38o 



LIFE OF PROFESSOR HUXLEY CHAP, xxi 



that contain praise, " stupid " those that show insensibility to 

 my merits ! 



Really I thought it very sensible, without regard to the plums 

 in the pudding. 



But the criticism, t( sensible" not merely in the humor- 

 ous sense, which he most fully appreciated was that of 

 Professor Seth, in a lecture entitled ' Man and Nature." 

 He wrote to him on October 27 : 



DEAR PROFESSOR SETH A report of your lecture on " Man 

 and Nature '' has just reached me. Accept my cordial thanks 

 for defending me, and still more for understanding me. 



I really have been unable to understand what my critics have 

 been dreaming of when they raise the objection that the ethical 

 process being part of the cosmic process cannot be opposed to it. 



They might as well say that artifice does not oppose nature, 

 because it is a part of nature in the broadest sense. 



However, it is one of the conditions of the " Romanes Lec- 

 ture " that no allusion shall be made to religion or politics. I 

 had to make my omelette without breaking any of those eggs, 

 and the task was not easy. 



The prince of scientific expositors, Faraday, was once asked, 

 " How much may a popular lecturer suppose his audience 

 knows ? ' : He replied emphatically, "Nothing" Mine was not 

 exactly a popular audience, but I ought not to have forgotten 

 Faraday's rule. Yours very faithfully, 



T. H. HUXLEY. 



A letter of congratulation to Lord Farrer on his eleva- 

 tion to the peerage contains an ironical reference to the 

 general tone of the criticisms on his lecture : 



HODESLEA, June 5, 1893. 



Ci DEVANT CITOYEN PETioN (autrefois le vertueux)- -You 

 have lost all chance of leading the forces of the County Council 

 to the attack of the Horse-Guards. 



You will become an emigre, and John Burns will have to 

 content himself with the heads of the likes of me. As the 

 Jacobins said of Lavoisier, the Republic has no need of men of 

 science. 



But this prospect need not interfere with sending our hearty 

 congratulations to Lady Farrer and yourself. 



