244 



LIFE OF PROFESSOR HUXLEY CHAP, xiv 



history that they are so what has the success of Christianity to 

 do with the truth or falsehood of the story of Jesus ? I am, 

 yours very faithfully, T. H. HUXLEY. 



The following letter was written in reply to one from 

 Mr. Clodd on the first of the articles in this controversy. 

 This article, it must be remembered, not only replied to 

 Dr. Wace's attack, but at the same time bantered Mr. 

 Frederic Harrison's pretensions on behalf of Positivism at 

 the expense alike of Christianity and Agnosticism. 



3 JEVINGTON GARDENS, EASTBOURNE 

 Feb. 19, 1889. 



MY DEAR MR. CLODD I am very much obliged to you for 

 your cheery and appreciative letter. If I do not empty all Har- 

 rison's vials of wrath I shall be astonished ! But of all the 

 sickening humbugs in the world, the sham pietism of the Posi- 

 tivists is to me the most offensive. 



I have long been wanting to say my say about these ques- 

 tions, but my hands were too full. This time last year I was 

 so ill that I thought to myself, with Hamlet, " the rest is silence." 

 But my wiry constitution has unexpectedly weathered the storm, 

 and I have every reason to believe that with renunciation of the 

 devil and all his works (i.e. public speaking, dining and being 

 dined, etc.) my faculties may be unimpaired for a good spell yet. 

 And whether my lease is long or short, I mean to devote them 

 to the work I began in the paper on the Evolution of Theology. 



You will see in the next Nineteenth a paper on the Evidence 

 of Miracles, which I think will be to your mind. 



Hutton is beginning to drivel.* There really is no other 

 word for it. Ever yours very faithfully, 



T. H. HUXLEY. 



To THE SAME 



4 MARLBOROUGH PLACE, April 15, 1889. 



MY DEAR MR. CLODD The adventurous Mr. C. wrote to me 

 some time ago. I expressed my regret that I could do nothing 



* This refers to an article in the Spectator on " Professor Huxley 

 and Agnosticism," Feb. 9, 1889, which suggests, with regard to 

 demoniac possession, that the old doctrine of one spirit driving out 

 another is as good as any new explanation, and fortifies this conclu- 

 sion by a reference to the phenomena of hypnotism. 



