358 



LIFE OF PROFESSOR HUXLEY CHAP, xx 



ministration to be as you state them, it is my opinion that a 

 small residuum will be left undigested, and will be voided by the 

 intestine, while by far the greater part will be absorbed and 

 eventually " voided " by the lungs, skin, and kidneys. 



If anyone asserts that the wafer and wine are voided by the 

 intestine as such, that the " pure flour and water " of which the 

 wafer consists pass out unchanged, I am of opinion he is in error. 



On the other hand, if anyone maintains that the material 

 substance of the wafer persists, while its accidents change, within 

 the body, and that this identical substance is sooner or later 

 voided, I do not see how he is to be driven out of that position 

 by any scientific reasoning. On the contrary, there is every 

 reason to believe that the elementary particles of the wafer and 

 of the wine which enter the body never lose their identity, or 

 even alter their mass. If one could see one of the atoms of 

 carbon which enter into the composition of the wafer, I con- 

 ceive it could be followed the whole way from the mouth to 

 the organ by which it escapes just as a bit of floating char- 

 coal might be followed into, through, and out of a whirlpool. 



On October 6, 1892, died Lord Tennyson. In the course 

 of his busy life, Huxley had not been thrown very closely 

 into contact with him ; they would meet at the Metaphysical 

 Society, of which Tennyson was a silent member; and in 

 the Life of Tennyson two occasions are recorded on which 

 Huxley visited him : 



Nov. n, 1871. Mr. Huxley and Mr. Knowles arrived here 

 (Aldworth) on a visit. Mr. Huxley was charming. We had 

 much talk. He was chivalrous, wide, and earnest, so that one 

 could not but enjoy talking with him. There was a discussion 

 on George Eliot's humility. Huxley and A. both thought her a 

 humble woman, despite a dogmatic manner of assertion that had 

 come upon her latterly in her writings. (Op. cit. ii. no.) 



March 17, 1873. Professor Tyndall and Mr. Huxley called. 

 Mr. Huxley seemed to be universal in his interest, and to have 

 keen enjoyment of life. He spoke oiln Memoriam. (Ibid.ii. I43-) 



With this may be compared one of Mr. Wilfrid Ward's 

 reminiscences (Nineteenth Century, August 1896). 



" Huxley once spoke strongly of the insight into scien- 

 tific method shown in Tennyson's In Memoriam, and pro- 

 nounced it to be quite equal to that of the greatest experts." 



