe silly fiction, which is assiduously circulated by the fanatics whonot only ought to know, but do know, that their assertions are untrue, that I have advocated the introduction of that experimental disciplinewhich is absolutely indispensable to the professed physiologist, intoelementary teaching. 

[Moreover, during the debates on the Vivisection Bill in 1876, thelate Lord Shaftesbury made use of this story. Huxley was extremelyindignant, and wrote home:--]

Did you see Lord Shaftesbury's speech in Tuesday's "Times?" I saw itby chance, and have written a sharp letter to the "Times. " [(Being inEdinburgh, he had been reading the Scotch papers, and] "the reports ofthe Scotch papers as to what takes place in Parliament are meagre. ")

[This letter appeared on May 26, when he wrote again:--]

You will have had my note, and know all about Lord Shaftesbury and hislies by this time. Surely you could not imagine on any authority thatI was such an idiot as to recommend boys and girls to performexperiments which are difficult to skilled anatomists, to say nothingof other reasons. 

LETTER TO THE "TIMES. "

In your account of the late debate in the House of Lords on theVivisection Bill, Lord Shaftesbury is reported to have said that in my"Lessons in Elementary Physiology, " it is strongly insisted that suchexperiments as those subjoined shall not merely be studied in themanual, but actually repeated, either by the boys and girls themselvesor else by the teachers in their presence, as plainly appears from thepreface to the second edition. 

I beg leave to give the most emphatic and unqualified contradiction tothis assertion, for which there is not a shadow of justificationeither in the preface to the second edition of my "Lessons" or inanything I have ever said or written elsewhere. The most importantparagraph of the preface which is the subject of Lord Shaftesbury'smisquotation and misrepresentation stands as follows:--

"For the purpose of acquiring a practical, though elementary, acquaintance with physiological anatomy and histology, the organs andtissues of the commonest domestic animals afford ample materials. Theprincipal points in the structure and mechanism of the heart, thelungs, the kidneys, or the eye of man may be perfectly illustrated bythe corresponding parts of a sheep; while the phenomena of thecirculation, and many of the most important properties of livingtissues are better shown by the common frog than by any of the higheranimals. "

If Lord Shaftesbury had the slightest theoretical or practicalacquaintance with the subject about which he is so anxious tolegislate, he would know that physiological anatomy is not exactly thesame thing as experimental physiology; and he would be aware that therecommendations of the paragraph I have quoted might be fully carriedinto effect without the performance of even a solitary "vivisection. "The assertion that I have ever suggested or desired the introductionof vivisection into the teaching of elementary physiology in schoolsis, I repeat, contrary to fact. 

[On the next day (May 27) appeared a reply from Lord Shaftesbury, inwhich his entire good faith is equally conspicuous with hismisapprehension of the subject. 

LORD SHAFTESBURY'S REPLY. 

The letter from Professor Huxley in the "Times" of this morningdemands an immediate reply. 

The object that I supposed the learned professor had in view wasgathered from the prefaces to the several editions of his work on"Elementary Physiology. "

The preface to the first edition states that "the following lessons inelementary physiology are, primarily, intended to serve the purpose ofa text-book for teachers and learners in boys' and girls' schools. "

It was published, therefore, as a manual for the young, as well as theold. 

Now, any reader of the preface to the first edition would have come tothe conclusion that teachers and learners could acquire somethingsolid, and worth having, from the text-book before them. But thepreface to the second edition nearly destroys that expectation. Hereis the passage:--"It will be well for those who attempt to studyelementary physiology to bear in mind the important truth that theknowledge of science which is attainable by mere reading, thoughinfinitely better than ignorance, is knowledge of a very differentkind from that which arises from direct contact with fact. "

"Direct contact with fact!" What can that mean (so, at least, verymany ask) but a declaration, on high authority, to teachers andlearners that vivisection alone can give them any real and effectiveinstruction?

But the subsequent passage is still stronger, for it states "that theworth of the pursuit of science, as an intellectual discipline, isalmost lost by those who only seek it in books. "

Is not language like this calculated to touch the zeal and vanity ofteachers and learners at the very quick, and urge them to improvetheir minds and stand well in the eyes of the profession and thepublic by positive progress in experimental physiology? Ordinaryreaders, most people would think, could come to no other conclusion. 

But a disclaimer from Professor Huxley is enough; I am sorry to havemisunderstood him; and I must ask his pardon. I sincerely rejoice tohave received such an assurance that his great name shall never beused for such a project as that which excited our fears. 

On this he wrote:--]

You will have seen Lord Shaftesbury's reply to my letter. I thought itfrank and straightforward, and I have written a private letter to theold boy of a placable and proper character. ["Huxley, the Professor, has written me a very civil, nay kind, letter. I replied in the samespirit. " (Lord Shaftesbury, "Life and Work" 3 373 June 3, 1876. )

In 1874 he had also had a small passage of arms with the late Mr. W. E. Forster, then Vice-President of the Council, upon the same subject. Mr. Forster was about to leave office, and when he gave his officialauthorisation for summer courses of lectures at South Kensington onBiology, Chemistry, Geology, etc. , he did so with the special provisothat there be no vivisection experiments in any of the courses, andfurther, appended a Memorandum, explaining the reasons on which heacted. 

Now, although Huxley was mentioned by name as having taken care toavoid inflicting pain in certain previous experiments which had cometo Mr. Forster's knowledge, the memorandum evoked from him a strongprotest to the Lord President, to whom, as Mr. Forster expresslyintimated, an appeal might properly be made. 

To begin with, the memorandum contained a mistake in fact, referringto his regular course at South Kensington experiments which had takenplace two years before at one of the Courses to Teachers. This coursewas non-official; Huxley's position in it was simply that of a privateperson to whom the Department offered a contract, subject to officialcontrol and criticism, so far as touched that course, and entirelyapart from his regular position at the School of Mines. Theexperiments of 1872 were performed, as he had reason to believe, withthe full sanction of the Department. If the Board chose to go backupon what had happened two years before, he was of course subject totheir criticism, but then he ought in justice to be allowed to explainin what these experiments really consisted. What they were appearsfrom a note to Sir J. Donnelly:--]

My dear Donnelly, It will be the best course, perhaps, if I set down in writing what Ihave to say respecting the vivisections for physiological purposeswhich have been performed here, and concerning which you made me acommunication from the Vice-President of the Council this morning. 

I have always felt it my duty to defend those physiologists who, likeBrown Sequard, by making experiments on living animals, have addedimmensely not only to scientific physiology, but to the means ofalleviating human suffering, against the often ignorant and sometimesmalicious clamour which has been raised against them. 

But personally, indeed I may say constitutionally, the performance ofexperiments upon living and conscious animals is extremelydisagreeable to me, and I have never followed any line ofinvestigation in which such experiments are required. 

When the course of instruction in Physiology here was commenced, thequestion of giving experimental demonstrations became a matter ofanxious consideration with me. It was clear that, without suchdemonstrations, the subject could not be properly taught. It was noless clear from what had happened to me when, as President of theBritish Association, I had defended Brown Sequard, that I might expectto meet with every description of abuse and misrepresentation if suchdemonstrations were given. 

It did not appear to me, however, that the latter consideration oughtto weigh with me, and I took such a course as I believe is defensibleagainst everything but misrepresentation. 

I gave strict instructions to the Demonstrators who assisted me thatno such experiments were to be performed, unless the animal werepreviously rendered insensible to pain either by destruction of thebrain or by the administration of anaesthetics, and I have everyreason to believe that my instructions were carried out. I do not seewhat I can do beyond this, or how I can give Mr. Forster any betterguarantee than is given in my assurance that my dislike to theinfliction of pain both as a matter of principle and of feeling isquite as strong as his own can be. 

If Mr. Forster is not satisfied with this assurance, and with itspractical result that our experiments are made only on non-sentientanimals, then I am afraid that my position as teacher of Physiologymust come to an end. 

If I am to act in that capacity I cannot consent to be prohibited fromshowing the circulation in a frog's foot because the frog is madeslightly uncomfortable by being tied up for that purpose; nor fromshowing the fundamental properties of nerves, because extirpating thebrain of the same animal inflicts one-thousandth part of the prolongedsuffering which it undergoes when it makes its natural exit from theworld by being slowly forced down the throat of a duck, and crushedand asphyxiated in that creature's stomach. 

I shall be very glad to wait upon Mr. Forster if he desires to see me. Of course I am most anxious to meet his views as far as I can, consistently with my position as a person bound to teach properly anysubject in which he undertakes to give instruction. But I am quiteclear as to the amount of freedom of action which it is necessary Ishould retain, and if you will kindly communicate the contents of thisletter to the Vice-President of the Council, he will be able to judgefor himself how far his sense of what is right will leave me thatfreedom, or render it necessary for me to withdraw from what I shouldregard as a false position. 

[But there was a further and more vital question. He had alreadydeclared through Major (now Sir John) Donnelly, that he would onlyundertake a course which involved no vivisection. Further to requirean official assurance that he would not do that which he hadexplicitly affirmed he did not intend to do, affected him personally, and he therefore declined the proposal made to him to give the coursein question. 

It followed from the fact that experiments on animals formed no partof his official course, and from his refusal under the circumstancesto undertake the non-official course, that his opinions and presentpractises in regard to the question of vivisection did not come undertheir Lordships' jurisdiction, and he protested against theintroduction of his name, and of the approbation or disapprobation ofhis views, into an official document relating to a matter with whichhe had nothing to do. 

In an intermediate paragraph of the same document, he could not resistasking for an official definition of vivisection as forbidden, in itsrelation to the experiments he had made to the class of teachers. ]

I should have to ask whether it means that the teacher who hasundertaken to perform no "vivisection experiments" is thereby debarredfrom inflicting pain, however slight, in order to observe the actionof living matter; for it might be said to be unworthy quibbling, if, having accepted the conditions of the minute, he thought himself atliberty to inflict any amount of pain, so long as he did not actuallycut. 

But if such is the meaning officially attached to the word"vivisection, " the teacher would be debarred from showing thecirculation in a frog's foot or in a tadpole's tail; he must not showan animalcule, uncomfortably fixed under the microscope, nor prick hisown finger for the sake of obtaining a drop of living blood. Theliving particles which float in that liquid undoubtedly feel as much(or as little) as a frog under the influence of anaesthetics, ordeprived of its brain, does; and the teacher who shows his pupils thewonderful phenomena exhibited by dying blood, might be charged withgloating over the agonies of the colourless corpuscles, with quite asmuch justice as I have been charged with inciting boys and girls tocruelty by describing the results of physiological experiments, whichthey are as likely to attempt as they are to determine the longitudeof their schoolroom. 

However, I will not trouble your Lordship with any further indicationof the difficulties which, as I imagine, will attend the attempt tocarry the Minute into operation, if instruction is to be given inPhysiology, or even in general Biology. 

[The upshot of the matter was that the Minute was altered so as torefer solely to future courses, and on February 20 he wrote to Mr. Forster:--]

I cannot allow you to leave office without troubling you with theexpression of my thanks for the very great kindness and considerationwhich I have received from you on all occasions, and particularly inregard to the question of vivisection, on which I ventured to someextent, though I think not very widely or really, to differ from you. 

The modification which you were good enough to make in your minuteremoved all my objections to undertaking the Summer Course. 

And I am sure that if that course had happened to be a physiologicalone I could do all I want to do in the way of experiment, withoutinfringing the spirit of your minute, though I confess that the letterof it would cause me more perplexity. 

[As to his general attitude to the subject, it must be noted, as saidabove in the letter to Sir J. Donnelly, that he never followed anyline of research involving experiments on living and consciousanimals. Though, as will be seen from various letters, he consideredsuch experiments justifiable, his personal feelings prevented him fromperforming them himself. Like Charles Darwin, he was very fond ofanimals, and our pets in London found in him an indulgent master. 

But if he did not care to undertake such experiments personally, heheld it false sentiment to blame others who did disagreeable work forthe good of humanity, and false logic to allow pain to be inflicted inthe cause of sport while forbidding it for the cause of science. (Seehis address on "Instruction in Elementary Physiology" "CollectedEssays" 3 300 seq. ) Indeed, he declared that he trusted to thefox-hunting instincts of the House of Commons rather than to any realinterest in science in that body, for a moderate treatment of thequestion of vivisection. 

The subject is again dealt with in "The Progress of Science, " 1887("Collected Essays" 1 122 seq. ) from which I may quote twosentences:--]

The history of all branches of science proves that they must attain aconsiderable stage of development before they yield practical"fruits"; and this is eminently true of physiology. 

Unless the fanaticism of philozoic sentiment overpowers the voice ofhumanity, and the love of dogs and cats supersedes that of one'sneighbour, the progress of experimental physiology and pathology will, indubitably, in course of time, place medicine and hygiene upon arational basis. 

[The dangers of prohibition by law are discussed in a letter to Sir W. Harcourt:--]

You wish me to say what, in my opinion, would be the effect of thetotal suppression of experiments on living animals on the progress ofphysiological science in this country. 

I have no hesitation in replying that it would almost entirely arrestthat progress. Indeed, it is obvious that such an effect must followthe measure, for a man can no more develop a true conception of livingaction out of his inner consciousness than he can that of a camel. Observation and experiment alone can give us a real foundation for anykind of Natural Knowledge, and any one who is acquainted with thehistory of science is aware that not a single one of all the greattruths of modern physiology has been established otherwise than byexperiment on living things. 

Happily the abolition of physiological experiment in this country, should such a fatal legislative mistake ever be made, will bepowerless to arrest the progress of science elsewhere. But we shallimport our physiology as we do our hock and our claret from Germanyand France; those of our young physiologists and pathologists who canafford to travel will carry on their researches in Paris and inBerlin, where they will be under no restraint whatever, or it may bethat the foreign laboratories will carry out the investigationsdevised here by the few persons who have the courage, in spite of allobstacles, to attempt to save British science from extinction. 

I doubt if such a result will contribute to the diminution of animalsuffering. I am sure that it will do as much harm as anything can doto the English school of Physiology, Pathology, and Pharmacology, andtherefore to the progress of rational medicine. 

[Another letter on the subject may be given, which was written to astudent at a theological college, in reply to a request for hisopinion on vivisection, which was to be discussed at the collegedebating society. ]

Grand Hotel, Eastbourne, September 29, 1890. 

Dear Sir, I am of the opinion that the practice of performing experiments onliving animals is not only reconcilable with true humanity, but undercertain circumstances is imperatively demanded by it. 

Experiments on living animals are of two kinds. First, those which aremade upon animals which, although living, are incapable of sensation, in consequence of the destruction or the paralysis of the sentientmachinery. 

I am not aware that the propriety of performing experiments of thiskind is seriously questioned, except in so far as they may involvesome antecedent or subsequent suffering. Of course those who deny thatunder any circumstances it can be right to inflict suffering on othersentient beings for our own good, must object to even this much ofwhat they call cruelty. And when they prove their sincerity by leavingoff animal food; by objecting to drive castrated horses, or indeed toemploy animal labour at all; and by refusing to destroy rats, mice, fleas, bugs and other sentient vermin, they may expect sensible peopleto listen to them, and sincere people to think them other thansentimental hypocrites. 

As to experiments of the second kind, which do not admit of theparalysis of the sentient mechanism, and the performance of whichinvolves severe prolonged suffering to the more sensitive among thehigher animals, I should be sorry to make any sweeping assertion. I amaware of a strong personal dislike to them, which tends to warp myjudgment, and I am prepared to make any allowance for those who, carried away by still more intense dislike, would utterly prohibitthese experiments. 

But it has been my duty to give prolonged and careful attention tothis subject, and putting natural sympathy aside, to try and get atthe rights and wrongs of the business from a higher point of view, namely, that of humanity, which is often very different from that ofemotional sentiment. 

I ask myself--suppose you knew that by inflicting prolonged pain on100 rabbits you could discover a way to the extirpation of leprosy, orconsumption, or locomotor ataxy, or of suicidal melancholia amonghuman beings, dare you refuse to inflict that pain? Now I am quiteunable to say that I dare. That sort of daring would seem to me to beextreme moral cowardice, to involve gross inconsistency. 

For the advantage and protection of society, we all agree to inflictpain upon man--pain of the most prolonged and acute character--in ourprisons, and on our battlefields. If England were invaded, we shouldhave no hesitation about inflicting the maximum of suffering upon ourinvaders for no other object than our own good. 

But if the good of society and of a nation is a sufficient plea forinflicting pain on men, I think it may suffice us for experimenting onrabbits or dogs. 

At the same time, I think that a heavy moral responsibility rests onthose who perform experiments of the second kind. 

The wanton infliction of pain on man or beast is a crime; pity is thatso many of those who (as I think rightly) hold this view, seem toforget that the criminality lies in the wantonness and not in the actof inflicting pain per se. 

I am, sir, yours faithfully, T. H. Huxley. 

[So far back as 1870 a committee had been appointed by the BritishAssociation, and reported upon the conditions under which theyconsidered experiments on living animals justifiable. In the earlyspring of 1875 a bill to regulate physiological research wasintroduced into the Upper House by Lord Hartismere, but not proceededwith. When legislation seemed imminent Huxley, in concert with othermen of science, interested himself in drawing up a petition toParliament to direct opinion on the subject and provide a fair basisfor future legislation, which indeed took shape immediately after in abill introduced by Dr. Lyon Playfair (afterwards Lord Playfair), Messrs. Walpole and Ashley. This bill, though more just to science, did not satisfy many scientific men, and was withdrawn upon theappointment of a Royal Commission. 

The following letters to Mr. Darwin bear on this period:--]

4 Marlborough Place, January 22, 1875. 

My dear Darwin, I quite agree with your letter about vivisection as a matter of rightand justice in the first place, and secondly as the best method oftaking the wind out of the enemy's sails. I will communicate withBurdon Sanderson and see what can be done. 

My reliance as against -- and her fanatical following is not in thewisdom and justice of the House of Commons, but in the large number offox-hunters therein. If physiological experimentation is put down bylaw, hunting, fishing, and shooting, against which a much better casecan be made out, will soon follow. 

Ever yours very faithfully, T. H. Huxley. 

South Kensington, April 21, 1875. 

My dear Darwin, The day before yesterday I met Playfair at the club, and he told methat he had heard from Miss Elliott that _I_ was getting up what shecalled a "Vivisector's Bill, " and that Lord Cardwell was very anxiousto talk with some of us about the matter. 

So you see that there is no secret about our proceedings. I gave him ageneral idea of what was doing, and he quite confirmed what Lubbocksaid about the impossibility of any action being taken in Parliamentthis session. 

Playfair said he should like very much to know what we proposed doing, and I should think it would be a good thing to take him intoconsultation. 

On my return I found that Pfluger had sent me his memoir with a notesuch as he had sent to you. 

I read it last night, and I am inclined to think that it is a veryimportant piece of work. 

He shows that frogs absolutely deprived of oxygen give off carbonicacid for twenty-five hours, and gives very strong reasons forbelieving that the evolution of carbonic acid by living matter ingeneral is the result of a process of internal rearrangement of themolecules of the living matter, and not of direct oxidation. 

His speculations about the origin of living matter are the best I haveseen yet, so far as I understand them. But he plunges into the depthsof the higher chemistry in which I am by no means at home. Only this Ican see, that the paper is worth careful study. 

Ever yours faithfully, T. H. Huxley. 

31 Royal Terrace, Edinburgh, May 19, 1875. 

My dear Darwin, Playfair has sent a copy of his bill to me, and I am sorry to findthat its present wording is such as to render it very unacceptable toall teachers of physiology. In discussing the draught with LitchfieldI recollect that I insisted strongly on the necessity of allowingdemonstrations to students, but I agreed that it would be sufficientto permit such demonstrations only as could be performed underanaesthetics. 

The second clause of the bill, however, by the words "for the purposeof new scientific discovery and for no other purpose, " absolutelyprohibits any kind of demonstration. It would debar me from showingthe circulation in the web of a frog's foot or from exhibiting thepulsations of the heart in a decapitated frog. 

And by its secondary effect it would prohibit discovery. Who is to beable to make discoveries unless he knows of his own knowledge what hasbeen already made out? It might as well be ruled that a chemicalstudent should begin with organic analysis. 

Surely Burdon Sanderson did not see the draft of the bill as it nowstands. The Professors here are up in arms about it, and as the papershave associated my name with the bill I shall have to repudiate itpublicly unless something can be done. But what in the world is to bedone? I have not written to Playfair yet, and shall wait to hear fromyou before I do. I have an excellent class here, 340 odd, and like thework. Best regards to Mrs. Darwin. 

Ever yours faithfully, T. H. Huxley. 

31 Royal Terrace, Edinburgh, June 5, 1875. 

My dear Darwin, I see I have forgotten to return Playfair's letter, which I enclose. He sent me a copy of his last letter to you, but it did not reach metill some days after my return from London. In the meanwhile I saw himand Lord Cardwell at the House of Commons on Friday (last week). 

Playfair seems rather disgusted at our pronunciamento against thebill, and he declares that both Sanderson and Sharpey assented to it. What they were dreaming about I cannot imagine. To say that no manshall experiment except for purpose of original discovery is about asreasonable as to ordain that no man shall swim unless he means to gofrom Dover to Calais. 

However the Commission is to be issued, and it is everything to gaintime and let the present madness subside a little. I vowed I wouldnever be a member of another Commission if I could help it, but Isuppose I shall have to serve on this. 

I am very busy with my lectures, and am nearly half through. I shallnot be sorry when they are over, as I have been grinding away nowsince last October. 

With kindest regards to Mrs. Darwin, ever yours very faithfully, T. H. Huxley. 

[He was duly asked to serve on the Commission. Though his lectures inEdinburgh prevented him from attending till the end of July nodifficulty was made over this, as the first meetings of theCommission, which began on June 30, were to be devoted to taking theless controversial evidence. In accepting his nomination he wrote toMr. Cross (afterwards Lord Cross), at that time Home Secretary:--]

If I can be of any service I shall be very glad to act on theCommission, sympathising as I do on the one hand with those who abhorcruelty to animals, and, on the other, with those who abhor the stillgreater cruelty to man which is involved in any attempt to arrest theprogress of physiology and of rational medicine. 

[The other members of the Commission were Lords Cardwell andWinmarleigh, Mr. W. E. Forster, Sir J. B. Karslake, Professor Erichssen, and Mr. R. H. Hutton. 

The evidence given before the Commission bore out the view thatEnglish physiologists inflicted no more pain upon animals than couldbe avoided; but one witness, not an Englishman, and not having at thattime a perfect command of the English language, made statements whichappeared to the Commission at least to indicate that the witness wasindifferent to animal suffering. Of this incident Huxley writes to Mr. Darwin at the same time as he forwarded a formal invitation for him toappear as a witness before the Commission:--]

4 Marlborough Place, October 30, 1875. 

My dear Darwin, The inclosed tells its own story. I have done my best to prevent yourbeing bothered, but for various reasons which will occur to you I didnot like to appear too obstructive, and I was asked to write to you. The strong feeling of my colleagues (and my own I must say also) isthat we ought to have your opinions in our minutes. At the same timethere is a no less strong desire to trouble you as little as possible, and under no circumstances to cause you any risk of injury to health. 

What with occupation of time, worry and vexation, this horridCommission is playing the deuce with me. I have felt it my duty to actas counsel for Science, and was well satisfied with the way thingswere going. But on Thursday when I was absent at the Council of theRoyal Society -- was examined, and if what I hear is a correct accountof the evidence he gave I may as well throw up my brief. 

I am told that he openly professed the most entire indifference toanimal suffering, and said he only gave anaesthetics to keep animalsquiet!

I declare to you I did not believe the man lived who was such anunmitigated cynical brute as to profess and act upon such principles, and I would willingly agree to any law which would send him to thetreadmill. 

The impression his evidence made on Cardwell and Forster is profound, and I am powerless (even if I had the desire which I have not) tocombat it. He has done more mischief than all the fanatics puttogether. 

I am utterly disgusted with the whole business. 

Ever yours, T. H. Huxley. 

Of course keep the little article on Species. It is in some AmericanEncyclopaedia published by Appleton. And best thanks for your book. Ishall study it some day, and value it as I do every line you havewritten. Don't mention what I have told you outside the circle ofdiscreet Darwindom. 

4 Marlborough Place, November 2, 1875. 

My dear Darwin, Our secretary has telegraphed to you to Down, and written to QueenAnne Street. 

But to make sure, I send this note to say that we expect you at 13Delahay Street [Where the Commission was sitting. ] at 2 o'clockto-morrow. And that I have looked out the highest chair that was to begot for you. [Mr. Darwin was long in the leg. When he came to ourhouse the biggest hassock was always placed in an arm-chair to give itthe requisite height for him. ]

Ever yours very faithfully, T. H. Huxley. 

[The Commission reported early in 1876, and a few months after LordCarnarvon introduced a bill intituled "An Act to amend the lawrelating to Cruelty to Animals. " It was a more drastic measure thanwas demanded. As a writer in "Nature" (1876 page 248) puts it: "Theevidence on the strength of which legislation was recommended wentbeyond the facts, the report went beyond the evidence, therecommendations beyond the report, and the bill can hardly be said tohave gone beyond the recommendations, but rather to have contradictedthem. "

As to the working of the law, Huxley referred to it the following yearin the address, already cited, on "Elementary Instruction inPhysiology" ("Collected Essays" 3 310). ]

But while I should object to any experimentation which can justly becalled painful, and while as a member of a late Royal Commission I didmy best to prevent the infliction of needless pain for any purpose, Ithink it is my duty to take this opportunity of expressing my regretat a condition of the law which permits a boy to troll for pike or setlines with live frog bait for idle amusement, and at the same timelays the teacher of that boy open to the penalty of fine andimprisonment if he uses the same animal for the purpose of exhibitingone of the most beautiful and instructive of physiologicalspectacles--the circulation in the web of the foot. No one couldundertake to affirm that a frog is not inconvenienced by being wrappedup in a wet rag and having his toes tied out, and it cannot be deniedthat inconvenience is a sort of pain. But you must not inflict theleast pain on a vertebrated animal for scientific purposes (though youmay do a good deal in that way for gain or for sport) without duelicence of the Secretary of State for the Home Department, grantedunder the authority of the Vivisection Act. 

So it comes about that, in this year of grace 1877, two persons may becharged with cruelty to animals. One has impaled a frog, and sufferedthe creature to writhe about in that condition for hours; the otherhas pained the animal no more than one of us would be pained by tyingstrings round his fingers and keeping him in the position of ahydropathic patient. The first offender says, "I did it because I findfishing very amusing, " and the magistrate bids him depart inpeace--nay, probably wishes him good sport. The second pleads, "Iwanted to impress a scientific truth with a distinctness attainable inno other way on the minds of my scholars, " and the magistrate fineshim five pounds. 

I cannot but think that this is an anomalous and not wholly creditablestate of things. 

CHAPTER 2. 7. 

1875-1876. 

[Huxley only delivered one address outside his regular work in 1875, on "Some Results of the 'Challenger' Expedition, " given at the RoyalInstitution on January 29. For all through the summer he was away fromLondon, engaged upon the summer course of lectures on Natural Historyat Edinburgh. This was due to the fact that Professor (afterwards Sir)Wyville Thomson was still absent on the "Challenger" expedition, andProfessor Victor Carus, who had acted as his substitute before, was nolonger available. Under these circumstances the Treasury grantedHuxley leave of absence from South Kensington. His course began on May3, and ended on July 23, and he thought it a considerable feat to dealwith the whole Animal Kingdom in 54 lectures. No doubt both he and hisstudents worked at high pressure, especially when the latter camescantily prepared for the task, like the late Joseph Thomson, afterwards distinguished as an African traveller, who has left anaccount of his experience in this class. Thomson's particular weakpoint was his Greek, and the terminology of the lectures seems to havebeen a thorn in his side. This account, which actually tells of the1876 course, occurs on pages 36 and 37 of his "Life. "

The experience of studying personally under Huxley was a privilege towhich he had been looking forward with eager anticipation; for he hadalready been fascinated with the charm of Huxley's writings, and hadreceived from them no small amount of mental stimulus. Nor were hisexpectations disappointed. But he found the work to be unexpectedlyhard, and very soon he had the sense of panting to keep pace with thedemands of the lecturer. It was not merely that the texture ofscientific reasoning in the lectures was so closely knit, --althoughthat was a very palpable fact, --but the character of Huxley'sterminology was entirely strange to him. It met him on his weakestside, for it presupposed a knowledge of Greek (being little else thanGreek compounds with English terminations) and of Greek he had none. 

Huxley's usual lectures, he writes, are something awful to listen to. One half of the class, which numbers about four hundred, have given upin despair from sheer inability to follow him. The strain on theattention of each lecture is so great as to be equal to any ordinaryday's work. I feel quite exhausted after them. And then to master hislanguage is something dreadful. But, with all these drawbacks, I wouldnot miss them, even if they were ten times as difficult. They aresomething glorious, sublime!

Again he writes:--

Huxley is still very difficult to follow, and I have been four timesin his lectures completely stuck and utterly helpless. But he hasgiven us eight or nine beautiful lectures on the frog... If you onlyheard a few of the lectures you would be surprised to find that therewere so few missing links in the chain of life, from the amoeba to thegenus homo. 

It was a large class, ultimately reaching 353 and breaking the recordof the Edinburgh classes without having recourse to the factitiousassistance proposed in the letter of May 16. 

His inaugural lecture was delivered under what ought to have beenrather trying circumstances. On the way from London he stopped a nightwith his old friends, John Bruce and his wife (one of the Fannings), at their home, Barmoor Castle, near Beal. He had to leave at 6 nextmorning, reaching Edinburgh at 10, and lecturing at 2. ] "Nothing, " [hewrites, ] "could be much worse, but I am going through it with all thecheerfulness of a Christian martyr. "

[On May 3 he writes to his wife from the Bruce's Edinburgh house, which they had lent him. ]

I know that you will be dying to hear how my lecture went offto-day--so I sit down to send you a line, though you did hear from meto-day. 

The theatre was crammed. I am told there were 600 auditors, and Icould not have wished for more thorough attention. But I had tolecture in gown and Doctor's hood and the heat was awful. ThePrincipal and the chief professors were present, and altogether it wasa state affair. I was in great force, although I did get up at sixthis morning and travelled all the way from Barmoor. But I won't dothat sort of thing again, it's tempting Providence. 

May 5. 

Fanny and her sisters and the Governess flit to Barmoor to-day and Ishall be alone in my glory. I shall be very comfortable and well caredfor, so make your mind easy, and if I fall ill I am to send for Clark. He expressly told me to do so as I left him!

I gave my second lecture yesterday to an audience filling the theatre. The reason of this is that everybody who likes--comes for the firstweek and then only those who have tickets are admitted. How many willbecome regular students I don't know yet, but there is promise of abig class. The Lord send three extra--to make up for... [(a suddenclaim upon his purse before he left home. )

And he writes of this custom to Professor Baynes on June 12:--]

My class is over 350 and I find some good working material among them. Parsons mustered strong in the first week, but I fear they came tocurse and didn't remain to pay. 

[He was still Lord Rector of Aberdeen University, and on May 10 writeshow he attended a business meeting there:--]

I have had my run to Aberdeen and back--got up at 5, started fromEdinburgh at 6. 25, attended the meeting of the Court at 1. Then droveout with Webster to Edgehill in a great storm of rain and was receivedwith their usual kindness. I did not get back till near 8 o'clock lastnight and, thanks to "The Virginians" and a good deal of Virginia, Ipassed the time pleasantly enough... There are 270 tickets gone up tothis date, so I suppose I may expect a class of 300 men. 300 x 4 =1200. Hooray. 

To his eldest daughter:--]

Edinburgh, May 16, 1875. 

My dearest Jess, Your mother's letter received this morning reminds me that I have notwritten to "Cordelia" (I suppose she means Goneril) by a message fromthat young person--so here is reparation. 

I have 330 students, and my class is the biggest in theUniversity--but I am quite cast down and discontented because it isnot 351, --being one more than the Botany Class last year--which wasnever so big before or since. 

I am thinking of paying 21 street boys to come and take the extratickets so that I may crow over all my colleagues. 

Fanny Bruce is going to town next week to her grandmother's and I wantyou girls to make friends with her. It seems to me that she is verynice--but that is only a fallible man's judgment, and Heaven forbidthat I should attempt to forestall Miss Cudberry's decision on such aquestion. Anyhow she has plenty of energy and, among other things, works very hard at German. 

M-- says that the Roottle-Tootles have a bigger drawing-room thanours. I should be sorry to believe these young beginners guilty of somuch presumption, and perhaps you will tell them to have it madesmaller before I visit them. 

A Scotch gentleman has just been telling me that May is the worstmonth in the year, here; so pleasant! but the air is soft and warmto-day, and I look out over the foliage to the castle and don't care. 

Love to all, and specially M--. Mind you don't tell her that I dineout to-day and to-morrow--positively for the first and last times. 

Ever your loving father, T. H. Huxley. 

[However, the class grew without such adventitious aid, and he writesto Mr. Herbert Spencer on June 15:--]

... I have a class of 353, and instruct them in dry facts--particularlywarning them to keep free of the infidel speculations which arecurrent under the name of evolution. 

I expect an "examiner's call" from a Presbytery before the course isover, but I am afraid that the pay is not enough to induce me toforsake my "larger sphere of influence" in London. 

[In the same letter he speaks of a flying visit to town which he wasabout to make on the following Thursday, returning on the Saturday forlack of a good Sunday train:--]

May hap I may chance to see you at the club--but I shall be torn topieces with things to do during my two days' stay. 

If Moses had not existed I should have had three days in town, whichis a curious concatenation of circumstances. 

[As for health during this period, it maintained, on the whole, asatisfactory level, thanks to the regime of which he writes toProfessor Baynes:--]

I am very sorry to hear that you have been so seriously ill. You willhave to take to my way of living--a mutton chop a day and no grog, butmuch baccy. Don't begin to pick up your threads too fast. 

No wonder you are uneasy if you have crabs on your conscience. [I. E. An article for the "Encyclopaedia Britannica. "] Thank Heaven they arenot on mine!

I am glad to hear you are getting better, and I sincerely trust thatyou may find all the good you seek in the baths. 

As to coming back a "new man, " who knows what that might be? Let usrather hope for the old man in a state of complete repair--A1 copperbottomed. 

Excuse my nautical language. 

[The following letters also touch on his Edinburgh lectures:--]

Cragside, Morpeth, August 11, 1875. 

My dear Foster, We are staying here with Sir W. Armstrong--the whole brood--MissMatthaei and the majority of the chickens being camped at a farm-housebelonging to our host about three miles off. It is wetter than it needbe, otherwise we are very jolly. 

I finished off my work in Edinburgh on the 23rd and positivelypolished off the Animal Kingdom in 54 lectures. French without amaster in twelve lessons is nothing to this feat. The men worked verywell on the whole, and sent in some creditable examination papers. Istayed a few days to finish up the abstracts of my lectures for the"Medical Times"; then picked up the two elder girls who were atBarmoor and brought them on here to join the wife and the rest. 

How is it that Dohrn has been and gone? I have been meditating aletter to him for an age. He wanted to see me, and I did not know howto manage to bring about a meeting. 

Edinburgh is greatly exercised in its mind about the vivisectionbusiness and "Vagus" "swells wisibly" whenever the subject ismentioned. I think there is an inclination to regard those who areready to consent to legislation of any kind as traitors, or at anyrate, trimmers. It sickens me to reflect on the quantity of time andworry I shall have to give to that subject when I get back. 

I see that -- has been blowing the trumpet at the Medical Association. He has about as much tact as a flyblown bull. 

I have just had a long letter from Wyville Thomson. The "Challenger"inclines to think that Bathybius is a mineral precipitate! in whichcase some enemy will probably say that it is a product of myprecipitation. So mind, I was the first to make that "goak. " OldEhrenberg suggested something of the kind to me, but I have not hisletter here. I shall eat my leek handsomely, if any eating has to bedone. They have found pseudopodia in Globerigina. 

With all good wishes from ours to yours. 

Ever yours faithfully, T. H. Huxley. 

Cragside, Morpeth, August 13, 1875. 

My dear Tyndall, I find that in the midst of my work in Edinburgh I omitted to write toDe Vrij, so I have just sent him a letter expressing my pleasure inbeing able to co-operate in any plan for doing honour to old Benedict[Spinoza, a memorial to whom was being raised in Holland. ], for whom Ihave a most especial respect. 

I am not sure that I won't write something about him to stir up thePhilistines. 

My work at Edinburgh got itself done very satisfactorily, and Icleared about 1000 pounds by the transaction, being one of the fewexamples known of a Southron coming north and pillaging the Scots. However, I was not sorry when it was all over, as I had been hard atwork since October and began to get tired. 

The wife and babies from the south, and I from the north, met here afortnight ago and we have been idling very pleasantly ever since. Theplace is very pretty and our host kindness itself. Miss Matthaei andfive of the bairns are at Cartington--a moorland farmhouse three milesoff--and in point of rosy cheeks and appetites might compete with anyfive children of their age and weight. Jess and Mady are here with usand have been doing great execution at a ball at Newcastle. I reallydon't know myself when I look at these young women, and my hatred ofpossible sons-in-law is deadly. All send their love. 

Ever yours very faithfully, T. H. Huxley. 

Wish you joy of Bristol. 

[The following letter to Darwin was written when the Polar Expeditionunder Sir George Nares was in preparation. It illustrates the range ofobservation which his friends had learned to expect in him:--]

Athenaeum Club, January 22, 1875. 

My dear Darwin, I write on behalf of the Polar Committee of the Royal Society to askfor any suggestions you may be inclined to offer us as instructions tothe naturalists who are to accompany the new expedition. 

The task of drawing up detailed instructions is divided among a lot ofus; but you are as full of ideas as an egg is full of meat, and areshrewdly suspected of having, somewhere in your capacious cranium, astore of notions which would be of great value to the naturalists. 

All I can say is, that if you have not already "collated facts" onthis topic, it will be the first subject I ever suggested to you onwhich you had not. 

Of course we do not expect you to put yourself to any greattrouble--nor ask for such a thing--but if you will jot down any notesthat occur to you we shall be thankful. 

We must have everything in hand for printing by March 15. 

Ever yours very faithfully, T. H. Huxley. 

[The following letter dates from soon after the death of CharlesKingsley:--]

Science Schools, South Kensington, October 22, 1875. 

Dear Miss Kingsley, I sincerely trust that you believe I have been abroad and prostratedby illness, and have thereby accounted for receiving no reply to yourletter of a fortnight back. 

The fact is that it has only just reached me, owing to the neglect ofthe people in Jermyn Street, who ought to have sent it on here. 

I assure you I have not forgotten the brief interview to which yourefer, and I have often regretted that the hurry and worry of life(which increases with the square of your distance from youth) neverallowed me to take advantage of your kind father's invitation tobecome better acquainted with him and his. I found his card in JermynStreet when I returned last year, with a pencilled request that Iwould call on him at Westminster. 

I meant to do so, but the whirl of things delayed me until, as Ibitterly regret, it was too late. 

I am not sure that I have any important letter of your father's butone, written to me some fifteen years ago, on the occasion of thedeath of a child who was then my only son. It was in reply to a letterof my own written in a humour of savage grief. Most likely he burnedthe letter, and his reply would be hardly intelligible without it. Moreover, I am not at all sure that I can lay my hands upon yourfather's letter in a certain chaos of papers which I have never hadthe courage to face for years. But if you wish I will try. 

I am very grieved to hear of Mrs. Kingsley's indisposition. Pray makemy kindest remembrances to her, and believe me your very faithfully, T. H. Huxley. 

P. S. --By the way, letters addressed to my private residence, 4 Marlborough Place, N. W. , are sure not to be delayed. And I have another reason for giving theaddress--the hope that when you come to Town you will let my wife anddaughters make your acquaintance. 

[His continued interest in the germ-theory and the question of theorigin of life ("Address at the British Association" 1870 see 2 page14, sq. ), appears from the following:--]

4 Marlborough Place, October 15, 1875. 

My dear Tyndall, Will you bring with you to the x to-morrow a little bottle full offluid containing the bacteria you have found developed in yourinfusions? I mean a good characteristic specimen. It will be useful toyou, I think, if I determine the forms with my own microscope, andmake drawings of them which you can use. 

Ever yours, T. H. Huxley. 

I can't tell you how delighted I was with the experiments. 

[Throughout this period, and for some time later, he was in frequentcommunication with Thomas Spencer Baynes, Professor of Logic andEnglish Literature at St. Andrews University, the editor of the new"Encyclopaedia Britannica, " work upon which was begun at the end of1873. From the first Huxley was an active helper, both in classifyingthe biological subjects which ought to be treated of, suggesting theright men to undertake the work, and himself writing several articles, notably that on Evolution. (Others were "Actinozoa, " "Amphibia, ""Animal Kingdom, " and "Biology. ")

Extracts from his letters to Professor Baynes between the years 1873and 1884, serve to illustrate the work which he did and the relationshe maintained with the genial and learned editor. ]

November 2, 1873. 

I have been spending my Sunday morning in drawing up a list ofheadings, which will I think exhaust biology from the Animal point ofview, and each of which does not involve more than you are likely toget from one man. In many cases, i. E. "Insecta, " "Entomology, " I havesubdivided the subjects, because, by an unlucky peculiarity of workersin these subjects, men who understand zoology from its systematic sideare often ignorant of anatomy, and those who know fossils are oftenweak in recent forms. 

But of course the subdivision does not imply that one man should nottake the whole if he is competent to do so. And if separatecontributors supply articles on these several subdivisions, somebodymust see that they work in harmony. 

[But with all the good will in the world, he was too hard pressed toget his quota done as quickly as he wished. He suggests at once that"Hydrozoa" and "Actinozoa, " in his list, should be dealt with by thewriter of the article "Coelenterata. "]

Shunting "Actinozoa" to "Coelenterata" would do no harm, and wouldhave the great merit of letting me breathe a little. But if you thinkbetter that "Actinozoa" should come in its place under A, I will trywhat I can do. 

December 30, 1873. 

As to "Anthropology, " I really am afraid to promise. At present I amplunged in "Amphibia, " doing a lot of original work to settlequestions which have been hanging vaguely in my mind for years. If"Amphibia" is done by the end of January it is as much as it will be. 

In February I must give myself--or at any rate my spare self--up to myRectorial Address [His Rectorial Address at Aberdeen, see above. ], which (tell it not in Gath) I wish at the bottom of the Red Sea. And Ido not suppose I shall be able to look seriously at either "AnimalKingdom" or "Anthropology" before the address is done with. And alldepends on the centre of my microcosm--intestinum colon--which playsme a trick every now and then. 

I will do what I can if you like, but if you trust me it is at yourproper peril. 

February 8, 1874. 

How astonished folks will be if eloquent passages out of the addressget among the "Amphibia, " and comments on Frog anatomy into theaddress. As I am working at both just now this result is notimprobable. 

[Meanwhile the address and the ten days' stay at Aberdeen had been]"playing havoc with the "Amphibia, " [but on returning home, he went towork upon the latter, and writes on March 12:--]

I did not care to answer your last letter until I had an instalment of"Amphibia" ready. Said instalment was sent off to you, care of Messrs. Black, yesterday, and now I feel like Dick Swiveller, when happycircumstances having enabled him to pay off an old score he was ableto begin running up another. 

June 8. 

I have had sundry proofs and returned them. My writing is lamentablewhen I am in a hurry, but I never provoked a strike before! I declareI think I write as well as the editor, on ordinary occasions. 

[He was pleased to find someone who wrote as badly as, or worse than, himself, and several times rallies Baynes on that score. Thus, whenMrs. Baynes had acted as her husband's amanuensis, he writes (February11, 1878):--]

My respectful compliments to the "mere machine, " whose beautifulcalligraphy (if that isn't a tautology) leaves no doubt in my mindthat whether the writing of your letters by that agency is good foryou or not it is admirable for your correspondents. 

Why people can't write a plain legible hand I can't imagine. [(NB. --This sentence is written purposely in a most illegible hand. )

And on another occasion he adds a postcript to say, ] "You write worsethan ever. So do I. "

[However, the article got finished in course of time:--]

August 5. 

I have seen and done with all "Amphibia" but the last sheet, and thatonly waits revise. Considering it was to be done in May, I think I ampretty punctual. 

[The next year, immediately before taking Sir Wyville Thomson'slectures at Edinburgh, he writes about another article which he had inhand:--]

4 Marlborough Place, N. W. , March 16, 1875. 

My dear Baynes, I am working against time to get a lot of things done--amongst othersBIOLOGY--before I go north. I have written a large part of saidarticle, and it would facilitate my operation immensely if what isdone were set up and I had two or three proofs, one for Dyer, who isto do part of the article. 

Now, if I send the manuscript to North Bridge will you swear by yourgods (0--1--3--1 or any greater number as the case may be) that Ishall have a proof swiftly and not be kept waiting for weeks till thewhole thing has got cold, and I am at something else a hundred milesaway from Biology?

If not I will keep the manuscript till it is all done, and you knowwhat that means. 

Ever yours very truly, T. H. Huxley. 

Cragside, Morpeth, August 12, 1875. 

My dear Baynes, The remainder of the proof of "Biology" is posted to-day--"Praise deLor'. "

I have a dim recollection of having been led by your soft andinsinuating ways to say that I would think (only THINK) about someother article. What the deuce was it?

I have told the Royal Society people to send you a list of Fellows, addressed to Black's. 

We have had here what may be called bad weather for England, but ithas been far better than the best Edinburgh weather known to myexperience. 

All my friends are out committing grouse-murder. As a vivisectionCommissioner I did not think I could properly accompany them. 

Ever yours very faithfully, T. H. Huxley. 

Cragside, Morpeth, August 24, 1875. 

My dear Baynes, I think -- is like enough to do the "Coelenterata" well if you canmake sure of his doing it at all. He is a man of really greatknowledge of the literature of Zoology, and if it had not been for theaccident of being a procrastinating impracticable ass, he could havebeen a distinguished man. But he is a sort of Balaam-Centaur with theasinine stronger than the prophetic moiety. 

I should be disposed to try him, nevertheless. 

I don't think I have had final revise of Biology yet. 

I do not know that "Coelenterata" is Lankester's speciality. However, he is sure to do it well if he takes it up. 

Ever yours very faithfully, T. H. Huxley. 

4 Marlborough Place, N. W. , October 12, 1875. 

My dear Baynes, Do you remember my telling you that I should before long be publishinga book, of which general considerations on Biology would form a part, and that I should have to go over the same ground as in the articlefor the Encyclopaedia?

Well, that prediction is about to be verified, and I want to know whatI am to do. 

You see, as I am neither dealing with Theology, nor History, norCriticism, I can't take a fresh departure and say something entirelydifferent from what I have just written. 

On the other hand, if I republish what stands in the article, theEncyclopaedia very naturally growls. 

What do the sweetest of Editors and the most liberal of Proprietorssay ought to be done under the circumstances?

I pause for a reply. 

I have carried about Stanley's note in my pocket-book until I am sorryto say the flyleaf has become hideously stained. [The Dean'shandwriting was proverbial. ]

The wife and daughters could make nothing of it, but I, accustomed tothe manuscript of certain correspondents, have no doubt as to thefourth word of the second sentence. It is "Canterbury. " [The writingof this word is carefully slurred until it is almost as illegible asthe original. ] Nothing can be plainer. 

Hoping the solution is entirely satisfactory, Believe me, ever yours very faithfully, T. H. Huxley. 

[Though he refused to undertake the article on "Distribution, " hemanaged to write that on "Evolution" (republished in "CollectedEssays" 2 187). Thus on July 28, 1877, he writes:--]

_I_ ought to do "Evolution, " but I mightn't and I shouldn't. Don't seehow it is practicable to do justice to it with the time at mydisposal, though I really should like to do it, and I am at my wits'end to think of anybody who can be trusted with it. 

Perhaps something may turn up, and if so I will let you know. 

[The something in the world of more time did turn up by dint of extrapressure, and the article got written in the course of the autumn, asappears from the following of December 29, 1877:--]

I send you the promised skeleton (with a good deal of the flesh) ofEvolution. It is costing me infinite labour in the way of reading, butI am glad to be obliged to do the work, which will be a curious andinstructive chapter in the history of Science. 

[The lawyer-like faculty of putting aside a subject when done with, which is indicated in the letter of March 16, 1875, reappears in thefollowing:--]

4 Marlborough Place, N. W. , March 18, 1878. 

My dear Baynes, Your printers are the worst species of that diabolic genus I know of. It is at least a month since I sent them a revise of "Evolution" by nomeans finished, and from that time to this I have had nothing fromthem. 

I shall forget all about the subject, and then at the last moment theywill send me a revise in a great hurry, and expect it back by returnof post. 

But if they get it, may I go to their Father!

Ever yours very faithfully, T. H. Huxley. 

[Later on, the pressure of work again forbade him to undertake furtherarticles on "Harvey, " "Hunter, " and "Instinct. "]

I am sorry to say that my hands are full, and I have sworn by as manygods as Hume has left me, to undertake nothing more for a long whilebeyond what I am already pledged to do, a small book anent Harveybeing one of these things. 

[And on June 9:--]

After nine days' meditation (directed exclusively to the Harvey andHunter question) I am not any "forrarder, " as the farmer said afterhis third bottle of Gladstone claret. So perhaps I had better mentionthe fact. I am very glad you have limed Flower for "Mammalia" and"Horse"--nobody could be better. 

4 Marlborough Place, N. W. , July 1, 1879. 

My dear Baynes, On Thursday last I sought for you at the Athenaeum in the middle ofthe day, and told them to let me know if you came in the evening whenI was there again. But I doubt not you were plunged in dissipation. 

My demonstrator Parker showed me to-day a letter he had received fromBlack's, asking him to do anything in the small Zoology way between Hand L. 

He is a modest man, and so didn't ask what the H--L he was to do, buthe looked it. 

Will you enlighten him or me, and I will convey the information on?

I had another daughter married yesterday. She was a great pet and itis very hard lines on father and mother. The only consolation is thatshe has married a right good fellow, John Collier the artist. 

Ever yours very faithfully, T. H. Huxley. 

July 19, 1879. 

Many thanks for your and Mrs. Baynes' congratulations. I am very wellcontent with my son-in-law, and have almost forgiven him for carryingoff one of my pets, which shows a Christian spirit hardly to beexpected of me. 

South Kensington, July 2, 1880. 

My dear Baynes, I have been thinking over the matter of Instinct, and have come to theconclusion that I dare not undertake anything fresh. 

There is an address at Birmingham in the autumn looming large, andghosts of unfinished work flitter threateningly. 

Ever yours very faithfully, T. H. Huxley. 

CHAPTER 2. 8. 

1876. 

[The year 1876 was again a busy one, almost as busy as any that wentbefore. As in 1875, his London work was cut in two by a course oflectures in Edinburgh, and sittings of the Royal Commission onScottish Universities, and furthermore, by a trip to America in hissummer vacation. 

In the winter and early spring he gave his usual lectures at SouthKensington; a course to working men "On the Evidence as to the Originof Existing Vertebrated Animals, " from February to April ("Nature"volumes 13 and 14); a lecture at the Royal Institution (January 28)"On the Border Territory between the Animal and Vegetable Kingdoms"("Collected Essays" 8 170); and another at Glasgow (February 15) "Onthe Teleology and Morphology of the Hand. "

In this lecture, which he never found time to get into final shape forpublication, but which was substantially repeated at the Working Men'sCollege in 1878, he touched upon one of the philosophic aspects of thetheory of evolution, namely, how far is it consistent with theargument from design?

Granting provisionally the force of Paley's argument in individualcases of adaptation, and illustrating it by the hand and itsrepresentative in various of the Mammalia, he proceeds to show by thefacts of morphology that the argument, as commonly stated, fails; thateach mechanism, each animal, was not specially made to suit theparticular purpose we find it serving, but was developed from a singlecommon type. Yet in a limited and special sense he finds teleology tobe not inconsistent with morphology. The two sets of facts flow from acommon cause, evolution. Descent by modification accounts forsimilarity of structure; the process of gradual adaptation toconditions accounts for the existing adaptation to purpose. To be ateleologist and yet accept evolution it is only necessary] "to supposethat the original plan was sketched out--that the purpose wasforeshadowed in the molecular arrangements out of which the animalshave come. "

[This was no new view of his. While, ever since his first review ofthe "Origin" in 1859 ("Collected Essays" 2 6), he had declared thecommoner and coarser forms of teleology to find their most formidableopponent in the theory of evolution, and in 1869, addressing theGeological Society, had spoken of] "those final causes, which havebeen named barren virgins, but which might be more fitly termed thehetairae of philosophy, so constantly have they led men astray" [(ib. 8 80; cp. 2 21, 36), he had, in his "Criticism of the Origin" (1864 286), and the "Genealogy of Animals" (1869 2 109 sqq. ), shown how]"perhaps the most remarkable service to the philosophy of Biologyrendered by Mr. Darwin is the reconciliation of teleology andmorphology, and the explanation of the facts of both which his viewsoffer... The wider teleology, which is actually based upon thefundamental proposition of evolution. "

[His notebook shows that he was busy with Reptilia from Elgin and fromIndia; and with his "Manual of Invertebrate Anatomy, " which waspublished the next year; while he refused to undertake a course of tenlectures at the Royal Institution, saying that he had already too muchother work to do, and would have no time for original work. 

About this time, also, in answer to a request from a believer inmiracles, ] "that those who fail to perceive the cogency of theevidence by which the occurrence of miracles is supported, should notconfine themselves to the discussion of general principles, but shouldgrapple with some particular case of an alleged miracle, " [he readbefore the Metaphysical Society a paper dealing with the evidence forthe miracle of the resurrection. (See volume 1. )

Some friends wished him to publish the paper as a contribution tocriticism; but his own doubts as to the opportuneness of so doing wereconfirmed by a letter from Mr. John Morley, then editor of the"Fortnightly Review, " to which he replied (January 18):--]

To say truth, most of the considerations you put so forcibly hadpassed through my mind--but one always suspects oneself of cowardicewhen one's own interests may be affected. 

[At the beginning of May he went to Edinburgh. He writes home on May8:--]

I am in hopes of being left to myself this time, as nobody has calledbut Sir Alexander Grant the Principal, Crum Brown, whom I met in thestreet just now, and Lister, who has a patient in the house. I havebeen getting through an enormous quantity of reading, some toughmonographs that I brought with me, the first volume of Forster's "Lifeof Swift, " "Goodsir's Life, " and a couple of novels of George Sand, with a trifle of Paul Heyse. You should read George Sand's "CesarineDietrich" and "La Mare au Diable" that I have just finished. She isbigger than George Eliot, more flexible, a more thorough artist. It isa queer thing, by the way, that I have never read "Consuelo. " I shallget it here. When I come back from my lecture I like to rest for anhour or two over a good story. It freshens me wonderfully. 

[However, social Edinburgh did not leave him long to himself, butthough he might thus lose something of working time, this loss wascounterbalanced by the dispelling of some of the fits of depressionwhich still assailed him from time to time. 

On May 25 he writes:--]

The General Assembly is sitting now, and I thought I would look in. Itwas very crowded and I had to stand, so I was soon spied out andinvited to sit beside the Lord High Commissioner, who represents theCrown in the Assembly, and there I heard an ecclesiastical row aboutwhether a certain church should be allowed to have a cover with IHS onthe Communion Table or not. After three hours' discussion the IHSerswere beaten. I was introduced to the Commissioner Lord Galloway, andasked to dine to-night. So I felt bound to go to the special levee atHolyrood with my colleagues this morning, and I shall have to go to myLady Galloway's reception in honour of the Queen's birthday to-morrow. Luckily there will be no more of it. Vanity of Vanities! Saturdayafternoon I go out to Lord Young's place to spend Sunday. I have beenin rather a hypochondriacal state of mind, and I will see if thiscourse of medicine will drive the seven devils out. 

[One of the chief friendships which sprang from this residence inEdinburgh was that with Dr. (afterwards Sir John) Skelton, widelyknown under his literary pseudonym of "Shirley. " A Civil servant aswell as a man of letters, he united practical life with literature, acombination that appealed particularly to Huxley, so that he was aconstant visitor at Dr. Skelton's picturesque house, the Hermitage ofBraid, near Edinburgh. A number of letters addressed to Skelton from1875 to 1891 show that with him Huxley felt the stimulus of anappreciative correspondent. ]

4 Melville Street, Edinburgh, June 23, 1876. 

My dear Skelton, I do not understand how it is that your note has been so long inreaching me; but I hasten to repel the libellous insinuation that Ihave vowed a vow against dining at the Hermitage. 

I wish I could support that repudiation by at once accepting yourinvitation for Saturday or Sunday, but my Saturdays and Sundays aremortgaged to one or other of your judges (good judges, obviously). 

Shall you be at home on Monday or Tuesday? If so, I would put on akilt (to be as little dressed as possible), and find my way out andback; happily improving my mind on the journey with the tracts youmention. 

Ever yours very faithfully, T. H. Huxley. 

4 Melville Street, Edinburgh, July 1, 1876. 

My dear Skelton, Very many thanks for the copy of the "Comedy of the Noctes, " whichreached me two or three days ago. Turning over the pages I came uponthe Shepherd's "Terrible Journey of Timbuctoo, " which I enjoyed asmuch as when I first read it thirty odd years ago. 

Ever yours very faithfully, T. H. Huxley. 

[On June 23 he writes home:--]

Did you read Gilman's note asking me to give the inaugural discourseat the Johns Hopkins University, and offering 100 pounds sterling onthe part of the trustees? I am minded to do it on our way back fromthe south, but don't much like taking money for the performance. Tellme what you think about this at once, as I must reply. 

[This visit to America had been under discussion for some time. It ismentioned as a possibility in a letter to Darwin two years before. Early in 1876 Mr. Frederic Harrison was commissioned by an Americancorrespondent--who, by the way, had named his son Thomas Huxley--togive my father the following message:--"The whole nation iselectrified by the announcement that Professor Huxley is to visit usnext fall. We will make infinitely more of him than we did of thePrince of Wales and his retinue of lords and dukes. " Certainly thepeople of the States gave him an enthusiastic welcome; his writingshad made him known far and wide; as the manager of the Californiandepartment at the Philadelphia Exhibition told him, the very miners ofCalifornia read his books over their camp fires; and his visit was sofar like a royal progress, that unless he entered a city disguisedunder the name of Jones or Smith, he was liable not merely to beinterviewed, but to be called upon to "address a few words" to thecitizens. 

Leaving their family under the hospitable care of Sir W. And LadyArmstrong at Cragside, my father and mother started on July 27 onboard the "Germanic, " reaching New York on August 5. My fathersometimes would refer, half-jestingly, to the trip as his secondhoneymoon, when, for the first time in twenty years, he and my motherset forth by themselves, free from all family cares. And indeed, therewas the underlying resemblance that this too came at the end of aperiod of struggle to attain, and marked the beginning of a moresettled period. His reception in America may be said to emphasise hisdefinite establishment in the first rank of English thinkers. It was asignal testimony to the wide extent of his influence, hardlysuspected, indeed, by himself; an influence due above all to the factthat he did not allow his studies to stand apart from the movingproblems of existence, but brought the new and regenerating ideas intocontact with life at every point, and that his championship of the newdoctrines had at the same time been a championship of freedom andsincerity in thought and word against shams and self-deceptions ofevery kind. It was not so much the preacher of new doctrines who waswelcomed, as the apostle of veracity--not so much the student ofscience as the teacher of men. 

Moreover, another sentiment coloured this holiday visit. He was to seeagain the beloved sister of his boyhood. She had always prophesied hissuccess, and now after thirty years her prophesy was fulfilled by hiscoming, and, indeed, exceeded by the manner of it. 

Mr. Smalley, then London correspondent of the "New York Tribune, " wasa fellow passenger of his on board the "Germanic, " and tells aninteresting anecdote of him:--

Mr. Huxley stood on the deck of the "Germanic" as she steamed up theharbour of New York, and he enjoyed to the full that marvellouspanorama. At all times he was on intimate terms with Nature and alsowith the joint work of Nature and Man; Man's place in Nature being tohim interesting from more points of view than one. As we drew near thecity--this was in 1876, you will remember--he asked what were the talltower and tall building with a cupola, then the two most conspicuousobjects. I told him the Tribune and the Western Union Telegraphbuildings. "Ah, " he said, "that is interesting; that is American. Inthe old World the first things you see as you approach a great cityare steeples; here you see, first, centres of intelligence. " Next tothose the tug-boats seemed to attract him as they tore fiercely up anddown and across the bay. He looked long at them and finally said, ] "IfI were not a man I think I should like to be a tug. " [They seemed tohim the condensation and complete expression of the energy and forcein which he delighted. 

The personal welcome he received from the friends he visited was ofthe warmest. On the arrival of the "Germanic" the travellers were metby Mr. Appleton the publisher, and carried off to his country house atRiverdale. While his wife was taken to Saratoga to see what anAmerican summer resort was like, he himself went on the 9th to NewHaven, to inspect the fossils at Yale College, collected from theTertiary deposits of the Far West by Professor Marsh, with greatlabour and sometimes at the risk of his scalp. Professor Marsh told mehow he took him to the University, and proposed to begin by showinghim over the buildings. He refused. ] "Show me what you have got insidethem; I can see plenty of bricks and mortar in my own country. " [Sothey went straight to the fossils, and as Professor Marsh writes("American Journal of Science" volume 1 August 1895. ):--

One of Huxley's lectures in New York was to be on the genealogy of thehorse, a subject which he had already written about, based entirelyupon European specimens. My own explorations had led me to conclusionsquite different from his, and my specimens seemed to me to proveconclusively that the horse originated in the New World and not in theOld, and that its genealogy must be worked out here. With somehesitation, I laid the whole matter frankly before Huxley, and hespent nearly two days going over my specimens with me, and testingeach point I made. 

At each inquiry, whether he had a specimen to illustrate such and sucha point or exemplify a transition from earlier and less specialisedforms to later and more specialised ones, Professor Marsh would simplyturn to his assistant and bid him fetch box number so and so, untilHuxley turned upon him and said, ] "I believe you are a magician;whatever I want, you just conjure it up. "

[The upshot of this examination was that he recast a great part ofwhat he meant to say at New York. When he had seen the specimens, andthoroughly weighed their import, continues Professor Marsh:--

He then informed me that all this was new to him, and that my factsdemonstrated the evolution of the horse beyond question, and for thefirst time indicated the direct line of descent of an existing animal. With the generosity of true greatness, he gave up his own opinions inthe face of new truth, and took my conclusions as the basis of hisfamous New York lecture on the horse. He urged me to prepare withoutdelay a volume on the genealogy of the horse, based upon the specimensI had shown him. This I promised, but other work and new duties havethus far prevented. 

A letter to his wife describes his visit to Yale:--]

My excellent host met me at the station, and seems as if he could notmake enough of me. I am installed in apartments which were occupied byhis uncle, the millionaire Peabody, and am as quiet as if I were in myown house. We have had a preliminary canter over the fossils, and Ihave seen some things which were worth all the journey across. 

This is the most charmingly picturesque town, with the streets linedby avenues of elm trees which meet overhead. I have never seenanything like it, and you must come and look at it. There is fossilwork enough to occupy me till the end of the week, and I have arrangedto go to Springfield on Monday to examine the famous footprints of theConnecticut Valley. 

The Governor has called upon me, and I shall have to go and dopretty-behaved chez lui to-morrow. An application has come for anautograph, but I have not been interviewed!

[This immunity, however, did not last long. He appears to have beencaught by the interviewer the next day, for he writes on the 11th:--]

I have not seen the notice in the "World" you speak of. You will beamused at the article written by the interviewer. He was evidentlysurprised to meet with so little of the "high falutin" philosopher inme, and says I am "affable" and of "the commercial or mercantile"type. That is something I did not know, and I am rather proud of it. We may be rich yet. 

[As to his work at Yale Museum, he writes in the same letter:--]

We are hard at work still. Breakfast at 8. 30--go over to the Museumwith Marsh at 9 or 10--work till 1. 30--dine--go back to Museum to worktill 6. Then Marsh takes me for a drive to see the views about thetown, and back to tea about half-past eight. He is a wonderfully goodfellow, full of fun and stories about his Western adventures, and thecollection of fossils is the most wonderful thing I ever saw. I wish Icould spare three weeks instead of one to study it. 

To-morrow evening were are to have a dinner by way of winding up, andhe has asked a lot of notables to meet me. I assure you I am being"made of, " as I thought nobody but the little wife was foolish enoughto do. 

[On the 16th he left to join Professor Alexander Agassiz at Newport, whence he wrote the following letters:--]

Newport, August 17, 1876. 

My dear Marsh, I really cannot say how much I enjoyed my visit to New Haven. Myrecollections are sorting themselves out by degrees and I find howrich my store is. The more I think of it the more clear it is thatyour great work is the settlement of the pedigree of the horse. 

My wife joins with me in kind regards. I am yours very faithfully, T. H. Huxley. 

[To Mr. Clarence King. ]

Newport, August 19, 1876. 

My dear Sir, In accordance with your wish, I very willingly put into writing thesubstance of the opinion as to the importance of Professor Marsh'scollection of fossils which I expressed to you yesterday. As you areaware, I devoted four or five days to the examination of thiscollection, and was enabled by Professor Marsh's kindness to obtain afair conception of the whole. 

I am disposed to think that whether we regard the abundance ofmaterial, the number of complete skeletons of the various species, orthe extent of geological time covered by the collection, which I hadthe good fortune to see at New Haven, there is no collection of fossilvertebrates in existence, which can be compared with it. I say thiswithout forgetting Montmartre, Siwalik, or Pikermi--and I think that Iam quite safe in adding that no collection which has been hithertoformed approaches that made by Professor Marsh, in the completeness ofthe chain of evidence by which certain existing mammals are connectedwith their older tertiary ancestry. 

It is of the highest importance to the progress of Biological Sciencethat the publication of this evidence, accompanied by illustrations ofsuch fulness as to enable paleontologists to form their own judgmentas to its value, should take place without delay. 

I am yours very faithfully, T. H. Huxley. 

[Breaking their journey at Boston, they went from Newport toPetersham, in the highlands of Worcester County, where they were theguests of Mr. And Mrs. John Fiske, at their summer home. Among theother visitors were the eminent musical composer Mr. Paine, the poetCranch, and daughters of Hawthorne and Longfellow, so that they foundthemselves in the midst of a particularly cheerful and delightfulparty. From Petersham they proceeded to Buffalo, the meeting-placethat year of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, which my father had promised to attend. Here they stayed with Mr. Marshall, a leading lawyer, who afterwards visited them in England. 

Awake was spent at Niagara, partly in making holiday, partly inshaping the lectures which had to be delivered at the end of the trip. As to the impression made upon him by the Falls--an experience which, it is generally presumed, every traveller is bound to record--I maynote that after the first disappointment at their appearance, inevitable wherever the height of a waterfall is less than thebreadth, he found in them an inexhaustible charm and fascination. Asin duty bound, he, with my mother, completed his experiences by goingunder the wall of waters to the "Cave of the Winds. " But of all thingsnothing pleased him more than to sit of an evening by the edge of theriver, and through the roar of the cataract to listen for theunder-sound of the beaten stones grinding together at its foot. 

Leaving Niagara on September 2, they travelled to Cincinnati, a20-hours' journey, where they rested a day; on the 4th another 10hours took them to Nashville, where they were to meet his sister, Mrs. Scott. Though 11 years his senior, she maintained her vigour andbrightness undimmed, as indeed she did to the end of her life, surviving him by a few weeks. As she now stood on the platform atNashville, Mrs. Huxley, who had never seen her, picked her out fromamong all the people by her piercing black eyes, so like those of hermother as described in the Autobiographical sketch ("Collected Essays"1). 

Nashville, her son's home, had been chosen as the meeting-place byMrs. Scott, because it was not so far south nor so hot as Montgomery, where she was then living. Nevertheless in Tennessee the heat of theAmerican summer was very trying, and the good people of the townfurther drew upon the too limited opportunities of their guest's briefvisit by sending a formal deputation to beg that he would eitherdeliver an address, or be entertained at a public dinner, or "statehis views"--to an interviewer I suppose. He could not well refuse oneof the alternatives; and the greater part of one day was spent inpreparing a short address on the geology of Tennessee, which wasdelivered on the evening of September 7. He spoke for twenty minutes, but had scarcely any voice, which was not to be wondered at, as he wasso tired that he had kept his room the whole day, while his wifereceived the endless string of callers. 

The next day they returned to Cincinnati; and on the 9th went on toBaltimore, where they stayed with Mr. Garrett, then President of theBaltimore and Ohio railway. 

The Johns Hopkins University at Baltimore, for which he was to deliverthe opening address, had been instituted by its founder on a novelbasis. It was devoted to post-graduate study; the professors andlecturers received incomes entirely independent of the pupils theytaught. Men came to study for the sake of learning, not for the sakeof passing some future examination. The endowment was devoted in thefirst place to the furtherance of research; the erection of buildingswas put into the background. ] "It has been my fate, " [commentedHuxley, ] "to see great educational funds fossilise into mere bricksand mortar in the petrifying springs of architecture, with nothingleft to work them. A great warrior is said to have made a desert andcalled it peace. Trustees have sometimes made a palace and called it auniversity. "

[Half the fortune of the founder had gone to this university; theother half to the foundation of a great and splendidly equippedhospital for Baltimore. This was the reason why the discussion ofmedical training occupies fully half of the address upon the generalprinciples of education, in which, indeed, lies the heart of hismessage to America, a message already delivered to the old country, but specially appropriate for the new nation developing so rapidly insize and physical resources. ]

I cannot say that I am in the slightest degree impressed by yourbigness or your material resources, as such. Size is not grandeur, territory does not make a nation. The great issue, about which hangs atrue sublimity, and the terror of overhanging fate, is, what are yougoing to do with all these things?... 

The one condition of success, your sole safeguard, is the moral worthand intellectual clearness of the individual citizen. Education cannotgive these, but it can cherish them and bring them to the front inwhatever station of society they are to be found, and the universitiesought to be and may be, the fortresses of the higher life of thenation. 

[This address was delivered under circumstances of peculiardifficulty. The day before, an expedition had been made to Washington, from which Huxley returned very tired, only to be told that he was toattend a formal dinner and reception the same evening. ] "I don't knowhow I shall stand it, " [he remarked. Going to his room, he snatched anhour or two of rest, but was then called upon to finish his addressbefore going out. It seems that it had to be ready for simultaneouspublication in the New York papers. Now the lecture was not writtenout; it was to be given from notes only. So he had to deliver it inextenso to the reporter, who took it down in shorthand, promising tolet him have a longhand copy in good time the next morning. It did notcome till the last moment. Glancing at it on his way to the lecturetheatre, he discovered to his horror that it was written upon"flimsy, " from which he would not be able to read it with any success. He wisely gave up the attempt, and made up his mind to deliver thelecture as best he could from memory. The lecture as delivered wasvery nearly the same as that which he had dictated the night before, but with some curious discrepancies between the two accounts, which, he used to say, occurring as they did in versions both purporting tohave been taken down from his lips, might well lead the ingeniouscritic of the future to pronounce them both spurious, and to declarethat the pretended original was never delivered under thecircumstances alleged. (Cp. The incident at Belfast. )

There was an audience of some 2000, and I am told that when he beganto speak of the time that would come when they too would experiencethe dangers of over-population and poverty in their midst, and wouldthen understand what Europe had to contend with more fully than theydid, a pin could have been heard to drop. At the end of the lecture, amid the enthusiastic applause of the crowd, he made his way to thefront of the box where his hosts and their party were, and receivedtheir warm congratulations. But he missed one voice amongst them, andturning to where his wife sat in silent triumph almost beyond speech, he said, ] "And have you no word for me?" [then, himself also deeplymoved, stooped down and kissed her. 

This address was delivered on Tuesday, September 12. On the 14th hewent to Philadelphia, and on the 15th to New York, where he deliveredhis three lectures on Evolution on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, September 18, 20, and 22. 

These lectures are very good examples of the skill with which he couldpresent a complicated subject in a simple form, the subject seeming tounroll itself by the force of its own naked logic, and carryingconviction the further through the simplicity of its presentation. Indeed, an unfriendly critic once paid him an unintended compliment, when trying to make out that he was no great speaker; that all he didwas to set some interesting theory unadorned before his audience, whensuch success as he attained was due to the compelling nature of thesubject itself. 

Since his earlier lectures to the public on evolution, thepaleontological evidences had been accumulating; the case could bestated without some of the reservations of former days; and he bringsforward two telling instances in considerable detail, the one showinghow the gulf between two such apparently distinct groups as Birds andReptiles is bridged over by ancient fossils intermediate in form; theother illustrating from Professor Marsh's new collections the linealdescent of the specialised Horse from the more general type ofquadruped. 

The farthest back of these was a creature with four toes on the frontlimb and three on the hind limb. Judging from the completeness of theseries or forms so far, he ventured to indulge in a prophecy. ]

Thus, thanks to these important researches, it has become evidentthat, so far as our present knowledge extends, the history of thehorse-type is exactly and precisely that which could have beenpredicted from a knowledge of the principles of evolution. And theknowledge we now possess justifies us completely in the anticipationthat when the still lower Eocene deposits, and those which belong tothe Cretaceous epoch, have yielded up their remains of ancestralequine animals, we shall find, first, a form with four complete toesand a rudiment of the innermost or first digit in front, with, probably, a rudiment of the fifth digit in the hind foot; while, instill older forms, the series of the digits will be more and morecomplete, until we come to the five-toed animals, in which, if thedoctrine of evolution is well founded, the whole series must havetaken its origin. 

[Seldom has prophecy been sooner fulfilled. Within two months, Professor Marsh had discovered a new genus of equine mammals, Eohippus, from the lowest Eocene deposits of the West, whichcorresponds very nearly to the description given above. 

He continues:--]

That is what I mean by demonstrative evidence of evolution. Aninductive hypothesis is said to be demonstrated when the facts areshown to be in entire accordance with it. If that is not scientificproof, there are no merely inductive conclusions which can be said tobe proved. And the doctrine of evolution, at the present time, restsupon exactly as secure a foundation as the Copernican theory of themotions of the heavenly bodies did at the time of its promulgation. Its logical basis is of precisely the same character--the coincidenceof the observed facts with theoretical requirements. 

[He left New York on September 23. ] "I had a very pleasant trip inYankee-land, " [he writes to Professor Baynes, ] "and did NOT giveutterance to a good deal that I am reported to have said there. " [Hereached England in good time for the beginning of his autumn lectures, and his ordinary busy life absorbed him again. He did not fail to givehis London audiences the results of the recent discoveries in Americanpaleontology, and on December 4, delivered a lecture at the LondonInstitution, "On Recent Additions to the Knowledge of the Pedigree ofthe Horse. " In connection with this he writes to Professor Marsh:--]

4 Marlborough Place, London, N. W. , December 27, 1876. 

My dear Marsh, I hope you do not think it remiss of me that I have not written to yousince my return, but you will understand that I plunged into a coil ofwork, and will forgive me. But I do not mean to let you slip awaywithout sending you all our good wishes for its successor--which Ihope will not vanish without seeing you among us. 

I blew your trumpet the other day at the London Institution in alecture about the Horse question. I did not know then that you had gotanother step back as I see you have by the note to my last lecture, which Youmans has just sent me. 

I must thank you very heartily for the pains you have taken over thewoodcuts of the lectures. It is a great improvement to have thepatterns of the grinders. 

I promised to give a lecture at the Royal Institution on the 21stJanuary next, and I am thinking of discoursing on the Birds withteeth. Have you anything new to tell on that subject? I have implicitfaith in the inexhaustibility of the contents of those boxes. 

Our voyage home was not so successful as that out. The weather wascold and I got a chill which laid me up for several days, in fact Iwas not well for some weeks after my return. But I am vigorous againnow. 

Pray remember me kindly to all New Haven friends. My wife joins withme in kindest regards and good wishes for the new year. "Tell him weexpect to see him next year. "

I am, yours very faithfully, T. H. Huxley. 

[On December 16 he delivered a lecture "On the Study of Biology, " inconnection with the Loan Collection of Scientific Apparatus at SouthKensington ("Collected Essays" 3 262), dealing with the origin of thename Biology, its relation to Sociology--] "we have allowed thatprovince of Biology to become autonomous; but I should like you torecollect that this is a sacrifice, and that you should not besurprised if it occasionally happens that you see a biologistapparently trespassing in the region of philosophy or politics; ormeddling with human education; because, after all, that is a part ofhis kingdom which he has only voluntarily forsaken"]--how to learnbiology, the use of Museums, and above all, the utility of biology, ashelping to give right ideas in this world, which] "is after all, absolutely governed by ideas, and very often by the wildest and mosthypothetical ideas. "

[This lecture on Biology was first published among the "AmericanAddresses" in 1877. 

It was about this time that an extremely Broad Church divine wasendeavouring to obtain the signatures of men of science to a documenthe had drawn up protesting against certain orthodox doctrines. Huxley, however, refused to sign the protest, and wrote the following letterof explanation, a copy of which he sent to Mr. Darwin. ]

November 18, 1876. 

Dear Sir, I have read the "Protest, " with a copy of which you have favoured me, and as you wish that I should do so, I will trouble you with a briefstatement of my reasons for my inability to sign it. 

I object to clause 2 on the ground long since taken by Hume that theorder of the universe such as we observe it to be, furnishes us withthe only data upon which we can base any conclusion as to thecharacter of the originator thereof. 

As a matter of fact, men sin, and the consequences of their sinsaffect endless generations of their progeny. Men are tempted, men arepunished for the sins of others without merit or demerit of their own;and they are tormented for their evil deeds as long as theirconsciousness lasts. 

The theological doctrines to which you refer, therefore, are simplyextensions of generalisations as well based as any in physicalscience. Very likely they are illegitimate extensions of thesegeneralisations, but that does not make them wrong in principle. 

And I should consider it waste of time to "protest" against that whichis. 

As regards clause 3 I find that as a matter of experience, erroneousbeliefs are punished, and right beliefs are rewarded--though veryoften the erroneous belief is based upon a more conscientious study ofthe facts than the right belief. I do not see why this should not beas true of theological beliefs as any others. And as I said before, Ido not care to protest against that which is. 

Many thanks for your congratulations. My tour was very pleasant andtaught me a good deal. 

I am yours very faithfully, T. H. Huxley. 

P. S. --You are at liberty to make what use you please of this letter. 

4 Marlborough Place, November 19, 1876. 

My dear Darwin, I confess I have less sympathy with the half-and-half sentimentalschool which he represents than I have with thoroughgoing orthodoxy. 

If we are to assume that anybody has designedly set this wonderfuluniverse going, it is perfectly clear to me that he is no moreentirely benevolent and just in any intelligible sense of the words, than that he is malevolent and unjust. Infinite benevolence need nothave invented pain and sorrow at all--infinite malevolence would veryeasily have deprived us of the large measure of content and happinessthat falls to our lot. After all, Butler's "Analogy" is unassailable, and there is nothing in theological dogmas more contradictory to ourmoral sense, than is to be found in the facts of nature. From which, however, the Bishop's conclusion that the dogmas are true doesn'tfollow. 

With best remembrances to Mrs. Darwin, ever yours very faithfully, T. H. Huxley. 

[This incident suggests the story of a retort he once made upon whathe considered an unseasonable protest in church, a story whichexemplifies, by the way, his strong sense of the decencies of life, appearing elsewhere in his constant respect for the ordinaryconventions of his dislike for mere Bohemianism as such. 

Once in a country house he was sitting at dinner next to his hostess, a lady who, as will sometimes happen, liked to play the part of LadyArbitress of the whole neighbourhood. She told him how much shedisapproved of the Athanasian Creed, and described how she had risenand left the village church when the parson began to read it; andthinking to gain my father's assent, she turned to him and saidgraciously, "Now Mr. Huxley, don't you think I was quite right to markmy disapproval?"]

"My dear Lady --" [he replied, ] "I should as soon think of rising andleaving your table because I disapproved of one of the entrees. "

CHAPTER 2. 9. 

1877. 

[In this year he delivered lectures and addresses on the "GeologicalHistory of Birds, " at the Zoological Society's Gardens, June 7; on"Starfishes and their Allies, " at the Royal Institution, March 7; atthe London Institution, December 17, on "Belemnites" (a subject onwhich he had written in 1864, and which was doubtless suggested anewby his autumn holiday at Whitby, where the Lias cliffs are full ofthese fossils); at the Anthropological Conference, May 22, on"Elementary Instruction in Physiology" ("Collected Essays" 3 294), with special reference to the recent legislation as to experiments onliving animals; and on "Technical Education" to the Working Men's Cluband Institute, December 1 ("Collected Essays" 3 404): a periloussubject, indeed, considering, as he remarks, that] "any candidobserver of the phenomena of modern society will readily admit thatbores must be classed among the enemies of the human race; and alittle consideration will probably lead him to the further admission, that no species of that extensive genus of noxious creatures is moreobjectionable than the educational bore... In the course of the lastten years, to go back no farther, I am afraid to say how often I haveventured to speak of education; indeed, the only part of this wideregion into which, as yet, I have not adventured, is that into which Ipropose to intrude to-day. "

[The choice of subject for this address was connected with a largercampaign for the establishment of technical education on a properfooting, which began with his work on the School Board, and was thisyear brought prominently before the public by another addressdelivered at the Society of Arts. The Clothworkers Company had alreadybeen assisting the Society of Arts in their efforts for the spread oftechnical education; and in July 1877 a special committee of theGuilds applied to him, amongst half a dozen others, to furnish themwith a report as to the objects and methods of a scheme of technicaleducation. This paper fills sixteen pages in the Report of the LiveryCompanies' Committee for 1878. The fundamental principles on which hebases his practical recommendations are contained in the followingparagraph:--]

It appears to me that if every person who is engaged in an industryhad access to instruction in the scientific principles on which thatindustry is based; in the mode of applying these principles topractice; in the actual use of the means and appliances employed; inthe language of the people who know as much about the matter as we doourselves; and lastly, in the art of keeping accounts, TechnicalEducation would have done all that can be required of it. 

[And his suggestions about buildings was at once adopted by theCommittee, namely, that they should be erected at a future date, regard being had primarily rather to what is wanted in the inside thanwhat will look well from the outside. 

Now the Guilds formed a very proper body to set such a scheme on foot, because only such wealthy and influential members of the firstmercantile city in the world could afford to let themselves bedespised and jeered at for professing to teach English manufacturersand English merchants that they needed to be taught; and to spend25, 000 pounds a year towards that end for some time without apparentresult. 

That they eventually succeeded, is due no little to the careful plansdrawn out by Huxley. He may be described as "really the engineer ofthe City and Guilds Institute; for without his advice, " declared oneof the leading members, "we should not have known what to have done. "

At the same time he warned them against indiscriminate zeal;] "thoughunder-instruction is a bad thing, it is not impossible thatover-instruction may be worse. " [The aim of the Livery Companiesshould specially be to aid the PRACTICAL teaching of science, so thatat bottom the question turns mainly on the supply of teachers. 

On December 11, 1879, he found a further opportunity of urging thecause of Technical Education. A lecture on Apprenticeships wasdelivered before the Society of Arts by Professor Silvanus Thompson. Speaking after the lecturer (see report in "Nature" 1879 page 139) hediscussed the necessity of supplying the place of the oldapprenticeships by educating children in the principles of theirparticular crafts, beyond the time when they were forced to enter theworkshops. This could be done by establishing schools in each centreof industry, connected with a central institution, such as was to befound in Paris or Zurich. As for complaints of deficient teaching ofhandicrafts in the Board Schools, it was more important for them tomake intelligent men than skilled workmen, as again was indicated inthe French system. 

As President of the Royal Society, he was on the above-mentionedCommittee of the Guilds from 1883 to 1885, and on December 10, 1883, distributed the prizes in connection with the institution in theClothworkers' Hall. After sketching the inception of the whole scheme, he referred to the Central Institute, then in course of building(begun in 1882, it was finished in 1884; the Technical College, Finsbury, was older by a year), and spoke of the difficulties in theway of organising such an institution:--]

That building is simply the body, not the flesh and bones, but thebricks and stones, of the Central Institute, and the business uponwhich Sir F. Bramwell and my other colleagues on the Committee havebeen so much occupied, is the making a soul for this body; and I canassure you making a soul for anything is an amazingly difficultoperation. You are always in danger of doing as the man in the storyof Frankenstein did, and making something which will eventually devouryou instead of being useful to you. 

[And here I may give a letter which refers to the movement fortechnical education, and the getting the City Companies under way inthe matter. In the words of Mr. George Howell, M. P. (who sent it tothe "Times" (July 3, 1895) just after Huxley's death), it has anadditional interest "as indicating the nature of his own epitaph"; asa man "whose highest ambition ever was to uplift the masses of thepeople and promote their welfare intellectually, socially, andindustrially. "]

4 Marlborough Place, N. W. , January 2, 1880. 

Dear Mr. Howell, Your letter is a welcome New Year's gift. There are two things Ireally care about--one is the progress of scientific thought, and theother is the bettering of the condition of the masses of the people bybettering them in the way of lifting themselves out of the miserywhich has hitherto been the lot of the majority of them. Posthumousfame is not particularly attractive to me, but, if I am to beremembered at all, I would rather it should be as "a man who did hisbest to help the people" than by other title. So you see it is nosmall pleasure and encouragement to me to find that I have been, andam, of any use in this direction. 

Ever since my experience on the School Board, I have been convincedthat I should lose rather than gain by entering directly intopolitics... But I suppose I have some ten years of activity left in me, and you may depend upon it I shall lose no chance of striking a blowfor the cause I have at heart. I thought the time had come the otherday at the Society of Arts, and the event proves I was not mistaken. The animal is moving, and by a judicious exhibition of carrots infront and kicks behind, we shall get him into a fine trot presently. In the meantime do not let the matter rest... The (City) companiesshould be constantly reminded that a storm is brewing. There areexcellent men among them, who want to do what is right, and need helpagainst the sluggards and reactionaries. It will be best for me to bequiet for a while, but you will understand that I am watching for theturn of events. 

I am, yours very faithfully, T. H. Huxley. 

[This summer, too, he delivered a course on Biology for Teachers atSouth Kensington, and published not only his "American Addresses, " butalso the "Physiography, " founded upon the course delivered seven yearsbefore. The book, of which 3386 copies were sold in the first sixweeks, was fruitful in two ways; it showed that a geographical subjectcould be invested with interest, and it set going what was almost anew branch of teaching in natural science, even in Germany, thestarting place of most educational methods, where it was immediatelyproposed to bring out an adaptation of the book, substituting, e. G. The Elbe for the Thames, as a familiar example of river action. 

He was immensely pleased by a letter from Mr. John Morley, telling howhis step-son, a boy of non-bookish tastes, had been taken with it. "Mystep-son was reading it the other night. I said, 'isn't it better toread a novel before going to bed, instead of worrying your head over aserious book like that?' 'Oh, ' said he, 'I'm at an awfully interestingpart, and I can't leave off. '" It was, Mr. Morley continued, "the wayof making Nature, as she comes before us every day, interesting andintelligible to young folks. "

To this he replied on December 14:--]

I shall get as vain as a peacock if discreet folk like you say suchpretty things to me as you do about the "Physiography. "

But it is very pleasant to me to find that I have succeeded in what Itried to do. I gave the lectures years ago to show what I thought wasthe right way to lead young people to the study of nature--but nobodywould follow suit--so now I have tried what the book will do. 

Your step-son is a boy of sense, and I hope he may be taken as a typeof the British public!

[A good deal of time was taken up in the first half of the year by theScottish Universities Commission, which necessitated his attendance inEdinburgh the last week in February, the first week in April, and thelast week in July. He had hoped to finish off the necessary businessat the first of these meetings, but no sooner had he arrived inEdinburgh, after a pleasant journey down with J. A. Froude, than helearned that] "the chief witness we were to have examined to-day, andwhose due evisceration was one of the objects of my coming, hastelegraphed to say he can't be here. " [Owing to this and to theenforced absence of the judges on the Commission from some of thesittings, it was found necessary to have additional meetings atEaster, much to his disgust. He writes:--]

I am sorry to say I shall have to come here again in Easter week. Itis the only time the Lord President is free from his courts, andalthough we all howled privately, there was no help for it. Whether wefinish then or not will depend on the decision of the Government, asto our taking up the case of you troublesome women, who want admissioninto the University (very rightly too I think). If we have to go intothis question it will involve the taking of new evidence and no end ofbother. I find my colleagues very reasonable, and I hope some good maybe done, that is the only consolation. 

I went out with Blackie last evening to dine with the Skeltons, at apretty place called the Hermitage, about three miles fromhere... Blackie and I walked home with snow on the ground and a sharpfrost. I told you it would turn cold as soon as I got here, but I amnone the worse. 

[It was just the same in April:--]

It is quite cold here as usual, and there was ice on the ponds wepassed this morning... I am much better lodged than I was last time, for the same thanks to John Bruce, but I do believe that the Edinburghhouses are the coldest in the universe. In spite of a good breakfastand a good fire, the half of me that is writing to you is as cold ascharity. 

April 4. 

We toil at the Commission every day, and don't make any rapidprogress. An awful fear creeps over me that we shall not finish thisbout. 

[While he was in Edinburgh for the third time, his attention wascalled to an article in the "Echo, " the organ of the anti-vivisectionparty. He writes:--]

The "Echo" is pretty. It is one of a long series of articles from thesame hand, but I don't think they hurt anybody and they evidentlyplease the writer. For some reason or other they have not attacked meyet, but I suppose my turn will come. 

[Again:--]

Thank you for sending me John Bright's speeches. They are very good, but hardly up to his old mark of eloquence. Some parts are verytouching. 

[His health was improving, as he notes with satisfaction:--]

Every day this week we have had about four hours of the Commission, and I have dined out four days out of the six. But I'm no the waur, and the late dinners have not been visited by fits of morning bluedevils. So I am in hopes that I am getting back to the normal statethat Clark prophesied for me. 

4 Marlborough Place, London, N. W. , April 29, 1877. 

My dear Skelton, Best thanks for your second edition. You paint the system (i. E. OfScotch education. ) in such favourable colours, that I am thinking oftaking advantage of it for my horde of "young barbarians. " I am sureScotch air would be of service to them--and in after-life they mighthave the inestimable advantage of a quasi-Scotch nationality--thatgreatest of all practical advantages in Britain. 

We are to sit again in the end of July when Mrs. Skelton and you, ifyou are wise, will be making holiday. 

Your invitation is most tempting, and if I had no work to do I shouldjump at it. 

But alas! I shall have a deal of work, and I must go to my Patmos inGeorge Street. Ingrained laziness is the bane of my existence; and youdon't suppose that with the sun shining down into your bosky dell, andMrs. Skelton radiant, and Froude and yourself nicotiant, I am such aPhilistine as to do a stroke of work?

Ever yours very faithfully, T. H. Huxley. 

[From Edinburgh he went to St. Andrews to make arrangements for hiselder son to go to the University there as a student the followingwinter. Then he paid a visit to Sir W. Armstrong in Northumberland, afterwards spending a month at Whitby. His holiday work consisted in agreat part of the article on "Evolution" for the "EncyclopaediaBritannica, " which is noted as finished on October 24, though notpublished till the next year. 

In November the honorary degree of LL. D. Was conferred upon CharlesDarwin at Cambridge, ] "a great step for Cambridge, though it may notseem much in itself, " [he writes to Dohrn, November 21. In the eveningafter the public ceremony there was a dinner of the PhilosophicalClub, at which he spoke in praise of Darwin's services to science. Darwin himself was unable to be present, but received an enthusiasticaccount of the proceedings from his son, and wrote to thank Huxley, who replied:--]

4 Marlborough Place, November 21, 1877. 

My dear Darwin, Nothing ever gave me greater pleasure than the using the chance ofspeaking my mind about you and your work which was afforded me at thedinner the other night. I said not a word beyond what I believe to bestrictly accurate; and, please Sir, I didn't sneer at anybody. Therewas only a little touch of the whip at starting, and it was so tiedround with ribbons that it took them some time to find out where theflick had hit. 

T. H. Huxley. 

[He writes to his wife:--]

I will see if I can recollect the speech. I made a few notes sittingin Dewar's room before the dinner. But as usual I did not say somethings I meant to say and said others that came up on the spur of themoment. 

[And again:--]

Please I didn't say that Reaumur was the other greatest scientific mansince Aristotle. But I said that in a certain character of his work hewas the biggest man between Aristotle and Darwin. I really must writeout an "authorised version" of my speech. I hear the Latin oration isto be in "Nature" this week, and Lockyer wanted me to give him theheads of my speech, but I did not think it would be proper to do so, and refused. I have written out my speech as well as I can recollectit. I do not mind any friend seeing it, but you must not let it getabout as the dinner was a private one. 

[The notes of his speech run as follows:--]

Mr. President, I rise with pleasure and with alacrity to respond to the toast whichyou have just proposed, and I may say that I consider one of thegreatest honours which have befallen me, to be called upon torepresent my distinguished friend Mr. Darwin upon this occasion. I sayto represent Mr. Darwin, for I cannot hope to personate him, or to sayall that would be dictated by a mind conspicuous for its powerfulhumility and strong gentleness. 

Mr. Darwin's work had fully earned the distinction you have to-dayconferred upon him four-and-twenty years ago; but I doubt not that hewould have found in that circumstance an exemplification of the wiseforesight of his revered intellectual mother. Instead of offering herhonours when they ran a chance of being crushed beneath theaccumulated marks of approbation of the whole civilised world, theUniversity has waited until the trophy was finished, and has crownedthe edifice with the delicate wreath of academic appreciation. 

This is what I suppose Mr. Darwin might have said had he been happilyable to occupy my place. Let me now speak in my own person and inobedience to your suggestion, let me state as briefly as possible whatappear to me to be Mr. Darwin's distinctive merits. 

From the time of Aristotle to the present day I know of but one manwho has shown himself Mr. Darwin's equal in one field of research--andthat is Reaumur. In the breadth of range of Mr. Darwin'sinvestigations upon the ways and works of animals and plants, in theminute patient accuracy of his observations, and in the philosophicalideas which have guided them, I know of no one who is to be placed inthe same rank with him except Reaumur. 

Secondly, looking back through the same long period of scientifichistory, I know of but one man, Lyonnet, who not being from his youtha trained anatomist, has published such an admirable minute anatomicalresearch as is contained in Mr. Darwin's work on the Cirripedes. 

Thirdly, in that region which lies between Geology and Biology, and isoccupied by the problem of the influence of life on the structure ofthe globe, no one, so far as I know, has done a more brilliant andfar-reaching piece of work than the famous book upon Coral Reefs. 

I add to these as incidental trifles the numerous papers on Geology, and that most delightful of popular scientific books, the "Journal ofa Naturalist, " and I think I have made out my case for thejustification of to-day's proceedings. 

But I have omitted something. There is the "Origin of Species, " andall that has followed it from the same marvellously fertile brain. 

Most people know Mr. Darwin only as the author of this work, and ofthe form of evolutional doctrine which it advocates. I desire to saynothing about that doctrine. My friend Dr. Humphry has said that theUniversity has by to-day's proceedings committed itself to thedoctrine of evolution. I can only say "I am very glad to hear it. " Butwhether that doctrine be true or whether it be false, I wish toexpress the deliberate opinion, that from Aristotle's great summary ofthe Biological knowledge of his time down to the present day, there isnothing comparable to the "Origin of Species, " as a connected surveyof the phenomena of life permeated and vivified by a central idea. Inremote ages the historian of science will dwell upon it as thestarting-point of the Biology of his present and our future. 

My friend Dr. Humphry has adverted to somebody about whom I knownothing, who says that the exact and critical studies pursued in thisUniversity are ill-calculated to preserve a high tone of mind. 

I presume that this saying must proceed from some one whollyunacquainted with Cambridge. Whoever he may be, I beg him, if he can, to make the acquaintance of Charles Darwin. 

In Mr. Darwin's name I beg leave to thank you for the honour you havedone him. 

[It happened that the quadrennial election of a Lord Rector at St. Andrews University fell in this year, and on behalf of a number ofstudents, Huxley received a telegram from his son, now newly enteredat St. Andrews, asking him to stand. He writes to his wife:--]

That boy of yours has just sent me a telegram, which I enclose. I sentback message to say that as a Commissioner on the Scotch UniversitiesI could not possibly stand. The cockerel is beginning to crow early. Ido believe that to please the boy I should have assented to it if ithad not been for the Royal Commission. 

[Apropos of controversies (November 23)]

We had a grand discussion at the Royal Society last night betweenTyndall and Burdon Sanderson. The place was crammed, and we had a latesitting. I'm not sure, however, that we had got much further at theend than at the beginning, which is a way controversies have. 

[The following story is worth recording, as an illustration not onlyof the way in which Huxley would give what help was in his power toanother man of science in distress, but of the ready aid proffered onthis, as on many other occasions, by a wealthy northern merchant whowas interested in science. A German scientific worker in England, whomwe will call H. , had fallen into distress, and applied to him forhelp, asking if some work could not be put in his way. Huxley couldthink of nothing immediate but to suggest some lessons in Germanliterature to his children, though in fact they were well provided forwith a German governess; nevertheless he thought it a proper occasionto avail himself of his friend's offer to give help in deservingcases. He writes to his wife:--]

I made up my mind to write to X. The day before yesterday; thismorning by return of post he sends me a cheque not only for the 60pounds which I said H. Needed, but 5 pounds over for his present needswith a charming letter. 

It came in the nick of time, as H. Came an hour or two after itarrived, and with many apologies told me he was quite penniless. Thepoor old fellow was quite overcome when I told him of how mattersstood, and it was characteristic that as soon as he got his breathagain, he wanted to know when he would begin teaching the children! Isent him to get an order on the Naples bank for discharge of his debtthere. X. 's express stipulation was that his name should not bementioned, so mind you say not a word about his most kind and generousact. 

[The following letters of miscellaneous interest were written in thisyear:--]

4 Marlborough Place, November 21, 1877. 

My dear Morley, I am always at the command of the "Fortnightly" so long as you areeditor, but I don't think that the Belemnite business would do foryou. [The lecture at the London Institution mentioned above. ] Thestory would hardly be intelligible without illustrations. 

There are two things I am going to do which may be more to thepurpose. One is a screed on Technical Education which I am going togive to the Working Men's Union on the 1st December. 

The other is a sort of Eloge on Harvey at the Royal Institution inMarch apropos of his 300th birthday--which was Allfools Day. 

You shall have either of these you like, but I advise Harvey; as if Isucceed in doing what I shall aim at it will be interesting. 

Why the deuce do you live at Brighton? St. John's Wood is far lesscockneyfied, and its fine and Alpine air would be much better for you, and I believe for Mrs. Morley, than the atmosphere of the melancholymain, the effects of which on the human constitution have been so wellexpounded by that eminent empiric, Dr. Dizzy. 

Anyhow, I wish we could see something of you now and then. 

Ever yours very faithfully, T. H. Huxley. 

Darwin got his degree with great eclat on Saturday. I had to returnthanks for his health at the dinner of the Philosophical Society; andoh! I chaffed the dons so sweetly. 

4 Marlborough Place, N. W. , November 27, 1877. 

My dear Morley, You shall have both the articles--if it is only that I may enjoy theinnocent pleasure of Knowles' face when I let him know what has becomeof them. [The rival editor. Cp. Above. ]

Stormy ocean, forsooth! I back the storm and rain through which I camehome to-night against anything London-super-mare has to show. 

I will send the manuscript to Virtue as soon as it is in a reasonablestate. 

Ever yours very faithfully, T. H. Huxley. 

4 Marlborough Place, N. W. , January 8, 1878. 

My dear Morley, Many thanks for the cheque. In my humble judgment it is quite as muchas the commodity is worth. 

It was a great pleasure to us all to have you with us on New Year'sDay. My wife claims it as her day, and I am not supposed to knowanything about the guests except Spencer and Tyndall. None but thevery elect are invited to the sacred feast--so you see where you standamong the predestined who cannot fall away from the state of grace. 

I have not seen Spencer in such good form and good humour combined foran age. 

I am working away at Harvey, and will send the manuscript to Virtue'sas soon as I am sufficiently forward. 

Ever yours very faithfully, T. H. Huxley. 

4 Marlborough Place, December 9, 1877. 

My dear Tyndall, I am so sorry to have been out when Mrs. Tyndall called to-day. Bywhat we heard at the x on Thursday, I imagined you were practicallyall right again, or I should have been able to look after you to-day. 

But what I bother you with this note for is to beg you not to lectureat the London Institution to-morrow, but to let me change days withyou, and so give yourself a week to recover. And if you are seedy, then I am quite ready to give them another lecture on the Hokypotamusor whatever else may turn up. 

But don't go and exert yourself in your present condition. Thesesevere colds have often nothing very tangible about them, but are notto be trifled with when folks are past fifty. 

Let me have an answer to say that I may send a telegram to Nicholsonfirst thing to-morrow morning to say that I will lecture vice you. My"bottled life, " as Hutton calls it in the "Spectator" this week, isquite ready to go off. [The "Spectator" for December 8, 1877, began anarticle thus:--"Professor Huxley delivered a very amusing address lastSaturday at the Society of Arts, on the very unpromising subject oftechnical education; but we believe that if Professor Huxley were tobecome the President of the Social Science Association, or of theInternational Statistical Congress, he would still be amusing, so muchbottled life does he infuse into the driest topic on which humanbeings ever contrived to prose. "]

Now be a sane man and take my advice. 

Ever yours faithfully, T. H. Huxley. 

CHAPTER 2. 10. 

1878. 

[The year 1878 was the tercentenary of Harvey's birth, and Huxley wasvery busy with the life and work of that great physician. He spoke atthe memorial meeting at the College of Physicians (July 18), he gave alecture on Harvey at the Royal Institution on January 25, afterwardspublished in "Nature" and the "Fortnightly Review, " and intended towrite a book on him in a projected "English Men of Science" series. (See below. )]

I am very glad you like "Harvey" [he writes to Professor Baynes onFebruary 11]. He is one of the biggest scientific minds we have had. Iexpect to get well vilipended not only by the anti-vivisection folk, for the most of whom I have a hearty contempt, but apropos of Bacon. Ihave been oppressed by the humbug of the "Baconian Induction" all mylife, and at last THE WORM HAS TURNED. 

[Now in this lecture he showed that Harvey employed vivisection toestablish the doctrine of the circulation of the blood, andfurthermore, that he taught this doctrine before the "Novum Organum"was published, and that his subsequent "Exercitatio" displays no traceof being influenced by Bacon's work. After glancing at thesuperstitious reverence for the "Baconian Induction, " he pointed outBacon's ignorance of the progress of science up to his time, and hisinability to divine the importance of what he knew by hearsay of thework of Copernicus, or Kepler, or Galileo; of Gilbert, hiscontemporary, or of Galen; and wound up by quoting Ellis's severejudgment of Bacon in the General Preface to the Philosophic Works, inSpedding's classical edition (page 38):--] "That his method isimpracticable cannot, I think, be denied, if we reflect, not only thatit never has produced any result, but also that the process by whichscientific truths have been established cannot be so presented as evento appear to be in accordance with it. "

[How early this conviction had forced itself upon him, I cannot say;but it was certainly not later than 1859, when the "Origin of Species"was constantly met with "Oh, but this is contrary to the Baconianmethod. " He had long felt what he expresses most clearly in the"Progress of Science" ("Collected Essays" 1 46-57), that Bacon's]"majestic eloquence and fervid vaticinations, " [which] "drew theattention of all the world to the 'new birth of Time, '" [were yet, forall practical results on discovery, ] "a magnificent failure. " [Thedesire for "fruits" has not been the great motive of the discoverer;nor has discovery waited upon collective research. ] "Those who refuseto go beyond fact, " [he writes, ] "rarely get as far as fact; and anyone who has studied the history of science knows that almost everygreat step therein has been made by the 'anticipation of nature, ' thatis, by the invention of hypotheses, which, though verifiable, oftenhad very little foundation to start with; and, not unfrequently, inspite of a long career of usefulness, turned out to be whollyerroneous in the long-run. "

[Thus he had been led to a settled disbelief in Bacon's scientificgreatness, that reasoned "prejudice" against which Spedding himselfwas moved to write twice in defence of Bacon. In his first letter hecriticised a passage in the lecture touching this question. On the onehand, he remarks, "Bacon would probably have agreed with you as to hispretensions as a scientific discoverer (he calls himself a bellman tocall other wits together, or a trumpeter, or a maker of bricks forothers to build with). " On the other hand, he asks, ought a passagefrom a fragment--the "Temporis partus masculus"--unpublished inBacon's lifetime, to be treated as one of his representative opinions?

In his second letter he adduces, on other grounds, his own morefavourable impression of Bacon's philosophical influence. A peculiarinterest of this letter lies in its testimony to the influence ofHuxley's writings even on his elder contemporaries. 

From James Spedding. 

February 1, 1878. 

... When you admit that you study Bacon with a PREJUDICE, you mean ofcourse an unfavourable opinion previously formed on sufficientgrounds. Now I am myself supposed to have studied him with a prejudicethe other way: but this I cannot admit, in any sense of the word; forwhen I first made his acquaintance I had no opinion or feeling abouthim at all--more than the ordinary expectation of a young man to findwhat he is told to look for. My earliest impression of his charactercame probably from Thomson--whose portrait of him, except as touchedand softened by the tenderer hand of "the sweet-souled poet of theSeasons, " did not differ from the ordinary one. It was not long indeedbefore I did begin to form an opinion of my own; one of thoseAFTER-judgments which are liable to be mistaken for prejudices bythose who judge differently, and which, being formed, do, no doubt, tell upon the balance. For it was not long before I found myselfindebted to him for the greatest benefit probably that any man, livingor dead, can confer on another. In my school and college days I hadbeen betrayed by an ambition to excel in themes and declamations intothe study, admiration, and imitation of the rhetoricians. In thecourse of my last long vacation--the autumn of 1830--I was inspiredwith a new ambition, namely, to think justly about everything which Ithought about at all, and to act accordingly; a conviction for which Icannot cease to feel grateful, and which I distinctly trace to theaccident of having in the beginning of that same vacation given twoshillings at a second-hand bookstall for a little volume of Dove'sclassics, containing the Advancement of Learning. And if I could tellyou how many superlatives I have since that time degraded into thepositive; how many innumerables and infinities I have replaced bycounted numbers and estimated quantities; how many assumptions, important to the argument in hand, I have withdrawn because I found onmore consideration that the fact might be explained otherwise; and howmany effective epithets I have discarded when I found that I could notfully verify them; you would think it no less than just that I shouldclaim for myself and concede to others the right of being judged bythe last edition rather than the first. That a persistent endeavour tofree myself from what you regard as Bacon's characteristic vice shouldhave been the fruit of a desire to follow his example, will seemstrange to you, but it is fact. Perhaps you will think it not lessstrange, but it is my real belief, that if your own writings had beenin existence and come in my way at the same critical stage of my moraland mental development, they would have taught me the same lesson andinspired me with the same ambition; for in that particular (if I maysay it without offence) I look upon you BOTH as eminent examples ofthe SAME virtue. 

To the lecture he refers once more in a letter to Mr. John Morley. Thepolitical situation touched on in this and the next letter is that ofthe end of the Russo-Turkish war and the beginning of the Afghan war. ]

Science Schools, South Kensington, February 7, 1878. 

My dear Morley, Many thanks for the cheque, and still more for your good word for thearticle. [On Harvey. ] I knew it would "draw" Hutton, and his ingenuityhas as usual made the best of the possibilities of attack. I am gladto find, however, that he does not think it expedient to reiterate hisold story about the valuelessness of vivisection in the establishmentof the doctrine of the circulation. 

I hear that that absurd creature R-- goes about declaring that I havemade all sorts of blunders. Could not somebody be got to persuade himto put what he has to say in black and white?

Controversy is as abhorrent to me as gin to a reclaimed drunkard; butoh dear! it would be so nice to squelch that pompous imposter. 

I hope you admire the late aspects of the British Lion. His tail goesup and down from the intercrural to the stiffly erect attitude pertelegram, while his head is sunk in the windbag of the House ofCommons. 

I am beginning to think that a war would be a good thing if only forthe inevitable clean sweep of all the present governing people whichit would bring about. 

Ever yours very faithfully, T. H. Huxley. 

[To his eldest daughter. ]

Science Schools, South Kensington, December 7, 1878. 

Dearest Jess, You are a badly used young person--you are; and nothing short of thatconviction would get a letter out of your still worse used Pater, thebete noire of whose existence is letter-writing. 

Catch me discussing the Afghan question with you, you little pepperpot. No, not if I know it. Read Fitzjames Stephen's letter in the"Times, " also Bartle Frere's memorandum, also Napier of Magdala'smemo. Them's my sentiments. 

Also read the speech of Lord Hartington on the address. He is a man ofsense like his father, and you will observe that he declares that theGovernment were perfectly within their right in declaring war withoutcalling Parliament together... 

If you had lived as long as I have and seen as much of men, you wouldcease to be surprised at the reputations men of essentiallycommonplace powers--aided by circumstances and some amount ofcleverness--obtain. 

I am as strong for justice as any one can be, but it is real justice, not sham conventional justice which the sentimentalists howl for. 

At this present time real justice requires that the power of Englandshould be used to maintain order and introduce civilisation whereverthat power extends. 

The Afghans are a pack of disorderly treacherous blood-thirsty thievesand caterans who should never have been allowed to escape from theheavy hand we laid upon them, after the massacre of twenty thousand ofour men, women, and children in the Khoord Cabul Pass thirty yearsago. 

We have let them be, and the consequence is they now lend themselvesto the Russians, and are ready to stir up disorder and undo all thegood we have been doing in India for the last generation. 

They are to India exactly what the Highlanders of Scotland were to theLowlanders before 1745; and we have just as much right to deal withthem in the same way. 

I am of opinion that our Indian Empire is a curse to us. But so longas we make up our minds to hold it, we must also make up our minds todo those things which are needful to hold it effectually, and in thelong run it will be found that so doing is real justice both forourselves, our subject population, and the Afghans themselves. 

There, you plague. 

Ever your affectionate Daddy, T. H. Huxley. 

[A few days later he writes to his son:--]

The Liberals are making fools of themselves, and "the family" declareI am becoming a Jingo! another speech from Gladstone is expected tocomplete my conversion. 

[Among other occupations he still had to attend the ScottishUniversities Commission, for which he wrote the paragraph onexaminations in its report; he lectured on the Hand at the WorkingMen's College; prepared new editions of the "Physiography, ""Elementary Physiology, " and "Vertebrate Anatomy, " and at lengthbrought out the "Introductory Primer" in the Science Primer Series, inquite a different form from what he had originally sketched out. Buthis chief interest lay in the Invertebrata. From April 29 to June 3 helectured to working men at Jermyn Street upon the Crayfish; read apaper on the Classification and Distribution of Crayfishes at theZoological Society on June 4, and lectured at the Zoological Gardensweekly from May 17 to June 21 on Crustaceous Animals. In all this worklay the foundations of his subsequent book on the Crayfish, which Ifind jotted down in the notes of this year to be written as anintroduction to "Zoology, " together with the "Dog" as an introductionto the "Mammalia", and "Man"--already dealt with in "Man's Place inNature"--as an introduction to "Anthropology. " This projected seriesis completed with a half-erased note of an introduction to"Psychology, " which perhaps found some expression in parts of the"Hume, " also written this year. 

He notes down also, work on the Ascidians, and on the morphology ofthe Mollusca and Cephalopods brought back by the "Challenger, " inconnection with which he now began the monograph on the rare creatureSpirula, a remarkable piece of work, being based upon the dissectionsof a single specimen, but destined never to be completed by his hand, though his drawings were actually engraved, and nothing remained butto put a few finishing touches and to write detailed descriptions ofthe plates. 

Letters to W. K. Parker and Professor Haeckel touch on this part of hiswork; the former, indeed, offering a close parallel to a story, obviously of the same period, which the younger Parker tells in hisreminiscences, to illustrate the way in which he would be utterlyengrossed in a subject for the time being. Jeffery Parker, whiledemonstrator of biology, came to him with a question about the brainof the codfish at a time when he was deep in the investigation of someinvertebrate group. ] "Codfish?" [he replied, ] "that's a vertebrate, isn't it? Ask me a fortnight hence, and I'll consider it. "

4 Marlborough Place, September 25, 1878. 

My dear Parker, As far as I recollect Ammocoetes is a vertebrated animal--and I ignoreit. 

The paper you refer to was written by my best friend--a carefulishkind of man--and I am as sure that he saw what he says he saw, as if Ihad seen it myself. 

But what the fact may mean and whether it is temporary orpermanent--is thy servant a dog that he should worry himself aboutother things with backbones? Not if I know it. 

Churchill has got over a whole batch of the American edition of theVertebrata, so I have a respite. Mollusks are far moreinteresting--bugs sweeter--while the dinner crayfish hath no parallelfor intense and absorbing interest in the three kingdoms of Nature. 

What saith the Scripture? "Go to the ANT thou sluggard. " In otherwords, study the Invertebrata. 

Ever yours very faithfully, T. H. Huxley. 

[Sketch of a vast winged ant advancing on a midget, and saying, as itlooks through a pair of eyeglasses, "Well, really, what an absurdcreature!!"]

4 Marlborough Place, London, April 28, 1878. 

My dear Haeckel, Since the receipt of your letter three months ago, I have been makingmany inquiries about Medusae for you, but I could hear of none--and soI have delayed my reply, until I doubt not you have been blasphemingmy apparent neglect. 

My "Sammlung"!! [Collection. ] My dear friend, my cabin on board H. M. S. "Rattlesnake" was 7 feet long, 6 feet wide, and 5 feet 6 inches high. When my bed and my clothes were in it, there was not much room for anycollection, except the voluntary one made by some thousands ofspecimens of Blatta orientalis [The cockroach. ], with whose presence Ishould have been very glad to dispense. 

My Medusae were never published. I have heaps of notes and drawingsand half-a-dozen engraved plates. But after the publication of the"Oceanic Hydrozoa" I was obliged to take to quite other occupations, and all that material is like the "full many a flower, born to blushunseen, " of our poet. 

If you would pay us a visit you should look through the whole mass, ifyou liked, and you might find something interesting. 

At present, I am very busy about Crayfishes (Flusskrebse), working outthe relations between their structure and their GeographicalDistribution, which are very curious and interesting. 

I have also nearly finished the anatomy of Spirula for the"Challenger. " It is essentially a cuttlefish, and the shell is reallyinternal. With only one specimen, it has been a long and troublesomejob--but I shall establish all the essential points and givehalf-a-dozen plates of anatomy. 

You will recollect my eldest little daughter? She is going to bemarried next Saturday. It is the first break in our family, and we arevery sad to lose her--though well satisfied with her prospects. She isbut just twenty and a charming girl, though you may put that down tofatherly partiality if you like. 

The second daughter has taken to art, and will make a painter if shebe wise enough not to marry for some years. 

My eldest son who comes next is taller than I am. He has been at oneof the Scotch Universities for the last six months; and one of thesefine days, next month, you will see a fair-haired stripling asking forHerr Professor Haeckel. 

I am going to send him to Jena for three months to pick up your noblevernacular; and in the meanwhile to continue his Greek andMathematics, in which the young gentleman is fairly proficient. If youcan recommend any Professor under whom he can carry on his studies, itwill be a great kindness. 

I will give him a letter to you, and while I beg you not to giveyourself any trouble about him, I need not say I shall be verygrateful for any notice you may take of him. 

I am giving him as much independence of action as possible, in orderthat he may learn to take care of himself. 

Now that is enough about my children. Yours must yet be young--and youhave not yet got to the marriage and university stage--which I assureyou is much more troublesome than the measles and chicken-pox period. 

My wife unites with me in kindest remembrances and good wishes. 

Ever yours very faithfully, T. H. Huxley. 

[An outbreak of diphtheria among his children made the spring of 1878a time of overwhelming anxiety. How it told upon his strong andself-contained chief is related by T. J. Parker--"I never saw a manmore crushed than he was during the dangerous illness of one of hisdaughters, and he told me that, having then to make an after-dinnerspeech, he broke down for the first time in his life, and for onepainful moment forgot where he was and what he had to say. " This wasone of the few occasions of his absence from College during theseventies. "When, after two days, he looked in at the laboratory, "writes Professor Howes, "his dejected countenance and tired expressionbetokened only too plainly the intense anxiety he had undergone. "

The history of the outbreak was very instructive. Huxley took aleading part in organising an inquiry and in looking into the matterwith the health officer. ] "As soon as I can get all the factstogether, " [he writes on December 10, ] "I am going to make a greatturmoil about our outbreak of diphtheria--and see whether I cannot getour happy-go-lucky local government mended. " [As usual, the epidemicwas due to culpable negligence. In the construction of some drains, too small a pipe was laid down. The sewage could not escape, andflooded back in a low-lying part of Kilburn. Diphtheria soon broke outclose by. While it was raging there, a St. John's Wood dairymanrunning short of milk, sent for more to an infected dairy in Kilburn. Every house which he supplied that day with Kilburn milk was attackedwith diphtheria. 

But with relief from this heavy strain, his spirits instantly revived, and he writes to Tyndall. ]

4 Marlborough Place, May 20, 1878. 

My dear Tyndall, I wrote you a most downhearted letter this morning about Madge, andnot without reason. But having been away four hours, I come home tofind a wonderful and blessed change. The fever has abated and she islooking like herself. If she could only make herself heard, I shouldhave some sauciness. I see it in her eyes. 

If you will be so kind as to kiss everybody you meet on my account itwill be a satisfaction to me. You may begin with Mrs. Tyndall!

Ever yours, T. H. Huxley. 

[Professor Marsh, with whom Huxley had stayed at Yale College in 1876, paid his promised visit to England immediately after this. ]

4 Marlborough Place, N. W. , June 24, 1878 (Evening). 

My dear Marsh, Welcome to England! I am delighted to hear of your arrival--but thenews has only just reached me, as I have been away since Saturday withmy wife and sick daughter who are at the seaside. A great deal hashappened to us in the last six or seven weeks. My eldest daughtermarried, and then a week after an invasion of diphtheria, which struckdown my eldest son, my youngest daughter, and my eldest remainingdaughter altogether. Two of the cases were light, but my poor Madgesuffered terribly, and for some ten days we were in sickening anxietyabout her. She is slowly gaining strength now, and I hope there is nomore cause for alarm--but my household is all to pieces--the Lares andPenates gone, and painters and disinfectors in their places. 

You will certainly have to run down to Margate and see my wife--ornever expect forgiveness in this world. 

I shall be at the Science Schools, South Kensington, to-morrow tillfour--and if I do not see you before that time I shall come and lookyou up at the Palace Hotel. 

I am, yours very faithfully, T. H. Huxley. 

"Is it not provoking, " [he writes to his wife, ] "that we should all bedislocated when I should have been so glad to show him a littleattention?" [Still, apart from this weekend at the seaside, ProfessorMarsh was not entirely neglected. He writes in his "Recollections"(page 6):--

How kind Huxley was to everyone who could claim his friendship, I havegood cause to know. Of the many instances which occur to me, one willsuffice. One evening in London at a grand annual reception of theRoyal Academy, where celebrities of every rank were present, Huxleysaid to me, ] "When I was in America, you showed me every extinctanimal that I had read about, or even dreamt of. Now, if there is asingle living lion in all Great Britain that you wish to see, I willshow him to you in five minutes. " [He kept his promise, and before thereception was over, I had met many of the most noted men in England, and from that evening, I can date a large number of acquaintances, whohave made my subsequent visits to that country an ever-increasingpleasure. 

As for his summer occupations, he writes to his eldest daughter onJuly 2:--]

No, young woman, you don't catch me attending any congresses I canavoid, not even if F. Is an artful committee-man. I must go to theBritish Association at Dublin--for my sins--and after that we havepromised to pay a visit in Ireland to Sir Victor Brooke. After that Imust settle myself down in Penmaenmawr and write a little book aboutDavid Hume--before the grindery of the winter begins. 

[The meeting of the British Association took place this year in thethird week of August at Dublin. Huxley gave an address in theAnthropological subsection ("Informal Remarks on the Conclusions ofAnthropology" "British Association Report" 1878 pages 573-578. ), andon the 20th received the honorary degree of LL. D. From DublinUniversity, the Public Orator presenting him in the following words:--

Praesento vobis Thomam Henricum Huxley--hominem vere physicum--hominemfacundum, lepidum, venustum--eundem autem nihil (philosophia modo sualucem praeferat) reformidantem--ne illud quidem Ennianum, Simia quam similis, turpissima bestia, nobis. 

The extract above given contains the first reference to the book onHume (In the "English Men of Letters" series, edited by Mr. JohnMorley. ), written this summer as a holiday occupation at Penmaenmawr. The speed at which it was composed is remarkable, even allowing forhis close knowledge of the subject, acquired many years before. Thoughhe had been "picking at it" earlier in the summer, the whole of thephilosophical part was written during September, leaving thebiographical part to be done later. 

The following letters from Marlborough Place show him at work upon thebook:--]

March 31, 1878. 

My dear Morley, I like the notion of undertaking your Hume book, and I don't see why Ishould not get it done this autumn. But you must not consider mepledged on that point, as I cannot quite command my time. 

Tulloch sent me his book on Pascal. It was interesting as everythingabout Pascal must be, but Tulloch is not a model of style. 

I have looked into Bruton's book, but I shall now get it and study it. Hume's correspondence with Rousseau seems to me typical of the man'ssweet, easy-going nature. Do you mean to have a portrait of each ofyour men? I think it is a great comfort in a biography to get a notionof the subject in the flesh. 

I have rather made it a rule not to part with my property in mybooks--but I daresay that can be arranged with Macmillan. Anyhow Ishall be content to abide by the general arrangement if you have madeone. 

We have had a bad evening. Clifford has been here, and he is extremelyill--in fact I fear the worst for him. [See below. ]

It is a thousand pities, for he has a fine nature all round, and timewould have ripened him into something very considerable. We are allvery fond of him. 

Ever yours very faithfully, T. H. Huxley. 

July 6, 1878. 

My dear Morley, Very many thanks for Diderot. I have made a plunge into the firstvolume and found it very interesting. I wish you had put a portrait ofhim as a frontispiece. I have seen one--a wonderful face, somethinglike Goethe's. 

I am picking at Hume at odd times. It seems to me that I had bettermake an analysis and criticism of the "Inquiry, " the backbone of theessay--as it touches all the problems which interest us most just now. I have already sketched out a chapter on Miracles, which will, I hope, be very edifying in consequence of its entire agreement with theorthodox arguments against Hume's a priori reasonings againstmiracles. 

Hume wasn't half a sceptic after all. And so long as he got deepenough to worry Orthodoxy, he did not care to go to the bottom ofthings. 

He failed to see the importance of suggestions already made both byLocke and Berkeley. 

Ever yours very faithfully, T. H. Huxley. 

September 30, 1878. 

My dear Morley, Praise me! I have been hard at work at Hume at Penmaenmawr, and I havegot the hard part of the business--the account of hisphilosophy--blocked out in the bodily shape of about 180 pagesfoolscap manuscript. 

But I find the job as tough as it is interesting. Hume's diamonds, before the public can see them properly, want a proper setting in amethodical and consistent shape--and that implies writing a smallpsychological treatise of one's own, and then cutting it down into asunobtrusive a form as possible. 

So I am working away at my draft--from the point of view of anaesthetic jeweller. 

As soon as I get it into such a condition as will need only verbaltrimming, I should like to have it set up in type. For it is a defectof mine that I can never judge properly of any composition of my ownin manuscript. 

Moreover (don't swear at this wish) I should very much like to send itto you in that shape for criticism. 

The Life will be an easy business. I should like to get the book outof hand before Christmas, and will do so if possible. But my lecturesbegin on Tuesday, and I cannot promise. 

Ever yours very faithfully, T. H. Huxley. 

October 21, 1878. 

My dear Morley, I have received slips up to chapter 9 of Hume, and so far I do notthink (saving your critical presence) that there will be much need ofmuch modification or interpolation. 

I have made all my citations from a 4-volume edition of Hume, published by Black and Tait in 1826, which has long been in mypossession. 

Do you think I ought to quote Green and Grose's edition? It will be agreat bother, and I really don't think that the understanding of Humeis improved by going back to eighteenth-century spelling. 

I am at work upon the Life, which should not take long. But I wishthat I had polished that off at Penmaenmawr as well. What withlecturing five days a week, and toiling at two anatomical monographs, it is hard to find time. 

As soon as I have gone through all the eleven chapters about thePhilosophy--I will send them to you and get you to come and dine someday--after you have looked at them--and go into it. 

Ever yours very faithfully, T. H. Huxley. 

Science Schools, South Kensington, October 29, 1878. 

My dear Morley, Your letter has given me great pleasure. For though I have thoroughlyenjoyed the work, and seemed to myself to have got at the heart ofHume's way of thinking, I could not tell how it would appear toothers, still less could I pretend to judge of the literary form ofwhat I had written. And as I was quite prepared to accept yourjudgment if it had been unfavourable, so being what it is, I hugmyself proportionately and begin to give myself airs as a man ofletters. 

I am through all the interesting part of Hume's life--that is, thestruggling part of it--and David the successful and the feted beginsrather to bore me, as I am sorry to say most successful people do. Ihope to send the first chapter to press in another week. 

Might it not be better, by the way, to divide the little book into twoparts?

Part 1. --Life, Literary and Political work, Part 2. --Philosophy, subdividing the latter into chapters or sections? please tell me whatyou think. 

I have not received the last chapter from the printer yet. When I do Iwill finish revising, and then ask you to come and have a symposiumover it. 

Ever yours very faithfully, T. H. Huxley. 

P. S. --Macmillan has a lien on "The Hand. " I gave part of the lecturein another shape at Glasgow two years ago and M. Had it reported forhis magazine. If he is good and patient he will get it in some shapesome day!

4 Marlborough Place, N. W. , November 5, 1878. 

My dear Morley, "Davie's" philosophy is now all in print, and all but a few finalpages of his biography. 

So I think the time has come when that little critical symposium maytake place. 

Can you come and dine on Tuesday next (12) at 7? Or if any day exceptWednesday 15th, next week, will suit you better, it will do just aswell for me. There will be nobody but my wife and daughters, so don'tdress. 

Ever yours very faithfully, T. H. Huxley. 

P. S. --Will you be disgusted if in imitation of the "English Men ofLetters" I set agoing an "English Men of Science. " Few people have anyconception of the part Englishmen have played in science, and I thinkit would be both useful and interesting to bring the truth home to theEnglish mind. 

I had about three thousand people to hear me on Saturday atManchester, and it would have done you good to hear how they cheeredat my allusion to personal rule. I had to stop and let them ease theirsouls. 

Behold my P. S. Is longer than my letter. It's the strong feminineelement in my character oozing out. "Desinit in piscem" though, and amighty queer fish too. 

4 Marlborough Place, January 12, 1879. 

Dear Lecky, I am very much obliged for your suggestion about the note at page 9. Iam ashamed to say that though the eleven day correction was familiarenough to me, I had never thought about the shifting of the beginningof the year till you mentioned it. It is a law of nature, I believe, that when a man says what he need not say he is sure to blunder. Thenote shall go out. 

All I know about Sprat is as the author of a dull history of the RoyalSociety, so I was surprised to meet with Hume's estimate of him. 

No doubt about the general hatred of the Scotch, but you will observethat I make Millar responsible for the peace-making assurance. 

What you said to me in conversation some time ago led me to look atHume's position as a moralist with some care, and I quoted the passageat page 206 that no doubt might be left on the matter. 

The little book threatened to grow to an undue length, and thereforethe question of morals is treated more briefly than was perhapsdesirable. 

Ever yours very faithfully, T. H. Huxley. 

[Early in November I find the first reference to a proposed, but nevercompleted, "English Men of Science" series in the letter to Mr. Morleyabove. The following letters, especially those to Sir H. Roscoe, withwhom he was concerting the series, give some idea of its scope:--]

4 Marlborough Place, N. W. , December 10, 1878. 

My dear Roscoe, You will think that I have broken out into letter-writing in a veryunwonted fashion, but I forgot half of what I had to say this morning. 

After a good deal of consultation with Macmillans, who were anxiousthat the "English Men of Science" series should not be too extensive, I have arranged the books as follows:--

1. Roger Bacon. 

2. Harvey and the Physiologists of the 17th century. 

3. Robert Boyle and the Royal Society. 

4. Isaac Newton. 

5. Charles Darwin. 

6. English Physicists, Gilbert, Young, Faraday, Joule. 

7. English Chemists, Black, Priestley, Cavendish, Davy, Dalton. 

8. English Physiologists and Zoologists of the 18th century, Hunter, etc. 

9. English Botanists, Ray, Crew, Hales, Brown. 

10. English Geologists, Hutton, Smith, Lyell. 

We may throw in the astronomers if the thing goes. 

Green of Leeds will undertake 10; Dyer, with Hooker's aid, 9; M. Foster eight and I look to you for 7. 

Tyndall has half promised to do Boyle, and I hope he will. Clerk-Maxwell can't undertake Newton, and hints X. But I won't haveX. --he is too much of a bolter to go into the tandem. I am thinking ofasking Moulton, who is strongly recommended by Spottiswoode, and is avery able fellow, likely to put his strength into it. 

Do you know anything about Chrystal of St. Andrews? [Now Professor ofMathematics at Edinburgh. ] I forget whether I asked you before. Fromall I hear of him I expect he would do Number 6 very well. I havewritten to Adamson by this post. 

I shall get off with Harvey and Darwin to my share. 

Ever yours very faithfully, T. H. Huxley. 

4 Marlborough Place, N. W. , December 26, 1878. 

My dear Roscoe, I was very loth to lump the chemists together, but Max was very strongabout not having too many books in the series; and on the other hand, I had my doubts how far the chemists were capable of "dissociation"without making the book too technical. 

But I do not regard the present arrangement as unalterable, and if youthink the early chemists and the later chemists would do better in twoseparate groups, the matter is quite open to consideration. 

Maxwell says he is overdone with work already, and altogether declinesto take anything new. I shall have to look about me for a man to dothe Physikers. 

Of course Adamson will have to take in a view of the science of theMiddle Ages. That will be one of the most interesting parts of thebook, and I hope he will do it well. I suppose he knows his Dante. 

The final cause of boys is to catch something or other. I trust thatyours is demeasling himself properly. 

Ever yours very faithfully, T. H. Huxley. 

4 Marlborough Place, December 1878. 

My dear Tyndall, I consider your saying the other evening that you would see "any oneelse d--d first, " before you would assent to the little proposal Imade to you, as the most distinct and binding acceptance you arecapable of. You have nothing else to swear by, and so you swear ateverybody but me when you want to pledge yourself. 

It will release me of an immense difficulty if you will undertake R. Boyle and the Royal Society (which of course includes Hooke); and thesubject is a capital one. 

The book should not exceed about 200 pages, and you need not be readybefore this time next year. There could not be a more refreshing pieceof work just to enliven the dolce far niente of the Bel Alp. (That isquite a la Knowles, and I begin to think I have some faculty as aneditor. )

Settle your own terms with Macmillan. They will be as joyful as Ishall be to know you are going to take part in the enterprise. 

Ever yours faithfully, T. H. Huxley. 

4 Marlborough Place, December 31, 1878. 

My dear Tyndall, I would sooner have your Boyle, however long we may have to wait forit, than anybody else's d--d simmer. (Now that's a "goak, " and youmust ask Mrs. Tyndall to explain it to you. )

Two years will I give you from this blessed New Year's eve, 1878, andif it isn't done on New Year's Day 1881 you shall not be admitted tothe company of the blessed, but your dinner shall be sent to youbetween two plates to the most pestiferous corner of the laboratory ofthe Royal Institution. I am very glad you will undertake the job, andfeel that I have a proper New Year's gift. 

By the way, you ought to have had Hume ere this. Macmillan sent me twoor three copies, just to keep his word, on Christmas Day, and Ithought I should have a lot more at once. 

But there is no sign--not even an advertisement--and I don't know whathas become of the edition. Perhaps the bishops have bought it up. 

With all good wishes, Ever yours, T. H. Huxley. 

[Two letters--both to Tyndall--show his solicitude for his friends. The one speaks of a last and unavailing attempt made by W. K. Clifford's friends to save his life by sending him on a voyage (hedied not long after at Madeira); the other urges Tyndall himself to becareful of his health. ]

4 Marlborough Place, April 2, 1878. 

My dear Tyndall, We had a sort of council about Clifford at Clark's house yesterdaymorning--H. Thompson, Corfield, Payne, Pollock, and myself, and I amsure you will be glad to hear the result. 

From the full statement of the nature of his case made by Clark andCorfield, it appears that though grave enough in all conscience, it isnot so bad as it might be, and that there is a chance, I might almostsay a fair chance, for him yet. It appears that the lung mischief hasnever gone so far as the formation of a cavity, and that it is atpresent quiescent, and no other organic disease discoverable. Thealarming symptom is a general prostration--very sadly obvious when hewas with us on Sunday--which, as I understand, rather renders himspecially obnoxious to a sudden and rapid development of the lungdisease than is itself to be feared. 

It was agreed that they should go at once to Gibraltar by the P. AndO. , and report progress when he gets there. If strong enough he is togo on a cruise round the Mediterranean, and if he improves by this heis to go away for a year to Bogota (in South America), which appearsto be a favourable climate for such cases as his. 

If he gets worse he can but return. I have done my best to impressupon him and his wife the necessity of extreme care, and I hope theywill be wise. 

It is very pleasant to find how good and cordial everybody is, helpfulin word and deed to the poor young people. I know it will rejoice thecockles of your generous old heart to hear it. 

As for yourself, I trust you are mending and allowing yourself to betaken care of by your household goddess. 

With our united love to her and yourself, Ever yours very faithfully, T. H. Huxley. 

I sent your cheque to Yeo. 

May, 1878. 

My dear Tyndall, You were very much wanted on Saturday, as your wife will have toldyou, but for all that I would not have had you come on any account. You want a thorough long rest and freedom from excitement of allsorts, and I am rejoiced to hear that you are going out of thehurly-burly of London as soon as possible; and, not to be uncivil, Ido hope you will stay away as long as possible, and not be deludedinto taking up anything exciting as soon as you feel lively againamong your mountains. 

Pray give up Dublin. If you don't, I declare I will try if I haveenough influence with the council to get you turned out of your officeof Lecturer, and superseded. 

Do seriously consider this, as you will be undoing the good results ofyour summer's rest. I believe your heart is as sound as your watch waswhen you went on your memorable slide [On the Piz Morteratsch; "Hoursof Exercise in the Alps" by J. Tyndall chapter 19. ], but if you goslithering down avalanches of work and worry you can't always expectto pick up "the little creature" none the worse. The apparatus is byone of the best makers, but it has been some years in use, and can'tbe expected to stand rough work. 

You will be glad to hear that we had cheerier news of Clifford onSaturday. He was distinctly better, and setting out on hisMediterranean voyage. 

Ever yours very faithfully, T. H. Huxley. 

[A birthday letter to his son concludes the year:--]

4 Marlborough Place, N. W. , December 10, 1878. 

Your mother reminds me that to-morrow is your eighteenth birthday, andthough I know that my "happy returns" will reach you a few hours toolate, I cannot but send them. 

You are touching manhood now, my dear laddie, and I trust that as aman your mother and I may always find reason to regard you as we havedone throughout your boyhood. 

The great thing in the world is not so much to seek happiness as toearn peace and self-respect. I have not troubled you much withpaternal didactics--but that bit is "ower true" and worth thinkingover. 

CHAPTER 2. 11. 

1879. 

[Much of the work noted down for 1878 reappears in my father's listfor 1879. He was still at work upon, or meditating his Crayfish, hisIntroduction to Psychology, the Spirula Memoir, and a new edition ofthe Elementary Physiology. Professor H. N. Martin writes about thechanges necessary for adapting the "Practical Biology" to Americanneeds; the article on Harvey was waiting to be put into permanentform. Besides giving an address at the Working Men's College, helectured on Sensation and the Uniformity of the Sensiferous Organs("Collected Essays" 6. ), at the Royal Institution, Friday evening, March 7; and on Snakes, both at the Zoological Gardens, June 5, and atthe London Institution, December 1. On February 3 he read a paper atthe Royal Society on "The Characters of the Pelvis in the Mammalia, and the Conclusions respecting the Origin of Mammals which may bebased on them"; and published in "Nature" for November 6 a paper on"Certain Errors Respecting the Structure of the Heart, attributed toAristotle. "

Great interest attaches to this paper. He had always wondered howAristotle, in dissecting a heart, had come to assert that it containedonly three chambers; and the desire to see for himself what stood inthe original, uncommented on by translators who were not themselvesanatomists, was one of the chief reasons (I think the wish to read theGreek Testament in the original was another) which operated in makinghim take up the study of Greek late in middle life. His practice wasto read in his book until he had come to ten new words; these helooked out, parsed, and wrote down together with their chiefderivatives. This was his daily portion. 

When at last he grappled with the passage in question, he found thatAristotle had correctly described what he saw under the specialconditions of his dissection, when the right auricle actually appearsas he described it, an enlargement of the "great vein. " So that this, at least, ought to be removed from the list of Aristotle's errors. Thesame is shown to be the case with his statements about respiration. His own estimate of Aristotle as a physiologist is between thepanegyric of Cuvier and the depreciation of Lewes: "he carried sciencea step beyond the point at which he found it; a meritorious, but not amiraculous, achievement. " And it will interest scholars to know thatfrom his own experience as a lecturer, Huxley was inclined to favourthe theory that the original manuscripts of the "Historia Animalium, "with their mingled accuracy and absurdity, were notes taken by some ofhis students. This essay was reprinted in "Science and Culture" page180. 

This year he brought out his second volume of essays on varioussubjects, written from 1870 to 1878, under the title of "Critiques andAddresses, " and later in the year, his long-delayed and now entirelyrecast "Introductory Primer" in the Science Primer Series. ]

6 Barnepark Terrace, Teignmouth, September 12, 1879. 

My dear Roscoe, I send you by this post my long-promised Primer, and a like set ofsheets goes to Stewart. [Balfour Stewart, Professor of NaturalPhilosophy in Owens College, Manchester. ]

You will see that it is quite different from my first sketch, Geikie'sprimer having cut me out of that line--but _I_ think it much better. 

You will see that the idea is to develop Science out of commonobservation, and to lead up to Physics, Chemistry, Biology, andPsychology. 

I want the thing to be good as far as it goes, so don't sparecriticism. 

Ever yours very faithfully, T. H. Huxley. 

Best remembrances from us all, which we are jolly. 

[To his other duties he now added that of a Governor of Eton College, a post which he held till 1888, when, after doing what he could toadvance progressive ideas of education, and in particular, getting ascheme adopted for making drawing part of the regular curriculum, ill-health compelled him to resign. ]

As for other pressure of work [he writes to Dr. Dohrn, February 16], with the exception of the Zoological Society, I never have anything todo with the affairs of any society but the Royal now--I find thelatter takes up all my disposable time... Take comfort from me. I find53 to be a very youthful period of existence. I have been betterphysically, and worked harder mentally, this last twelve month than inany year of my life. So a mere boy, not yet 40 like you, may look tothe future hopefully. 

[From about this time dates the inception of a short-lived society, tobe called the Association of Liberal Thinkers. It had first takenshape in the course of a conversation at Professor W. K. Clifford'shouse; the chief promoter and organiser being a well-known Theisticpreacher, while on the council were men of science, critics, andscholars in various branches of learning. Huxley was chosen President, and the first meeting of officers and council took place at his houseon January 25. 

Professor G. J. Romanes was asked to join, but refused on the groundthat even if the negations which he supposed the society wouldpromulgate, were true, it was not expedient to offer them to themultitude. To this Huxley wrote the following reply (January 2, 1879):--]

Many thanks for your letter. I think it is desirable to explain thatour Society is by no means intended to constitute a propaganda ofnegations, but rather to serve as a centre of free thought. 

Of course I have not a word to say in respect of your decision. Iquite appreciate your view of the matter, though it is diametricallyopposed to my own conviction that the more rapidly truth is spreadamong mankind the better it will be for them. 

Only let us be sure that it is truth. 

[However, a course of action was proposed which by no means commendeditself to several members of the council. Tyndall begs Huxley "not tocommit us to a venture of the kind unless you see clearly that itmeets a public need, and that it will be worked by able men, " and onFebruary 6 the latter writes:--]

After careful consideration of the whole circumstances of the case, Ihave definitely arrived at the conclusion that it is not expedient togo on with the undertaking. 

I therefore resign my Presidency, and I will ask you to be so good asto intimate my withdrawal from the association to my colleagues. 

[In spite of having long ago "burned his ships" with regard to boththe great Universities, Huxley was agreeably surprised by a new signof the times from Cambridge. The University now followed up itsrecognition of Darwin two years before, by offering Huxley an honorarydegree, an event of which he wrote to Professor Baynes on June 9:--]

I shall be glorious in a red gown at Cambridge to-morrow, andhereafter look to be treated as a PERSON OF RESPECTABILITY. 

I have done my best to avoid that misfortune, but it's of no use. 

[A curious coincidence occurred here. Mr. Sandys, the public orator, in his speech presenting him for the degree, picked out one of hischaracteristics for description in the Horatian phrase, "Proposititenax. " Now this was the family motto; and Huxley wrote to point outthe coincidence. (The speech delivered by the public orator on thisoccasion (June 10, 1879) ran as follows:--Academi inter silvas quiverum quaerunt, non modo ipsi veritatis lumine vitam hanc umbratilemillustrare conantur, sed illustrissimum quemque veritatisinvestigatorem aliunde delatum ea qua par est comitate excipiunt. Adest vir cui in veritate exploranda ampla sane provincia contigit, qui sive in animantium sive in arborum et herbarum genere quicquidvivit investigat, ipsum illud vivere quid sit, quali ex origine natumsit; qui exquirit quae cognationis necessitudo inter priores illasviventium species et has quae etiam nunc supersunt, intercedat. Olimin Oceano Australi, ubi rectis "oculis monstra natantia" vidit, victoriam prope primam, velut alter Perseus, a Medusa reportavit;varias deinceps animantium formas quasi ab ipsa Gorgone in saxumversas sagacitate singulari explicavit; vitae denique universaeexplorandae vitam suam totam dedicavit. Physicorum inter principes diuhonoratus, idem (ut verbum mutuemur a Cartesio illo cujus laudes ipsein hac urbe quondam praedicavit) etiam "metaphysica" honore debitoprosecutus est. Illum demum liberaliter educatum esse existimat quicum ceteris animi et corporis dotibus instructus sit, tum praesertimquicquid turpe sit oderit, quicquid sive in arte sive in rerum naturapulchrum sit diligat; neque tamen ipse (ut ait Aristotles) "animaliumparum pulchorum contemplationem fastidio puerili reformidat"; sed inperpetua animantium serie hominis vestigia perscrutari conatus, satisampla liberalitate in universa rerum natura "humani nihil a se alienumputat. " Duco ad vos virum intrepidum, facundum, propositi tenacem, Thomam Henricum Huxley. )]

Science and Art Department, South Kensington, June 11, 1879. 

My dear Mr. Sandys, I beg your acceptance of the inclosed photograph, which is certainlythe best ever executed of me. 

And by way of a memento of the claim which you established not only tothe eloquence but also the insight of a prophet, I have added animpression of the seal with "Tenax propositi" writ plain, if notlarge. As I mentioned to you, it belonged to my eldest brother, whohas been dead for many years. I trust that the Heralds' College may beas well satisfied as he was about his right to the coat of arms andcrest. 

My own genealogical inquiries have taken me so far back that I confessthe later stages do not interest me. 

Ever yours very faithfully, T. H. Huxley. 

[The British Association met at Sheffield in 1879, and Huxley tookthis occasion to "eat the leek" in the matter of Bathybius (see volume1). It must be remembered that his original interpretation of thephenomenon did not involve any new theory of the origin of life, andwas not put forward because of its supposed harmony with Darwin'sspeculations. ] ("That which interested me in the matter was theapparent analogy of Bathybius with other well-known forms of lowerlife, such as the plasmodia of the Myxomycetes and the Rhizopods. Speculative hopes or fears had nothing to do with the matter; and ifBathybius were brought up alive from the bottom of the Atlanticto-morrow, the fact would not have the slightest bearing, that I candiscern, upon Mr. Darwin's speculations, or upon any of the disputedproblems of biology. It would merely be one elementary organism themore added to the thousands already known. ") [("Collected Essays 5154. )

In supporting a vote of thanks to Dr. Allman, the President, for hisaddress, he said (see "Nature" August 28, 1879):--]

I will ask you to allow me to say one word rather upon my own account, in order to prevent a misconception which, I think, might arise, andwhich I should regret if it did arise. I daresay that no one in thisroom, who has attained middle life, has been so fortunate as to reachthat age without being obliged, now and then, to look back upon someacquaintance, or, it may be, intimate ally of his youth, who has notquite verified the promises of that youth. Nay, let us suppose he hasdone quite the reverse, and has become a very questionable sort ofcharacter, and a person whose acquaintance does not seem quite sodesirable as it was in those young days; his way and yours haveseparated; you have not heard much about him; but eminentlytrustworthy persons have assured you he has done this, that, or theother; and is more or less of a black sheep, in fact. The President, in an early part of his address, alluded to a certain thing--I hardlyknow whether I ought to call it a thing or not--of which he gave youthe name Bathybius, and he stated, with perfect justice, that I hadbrought that thing into notice; at any rate, indeed, I christened it, and I am, in a certain sense, its earliest friend. For some time afterthat interesting Bathybius was launched into the world, a number ofadmirable persons took the little thing by the hand, and made verymuch of it, and as the President was good enough to tell you, I amglad to be able to repeat and verify all the statements, as a matterof fact, which I had ventured to make about it. And so things went on, and I thought my young friend Bathybius would turn out a credit to me. But I am sorry to say, as time has gone on, he has not altogetherverified the promise of his youth. 

In the first place, as the President told you, he could not be foundwhen he was wanted; and in the second place, when he was found, allsorts of things were said about him. Indeed, I regret to be obliged totell you that some persons of severe minds went so far as to say thathe was nothing but simply a gelatinous precipitate of slime, which hadcarried down organic matter. If that is so, I am very sorry for it, for whoever may have joined in this error, I am undoubtedly primarilyresponsible for it. But I do not know at the present time of my ownknowledge how the matter stands. Nothing would please me more than toinvestigate the matter afresh in the way it ought to be investigated, but that would require a voyage of some time, and the investigation ofthis thing in its native haunts is a kind of work for which, for manyyears past, I have had no opportunity, and which I do not think I amvery likely to enjoy again. Therefore my own judgment is in anabsolute state of suspension about it. I can only assure you what hasbeen said about this friend of mine, but I cannot say whether what issaid is justified or not. But I feel very happy about the matter. There is one thing about us men of science, and that is, no one whohas the greatest prejudice against science can venture to say that weever endeavour to conceal each other's mistakes. And, therefore, Irest in the most entire and complete confidence that if this shouldhappen to be a blunder of mine, some day or other it will be carefullyexposed by somebody. But pray let me remind you whether all this storyabout Bathybius be right or wrong, makes not the slightest differenceto the general argument of the remarkable address put before youto-night. All the statements your President has made are just as true, as profoundly true, as if this little eccentric Bathybius did notexist at all. 

[Several letters of miscellaneous interest may be quoted. 

The following acknowledges the receipt of "Essays in Romance":--]

4 Marlborough Place, London, N. W. , January 1879. 

My dear Skelton, Being the most procrastinating letter-writer in existence, I thought, or pretended to think, when I received your "Essays in Romance" thatit would not be decent to thank you until I had read the book. Andwhen I had done myself that pleasure, I further pretended to thinkthat it would be much better to wait till I could send you my Humebook, which as it contains a biography, is the nearest approach to awork of fiction of which I have yet been guilty. 

The "Hume" was sent, and I hope reached you a week ago; and as myconscience just now inquired in a very sneering and unpleasant tonewhether I had any further pretence for not writing on hand, I thoughtI might as well stop her mouth at once. 

You will see oddly enough that I have answered your question aboutdreams in a sort of way on page 96. [Cp. "Essays in Romance" page 329;Huxley's "Hume" page 96. ]

You will get nothing but praise for your book, and I shall bevilipended for mine. Is that fact, or is it not, an evidence of aspecial Providence and Divine Government?

Pray remember me very kindly to Mrs. Skelton. I hope your interruptedvisit will yet become a fact. We have a clean bill of health now. 

Ever yours very faithfully, T. H. Huxley. 

Scottish University Commission, 31 Queen Street, Edinburgh, April 2, 1879. 

My dear Skelton, I shall be delighted to dine with you on Wednesday, and take part inany discussion either moral or immoral that may be started. 

Ever yours very faithfully, T. H. Huxley. 

March 15, 1879. 

My dear Mrs. Tyndall, Your hearty letter is as good as a bottle of the best sunshine. Yes, Iwill lunch with you on Friday with pleasure, and Jess proposes toattend on the occasion... Her husband is in Gloucester, and so doesn'tcount. The absurd creature declares she must go back to him onSaturday--stuff and sentiment. She has only been here six or sevenweeks. There is nothing said in scripture about a wife cleaving to herhusband!

With all our loves, ever yours very sincerely, T. H. Huxley. 

[The next is to his son, then at St. Andrews University, on winning ascholarship tenable at Oxford. ]

South Kensington, April 21, 1879. 

My dear Boy, I was very glad to get your good news this morning, and I need nottell you whether M-- was pleased or not. 

But the light of nature doth not inform us of the value and durationof the "Guthrie"--and from a low and material point of view I shouldlike to be informed on that subject. However, this is "mere matter ofdetail" as the Irishman said when he was asked HOW he had killed hislandlord. The pleasure to us is that you have made good use of youropportunities, and finished this first stage of your journey socreditably. 

I am about to write to the Master of Balliol for advice as to yourfuture proceedings. In the meanwhile, go in for the enjoyment of yourholiday with a light heart. You have earned it. 

Ever your loving father, T. H. Huxley. 

[The following, to Mrs. Clifford, was called forth by a hitch inrespect to the grant to her of a Civil List pension after the death ofher husband:--]

4 Marlborough Place, July 19, 1879. 

My dear Lucy, I am just off to Gloucester to fetch M-- back, and I shall have a longtalk with that sage little woman over your letter. 

In the meanwhile keep quiet and do nothing. I feel the force of whatyou say very strongly--so strongly, in fact, that I must morally icemyself and get my judgment clear and cool before I advise you what isto be done. 

I am very sorry to hear you have been so ill. For the present dismissthe matter from your thoughts and give your mind to getting better. Leave it all to be turned over in the mind of that cold-blooded, worldly, cynical old fellow, who signs himself, Your affectionate Pater. 

[The last is to Mr. Edward Clodd, on receiving his book "Jesus ofNazareth. "]

4 Marlborough Place, Abbey Road, N. W. , December 21, 1879. 

My dear Mr. Clodd, I have been spending all this Sunday afternoon over the book you havebeen kind enough to send me, and being a swift reader, I havetravelled honestly from cover to cover. 

It is the book I have been longing to see; in spirit, matter and formit appears to me to be exactly what people like myself have beenwanting. For though for the last quarter of a century I have done allthat lay in my power to oppose and destroy the idolatrous accretionsof Judaism and Christianity, I have never had the slightest sympathywith those who, as the Germans say, would "throw the child away alongwith the bath"--and when I was a member of the London School Board Ifought for the retention of the Bible, to the great scandal of some ofmy Liberal friends--who can't make out to this day whether I was ahypocrite, or simply a fool on that occasion. 

But my meaning was that the mass of the people should not be deprivedof the one great literature which is open to them--not shut out fromthe perception of their relations with the whole past history ofcivilised mankind--not excluded from such a view of Judaism and Jesusof Nazareth as that which at last you have given us. 

I cannot doubt that your work will have a great success not only inthe grosser, but the better sense of the word. 

I am yours very faithfully, T. H. Huxley. 

[The winter of 1879-80 was memorable for its prolonged spell of coldweather. One result of this may be traced in a New Year's letter fromHuxley to his eldest daughter. ] "I have had a capital holiday--mostlyin bed--but I don't feel so grateful for it as I might do. " [To beforced to avoid the many interruptions and distractions of his life inLondon, which claimed the greatest part of his time, he would regardas an unmixed blessing; as he once said feelingly to Professor Marsh, ]"If I could only break my leg, what a lot of scientific work I coulddo!" [But he was less grateful for having entire inaction forced uponhim. 

However, he was soon about again, and wrote as follows in answer to aletter from Sir Thomas (afterwards Lord) Farrer, which called hisattention, as an old Fishery Commissioner, to a recent report on thesea-fisheries. ]

4 Marlborough Place, January 9, 1880. 

My dear Farrer, I shall be delighted to take a dive into the unfathomable depths ofofficial folly; but your promised document has not reached me. 

Your astonishment at the tenacity of life of fallacies, permit me tosay, is shockingly unphysiological. They, like other low organisms, are independent of brains, and only wriggle the more, the more theyare smitten on the place where the brains ought to be--I don't knowB. , but I am convinced that A. Has nothing but a spinal cord, devoidof any cerebral development. Would Mr. Cross give him up for purposesof experiment? Lingen and you might perhaps be got to join in amemorial to that effect. 

Ever yours very faithfully, T. H. Huxley. 

[A fresh chapter of research, the results of which he now began togive to the public, was the history of the Dog. On April 6 and 13 helectured at the Royal Institution "On Dogs and the Problems connectedwith them"--their relation to other animals, and the problem of theorigin of the domestic dog, and the dog-like animals in general. As sooften before, these lectures were the outcome of the carefulpreparation of a course of instruction for his students. The dog hadbeen selected as one of the types of mammalian structure upon whichlaboratory work was to be done. Huxley's own dissections had led himon to a complete survey of the genus, both wild and domestic. As hewrites to Darwin on May 10:--]

I wish it were not such a long story that I could tell you all aboutthe dogs. They will make out such a case for "Darwinismus" as neverwas. From the South American dogs at the bottom (C. Vetulus, cancrivorus, etc. ) to the wolves at the top, there is a regulargradual progression the range of variation of each "species"overlapping the ranges of those below and above. Moreover, as to thedomestic dogs, I think I can prove that the small dogs are modifiedjackals, and the big dogs ditto wolves. I have been getting capitalmaterial from India, and working the whole affair out on the basis ofmeasurements of skulls and teeth. 

However, my paper for the Zoological Society is finished, and I hopesoon to send you a copy of it... 

[Unfortunately he never found time to complete his work for finalpublication in book form, and the rough, unfinished notes are all thatremain of his work, beyond two monographs "On the Epipubis in the Dogand Fox" ("Proceedings of the Royal Society" 30 162-63), and "On theCranial and Dental Characters of the Canidae" ("Proceedings of theZoological Society" 1880 pages 238-288). 

The following letters deal with the collection of specimens forexamination:--]

4 Marlborough Place, January 17, 1880. 

My dear Flower, I happened to get hold of two foxes this week--a fine dog fox and hisvixen wife; and among other things, I have been looking up Cowper'sglands, the supposed absence of which in the dogs has always "goneagin' me. " Moreover, I have found them (or their representatives) inthe shape of two small sacs, which open by conspicuous apertures intothe urethra immediately behind the bulb. If your Icticyon was a male, I commend this point to your notice. 

ITEM. 

If you have not already begun to macerate him, do look for the"marsupial" fibro-cartilages, which I have mentioned in my "Manual, "but the existence of which blasphemers have denied. I found them againat once in both Mr. And Mrs. Vulpes. You spot them immediately by thepectineus which is attached to them. 

The dog-fox's caecum is so different from the vixen's that Gray wouldhave made distinct genera of them. 

Ever yours very faithfully, T. H. Huxley. 

4 Marlborough Place, N. W. , May 2, 1880. 

My dear Fayrer, I am greatly obliged for the skulls, and I hope you will offer my bestthanks to your son for the trouble he has taken in getting them. 

The "fox" is especially interesting because it is not a fox, by anymanner of means, but a big jackal with some interesting points ofapproximation towards the cuons. 

I do not see any locality given along with the specimens. Can yousupply it?

I have got together some very curious evidence of the wider range ofvariability of the Indian jackal, and the "fox" which your son hassent is the most extreme form in one direction I have met with. 

I wish I could get some examples from the Bombay and MadrasPresidencies and from Ceylon, as well as from Central India. Almostall I have seen yet are from Bengal. 

Ever yours very faithfully, T. H. Huxley. 

[Between the two lectures on the Dog, mentioned above, on April 9, Huxley delivered a Friday evening discourse, at the same place, "Onthe Coming of Age of the Origin of Species" ("Collected Essays" 2227). Reviewing the history of the theory of evolution in thetwenty-one years that had elapsed since the "Origin of Species" firstsaw the light in 1859, he did not merely dwell on the immenseinfluence the "Origin" had exercised upon every field of biologicalinquiry. ] "Mere insanities and inanities have before now swollen toportentous size in the course of twenty years. " "History warns us thatit is the customary fate of new truths to begin as heresies, and toend as superstitions. " [There was actual danger lest a new generationshould] "accept the main doctrines of the "Origin of Species" with aslittle reflection, and it may be with as little justification, as somany of our contemporaries, years ago, rejected them. "

[So dire a consummation, he declared, must be prevented by unflinchingcriticism, the essence of the scientific spirit, ] "for the scientificspirit is of more value than its products, and irrationally heldtruths may be more harmful than reasoned errors. "

[What, then, were the facts which justified so great a change as hadtaken place, which had removed some of the most importantqualifications under which he himself had accepted the theory? Heproceeded to enumerate the] "crushing accumulation of evidence"[during this period, which had proved the imperfection of thegeological record; had filled up enormous gaps, such as those betweenbirds and reptiles, vertebrates and invertebrates, flowering andflowerless plants, or the lowest forms of animal and plant life. More:paleontology alone has effected so much--the fact that evolution hastaken place is so irresistibly forced upon the mind by the study ofthe Tertiary mammalia brought to light since 1859, that] "if thedoctrine of evolution had not existed, paleontologists must haveinvented it. " [He further developed the subject by reading before theZoological Society a paper "On the Application of the Laws ofEvolution to the Arrangement of the Vertebrata, and more particularlyof the Mammalia" ("Proceedings of the Zoological Society" 1880 pages649-662). In reply to Darwin's letter thanking him for the "Coming ofAge" ("Life and Letters" 3 24), he wrote on May 10:--]

My dear Darwin, You are the cheeriest letter-writer I know, and always help a man tothink the best of his doings. 

I hope you do not imagine because I had nothing to say about "NaturalSelection, " that I am at all weak of faith on that article. On thecontrary, I live in hope that as paleontologists work more and more inthe manner of that "second Daniel come to judgment, " that wise youngman M. Filhal, we shall arrive at a crushing accumulation of evidencein that direction also. But the first thing seems to me to be to drivethe fact of evolution into people's heads; when that is once safe, therest will come easy. 

I hear that ce cher X. Is yelping about again; but in spite of yourprovocative messages (which Rachel retailed with great glee), I am notgoing to attack him nor anybody else. 

[Another popular lecture on a zoological subject was that of July 1 on"Cuttlefish and Squids, " the last of the "Davis" lectures given by himat the Zoological Gardens. 

More important were two other essays delivered this year. The "Methodof Zadig" ("Collected Essays" 4 1), an address at the Working Men'sCollege, takes for its text Voltaire's story of the philosopher at theOriental court, who, by taking note of trivial indications, obtains aperilous knowledge of things which his neighbours ascribe either tothievery or magic. This introduces a discourse on the identity of themethods of science and of the judgments of common life, a fact which, twenty-six years before, he had briefly stated in the words, ] "Scienceis nothing but trained and organised common sense" [("CollectedEssays" 3 45). 

The other is "Science and Culture" ("Collected Essays" 3 134), whichwas delivered on October 1, as the opening address of the Josiah MasonCollege at Birmingham, and gave its name to a volume of essayspublished in the following year. Here was a great school founded by asuccessful manufacturer, which was designed to give an education atonce practical and liberal, such as the experience of its founderapproved, to young men who meant to embark upon practical life. A"mere" literary training--i. E. In the classical languages--wasexcluded, but not so the study of English literature and modernlanguages. The greatest stress was laid on training in the scientifictheory and practice on which depend the future of the greatmanufactures of the north. 

The question dealt with in this address is whether such an educationcan give the culture demanded of an educated man to-day. The answer isemphatically Yes. English literature is a field of culture second tonone, and for solely literary purposes, a thorough knowledge of it, backed by some other modern language, will amply suffice. Combinedwith this, a knowledge of modern science, its principles and results, which have so profoundly modified society and have created moderncivilisation, will give a "criticism of life, " as Matthew Arnolddefined "the end and aim of all literature, " that is to say culture, unattainable by any form of education which neglects it. In short, although the "culture" of former periods might be purely literary, that of to-day must be based, to a great extent, upon natural science. 

This autumn several letters passed between him and Darwin. The latter, contrary to his usual custom, wrote a letter to "Nature, " in reply toan unfair attack which had been made upon evolution by Sir WyvilleThomson in his Introduction to "The Voyage of the Challenger" (seeDarwin "Life and Letters" 3 242), and asked Huxley to look over theconcluding sentences of the letter, and to decide whether they shouldgo with the rest to the printer or not. "My request, " he writes(November 5), "will not cost you much trouble--i. E. To read twopages--for I know that you can decide at once. " Huxley struck themout, replying on the 14th, ] "Your pinned-on paragraph was so goodthat, if I had written it myself, I should have been unable to refrainfrom sending it on to the printer. But it is much easier to bevirtuous on other people's account; and though Thomson deserved it andmore, I thought it would be better to refrain. If I say a savagething, it is only 'Pretty Fanny's way'; but if you do, it is notlikely to be forgotten. "

[The rest of this correspondence has to do with a plan of Darwin's, generous as ever, to obtain a Civil List pension for the veterannaturalist, Wallace, whose magnificent work for science had broughthim but little material return. He wrote to consult Huxley as to whatsteps had best be taken; the latter replied in the letter of November14:--]

The papers in re Wallace have arrived, and I lose no time in assuringyou that all my "might, amity, and authority, " as Essex said when thatsneak Bacon asked him for a favour, shall be exercised as you wish. 

On December 11 he sends Darwin the draft of a memorial on the subject, and on the 28th suggests that the best way of moving the officialworld would be for Darwin himself to send the memorial, with a note ofhis own, to Mr. Gladstone, who was then Prime Minister and First Lordof the Treasury:--]

Mr. G. Can do a thing gracefully when he is so minded, and unless Igreatly mistake, he will be so minded if you write to him. 

[The result was all that could be hoped. On January 7 Darwinwrites:--"Hurrah! hurrah! read the enclosed. Was it notextraordinarily kind of Mr. Gladstone to write himself at the presenttime?... I have written to Wallace. He owes much to you. Had it notbeen for your advice and assistance, I should never have had courageto go on. "

The rest of the letter to Darwin of December 28 is characteristic ofhis own view of life. As he wrote four years before (see above), hewas no pessimist any more than he was a professed optimist. If thevast amount of inevitable suffering precluded the one view, thegratuitous pleasures, so to speak, of life preclude the other. Lifeproperly lived is worth living, and would be even if a malevolent fatehad decreed that one should suffer, say, the pangs of toothache twohours out of every twenty-four. So he writes:--]

We have had all the chicks (and the husbands of such as are therewithprovided) round the Christmas table once more, and a pleasant sightthey were, though I say it that shouldn't. Only the grand-daughterleft out, the young woman not having reached the age when change andsociety are valuable. 

I don't know what you think about anniversaries. I like them, beingalways minded to drink my cup of life to the bottom, and take mychance of the sweets and bitters. 

[The following is to his Edinburgh friend Dr. Skelton, whoseappreciation of his frequent companionship had found outspokenexpression in the pages of "The Crookit Meg. "]

4 Marlborough Place, November 14, 1880. 

My dear Skelton, When the "Crooked Meg" reached me I made up my mind that it would be ashame to send the empty acknowledgment which I give (or don't give)for most books that reach me. 

But I am over head and ears in work--time utterly wasted in mereknowledge getting and giving--and for six weeks not an hour for realedification with a wholesome story. 

But this Sunday afternoon being, by the blessing of God, as beastly aNovember day as you shall see, I have attended to my spiritual sideand been visited by a blessing in the shape of some very pretty andunexpected words anent mysel'. [The passage referred to stands on page72 of "The Crookit Meg, " and describes the village naturalist andphilosopher, Adam Meldrum, "who in his working hours cobbled oldboats, and knew by heart the plays of Shakespeare and the 'PseudodoxiaEpidemica' of Sir Thomas Browne. "

"For the rest it will be enough to add that this long, gaunt, bonycobbler of old boats was--was--(May I take the liberty, Mr. Professor?) a village Huxley of the year One. The colourlessbrilliancy of the great teacher's style, the easy facility with whichthe drop of light forms itself into a perfect sphere as it falls fromhis pen, belong indeed to a consummate master of the art ofexpression, which Adam of course was not; but the mental lucidity, justice, and balance, as well as the reserve of power, and theShakespearean gaiety of touch, which made the old man one of the mostdelightful companions in the world, were essentially Huxleian. "]

In truth, it is a right excellent story, though, distinctly in lovewith Eppie, I can only wonder how you had the heart to treat her soill. A girl like that should have had two husbands--one "wisely rangedfor show" and t'other de par amours. 

Don't ruin me with Mrs. Skelton by repeating this, but please rememberme very kindly to her. 

Ever yours very faithfully, T. H. Huxley. 

[The following letter to Tyndall was called forth by an incident inconnection with the starting of the "Nineteenth Century. " Huxley hadpromised to help the editor by looking over the proofs of a monthlyarticle on contemporary science. But his advertised position as merelyadviser in this to the editor was overlooked by some who resented whatthey supposed to be his assumption of the role of critic in general tohis fellow-workers in science. At a meeting of the x Club, Tyndallmade a jesting allusion to this; Huxley, however, thought the meresuggestion too grave for a joke, and replied with all seriousness toclear himself from the possibility of such misconception. And the sameevening he wrote to Tyndall:--]

Athenaeum Club, Pall Mall, S. W. , December 2, 1880. 

My dear Tyndall, I must tell you the ins and outs of this "Nineteenth Century"business. I was anxious to help Knowles when he started the journal, and at his earnest and pressing request I agreed to do what I havedone. But being quite aware of the misinterpretation to which I shouldbe liable if my name "sans phrase" were attached to the article, Iinsisted upon the exact words which you will find at the head of it;and which seemed, and still seem to me, to define my position as amere adviser of the editor. 

Moreover, by diligently excluding any expression of opinion on thepart of the writers of the compilation, I thought that nobody couldpossibly suspect me of assuming the position of an authority even onthe subjects with which I may be supposed to be acquainted, let alonethose such as physics and chemistry, of which I know no more than anyone of the public may know. 

Therefore your remarks came upon me to-night with the sort of painfulsurprise which a man feels who is accused of the particular sin ofwhich he flatters himself he is especially NOT GUILTY, and "roused mycorruption" as the Scotch have it. But there is no need to sayanything about that, for you were generous and good as I have alwaysfound you. Only I pray you, if hereafter it strikes you that any doingof mine should be altered or amended, tell me yourself and privately, and I promise you a very patient listener, and what is more a verythankful one. 

Ever yours, T. H. Huxley. 

[Tyndall replied with no less frankness, thanking him for the friendlypromptitude of his letter, and explaining that he had meant to speakprivately on the matter, but had been forestalled by the subjectcoming up when it did. And he wound up by declaring that it would betoo absurd to admit the power of such an occasion "to put even amomentary strain upon the cable which has held us together for nineand twenty years. "

At the very end of the year, George Eliot died. A proposal wasimmediately set on foot to inter her remains in Westminster Abbey, andvarious men of letters pressed the matter on the Dean, who wasunwilling to stir without a very strong and general expression ofopinion. To Mr. Herbert Spencer, who had urged him to join inmemorialising the Dean, Huxley replied as follows:--]

4 Marlborough Place, December 27, 1880. 

My dear Spencer, Your telegram which reached me on Friday evening caused me greatperplexity, inasmuch as I had just been talking with Morley, andagreeing with him that the proposal for a funeral in Westminster Abbeyhad a very questionable look to us, who desired nothing so much asthat peace and honour should attend George Eliot to her grave. 

It can hardly be doubted that the proposal will be bitterly opposed, possibly (as happened in Mill's case with less provocation), with theraking up of past histories, about which the opinion even of those whohave least the desire or the right to be pharisaical is stronglydivided, and which had better be forgotten. 

With respect to putting pressure on the Dean of Westminster, I have toconsider that he has some confidence in me, and before asking him todo something for which he is pretty sure to be violently assailed, Ihave to ask myself whether I really think it a right thing for a manin his position to do. 

Now I cannot say I do. However much I may lament the circumstance, Westminster Abbey is a Christian Church and not a Pantheon, and theDean thereof is officially a Christian priest, and we ask him tobestow exceptional Christian honours by this burial in the Abbey. George Eliot is known not only as a great writer, but as a personwhose life and opinions were in notorious antagonism to Christianpractice in regard to marriage, and Christian theory in regard todogma. How am I to tell the Dean that I think he ought to read overthe body of a person who did not repent of what the Church considersmortal sin, a service not one solitary proposition in which she wouldhave accepted for truth while she was alive? How am I to urge him todo that which, if I were in his place, I should most emphaticallyrefuse to do?

You tell me that Mrs. Cross wished for the funeral in the Abbey. WhileI desire to entertain the greatest respect for her wishes, I am verysorry to hear it. I do not understand the feeling which could createsuch a desire on any personal grounds, save those of affection, andthe natural yearning to be near even in death to those whom we haveloved. And on public grounds the wish is still less intelligible tome. One cannot eat one's cake and have it too. Those who elect to befree in thought and deed must not hanker after the rewards, if theyare to be so called, which the world offers to those who put up withits fetters. 

Thus, however I look at the proposal it seems to me to be a profoundmistake, and I can have nothing to do with it. 

I shall be deeply grieved if this resolution is ascribed to any othermotives than those which I have set forth at more length than Iintended. 

Ever yours very faithfully, T. H. Huxley. 

CHAPTER 2. 12. 

1881. 

[The last ten years had found Huxley gradually involved more and morein official duties. Now, with the beginning of 1881, he became yetmore deeply engrossed in practical and administrative work, morecompletely cut off from his favourite investigations, by hisappointment to an Inspectorship of Fisheries, in succession to thelate Frank Buckland. It is almost pathetic to note how he snatched atany spare moments for biological research. No sooner was a longafternoon's work at the Home Office done, than, as Professor Howesrelates, he would often take a hansom to the laboratory at SouthKensington, and spend a last half-hour at his dissections before goinghome. 

The Inspectorship, which was worth 700 pounds a year, he held inaddition to his post at South Kensington, the official description ofwhich now underwent another change. In the first place, his officialconnection with the Survey appears to have ceased this year, the lastreport made by him being in 1881. His name, however, still appeared inconnection with the post of Naturalist until his retirement in 1885, and it was understood that his services continued to be available ifrequired. Next, in October of this year, the Royal School of Mines wasincorporated with the newly established Normal School--or as it wascalled in 1890, Royal College of Science, and the title of Lecturer onGeneral Natural History was suppressed, and Huxley became Professor ofBiology and Dean of the College at a salary of 800 pounds, for it wasarranged on his appointment to the Inspectorship, that he should notreceive the salary attached to the post of Dean. Thus the Treasurysaved 200 pounds a year. 

As Professor of Biology, he was under the Lord President of theCouncil; as Inspector of Fisheries, under the Board of Trade; hencesome time passed in arranging the claims of the two departments beforethe appointment was officially made known, as may be gathered from thefollowing letters:--]

To Sir John Donnelly. 

4 Marlborough Place, December 27, 1880. 

My dear Donnelly, I tried hard to have a bad cold last night, and though I blocked himwith quinine, I think I may as well give myself the benefit of theBank Holiday and keep the house to-day. 

There is a chance of your getting early salmon yet. I wrote to declinethe post on Friday, but on Saturday evening the Home Secretary sent anote asking to see me yesterday. As he had re-opened the question, ofcourse I felt justified in stating all the pros and cons of the caseas personal to myself and my rather complicated official position... Heentered into the affair with a warmth and readiness which veryagreeably surprised me, and he proposes making such arrangements aswill not oblige me to have anything to do with the weirs or the actualinspection. Under these circumstances the post would be lovely--if Ican hold it along with the other things. And of his own motion theHome Secretary is going to write to Lord Spencer about it to see if hecannot carry the whole thing through. 

If this could be managed, I could get great things done in the matterof fish culture and fish diseases at South Kensington, if poor dearX. 's rattle trappery could be turned to proper account, without in anyway interfering with the work of the School. 

At any rate, my book stands not to lose, and may win--the innocence ofthe dove is not always divorced from the wisdom of the sarpent. [Sketch of the "Sarpent. "]

To Lord Farrer. 

4 Marlborough Place, January 18, 1881. 

My dear Farrer, I have waited a day or two before thanking you for your very kindletter, in the hope that I might be able to speak as one knowing wherehe is. 

But as I am still, in an official sense, nowhere, I will not delay anylonger. 

I had never thought of the post, but the Home Secretary offered it tome in a very kind and considerate manner, and after some hesitation Iaccepted it. But some adjustment had to be made between my master, theLord President, and the Treasury; and although everybody seemsdisposed to be very good to me, the business is not yet finallysettled. Whence the newspapers get their information I don't know--butit is always wrong in these matters. 

As you know, I have had a good apprenticeship to the work [He hadalready served on two Fishery Committees, 1862 and 1864-5. ]--and Ihope to be of some use; of the few innocent pleasures left to men pastmiddle life--the jamming common-sense down the throats of fools isperhaps the keenest. 

May we do some joint business in that way!

Ever yours very faithfully, T. H. Huxley. 

To his eldest son. 

February 14, 1881. 

I have entered upon my new duties as Fishery Inspector, but you arenot to expect salmon to be much cheaper just yet. 

My colleague and I have rooms at the Home Office, and I find there ismore occupation than I expected, but no serious labour. 

Every now and then I shall have to spend a few days in the country, holding inquiries, and as salmon rivers are all in picturesque partsof the country, I shall not object to that part of the business. 

[The duties of the new office were partly scientific, partlyadministrative. On the one hand, the natural history and diseases offish had to be investigated; on the other, regulations had to becarried out, weirs and salmon passes approved, disputes settled, reports written. I find, for instance, that apart from the work inLondon, visits of inspection in all parts of the country took uptwenty-eight days between March and September this year. 

Sir Spencer Walpole, who was his colleague for some years, has kindlygiven me an account of their work together. 

Early in 1881, Sir William Harcourt appointed Professor Huxley one ofHer Majesty's Inspectors of Fisheries. The office had become vacantthrough the untimely death, in the preceding December, of the late Mr. Frank Buckland. Under an Act, passed twenty years before, the chargeof the English Salmon Fisheries had been placed under the Home Office, and the Secretary of State had been authorised to appoint twoInspectors to aid him in administering the law. The functions of theHome Office and of the Inspectors were originally simple, but they hadbeen enlarged by an Act passed in 1873, which conferred on localconservators elaborate powers of making bye-laws for the developmentand preservation of the Fisheries. These bye-laws required theapproval of the Secretary of State, who was necessarily dependent onthe advice of his Inspectors in either allowing or disallowing them. 

In addition to the nominal duties of the Inspectors, they became--byvirtue of their position--the advisers of the Government on allquestions connected with the Sea Fisheries of Great Britain. Thesefisheries are nominally under the Board of Trade, but, as this Boardat that time had no machinery at its disposal for the purpose, itnaturally relied on the advice of the Home Office Inspectors in allquestions of difficulty, on which their experience enabled them tospeak with authority. 

For duties such as these, which have been thus briefly described, Professor Huxley had obvious qualifications. On all subjects relatingto the Natural History of Fish he spoke with decisive authority. But, in addition to his scientific attainments, from 1863 to 1865 he hadbeen a member of the Commission which had conducted an elaborateinvestigation into the condition of the Fisheries of the UnitedKingdom, and had taken a large share in the preparation of a Report, which--notwithstanding recent changes in law and policy--remains theablest and most exhaustive doctrine which has ever been laid beforeParliament on the subject. 

This protracted investigation had convinced Professor Huxley that thesupply of fish in the deep sea was practically inexhaustible; andthat, however much it might be necessary to enforce the police of theseas by protecting particular classes of sea fishermen from injurydone to their instruments by the operations of other classes, theprimary duty of the legislature was to develop sea fishing, and not toplace restrictions on sea fishermen for any fears of an exhaustion offish. 

His scientific training, moreover, made him ridicule the modern notionthat it was possible to stock the sea by artificial methods. He wroteto me, when the Fisheries Exhibition of 1883 was in contemplation, ]"You may have seen that we have a new Fish Culture Society. C-- talkedgravely about our stocking the North Sea with cod! After that Isuppose we shall take up herrings: and I mean to propose whales, which, as all the world knows, are terribly over fished!" [And afterthe exhibition was over he wrote to me again, with reference to areport which the Commission had asked me to draw up: ["I have justfinished reading your report, which has given me a world ofsatisfaction... I am particularly glad that you have put in a word ofwarning to the fish culturists. " [When I was asked to write the reporton this Commission, I said that I would do so if Sir E. Birkbeck, itschairman, and Professor Huxley, both met me to discuss the points tobe noticed. The meeting duly took place: and I opened it by askingwhat was the chief lesson to be drawn from the exhibition?] "Well, "[said Professor Huxley, ] "the chief lesson to be drawn from theexhibition is that London is in want of some open air amusement onsummer evenings. "

[He was not, however, equally certain that particular areas of SeaShore might not be exhausted by our fishing. He extended in 1883 anorder which Mr. Buckland and I had made in 1879 for restricting thetaking of crabs and lobsters on the coast of Norfolk, and he wrote tome on that occasion:] "I was at Cromer and Sheringham last week, holding an inquiry for the Board of Trade about the working of yourorder of 1879. According to all accounts, the crabs have multipliedthreefold in 1881 and 1882. Whether this is post hoc or propter hoc ismore than I should like to say. But at any rate, this is a very goodprima facie case for continuing the order, and I shall reportaccordingly. Anyhow, the conditions are very favourable for along-continued experiment in the effects of regulation, and, ten yearshence, there will be some means of judging of the value of theserestrictions. "

[If, however, Professor Huxley was strongly opposed to unnecessaryinterference with the labours of sea fishermen, he was well aware ofthe necessity of protecting migratory fish like salmon, againstover-fishing: and his reports for 1882 and 1883--in which he gaveelaborate accounts of the results of legislation on the Tyne and onthe Severn--show that he keenly appreciated the necessity ofregulating the Salmon Fisheries. 

It so happened that at the time of his appointment, many of ourimportant rivers were visited by "Saprolegnia ferax, " the fungoidgrowth which became popularly known as Salmon Disease. ProfessorHuxley gave much time to the study of the conditions under which thefungus flourished: he devoted much space in his earlier reports to thesubject: and he read a paper upon it at a remarkable meeting of theRoyal Society in the summer of 1881. He took a keen interest in theseinvestigations, and he wrote to me from North Wales, at the end of1881, ] "The salmon brought to me here have not been so badly diseasedas I could have wished, and the fungus dies so rapidly out of thewater that only one specimen furnished me with materials in livelycondition. These I have cultivated: and to my great satisfaction havegot some flies infected. With nine precious muscoid corpses, more orless ornamented with a lovely fur trimming of Saprolegnia, I shallreturn to London to-morrow, and shall be ready in a short time, Ihope, to furnish Salmon Disease wholesale, retail, or forexportation. "

[In carrying out the duties of our office, Professor Huxley and I werenecessarily thrown into very close communication. There were few daysin which we did not pass some time in each other's company: there weremany weeks in which we travelled together through the river basins ofthis country. I think that I am justified in saying that officialintercourse ripened into warm personal friendship, and that, for themany months in which we served together, we lived on terms of intimacywhich are rare among colleagues or even among friends. 

It is needless to say that, as a companion, Professor Huxley was themost delightful of men. Those who have met him in society, or enjoyedthe hospitality of his house, must have been conscious of the singularcharm of a conversation, which was founded on knowledge, enlarged bymemory, and brightened by humour. But, admirable as he was in society, no one could have realised the full charm of his company who had notconversed with him alone. He had the rare art of placing men, whoseknowledge and intellect were inferior to his own, at their ease. Heknew how to draw out all that was best in the companion who suitedhim; and he had equal pleasure in giving and receiving. Ourconversation ranged over every subject. We discussed together thegrave problems of man and his destiny; we disputed on the minorcomplications of modern politics; we criticised one another's literaryjudgments; and we laughed over the stories which we told one another, and of which Professor Huxley had an inexhaustible fund. 

In conversation Professor Huxley displayed the quality whichdistinguished him both as a writer and a public speaker. He invariablyused the right words in the right sense. Those who are jointlyresponsible--as he and I were often jointly responsible--for somewritten document, have exceptional opportunities of observing thisquality. Professor Huxley could always put his finger on a wrong word, and he always instinctively chose the right one. It was thisqualification--a much rarer one than people imagine--which madeProfessor Huxley's essays clear to the meanest understanding, andwhich made him, in my judgment, the greatest master of prose of histime. The same quality was equally observable in his spoken speech. Ihappened to be present at the anniversary dinner of the Royal Society, at which Professor Huxley made his last speech. And, as he gave anadmirable account of the share which he had taken in defending Mr. Darwin against his critics, I overheard the present Prime Minister(Lord Salisbury. ) say, "What a beautiful speaker he is. "

In 1882, the duties of another appointment forced me to resign theInspectorship, which I had held for so long: and thenceforward myresidence in the Isle of Man gave me fewer opportunities of seeingProfessor Huxley: our friendship, however, remained unbroken; andoccasional visits to London gave me many opportunities of renewing it. He retained his own appointment as Inspector for more than three yearsafter my resignation. He served, during the closing months of hisofficialship, on a Royal Commission on trawling, over which the lateLord Dalhousie presided. But his health broke down before thecommissioners issued their report, and he was ordered abroad. It sohappened that in the spring of 1885 I was staying at Florence, whenProfessor and Mrs. Huxley passed through it on their way home. He hadat that time seen none of his old friends, and was only slowlyregaining strength. After his severe illness Mrs. Huxley encouraged meto take him out for many short walks, and I did my best to cheer himin his depressed condition. He did not then think that he had tenyears of--on the whole--happy life before him. He told me that he wasabout to retire from all his work, and he added, that he had neverenjoyed the Inspectorship after I had left it. I am happy in believingthat the remark was due to the depression from which he was suffering, for he had written to me two years ago, ] "The office would be quiteperfect, if they did not want an annual report. I can't go in for adisquisition on river basins after the manner of Buckland, and youhave exhausted the other topics. I polished off the Salmon Diseasepretty fully last year, so what the deuce am I to write about?"

[I saw Professor Huxley for the last time on the Christmas day beforehis death. I spent some hours with him, with no other companions thanMrs. Huxley and my daughter. I had never seen him brighter or happier, and his rich, playful and sympathetic talk vividly recalled the manybrilliant hours which I had passed in his company some twelve orthirteen years before. 

One word more. No one could have known Professor Huxley intimatelywithout recognising that he delighted in combat. He was never happierthan when he was engaged in argument or controversy, and he loved toselect antagonists worthy of his steel. The first public inquiry whichwe held together was attended by a great nobleman, whom ProfessorHuxley did not know by sight, but who rose at the commencement of ourproceedings to offer some suggestions. Professor Huxley directed himto sit down, and not interrupt the business. I told my colleague in awhisper whom he was interrupting. And I was amused, as we walked awayto luncheon together, by his quaint remark to me, ] "We have begun verywell, we have sat upon a duke. " [(Of this he wrote home on March 15, 1881:] "Somebody produced the 'Punch' yesterday and showed it to me, to the great satisfaction of the Duke of --, who has attended our twomeetings. I nearly had a shindy with him at starting, but sweetnessand light (in my person) carried the day. " [This "Punch" contained thecartoon of Huxley in nautical costume riding on a salmon; contrary tothe custom of "Punch, " it made an unfair hit in appending to his namethe letters L. S. D. (Pounds, shillings and pence. ) Never was any onewho deserved the imputation less. )

If, however, a love of argument and controversy occasionally led himinto hot water, I do not think that his polemical tendencies ever costhim a friend. His antagonists must have recognised the fairness of hismethods, and must have been susceptible to the charm of the man. Thehigh example which he set in controversy, moreover, was equallyvisible in his ordinary life. Of all the men I have ever known, hisideas and his standard were--on the whole--the highest. He recognisedthat the fact of his religious views imposed on him the duty of livingthe most upright of lives, and I am very much of the opinion of alittle child, now grown into an accomplished woman, who, when she wastold that Professor Huxley had no hope of future rewards, and no fearof future punishments, emphatically declared: "Then I think ProfessorHuxley is the best man I have ever known. "

Extracts from his letters home give some further idea of the kind ofwork entailed. Thus in March and again in May he was in Wales, andwrites:--]

Cromffyratellionptrroch, May 24. 

Mr. Barrington's very pretty place about five miles from Abergavenny, wherein I write, may or may not have the name which I have written onat the top of the page, as it is Welsh; however it is probably that orsomething like it. I forgot to inquire. 

We are having the loveliest weather, and yesterday went looking upweirs with more or less absurd passes up a charming valley not farhence. It is just seven o'clock, and we are going to breakfast andstart at eight to fit in with the tides of the Severn. It is notexactly clear where we shall be to-night... Now I must go to breakfast, for I got up at six. Figurez vous ca. 

Hereford, May 29. 

We are favoured by the weather again, though it is bitter cold underthe bright sunshine. We stopped at Worcester yesterday, and I went toexamine some weirs hard by. This involved three or four miles' countrywalking, and was all to the good. If the Inspector business were allof this sort it would be all that fancy painted it. We shall have along sitting to-day... [(He fears to be detained into the night by"over-fluent witnesses. ")

In April he spent several days at Norwich, in connection with theNational Fishery Exhibition held there. ]

April 19. 

We had a gala day yesterday... The exhibition of all manner of fish andfishing apparatus was ready, for a wonder, and looked very well. ThePrince and Princess arrived, and we had the usual address and replyand march through. Afterwards a mighty dejeuner in the St. Andrew'sHall--a fine old place looking its best. I was just opposite thePrincess, and I could not help looking at her with wonderment. Shelooked so fresh and girlish. She came and talked to me afterwards in avery pleasant simple way. 

Walpole and I went in with our host yesterday afternoon and started toreturn on the understanding that he should pick us up a few miles out. Of course we took the wrong road, and walked all the way, some eightmiles or so. However, it did us good, and after a champagne lunch wethought we could not do better than repeat the operation yesterday. 

I feel quite set up by finding that after standing about for hours Ican walk eight miles without any particular fatigue. Life in the olddog yet! Walpole is a capital companion--knows a great many things, and talks well about them, so we get over the ground pleasantly. 

April 20. 

There was a long day of it yesterday looking over things in theExhibition till late in the afternoon, and then a mighty dinner in St. Andrew's Hall given by a Piscatorial Society of which my host isPresident. It was a weary sitting of five hours with innumerablespeeches. Of course I had to say "a few words, " and if I can get acopy of the papers I will send them to you. I flatter myself they werewords of wisdom, though hardly likely to contribute to my popularityamong the fishermen. 

[On the 21st he gave an address on the Herring. To describe thecharacteristics of this fish in the Eastern Counties, he says, mightseem like carrying coals to Newcastle; nevertheless the fisherman'sknowledge is not the same as that of the man of science, and includesnone but the vaguest notions of the ways of life of the fish and thesingularities of its organisation which perplexed biologists. His ownstudy of the problems connected with the herring had begun nineteenyears before, when he served on the first of his two FisheryCommissions; and one of his chief objects in this address was toinsist upon a fact, borne out partly by the inquiries of theCommission, partly by later investigations in Europe and America, which it was difficult to make people appreciate, namely, theimpossibility of man's fisheries affecting the numbers of the herringto any appreciable extent, a year's catch not amounting to theestimated number of a single shoal; while the flatfish and codfisheries remove many of the most destructive enemies of the herring. Those who had not studied the question in this light would say that"it stands to reason" that vast fisheries must tend to exterminate thefish; apropos of which, he made his well-known remark, that inquestions of biology] "if any one tells me 'it stands to reason' thatsuch and such things must happen, I generally find reason to doubt thesafety of his standing. "

[This year, also, he began the investigations which completed formerinquiries into the subject, and finally elucidated the nature of thesalmon disease. The last link in the chain of evidence which provedits identity with a fungoid disease of flies, was not reached untilMarch 1883; and on July 3 following he delivered a full account of thedisease, its nature and origin, in an address at the FisheriesExhibition in London. 

In 1881, then, at the end of December, he went to North Wales to studyon the fresh fish the nature of the epidemic of salmon disease whichhad broken out in the Conway, in spite of being in such bad healththat he was persuaded to let his younger son come and look after him. But this was only a passing premonition of the breakdown which was tocome upon him three years after. 

One year's work as Inspector was very like another. In 1882, forinstance, on January 21, he is at Berwick, "voiceless but jolly"; inthe spring he had to attend a Fisheries Exhibition in Edinburgh, andwrites:--]

April 12. 

We have opened our Exhibition, and I have been standing about lookingat the contents until my back is broken. 

April 13. 

The weather here is villainous--a regular Edinburgh "coorse day. " Ihave seen all I wanted to see of the Exhibition, eaten two heavydinners, one with Primrose and one with Young, and want to get home. Walpole and I are dining domestically at home this evening, havingvirtuously refused all invitations. 

[In June he was in Hampshire; on July 25 he writes from Tynemouth:--]

I reached here about 5 o'clock, and found the bailiff or whatever theycall him of the Board of Conservators, awaiting me with a boat at mydisposal. So we went off to look at what they call "ThePlayground"--two bays in which the salmon coming from the sea rest anddisport themselves until a fresh comes down the river and they find itconvenient to ascend. Harbottle bailiff in question is greatlydisturbed at the amount of poaching that goes on in the playground, and unfolded his griefs to me at length. It was a lovely evening, verycalm, and I enjoyed my boat expedition. To-morrow there is to beanother to see the operations of a steam trawler, which in allprobability I shall not enjoy so much. I shall take a light breakfast. 

[These were the pleasanter parts of the work. The less pleasant wassitting all day in a crowded court, hearing a disputed case of fishingrights, or examining witnesses who stuck firmly to views about fishwhich had long been exploded by careful observation. But on the wholehe enjoyed it, although it took him away from research in otherdepartments. This summer, on the death of Professor Rolleston, he wassounded on the question whether he would consent to accept the LinacreProfessorship of Physiology at Oxford. He wrote to the Warden ofMerton:--]

4 Marlborough Place, June 22, 1881. 

My dear Brodrick, Many thanks for your letter. I can give you my reply at once, as myattention has already been called to the question you ask; and it isthat I do not see my way to leaving London for Oxford. My reasons forarriving at this conclusion are various. I am getting old, and youshould have a man in full vigour. I doubt whether the psychicalatmosphere of Oxford would suit me, and still more, whether I shouldsuit it after a life spent in the absolute freedom of London. Andlast, but by no means least, for a man with five children to launchinto the world, the change would involve a most serious loss ofincome. No doubt there are great attractions on the other side; and, if I had been ten years younger, I should have been sorely tempted togo to Oxford, if the University would have had me. But things being asthey are, I do not see my way to any other conclusion than that whichI have reached. 

[The same feeling finds expression in a letter to Professor(afterwards Sir William) Flower, who was also approached on the samesubject, and similarly determined to remain in London. ]

July 21, 1881. 

My dear Flower, I am by no means surprised, and except for the sake of the University, not sorry that you have renounced the Linacre. 

Life is like walking along a crowded street--there always seem to befewer obstacles to getting along on the opposite pavement--and yet, ifone crosses over, matters are rarely mended. 

I assure you it is a great comfort to me to think that you will stayin London and help in keeping things straight in this world ofcrookedness. 

I have thought a good deal about --, but it would never do. No onecould value his excellent qualities of all kinds, and real genius insome directions, more than I do; but, in my judgment, nobody could beless fitted to do the work which ought to be done in Oxford--I mean togive biological science a status in the eyes of the Dons, and to forcethem to acknowledge it as a part of general education. Moreover, hisknowledge, vast and minute as it is in some directions, is veryimperfect in others, and the attempt to qualify himself for the postwould take him away from the investigations, which are his delight andfor which he is specially fitted... 

I was very much interested in your account of the poor dear Dean'sillness. I called on Thursday morning, meeting Jowett and Grove at thedoor, and we went in and heard such an account of his state that I hadhopes he might pull through. We shall not see his like again. 

The last time I had a long talk with him was about the proposal tobury George Eliot in the Abbey, and a curious revelation of theextraordinary catholicity and undaunted courage of the man it was. Hewould have done it had it been pressed upon him by a strongrepresentation. 

I see he is to be buried on Monday, and I suppose and hope I shallhave the opportunity of attending. 

Ever yours very faithfully, T. H. Huxley. 

[This letter refers to the death of his old friend Dean Stanley. TheDean had long kept in touch with the leaders of scientific thought, and it is deeply interesting to know that on her death-bed, five yearsbefore, his wife said to him as one of her parting counsels, "Do notlose sight of the men of science, and do not let them lose sight ofyou. " "And then, " writes Stanley to Tyndall, "she named yourself andHuxley. "

Strangely enough, the death of the Dean involved another invitation toHuxley to quit London for Oxford. By the appointment of Dean Bradleyto Westminster, the Mastership of University College was left vacant. Huxley, who was so far connected with the college that he had examinedthere for a science Fellowship, was asked if he would accept it, butafter careful consideration declined. He writes to his son, who hadheard rumours of the affair in Oxford:--]

4 Marlborough Place, November 4, 1881. 

My dear Lens, There is truth in the rumour; in so far as this that I was asked if Iwould allow myself to be nominated for the Mastership of University, that I took the question into serious consideration and finallydeclined. 

But I was asked to consider the communication made to me confidential, and I observed the condition strictly. The leakage must have takenplace among my Oxford friends, and is their responsibility, but at thesame time I would rather you did not contribute to the rumour on thesubject. Of course I should have told you if I had not been bound toreticence. 

I was greatly tempted for a short time by the prospect of rest, butwhen I came to look into the matter closely there were manydisadvantages. I do not think I am cut out for a Don nor your motherfor a Donness--we have had thirty years' freedom in London, and aretoo old to put in harness. 

Moreover, in a monetary sense I should have lost rather than gained. 

My astonishment at the proposal was unfeigned, and I begin to think Imay yet be a Bishop. 

Ever your loving father, T. H. Huxley. 

[His other occupations this year were the Medical Acts Commission, which sat until the following year, and the International MedicalCongress. 

The Congress detained him in London this summer later than usual. Itlasted from the 3rd to the 9th of August, on which day he delivered aconcluding address on "The Connection of the Biological Sciences withMedicine" ("Collected Essays" 3 page 347). He showed how medicine wasgradually raised from mere empiricism and based upon true pathologicalprinciples, through the independent growth of physiological knowledge, and its correlation to chemistry and physics. ] "It is a peculiarity, "[he remarks, ] "of the physical sciences that they are independent inproportion as they are imperfect. " [Yet] "there could be no realscience of pathology until the science of physiology had reached adegree of perfection unattained, and indeed unattainable, until quiterecent times. " [Historically speaking, modern physiology, he pointedout, began with Descartes' attempt to explain bodily phenomena onpurely physical principles; but the Cartesian notion of onecontrolling central mechanism had to give way before the proof ofvaried activities residing in various tissues, until the cell-theoryunited something of either view. "The body is a machine of the natureof an army, not that of a watch or of a hydraulic apparatus. " On thisanalogy, diseases are derangements either of the physiological unitsof the body, or of their coordinating machinery: and the future ofmedicine depends on exact knowledge of these derangements and of theprecise alteration of the conditions by the administration of drugs orother treatment, which will redress those derangements withoutdisturbing the rest of the body. 

A few extracts from letters to his wife describe his occupation at theCongress, which involved too much "society" for his liking. ]

August 4. 

The Congress began with great eclat yesterday, and the latter part ofPaget's address was particularly fine. After, there was the lunch atthe Paget's with the two Royalties. After that, an address by Virchow. After that, dinner at Sanderson's, with a confused splutter of Germanto the neighbours on my right. After that a tremendous soiree at SouthKensington, from which I escaped as soon as I could, and got home atmidnight. There is a confounded Lord Mayor's dinner this evening ("Theusual turtle and speeches to the infinite bewilderment and delight ofthe foreigners, " August 6), and to-morrow a dinner at thePhysiological Society. But I have got off the Kew party, and mean togo quietly down to the Spottiswoodes [i. E. At Sevenoaks] on Saturdayafternoon, and get out of the way of everything except the College ofSurgeons' Soiree, till Tuesday. Commend me for my prudence. 

[On the 5th he was busy all day with Government Committees, onlyreturning to correct proofs of his address before the social functionsof the evening. Next morning he writes:--]

I have been toiling at my address this morning. It is all printed, butI must turn it inside out, and make a speech of it if I am to make anyimpression on the audience in St. James' Hall. Confound all suchbobberies. 

August 9. 

I got through my address to-day as well as I ever did anything. Therewas a large audience, as it was the final meeting of the Congress, andto my surprise I found myself in excellent voice and vigour. So thereis life in the old dog yet. But I am greatly relieved it is over, as Ihave been getting rather shaky. 

[When the Medical Congress was over, he joined his family at Grasmerefor the rest of August. In September he attended the BritishAssociation at York, where he read a paper on the "Rise and Progressof Palaeontology, " and ended the month with fishery business atAberystwith and Carmarthen. 

The above paper is to be found in "Collected Essays, " 4 page 24. In ithe concludes an historical survey of the views held about fossils by acomparison of the opposite hypothesis upon which the vast store ofrecently accumulated facts may be interpreted; and declaring for thehypothesis of evolution, repeats the remarkable words of the "Comingof Age of the Origin of Species, " that] "the paleontologicaldiscoveries of the last decade are so completely in accordance withthe requirements of this hypothesis that, if it had not existed, thepaleontologist would have had to invent it. "

[In February died Thomas Carlyle. Mention has already been made of theinfluence of his writings upon Huxley in strengthening and fixing oncefor all, at the very outset of his career, that hatred of shams andlove of veracity, which were to be the chief principle of his wholelife. It was an obligation he never forgot, and for this, if fornothing else, he was ready to join in a memorial to the man. In replyto a request for his support in so doing, he wrote to Lord Stanley ofAlderley on March 9:--]

Anything I can do to help in raising a memorial to Carlyle shall bemost willingly done. Few men can have dissented more strongly from hisway of looking at things than I; but I should not yield to the mostdevoted of his followers in gratitude for the bracing wholesomeinfluence of his writings when, as a very young man, I was essayingwithout rudder or compass to strike out a course for myself. 

[Mention has already been made of his ill-health at the end of theyear, which was perhaps a premonition of the breakdown of 1883. Anindication of the same kind may be found in the following letter toMrs. Tyndall, who had forwarded a document which Dr. Tyndall had meantto send himself with an explanatory note. ]

4 Marlborough Place, March 25, 1881. 

My dear Mrs. Tyndall, But where is his last note to me? That is the question on which I havebeen anxiously hoping for light since I received yours and theenclosure, which contains such a very sensible proposition that Ishould like to know how it came into existence, abiogenetically orotherwise. 

As I am by way of forgetting everything myself just now, it is acomfort to me to believe that Tyndall has forgotten he forgot to sendthe letter of which he forgot the inclosure. The force ofdisremembering could no further go. 

In affectionate bewilderment, ever yours, T. H. Huxley. 

[His general view of his health, however, was much more optimistic, asappears from a letter to Mrs. May (wife of the friend of his boyhood)about her son, whose strength had been sapped by typhoid fever, andwho had gone out to the Cape to recruit. ]

4 Marlborough Place, June 10, 1881. 

My dear Mrs. May, I promised your daughter the other day that I would send you theBishop of Natal's letter to me. Unfortunately I had mislaid it, and itonly turned up just now when I was making one of my periodicalclearances in the chaos of papers that accumulates on my table. 

You will be pleased to see how fully the good Bishop appreciatesStuart's excellent qualities, and as to the physical part of thebusiness, though it is sad enough that a young man should be impededin this way, I think you should be hopeful. Delicate young peopleoften turn out strong old people--I was a thread paper of a boymyself, and now I am an extremely tough old personage... 

With our united kind regards to Mr. May and yourself, Ever yours very faithfully, T. H. Huxley. 

[Perhaps if he had been able each year to carry out the wish expressedin the following letter, which covered an introduction to Dr. Tyndallat his house on the Bel Alp, the breakdown of 1883 might have beenaverted. ]

4 Marlborough Place, London, N. W. , July 5 [1881?]. 

My dear Skelton, It is a great deal more than I would say for everybody, but I am sureTyndall will be very much obliged to me for making you known to him;and if you, insignificant male creature, how very much more for theopportunity of knowing Mrs. Skelton!

For which last pretty speech I hope the lady will make a prettiercurtsey. So go boldly across the Aletsch, and if they have a knocker(which I doubt), knock and it shall be opened unto you. 

I wish I were going to be there too; but Royal Commissions are a kindof endemic in my constitution, and I have a very bad one just now. [The Medical Acts Commission 1881-2. ]

With kind remembrances to Mrs. Skelton, Ever yours very faithfully, T. H. Huxley. 

[The ecclesiastical sound of his new title of Dean of the College ofScience afforded him a good deal of amusement. He writes fromGrasmere, where he had joined his family for the summer vacation:--]

August 18, 1881. 

My dear Donnelly, I am astonished that you don't known that a letter to a Dean ought tobe addressed "The Very Reverend. " I don't generally stand much uponetiquette, but when my sacred character is touched I draw the line. 

We had athletics here yesterday, and as it was a lovely day, allCumberland and Westmoreland sent contingents to see the fun... 

This would be a grand place if it were drier, but the rain it rainethevery day--yesterday being the only really fine day since our arrival. 

However, we all thrive, so I suppose we are adapting ourselves to themedium, and shall be scaly and finny before long. 

Haven't you done with Babylon yet? It is high time you were out of it. 

Ever yours very faithfully, T. H. Huxley. 

CHAPTER 2. 13. 

1882. 

[The year 1882 was a dark year for English science. It was marked bythe death of both Charles Darwin and of Francis Balfour, the younginvestigator, of whom Huxley once said, ] "He is the only man who cancarry out my work. " [The one was the inevitable end of a great career, in the fulness of time; the other was one of those losses which arethe more deplorable as they seem unnecessary, the result of a chanceslip, in all the vigour of youth. I remember his coming to our housejust before setting out on his fatal visit to Switzerland, and mymother begging him to be careful about risking so valuable a life ashis in dangerous ascents. He laughingly replied that he only wanted toconquer one little peak on Montblanc. A few days later came the newsof his fatal fall upon the precipices of the Aiguille Blanche. Sincethe death of Edward Forbes, no loss outside the circle of his familyhad affected my father so deeply. For three days he was utterlyprostrated, and was scarcely able either to eat or sleep. 

There was indeed a subtle affinity between the two men. My mother, whowas greatly attached to Francis Balfour, said once to Sir M. Foster, "He has not got the dash and verve, but otherwise he reminds mecuriously of what my husband was in his 'Rattlesnake' days. " "Howstrange, " replied Sir Michael, "when he first came to the front, Lankester wrote asking me, 'Who is this man Balfour you are alwaystalking about?' and I answered, 'Well, I can only describe him bysaying he is a younger Huxley. '"

Writing to Dr. Dohrn on September 24, Huxley says:--]

Heavy blows have fallen upon me this year in losing Darwin andBalfour, the best of the old and the best of the young. I am beginningto feel older than my age myself, and if Balfour had lived I shouldhave cleared out of the way as soon as possible, feeling that thefuture of Zoological Science in this country was very safe in hishands. As it is, I am afraid I may still be of use for some years, andshall be unable to sing my "Nunc dimittis" with a good conscience. ]

Darwin was in correspondence with him till quite near the end; havingreceived the volume "Science and Culture, " he wrote on January 12, 1882:--

With respect to automatism (The allusion is to the 1874 address on"Animals as Automata, " which was reprinted in "Science and Culture. "), I wish that you could review yourself in the old, and, of course, forgotten, trenchant style, and then you would have to answer yourselfwith equal incisiveness; and thus, by Jove, you might go on adinfinitum to the joy and instruction of the world. 

And again on March 27:--

Your most kind letter has been a real cordial to me... Once againaccept my cordial thanks, my dear old friend. I wish to God there weremore automata in the world like you. 

Darwin died on April 19, and a brief notice being required for theforthcoming number of "Nature" on the 27th, Huxley made shift to writea brief article, which is printed in the "Collected Essays" 2 page244. But as neither he nor Sir Joseph Hooker could at the momentundertake a regular obituary notice, this was entrusted to ProfessorRomanes, to whom the following letters were written. ]

4 Marlborough Place, April 26, 1882. 

My dear Romanes, Thank you for your hearty letter. I spent many hours over the fewparagraphs I sent to "Nature, " in trying to express what all whothoroughly knew and therefore loved Darwin, must feel in languagewhich should be absolutely free from rhetoric or exaggeration. 

I have done my best, and the sad thing is that I cannot look for thosecheery notes he used to send me in old times, when I had writtenanything that pleased him. 

In case we should miss one another to-day, let me say that it isimpossible for me to undertake the obituary in "Nature. " I have aconglomeration of business of various kinds upon my hands just now. Iam sure it will be very safe in your hands. 

Ever yours very faithfully, T. H. Huxley. 

Pray do what you will with what I have written in "Nature. "

4 Marlborough Place, May 9, 1882. 

My dear Romanes, I feel it very difficult to offer any useful criticism on what youhave written about Darwin, because, although it does not quite pleaseme, I cannot exactly say how I think it might be improved. My own wayis to write and rewrite things, until by some sort of instinctiveprocess they acquire the condensation and symmetry which satisfies me. And I really could not say how my original drafts are improved untilthey somehow improve themselves. 

Two things however strike me. I think there is too much of the letterabout Henslow. I should be disposed to quote only the mostcharacteristic passages. 

The other point is that I think strength would be given to yourpanegyric by a little pruning here and there. 

I am not likely to take a low view of Darwin's position in the historyof science, but I am disposed to think that Buffon and Lamarck wouldrun him hard in both genius and fertility. In breadth of view and inextent of knowledge these two men were giants, though we are apt toforget their services. Von Baer was another man of the same stamp;Cuvier, in a somewhat lower rank, another; and J. Muller another. 

"Colossal" does not seem to me to be the right epithet for Darwin'sintellect. He had a clear rapid intelligence, a great memory, a vividimagination, and what made his greatness was the strict subordinationof all these to his love of truth. 

But you will be tired of my carping, and you had much better writewhat seems right and just to yourself. 

Ever yours very faithfully, T. H. Huxley. 

[Two scientific papers published this year were on subjects connectedwith his work on the fisheries, one "A Contribution to the Pathologyof the Epidemic known as the 'Salmon Disease'" read before the RoyalSociety on the occasion of the Prince of Wales being admitted a Fellow(February 21; "Proceedings of the Royal Society" 33 pages 381-389);the other on "Saprolegnia in relation to the Salmon Disease"("Quarterly Journal of Microscopical Science" 22 pages 311-333). Athird, at the Zoological Society, was on the "Respiratory Organs ofApteryx" ("Proceedings of the Zoological Society" 1882 pages 560-569). He delivered an address before the Liverpool Institution on "Scienceand Art in Relation to Education" ("Collected Essays" 3 page 160), andwas busy with the Medical Acts Commission, which reported this year. 

The aim of this Commission was to level up the varying qualificationsbestowed by nearly a score of different licensing bodies in the UnitedKingdom, and to establish some central control by the State over thelicensing of medical practitioners. (For a fuller account of thisCommission and the part played in it by Huxley, see his "State andMedical Education" ("Collected Essays" 3 323) published 1884. )

The report recommended the establishment of Boards in each division ofthe United Kingdom containing representatives of all the medicalbodies in the division. These boards would register students, andadmit to a final examination those who had passed the preliminary andminor examinations at the various universities and other bodiesalready granting degrees and qualifications. Candidates who passedthis final examination would be licensed by the General MedicalCouncil, a body to be elected no longer by the separate bodiesinterested in medical education, but by the Divisional Boards. 

The report rejected a scheme for joint examination by the existingbodies, assisted by outside examiners appointed by a centralauthority, on the ground of difficulty and expense, as well as one fora separate State examination. It also provided for compensation fromthe fees to be paid by the candidates to existing bodies whoserevenues might suffer from the new scheme. 

To this majority report, six of the eleven Commissioners appendedseparate reports, suggesting other methods for carrying out thedesired end. Among the latter was Huxley, who gave his reasons fordissenting from the principle assumed by his colleagues, though he hadsigned the main report as embodying the best means of carrying out areform, that principle being granted. ]

"The State examination" [he thought, ] "was ideally best, but for manyreasons impossible. " [But the] "conjoint scheme" [recommended in thereport appeared to punish the efficient medical authorities for theabuses of the inefficient. Moreover, if the examiners of theDivisional Board did not affiliate themselves to any medicalauthority, the compensation to be provided would be very heavy; ifthey did, ] "either they will affiliate without further examination, which will give them the pretence of a further qualification, withoutany corresponding reality, or they will affiliate in examination, inwhich case the new examination deprecated by the general voice of theprofession will be added, and any real difference between the planproposed and the 'State examination' scheme will vanish. "

[The compensation proposed too, would chiefly fall to the discreditedbodies, who had neglected their duties. ]

The scheme [he writes in his report], which I ventured to suggest isof extreme simplicity; and while I cannot but think that it wouldprove thoroughly efficient, it interferes with no fair vested interestin such a manner as to give a claim for compensation, and it inflictsno burden either in the way of taxation or extra examination on themedical profession. 

This proposal is, that if any examining body satisfies the MedicalCouncil (or other State authority), that it requires full andefficient instruction and examination in the three branches ofmedicine, surgery, and midwifery; and if it admits a certain number ofcoadjutor examiners appointed by the State authority, the certificateof that authority shall give admission to the Medical Register. 

I submit that while the adopting this proposal would secure apractically uniform minimum standard of examination, it would leavefree play to the individuality of the various existing or futureuniversities and medical corporations; that the revenues of suchbodies derived from medical examinations would thenceforth increase ordiminish in the ratio of their deserts; that a really efficientinspection of the examinations would be secured, and that no one couldcome upon the register without a complete qualification. 

[That there was no difficulty in this scheme was shown by theexperience of the Scotch Universities; and the expense would be lessthan the proposed compensation tax. 

The chief part of the summer vacation Huxley spent at Lynton, on thenorth coast of Devonshire. ] "The Happy Family, " [he writes to Dr. Dohrn, ] "has been spending its vacation in this pretty place, eighteenmiles of up hill and down dale from any railway. " [It was a countrymade for the long rambles he delighted in after the morning's dueallowance of writing. And although he generally preferred completequiet on his holidays, with perfect freedom from all socialexigencies, these weeks of rest were rendered all the pleasanter bythe unstudied and unexacting friendliness of the family party whichcentred around Mr. And Mrs. F. Bailey of Lee Abbey hard by--LadyTenterden, the Julius and the Henry Pollocks, the latter old friendsof ours. 

Though his holiday was curtailed at either end, he was greatly set upby it, and writes to chaff his son-in-law for taking too littlerest:--]

I was glad to hear that F. Had stood his fortnight's holiday so well;three weeks might have knocked him up!

[On the same day, September 26, he wrote the letter to Dr. Dohrn, mentioned above, answering two inquiries--one as to arrangements forexhibiting at the Fisheries Exhibition to be held in London thefollowing year, the other as to whether England would follow theexample of Germany and Italy in sending naval officers to theZoological Station at Naples to be instructed in catching andpreserving marine animals for the purposes of scientific research. 

[With respect to question Number 2, I am afraid my answer must be lesshopeful. So far as the British Admiralty is represented by theordinary British admiral, the only reply to such a proposition as youmake that I should expect would be that he (the British admiral, towit) would see you d--d first. However, I will speak of the matter tothe Hydrographer, who really is interested in science, at the firstopportunity. 

[For many years before this, and until the end of his life, there wasanother side to his correspondence which deserves mention. 

I wish that more of the queer letters, which arrived in never-failingstreams, had been preserved. A favourite type was the anonymousletter. It prayed fervently, over four pages, that the Almighty wouldsend him down quick into the pit, and was usually signed simply "ALady. " Others came from cranks of every species: the man whodemonstrated that the world was flat, or that the atmosphere had noweight--an easy proof, for you weigh a bottle full of air; then breakit to pieces, so that it holds nothing; weigh the pieces, and they arethe same weight as the whole bottle full of air! Or, again, that theoptical law of quality between the angle of incidence and the angle ofreflection is a delusion, whence it follows that all our establishedlatitudes are incorrect, and the difference of temperature betweenLabrador and Ireland, nominally on the same parallel, is easilyaccounted for. Then came the suggestions of little pieces of work thatmight so easily be undertaken by a man of Huxley's capacity, learning, and energy. Enormous manuscripts were sent him with a request that hewould write a careful criticism of them, and arrange for theirpublication in the proceedings of some learned society or first-ratemagazine. One of the most delightful came this year. A doctor inIndia, having just read "John Inglesant, " begged Professor Huxley todo for Science what Mr. Shorthouse had done for the Church of England. As for the material difficulties in the way of getting such a bookwritten in the midst of other work, the ingenious doctor suggested theuse of a phonograph driven by a gas-engine. The great thoughtsdictated into it from the comfort of an armchair, could easily beworked up into novel shape by a collaborator. 

India, again, provided the following application of 1885, made in allseriousness by a youthful Punjaubee with scientific aspirations, whofeared to be forced into the law. After an intimate account of hislife, he modestly appeals for a post in some scientific institution, where he may get his food, do experiments three or four hours a day, and learn English. Latterly his mental activity had been verygreat:--"I have been contemplating, " he says, "to give a new system ofPolitical Economy to the world. I have questioned, perhaps withsuccess, the validity of some of the fundamental doctrines of HerbertSpencer's synthetic philosophy, " and so on. 

Another remarkable communication is a reply-paid telegram from theStates, in 1892, which ran as follows:--

Unless all reason and all nature have deceived me, I have found thetruth. It is my intention to cross the ocean to consult with those whohave helped me most to find it. Shall I be welcome? Please answer atmy expense, and God grant we all meet in life on earth. 

Another, of British origin this time, was from a man who had to read apaper before a local Literary Society on the momentous question, "Where are we?" so he sent round a circular to various authorities toreinforce his own opinions on the six heads into which he proposed todivide his discourse, namely:

Where are we in Space?

Where are we in Science?

Where are we in Politics?

Where are we in Commerce?

Where are we in Sociology?

Where are we in Theology?

The writer received an answer, and a mild one:--]

Any adequate reply to your inquiry would be of the nature of atreatise, and that, I regret, I cannot undertake to write. 

[Two letters of this year touch on Irish affairs, in which he wasalways interested, having withal a certain first-hand knowledge of thepeople and the country they lived in, from his visits there, both as aFishery Commissioner and on other occasions. He writes warmly to thehistorian who treated of Ireland without prejudice or rancour. ]

4 Marlborough Place, April 16, 1882. 

My dear Lecky, Accept my best thanks for your two volumes, which I found on my returnfrom Scotland yesterday. 

I can give no better evidence of my appreciation of their contentsthan by the confession that they have caused me to neglect my properbusiness all yesterday evening and all to-day. 

The section devoted to Irish affairs is a model of lucidity, and bearson its face the stamp of justice and fair dealing. It is a most worthycontinuation of the chapter on the same subject in the first volume, and that is giving high praise. 

You see I write as if I knew something about the subject, but you areresponsible for creating the delusion. 

With kindest remembrances to Mrs. Lecky, Ever yours very faithfully, T. H. Huxley. 

[A few weeks later, the murder of Lord Frederick Cavendish sent athrill of horror throughout England. Huxley was as deeply moved asany, but wrote calmly of the situation. 

To his eldest son:--]

4 Marlborough Place, May 9, 1882. 

My dear Leonard, Best thanks for your good wishes [For his birthday, May 4. ]. Notwithstanding the disease of A. D. , which always proves mortal sooneror later, I am in excellent case... 

I knew both Lord F. Cavendish and his wife and Mr. Burke. I have neverbeen able to get poor Lady Frederick out of my head since the newsarrived. 

The public mind has been more stirred than by anything since theIndian Mutiny. But if the Government keep their heads cool, great goodmay come out of the evil, horrible as it is. The Fenians have reckonedon creating an irreparable breach between England and Ireland. Itshould be our business to disappoint them first and extirpate themafterwards. But the newspaper writers make me sick, especially the"Times". 

Ever your affectionate father, T. H. Huxley. 

[It is interesting, also, to see how he appeared about this time toone of a younger generation, acute, indeed, and discriminating, butpredisposed by circumstances and upbringing to regard him at firstwith curiosity rather than sympathy. For this account I am indebted toone who has the habit, so laudable in good hands, of keeping a journalof events and conversations. I have every confidence in thesubstantial accuracy of so well trained a reporter. 

EXTRACT FROM JOURNAL. 

November 25, 1882. 

In the evening we dined at the --'s, chiefly a family party with theaddition of Professor Huxley and his wife and ourselves. Much livelyconversation, after dinner, begun among the ladies, but continuedafter the gentlemen appeared, on the subjects of Truth, Education, andWomen's Rights, or, more strictly speaking, women's capabilities. Ourhostess (Lady --) was, if possible, more vehement and paradoxical thanher wont, and vigorously maintained that TRUTH was no virtue initself, but must be inculcated for expediency's sake. The oppositeview found a champion in Professor Huxley, who described himself as]"almost a fanatic for the sanctity of truth. " [Lady -- urged thattruth was often a very selfish virtue, and that a man of noble andunselfish character might lie for the sake of a friend, to which someone replied that after a course of this unselfish lying the noblecharacter was pretty sure to deteriorate, while the Professorlaughingly suggested that the owner had a good chance of findinghimself landed ultimately in Botany Bay. 

The celebrated instance of John Inglesant's perjury for the sake ofCharles I. Was then brought forward, and it was this which ledProfessor Huxley to say that in his judgment no one had the rightpassively to submit to a false accusation, and that] "moral suicide"[was as blameworthy as physical suicide. ] "He may refuse to commitanother, but he ought not to allow himself to be believed worse thanhe actually is. It is a loss to the world of MORAL FORCE, which cannotbe afforded. "

[... Then as regards women's powers. The Professor said he did notbelieve in their ever succeeding in a competition with men. Then hewent on:--] "I can't help looking at women with something of the eyeof a physiologist. Twenty years ago I thought the womanhood of Englandwas going to the dogs, " [but now, he said, he observed a wonderfulchange for the better. We asked to what he attributed it. Was it tolawn tennis and the greater variety of bodily exercises?] "Partly, "[he answered, ] "but much more to their having more PURSUITS--more tointerest them and to occupy their thoughts and time. "

[The following letter bears upon the question of employing retiredengineer officers in administrative posts in the Science and ArtDepartment:--]

The Rookery, Lynton, September 19, 1882. 

My dear Donnelly, Your letter seems to have arrived here the very day I left for Whitby, whither I had to betake myself to inspect a weir, so I did not get ituntil my return last night. 

I am extremely sorry to hear of the possibility of Martin's giving uphis post. He took so much interest in the work and was so verypleasant to deal with, that I do not think we shall easily find anyone to replace him. 

If you will find another R. E. At all like him, in Heaven's name catchhim and put him in, job or no job. 

The objection to a small clerk is that we want somebody who knows howto deal with men, and especially young men on the one hand, andespecially cantankerous (more or less) old scientific buffers on theother. 

The objection to a man of science is that (1) we want a man ofbusiness and not a m. S. , and (2) that no man scientifically worthhaving that I know of is likely to take such an office. 

"As at present advised" I am all for an R. E. , so I cannot have thepleasure even of trying to convert you. 

With our united kindest regards, Ever yours very faithfully, T. H. Huxley. 

I return next Monday. 

[Two letters of thanks follow, one at the beginning of the year to Mr. Herbert Spencer for the gift of a very fine photograph of himself; theother, at the end of the year, to Mr. (afterwards Sir John) Skelton, for his book on Mary Queen of Scots and the Casket Letters. 

As to the former, it must be premised that Mr. Spencer abhorredexaggeration and inexact talk, and would ruthlessly prick the airybubbles which endued the conversation of the daughters of the housewith more buoyancy than strict logic, a gift which, he averred, wasdenied to woman. ]

4 Marlborough Place, January 25, 1882. 

My dear Spencer, Best thanks for the photograph. It is very good, though there is justa touch of severity in the eye. We shall hang it up in thedining-room, and if anybody is guilty of exaggerated expressions orbad logic (five womenkind habitually sit round that table), I trustthey will feel that that eye is upon them. 

Ever yours very faithfully, T. H. Huxley. 

4 Marlborough Place, January 31, 1882. 

My dear Skelton, If I may not thank you for the book you have been kind enough to sendme, I may at any rate wish you and Mrs. Skelton a happy New Year andmany on 'em. 

I am going to read your vindication of Mary Stuart as soon as I can. Hitherto I am sorry to say I have classed her with Eve, Helen, Cleopatra, Delilah, and sundry other glorious --s who have lured mento their destruction. 

But I am open to conviction, and ready to believe that she blew up herhusband only a little more thoroughly than other women do, by reasonof her keener perception of logic. 

Ever yours very faithfully, T. H. Huxley. 

CHAPTER 2. 14. 

1883. 

[The pressure of official work, which had been constantly growingsince 1880, reached its highest point in 1883. Only one scientificmemoir was published by him this year, and then no more for the nextfour years. (Contributions to Morphology, Ichthyopsida, Number 2. Onthe Oviducts of Osmerus; with remarks on the relations of theTeleostean with the Ganoid Fishes "Proceedings of the ZoologicalSociety" 1883 pages 132-139). The intervals of lecturing and examiningwere chiefly filled by fishery business, from which, according to hisusual custom when immersed in any investigation, he chose the subject, "Oysters and the Oyster Question, " both for his Friday eveningdiscourse at the Royal Institution on May 11, and for his course toWorking Men between January 8 and February 12. 

There are the usual notes of all seasons at all parts of England. Adeserted hotel at Cromer in January was uninviting. ]

My windows look out on a wintry sea, and it is bitter cold. Notwithstanding, a large number of the aquatic gentleman to whom Ishall have the pleasure of listening, by and by, are loafing againstthe railings opposite, as only fishermen can loaf. 

[In April he had been ill, and his wife begged him to put off somebusiness which had to be done at York. But unless absolutely orderedto bed by his doctor, nothing would induce him to put personalconvenience before public duty. However, he took his son to look afterhim. ]

I am none the worse for my journey [he writes from York], rather thebetter; so Clark is justified, and I should have failed in my duty ifI had not come. H. Looks after me almost as well as you could do. 

[To make amends, fishery business in the west country during a finesummer had] "a good deal of holiday in it, " [though a cross journey atthe beginning of August from Abergavenny to Totness made him write:--]

If ever (except to-morrow, by the way) I travel within measurabledistance of a Bank Holiday by the Great Western, may jackasses sit onmy grandmother's grave. 

[As the business connected with the Inspectorship had been enlarged inthe preceding years by exhibitions at Norwich and Edinburgh, so it wasenlarged this year, and to a still greater extent, by the FisheriesExhibition in London. This involved upon him as Commissioner, not onlythe organisation of the Conference on Fish Diseases and the paper onthe Diseases of Fish already mentioned, but administration, committeemeetings, and more--a speech on behalf of the Commissioners in replyto the welcome given them by the Prince of Wales at the opening of theExhibition. On the following day he expressed his feelings at thismode of spending his time in a letter to Sir M. Foster. ]

I am dog-tired with yesterday's function. Had to be at the Exhibitionin full fig at 10 a. M. , and did not get home from the Fishmongers'dinner till 1. 20 this morning. 

Will you tell me what all this has to do with my business in life, andwhy the last fragments of a misspent life that are left to me are tobe frittered away in all this drivel?

Yours savagely, T. H. Huxley. 

[Later in the year, also, he had to serve on another FisheryCommission much against his will, though on the understanding that, inview of his other engagements, he need not attend all the sittings. 

A more satisfactory result of the Exhibition was that he found himselfbrought into close contact with several of the great city companies, whose enormous resources he had long been trying, not without somesuccess, to enlist on behalf of technical and scientific education. 

Among these may be noted the Fishmongers, the Mercers, who had alreadyinterested themselves in technical education, and gave their hall forthe meetings of the City and Guilds Council, of which Huxley was anactive member; the Clothworkers, in whose schools he distributed theprizes this year; and, not least, the Salters, who presented him withtheir freedom on November 13. Their master, Mr. J. W. Clark, writing inAugust, after Huxley had accepted their proposal, says: "I think youmust admit that the City Companies have yielded liberally to thegentle compassion you have exercised on them. So far from helping youto act the traitor, we propose to legitimise your claim for education, which several of us shall be willing to unite with you in promoting. "(See above. )

The crowning addition, however, to Huxley's official work was thePresidency of the Royal Society. He had resigned the Secretaryship in1880, after holding office for nine years under threePresidents--Airy, Hooker, and Spottiswoode. Spottiswoode, like Hooker, was a member of the x Club, and was regarded with great affection andrespect by Huxley, who in 1887 wrote of him to Mr. John Morley:--]

It is quite absurd you don't know Spottiswoode, and I shall do bothhim and you a good turn by bringing you together. He is one of my bestfriends, and comes under the A1 class of "people with whom you may gotiger-hunting. "

[On June 7, writing to Professor (afterwards Sir E. ) Frankland, hesays:--]

You will have heard that Spottiswoode is seriously ill. The physicianssuspect typhoid, but are not quite certain. I called this morning, andhear that he remains much as he has been for the last two or threedays. So many of our friends have dropped away in the course of thelast two years that I am perhaps morbidly anxious about Spottiswoode, but there is no question that his condition is such as to cause graveanxiety. 

[But by the end of the month his fears were realised. Consequently itdevolved upon the Council of the Royal Society to elect one of theirown body to hold office until the St. Andrew's Day following, when aregular President would be elected at a general meeting of theSociety. 

Huxley himself had no wish to stand. He writes to Sir M. Foster onJune 27, announcing Spottiswoode's death, which had taken place thatmorning:--]

It is very grievous in all ways. Only the other day he and I weretalking of the almost miraculous way in which the x Club had heldtogether without a break for some 18 years, and little did either ofus suspect that he would be the first to go. 

A heavy responsibility falls on you in the Royal Society. It strikesme you will have to call another meeting of the Council before therecess for the consideration of the question of the Presidency. It ishateful to talk of these things, but I want you to form some notion ofwhat had best be done as you come up to-morrow. 

-- is a possibility, but none of the other officers, I think. 

[Indeed, he wished to diminish his official distractions rather thanto increase them. His health was unlikely to stand any additionalstrain, and he longed to devote the remainder of his working years tohis unfinished scientific researches. But he felt very strongly thatthe President of the Royal Society ought to be chosen for his eminencein science, not on account of social position, or of wealth, eventhough the wealth might have been acquired through the applications ofscience. The acknowledgment of this principle had led some years backto the great revolution from within, which succeeded in making theSociety the living centre and representative of science for the wholecountry, and he was above all things anxious that the principle shouldbe maintained. He was assured, however, from several quarters thatunless he allowed himself to be put forward, there was danger lest theprinciple should be disregarded. 

Moved by these considerations of public necessity, he unwillinglyconsented to be nominated, but only to fill the vacancy till thegeneral meeting, when the whole Society could make a new choice. Yeteven this limitation seemed difficult to maintain in the face of thewidely expressed desire that he would then stand for the usual periodof five years. ] "The worst of it is, " [he wrote to Sir M. Foster onJuly 2, ] "that I see myself gravitating towards the Presidency enpermanence, that is to say, for the ordinary period. And that is whatI by no means desired. -- has been at me (as a sort of deputation, hetold me, from a lot of the younger men) to stand. However, I supposethere is no need to come to any decision yet. "

[The following letters, in reply to congratulations on his election, illustrate his attitude of mind in the affair:--]

To the Warden of Merton. 

Hindhead, July 8, 1883. 

My dear Brodrick, I do not get so many pleasant letters that I can afford to leave thesenders of such things unthanked. 

I am very much obliged for your congratulations, and I may say that Iaccepted the office inter alia for the purpose of getting people tobelieve that such places may be properly held by people who haveneither riches nor station--who want nothing that statesmen cangive--and who care for nothing except upholding the dignity and thefreedom of science. 

Ever yours very faithfully, T. H. Huxley. 

To Sir W. H. Flower, F. R. S. 

4 Marlborough Place, July 7, 1883. 

My dear Flower, I am overwhelmed by the kind letters I get from all sides, and I needhardly say that I particularly value yours. 

A month ago I said that I ought not, could not, and would not take thePresidency under any circumstances whatever. My wife was dead againstit, and you know how hen-pecked I am. 

Even when I was asked to take the Presidency to the end of the yearand agreed, I stipulated for my freedom next St. Andrew's Day. 

But such strong representations were made to me by some of the youngermen about the dangers of the situation, that at the last moment almostI changed my mind. 

However, I wanted it to be clearly understood that the Council and theSociety are, so far as I am concerned, perfectly free to put somebodyelse in my place next November. All I stipulate for is that mysuccessor shall be a man of science. 

I will not, if I can help it, allow the chair of the Royal Society tobecome the appanage of rich men, or have the noble old Societyexploited by enterprising commercial gents who make their profit outof the application of science. 

Mrs. President was NOT pleased--quite the contrary--but she ismollified by the kindly expressions, public and private, which havereceived the election. 

And there are none which we both value more than yours. (I see I saidthat before, but I can't say it too often. )

Ever yours very faithfully, T. H. Huxley. 

Hindhead, July 8, 1883. 

My dear Flower, Many thanks for your comforting letter. When I am fairly committed toanything I generally have a cold fit--and your judgment that I havedone right is "grateful and comforting" like Epps' Cocoa. It is not somuch work as distraction that is involved; and though it may put astop to my purely scientific work for a while, I don't know that Icould be better employed in the interests of science than in trying tokeep the Royal Society straight. 

My wife was very much against it at first--and indeed when I was firstspoken to I declared that I would not go on after next St. Andrew'sDay. But a good deal of pressure was brought to bear by some of myfriends, and if the Fellows don't turn me out I shall say withMacMahon, "J'y suis et j'y reste. "

Ever yours very faithfully, T. H. Huxley. 

We have run down here for a day, but are back to-morrow. 

4 Marlborough Place, July 10, 1883. 

My dear Spencer, What an agreeable surprise your letter has been. I have been expectingthe most awful scolding for taking more work, and behold as sweetlycongratulatory an epistle as a man could wish. 

Three weeks ago I swore by all my gods that I would not take the offerat any price, but I suppose the infusion of Theism was too homeopathicfor the oath to bind. 

Go on sleeping, my dear friend. If you are so amiable with threenights, what will you be with three weeks?

What a shame no rain is sent you. You will be speaking aboutProvidence as I heard of a Yankee doing the other day--"Wal, sir, Iguess he's good; but he's careless. "

I think there is a good deal in that view of the government of theworld. 

Ever yours very faithfully, T. H. Huxley. 

[To his eldest daughter:--]

4 Marlborough Place, July 14, 1883. 

Dearest Jess, I am not sure either whether my accession to the Presidency is amatter for congratulation. Honour and glory are all very fine, but onthe whole I prefer peace and quietness, and three weeks ago I declaredI would have nothing to do with it. 

But there are a good many circumstances in the present state ofaffairs which weighed heavily in the scale, and so I made up my mindto try the experiment. 

If I don't suit the office or the office doesn't suit me, there is away out every 30th of November. 

There was more work connected with the Secretaryship--but there ismore trouble and responsibility and distraction in the Presidency. 

I am amused with your account of your way of governing your headstrongboy. I find the way of governing headstrong men to be very similar, and I believe it is by practising the method that I get the measure ofsuccess with which people credit me. 

But they are often very fractious, and it is a bother for a man whowas meant for a student. 

Poor Spottiswoode's death was a great blow to me. Never was a betterman, and I hoped he would stop where he was for the next ten years... 

Ever your loving father, T. H. Huxley. 

[He finally decided that the question of standing again in Novembermust depend on whether this course was likely to cause division in theranks of the Society. He earnestly desired to avoid anything like acontest for scientific honours (As he wrote a little later:--] "I havenever competed in the way of honour in my life, and I cannot allowmyself to be even thought of as in such a position now, where, withall respect to the honour and glory, they do not appear to me to be inany way equivalent to the burden. And I am not at all sure that I maynot be able to serve the right cause outside the Chair rather than init. "); [he was almost morbidly anxious that the temporary choice ofhimself should not be interpreted as binding the electors in any way. 

I give the following letters to show his sensitiveness on everyquestion of honour and of public advantage:--]

Brechin Castle, Brechin, N. B. , September 19, 1883. 

My dear Foster, We got here yesterday. The Commission does not meet till next week, solike the historical donkey of Jeshurun I have nothing to do but waxfat and kick in this excellent pasture. 

At odd times lately my mind has been a good deal exercised about theRoyal Society. I am quite willing to go on in the Chair if the Counciland the Society wish it. But it is quite possible that the Council whochose me when the choice was limited to their own body, might bedisposed to select some one else when the range of choice is extendedto the whole body of the Society. And I am very anxious that theCouncil should be made to understand, when the question comes forwardfor discussion after the recess, that the fact of present tenancyconstitutes no claim in my eyes. 

The difficulty is, how is this to be done? I cannot ask the Council todo as they please, without reference to me, because I am bound toassume that that is what they will do, and it would be an impertinenceto assume the contrary. 

On the other hand, I should at once decline to be put in nominationagain, if it could be said that by doing so I had practically forcedmyself either upon the Council or upon the Society. 

Heaven be praised I have not many enemies, but the two or three withwhom I have to reckon don't stick at trifles, and I should not like byany inadvertance to give them a handle. 

I have had some thought of writing a letter to Evans [Sir John Evans, K. C. B. , then Treasurer of the Royal Society. ], such as he could readto the Council at the first meeting in October, at which I need not bepresent. 

The subject could then be freely discussed, without any voting orresolution on the minutes, and the officers could let me know whetherin their judgment it is expedient I should be nominated or not. 

In the last case I should withdraw on the ground of my otheroccupations--which, in fact, is a very real obstacle, and one whichlooms large in my fits of blue-devils, which have been more frequentof late than they should be in holiday time. 

Now, will you turn all this over in your mind? Perhaps you might talkit over with Stokes. 

Of course I am very sensible of the honour of being P. R. S. , but Ishould be much more sensible of the dishonour of being in that placeby a fluke, or in any other way, than by the free choice of theCouncil and Society. 

In fact I am inclined to think that I am morbidly sensitive on thelast point; and so, instead of acting on my own impulse, as I havebeen tempted to do, I submit myself to your worship's wisdom. 

I am not sure that I should not have been wiser if I had stuck to myoriginal intention of holding office only till St. Andrew's Day. 

Ever yours very faithfully, T. H. Huxley. 

Secretary of State, Home Department, October 3, 1883. 

My dear Foster, There was an Irish bricklayer who once bet a hodman he would not carryhim up to the top of an exceeding high ladder in his hod. The hod mandid it, but Paddy said, "I had great hopes, now, ye'd let me fall justabout six rounds from the top. "

I told the story before when I was up for the School Board, but it isso applicable to the present case that I can't help coming out with itagain. 

If you, dear good hodmen, would have but let me fall!

However, as the thing is to be, it is very pleasant to find Evans andWilliamson and you so hearty in the process of elevation, and in spiteof blue-devils I will do my best to "do my duty in the state of lifeI'm called to. "

But I believe you never had the advantage of learning the ChurchCatechism. 

If there is any good in what is done you certainly deserve the creditof it, for nothing but your letter stopped me from kicking over thetraces at once. Do you see how Evolution is getting made into a bolusand oiled outside for the ecclesiastical swallow? [This refers topapers read before the Church Congress that year by Messrs. W. H. Flower and F. Le Gros Clarke. ]

Ever thine, Thomas, P. R. S. 

[The same feeling appears in his anxiety as President to avoid theslightest appearance of committing the Society to debatable opinionswhich he supported as a private individual. Thus, although he had"personally, politically, and philosophically" no liking for CharlesBradlaugh, he objected on general grounds to the exclusion of Mrs. Besant and Miss Bradlaugh from the classes at University College, andhad signed a memorial in their favour. On the other hand, he did notwish it to be asserted that the Royal Society, through its president, had thrown its influence into what was really a social and political, not a scientific question. He writes to Sir M. Foster on July 18:--]

It is very unlucky for me that I signed the memorial requesting theCouncil of University College to reconsider their decision about Mrs. Besant and Miss Bradlaugh when I was quite innocent of any possibilityof holding the P. R. S. 

I must go to the meeting of members to-day and define my position inthe matter with more care, under the circumstances. 

Mrs. Besant was a student in my teacher's class here last year, and avery well-conducted lady-like person; but I have never been able toget hold of the "Fruits of Philosophy, " and do not know to whatdoctrine she has committed herself. 

They seem to have excluded Miss Bradlaugh simply on the noscitur asociis principle. 

It will need all the dexterity I possess to stand up for the principleof religious and philosophical freedom, without giving other people ahold for saying I that have identified myself with Bradlaugh. 

[It was the same a little later with the Sunday Society, which hadoffered him its presidency. He writes to the Honorary Secretary onFebruary 11, 1884:--]

I regret that it is impossible for me to accept the office which theSunday Society honours me by offering. 

It is not merely a disinclination to add to the work which alreadyfalls to my share which leads me to say this. So long as I amPresident of the Royal Society, I shall feel bound to abstain fromtaking any prominent part in public movements as to the propriety ofwhich the opinions of the Fellows of the Society differ widely. 

My own opinions on the Sunday question are exactly what they werefive-and-twenty years ago. They have not been hid under a bushel, andI should not have accepted my present office if I had felt that sodoing debarred me from reiterating them whenever it may be necessaryto do so. 

But that is a different matter from taking a step which would, in theeyes of the public, commit the Royal Society, through its President, to one side of the controversy in which you are engaged, and in whichI, personally, hope you may succeed as warmly as ever I did. 

[One other piece of work during the first half of the year remains tobe mentioned, namely, the Rede Lecture, delivered at Cambridge on June12. This was a discourse on Evolution, based upon the consideration ofthe Pearly Nautilus. 

He first traced the evolution of the individual from the ovum, andreplied to the three usual objections raised to evolution, that it isimpossible, immoral, and contrary to the argument of design, byreplying to the first, that it does occur in every individual; to thesecond, that the morality which opposes itself to truth commitssuicide; and to the third that Paley--the most interesting Sundayreading allowed him when a boy--had long since answered thisobjection. 

Then he proceeded to discuss the evolution of the 100 species, allextinct but two, of Nautilus. The alternative theory of newconstruction, a hundred times over, is opposed alike to tradition andto sane science. On the other hand, evolution, tested by paleontology, proves a sound hypothesis. The great difficulty of science is intracing every event to those causes which are in present operation;the hypothesis of evolution is analogous to what is going on now. 

The summer was passed at Milford, near Godalming, in a house at thevery edge of the heather country which from there stretches unbrokenpast Hindhead and into Wolmer Forest. So well did he like the placethat he took it again the following year. But his holiday was like tohave been spoilt at the beginning by the strain of an absurd adventurewhich involved much fatigue and more anxiety. ]

I came back only last night [he writes to Sir M. Foster on August 1]from Paris, where I sped on Sunday night, in a horrid state of alarmfrom a cursed blundering telegram which led me to believe that Leonard(you know he got his first class to our great joy) who had left forthe continent on Saturday, was ill or had had an accident. 

[It was indeed a hurried journey. On receipt of the telegram, herushed to Victoria only to miss the night mail. The booking-clerksuggested that he should drive to London Bridge, take train to Lewes, and thence take a fly to Newhaven, where he ought to catch a laterboat. The problem was to catch the London Bridge train. There wasbarely a quarter of an hour, but thanks to a good horse and the Sundayabsence of traffic, the thing was done, establishing, I believe, whatthe modern mind delights in, a record in cab-driving. Happily theanxiety at not finding his son in Paris was soon allayed by anothertelegram from home, where his son-in-law, the innocent sender of theoriginal message, had meanwhile arrived. He writes to Sir M. Foster:--]

Judging by my scrawl, which is worse than usual, I should say theanxiety had left its mark, but I am none the worse otherwise. 

[This was indeed the case. Other letters to Sir M. Foster show that hewas unusually well, perhaps because he was really making holiday tosome extent. Thus on August 16, he writes:--]

This is a lovely country, and I have been reading novels and walkingabout for the last four days. I must be all right, wind and limb, forI walked over twenty miles the day before yesterday, and except ablister on one heel, was none the worse. 

[And again on September 12:--]

Have been very lazy lately, which means that I have done a great manythings that I need not have done, and have left undone those which Iought to have done. Nowadays that seems to me to be the realdefinition of a holiday. 

[For once he was not doing very much holiday work, though he wasfiling at the Rede Lecture to get it into shape for publication. Theexaminations for the Science and Art Department were over, and indeedhe writes to Sir M. Foster:--]

Don't bother your head about the balance--now or hereafter. To tellyou the truth I do so little in the Examiner business that I amgetting ashamed of taking even the retaining fee, and you will do me afavour if you will ease my conscience. 

[A week of fishery business in South Wales and Devon had] "a good dealof holiday in it. " [for the rest:--]

I have just been put on Senate of University of London [a Crownnomination]. I tried hard to get Lord Granville to let me off--in factI told him I could not attend the meetings except now and then, butthere was no escape. I must have a talk with you about what is to bedone there. 

Item:

There is a new Fishery Commission that I also strongly objected to, but had to cave in so far as I agreed to attend some meetings inlatter half of September. 

[On this occasion Lord Granville had written back:--

11 Carlton House Terrace, July 28, 1883. 

My dear Professor Huxley, Clay, the great whist player, once made a mistake and said to hispartner, "My brain is softening, " the latter answered "Never mind, Iwill give you ten thousand pounds down for it, just as it is. "

On that principle and backed up by Paget I shall write to Harcourt onMonday. 

Yours sincerely, Granville. 

The Commission of course cut short the stay at Milford, and onSeptember 12, he writes:--]

We shall leave this on Friday as my wife has some fal-lals to lookafter before we start for the north on Monday. 

The worst of it is that it is not at all certain that the Commissionwill meet and do any work. However I am pledged to go, and I daresaythat Brechin Castle is a very pleasant place to stay in. 

[Lastly, he was thinking over the obituary notice of Darwin which hehad undertaken to write for the Royal Society--though it did notappear till 1888--that on F. Balfour being written by Sir M. Foster. ]

Highcroft House, Milford, Godalming, August 27, 1883. 

My dear Foster, I do not see anything to add or alter to what you have said aboutBalfour, except to get rid of that terrible word "urinogenital, " whichhe invented, and I believe I once adopted, out of mere sympathy Isuppose. 

Darwin is on my mind, and I will see what can be done here by and by. Up to the present I have been filing away at the Rede Lecture. Ibelieve that getting things into shape takes me more and more troubleas I get older--whether it is a loss of faculty or an increase offastidiousness I can't say--but at any rate it costs me more time andtrouble to get things finished--and when they are done I should preferburning to publishing them. 

Haven't you any suggestions to offer for Anniversary address? I thinkthe Secretaries ought to draw it up, like a Queen's speech. 

Mind we have a talk some day about University of London. I suppose youwant an English Sorbonne. I have thought of it at times, but thePhilistines are strong. 

Weather jolly, but altogether too hot for anything but lying on thegrass "under the tegmination of the patulous fage, " as the poetobserves. 

Ever yours very faithfully, T. H. Huxley. 

[The remaining letters of this year are for the most part on RoyalSociety business, some of which, touching the anniversary dinner, maybe quoted:--]

4 Marlborough Place, November 10, 1883. 

My dear Foster, ... I have been trying to get some political and other swells to cometo the dinner. Lord Mayor is coming--thought I would ask him onaccount of City and Guilds business--Lord Chancellor, probably, Courtney, M. P. , promised, and I made the greatest blunder I ever madein all my life by thoughtlessly writing to ask Chamberlain (!!!)utterly forgetting the row with Tyndall. [Concerning the Lighthouses. ]

By the mercy of Providence he can't come this year, though I must askhim next (if I am not kicked out for my sins before that), as he isanxious to come. Science ought to be in league with the Radicals... 

Ever yours, T. H. Huxley. 

[He had made prompt confession as soon as he discovered his mistake, to Tyndall himself, who ultimately came to the dinner and proposed thehealth of his old friend Hirst. ]

4 Marlborough Place, November 9, 1883. 

My dear Tyndall, I have been going to write to you for two or three days to ask you topropose Hirst's health as Royal Medallist on the 30th November. I amsure your doing so would give an extra value to the medal to him. 

But now I realise the position of those poor devils I have seen inlunatic asylums and who believed they have committed the unforgivablesin. It came upon me suddenly in Waterloo Place this evening, that Ihad done so; and I went straight to the Royal Institution to makeconfession, and if possible get absolution. But I heard you had goneto Hindhead, and so I write. 

Yesterday I was sending some invitations to the dinner on the 30th, and thinking to please the Society I made a shot at some ministers. The only two I know much about are Harcourt and Chamberlain, and thedevil (in whom I now firmly believe) put it into my head to write toboth. 

The enormous stupidity of which I had been guilty in askingChamberlain under the circumstances, and the sort of construction youand others might put upon it, never entered my head till thisafternoon. It really made me ill, and I went straight to find you. IfProvidence is good to me the letter will miscarry and he won't come. But anyhow I want you to know that I have been idiotically stupid, andthat I shall wish the Presidency and the dinner and everythingconnected with it at the bottom of the sea, if you are as muchdisgusted with me as you have a perfect right to be. 

Ever yours faithfully, T. H. Huxley. 

[The following refers to the Tyneside Sunday Lecture Society atNewcastle, which had invited him to become one of itsvice-presidents:--]

4 Marlborough Place, N. W. , December 30, 1883. 

My dear Morley, The Newcastle people wrote to me some time ago telling me that Sir W. Armstrong was going to be their President. [The actual words of theSecretary were "We have asked Sir W. Armstrong to be President, " andHuxley was mistaken in supposing this intimation to imply that, asgenerally happens in such cases, Sir William had previously intimatedhis willingness to accept the position if formally asked. ] Armstrongis an old friend of mine, so I wrote to him to make inquiries. He toldme that he was not going to be President, and knew nothing about thepeople who were getting up the Society. So I declined to have anythingto do with it. 

However, the case is altered now that you are in the swim. You have nogods to swear by, unfortunately; but if you will affirm, in the nameof X, that under no circumstances shall I be called upon to doanything, they may have my name among the V. -P. 's and much good may itdo them. 

All our good wishes to you and yours. The great thing one has to wishfor as time goes on is vigour as long as one lives, and death as soonas vigour flags. 

It is a curious thing that I find my dislike to the thought ofextinction increasing as I get older and nearer the goal. 

It flashes across me at all sorts of times with a sort of horror thatin 1900 I shall probably know no more of what is going on than I didin 1800. I had sooner be in hell a good deal--at any rate in one ofthe upper circles where the climate and company are not too trying. Iwonder if you are plagued in this way. 

Ever yours, T. H. Huxley. 

[The following letters, to his family or to intimate friends, are inlighter vein. The first is to Sir M. Foster; the concluding item ofinformation in reply to several inquiries. The Royal Society wishedsome borings made in Egypt to determine the depth of the stratum ofNile mud:--]

The Egyptian exploration society is wholly archaeological--at leastfrom the cut of it I have no doubt it is so--and they want all theirmoney to find out the pawnbrokers' shops which Israel kept in Pithomand Rameses--and then went off with the pledges. 

This is the real reason why Pharaoh and his host pursued them; andthen Moses and Aaron bribed the post-boys to take out the linch pins. 

That is the real story of the Exodus--as detailed in a recentlydiscovered papyrus which neither Brugsch nor Maspero have as yet gothold of. 

[To his youngest daughter:--]

4 Marlborough Place, N. W. , April 12, 1883. 

Dearest Pabelunza, I was quite overcome to-day to find that you had vanished without aparting embrace to your "faded but fascinating" parent. [A fragment offeminine conversation overheard at the Dublin meeting of the BritishAssociation, 1878. "Oh, there comes Professor Huxley: faded, but stillfascinating. "] I clean forgot you were going to leave this peacefulvillage for the whirl of Gloucester dissipation this morning--and thetraces of weeping on your visage, which should have reminded me of ourimminent parting, were absent. 

My dear, I should like to have given you some good counsel. You arebut a simple village maiden--don't be taken by the appearance ofanybody. Consult your father--inclosing photograph and measurement (ininches)--in any case of difficulty. 

Also give my love to the matron your sister, and tell her to looksharp after you. Treat her with more respect than you do yourvenerable P. --whose life will be gloom hidden by a film of heartlessjests till you return. 

Item. --Kisses to Ria and Co. 

Your desolated Pater. 

[To his eldest daughter:--]

4 Marlborough Place, May 6, 1883. 

Dearest Jess, Best thanks for your good wishes--considering all things, I am a haleold gentleman. But I had to speak last night at the Academy dinner, and either that or the quantity of cigars I smoked, following the badexample of our friend "Wales, " has left me rather shaky to-day. It wastrying, because Jack's capital portrait was hanging just behindme--and somebody remarked that it was a better likeness of me than Iwas. If you begin to think of that it is rather confusing. 

I am grieved to have such accounts of Ethel, and have lectured heraccordingly. She threatens reprisals on you--and altogether is in amore saucy and irrepressible state than when she left. 

M-- is still in bed, though better--I am afraid she won't be able togo to Court next week. You see we are getting grand. 

I hear great accounts of the children (Ria and Buzzer) and mean to cutout T'other Governor when you bring them up. 

As we did not see Fred the other day, the family is inclined to thinkthat the salmon disagreed with him!

Ever your loving father, T. H. Huxley. 

4 Marlborough Place, May 10, 1883. 

My dear Mrs. Tyndall, If you will give me a bit of mutton at one o'clock I shall be verymuch your debtor, but as I have business to attend to afterwards atthe Home Office I must stipulate that my intellect be not imperilledby those seductive evil genii who are apt to make their appearance atyour lunch table. [This is accompanied by a sketch of a champagnebottle in the character of a demon. ]

M. Is getting better, but I cannot let her be out at night yet. Shethinks she is to be allowed to go to the International Exhibitionbusiness on Saturday; but if the temperature does not rise veryconsiderably I shall have two words to say to that. 

Ever yours very sincerely, T. H. Huxley. 

I shall be alone. Do you think that I am "subdued to that I work in, "and like an oyster, carry my brood about beneath my mantle?

CHAPTER 2. 15. 

1884. 

[From this time forward the burden of ill-health grew slowly andsteadily. Dyspepsia and the hyperchondriacal depression which followsin its train, again attacked Huxley as they had attacked him twelveyears before, though this time the physical misery was perhaps less. His energy was sapped; when his official work was over, he couldhardly bring himself to renew the investigations in which he hadalways delighted. To stoop over the microscope was a physicaldiscomfort; he began to devote himself more exclusively to the readingof philosophy and critical theology. This was the time of which Sir M. Foster writes that "there was something working in him which made hishand, when turned to anatomical science, so heavy that he could notlift it. Not even that which was so strong within him, the duty offulfilling a promise, could bring him to the work. "

Up to the beginning of October, he went on with his official work, thelectures at South Kensington, the business as President of the RoyalSociety, and ex officio Trustee of the British Museum; the dutiesconnected with the Inspectorship of Fisheries, the City and GuildsTechnical Education Committee, and the University of London, anddelivered the opening address at the London Hospital Medical School, on "The State and the Medical Profession" ["Collected Essays" 3 323), his health meanwhile growing less and less satisfactory. He droppedminor offices, such as the Presidency of the National Association ofScience Teachers, which, he considered, needed more carefulsupervision than he was able to give, and meditated retiring from partat least of his main duties, when he was ordered abroad at a moment'snotice for first one, then another, and yet a third period of twomonths. But he did not definitely retire until this rest had provedineffectual to fit him again for active work. 

The President of the Royal Society is, as mentioned above, an exofficio Trustee of the British Museum, so that now, as again in 1888, circumstances at length brought about the state of affairs whichHuxley had once indicated--half jestingly--to Robert Lowe, whoinquired of him what would be the best course to adopt with respect tothe Natural History collections of the British Museum:--] "Make me aTrustee and Flower director. " [At this moment, the question of anofficial residence for the Director of the Natural History Museum wasunder discussion with the Treasury, and he writes:--]

February 29, 1884. 

My dear Flower, I am particularly glad to hear your news. "Ville qui parle et femmequi ecoute se rendent, " says the wicked proverb--and it is true ofChancellors of the Exchequer. 

Ever yours very faithfully, T. H. Huxley. 

[A pendent to this is a letter of congratulation to Sir Henry Roscoeon his knighthood:--]

Science and Art Department, South Kensington, July 7, 1884. 

My dear Roscoe, I am very glad to see that the Government has had the grace to makesome acknowledgment of their obligation to you, and I wish you and "mylady" long enjoyment of your honours. I don't know if you are gazettedyet, so I don't indicate them outside. 

Ever yours very faithfully, T. H. Huxley. 

P. S. 

I wrote some weeks ago to the Secretary of the National Association ofScience Teachers to say that I must give up the Presidency. I had cometo the conclusion that the Association wants sharp looking after, andthat I can't undertake that business. 

P. S. 2. 

Shall I tell you what your great affliction henceforward will be? Itwill be to hear yourself called Sr'enery Roscoe by the flunkies whoannounce you. 

Her Ladyship will please take note of this crumpled rose leaf--I amsure of its annoying her. 

[The following letter, with its comparison of life to a whirlpool andits acknowledgment of the widespread tendency in mankind to makeidols, was written in answer to some inquiries from Lady Welby:--]

April 8, 1884. 

Your letter requires consideration, and I have had very little leisurelately. Whether motion disintegrates or integrates is, I apprehend, aquestion of conditions. A whirlpool in a stream may remain in the samespot for any imaginable time. Yet it is the effect of the motion ofthe particles of the water in that spot which continually integratethemselves into the whirlpool and disintegrate themselves from it. Thewhirlpool is permanent while the conditions last, though itsconstituents incessantly change. Living bodies are just suchwhirlpools. Matter sets into them in the shape of food, --sets out ofthem in the shape of waste products. Their individuality lies in theconstant maintenance of a characteristic form, not in the preservationof material identity. I do not know anything about "vitality" exceptas a name for certain phenomena like "electricity" or "gravitation. "As you get deeper into scientific questions you will find that "Nameist Schall und Rauch" even more emphatically than Faust says it is inTheology. Most of us are idolators, and ascribe divine powers to theabstractions "Force, " "Gravity, " "Vitality, " which our own brains havecreated. I do not know anything about "inert" things in nature. If wereduce the world to matter and motion, the matter is not "inert, "inasmuch as the same amount of motion affects different kinds ofmatter in different ways. To go back to my own illustration. Thefabric of the watch is not inert, every particle of it is in violentand rapid motion, and the winding-up simply perturbs the wholeinfinitely complicated system in a particular fashion. Equilibriummeans death, because life is a succession of changes, while a changingequilibrium is a contradiction in terms. I am not at all clear that aliving being is comparable to a machine running down. On this side ofthe question the whirlpool affords a better parallel than the watch. If you dam the stream above or below, the whirlpool dies; just as theliving being does if you cut off its food, or choke it with its ownwaste products. And if you alter the sides or bottom of the stream youmay kill the whirlpool, just as you kill the animal by interferingwith its structure. Heat and oxidation as a source of heat appear tosupply energy to the living machine, the molecular structure of thegerm furnishing the "sides and bottom of the stream, " that is, determining the results which the energy supplied shall produce. 

Mr. Ashby writes like a man who knows what he is talking about. Hisexposition appears to me to be essentially sound and extremely wellput. I wish there were more sanitary officers of the same stamp. Mr. Spencer is a very admirable writer, and I set great store by hisworks. But we are very old friends, and he has endured me as a sort of"devil's advocate" for thirty-odd years. He thinks that if I can pickno holes in what he says he is safe. But I pick a great many holes, and we agree to differ. 

[Between April and September, Fishery business took him out of Londonfor no less than forty-three days, first to Cornwall, then in May toBrixham, in June to Cumberland and Yorkshire, in July to Chester, andin September to South Devon, Cornwall, and Wales. A few extracts fromhis letters home may be given. Just before starting, he writes fromMarlborough Place to Rogate, where his wife and one of his daughterswere staying:--]

April 8. 

The weather turned wonderfully muggy here this morning, and turned meinto wet paper. But I contrived to make a "neat and appropriate" inpresenting old Hird with his testimonial. Fayrer and I were studentsunder him forty years ago, and as we stood together it was a questionwhich was the greyest old chap. 

April 14. 

I have almost given up reading the Egyptian news, I am so disgustedwith the whole business. I saw several pieces of land to let forbuilding purposes about Falmouth, but did not buy. [This was to twithis wife with her constant desire that he should buy a bit of land inthe country to settle upon in their old age. ]

April 18. 

You don't say when you go back, so I direct this to Rogate. I shallexpect to see you quite set up. We must begin to think seriously aboutgetting out of the hurly-burly a year or two hence, and having anIndian summer together in peace and quietness. 

April 15, Sunday, Falmouth. 

I went out at ten o'clock this morning, and did not get back till nearseven. But I got a cup of tea and some bread and butter in a countryvillage, and by the help of that and many pipes supported nature. There was a bitter east wind blowing, but the day was lovelyotherwise, and by judicious dodging in coves and creeks and sandybays, I escaped the wind and absorbed a prodigious quantity ofsunshine. 

I took a volume of the "Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire" with me. I had not read the famous 15th and 16th chapters for ages, and I layon the sands and enjoyed them properly. A lady came and spoke to me asI returned, who knew L. At Oxford very well--can't recollect hername--and her father and mother are here, and I have just beenspending an hour with them. Also a man who sat by me at dinner knew mefrom Jack's portrait. So my incognito is not very good. I feel quiteset up by my day's wanderings. 

May 11, Torquay. 

We went over to Brixham yesterday to hold an inquiry, getting backhere to an eight o'clock or nearer nine dinner... Dalhousie hasdiscovered that the officer now in command of the "Britannia" issomebody whom he does NOT know, so we gave up going to Dartmouth andagreed to have a lazy day here. It is the most exquisite summerweather you can imagine, and I have been basking in the sun all themorning and dreamily looking over the view of the lovely bay which islooking its best--but take it all round it does not come up to Lynton. Dalhousie is more likeable than ever, and I am just going out for astroll with him. 

June 24. 

I left Keswick this morning for Cockermouth, took the chair at mymeeting punctually at twelve, sat six mortal hours listening toevidence, nine-tenths of which was superfluous--and turning my lawyerfaculty to account in sifting the grains of fact out of the othertenth. 

June 25, Leeds. 

... We had a long drive to a village called Harewood on the Wharfe. There is a big Lord lives there--Earl of Harewood--and he and hisancestors must have taken great care of their tenants, for thelabourers' houses are the best I ever saw... I cut out the enclosedfrom the "Standard" the other day to amuse you, but have forgotten tosend it before [Apparently announcing that he was about to accept atitle. I have not been able to trace the paragraph. ] I think we willbe "Markishes, " the lower grades are getting common. 

June 27. 

... I had a long day's inspection of the Wharfe yesterday, attended ameeting of the landed proprietors at Ottley to tell them what theymust do if they would get salmon up their river... 

I shall leave here to-morrow morning, go on to Skipton, whence sevenor eight miles' drive will take me to Linton where there is anobstruction in the river I want to see. In the afternoon I shall comehome from Skipton, but I don't know exactly by what train. As far as Isee, I ought to be home by about 10. 30, and you may have somethinglight for supper, as the "course of true feeding is not likely to runsmooth"--to-morrow. 

[In August he went again to the corner of Surrey which he had enjoyedso much the year before. Here, in the intervals of suffering under thehands of the dentist, he worked at preparing a new edition of the"Elementary Physiology" with Sir M. Foster, alternating with freshstudies in critical theology. 

The following letters reflect his occupations at this time, togetherwith his desire, strongly combated by his friend, of resigning thePresidency of the Royal Society immediately. ]

Highcroft House, Milford, Godalming, August 9, 1884. 

My dear Foster, I had to go up to town on Friday, and yesterday I went and had all myremaining teeth out, and came down here again with a shrewd suspicionthat I was really drunk and incapable, however respectable I mightlook outwardly. At present I can't eat at all, and I CAN'T SMOKE WITHANY COMFORT. For once I don't mind using italics. 

Item. --I send the two cuts. 

Heaven be praised! I had brought down no copy of Physiology with me, so could not attend to your proof. Got it yesterday, so I am now atyour mercy. 

But I have gone over the proofs now, and send you a deuce of a lot ofsuggestions. 

Just think over additions to smell and taste to bring these intoharmony. 

The Saints salute you. I am principally occupied in studying thegospels. 

Ever yours, T. H. Huxley. 

Highcroft House, Milford, Godalming, August 26, 1884. 

Dearly Beloved, I have been going over the ear chapter this morning, and, as you willsee, have suggested some additions. Those about the lamina spiralisare certainly necessary--illus. Substitution of trihedral fortriangular. [(On September 8, he writes:--] "I have been laughing overmy 'trihedron. ' It is a regular bull. ") I want also very much to getinto heads of students that in sensation it is all modes of motion upto and in sensorium, and that the generation of feeling is thespecific reaction of a particle of the sensorium when stimulated, justas contraction, etc. , is the specific reaction of a muscular fibrewhen stimulated by its nerve. The psychologists make the fools ofthemselves they do because they have never mastered this elementaryfact. But I am not sure whether I have put it well, and I wish youwould give your mind to it. As for me I have not had much mind to givelately--a fortnight's spoon-meat reduced me to inanity, and I am onlyjust picking up again. However, I walked ten miles yesterdayafternoon, so there is not much the matter. 

I will see what I can do about the histology business. ("Most of ourexaminees" [he writes on September 5] "have not a notion of whathistology means at present. I think it will be good for other folks toget it into their heads that it is not all sections and carmine. ") Iwanted to re-write it, but I am not sure yet whether I shall be able. 

Between ourselves, I have pretty well made up my mind to clear out ofeverything next year, Royal Society included. I loathe the thought ofwasting any more of my life in endless distractions--and so long as Ilive in London there is no escape for me. I have half a mind to liveabroad for six months in the year. 

Ever yours, T. H. Huxley. 

I enclose letter from Deutsch lunatic to go before Council and beanswered by Foreign Secretary. 

Highcroft House, Milford, Godalming, August 29, 1884. 

Dearly Beloved, I enclose the proofs, having mustered up volition enough to go overthem at once. I think the alterations will be great improvements. Isee you interpret yourself about the movements of the larynx. 

As to the histology, I shall have a shot at it, but if I do not sendyou manuscript in a week's time, go ahead. I am perplexed about theillustrations, but I see nothing for it but to have new ones in allthe cases which you have marked. Have you anybody in Cambridge who candraw the things from preparations?

You are like Trochu with your "plan, " and I am anxious to learn it. But have you reflected, 1st, that I am getting deafer and deafer, andthat I cannot hear what is said at the council table and in theSociety's rooms half the time people are speaking? and 2nd, that solong as I am President, so long must I be at the beck and call ofeverything that turns up in relation to the interests of science. Solong as I am in the chair, I cannot be a faineant or refuse to doanything and everything incidental to the position. 

My notion is to get away for six months, so as to break with the"world, the flesh, and the devil" of London, for all which I haveconceived a perfect loathing. Six months is long enough for anybody tobe forgotten twice over by everybody but personal friends. 

I am contemplating a winter in Italy, but I shall keep on my house forHarry's sake and as a pied a terre in London, and in the summer comeand look at you at Burlington House, as the old soap-boiler used tovisit the factory. I shall feel like the man out of whom the legion ofdevils departed when he looked at the gambades of the two thousandpigs going at express speed for the waters of Tiberias. 

By the way, did you ever read that preposterous and immoral storycarefully? It is one of the best attested of the miracles... 

When I have retired from the chair (which I must not scandalise) Ishall write a lay sermon on the text. It will be impressive. 

My wife sends her love, and says she has her eye on you. She is allfor retirement. 

Ever yours, I am very sorry to hear of poor Mangles' death, but I suppose therewas no other chance. 

T. H. H. 

[In September he hails with delight some intermission of the constantdepression under which he has been labouring, and writes:--]

So long as I sit still and write or read I am all right, otherwise notgood for much, which is odd, considering that I eat, drink, and sleeplike a top. I suppose that everybody starts with a certain capital oflife-stuff, and that expensive habits have reduced mine. 

[And again:--]

I have been very shaky for the last few weeks, but I am picking upagain, and hope to come up smiling for the winter's punishment. 

There was nothing to drink last night, so I had some tea! with mydinner--smoked a pipe or two--slept better than usual, and wokewithout blue devils for the first time for a week!!! Query, is thatthe effect of tea or baccy? I shall try them again. We are fearfullyand wonderfully made, especially in the stomach--which is altogetherpast finding out. 

[Still, his humour would flash out in the midst of his troubles; hewrites in answer to a string of semi-official inquiries from Sir J. Donnelly:--]

Highcroft House, Milford, Godalming. 

Sir, In reply to your letter of the 9th August (666), I have the honour tostate:--

1. That I am here. 

2. That I have (a) had all my teeth out; (b) partially sprained myright thumb; (c) am very hot; (d) can't smoke with comfort; whence Imay leave even official intelligence to construct an answer to yoursecond inquiry. 

3. Your third question is already answered under 2a. Not writing mightbe accounted for by 2b, but unfortunately the sprain is not badenough--and "laziness, sheer laziness" is the proper answer. 

I am prepared to take a solemn affidavit that I told you and Macgregorwhere I was coming many times, and moreover that I distinctly formedthe intention of leaving my address in writing--according to thoseofficial instructions which I always fulfil. 

If the intention was not carried out, its blood be upon its ownhead--I wash my hands of it, as Pilate did. 

4. As to the question whether I WANT my letters I can sincerelydeclare that I don't--would in fact much rather not see them. But Isuppose for all that they had better be sent. 

5. I hope Macgregor's question is not a hard one--spoon-meat does notcarry you beyond words of one syllable. 

On Friday I signalised my last dinner for the next three weeks bygoing to meet the G. O. M. I sat next him, and he was as lively as abird. 

Very sorry to hear about your house. You will have to set up a vanwith a brass knocker and anchor on our common. 

Ever yours, T. H. Huxley. 

[By the beginning of September he had made up his mind that he oughtbefore long to retire from active life. The first person to be told ofhis resolution was the head of the Science and Art Department, withwhom he had worked so long at South Kensington. ]

Highcroft House, Milford, Godalming, September 3, 1884. 

My dear Donnelly, I was very glad to have news of you yesterday. I gather you arethriving, notwithstanding the appalling title of your place of refuge. I should have preferred "blow the cold" to "Cold blow"--but there isno accounting for tastes. 

I have been going and going to write to you for a week past to tellyou of a notion that has been maturing in my mind for some time, andthat I ought to let you know of before anybody else. I find myselfdistinctly aged--tired out body and soul, and for the first time in mylife fairly afraid of the work that lies before me in the next ninemonths. Physically, I have nothing much to complain of exceptweariness--and for purely mental work, I think I am good for somethingyet. I am morally and mentally sick of society andsocieties--committees, councils--bother about details and generalworry and waste of time. 

I feel as if more than another year of it would be the death of me. Next May I shall be sixty, and have been thirty-one mortal years in mypresent office in the School. Surely I may sing my nunc dimittis witha good conscience. I am strongly inclined to announce to the RoyalSociety in November that the chair will be vacant that day twelvemonth--to resign my Government posts at mid-summer, and go away andspend the winter in Italy--so that I may be out of reach of all theturmoil of London. 

The only thing I don't like is the notion of leaving you without suchsupport as I can give in the School. No one knows better than I do howcompletely it is your work and how gallantly you have borne thetrouble and responsibility connected with it. But what am I to do? Imust give up all or nothing--and I shall certainly come to grief if Ido not have a long rest. 

Pray tell me what you think about it all. 

My wife has written to Mrs. Donnelly and told her the news. 

Ever yours very faithfully, T. H. Huxley. 

Read Hobbes if you want to get hard sense in good English. 

Highcroft House, Milford, Godalming, September 10, 1884. 

My dear Donnelly, Many thanks for your kind letter. I feel rather like a deserter, andam glad of any crumbs of comfort. 

Cartwright has done wonders for me, and I can already eat most things(I draw the line at tough crusts). I have not even my old enemy, dyspepsia--but eat, drink, and sleep like a top. 

And withal I am as tired as if I were hard at work, and shirk walking. 

So far as I can make out there is not the slightest sign of organicdisease anywhere, but I will get Clark to overhaul me when I go backto town. Sometimes I am inclined to suspect that it is all sham andlaziness--but then why the deuce should I want to sham and be lazy. 

Somebody started a charming theory years ago--that as you get olderand lose volition, primitive evil tendencies, heretofore mastered, come out and show themselves. A nice prospect for venerable oldgentlemen!

Perhaps my crust of industry is denuded, and the primitive rock ofsloth is cropping out. 

But enough of this egotistical invalidism. 

How wonderfully Gordon is holding his own. I should like to see himlick the Mahdi into fits before Wolseley gets up. You despise theJews, but Gordon is more like one of the Maccabees of Bar-Kochba thanany sort of modern man. 

My wife sends love to both of you, and says you are (in femininelanguage) "a dear thing in friends. "

Ever yours very faithfully, T. H. Huxley. 

Home Office, September 18, 1884. 

My dear Donnelly, We have struck our camp at Milford, and I am going down to Devonshireand Cornwall to-morrow--partly on Fishery business, partly to see if Ican shake myself straighter by change of air. I am possessed by sevendevils--not only blue, but of the deepest indigo--and I shall try totransplant them into a herd of Cornish swine. 

The only thing that comforts me is Gordon's telegrams. Did ever a poordevil of a Government have such a subordinate before? He is the mostrefreshing personality of this generation. 

I shall be back by 30th September--and I hope in better condition forharness than now. 

Ever yours very faithfully, T. H. Huxley. 

[Replying to General Donnelly's arguments against his resigning allhis official posts, he writes:--]

Dartmouth, September 21, 1884. 

My dear Donnelly, Your letters, having made a journey to Penzance (where I told my wifeI should go last Friday, but did not, and brought up here instead)turned up this morning. 

I am glad to have seen Lord Carlingford's letter, and I am very muchobliged to him for his kind expressions. Assuredly I will not decidehastily. 

Now for your letter--I am all for letters in these matters. Not thatwe are either of us "impatient and irritable listeners"--oh dear, no!"I have my faults, " as the miser said, "but AVARICE is not one ofthem"--and we have our faults too, but notoriously they lie in thedirection of long-suffering and apathy. 

Nevertheless there is a good deal to be said for writing. MINE isitself a discipline in patience for my correspondent. 

Imprimis. I scorn all your chaff about Society. My great object foryears has been to keep out of it, not to go into it. Just you waittill the Misses Donnelly grow up--I trust there may be five or ten ofthem--and see what will happen to you. But apart from this, so long asI live in London, so long will it be practically impossible for me tokeep out of dining and giving of dinners--and you know that just aswell as I do. 

2nd. I mean to give up the Presidency, but don't see my way to doingso next St. Andrew's Day. I wish I could--but I must deal fairly bythe Society. 

3rd. The suggestion of the holiday at Christmas is the most sensiblething you have said. I could get six weeks under the new arrangement("Botany, " January and half February) without interfering with mylectures at all. But then there is the blessed Home Office toconsider. There might be civil war between the net men and the rod menin six weeks, all over the country, without my mild influence. 

4th. I must give up my Inspectorship. The mere thought of having tooccupy myself with the squabbles of these idiots of country squireensand poachers makes me sick--and is, I believe, the chief cause of themorbid state of my mucous membranes. 

All this week shall I be occupied in hearing one Jackass contradictanother Jackass about questions which are of no importance. 

I would almost as soon be in the House of Commons. 

Now see how reasonable I am. I agree with you (a) that I must get outof the hurly-burly of society; (b) that I must get out of thePresidency; (c) that I must get out of the Inspectorship, or rather Iagree with myself on that matter, you having expressed no opinion. 

That being so, it seems to me that I must, willy-nilly, give up SouthKensington. For--and here is the point you had in your mind when youlamented your possible impatience about something I might say--I swearby all the gods that are not mine, nothing shall induce me to apply tothe Treasury for anything but the pound of flesh to which I amentitled. 

Nothing ever disgusted me more than being the subject of a battle withthe Treasury over the Home Office appointment--which I should havethrown up if I could have done so with decency to Harcourt. 

It's just as well for me I couldn't, but it left a nasty taste. 

I don't want to leave the School, and should be very glad to remain asDean, for many reasons. But what I don't see is how I am to do thatand make my escape from the thousand and one entanglements--which seemto me to come upon me quite irrespectively of any office I hold--orhow I am to go on living in London as a (financially) decayedphilosopher. 

I really see nothing for it but to take my pension and go and spendthe winter of 1885-86 in Italy. I hear one can be a regular swellthere on 1000 pounds a year. 

Six months' absence is oblivion, and I shall take to a new line ofwork, and one which will greatly meet your approval. 

As to X-- I am not a-going to--not being given to hopelessenterprises. That rough customer at Dublin is the only man who occursto me. I can't think of his name, but that is part of my generalunfitness. 

... I suppose I shall chaff somebody on my death-bed. But I am out ofheart to think of the end of the lunches in the sacred corner. 

Ever yours, T. H. Huxley. 

[On the 21st he writes home about the steps he had begun to take withrespect to giving up part of his official work. ]

I have had a long letter from Donnelly. He had told Lord Carlingfordof my plans, and encloses a letter from Lord Carlingford to him, trusting I will not hastily decide, and with some pretty phrases about"support and honour" I give to the School. Donnelly is very anxious Ishould hold on to the School, if only as Dean, and wants me in anycase to take two months' holiday at Christmas. Of course he looks onthe Royal Society as the root of all evil. Foster per contra looks onthe School as the deuce, but would have me stick by the Royal Societylike grim death. 

The only moral obligation that weighs with me is that which I feelunder, to deal fairly by Donnelly and the School. You must not argueagainst this, as rightly or wrongly I am certain that if I desertedthe School hastily, or if I did not do all that I can to requiteDonnelly for the plucky way in which he has stood by it and me for thelast dozen years, I should never shake off the feeling that I hadbehaved badly. And as I am much given to brooding over my misdeeds, Idon't want you to increase the number of my hell-hounds. You must helpme in this... And if I am Quixotic, play Sancho for the nonce. 

CHAPTER 2. 16. 

1884-1885. 

[Towards the end of September he went to the West country to try toimprove his health before the session began again in London. Thus hewrites, on September 26, to Mr. W. F. Collier, who had invited him toHorrabridge, and on the 27th to Sir M. Foster:--]

Fowey, September 26, 1884. 

Many thanks for the kind offer in your letter, which has followed mehere. But I have not been on the track you might naturally havesupposed I had followed. I have been trying to combine hygiene withbusiness, and betook myself, in the first place, to Dartmouth, afterwards to Totnes, and then came on here. From this base ofoperations I could easily reach all my places of meeting. To-morrow Ihave to go to Bodmin, but I shall return here, and if the weather isfine (raining cats and dogs at present), I may remain a day or two totake in stock of fresh air before commencing the London campaign. 

I am very glad to hear that your health has improved so much. You mustfeel quite proud to be such an interesting "case. " If I set a goodexample myself I would venture to warn you against spending fiveshillings worth of strength on the ground of improvement to the extentof half-a-crown. 

I am not quite clear as to the extent to which my children havecolonised Woodtown at present. But it seems to me that there must bethree or four Huxleys (free or in combination, as the chemists say)about the premises. Please give them the paternal benediction; andwith very kind remembrances to Mrs. Collier, believe me, Yours very faithfully, T. H. Huxley. 

Fowey Hotel, Fowey, Cornwall, September 27, 1884. 

My dear Foster, I return your proof, with a few trifling suggestions here and there... 

I fancy we may regard the award as practically settled, and a verygood award it will be. 

The address is beginning to loom in the distance. I have half a mindto devote some part of it to a sketch of the recent novelties inhistology touching the nucleus question and molecular physiology. 

My wife sent me your letter. By all means let us have a confabulationas soon as I get back and settle what is to be done with the "aged P. "

I am not sure that I shall be at home before the end of the week. Mylectures do not begin till next week, and the faithful Howes can startthe practical work without me, so that if I find myself picking up anygood in these parts, I shall probably linger here or hereabouts. But agood deal will depend on the weather--inside as well as outside. I amconvinced that the prophet Jeremiah (whose works I have been studying)must have been a flatulent dyspeptic--there is so much agreementbetween his views and mine. 

Ever yours, T. H. Huxley. 

[But the net result of this holiday is summed up in a note, of October5, to Sir M. Foster:--]

I got better while I was in Cornwall and Wales, and, at present, Idon't think there is anything the matter with me except a profounddisinclination to work. I never before knew the proper sense of theterm "vis inertiae. "

[And writing in the same strain to Sir J. Evans, he adds:]

But I have a notion that if I do not take a long spell of absoluterest before long I shall come to grief. However, getting into harnessagain may prove a tonic--it often does, e. G. In the case ofcab-horses. 

[Three days later he found himself ordered to leave Englandimmediately, under pain of a hopeless breakdown. ]

4 Marlborough Place, October 8, 1884. 

My dear Foster, We shall be very glad to see you on Friday. I came to the conclusionthat I had better put myself in Clark's hands again, and he has beenhere this evening overhauling me for an hour. 

He says there is nothing wrong except a slight affection of the liverand general nervous depression, but that if I go on the latter willget steadily worse and become troublesome. He insists on my going awayto the South and doing nothing but amuse myself for three or fourmonths. 

This is the devil to pay, but I cannot honestly say that I think he iswrong. Moreover, I promised the wife to abide by his decision. 

We will talk over what is to be done. 

Ever yours, T. H. Huxley. 

Athenaeum Club, October 13, 1884. 

My dear Morley, I heartily wish I could be with you on the 25th, but it is alitervisum to somebody, whether Dis or Diabolis, I can't say. 

The fact is, the day after I saw you I had to put myself in Clark'shands, and he ordered me to knock off work and go and amuse myself forthree or four months, under penalties of an unpleasant kind. 

So I am off to Venice next Wednesday. It is the only tolerably warmplace accessible to any one whose wife will not let him go withinreach of cholera just at present. 

If I am a good boy I am to come back all sound, as there is nothingorganic the matter; but I have had enough of the world, the flesh, andthe devil, and shall extricate myself from that Trinity as soon as maybe. Perhaps I may get within measurable distance of Berkeley ("EnglishMen of Letters" edited by J. M. ) before I die!

Ever yours very faithfully, T. H. Huxley. 

Athenaeum Club, October 18, 1884. 

My dear Foster, Best thanks for your letter and route. I am giving you a frightfulquantity of trouble; but as the old woman (Irish) said to my wife, when she gave her a pair of my old trousers for her husband, "I hopeit may be made up to ye in a better world. "

She is clear, and I am clear, that there is no reason on my part fornot holding on if the Society really wishes I should. But, of course, I must make it easy for the Council to get rid of a faineantPresident, if they prefer that course. 

I wrote to Evans an unofficial letter two days ago, and have had avery kind, straightforward letter from him. He is quite against myresignation. I shall see him this afternoon here. I had to go to myoffice (Fishery). 

Clark's course of physic is lightening my abdominal troubles, but I ampreposterously weak with a kind of shabby broken-down indifference toeverything. 

Ever yours, T. H. Huxley. 

[The "Indian summer" to which he looked forward was not to be reachedwithout passing through a season of more than equinoctial storms andtempests. His career had reached its highest point only to bethreatened with a speedy close. He himself did not exceed more thantwo or three years' longer lease of life, and went by easy stages toVenice, where he spent eight days. ] "No place, " [he writes, ] "could bebetter fitted for a poor devil as sick in body and mind as I was whenI got there. "]

Venice itself [he writes to Dr. Foster] just suited me. I chartered acapital gondolier, and spent most of my time exploring the Lagoons. Especially I paid a daily visit to the Lido, and filled my lungs withthe sea air, and rejoiced in the absence of stinks. For Venice is likeher population (at least the male part of it), handsome but odorous. Did you notice how handsome the young men are and how little beautythere is among the women?

I stayed eight days in Venice and then returned by easy stages firstto Padua, where I wanted to see Giotto's work, then to Verona, andthen here (Lugano). Verona delighted me more than anything I haveseen, and we will spend two other days there as we go back. 

As for myself, I really have no positive complaint now. I eat well andI sleep well, and I should begin to think I was malingering, if itwere not for a sort of weariness and deadness that hangs about me, accompanied by a curious nervous irritability. 

I expect that this is the upshot of the terrible anxiety I have hadabout my daughter M--. 

I would give a great deal to be able to escape facing the wedding, formy nervous system is in the condition of that of a frog under opium. 

But my R. Must not go off without the paternal benediction. 

[For the first three weeks he was alone, his wife staying to makepreparations for the third daughter's wedding on November 6th, forwhich occasion he was to return, afterwards taking her abroad withhim. Unfortunately, just as he started, news was brought him at therailway station that his second daughter, whose brilliant gifts andhappy marriage seemed to promise everything for her future, had beenstricken by the beginnings of an insidious and, as he too trulyfeared, hopeless disease. Nothing could have more retarded his ownrecovery. It was a bitter grief, referred to only in his most intimateletters, and, indeed, for a time kept secret even from the othermembers of the family. Nothing was to throw a shade over thebrightness of the approaching wedding. 

But on his way home, he writes of that journey:--]

I had to bear my incubus, not knowing what might come next, until Ireached Luzern, when I telegraphed for intelligence, and had my mindset at ease as to the measures which were being adopted. 

I am a tough subject, and have learned to bear a good deal withoutcrying out; but those four-and-twenty hours between London and Luzernhave taught me that I have yet a good deal to learn in the way of"grinning and bearing. "

[And although he writes, ] "I would give a good deal not to face a lotof people next week, "... "I have the feelings of a wounded wild beastand hate the sight of all but my best friends, " [he hid away hisfeelings, and made this the occasion for a very witty speech, ofwhich, alas! I remember nothing but a delightfully mixed polyglotexordium in French, German, and Italian, the result, he declared, ofhis recent excursion to foreign parts, which had obliterated therecollection of his native speech. 

During his second absence he appointed his youngest daughter secretaryto look after necessary correspondence, about which he forwardedinstructions from time to time. 

The chief matters of interest in the letters of this period areaccounts of health and travel, sometimes serious, more often jesting, for the letters were generally written in the bright intervals betweenhis dark days: business of the Royal Society, and the publication ofthe new edition of the "Lessons in Elementary Physiology, " upon whichhe and Dr. Foster had been at work during the autumn. But the fourmonths abroad were not productive of very great good; the weather wasunpropitious for an invalid--] "as usual, a quite unusual season"[--while his mind was oppressed by the reports of his daughter'sillness. Under these circumstances recovery was slow and travelcomfortless; all the Englishman's love of home breaks out in hisletter of April 8, when he set foot again on English soil. ]

Hotel de Londres, Verona, November 18, 1884. 

Dearest Babs, 1. Why, indeed, do they ask for more? Wait till they send a letter ofexplanation, and then say that I am out of the country and notexpected back for several years. 

2. I wholly decline to send in any name to Athenaeum. But don'tmention it. 

3. Society of Arts be bothered, also --. 

4. Write to Science and Art Club to engage three of the prettiestgirls as partners for evening. They will look very nice aswallflowers. 

5. Penny dinners? declined with thanks. 

6. Ask the meeting of Herts N. H. Society to come here after nextThursday, when we shall be in Bologna. 

Business first, my sweet girl secretary with the curly front; and nowfor private affairs, though as your mother is covering reams withthem, I can only mention a few of the more important which she willforget. 

The first is that she has a habit of hiding my shirts so that I amunable to find them when we go away, and the chambermaid comes rushingafter us with the garment shamefully displayed. 

The second is that she will cover all the room with her things, and Iam obliged to establish a military frontier on the table. 

The third is that she insists on my buying an Italian cloak. So youwill see your venerable pater equipped in this wise. [Sketch of acloaked figure like a brigand of melodrama. ] except in these twoparticulars, she behaves fairly well to me. 

In point of climate, so far, Italy has turned out a fraud. We dare notface Venice, and Mr. Fenili will weep over my defection; but that isbetter than that we should cough over his satisfaction. 

I am quite pleased to hear of the theological turn of the family. Itmust be a drop of blood from one of your eight great-grandfathers, fornone of your ancestors that I have known would have developed in thisway. 

... Best love to Nettie and Harry. Tell the former that cabbages do notcost 5 shillings apiece, and the latter that 11 P. M. Is the cloture. 

Ever your affectionate Pater. 

Hotel Brittanique, Naples, November 30, 1884. 

My dear Foster, Which being St. Andrew's Day, I think the expatriated P. Ought to giveyou some account of himself. 

We had a prosperous journey to Locarno, but there plumped into bittercold weather, and got chilled to the bone as the only guests in thebig hotel, though they did their best to make us comfortable. I made ashot at bronchitis, but happily failed, and got all right again. 

Pallanza was as bad. At Milan temperature at noon 39 degrees F. , freezing at night. Verona much the same. Under these circumstances, weconcluded to give up Venice and made for Bologna. There found itrather colder. Next Ravenna, where it snowed. However, we madeourselves comfortable in the queer hotel, and rejoiced in the mosaicsof that sepulchral marsh. 

At Bologna I had assurances that the Sicilian quarantine was going tobe taken off at once, and as the reports of the railway travelling andhotels in Calabria were not encouraging, I determined to make forNaples, or rather, by way of extra caution, for Castellamare. All theway to Ancona the Apennines were covered with snow, and much of theplain also. Twenty miles north of Ancona, however, the weather changedto warm summer, and we rejoiced accordingly. At Foggia I found thatthe one decent hotel that used to exist was non-extant, so we went onto Naples. 

Arriving at 10. 30 very tired, got humbugged by a lying Neapolitan, whopalmed himself off as the commissaire of the Hotel Bristol, and tookus into an omnibus belonging to another hotel, that of the Bristolbeing, as he said, "broke. " After a drive of three miles or so got tothe Bristol and found it shut up! After a series of adventures and agood deal of strong language on my part, knocked up the people here, who took us in, though the hotel was in reality shut up like most ofthose in Naples. [Owing to the cholera and consequent dearth oftravellers. ]

As usual the weather is "unusual"--hot in the sun, cold round thecorner and at night. Moreover, I found by yesterday's paper that thebeastly Sicilians won't give up their ten days' quarantine. So allchance of getting to Catania or Palermo is gone. I am not sure whetherwe shall stay here for some time or go to Rome, but at any rate weshall be here a week. 

Dohrn is away getting subsidies in Germany for his new ship. Weinspected the Aquarium this morning. Eisig and Mayer are in charge. Madame is a good deal altered in the course of the twelve years thathave elapsed since I saw her, but says she is much better than shewas. 

As for myself, I got very much better when in North Italy in spite ofthe piercing cold. But the fatigue of the journey from Ancona here, and the worry at the end of it, did me no good, and I have been seedyfor a day or two. However, I am picking up. 

I see one has to be very careful here. We had a lovely drive yesterdayout Pausilippo, but the wife got chilled and was shaky this morning. However, we got very good news of our daughter this evening, and thathas set us both up. 

My blessing for to-morrow will reach you after date. Let us hear howeverything went off. 

Your return in May project is really impracticable on account of theFishery Report. I cannot be so long absent from the Home Officewhatever I might manage with South Kensington. 

With our love to Mrs. Foster and you. 

Ever yours very faithfully, T. H. Huxley. 

[This letter, as he says a week later, was written when he] "wasrather down in the mouth from the wretched cold weather, and the wifebeing laid up with a bad cold, " [besides his own ailments. ]

I find I have to be very careful about night air, but nothing does meso much good as six or seven miles' walk between breakfast andlunch--at a good sharp pace. So I conclude that there cannot be muchthe matter, and yet I am always on the edge, so to speak, of thatinfernal hypochondria. 

We have settled down here very comfortably, and I do not think weshall care to go any further south. Madame Dohrn and all the people atthe stazione are very kind, and want to do all sorts of things for us. The other day we went in the launch to Capri, intending next day to goto Amalfi. But it threatened bad weather, so we returned in theevening. The journey knocked us both up, and we had to get out ofanother projected excursion to Ischia to-day. The fact is, I getinfinitely tired with talking to people and can't stand any deviationfrom regular and extremely lazy habits. Fancy my being always in bedby ten o'clock and breakfasting at nine!

[On the 10th, writing to Sir John Evans, who as Vice-President, wasacting in his stead at the Royal Society, he says:--]

In spite of snow on the ground we had three or four days atRavenna--which is the most interesting deadly lively sepulchre of aplace I was ever in in my life. The evolution of modern from ancientart is all there in a nutshell... 

I lead an altogether animal life, except that I have renewed my oldlove for Italian. At present I am rejoicing in the Autobiography ofthat delightful sinner, Benvenuto Cellini. I have some notion thatthere is such a thing as science somewhere. In fact I am fittingmyself for Neapolitan nobility. 

[To his youngest daughter. ]

Hotel Brittanique, Naples, December 22, 1884. 

But we have had no letters from home for a week... Moreover, if wedon't hear to-day or to-morrow we shall begin to speculate on theprobability of an earthquake having swallowed up 4 Marlborough Place"with all the young barbarians at play--And I their sire trying to geta Roman holiday" (Byron). For we are going to Rome to-morrow, havinghad enough of Naples, the general effect of which city is such aswould be produced by the sight of a beautiful woman who had not washedor dressed her hair for a month. Climate, on the whole, more variablethan that of London. 

We had a lovely drive three days ago to Cumae, a perfect summer's day;since then sunshine, heat, cold wind, calms all durcheinander, withthunder and lightning last night to complete the variety. 

The thermometer and barometer are not fixed to the walls here, as theywould be jerked off by the sudden changes. At first, it is odd to seethem dancing about the hall. But you soon get used to it, and theporter sees that they don't break themselves. 

With love to Nettie and Harry, and hopes that the pudding will begood. 

Ever your loving father, T. H. Huxley. 

[In January 1885 he went to Rome, whence he writes:--]

Hotel Victoria, Via dei due Macelli, Rome, January 8, 1885. 

My dear Foster, We have been here a fortnight very well lodged--south aspect, fireplace, and all the rest of the essentials except sunshine. Of thislast there is not much more than in England, and the grey skies dayafter day are worthy of our native land. Sometimes it rains cats anddogs all day by way of a change--as on Christmas Day--but it is notcold. "Quite exceptional weather, " they tell us, but that seems to bethe rule everywhere. We have done a respectable amount ofgallery-slaving, and I have been amusing myself by picking up thetopography of ancient Rome. I was going to say Pagan Rome, but theinappropriateness of the distinction strikes me, papal Rome being muchmore stupidly and childishly pagan than imperial. I never saw a saddersight than the kissing a wretched bedizened doll of a Bambino thatwent on in the Ara Coeli on Twelfth Day. Your puritan soul would havelonged to arise and slay... 

As to myself, though it is a very unsatisfactory subject and one I amvery tired of bothering my friends about, I am like the farmer at therent-dinner, and don't find myself much "forrarder. " That is to say, Iam well for a few days and then all adrift, and have to put myselfright by dosing with Clark's pills, which are really invaluable. Theywill make me believe in those pills I saw advertised in my youth, andwhich among other things were warranted to cure "the indecision ofjuries. " I really can't make out my own condition. I walked seven oreight miles this morning over Monte Mario and out on the Campagnawithout any particular fatigue, and yesterday I was as miserable as anowl in sunshine. Something perhaps must be put down to the relapsewhich our poor girl had a week ago, and which became known to us in aterrible way. She had apparently quite recovered, and arrangementswere made for their going abroad, and now everything is upset. Iwarned her husband that this was very likely, but did not sufficientlytake the warning to myself. 

You are taking a world of trouble for me, and Donnelly writes I am todo as I like so far as they are concerned. I have heard nothing fromthe Home Office, and I suppose it would be proper for me to write if Iwant any more leave. I really hardly know what to do. I can't say Ifeel very fit for the hurly-burly of London just now, but I am notsure that the wholesomest thing for me would not be at all costs toget back to some engrossing work. If my poor girl were well, I couldperhaps make something of the dolce far niente, but at present one'smind runs to her when it is not busy in something else. 

I expect we shall be here a week or ten days more--at any rate, thisaddress is safe--afterwards to Florence. 

What am I to do in the Riviera? Here and at Florence there is alwayssome distraction. You see the problem is complex. 

My wife, who is very lively, thanks you for your letter (which I haveanswered) and joins with me in love to Mrs. Foster and yourself. 

Ever yours, T. H. Huxley. 

[Writing on the same day to Sir J. Evans, he proposed a considerablealteration in the duties of the Assistant Secretary of the RoyalSociety. ]

You know that I served a seven years' apprenticeship as Secretary, andthat experience gave me very solid grounds for the conviction that, with the present arrangements, a great deal of the time of theSecretaries is wasted over the almost mechanical drudgery ofproof-reading. 

[He suggests new arrangements, and proceeds:--]

At the same time it would be very important to adopt some arrangementby which the "Transactions" papers can be printed independently of oneanother. 

Why should not the papers be paged independently and be numbered foreach year. Thus--"Huxley Idleness and Incapacity in Italy. " "Phil. Trans. " 1885 6. 

People grumble at the delay in publication, and are quite right indoing so, though it is impossible under the present system to be moreexpeditious, and it is not every senior secretary who would slave atthe work as Stokes does... 

But it is carrying coals to Newcastle to talk of such businessarrangements as these to you. 

The only thing I am strong about, is the folly of going on cuttingblocks with our Secretarial razors any longer. 

I am afraid I cannot give a very good account of myself. 

The truth of the answer to Mallock's question "Is life worthliving?"--that depends on the liver--is being strongly enforced uponme in the hepatic sense of liver, and I must confess myself fit forvery little. A week hence we shall migrate to Florence and try theeffect of the more bracing air. The Pincio is the only part of Romethat is fit to live in, and unfortunately the Government does notoffer to build me a house there. 

However, I have got a great deal of enjoyment out of ancientRome--papal Rome is too brutally pagan (and in the worst possibletaste too) for me. 

[To his daughter, Mrs. Roller. ]

January 11, 1885. 

We have now had nearly three weeks in Rome. I am sick of churches, galleries, and museums, and meanly make M-- go and see them and tellme about them. As we are one flesh, it is just the same as if I hadseen them. 

Since the time of Constantine there has been nothing but tawdryrubbish in the shape of architecture [For his appreciation of thegreat dome of the Pantheon, see below. ]--the hopeless bad taste of thePapists is a source of continual gratification to me as a goodProtestant (and something more). As for the skies, they are aschangeable as those of England--the only advantage is the absence offrost and snow--(raining cats and dogs this Sunday morning). 

But down to the time of Constantine, Rome is endlessly interesting, and if I were well I should like to spend some months in exploring it. As it is, I do very little, though I have contrived to pick up all Iwant to know about pagan Rome and the Catacombs, which last are myespecial weakness. 

My master and physician is bothered a good deal with eczema--otherwisevery lively. All the chief collections in Rome are provided with apair of her spectacles, which she leaves behind. Several newopticians' shops are set up on the strength of the purchases in thisline she is necessitated to make. 

I want to be back at work, but I am horribly afraid I should be nogood yet. We are thinking of going to Florence at the end of this weekto see what the drier and colder air there will do. 

With our dear love to you all--we are wae for a sight of you. 

Ever your loving father, T. H. Huxley. 

Hotel Victoria, Via dei due Macelli, January 16, 1885. 

My dear Foster, It seems to me that I am giving my friends a world of trouble... 

I have had a bad week of it, and the night before last was under theimpression that I was about to succumb shortly to a complication ofmaladies, and moreover, that a wooden box that my wife had just hadmade would cost thousands of pounds in the way of payment for extraluggage before we reached home. I do not know which hypochondriacalpossession was the most depressing. I can laugh at it now, but Ireally was extraordinarily weak and ill. 

We had made up our minds to bolt from Rome to Florence at once, when Isuddenly got better, and to-day am all right. So as we hear of snow atFlorence we shall stop where we are. It has been raining cats and dogshere, and the Tiber rose 40 feet and inundated the low grounds. But"cantabit elevatus"; it can't touch us, and at any rate the streetsare washed clean. 

The climate is mild here. We have a capital room and all the sunshinethat is to be had, plus a good fire when needful, and at worst one canalways get a breezy walk on the Pincio hard by. 

However, about the leave. Am I to do anything or nothing? I am dyingto get back to steady occupation and English food, and the sort ofregimen one can maintain in one's own house. On the other hand, Istand in fear of the bitter cold of February and early March, andstill more of the thousand and one worries of London outside one'swork. So I suppose it will be better if I keep away till Easter, or atany rate to the end of March. But I must hear something definite fromthe Home Office. I have written to Donnelly to the same effect. Mypoor Marian's relapse did not do us any good, for all that I expectedit. However the last accounts are very favourable. 

I wrote to Evans the other day about a re-arrangement of the duties ofthe Secretary and Assistant Secretary. I thought it was better towrite to him than to you on that subject, and I begged him to discussthe matter with the officers. It is quite absurd that Stokes and youshould waste your time in press drudgery. 

We are very prudent here, and the climate suits us both, especially mywife, who is so vigorous that I depute her to go and see the Palazzi, and tell me all about them when she comes back. Old Rome is endlesslyinteresting to me, and I can always potter about and find occupation. I think I shall turn antiquary--it's just the occupation for a decayednaturalist, though you need not tell the Treasure I say so. 

With our love to Mrs. Foster and yourself. 

Ever yours, T. H. Huxley. 

Hotel Victoria, Via dei due Macelli, January 18, 1885. 

My dear Donnelly, Official sentence of exile for two months more (up to May 12) arrivedyesterday. So if my lords will be so kind as to concur I shall be ableto disport myself with a clear conscience. I hope their lordshipswon't think that I am taking things too easy in not making a regularapplication, and I will do so if you think it better. But if it hadrested with me I think I should have got back in February and taken mychance. That energetic woman that owns me, and Michael Foster, however, have taken the game out of my hands, and I have nothing to dobut to submit. 

On the whole I feel it is wise. I shall have more chance if I escapenot only the cold but the bother of London for a couple of monthsmore. 

I was very bad a week ago, but I have taken to dosing myself withquinine, and either that or something else has given me a spurt forthe last two days, so that I have been more myself than any time sinceI left, and begin to think that there is life in the old dog yet. Ifone could only have some fine weather! To-day there is the first realsunshine we have been favoured with for a week. 

We are just back from a great function at St. Peter's. It is the festaof St. Peter's chair, and the ex-dragoon Cardinal Howard has beenfugleman in the devout adorations addressed to that venerable articleof furniture, which, as you ought to know, but probably don't, isinclosed in a bronze double and perched up in a shrine of the worstpossible taste in the Tribuna of St. Peter's. The display ofman-millinery and lace was enough to fill the lightest-minded womanwith envy, and a general concert--some of the music verygood--prevented us from feeling dull, while the ci-devantguardsman--big, burly, and bullet-headed--made God and then eat him. 

[A reminiscence of Browning in "The Bishop Orders his Tomb":--

 And then how I shall lie through centuries, And hear the blessed mutter of the mass, And see God made and eaten all day long. ]

I must have a strong strain of Puritan blood in me somewhere, for I ampossessed with a desire to arise and slay the whole brood of idolatorswhenever I assist at one of these ceremonies. You will observe that Iam decidedly better, and have a capacity for a good hatred still. 

The last news about Gordon is delightful. The chances are he willrescue Wolseley yet. 

With our love. 

Ever yours, T. H. Huxley. 

[To his eldest son. ]

Rome, January 20, 1885. 

I need hardly tell you that I find Rome wonderfully interesting, andthe attraction increases the longer one stays. I am obliged to takecare of myself and do but little in the way of sight-seeing, but bydirecting one's attention to particular objects one can learn a greatdeal without much trouble. I begin to understand Old Rome pretty well, and I am quite learned in the Catacombs, which suit me, as a kind ofChristian fossils out of which one can reconstruct the body of theprimitive Church. She was a simple maiden enough and vastly moreattractive than the bedizened old harridan of the modern Papacy, sosmothered under the old clothes of Paganism which she has beenappropriating for the last fifteen centuries that Jesus of Nazarethwould not know her if he met her. 

I have been to several great papistical functions--among others to thefesta of the Cathedra Petri in St. Peter's last Sunday, and I confessI am unable to understand how grown men can lend themselves to suchelaborate tomfooleries--nothing but mere fetish worship--in forms ofexecrably bad taste, devised, one would think, by a college ofecclesiastical man-milliners for the delectation of school-girls. Itis curious to notice that intellectual and aesthetic degradation gohand in hand. You have only to go from the Pantheon to St. Peter's tounderstand the great abyss which lies between the Roman of paganismand the Roman of the papacy. I have seen nothing grander thanAgrippa's work--the popes have stripped it to adorn their ownpetrified lies, but in its nakedness it has a dignity with which thereis nothing to compare in the ill-proportioned, worse decorated tawdrystone mountain on the Vatican. 

The best thing, from an aesthetic point of view, that could be donewith Rome would be to destroy everything except St. Paolo fuori leMure, of later date than the fourth century. 

But you will have had enough of my scrawl, and your mother wants toadd something. She is in great force, and is gone prospecting to somePalazzo or other to tell me if it is worth seeing. 

Ever your loving father, T. H. Huxley. 

Hotel Victoria, Rome, Via dei due Macelli, January 25, 1885. 

My dear Donnelly, Best thanks for the telegram which arrived the day before yesterdayand set my mind at ease. 

I have been screwing up the old machine which I inhabit, first withquinine and now with a form of strychnia (which Clark told me to take)for the last week, and I have improved a good deal--whether post hocor proper hoc in the present uncertainty of medical science I declineto give any opinion. 

The weather is very cold for Rome--ice an eighth of an inch thick inthe Ludovisi Garden the other morning, and every night it freezes, butmostly fine sunshine in the day. (This is a remarkable sentence inpoint of grammar, but never mind. ) The day before yesterday we cameout on the Campagna, and it then was as fresh and bracing a breeze asyou could get in Northumberland. 

We are very comfortable and quiet here, and I hold on--till it getswarmer. I am told that Florence is detestable at present. As forLondon, our accounts make us shiver and cough. 

News about the dynamiting gentry just arrived. A little more mischiefand there will be an Irish massacre in some of our great towns. If anIrish Parnellite member were to be shot for every explosion I believethe thing would soon stop. It would be quite just, as they arepractically accessories. 

I think -- would do it if he were Prime Minister. Nothing like athorough Radical for arbitrary acts of power!

I must be getting better, as my disgust at science has ceased, and Ihave begun to potter about Roman geology and prehistoric work. You maybe glad to learn that there is no evidence that the prehistoric Romanshad Roman noses. But as I cannot find any particular prevalence ofthem among the modern--or ancient except for Caesar--Romani, the factis not so interesting as it might appear, and I would not advise youto tell -- of it. 

Behold a Goak--feeble, but promising of better things. 

My wife unites with me with love to Mrs. Donnelly and yourself. 

Ever yours, T. H. Huxley. 

[The following letter refers to the fourth edition of the "Lessons inElementary Physiology, " in the preparation of which Dr. Foster hadbeen helping during the summer:--]

Hotel Victoria, Rome, Via dei due Macelli, February 1, 1885. 

My dear Foster, Anything more disgraceful than the way in which I have left yourletter of more than a fortnight ago unanswered, I don't know. Ithought the wife had written about the leave (and she thought I had, as she has told you), but I knew I had not answered the questionsabout the title, still less considered the awful incubus (x 10, 000dinners by hepatic deep objection) of the preface. 

There is such a thing as justice in this world--not much of it, butstill some--and it is partly on that ground and partly because I wantyou, in view of future eventualities, to have a copyright in the book, that I proposed we should join our names. 

Of course, if you would really rather not, for any good reason you mayhave, I have nothing further to say. But I don't think that thesentimental reason is a good one, and unless you have a better, I wishyou would let the original proposal stand. 

However, having stated the case afresh I leave it for you to say yesor no, and shall abide by your decision without further discussion. 

As to the Preface. If I am to write it, please send me the oldPreface. I think the book was published in 1864, or was it 1866? [In1866. ] and it ought to be come of age or nearly so. 

You might send me the histological chapter, not that I am going toalter anything, but I should like to see how it looks. I will knockthe Preface off at once, as soon as I hear from you. 

The fact is, I have been much better in the course of the last fewdays. The weather has been very sunshiny but cool and bracing, and Ihave taken to quinine. Tried Clark's strychnine, but it did not answerso well. 

I am in hopes that I have taken a turn for the better, and that theremay yet be the making of something better than a growlinghypochondriacal old invalid about me. But I am most sincerely gladthat I am not obliged to be back 10 days hence--there is not muchcapital accumulated yet. 

I find that the Italians have been doing an immense deal inprehistoric archaeology of late years, and far more valuable work thanI imagined. But it is very difficult to get at, and as Loescher's headman told me the other day when I asked for an Italian book publishedin Rome, "Well, you see it is so difficult to get Roman books inRome. "

I am ashamed to be here two months without paying my respects to theLincei, and I am going to-day. The unaccountable creatures meet at 1o'clock--lunch time!

Best love from my wife and self to Mrs. Foster and yourself. 

Ever yours, T. H. Huxley. 

Rome, February 14, 1885. 

My dear Foster, Voila the preface--a work of great labour! and which you may polishand alter as you like, ALL BUT THE LAST PARAGRAPH. You see I havecaved in. I like your asking to have your own way "for once. " My wifetakes the same line, does whatever she pleases, and then declares Ileave her no initiative. 

If I talk of public affairs, I shall simply fall a-blaspheming. I seethe "Times" holds out about Gordon, and does not believe he is killed. Poor fellow! I wish I could believe that his own conviction (as hetold me) is true, and that death only means a larger government forhim to administer. Anyhow, it is better to wind up that way than to gogrowling out one's existence as a ventose hypochondriac, dependentupon the condition of a few square inches of mucous membrane for one'sheaven or hell. 

As to private affairs, I think I am getting solidly, but very slowly, better. In fact, I can't say there is much the matter with me, exceptthat I am weaker than I ought to be, and that a sort of wearyindolence hangs about me like a fog. M-- is wonderfully better, andher husband has taken a house for them at Norwood. If I could berejoiced at anything, I should be at that; but it seems to me as ifsince that awful journey when I first left England, "the springs wasbroke, " as that vagabond tout said at Naples. 

It has turned very cold here, and we are uncertain when to leave forFlorence, but probably next week. The Carnival is the most entirelychildish bosh I have ever met with among grown people. Want to finishthis now for post, but will write again speedily. Moseley'sproposition is entirely to my mind, and I have often talked to it. TheRoyal Society rooms ought to be house-of-call and quasi-club for allF. R. S. In London. 

Wife is bonny, barring a cold. It is as much as I can do to preventher sporting a mask and domino!

With best love, Ever yours, T. H. Huxley. 

Hotel Victoria, Rome, Via dei due Macelli, February 16, 1885. 

My dear Donnelly, I have had it on my mind to write to you for the last week--ever sincethe hideous news about Gordon reached us. But partly from a faint hopethat his wonderful fortune might yet have stood him in good stead, andpartly because there is no great satisfaction in howling with rage, Ihave abstained. 

Poor fellow! I wonder if he has entered upon the "larger sphere ofaction" which he told me was reserved for him in case of such atrifling accident as death. Of all the people whom I have met with inmy life, he and Darwin are the two in whom I have found somethingbigger than ordinary humanity--an unequalled simplicity and directnessof purpose--a sublime unselfishness. 

Horrible as it is to us, I imagine that the manner of his death wasnot unwelcome to himself. Better wear out than rust out, and betterbreak than wear out. The pity is that he could not know the feeling ofhis countrymen about him. 

I shall be curious to see what defence the super-ingenious Premier hasto offer for himself in Parliament. I suppose, as usual, the questionwill drift into a brutal party fight, when the furious imbecility ofthe Tories will lead them to spoil their case. That is where we are;on the one side, timid imbecility "waiting for instructions from theconstituencies"; furious imbecility on the other, looking out forparty advantage. Oh! for a few months of William Pitt. 

I see you think there may be some hope that Gordon has escaped yet. Iam afraid the last telegram from Wolseley was decisive. We have beenwatching the news with the greatest anxiety, and it has seemed only toget blacker and blacker. 

... 

[Touching a determined effort to alter the management of certainTechnical Education business. ]

I trust he may succeed, and that the unfitness of these people to betrusted with anything may be demonstrated. I regret I am not able tohelp in the good work. Get the thing out of their hands as fast aspossible. The prospect of being revenged for all the beastly dinners Isat out and all the weary discussions I attended to no purpose, reallyputs a little life into me. Apropos of that, I am better in variousways, but curiously weak and washed out; and I am afraid that not eventhe prospect of a fight would screw me up for long. I don't understandit, unless I have some organic disease of which nobody can find anytrace (and in which I do not believe myself), or unless the terribletrouble we have had has accelerated the advent of old age. I rathersuspect that the last speculation is nearest the truth. You will beglad to hear that my poor girl is wonderfully better, and, indeed, toall appearance quite well. They are living quietly at Norwood. 

I shall be back certainly by the 12th April, probably before. We havefound very good quarters here, and have waited for the weather to getwarmer before moving; but at last we have made up our minds to beginnomadising again next Friday. We go to Florence, taking Siena, andprobably Pisa, on our way, and reaching Florence some time next week. Address--Hotel Milano, Via Cerretani. 

For the last week the Carnival has been going on. It strikes me as themost elaborate and dreariest tomfoolery I have ever seen, but I doubtif I am in the humour to judge it fairly. It is only just to say thatit entertains my vigorous wife immensely. I have been expecting to seeher in mask and domino, but happily this is the last day, and there isno sign of any yet. I have never seen any one so much benefited byrest and change as she is, and that is a good thing for both of us. 

After Florence we shall probably make our way to Venice, and come homeby the Lago di Garda and Germany. But I will let you know when ourplans are settled. 

With best love from we two to you two. 

Ever yours, T. H. Huxley. 

[To his youngest daughter. ]

Siena, February 23, 1885. 

Dearest Ethel, The cutting you sent me contains one of the numerous "goaks" of aYankee performing donkey who is allowed to disport himself in one ofthe New York papers. I confess it is difficult to see the point of thejoke, but there is one if you look close. I don't think you needtrouble to enlighten the simple inquirer. He probably only wanted theindignant autograph which he won't get. 

The Parker Museum must take care of itself. The public ought tosupport it, not the men of science. 

As a grandfather, I am ashamed of my friends who are of the samestanding; but I think they would take it as a liberty if, inaccordance with your wish, I were to write to expostulate. 

After your mother had exhausted the joys of the Carnival, shepermitted me to leave Rome for this place, where we arrived lastFriday evening. My impression is that if we had stayed in Rome muchlonger we should never have left. There is something idle andafternoony about the air which whittles away one's resolution. 

The change here is wonderfully to the good. We are perched more than athousand feet above the sea, looking over the Tuscan hills for twentyor thirty miles every way. It is with them enough sit with the windowwide open and yet the air is prior and more bracing than in any placewe have visited. Moreover, the hotel (Grande Albergo) is verycomfortable. 

Then there is one of the most wonderful cathedrals to be seen in allNorth Italy--free from all the gaudy finery and atrocious bad tastewhich have afflicted me all over South Italy. The town is thequaintest place imaginable--built of narrow streets on several steephills to start with, and then apparently stirred up with a poker toprevent monotony of effect. 

Moreover, there is Catherine of Siena, of whom I am reading adelightful Catholic life by an Italian father of the Oratory. She died500 years ago, but she was one of twenty-five children, and I thinksome of them must have settled in Kent and allied themselves with theHeathorns. Otherwise, I don't see why her method of writing to thePope should have been so much like the way my daughters (especiallythe youngest) write to their holy father. 

I wish she had not had the stigmata--I am afraid there must have beena LEETLE humbug about the business--otherwise she was a veryremarkable person, and you need not be ashamed of the relationship. 

I suppose we shall get to Florence some time this week; the addresswas sent to you before we left Rome--Hotel Milano, Via Cerretani. ButI am loth to leave this lovely air in which, I do believe, I am goingto pick up at last. The misfortune is that we did not intend to stayhere more than three days, and so had letters sent to Florence. Everybody told us it would be very cold, and, as usual, everybody toldtaradiddles. 

M-- unites in fondest love to you all. 

Ever your loving father, T. H. Huxley. 

[To his son. ]

Siena, February 25, 1885. 

... If you had taken to physical science it would have been delightfulfor me for us to have worked together, and I am half inclined to taketo history that I may earn that pleasure. I could give you somecapital wrinkles about the physical geography and prehistoric history(excuse bull) of Italy for a Roman History primer! Joking apart, Ibelieve that history might be, and ought to be, taught in a newfashion so as to make the meaning of it a process ofevolution--intelligible to the young. The Italians have been doingwonders in the last twenty years in prehistoric archaeology, and Ihave been greatly interested in acquainting myself with the generalresults of their work. 

We moved here last Friday, and only regret that the reports of theweather prevented us from coming sooner. More than 1000 feet above thesea, in the midst of a beautiful hill country, and with the clearestand purist air we have met with in Italy, Siena is perfectly charming. The window is wide open and I look out upon a vast panorama, somethinglike that of the Surrey hills, only on a larger scale--"Raw Siena, ""Burnt Siena, " in the foreground, where the colour of the soil is nothidden by the sage green olive foliage, purple mountains in thedistance. 

The old town itself is a marvel of picturesque crookedness, and thecathedral a marvel. M. And I have been devoting ourselves this morningto St. Catarina and Sodoma's pictures. 

I am reading a very interesting life of her by Capecelatro, and if myliver continues out of order, may yet turn Dominican. 

However, the place seems to be doing me good, and I may yet, likeanother person, decline to be a monk. 

[To his daughter, Mrs. Roller. ]

March 8. 

The great merit of Rome is that you have never seen the end of it. M. And I have not worked very hard at our galleries and churches, but Ihave got so far as a commencing dislike for the fine arts generally. Perhaps after a week or two I shall take to science out of sheerweariness. 

Hotel de Milano, Florence, March 12, 1885. 

My dear Foster, My wife and I send you our hearty good wishes (antedated by fourdays). I am not sure we ought not to offer our best thanks to yourmother for providing us with as staunch a friend as people ever wereblessed with. It is possible that she did not consider that point nineand forty years ago; but we are just as grateful as if she had gonethrough it all on our own account. 

We start on our way homeward to-morrow or next day, by Bologna toVenice, and then to England by the way we came--taking it easy. TheBrenner is a long way round and I hear very cold. I think we may staya few days at Lugano, which I liked very much when there before. Florence is very charming, but there is not much to be said for theclimate. My wife has been bothered with sore throat, to which she isespecially liable, ever since we have been here. Old residents consoleher with the remark that Florentine sore throat is a regular thing inthe spring. The alternations of heat and cold are detestable. So westand thus--Naples, bad for both--Rome, good for her, bad forme--Florence, bad for her, baddish for me. Venice has to be tried, butstinks and mosquitoes are sure to render it impossible as soon as theweather is warm. Siena is the only place that suited both of us, and Idon't think that would exactly answer to live in. Nothing like foreigntravel for making one content with home. 

I shall have to find a country lot suited to my fortunes when I ampaid off. Couldn't you let us have your gardener's cottage? my wifeunderstands poultry and I shall probably have sufficient strength toopen the gate and touch my hat to the Dons as they drive up. I amafraid E. Is not steady enough for waiting-maid or I would offer herservices. 

... I am rejoiced to hear that the lessons and the questions arelaunched. [The new edition of the "Elementary Physiology. "] They loomlarge to me as gigantic undertakings, in which a dim and speculativememory suggests I once took part, but probably it is a solar myth, andI am too sluggish to feel much compunction for the extra trouble youhave had. 

Perhaps I shall revive when my foot is on my native heath in the shadygroves of the Evangelist. [St. John's Wood. ]

My wife is out photograph hunting--nothing diminishes heractivity--otherwise she would join in love and good wishes to Mrs. Foster and yourself. 

Ever yours, T. H. Huxley. 

[The two worst and most depressing periods of this vain pilgrimage inpursuit of health were the stay at Rome and at Florence. At the lattertown he was inexpressibly ill and weak; but his daily life wasbrightened by the sympathy and active kindness of Sir Spencer Walpole, who would take him out for short walks, talking as little as possible, and shield him from the well-meant but tactless attentions of visitorswho would try to] "rouse him and do him good" [by long talks onscientific questions. 

His physical condition, indeed, was little improved. ]

As for my unsatisfactory carcass [he writes on March 6, to Sir J. Donnelly], there seems nothing the matter with it now except that thebrute objects to work. I eat well, drink well, sleep well, and have noearthly ache, pain or discomfort. I can walk for a couple of hours ormore without fatigue. But half an hour's talking wearies meinexpressibly, and "saying a few words, " would finish me for the day. For all that, I do not mean to confess myself finally beaten till Ihave had another try. 

[That is to say, he was still bent upon delivering his regular courseof lectures at South Kensington as soon as he returned, in spite ofthe remonstrances of his wife and his friends. 

In the same letter he contrasts Florence with Siena and its] "fresh, elastic air, " [its] "lovely country that reminds one of a magnifiedversion of the Surrey weald. " [The Florentine climate was trying. (Aweek later he writes to Sir J. Evans--] "I begin to look forward withgreat satisfaction to the equability of English weather--to that dearlittle island where doors and windows shut close--where fires warmwithout suffocating--where the chief business of the population in thestreets is something else than expectoration--and where I shall neversee fowl with salad again. You perceive I am getting better by thisprolonged growl... But half an hour's talking knocks me up, and I amsuch an effete creature that I think of writing myself p. R. S. With asmall p. ") "And then there is the awful burden of those miles of'treasures of art. '" [He had been to the Uffizii;] "and there is thePitti staring me in the face like drear fate. Why can't I have themoral courage to come back and say I haven't seen it? I should be themost distinguished of men. "

[There is another reference to Gordon:--]

What an awful muddle you are all in in the bright little, tight littleisland. I hate the sight of the English papers. The only good thingthat has met my eye lately is a proposal to raise a memorial toGordon. I want to join in whatever is done, and unless it will be timeenough when I return, I shall be glad if you will put me down for 5pounds to whatever is the right scheme. 

[The following to his daughter, Mrs. Roller, describes the stay inFlorence. ]

Hotel de Milano, Florence, March 7, 1885. 

We have been here more than a week and have discovered two things, first that the wonderful "art treasures, " of which all the world hasheard, are a sore burden to the conscience if you don't go to seethem, and an awful trial to the back and legs if you do; and thirdly, that the climate is productive of a peculiar kind of relaxed throat. M. 's throat discovered it, but on inquiry, it proved to be a law ofnature, at least, so the oldest inhabitants say. We called on themto-day. 

But it is a lovely place for all that, far better than Rome as a placeto live in, and full of interesting things. We had a morning at theUffizii the other day, and came back with minds enlarged and backsbroken. To-morrow we contemplate attacking the Pitti, and doubt notthe result will be similar. By the end of the week our minds willprobably be so large, and the small of the back so small that weshould probably break if we stayed any longer, so think it prudent tobe off to Venice. Which Friday is the day we go, reaching VeniceSaturday or Sunday. Pension Suisse, Canal Grande, as before. And mindwe have letters waiting for us there, or your affectionate Pater willemulate the historical "cocky. "

I got much better at Siena, probably the result of the medicinalnature of the city, the name of which, as a well-instructed girl likeyou knows, is derived from the senna, which grows wild there, andgives the soil its peculiar pigmentary character. 

But unfortunately I forgot to bring any with me, and the effect wentoff during the first few days of our residence here, when I was, asthe Italians say, "molto basso nel bocca. " However I am picking upagain now, and if people wouldn't call upon us, I feel there might bea chance for me. 

I except from that remark altogether the dear Walpoles who are hereand as nice as ever. Mrs. Walpole's mother and sister live here, andthe W's are on a visit to them but leave on Wednesday. They go toVenice, but only for two or three days. 

We shall probably stay about a fortnight in Venice, and then make ourway back by easy stages to London. We are wae to see you all again. 

Doctor M-- [Mrs. Huxley] has just been called in to a case of sorethroat in the person of a young lady here, and is quite happy. Theyoung lady probably will not be, when she finds herself converted intoa sort of inverted mustard-pot, with the mustard outside! She is oneof a very nice family of girls, who (by contrast) remind us of own. 

Ever your loving (to all) father, Pater. 

Mrs. M. -- has just insisted on seeing this letter. 

[To his youngest daughter. ]

Hotel Beau Sejour, San Remo, March 30, 1885. 

Dearest Babs, We could not stand "beautiful Venice the pride of the sea" any longer. It blew and rained and colded for eight-and-forty hours consecutively. Everybody said it was a most exceptional season, but that did not makeus any warmer or prevent your mother from catching an awful cold. Soas soon as she got better we packed up and betook ourselves here byway of Milan and Genoa. At Milan it was so like London on a wet day, that except for the want of smoke we might have been in our dearnative land. At Genoa we arrived late one afternoon and were off earlyin the morning--but by dint of taking a tram after dinner (not a dram)and going there and back again we are able to say we have seen thatcity of palaces. The basements we saw through the tram windows bymixed light of gas and moon may in fact all have belonged to palaces. We are not in a position to say they did not. 

The quick train from Genoa here is believed to go fully twenty-fivemiles an hour, but starts at 7 A. M. , but the early morning air beingbad for the health, we took the slow train at 9. 30, and got here sometime in the afternoon. But mind you it is a full eighty miles, andwhen we were at full speed between the stations--very few donkeyscould have gone faster. But the coast scenery is very pretty, and wedidn't mind. 

Here we are very well off and as nearly warm as I expect to be beforereaching England. You can sit out in the sun with satisfaction, thoughthere is a little knife-edge of wind just to remind us of Florence. Everybody, however, tells us it is quite an exceptional season, andthat it ought to be the most balmy air imaginable. Besides there areno end of date-palms and cactuses and aloes and odorous flowers in thegarden--and the loveliest purple sea you can imagine. 

Well, we shall stop some days and give San Remo a chance--at least aweek, unless the weather turns bad. 

As to your postcards which have been sent on from Venice and arereally shabby, I am not going to any dinners whatsoever, either MiddleTemple or Academy. Just write to both that "Mr. H. Regrets he isunable to accept the invitation with which -- have honoured him. "(It's like putting the shutters up, " [he said sadly to his wife, whenhe felt unable to attend the Royal Academy dinner as he had done formany years. ])

I have really nothing the matter with me now--but my stock of strengthis not great, and I can't afford to spend any on dinners. 

The blessedest thing now will be to have done with the nomadic life ofthe last five months--and see your ugly faces (so like their dearfather) again. I believe it will be the best possible tonic for me. 

M-- has not got rid of her cold yet, but a few warm days here will, Ihope, set her up. 

I met Lady Whitworth on the esplanade to-day--she is here with SirJoseph, and this afternoon we went to call on her. The poor old man isvery feeble and greatly altered since I saw him last. 

Write here on receiving this. We shall take easy stages home, but Idon't know that I shall be able to give you any address. 

M-- sends heaps of love to all (including Charles [The cat. ]). 

Ever your loving father, T. H. Huxley. 

Tell the "Micropholis" man that it is a fossil lizard with an armourof small scales. 

CHAPTER 2. 17. 

1885. 

[On April 8, he landed at Folkestone, and stayed there a day or twobefore going to London. Writing to Sir J. Donnelly, he remarks withgreat satisfaction at getting home:--]

We got here this afternoon after a rather shady passage from Boulogne, with a strong north wind in our teeth all the way, and rain galore. For all that, it is the pleasantest journey I have made for a longtime--so pleasant to see one's own dear native mud again. There is noforeign mud to come near it. 

[And on the same day he sums up to Sir M. Foster the amount of good hehas gained from his expedition, and the amount of good any patient islikely to get from travel:--]

As for myself I have nothing very satisfactory to say. By the oddestchance we met Andrew Clark in the boat, and he says I am a very badcolour--which I take it is the outward and visible sign of the inwardand carnal state. I may sum that up by saying that there is nothingthe matter but weakness and indisposition to do anything, togetherwith a perfect genius for making mountains out of molehills. 

After two or three fine days at Venice, we have had nothing but wet orcold--or hot and cold at the same time, as in that prodigiousimposture the Riviera. Of course it was the same story everywhere, "perfectly unexampled season. "

Moral. --If you are perfectly well and strong, brave Italy--but insearch of health stop at home. 

It has been raining cats and dogs, and Folkestone is what some peoplewould call dreary. I could go and roll in the mud with satisfactionthat it is English mud. 

It will be jolly to see you again. Wife unites in love. 

Ever yours, T. H. Huxley. 

[To return home was not only a great pleasure; it gave him a fillipfor the time, and he writes to Sir M. Foster, April 12:--]

It is very jolly to be home, and I feel better already. Clark has justbeen here overhauling me, and feels very confident that he shall screwme up. 

I have renounced dining out and smoking (!!!) by way of preliminaries. God only knows whether I shall be permitted more than the smell of amutton chop for dinner. But I have great faith in Andrew, who set mestraight before when other "physicians' aid was vain. "

[But his energy was fitful; lassitude and depression again invadedhim. He was warned by Sir Andrew Clark to lay aside all the burden ofhis work. Accordingly, early in May, just after his sixtieth birthday, he sent in his formal resignation of the Professorship of Biology, andthe Inspectorship of Salmon Fisheries; while a few days later he laidhis resignation of the Presidency before the Council of the RoyalSociety. By the latter he was begged to defer his final decision, buthis health gave no promise of sufficient amendment before the decisiveCouncil meeting in October. 

He writes on May 27:--]

I am convinced that what with my perennial weariness and my deafness Iought to go, whatever my kind friends may say. 

[A curious effect of his illness was that for the first time in hislife he began to shrink involuntarily from assuming responsibilitiesand from appearing on public occasions; thus he writes on June 16:--]

I am sorry to say that the perkiness of last week was only a spurt[I. E. At the unveiling of the Darwin statue at South Kensington. ], andI have been in a disgusting state of blue devils lately. Can't markout what it is, for I really have nothing the matter, except a strongtendency to put the most evil construction upon everything. 

I am fairly dreading to-morrow [i. E. Receiving the D. C. L. Degree atOxford] but why I don't know--probably an attack of modesty come onlate in life and consequently severe. 

Very likely it will do me good and make me "fit" for Thursday [(i. E. Council and ordinary meetings of Royal Society). 

And a month later:--]

I have been idling in the country for two or three days--but like thewoman with the issue, "I am not better but rather worse"--blue devilsand funk--funk and blue devils. Liver, I expect. [(An ailment of whichhe says to Professor Marsh, ] "I rather wish I had some respectabledisease--it would be livelier. ")

And again:--]

Everybody tells me I look so much better, that I am really ashamed togo growling about, and confess that I am continually in a blue funkand hate the thought of any work--especially of scientific or anythingrequiring prolonged attention. 

[At the end of July he writes to Sir W. Flower:--]

4 Marlborough Place, July 27, 1885. 

My dear Flower, I am particularly glad to hear that things went right on Saturday, asmy conscience rather pricked me for my desertion of the meeting. [British Museum Trustees, July 25. ] But it was the only chance we hadof seeing our young married couple before the vacation--and you willrapidly arrive at a comprehension of the cogency of THAT argument now. 

I will think well of your kind words about the Presidency. If I couldonly get rid of my eternal hypochondria the work of the Royal Societywould seem little enough. At present, I am afraid of everything thatinvolves responsibility to a degree that is simply ridiculous. I onlywish I could shirk the inquiries I am going off to hold in Devonshire!

P. R. S. In a continual blue funk is not likely to be either dignifiedor useful; and unless I am in a better frame of mind in October I amafraid I shall have to go. 

Ever yours very faithfully, T. H. Huxley. 

[A few weeks at Filey in August did him some good at first; and hewrites cheerfully of his lodgings in] "a place with the worst-fittingdoors and windows, and the hardest chairs, sofas, and beds known to myexperience. "

[He continues:--]

I am decidedly picking up. The air here is wonderful, and as we canset good cookery against hard lying (I don't mean in the Munchausenline) the consequent appetite becomes a mild source of gratification. Also, I have not met with more than two people who knew me, and thatin my present state is a negative gratification of the highest order. 

[Later on he tried Bournemouth; being no better, he thought of anentirely new remedy. ]

The only thing I am inclined to do is to write a book on Miracles. Ithink it might do good and unload my biliary system. 

[In this state of indecision, so unnatural to him, he writes to Sir M. Foster:--]

I am anything but clear as to the course I had best take myself. Whileundoubtedly much better in general health, I am in a curious state ofdiscouragement, and I should like nothing better than to remain buriedhere (Bournemouth) or anywhere else, out of the way of trouble andresponsibility. It distresses me to think that I shall have to saysomething definite about the Presidency at the meeting of the Councilin October. 

[Finally on October 20, he writes:--]

I think the lowest point of my curve of ups and downs is graduallyrising--but I have by no means reached the point when I can cheerfullyface anything. I got over the Board of Visitors (two hours and a half)better than I expected, but my deafness was a horrid nuisance. 

I believe the strings of the old fiddle will tighten up a good deal, if I abstain from attempting to play upon the instrument atpresent--but that a few jigs now will probably ruin that chance. 

But I will say my final word at our meeting next week. I would ratherstep down from the chair than dribble out of it. Even the devil is inthe habit of departing with a "melodious twang, " and I like theprecedent. 

[So at the Anniversary meeting on November 30, he definitely announcedin his last Presidential address his resignation of that] "honourableoffice" [which he could no longer retain] "with due regard to theinterests of the Society, and perhaps, I may add, ofself-preservation. "

I am happy to say [he continued] that I have good reason to believethat, with prolonged rest--by which I do not mean idleness, butrelease from distraction and complete freedom from those lethalagencies which are commonly known as the pleasures of society--I mayyet regain so much strength as is compatible with advancing years. Butin order to do so, I must, for a long time yet, be content to lead amore or less anchorite life. Now it is not fitting that your Presidentshould be a hermit, and it becomes me, who have received so muchkindness and consideration from the Society, to be particularlycareful that no sense of personal gratification should delude me intoholding the office of its representative one moment after reason andconscience have pointed out my incapacity to discharge the seriousduties which devolve upon the President, with some approach toefficiency. 

I beg leave, therefore, with much gratitude for the crowning honour ofmy life which you have conferred upon me, to be permitted to vacatethe chair of the Society as soon as the business of this meeting is atan end. 

[The settlement of the terms of the pension upon which, afterthirty-one years of service under Government, he retired from hisProfessorship at South Kensington and the Inspectorship of Fisheries, took a considerable time. The chiefs of his own department, that ofEducation, wished him to retire upon full pay, 1500 pounds. TheTreasury were more economical. It was the middle of June before thepension they proposed of 1200 pounds was promised; the end of Julybefore he knew what conditions were attached to it. 

On June 20, he writes to Mr. Mundella, Vice-President of theCouncil:--]

My dear Mundella, Accept my warmest thanks for your good wishes, and for all the troubleyou have taken on my behalf. I am quite ashamed to have been theoccasion of so much negotiation. 

Until I see the Treasury letter, I am unable to judge what the 1200pounds may really mean [I. E. Whether he was to draw his salary of 200pounds as Dean or not. ], but whatever the result, I shall never forgetthe kindness with which my chiefs have fought my battle. 

I am, yours very faithfully, T. H. Huxley. 

[On July 16, he writes to Sir M. Foster:--]

The blessed Treasury can't make up their minds whether I am to beasked to stay on as Dean or not, and till they do, I can't shake offany of my fetters. 

[Early in the year he had written to Sir John Donnelly of thenecessity of resigning:--]

Nevertheless [he added], it will be a sad day for me when I findmyself no longer entitled to take part in the work of the schools inwhich you and I have so long been interested. 

[But that "sad day" was not to come yet. His connection with the RoyalCollege of Science was not entirely severed. He was asked to continue, as Honorary Dean, a general supervision of the work he had done somuch to organise, and he kept the title of Professor of Biology, hissuccessors in the practical work of the chair being designatedAssistant Professors. ]

"I retain, " [he writes, ] "general superintendence as part of the greatunpaid. "

It is a comfort [he writes to his son] to have got the thing settled. My great desire at present is to be idle, and I am now idle with agood conscience. 

[Later in the year, however, a change of Ministry having taken place, he was offered a Civil List Pension of 300 pounds a year by LordIddesleigh. He replied accepting it:--]

4 Marlborough Place, November 24, 1885. 

My dear Lord Iddesleigh, Your letters of the 20th November reached me only last night, and Ihasten to thank you for both of them. I am particularly obliged foryour kind reception of what I ventured to say about the deserts of myold friend Sir Joseph Hooker. 

With respect to your lordship's offer to submit my name to Her Majestyfor a Civil List Pension, I can but accept a proposal which is initself an honour, and which is rendered extremely gratifying to me bythe great kindness of the expressions in which you have been pleasedto embody it. 

I am happy to say that I am getting steadily better at last, and underthe regime of "peace with honour" that now seems to have fallen to mylot, I may fairly hope yet to do a good stroke of work or two. 

I remain, my dear Lord Iddesleigh, faithfully yours, T. H. Huxley. 

4 Marlborough Place, November 24, 1885. 

My dear Donnelly, I believe you have been at work again!

Lord Iddesleigh has written to me to ask if I will be recommended fora Civil List Pension of 300 pounds a year, a very pretty letter, notat all like the Treasury masterpiece you admired so much. 

Didn't see why I should not accept, and have accepted accordingly. When the announcement comes out the Liberals will say the ToryGovernment have paid me for attacking the G. O. M. ! to a dead certainty. 

Ever yours, T. H. Huxley. 

[Five days later he replies to the congratulations of Mr. Eckersley(whose son had married Huxley's third daughter):--]

... Lord Iddesleigh's letter offering to submit my name for an honorarypension was a complete surprise. 

My chiefs in the late Government wished to retire me on full pay, butthe Treasury did not see their way to it, and cut off 300 pounds ayear. Naturally I am not sorry to have the loss made good, but the waythe thing was done is perhaps the pleasantest part of it. 

[There was a certain grim appropriateness in his "official death"following hard upon his sixtieth birthday, for sixty was the age atwhich he had long declared that men of science ought to be strangled, lest age should harden them against the reception of new truths, andmake them into clogs upon progress, the worse, in proportion to theinfluence they had deservedly won. This is the allusion in a birthdayletter from Sir M. Foster:--

Reverend Sir, So the "day of strangulation" has arrived at last, and with it thehumble petition of your friends that you may be induced to defer the"happy despatch" for, say at least ten years, when the subject mayagain come up for consideration. For your petitioners are respectfullyinclined to think that if your sixtyship may be induced so far tobecome an apostle as to give up the fishery business, and be led toleave the Black Board at South Kensington to others, the t'other sidesixty years, may after all be the best years of your life. In any casethey would desire to bring under your notice the fact that THEY FEELTHEY WANT YOU AS MUCH AS EVER THEY DID. 

Ever thine, M. F. 

Reference has been made to the fact that the honorary degree of D. C. L. Was conferred this May upon Huxley by the University of Oxford. TheUniversities of the sister kingdoms had been the first thus torecognise his work; and after Aberdeen and Dublin, Cambridge, wherenatural science had earlier established a firm foothold, showed theway to Oxford. Indeed, it was not until his regular scientific careerwas at an end, that the University of Oxford opened its portals tohim. So, as he wrote to Professor Bartholomew Price on May 20, inanswer to the invitation, ] "It will be a sort of apotheosis coincidentwith my official death, which is imminent. In fact, I am dead already, only the Treasury Charon has not yet settled the conditions upon whichI am to be ferried over to the other side. "

[Before leaving the subject of his connection with the Royal Society, it may be worth while to give a last example of the straightforwardway in which he dealt with a delicate point whether to vote or not tovote for his friend Sir Andrew Clark, who had been proposed forelection to the Society. It occurred just after his return fromabroad; he explains his action to Sir Joseph Hooker, who had urgedcaution on hearing a partial account of the proceedings. ]

South Kensington, April 25, 1885. 

My dear Hooker, I don't see very well how I could have been more cautious than I havebeen. I knew nothing of Clark's candidature until I saw his name inthe list; and if he or his proposer had consulted me, I should haveadvised delay, because I knew very well there would be a great pushmade for -- this year. 

Being there, however, it seemed to me only just to say that which iscertainly true, namely, that Clark has just the same claim as half adozen doctors who have been admitted without question, e. G. Gull, Jenner, Risdon Bennett, on the sole ground of standing in theprofession. And I think that so long as that claim is admitted, itwill be unjust not to admit Clark. 

So I said what you heard; but I was so careful not to press undulyupon the Council, that I warned them of the possible prejudice arisingfrom my own personal obligations to Clark's skill, and I went so faras not to put his name in the FIRST list myself, a step which I nowregret. 

If this is not caution enough, I should like to know what is? As Clivesaid when he came back from India, "By God, sir, I am astonished at myown moderation!"

If it is not right to make a man a fellow because he holds afirst-class place as a practitioner of medicine as the Royal Societyhas done since I have known it, let us abolish the practice. But thenlet us also in justice refuse to recognise the half-and-half claims, those of the people who are third-rate as practitioners, and hang onto the skirts of science without doing anything in it. 

Several of your and my younger scientific friends are bent on bringingin their chum --, and Clark's candidature is very inconvenient tothem. Hence I suspect some of the "outspoken aversion" and criticismof Clark's claims you have heard. 

I am quite willing to sacrifice my friend for a principle, but not forsomebody else's friend, and I mean to vote for Clark; though I am notgoing to try to force my notion down any one else's throat. 

Ever yours faithfully, T. H. Huxley. 

[On the same subject he writes to Sir M. Foster:--]

Obedience be hanged. It would not lie in my mouth, as the lawyers say, to object to anybody's getting his own way if he can. 

If Clark had not been a personal friend of mine I should not havehesitated a moment about deciding in his favour. Under thecircumstances it was quite clear what I should do if I were forced todecide, and I thought it would have been kindly and courteous to thePresident if he had been let off the necessity of making a decisionwhich was obviously disagreeable to him. 

If, on the other hand, it was wished to fix the responsibility of whathappened on him, I am glad that he had the opportunity of acceptingit. I never was more clear as to what was the right thing to do. 

[So also at other times; he writes in September to Sir M. Foster, theSecretary, with reference to evening gatherings at which smokingshould be permitted. ]

Bournemouth, September 17, 1885. 

I am not at all sure that I can give my blessing to the "Tabagie. "When I heard of it I had great doubts as to its being a wise move. Itis not the question of "smoke" so much, as the principle of havingmeetings in the Society's rooms, which are not practically (whateverthey may be theoretically), open to all the fellows, and which willcertainly be regarded as the quasi-private parties of one of theofficers. You will have all sorts of jealousies roused, and talk of aclique, etc. 

When I was Secretary the one thing I was most careful to avoid was theappearance of desiring to exert any special influence. But there was ajealousy of the x Club, and only the other day, to my great amusement, I was talking to an influential member of the Royal Society Club aboutthe possibility of fusing it with the Phil. Club, and he said, forgetting I was a member of the latter: "Oh! we don't want any ofthose wire-pullers!" Poor dear innocent dull-as-ditchwater Phil. Club!

[Mention has already been made of the unveiling of the Darwin statueat South Kensington on June 9, when, as President of the RoyalSociety, Huxley delivered an address in the name of the MemorialCommittee, on handing over the statue of Darwin to H. R. H. The Princeof Wales, as representative of the Trustees of the British Museum. Theconcluding words of the speech deserve quotation:--]

We do not make this request [i. E. To accept the statue] for the meresake of perpetuating a memory; for so long as men occupy themselveswith the pursuit of truth, the name of Darwin runs no more risk ofoblivion than does that of Copernicus, or that of Harvey. 

Nor, most assuredly, do we ask you to preserve the statue in itscynosural position in this entrance hall of our National Museum ofNatural History as evidence that Mr. Darwin's views have received yourofficial sanction; for science does not recognise such sanctions, andcommits suicide when it adopts a creed. 

No, we beg you to cherish this memorial as a symbol by which, asgeneration after generation of students enter yonder door, they shallbe reminded of the ideal according to which they must shape theirlives, if they would turn to the best account of the opportunitiesoffered by the great institution under your charge. 

[Nor was this his only word about Darwin. Somewhat later, ProfessorMivart sent him the proofs of an article on Darwin, asking for hiscriticism, and received the following reply, which describes betterthan almost any other document, the nature of the tie which unitedDarwin and his friends, and incidentally touches the question ofGalileo's recantation:--]

November 12, 1885. 

My dear Mr. Mivart, I return your proof with many thanks for your courtesy in sending it. I fully appreciate the good feeling shown in what you have written, but as you ask my opinion, I had better say frankly that my experienceof Darwin is widely different from yours as expressed in the passagesmarked with pencil. I have often remarked that I never knew any one ofhis intellectual rank who showed himself so tolerant to opponents, great and small, as Darwin did. Sensitive he was in the sense of beingtoo ready to be depressed by adverse comment, but I never knew any oneless easily hurt by fair criticism, or who less needed to be soothedby those who opposed him with good reason. 

I am sure I tried his patience often enough, without ever elicitingmore than a "Well there's a good deal in what you say; but--" and thenfollowed something which nine times out of ten showed he had gonedeeper into the business than I had. 

I cannot agree with you, again, that the acceptance of Darwin's viewswas in any way influenced by the strong affection entertained for himby many of his friends. What that affection really did was to leadthose of his friends who had seen good reason for his views to takemuch more trouble in his defence and support, and to strike out muchharder at his adversary than they would otherwise have done. This ispardonable if not justifiable--that which you suggest would to my mindbe neither. 

I am so ignorant of what has been going on during the lasttwelvemonth, that I know nothing of your controversy with Romanes. Ifhe is going to show the evolution of intellect from sense, he is theman for whom I have been waiting, as Kant says. 

In your paper about scientific freedom, which I read some time agowith much interest, you alluded to a book or article by Father Robertson the Galileo business. Will you kindly send me a postcard to saywhere and when it was published?

I looked into the matter when I was in Italy, and I arrived at theconclusion that the Pope and the College of Cardinals had rather thebest of it. It would complete the paradox if Father Roberts shouldhelp me to see the error of my ways. 

Ever yours very faithfully, T. H. Huxley. 

[August and September, as said above, were spent in England, thoughwith little good effect. Filey was not a success for either himself orhis wife. Bournemouth, where they joined their eldest daughter and herfamily, offered a] "temperature much more to the taste of both of us, "[and at least undid the mischief done by the wet and cold of thenorth. 

The mean line of health was gradually rising; it was a great relief tobe free at length from administrative distractions, while the retiringpensions removed the necessity of daily toil. By nature he was likethe friend whom he described as] "the man to become hipped to deathwithout incessant activity of some sort or other. I am sure that thehabit of incessant work into which we all drift is as bad in its wayas dram-drinking. In time you cannot be comfortable without thestimulus. " [But the variety of interests which filled his mindprevented him from feeling the void of inaction after a busy life. Andjust as he was at the turning-point in health, he received a fillipwhich started him again into vigorous activity--the mental tonicbracing up his body and clearing away the depression and languor whichhad so long beset him. 

The lively fillip came in the shape of an article in the November"Nineteenth Century, " by Mr. Gladstone, in which he attacked theposition taken up by Dr. Reville in his "Prolegomena to the History ofReligions, " and in particular, attempted to show that the order ofcreation given in Genesis 1, is supported by the evidence of science. This article, Huxley used humorously to say, so stirred his bile as toset his liver right at once; and though he denied the soft impeachmentthat the ensuing fight was what had set him up, the marvellouscurative effects of a Gladstonian dose, a remedy unknown to thepharmacopoeia, became a household word among family and friends. 

His own reply, "The Interpreters of Genesis and the Interpreters ofNature, " appeared in the December number of the "Nineteenth Century"("Collected Essays" 4 page 139). In January 1886 Mr. Gladstoneresponded with his "Proem to Genesis, " which was met in February by"Mr. Gladstone and Genesis" ("Collected Essays" 4 page 164). Not onlydid he show that science offers no support to the "fourfold" or the"fivefold" or any other order obtained from Genesis by Mr. Gladstone, but in a note appended to his second article he gives what he takes tobe the proper sense of the "Mosaic" narrative of the Creation (4 page195), not allowing the succession of phenomena to represent anevolutionary notion, as suggested, of a progress from lower to higherin the scale of being, a notion assuredly not in the mind of thewriter, but deducing this order from such ideas as, putting aside ourpresent knowledge of nature, we may reasonably believe him to haveheld. 

A vast subsidiary controversy sprang up in the "Times" on Biblicalexegetics; where these touched him at all, as, for instance, when itwas put to him whether the difference between the "Rehmes" of Genesisand "Sheh-retz" of Leviticus, both translated "creeping things, " didnot invalidate his argument as to the identity of such "creepingthings, " he had examined the point already, and surprised hisinterrogator, who appeared to have raised a very pretty dilemma, bypromptly referring him to a well-known Hebrew commentator. 

Several letters refer to this passage of arms. On December 4, hewrites to Mr. Herbert Spencer:--]

Do read my polishing off of the G. O. M. I am proud of it as a work ofart, and as evidence that the volcano is not yet exhausted. 

To Lord Farrer. 

4 Marlborough Place, December 6, 1885. 

My dear Farrer, From a scientific point of view Gladstone's article was undoubtedlynot worth powder and shot. But, on personal grounds, the perusal of itsent me blaspheming about the house with the first healthy expressionof wrath known for a couple of years--to my wife's great alarm--and Ishould have "busted up" if I had not given vent to my indignation; andsecondly, all orthodoxy was gloating over the slap in the face whichthe G. O. M. Had administered to science in the person of Reville. 

The ignorance of the so-called educated classes in this country isstupendous, and in the hands of people like Gladstone it is apolitical force. Since I became an official of the Royal Society, goodtaste seemed to me to dictate silence about matters on which there is"great division among us. " But now I have recovered my freedom, and Iam greatly minded to begin stirring the fire afresh. 

Within the last month I have picked up wonderfully. If dear old Darwinwere alive he would say it is because I have had a fight, but in truththe fight is consequence and not cause. I am infinitely relieved bygetting rid of the eternal strain of the past thirty years, and hopeto get some good work done yet before I die, so make ready for thepart of the judicious bottle-holder which I have always found you. 

Ever yours very faithfully, T. H. Huxley. 

4 Marlborough Place, N. W. , January 13, 1886. 

My dear Farrer, My contribution to the next round was finished and sent to Knowles aweek ago. I confess it to have been a work of supererogation; but theextreme shiftiness of my antagonist provoked me, and I was tempted topin him and dissect him as an anatomico-psychological exercise. May itbe accounted unto me for righteousness, though I laughed so much overthe operation that I deserve no credit. 

I think your notion is a very good one, and I am not sure that I shallnot try to carry it out some day. In the meanwhile, however, I am bentupon an enterprise which I think still more important. 

After I have done with the reconcilers, I will see whether theologycannot be told her place rather more plainly than she has yet beendealt with. 

However, this between ourselves, I am seriously anxious to use whatlittle stuff remains to me well, and I am not sure that I can dobetter service anywhere than in this line, though I don't mean to haveany more controversy if I can help it. 

(Don't laugh and repeat Darwin's wickedness. )

Ever yours very faithfully, T. H. Huxley. 

[However, this] "contribution to the next round" [seemed to the editorrather too pungent in tone. Accordingly Huxley revised it, the letterswhich follow describing the process:--]

4 Marlborough Place, N. W. , January 15, 1886. 

My dear Knowles, I will be with you at 1. 30. I spent three mortal hours this morningtaming my wild cat. He is now castrated; his teeth are filed, hisclaws are cut, he is taught to swear like a "mieu"; and to spit like acough; and when he is turned out of the bag you won't know him from atame rabbit. 

Ever yours, T. H. Huxley. 

4 Marlborough Place, N. W. , January 20, 1886. 

My dear Knowles, Here is the debonnaire animal finally titivated, and I quite agree, much improved, though I mourn the loss of some of the spice. But it isan awful smash as it stands--worse than the first, I think. 

I shall send you the manuscript of the "Evolution of Theology" to-dayor to-morrow. It will not do to divide it, as I want the reader tohave an apercu of the whole process from Samuel of Israel to Sammy ofOxford. 

I am afraid it will make thirty or thirty-five pages, but it is reallyvery interesting, though I say it as shouldn't. 

Please have it set up in slip, though, as it is written after themanner of a judge's charge, the corrections will not be so extensive, nor the strength of language so well calculated to make a judiciouseditor's hair stand on end, as was the case with the enclosed (in itsunregenerate state). 

Ever yours very truly, T. H. Huxley. 

[Some time later, on September 14, 1890, writing to Mr. Hyde Clarke, the philologist, who was ten years his senior, he remarks on hisobject in undertaking this controversy:--]

I am glad to see that you are as active-minded as ever. I have nodoubt there is a great deal in what you say about the origin of themyths in Genesis. But my sole point is to get the people who persistin regarding them as statements of fact to understand that they arefools. 

The process is laborious, and not yet very fruitful of the desiredconviction. 

To Sir Joseph Prestwich. 

4 Marlborough Place, N. W. , January 16, 1886. 

My dear Prestwich, Accept my best thanks for the volume of your Geology, which has justreached me. 

I envy the vigour which has led you to tackle such a task, and I haveno doubt that when I turn to your book for information I shall findreason for more envy in the thoroughness with which the task is done. 

I see Mr. Gladstone has been trying to wrest your scripture to his ownpurposes, but it is no good. Neither the fourfold nor the fivefold northe sixfold order will wash. 

Ever yours very faithfully, T. H. Huxley. 

To Professor Poulton [Hope Professor of Zoology at Oxford. ]. 

4 Marlborough Place, February 19, 1886. 

Dear Mr. Poulton, I return herewith the number of the "Expositor" with many thanks. Canon Driver's article contains as clear and candid a statement as Icould wish of the position of the Pentateuchal cosmogony from hispoint of view. If he more thoroughly understood the actual nature ofpaleontological succession--I mean the species by species replacementof old forms by new, --and if he more fully appreciated the great gulffixed between the ideas of "creation" and of "evolution, " I think hewould see (1) that the Pentateuch and science are more hopelessly atvariance than even he imagines, and (2) that the Pentateuchalcosmogony does not come so near the facts of the case as some otherancient cosmogonies, notably those of the old Greek philosophers. 

Practically, Canon Driver, as a theologian and Hebrew scholar, givesup the physical truth of the Pentateuchal cosmogony altogether. Allthe more wonderful to me, therefore, is the way in which he holds onto it as embodying theological truth. So far as this question isconcerned, on all points which can be tested, the Pentateuchal writerstates that which is not true. What, therefore, is his authority onthe matter--creation by a Deity--which cannot be tested? What sort of"inspiration" is that which leads to the promulgation of a fable asdivine truth, which forces those who believe in that inspiration tohold on, like grim death, to the literal truth of the fable, whichdemoralises them in seeking for all sorts of sophistical shifts tobolster up the fable, and which finally is discredited and repudiatedwhen the fable is finally proved to be a fable? If Satan had wished todevise the best means of discrediting "Revelation" he could not havedone better. 

Have you not forgotten to mention the leg of Archaeopteryx as acharacteristically bird-like structure? It is so, and it is to berecollected that at present we know nothing of the greater part of theskeletons of the older Mesozoic mammals--only teeth and jaws. What theshoulder-girdle of Stereognathus might be like is uncertain. 

Ever yours very faithfully, T. H. Huxley. 

[The following letters have a curious interest as showing what, in theeyes of a supporter of educational progress, might and might not bedone at Oxford to help on scientific education:--]

To the Master of Balliol. 

4 Marlborough Place, December 21, 1885. 

My dear Master [This is from the first draft of the letter. Huxley'sletters to Jowett were destroyed by Jowett's orders, together with therest of his correspondence. ], I have been talking to some of my friends about stimulating the RoyalSociety to address the Universities on the subject of giving greaterweight to scientific acquirements, and I find that there is a betterprospect than I had hoped for of getting President and Council tomove. But I am not quite sure about the course which it will be wisestfor us to adopt, and I beg a little counsel on that matter. 

I presume that we had better state our wishes in the form of a letterto the Vice-Chancellor, and that we may prudently ask for thesubstitution of modern languages (especially German) and elementaryscience for some of the subjects at present required in the literarypart of the examinations of the scientific and medical faculties. Ifwe could gain this much it would be a great step, not only in itself, but in its reaction on the schools. 

Ever yours very faithfully, T. H. Huxley. 

4 Marlborough Place, December 26, 1885. 

My dear Foster, Please read the enclosed letter from Jowett (confidentially). I hadsuggested the possibility of diminishing the Greek and Latin for thescience and medical people, but that, you see, he won't have. But heis prepared to load the classical people with science by way of makingthings fair. 

It may be worth our while to go in for this, and trust to time for theother. What say you?

Merry Christmas to you. The G. O. M. Is going to reply, so I am likelyto have a happy New Year! I expect some fun, and I mean to make it anoccasion for some good earnest. 

Ever yours very faithfully, T. H. Huxley. 

[So ends 1885, and with it closes another definite period of Huxley'slife. Free from official burdens and official restraints, he was atliberty to speak out on any subject; his strength for work was lessindeed, but his time was his own; there was hope that he might stillrecover his health for a few more years. And though the ranks of hisfriends were beginning to thin, though he writes (May 20, to ProfessorBartholomew Price):--]

The "gaps" are terrible accompaniments of advancing life. It is onlywith age that one realises the full truth of Goethe's quatrain:--

Eine Bruche ist ein jeder Tag, etc. 

[and again:--]

The x Club is going to smithereens, as if a charge of dynamite hadbeen exploded in the midst of it. Busk is slowly fading away. Tyndallis, I fear, in a bad way, and I am very anxious about Hooker:--

[Still the club hung together for many years, and outside it wereother devoted friends, who would have echoed Dr. Foster's good wisheson the last day of the year:--

A Happy New Year! and many of them, and may you more and moredemonstrate the folly of strangling men at sixty. 

CHAPTER 2. 18. 

1886. 

[The controversy with Mr. Gladstone indicates the nature of thesubject that Huxley took up for the employment of his newly obtainedleisure. Chequered as this leisure was all through the year byconstant illness, which drove him again and again to the warmth ofBournemouth or the brisk airs of the Yorkshire moors in default of thesovereign medicine of the Alps, he managed to write two morecontroversial articles this year, besides a long account of the"Progress of Science, " for Mr. T. Humphry Ward's book on "The Reign ofQueen Victoria, " which was to celebrate the Jubilee year 1887. Examinations--for the last time, however--the meetings of the EtonGoverning Body, the business of the Science Schools, the Senate of theLondon University, the Marine Biological Association, the Council ofthe Royal Society, and a round dozen of subsidiary committees, allclaimed his attention. Even when driven out of town by his bad health, he would come up for a few days at a time to attend necessarymeetings. 

One of the few references of this period to biological research iscontained in a letter to Professor Pelseneer of Ghent, a student ofthe Mollusca, who afterwards completed for Huxley the long unfinishedmonograph on "Spirula" for the "Challenger" Report. ]

4 Marlborough Place, January 8, 1886. 

Dear Sir, Accept my best thanks for the present of your publications. As you mayimagine, I find that on the cretaceous crustaceans very interesting. It was a rare chance to find the branchiae preserved. 

I am glad to be able to send you a copy of my memoir on the morphologyof the Mollusca. It shows signs of age outside, but I beg you toremember that it is 33 years old. 

I am rejoiced to think you find it still worth consulting. It hasalways been my intention to return to the subject some day, and to tryto justify my old conclusions--as I think they may be justified. 

But it is very doubtful whether my intention will now ever be carriedinto effect. 

I am yours very faithfully, T. H. Huxley. 

[Mr. Gladstone's second article appeared in the January number of the"Nineteenth Century, " to this the following letter refers:--]

4 Marlborough Place, N. W. , January 21, 1886. 

My dear Skelton, Thanks for your capital bit of chaff. I took a thought and began tomend (as Burns' friend and MY prototype (G. O. M. ) is not yet recordedto have done) about a couple of months ago, and then Gladstone's firstarticle caused such a flow of bile that I have been the better for itever since. 

I need not tell you I am entirely crushed by his reply--still the wormwill turn and there is a faint squeak (as of a rat in the mouth of aterrier) about to be heard in the next "Nineteenth. "

But seriously, it is to me a grave thing that the destinies of thiscountry should at present be seriously influenced by a man, who, whatever he may be in the affairs of which I am no judge--is nothingbut a copious shuffler, in those which I do understand. 

With best wishes to Mrs. Skelton and yourself, ever yours veryfaithfully, T. H. Huxley. 

[With the article in the February number of the "Nineteenth Century, "he concluded his tilt with Mr. Gladstone upon the interpretation ofGenesis. His supposed] "unjaded appetite" [for controversy was alreadysatiated; and he begged leave to retire from] "that 'atmosphere ofcontention' in which Mr. Gladstone has been able to live, alert andvigorous beyond the common race of men, as if it were purest mountainair, " [for the] "Elysium" of scientific debate, which "suits my lessrobust constitution better. " [A vain hope. Little as he likedcontroversy at bottom, in spite of the skill--it must be allowed, attimes, a pleasurable skill--in using the weapons of debate, he was notto avoid it any more than he was to avoid the east wind when he wentto Bournemouth from early in February till the end of March, of whichhe writes on February 23:--]

The "English Naples" is rather Florentine so far as a bitter cold eastwind rather below than above 0 degrees C. Goes, but from all I hear itis a deal better than London, and I am picking up in spite of it. Iwish I were a Holothuria, and could get on without my viscera. Ishould do splendidly then. 

[Here he wrote a long article on the "Evolution of Theology"("Collected Essays" 4 287) which appeared in the March and Aprilnumbers of the "Nineteenth Century. " It was a positive statement ofthe views he had arrived at, which underlay the very partial--andtherefore misleading--exposition of them possible in controversy. Hedealt with the subject, not with reference to the truth or falsehoodof the notions under review, but purely as a question ofanthropology, ] "a department of biology to which I have at varioustimes given a good deal of attention. " [Starting with the familiarground of the Hebrew Scriptures, he thus explains the paleontologicalmethod he proposes to adopt:--]

In the venerable record of ancient life, miscalled a book, when it isreally a library comparable to a selection of works from Englishliterature between the times of Beda and those of Milton, we have thestratified deposits (often confused and even with their natural orderinverted) left by the stream of the intellectual and moral life ofIsrael during many centuries. And, embedded in these strata, there arenumerous remains of forms of thought which once lived, and which, though often unfortunately mere fragments, are of priceless value tothe anthropologist. Our task is to rescue these from their relativelyunimportant surroundings, and by careful comparison with existingforms of theology to make the dead world which they record live again. 

[A subsequent letter to Professor Lewis Campbell bears upon thisessay. It was written in answer to an inquiry prompted by thecomparison here drawn between the primitive spiritual theories of thebooks of Judges and Samuel, and the very similar development of ideasamong the Tongans, as described by Mariner, who lived many years amongthe natives. ]

Hodeslea, October 10, 1894. 

My dear Campbell, I took a good deal of trouble years ago to satisfy myself about thepoint you mention, and I came to the conclusion that Mariner waseminently trustworthy, and that Martin was not only an honest, but ashrewd and rather critical, reporter. The story he tells about testingMariner's version of King Theebaw's oration shows his frame of mind(and is very interesting otherwise in relation to oral tradition). 

I have a lot of books about Polynesia, but of all I possess and haveread, Mariner is to my mind the most trustworthy. 

The missionaries are apt to colour everything, and they never have thechance of knowing the interior life as Mariner knew it. It was thisconviction that led me to make Mariner my cheval de bataille in"Evolution of Theology. "

I am giving a good deal of trouble--ill for the last week, and atpresent with a sharp lumbago! so nice! With our love to Mrs. Campbelland yourself. 

Ever yours, T. H. Huxley. 

[The circumstances under which the following letter was written arethese. The activity of the Home Rulers and the lethargy of Unionistshad caused one side only of the great question then agitating Englishpolitics to be represented in the American press, with the result thatthe funds of the Nationalists were swelled by subscriptions frompersons who might have acted otherwise if the arguments on the otherside had been adequately laid before them. 

Mr. Albert Grey, M. P. , therefore had arranged for a series of clear, forcible pronouncements from strong representative Englishmen againsta separate Parliament, to be cabled over to New York to a syndicate ofinfluential newspapers, and his American advisers desired that theopening statement should be from Huxley. 

Although it will be seen from the letter that he would not undertakethis task, Mr. Grey showed the letter to one or two of the leadingLiberal Unionists to strengthen their hands, and begged permission topublish it for the benefit of the whole party. Accordingly, itappeared in the "Times" of April 13, 1886. ]

Casalini, W. Bournemouth, March 21, 1886. 

Dear Mr. Grey, I am as much opposed to the Home Rule scheme as any one can possiblybe, and if I were a political man I would fight against it as long asI had any breath left in me; but I have carefully kept out of thepolitical field all my life, and it is too late for me now to think ofentering it. 

Anxious watching of the course of affairs for many years past haspersuaded me that nothing short of some sharp and sweeping nationalmisfortune will convince the majority of our countrymen thatgovernment by average opinion is merely a circuitous method of goingto the devil; and that those who profess to lead but in fact slavishlyfollow this average opinion are simply the fastest runners and theloudest squeakers of the herd which is rushing blindly down to itsdestruction. 

It is the electorate, and especially the Liberal electorate, which isresponsible for the present state of things. It has no politicaleducation. It knows well enough that 2 and 2 won't make 5 in a ledger, and that sentimental stealing in private life is not to be tolerated;but it has not been taught the great lesson in history that there arelike verities in national life, and hence it easily falls a prey toany clever and copious fallacy-monger who appeals to its great heartinstead of reminding it of its weak head. 

Politicians have gone on flattering and cajoling this chaos ofpolitical incompetence until the just penalty of believing their ownfictions has befallen them, and the average member of Parliament isconscientiously convinced that it is his duty, not to act for hisconstituents to the best of his judgment, but to do exactly what they, or rather the small minority which drives them, tells him to do. 

Have we a real statesman? A man of the calibre of Pitt or Burke, tosay nothing of Strafford or Pym, who will stand up and tell hiscountrymen that this disruption of the union is nothing but a cowardlywickedness--an act bad in itself, fraught with immeasurableevil--especially to the people of Ireland; and that if it cost hispolitical existence, or his head, for that matter, he is prepared totake any and every honest means of preventing the mischief?

I see no sign of any. And if such a man should come to the front whatchance is there of his receiving loyal and continuous support from amajority of the House of Commons? I see no sign of any. 

There was a time when the political madness of one party was sure tobe checked by the sanity, or at any rate the jealousy of the other. Atthe last election I should have voted for the Conservatives (for thefirst time in my life) had it not been for Lord Randolph Churchill;but I thought that by thus jumping out of the Gladstonian frying-paninto the Churchillian fire I should not mend matters, so I abstainedaltogether. 

Mr. Parnell has great qualities. For the first time the Irishmalcontents have a leader who is not eloquent, but who is honest; whoknows what he wants and faces the risks involved in getting it. Ourpoor Right Honourable Rhetoricians are no match for this man whounderstands realities. I believe also that Mr. Parnell's success willdestroy the English politicians who permit themselves to be hisinstruments, as soon as bitter experience of the consequences hasbrought Englishmen and Scotchmen (and I will add Irishmen) to theirsenses. 

I suppose one ought not to be sorry for that result, but there are menamong them over whose fall all will lament. 

I am, yours very faithfully, T. H. Huxley. 

[Some of the newspapers took these concluding paragraphs to implysupport of Parnell, so that at the end of June he writes:--]

The "Tribune" man seems to have less intelligence than might beexpected. I spoke approvingly of the way in which Parnell had carriedout his policy, which is rather different from approving the policyitself. 

But these newspaper scribes don't take the trouble to understand whatthey read. 

[While at Bournemouth he also finished and sent off to the "Youth'sCompanion, " an American paper, an article on the evolution of certaintypes of the house, called "From the Hut to the Pantheon. " Beginningwith a description of the Pantheon, that characteristically Roman workwith its vast dome, so strongly built that it is the only great domeremaining without a flaw:--]

For a long time [he says] I was perplexed to know what it was aboutthe proportions of the interior of the Pantheon which gave me such adifferent feeling from that made by any other domed space I had everentered. 

[The secret of this he finds in the broad and simple design peculiarto the building, and then shows in detail how:--]

The round hut, the Aedes Vestae, and the Pantheon are so many stagesin a process of architectural evolution which was effected between thefirst beginnings of Roman history and the Augustan age. 

[The relation between the beehive hut, the terremare, and thepile-dwellings of Italy lead to many suggestive bits of earlyanthropology, which, it may be hoped, bore fruit in the minds of someof his youthful readers. 

We find him also reading over proofs for Mr. Herbert Spencer, who, although he might hesitate to ask for his criticism with respect to asubject on which they had a "standing difference, " still:--

concluded that to break through the long-standing usage, in pursuanceof which I have habitually submitted my biological writing to yourcastigation, and so often profited by so doing, would seem like adistrust of your candour--a distrust which I cannot entertain. 

So he wrote in January; and on March 19 he wrote again, with anotherset of proofs:--

Toujours l'audace! More proofs to look over. Don't write a criticalessay, only marginal notes. Perhaps you will say, like the Roman poetto the poetaster who asked him to erase any passages he did not like, and who replied, "One erasure will suffice"--perhaps you will say, "There needs only one marginal note. "

To this he received answer:--]

Casalini, W. Bournemouth, March 22, 1886. 

My dear Spencer, More power to your elbow! You will find my blessing at the end of theproof. 

But please look very carefully at some comments which are not merelysceptical criticisms, but deal with matters of fact. 

I see the difference between us on the speculative question lies inthe conception of the primitive protoplasm. I conceive it as amechanism set going by heat--as a sort of active crystal with thecapacity of giving rise to a great number of pseudomorphs; and Iconceive that external conditions favour one or the other pseudomorph, but leave the fundamental mechanism untouched. 

You appear to me to suppose that external conditions modify themachinery, as if by transferring a flour-mill into a forest you couldmake it into a saw-mill I am too much of a sceptic to deny thepossibility of anything--especially as I am now so much occupied withtheology--but I don't see my way to your conclusion. 

And that is all the more reason why I don't want to stop you fromworking it out, or rather to make the "one erasure" you suggest. Foras to stopping you, "ten on me might, " as the navvy said to the littlespecial constable who threatened to take him into custody. 

Ever yours very faithfully, T. H. Huxley. 

Warmth and sea-fogs here for a variety. 

[One more letter may be given from this time at Bournemouth--a letterto his eldest daughter on the loss of her infant son:--]

Casalini, W. Bournemouth, March 2, 1886. 

It's very sad to lose your child just when he was beginning to bindhimself to you, and I don't know that it is much consolation toreflect that the longer he had wound himself up in your heart-stringsthe worse the tear would have been, which seems to have beeninevitable sooner or later. One does not weigh and measure thesethings while grief is fresh, and in my experience a deep plunge intothe waters of sorrow is the hopefullest way of getting through them onto one's daily road of life again. No one can help another very muchin these crises of life; but love and sympathy count for something, and you know, dear child, that you have these in fullest measure fromus. 

[On coming up to London in April he was very busy, among other things, with a proposal that the Marine Biological Association, of which hewas President, should urge the Government to appoint a scientificadviser to the Fishery Board. A letter of his on this subject hadappeared in the "Times" for March 30. There seemed to him, with hispractical experience of official work, insuperable objections to thestatus of such an officer. Above all, he would be a representative ofscience in name, without any responsibility to the body of scientificmen in the country. Some of his younger colleagues on the Council, whohad not enjoyed the same experience, thought that he had set asidetheir expressions of opinion too brusquely, and begged Sir M. Foster, as at once a close friend of his, and one to whose opinion he paidgreat respect, to make representations to him on their behalf, whichhe did in writing, being kept at home by a cold. To this letter, inwhich his friend begged him not to be vexed at a very plain statementof the other point of view, but to make it possible for the youngermen to continue to follow his lead, he replied:--]

4 Marlborough Place, April 5, 1886. 

My dear Foster, Mrs. Foster is quite right in looking sharp after your colds, which isvery generous of me to say, as I am down in the mouth and should havebeen cheered by a chat. 

I am very glad to know what our younger friends are thinking about. Imade up my mind to some such result of the action I have thought itnecessary to take. But I have no ambition to lead, and no desire todrive them, and if we can't agree, the best way will be to go our waysseparately... 

Heaven forbid that I should restrain anybody from expressing anyopinion in the world. But it is so obvious to me that not one of ourfriends has the smallest notion of what administration in fisheryquestions means, or of the danger of creating a scientificFrankenstein in that which he is clamouring for, that I suppose I havebeen over-anxious to prevent mischief, and seemed domineering. 

Well, I shall mend my ways. I must be getting to be an old savage ifyou think it risky to write anything to me. 

Ever yours, T. H. Huxley. 

[But he did not stay long in London. By April 20 he was off to Ilkley, where he expected to stay] "for a week or two, perhaps longer. " [onthe 24th he writes to Sir M. Foster:--]

I was beginning to get wrong before we left Bournemouth, and wentsteadily down after our return to London, so that I had to call in avery shrewd fellow who attends my daughter M--. Last Monday he told methat more physicking was no good, and that I had better be off here, and see what exercise and the fresh air of the moors would do for me. So here I came, and mean to give the place a fair trial. 

I do a minimum of ten miles per diem without fatigue, and as I eat, drink, and sleep well, there ought to be nothing the matter with me. Why, under these circumstances, I should never feel honestly cheerful, or know any other desire than that of running away and hiding myself, I don't know. No explanation is to be found even in Foster's"Physiology!" the only thing my demon can't stand is sharp walking, and I will give him a dose of that remedy when once I get into trim. 

[Indeed he was so much better even after a single day at Ilkley, thathe writes home:--]

It really seems to me that I am an imposter for running away, and Ican hardly believe that I felt so ill and miserable four-and-twentyhours ago. 

[And on the 28th he writes to Sir M. Foster:--]

I have been improving wonderfully in the last few days. Yesterday Iwalked to Bolton Abbey, the Strid, etc. , and back, which is a matterof sixteen miles, without being particularly tired, though theafternoon sun was as hot as midsummer. 

It is the old story--a case of candle-snuff--some infernal compoundthat won't get burnt up without more oxygenation than is to be hadunder ordinary conditions... 

I want to be back and doing something, and yet have a notion that Ishould be wiser if I stopped here a few weeks and burnt up my rubbisheffectually. A good deal will depend upon whether I can get my wife tojoin me or not. She has had a world of worry lately. 

[As to his fortunate choice of an hotel, ] "I made up my mind, " [hewrites, ] "to come to this hotel merely because Bradshaw said it was onthe edge of the moor--but for once acting on an advertisement turnedout well. " [The moor ran up six or seven hundred feet just outside thegarden, and the hotel itself was well outside and above the town andthe crowd of visitors. Here, with the exception of a day or two inMay, and a fortnight at the beginning of June, he stayed till July, living as far as possible an outdoor life, and getting through a fairamount of correspondence. 

It was not to be expected that he should long remain unknown, and hewas sometimes touched, more often bored, by the forms which thisrecognition took. Thus two days after his arrival he writes home:--]

Sitting opposite to me at the table d'hote here is a nice old Scotchlady. People have found out my name here by this time, and yesterdayshe introduced herself to me, and expressed great gratitude for theadvice I gave to a son of hers two or three years ago. I had greatdifficulty in recollecting anything at all about the matter, but itseems the youngster wanted to go to Africa, and I advised him not to, at any rate at present. However, the poor fellow went, and died, andthey seem to have found a minute account of his interview with me inhis diary. 

[But all were not of this kind. On the 26th he writes:--]

I took a three hours' walk over the moors this morning with nothingbut grouse and peewits for company, and it was perfectly delicious. Iam beginning to forget that I have a liver, and even feel mildlydisposed to the two fools of women between whom I have to sit everymeal. 

27th. 

... I wish you would come here if only for a few days--it would do youa world of good after your anxiety and wear and tear for the lastweek. And you say you are feeling weak. Please come and let me takecare of you a bit; I am sure the lovely air here would set you up. Ifeel better than I have for months... 

The country is lovely, and in a few days more all the leaves will beout. You can almost hear them bursting. Now come down on Saturday andrejoice the "sair een" of your old husband who is wearying for you. 

[Another extract from the same correspondence expresses hisdetestation for a gross breach of confidence:--]

April 22. 

... I have given Mr. -- a pretty smart setting down for sending meRuskin's letter to him! It really is iniquitous that such thingsshould be done. Ruskin has a right to say anything he likes in aprivate letter and -- must be a perfect cad to send it on to me. 

[The following letter on the ideal of a Paleontological Museum is aspecialised and improved version of his earlier schemes on the samesubject:--]

4 Marlborough Place, May 3, 1886. 

My dear Foster, I cannot find Hughes' letter, and fancy I must have destroyed it. So Icannot satisfy Newton as to the exact terms of his question. 

But I am quite clear that my answer was not meant to recommend anyparticular course for Cambridge, when I know nothing about theparticular circumstances of the case, but referred to what I shouldlike to do if I had carte blanche. 

It is as plain as the nose on one's face (mine is said to be veryplain) that Zoological and Botanical collections should illustrate (1)Morphology, (2) Geographical Distribution, (3) Geological Succession. 

It is also obvious to me that the morphological series ought tocontain examples of all the extinct types in their proper places. ButI think it will be no less plain to any one who has had anything to dowith Geology and Paleontology that the great mass of fossils is to bemost conveniently arranged stratigraphically. The Jermyn St. Museumaffords an example of the stratigraphical arrangement. 

I do not know that there is anywhere a collection arranged accordingto Provinces of Geographical Distribution. It would be a great creditto Cambridge to set the example of having one. 

If I had a free hand in Cambridge or anywhere else I should build (A)a Museum, open to the public, and containing three strictly limitedand selected collections; one morphologically, one geographically, andone stratigraphically arranged; and (B) a series of annexes arrangedfor storage and working purposes to contain the material which is ofno use to any but specialists. I am convinced that this is the onlyplan by which the wants of ordinary people can be suppliedefficiently, while ample room is afforded for additions to any extentwithout large expense in building. 

On the present plan or no plan, Museums are built at great cost, andin a few years are choked for want of room. 

If you have the opportunity, I wish you would explain that I gave noopinion as to what might or might not be expedient under presentcircumstances at Cambridge. I do not want to seem meddlesome. 

Ever yours very faithfully, T. H. Huxley. 

Don't forget Cayley. 

N. B. --As my meaning seems to have been misunderstood I wish, if youhave the chance, you would make it clear that I do not want threebrick and mortar museums--but one public museum--containing athreefold collection of typical forms, a biological Trinity in Unityin fact. 

It might conciliate the clerics if you adopted this illustration. Butas YOUR OWN, mind. I should not like them to think me capable of it. 

[However, even Ilkley was not an infallible cure. Thus he writes toSir M. Foster:--]

May 17. 

I am ashamed of myself for not going to town to attend the GovernmentGrant Committee and Council, but I find I had better stop here tillthe end of the month, when I must return for a while anyhow. 

I have improved very much here, and so long as I take heaps ofexercise every day I have nothing to complain of beyond a fit of bluedevils when I wake in the morning. 

But I don't want to do any manner of work, still less any manner ofplay, such as is going on in London at this time of year, and I thinkI am wise to keep out of it as long as I can. 

I wish I knew what is the matter with me. I feel always just on theverge of becoming an absurd old hypochondriac, and as if it onlywanted a touch to send me over. 

May 27. 

... The blue devils worry me far less than they did. If there were anyherd of swine here I might cast them out altogether, but I expect theywould not go into blackfaced sheep. 

I am disposed to stop not more than ten days in London, but to comeback here and bring some work with me. In fact I do not know that Ishould return yet if it were not that I do not wish to miss our usualvisit to Balliol, and that my Spanish daughter is coming home for afew months... 

I am overwhelmed at being taken at my word about scientificfederation. [I. E. A federation between the Royal Society andscientific societies in the colonies. ] "Something will transpire" asold Gutzlaff [This worthy appears to have been an admiral on the Chinastation about 1840. ] said when he flogged plaintiff, defendant andwitnesses in an obscure case. 

P. S. --I have had an invitation from -- to sign "without committingmyself to details" an approbation of his grand scheme. [For thereorganisation of the Fisheries Department. ] A stupendous array ofnames appear thus committed to the "principle of the Bill. " I preferto be the Hartington of the situation. 

[During this first stay in London he wrote twice to Mr. HerbertSpencer, from whom he had received not only some proofs, as before, onbiological points, but others from his unpublished autobiography. After twice reading these, Huxley had merely marked a couple ofparagraphs containing personal references which might possibly beobjectionable] "to the 'heirs, administrators and assigns, ' if thereare any, or to the people themselves if they are living still. " [Hecontinues, June 1:--]

You will be quite taken aback at getting a proof from me with so fewcriticisms, but even I am not so perverse as to think that I canimprove your own story of your own life!

I notice a curious thing. If Ransom [Dr. Ransom of Nottingham. ] hadnot overworked himself, I should probably not be writing this letter. 

For if he had worked less hard I might have been first and he secondat the Examination at the University of London in 1845. In which caseI should have obtained the Exhibition, should not have gone into thenavy, and should have forsaken science for practice... 

[Again on June 4:--]

My dear Spencer, Here's a screed for you! I wish you well through it. 

Mind I have no a priori objection to the transmission of functionalmodifications whatever. In fact, as I told you, I should rather likeit to be true. 

But I argued against the assumption (with Darwin as I do with you) ofthe operation of a factor which, if you will forgive me for saying so, seems as far off support by trustworthy evidence now as ever it was. 

Ever yours very faithfully, T. H. Huxley. 

[On the same day he wrote to Mr. , afterwards Sir John, Skelton:--]

4 Marlborough Place, London, N. W. , June 4, 1886. 

My dear Skelton, A civil question deserves a civil answer--Yes. I am sorry to say Iknow--nobody better--"what it is to be unfit for work. " I have beentrying to emerge from that condition, first at Bournemouth, and thenat Ilkley, for the last five months, with such small success that Ifind a few days in London knocks me up, and I go back to the Yorkshiremoors next week. 

We have no water-hens there--nothing but peewits, larks, andoccasional grouse--but the air and water are of the best, and thehills quite high enough to bring one's muscles into play. 

I suppose that Nebuchadnezzar was quite happy so long as he grazed andkept clear of Babylon; if so, I can hold him for my Scriptureparallel. 

I wish I could accept your moral Number 2, but there is amazinglylittle evidence of "reverential care for unoffending creation" in thearrangements of nature, that I can discover. If our ears were sharpenough to hear all the cries of pain that are uttered in the earth bymen and beasts, we should be deafened by one continuous scream!

And yet the wealth of superfluous loveliness in the world condemnspessimism. It is a hopeless riddle. 

Ever yours, T. H. Huxley. 

Please remember me to Mrs. Skelton. 

[The election of a new Headmaster (Dr. Warre) at Eton, where he was amember of the Governing Body, was a matter of no small concern to himat this moment. Some parts of the existing system seemed impossible toalter, though a reform in the actual scheme and scope of teachingseemed to him both possible and necessary for the future well-being ofthe school. He writes to his eldest son on July 6, 1886:--]

The whole system of paying the Eton masters by the profits of theboarding-houses they keep is detestable to my mind, but any attempt toalter it would be fatal. 

... I look to the new appointment with great anxiety. It will make ormar Eton. If the new Headmaster has the capacity to grasp the factthat the world has altered a good deal since the Eton system wasinvented, and if he has the sense to adapt Eton to the new state ofthings, without letting go that which was good in the old system, Etonmay become the finest public school in the country. 

If on the contrary he is merely a vigorous representative of the oldsystem pure and simple, the school will go to the dogs. 

I think it is not unlikely that there may be a battle in the GoverningBody over the business, and that I shall be on the losing side. But Iam used to that, and shall do what I think right nevertheless. 

[The same letter contains his reply to a suggestion that he shouldjoin a society whose object was to prevent a railway from being runright through the Lake district. ]

I am not much inclined to join the "Lake District Defence Society. " Ivalue natural beauty as much as most people--indeed I value it somuch, and think so highly of its influence that I would make beautifulscenery accessible to all the world, if I could. If any engineering ormining work is projected which will really destroy the beauty of theLakes, I will certainly oppose it, but I am not disposed, as Goschensaid, to "give a blank cheque" to a Defence Society, the force ofwhich is pretty certain to be wielded by the most irrational fanaticsamongst its members. 

Only the other day I walked the whole length of Bassenthwaite fromKeswick and back, and I cannot say that the little line of rails whichruns along the lake, now coming into view and now disappearing, interfered with my keen enjoyment of the beauty of the lake any morethan the macadamised road did. And if it had not been for that railwayI should not have been able to make Keswick my headquarters, and Ishould have lost my day's delight. 

People's sense of beauty should be more robust. I have had apocalypticvisions looking down Oxford Street at a sunset before now. 

Ever, dear lad, your loving father, T. H. Huxley. 

[After this he took his wife to Harrogate, ] "just like Clapham Commonon a great scale, " [where she was ordered to drink the waters. Forhimself, it was as good as Ilkley, seeing that he needed] "nothing butfresh air and exercise, and just as much work that interests me aswill keep my mind from getting 'blue mouldy. '" [The work in this casewas the chapter in the Life of Charles Darwin, which he had promisedMr. F. Darwin to finish before going abroad. 

On July 10, he writes to Sir M. Foster on the rejection of the HomeRule Bill:--]

The smashing of the G. O. M. Appears to be pretty complete, though hehas unfortunately enough left to give him the means of playing an uglygame of obstruction in the next Parliament. 

You have taken the shine out of my exultation at Lubbock'smajority--though I confess I was disheartened to see so many educatedmen going in for the disruption policy. If it were not for Randolph Ishould turn Tory, but that fellow will some day oust Salisbury asDizzy ousted old Derby, and sell his party to Parnell or anybody elsewho makes a good bid. 

We are flourishing on the whole. Sulphide of wife joins with me inlove. 

Ever yours, T. H. Huxley. 

[On the 21st he writes:--]

The formation of Huxley sulphide will be brought to a suddentermination to-morrow when we return to London. The process hascertainly done my wife a great deal of good and I wish it could havegone on a week or two longer, but our old arrangements are upset andwe must start with the chicks for Switzerland on the 27th, that isnext Tuesday. 

CHAPTER 2. 19. 

1886. 

[The earlier start was decided upon for the sake of one of hisdaughters; who had been ill. He went first to Evolena, but the placedid not suit him, and four days after his arrival went on to Arolla, whence he writes on August 3:--]

We reached Evolena on Thursday last... We had glorious weather Thursdayand Friday, and the latter day (having both been told carefully toavoid over-exertion) the wife and I strolled, quite unintentionally, as far as the Glacier de Ferpecle and back again. Luckily the wife isnone the worse, and indeed, I think in which more tired of the two. But we saw at once that Evolena was a mistake for our purpose, andwere confirmed in that opinion by the deluge of rain on Saturday. Thehotel is down in a hole at the tail of a dirty Swiss village, and onlyredeemed by very good cooking. So, Sunday being fine, I, E. And H. Started up here to prospect, 18 miles up and down, and 2000 feet toclimb, and did it beautifully. It is just the place for us, at thetail of a glacier in the midst of a splendid amphitheatre of 11 to12, 000 feet snow heights, and yet not bare and waste, any quantity ofstone-pines growing about... I rather long for the flesh-pots ofEvolena--cooking here being decidedly rudimentary--otherwise we arevery well off. 

[The keen air of six thousand feet above sea level worked wonders withthe invalids. The lassitude of the last two years was swept away, andHuxley came home eager for active life. Here too it was that, foroccupation, he took up the study of gentians; the beginning of thatlove of his garden which was so great a delight to him in his lastyears. On his return home he writes:--]

4 Marlborough Place, September 10, 1886. 

My dear Foster, We got back last evening after a very successful trip. Arolla suitedus all to a T, and we are all in great force. As for me, I have notknown of the existence of my liver, and except for the fact that Ifound fifteen or sixteen miles with a couple of thousand feet up anddown quite enough, I could have deluded myself into the fondimagination that I was twenty years younger. 

By way of amusement I bought a Swiss Flora in Lausanne and took tobotanising--and my devotion to the gentians led the Bishop ofChichester--a dear old man, who paid us (that is the hotel) avisit--to declare that I sought the "Ur-gentian" as a kind of HolyGrail. The only interruption to our felicity was the death of a poorfellow, who was brought down on a guide's back from an expedition heought not to have undertaken, and whom I did my best to keep alive onenight. But rapid pleuritic effusion finished him the next morning, inspite of (I hope not in consequence of) such medical treatment as Icould give him. 

I see you had a great meeting at Birmingham, but I know not details. The delegation to Sydney is not a bad idea, but why on earth have theyarranged that it shall arrive in the middle of the hot weather?Speechifying with the thermometer at 90 degrees in the shade will trythe nerves of the delegates, I can tell them. 

I shall remain quietly here and see whether I can stand London. I hopeI may, for the oestrus of work is upon me--for the first time thiscouple of years. Let me have some news of you. With our love to yourwife and you. 

Ever yours, T. H. Huxley. 

4 Marlborough Place, N. W. , September 14, 1886. 

My dear Donnelly, I hear that some of your alguazils were looking after me yesterday, soI had better give myself up at once--hoping it will be considered inthe sentence. 

The fact is I have been going to write to you ever since we came backlast Thursday evening, but I had about fifty other letters to writeand got sick of the operation. 

We are all in great force, and as for me, I never expected a year agoto be he well I am. I require to look in the glass and study thecrows' feet and the increasing snow cap on the summit of my Tete noire(as it once was), to convince myself I am not twenty years younger. 

How long it will last I don't feel sure, but I am going to give Londonas little chance as possible. 

I trust you have all been thriving to a like extent. Scott [AssistantProfessor of Botany at the Royal College of Science. ] wrote to me theother day wanting to take his advanced flock (two--one, I believe, aewe-lamb) to Kew. I told him I had no objection, but he had betterconsult you. 

I have not been to South Kensington yet--as I have a devil(botanical--) and must satisfy him before doing anything else. It'sthe greatest sign of amendment that I have gone in for science afresh. When I am ill (and consequently venomous), nothing satisfies me butgnawing at theology; it's a sort of crib-biting. 

Our love to Mrs. Donnelly. I suppose G. H. [Gordon Huxley Donnelly, SirJohn's son. ] is by this time a kind of Daniel Lambert physically andSolomon mentally--my blessing to him. 

Ever yours very faithfully, T. H. Huxley. 

[As a sequel to the sad event mentioned in the former letter, therelations of the young man who had died so suddenly at Arolla wishedto offer Huxley some gift in grateful recognition of the kindness hehad shown to the poor fellow; but being unable to fix upon anysuitable object, begged him to accept a considerable sum of money andexpend it on any object he pleased as a memento. To this he replied, November 21, 1886:--]

I am very much obliged for the kind recognition of my unfortunatelyunavailing efforts to be of service to your brother-in-law which iscontained in your letter. 

But I and those who right willingly helped me did nothing more thanour plain duty in such a case; and though I fully appreciate themotives which actuate Mrs. -- and yourself and friends, and wouldgladly accept any trifle as a memento of my poor friend (I call himso, for we really struck up a great friendship in our twelve hours'acquaintance), I could not with any comfort use the very handsomecheque you offer. 

Let me propose a compromise. As you will see by the enclosed paper, acolleague of mine has just died leaving widow and children in verypoor circumstances. Contribute something to the fund which is beingraised for their benefit, and I shall consider it as the mostagreeable present you could possibly make to me. 

And if you wish me to have a personal memento of our friend, send me apipe that belonged to him. I am greatly devoted to tobacco, and willput it in a place of honour in my battery of pipes. 

[The bracing effects of Arolla enabled him to stay two months in townbefore again retiring to Ilkley to be] "screwed up. " [He had on thestocks his Gentian Paper and the chapter for the Darwin Life, besidesthe chapter on the Progress of Science for the "Reign of QueenVictoria, " all of which he finished off this autumn; he was busy withTechnical Education, and the Egyptian borings which were being carriedout under the superintendence of the Royal Society. Finally he wasinduced by a "diabolical plot" on the part of Mr. Spencer to read, andin consequence to answer, an article in the "Fortnightly" for Novemberby Mr. Lilly on "Materialism and Morality. " These are the chief pointswith which the following correspondence is concerned. ]

4 Marlborough Place, September 16, 1886. 

My dear Foster, I enclose the Report [The Annual Report of the Examiners in Physiologyunder the Science and Art Department, which, being still an Examinerhe had to sign. ] and have nothing to suggest except a quibble at page4. If you take a stick in your hand you may feel lots of things anddetermine their form, etc. , with the other end of it, but surely thestick is properly said to be insensible. Ditto with the teeth. I feelvery well with mine (which are paid for) but they are surely notsensible? Old Tomes once published the opinion that the contents ofthe dentine tubules were sensory nerves, on the ground of our feelingso distinctly through our teeth. He forgot the blind man's stick. Indeed the reference of sensation to the end of a stick is one of themost interesting of psychological facts. 

It is extraordinary how those dogs of examinees return to their vomit. Almost all the obstinate fictions you mention are of a quarter of acentury date. Only then they were dominant and epidemic--now they aresporadic. 

I wish Pasteur or somebody would find some microbe with which therising generation could be protected against them. 

We shall have to rearrange the Examination business--this partnerhaving made his fortune and retiring from firm. Think over what is tobe done. 

Ever yours, T. H. Huxley. 

You don't happen to grow gentians in your Alpine region, do you?

[Of his formal responsibility for the examinations he had writtenearlier in the year:--]

Wells House, Ilkley, June 15, 1886. 

My dear Donnelly, I think it is just as well that you could not lay your hands on ink, for if you had you would only have blacked them. (N. B. This is agoak. )

You know we resolved that it was as well that I should go on asExaminer (unpaid) this year. But I rather repent me of it--foralthough I could be of use over the questions, I have had nothing todo with checking the results of the Examination except in honours, andI suspect that Foster's young Cambridge allies tend always to screwthe standard up. 

I am inclined to think that I had much better be out of it next year. The attempt to look over examination papers now would reduce thelittle brains I have left to mere pulp--and, on the other hand, ifthere is any row about results, it is not desirable that I should haveto say that I have not seen the answers. 

When I go you will probably get seven devils worse than the first--butthat it is not the fault of the first devil. 

I am picking up here wonderfully in spite of the bad weather. Itrained hard yesterday and blew ditto--to-day it is blowingdittoes--but there is sunshine between the rain and squalls. 

I hope you are better off. What an outlandish name "Tetronila. " Idon't believe you have spelt it right. With best regards to Mrs. Donnelly and my godson. 

Ever yours, T. H. Huxley. 

4 Marlborough Place, September 16, 1886. 

My dear Hooker, I have sucked Grisebach's brains, looked up "Flora B. Americana, " and"F. Antarctica and New Zealand, " and picked about in other quarters. Ifound I knew as much as Grisebach had to tell me (and more) aboutlutea, purpureo-punctata, acaulis, campestris, and the verna lot, which are all I got hold of at Arolla. But he is very good in all butclassification, which is logically "without form and void, anddarkness on the face of it. "

I shall have to verify lots of statements about gentians I have notseen, but at present the general results are very curious andinteresting. The species fall into four groups, one PRIMARY leastdifferentiated--three, specialised. 

1. Lobes of corolla fringed. 2. Coronate. 3. Interlobate (i. E. Not the"plica" between the proper petals). 

Now the interesting point is that the Antarctic species are allprimary and so are the great majority of the Andean forms. Lutea isthe only old-world primary, unless the Himalayan Moorcroftiana belongshere. The Arctic forms are also primary, but the petals moreextensively united. 

The specialised types are all Arctogeal with the exception of half adozen or so Andean species including prostrata. 

There is a strange general parallelism with the crayfishes! which alsohave their primary forms in Australia and New Zealand, avoid E. S. America and Africa, and become most differentiated in Arctogaea. Butthere are also differences in detail. 

It strikes me that this is uncommonly interesting; but, of course, allthe information about the structure of the flowers, etc. , I get atsecond hand, wants verifying. 

Have you done the gentians of your "Flora Indica" yet? Do look at themfrom this point of view. 

I cannot make out what Grisebach means by his division ofChondrophylla. What is a "cartilaginous" margin to a leaf?--"Foliamargine cartilaginea!" He has a lot of Indian species under this head. 

I send you a rough scheme I have drawn up. Please let me have it back. Any annotations thankfully received. Shan't apologise for botheringyou. 

I hope the pension is settled at last. 

Ever yours, T. H. Huxley. 

4 Marlborough Place, September 22, 1886. 

My dear Hooker, I have written to Lubbock a long screed stating my views [Referring tothe relations between the South Kensington department and the City andGuilds Committee on Technical Education. ] with unmistakabledistinctness as politeful as may be, and asking him, if he thoughtwell, to send them on to whomsoever it may concern. As old Gutzlaffused to say when he wanted to get evidence from a Chinee--"Gif himfour dozen, someting vill transpire. " At any rate the Chineetranspired, and I hope some official will. 

Here beginneth more gentian craze. 

I have not examined Moorcroft. Yet, but if the figure in Roxb. Istrustworthy it's a primary and no mistake. I can't understand youradmitting Amarellae without coronae. The presence of a corona is partof the definition of the amarella group, and an amarella without acorona is a primary ipso facto. 

Taking the facts as I have got them in the rough, and subject to minorverifications, the contrast between the Andean, Himalayan, andCaucasian Gentian Florae is very striking. 

TABLE OF GENTIAN FLORAE. 

Column 1: Place. Column 2: Simplices. Column 3: Ciliatae. Column 4: Coronatae. Column 5: Interlobatae. 

Andes : 27 : 0 (?) : 15 : 2. 

Himalayas 1 (Moorecroft. ) : 0 : 4 : 32. 

Caucasus Pyrenees (all one) : 2 (lutea, umbellata) : 2 : 5 : 21. 

I don't think Ciliatae worth anything as a division. I took it as itstood. 

It is clear that migration helps nothing, as between the old-world andSouth American Florae. It is the case of the Tapirs (Andean andSino-Malayan) over again. Relics of a tertiary Flora which onceextended from South America to Eurasia through North America (by thewest, probably). 

I see a book by Engler on the development of Floras since tertiaryepoch. Probably the beggar has the idea. 

Ever yours, T. H. Huxley. 

Godalming, September 25, 1886. 

My dear Foster, We are here till to-morrow on a visit to Leonard, seeing how the youngfolks keep house. 

I brought the Egyptian report down with me. It is very important, andin itself justifies the expenditure. Any day next (that is to saythis) week that you like I can see Colonel Turner. If you and Evanscan arrange a day I don't think we need mind the rest of theCommittee. We must get at least two other borings ten or fifteen milesoff, if possible on the same parallel, by hook or by crook. It willtell us more about the Nile valley than has ever been known. ThatItalian fellow who published sections must have lied considerably. 

Touching gentians, I have not examined your specimen yet, but itcertainly did not look like Andrewsii. You talk of having acaulis inyour garden. That is one of the species I worked out most carefully atArolla, but its flowering time was almost over, and I only got twofull-blown specimens to work at. If you have any in flower and don'tmind sacrificing one with a bit of the rhizoma, and would put it inspirit for me, I could settle one or two points still wanting. Whiskywill do, and you will be all the better for not drinking the whisky!

The distributional facts, when you work them in connection withmorphology, are lovely. We put up with Donnelly on our way here. Hehas taken a cottage at Felday, eleven miles from hence, in lovelycountry--on lease. I shall have to set up a country residence someday, but as all my friends declare their own locality best, I find adecision hard. And it is a bore to be tied to one place. 

Ever yours, T. H. Huxley. 

4 Marlborough Place, October 20, 1886. 

My dear Hooker, I wish you would not mind the trouble of looking through the enclosedchapter which I have written at F. Darwin's request, and tell me whatyou think of it. F. D. Thinks I am hard upon the "Quarterly Article, "but I read it a fresh and it is absolutely scandalous. The anonymousvilifiers of the present day will be none the worse for being remindedthat they may yet hang in chains... 

It occurs to me that it might be well to add a paragraph or two aboutthe two chief objections made formerly and now to Darwin, the one, that it is introducing "chance" as a factor in nature, and the otherthat it is atheistic. 

Both assertions are utter bosh. None but parsons believe in "chance";and the philosophical difficulties of Theism now are neither greaternor less than they have been ever since theism was invented. 

Ever yours, T. H. Huxley. 

[The following letter to Mr. Edmund Gosse, who, just before, had beenroughly handled in the "Quarterly Review, " doubtless owed some of itsvigour to these newly revived memories of the "Quarterly" attack onDarwin. But while the interest of the letter lies in a generalquestion of literary ethics, the proper methods and limits ofanonymous criticism, it must be noted that in this particular case itsedge was turned by the fact that immediately afterwards, the criticproceeded to support his criticisms elsewhere uder his own name:--]

October 22, 1886. 

Dear Sir, I beg leave to offer you my best thanks for your letter to the"Athenaeum, " which I have just read, and to congratulate you on theforce and completeness of your answer to your assailant. 

It is rarely worth while to notice criticism, but when a good chanceof exposing one of these anonymous libellers who disgrace literatureoccurs, it is a public duty to avail oneself of it. 

Oddly enough, I have recently been performing a similar "hauteoeuvre. " The most violent, base, and ignorant of all the attacks onDarwin at the time of the publication of the "Origin of Species"appeared in the "Quarterly Review" of that time; and I have built thereviewer a gibbet as high as Haman's. 

All good men and true should combine to stop this system of literarymoonlighting. 

I am yours very faithfully, T. H. Huxley. 

[On the same date appeared his letter to the "Pall Mall Gazette, "which was occasioned by the perversion of the new Chair of EnglishLiterature at Oxford to "Middle English" philology:--]

I fully agree with you that the relation of our Universities to thestudy of English literature is a matter of great public importance;and I have more than once taken occasion to express myconviction--Firstly, that the works of our great English writers arepre-eminently worthy of being systematically studied in our schoolsand universities as literature; and secondly, that the establishmentof professional chairs of philology, under the name of literature, maybe a profit to science, but is really a fraud practised upon letters. 

That a young Englishman may be turned out of one of our universities, "epopt and perfect, " so far as their system takes him, and yetignorant of the noble literature which has grown up in those islandsduring the last three centuries, no less than of the development ofthe philosophical and political ideas which have most profoundlyinfluenced modern civilisation, is a fact in the history of thenineteenth century which the twentieth will find hard to believe;though, perhaps, it is not more incredible than our currentsuperstition that whoso wishes to write and speak English well shouldmould his style after the models furnished by classical antiquity. Formy part, I venture to doubt the wisdom of attempting to mould one'sstyle by any other process for that of striving after the clear andforcible expression of definite conceptions; in which process theGlassian precept, "first catch your definite conceptions, " is probablythe most difficult to obey. But still I mark among distinguishedcontemporary speakers and writers of English, saturated withantiquity, not a few to whom, it seems to me, the study of Hobbesmight have taught dignity; of Swift, concision and clearness; ofGoldsmith and Defoe, simplicity. 

Well, among a hundred young men whose university career is finished, is there one whose attention has ever been directed by his literaryinstructors to a page of Hobbes, or Swift, or Goldsmith, or Defoe? Inmy boyhood we were familiar with "Robinson Crusoe, " "The Vicar ofWakefield, " and "Gulliver's Travels"; and though the mysteries of"Middle English" were hidden from us, my impression is we ran lesschance of learning to write and speak the "middling English" ofpopular orators and headmasters than if we had been perfect in suchmysteries and ignorant of those three masterpieces. It has been thefashion to decry the eighteenth century, as young fops laugh at theirfathers. But we were there in germ; and a "Professor of EighteenthCentury History and Literature" we knew his business might tell youngEnglishmen more of that which it is profoundly important they shouldknow, but which at present remains hidden from them, than any otherinstructor; and, incidentally, they would learn to know good Englishwhen they see or hear it--perhaps even to discriminate betweenslipshod copiousness and true eloquence, and that alone would be agreat gain. 

[As for the incitement to answer Mr. Lilly, Mr. Spencer writes fromBrighton on November 3:--

I have no doubt your combative instincts have been stirred within youas you read Mr. Lilly's article, "Materialism and Morality, " in whichyou and I are dealt with after the ordinary fashion popular with thetheologians, who practically say, "You SHALL be materialists whetheryou like it or not. " I should not be sorry if you yielded to thosepromptings of your combative instinct. Now that you are a man ofleisure there is no reason why you should not undertake any amount offighting, providing always that you can find foemen worthy of yoursteel. 

I remember that last year you found intellectual warfare good for yourhealth, so I have no qualms of conscience in making the suggestion. 

To this he replies on the 7th:--]

Your stimulation of my combative instincts is downright wicked. I willnot look at the "Fortnightly" article lest I succumb to temptation. Atleast not yet. The truth is that these cursed irons of mine, that havealways given me so much trouble, will put themselves in the fire, whenI am not thinking about them. There are three or four already. 

[On November 21 Mr. Spencer sends him more proofs of hisautobiography, dealing with his early life:--

See what it is to be known as an omnivorous reader--you get no mercyshown you. A man who is ready for anything, from the fairy tale to avolume of metaphysics, is naturally one who will make nothing of afragment of a friend's autobiography!

To this he replies on the 25th:--]

4 Marlborough Place, November 25, 1886. 

My dear Spencer, In spite of all prohibition I must write to you about two things. First, as to the proof returned herewith--I really have no criticismsto make (miracles, after all may not be incredible). I have read youraccount of your boyhood with great interest, and I find nothing therewhich does not contribute to the understanding of the man. No doubtabout the truth of evolution in your own case. 

Another point which has interested me immensely is the curioussimilarity to many recollections of my own boyish nature which I find, especially in the matter of demanding a reason for things and havingno respect for authority. 

But I was more docile, and could remember anything I had a mind tolearn, whether it was rational or irrational, only in the latter caseI hadn't the mind. 

But you were infinitely better off than I in the matter of education. I had two years of a Pandemonium of a school (between 8 and 10) andafter that neither help nor sympathy in any intellectual directiontill I reached manhood. Good heavens! if I had had a father and unclewho troubled themselves about my education as yours did about yourtraining, I might say as Bethell said of his possibilities had he comeunder Jowett, "There is no knowing to what eminence I might not haveattained. " Your account of them gives me the impression that they wereremarkable persons. Men of that force of character, if they had beenless wise and self-restrained, would have played the deuce with theabnormal chicken hatched among them. 

The second matter is that your diabolical plot against Lilly hassucceeded--vide the next number of the Fortnightly. ["Science andMorals" "Collected Essays" 9 117. ] I was fool enough to read hisarticle, and the rest followed. But I do not think I should havetroubled myself if the opportunity had not been good for clearing offa lot of old scores. 

The bad weather for the last ten days has shown me that I wantscrewing up, and I am off to Ilkley on Saturday for a week or two. Ilkley Wells House will be my address. I should like to know that youare picking up again. 

Ever yours very faithfully, T. H. Huxley. 

[And again on December 13:--]

My dear Spencer, I am very glad to have news of you which on the whole is notunsatisfactory. Your conclusion as to the doctors is one I don't mindtelling you in confidence I arrived at some time ago... 

I am glad you liked my treatment of Mr. Lilly... I quite agree with youthat the thing was worth doing for the sake of the public. 

I have in hand another bottle of the same vintage about Modern Realismand the abuse of the word Law, suggested by a report I read the otherday of one of Liddon's sermons. ["Pseudo-Scientific Realism""Collected Essays" 4 59. ]

The nonsense these great divines talk when they venture to meddle withscience is really appalling. 

Don't be alarmed about the history of Victorian science. [See above. ]I am happily limited to the length of a review article or thereabouts, and it is (I am happy to say it is nearly done) more of an essay onthe history of science, bringing out the broad features of thecontrast between past and present, than the history itself. It seemedto me that this was the only way of dealing with such a subject in abook intended for the general public. 

[The article "Science and Morals" was not only a satisfaction tohimself, but a success with the readers of the "Fortnightly. " To hiswife he writes:--]

December 2. 

Have you had the "Fortnightly"? How does my painting of the Lillylook?

December 8. 

Harris... Says that my article "simply made the December number, " whichpretty piece of gratitude means a lively sense of favours to come. 

December 13. 

I had a letter from Spencer yesterday chuckling over the success ofhis setting me on Lilly. 

[Ilkley had a wonderful effect upon him. ] "It is quite absurd, " [hewrites after 24 hours there, ] "but I am wonderfully better already. "[His regimen was of the simplest, save perhaps on one point. ] "Clarktold me, " [he says with the utmost gravity, ] "always to drink tea andeat hot cake at 4. 30. I have persevered, however against my will, andlast night had no dreams, but slept like a top. " [Two hours' writingin the morning were followed by two hours' sharp walking; in theafternoon he first took two hours' walking or strolling if the weatherwere decent;] "then Clark's prescription diligently taken" [(i. E. Teaand a pipe) and a couple of hours more writing; after dinner readingand to bed before eleven. ]

I am working away (he writes) in a leisurely comfortable manner at mychapter for Ward's Jubilee book, and have got the first few pagesdone, which is always my greatest trouble. 

December 8. 

... Canon Milman wrote to me to come to the opening of the NewBuildings for Sion College, which the Prince is going to preside overon the 15th. I had half a mind to accept, if only for the drollery offinding myself among a solemn convocation of the city clergy. However, I thought it would be opening the floodgates, and I prudentlydeclined. 

[One more letter may perhaps be quoted as illustrating the clearnessof vision in administrative matters which made it impossible for himto sit quietly by and see a tactical blunder being committed, eventhough his formal position might not seem to warrant his interference. This is his apologia for such a step. ]

December 16, 1886. 

My dear Foster, On thinking over this morning's Committee work [Some Committee of theRoyal Society. ], it strikes my conscience that being neither Presidentor Chairman nor officer I took command of the boat in a way that washardly justifiable. 

But it occurred to me that our sagacious -- for once was going astrayand playing into --'s hands, without clearly seeing what he was doing, and I be thought me of "salus Societatis suprema lex, " and made up mymind to stop the muddle we were getting into at all costs. I hope hewas not disgusted nor you either. X. Ought to have cut in, but he didnot seem inclined to do so. 

I am clearly convinced it was the right thing to do--anyhow. 

Ever yours, T. H. Huxley. 

[The chronicle of the year may fitly close with a letter from Ilkleyto Dr. Dohrn, apropos of his recommendation of a candidate for abiological professorship. The] "honest sixpence got by hard labour, "[refers to a tour in the Highlands which he had once taken with Dr. Dohrn, when, on a rough day, they were being rowed across Loch Levento Mary Stuart's castle. The boatman, unable to make headsingle-handed against the wind, asked them each to take an oar; butwhen they landed and Huxley tendered the fare, the honest fellow gavehim back two sixpences, saying, "I canna tak' it: you have wrocht ashard as I. " Each took a coin; and Huxley remarked that this was thefirst sixpence he had earned by manual labour. Dr. Dohrn, I believe, still carries his sixpence in memory of the occasion. ]

Wells House, Ilkley, Yorkshire, December 1, 1886. 

My dear Dohrn, You see by my address that I am en retraite, for a time. As goodcatholics withdraw from the world now and then for the sake of theirsouls--so I, for the sake of my body (and chiefly of my liver) haveretired for a fortnight or so to the Yorkshire moors--the nearestplace to London where I can find dry air 1500 feet above the sea, andthe sort of uphill exercise which routs out all the unoxygenatedcrannies of my organism. Hard frost has set in, and I had a walk overthe moorland which would have made all the blood of the Ost-seepirates--which I doubt not you have inherited--alive, and cleared offthe fumes of that detestable Capua to which you are condemned. Ishould like to have seen the nose of one of your Neapolitannobilissimes after half-an-hour's exposure to the north wind, clearand sharp as a razor, which very likely looked down on Loch Leven afew hours ago. 

Ah well! "fuimus"--I am amused at the difficulty you find in taking upthe position of a "grave and reverend senior"; because I can by nomeans accustom myself to the like dignity. In spite of my grey hairs"age hath not cooled the Douglas blood" altogether, and I have agratifying sense that (liver permitting) I am still capable of muchfolly. All this, however, has not much to do with poor Dr. -- to whom, I am sorry to say, your letter could do no good, as it arrived aftermy colleagues and I had settled the business. 

But there were a number of strong candidates who had not much chance. If it is open to me to serve him hereafter, however, your letter willbe of use to him, for I know you do not recommend men lightly. 

After some eighteen months of misery--the first thing that did me anygood was coming here. But I was completely set up by six or sevenweeks at Arolla in the Valais. The hotel was 6400 feet up, and thewife and daughters and I spent most of our time in scrambling aboutthe 2000 feet between that and the snow. Six months ago I had made upmy mind to be an invalid, but at Arolla I walked as well as I did whenyou and I made pilgrimages--and earned the only honest sixpence (I, atany rate) ever got for hard labour. Three months in London brought medown again, so I came here to be "mended. "

You know English literature so well that perhaps you have readWordsworth's "White Doe of Rylstone. " I am in that country, withinwalk of Bolton Abbey. 

Please remember me very kindly to the Signora--and thank her forcopying the letter in such a charmingly legible hand. I wish mine werelike it. 

If I am alive we shall go to Arolla next summer. Could we not meetthere? It is a fair half-way. 

Ever yours, T. H. Huxley.