416 LIFE OF PROFESSOR HUXLEY CHAP, xxn 



HODESLEA, Jan. 26, 1895. 



MY DEAR FARRER Miserable me ! Having addressed myself 

 to clear off a heap of letters that have been accumulating, I find 

 I have not answered an enquiry of yours of nearly a month's 

 standing. I am sorry to say that I cannot tell you of any book 

 (readable or otherwise) that will convert my " pemmican " into 

 decent broth for you. 



There are histories of zoology and of philosophical anatomy, 

 but they all of them seem to me to miss the point (which you 

 have picked out of the pemmican). Indeed, that is just why 

 I took such a lot of pains over these 50 or 60 pages. And I am 

 immensely tickled by the fact that among all the critical notices 

 I have seen, not a soul sees what I have been driving at as you 

 have done. I really wish you would write a notice of it, just to 

 show these Gigadibses (vide Right Rev. Bloughram) what blind 

 buzzards they are ! 



Enter a maid. ' Please sir, Mrs. Huxley says she would be 

 glad if you would go out in the sun." " All right, Allen." Anec- 

 dote for your next essay on Government ! 



The fact is, I have been knocked up ever since Tuesday, 

 when our University Deputation came off; and my good wife 

 (who is laid up herself) suspects me (not without reason) of 

 failing to take advantage of a gleam of sunshine. 



By the way, can you help us over the University business ? 

 Lord Rosebery is favourable, and there is absolutely nobody on 

 the other side except sundry Philistines, who, having got their 

 degrees, are desirous of inflating their market value. Yours 

 very truly, T. H. HUXLEY. 



The next is in answer to an appeal for a subscription, 

 from the Church Army. 



Jan. 26, 1895. 



I regret that I am unable to contribute to the funds of the 

 Church Army. 



I hold it to be my duty to do what I can for the cases of 

 distress of which I have direct knowledge ; and I am glad to be 

 able now and then to give timely aid to the industrious and 

 worthy people with whom, as a householder, I am brought into 

 personal relation ; and who are so often engaged in a noiseless 

 and unpitied but earnest struggle to do well. 



years. But it is ' Pemmican ' to an aged and enfeebled digestion. Is 

 there such a thing as a diluted solution of it in the shape of any read- 

 able book?" 



