6 LLFE OF PROFESSOR HUXLEY CHAP. I 



which we can make no pretension, and with every prospect 

 of soon possessing that cheap labour by which they may be 

 effectually utilised. Many circumstances tend to justify 

 the hope that we may hold our own if we are careful to 

 " organise victory." But to those who reflect seriously on 

 the prospects of the population of Lancashire and York- 

 shire — should the time ever arrive when the goods which 

 are produced by their labour and their skill are to be had 

 cheaper elsewhere— to those who remember the cotton 

 famine and reflect how much worse a customer famine 

 would be, the situation appears very grave. 



On February 19 and 22, he wrote again to the 

 Times declaring against the South Kensington site. 

 It was too far from the heart of commercial 

 organisation in the city, and the city people were 

 preparing to found a similar institution of their own. 

 He therefore wished to prevent the Imperial Institute 

 from becoming a weak and unworthy memorial of the 

 reign. 



A final letter to the Times on March 21, was 

 evoked by the fact that Lord Hartington, in giving 

 away the prizes at the Polytechnic Y.M.C.A., had 

 adopted Huxley's position as defined in his speech, 

 and declared that science ought to be aided on pre- 

 cisely the same grounds on which we aid the army 

 and navy. 



In this letter he asks, how do we stand prepared 

 for the task thus imperatively set us 1 We have the 

 machinery for providing instruction and information, 

 and for catching capable men, but both in a 

 disjointed condition — "all mere torsos — fine, but 



