1895 HIS LAST ILLNESS 423 



way, as it did before, I go to bed and stop there " the world 

 forgetting and by the world forgot " until I am killed or cured. 

 So you would not get your article. 



As it stands, it is not a bad gambit. We will play the rest 

 of the game afterwards, D.V. and K.V. 



Hope mother and baby are doing well. Ever yours, 



T. H. HUXLEY. 



HODESLEA, EASTBOURNE, 

 February 23, 1895, 12.30 P.M. 



MY DEAR KNOWLES I have just played and won as hard a 

 match against time as I ever knew in the days of my youth. 

 The proofs, happily, arrived by the first post, so I got to work at 

 them before 9, polished them off by 12, and put them into the 

 post (myself) by 12.5. So you ought to have them by 6 P.M. 

 And, to make your mind easy, I have just telegraphed to you to 

 say so. But, Lord's sake ! let some careful eye run over the 

 part of which I have had no revise for I am " capable de tout ' 

 in the way of overlooking errors. 



I am very glad you like the thing. The second instalment 

 shall be no worse. 



I grieve to say that my estimation of Balfour, as a thinker, 

 sinks lower and lower, the further I go. 



God help the people who think his book an important con- 

 tribution to thought ! The Gigadibsians who say so are past 

 divine assistance ! 



We are very glad to hear the grandchild and mother are 

 getting on so well. Ever yours very truly, 



T. H. HUXLEY. 



HODESLEA, EASTBOURNE, March 8, 1895. 



MY DEAR KNOWLES The proofs have just arrived, but I am 

 sorry to say that (I believe for the first time in our transactions) 

 I shall have to disappoint you. 



Just after I had sent off the MS. influenza came down upon 

 me with a swoop. I went to bed and am there still, with no 

 chance of quitting it in a hurry. My wife is in the same case ; 

 item one of the maids. The house is a hospital, and by great 

 good fortune we have a capital nurse. 



Doctors says it's a mild type.* in which case I wonder what 



* " But in the matter of aches and pains, restless paroxysms of 

 coughing and general incapacity, I can give it a high character for 

 efficiency." (To M. Foster, March 7.) 



