LIFE OF PROFESSOR HUXLEY CHAP, in 



THE ROOKERY, LYNTON, Sept. 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 it until my return last night. 



I am extremely sorry to hear of the possibility of Martin's 

 giving up his post. He took so much interest in the work and 

 was so very pleasant to deal with, that I do not think we shall 

 easily find any one to replace him. 



If you will find another R.E. at all like him, in Heaven's 

 name catch him and put him in, job or no job. 



The objection to a small clerk is that we want somebody 

 who knows how to deal with men, and especially young men on 

 the one hand, and especially cantankerous (more or less) old 

 scientific buffers on the other. 



The objection to a man of science is that (i) we want a man 

 of business and not a m.s., and (2) that no man scientifically 

 worth having 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 the pleasure even of trying to convert you. 



With our united kindest regards Ever yours very faith- 

 fully, 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 ; the other, 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 

 abhorred exaggeration and inexact talk, and would ruth- 

 lessly prick the airy bubbles which endued the conversation 

 of the daughters of the house with more buoyancy than 

 strict logic, a gift which, he averred, was denied to woman. 



4 MARLBOROUGH PLACE, Jan. 25, 1882. 



MY DEAR SPENCER Best thanks for the photograph. It is 

 very good, though there is just a touch of severity in the eye. 

 We shall hang it up in the dining-room, and if anybody is guilty 

 of exaggerated expressions or bad logic (five womenkind habit- 

 ually sit round that table), I trust they will feel that that eye 

 is upon them. Ever yours very faithfully, 



T. H. HUXLEY. 



