1889 POSITIVISM 117 



empty all Harrison's vials of wrath I shall be astonished ! 

 But of all the sickening humbugs in the world, the sham 

 pietism of the Positivists is to me the most oifensive. 



I have long been wanting to say my say about these 

 questions, but my hands were too full. This time last 

 year I was so ill that I thought to myself, with Hamlet, 

 " the rest is silence." But my wiry constitution has 

 unexpectedly weathered the storm, and I have every 

 reason to believe that with renunciation of the devil 

 and all his works {i.e. public speaking, dining and being 

 dined, etc.) my faculties may be unimpaired for a good 

 spell yet. And whether my lease is long or short, I 

 mean to devote them to the work I began in the paper 

 on the Evolution of Theology. 



You will see in the next Nineteenth a paper on the 

 Evidence of Miracles, which I think will be to your 

 mind. 



Mutton is beginning to drivel.^ There really is no 

 other word for it. — Ever yours very faithfully, 



T. H. Huxley. 



To THE Same 



4 Marlbobough Place, 

 April 15, 1889. 



My dear Mr. Clodd — The adventurous Mr. C. 

 wrote to me some time ago. I expressed my regret that 

 I could do nothing for the evolution of tent-pegs. What 

 wonderful people there are in the world ! 



Many thanks for calling my attention to " Antiqua 

 Mater." I wiU look it up. I have such a rooted 



^ This refers to an article in the Spectator on ' ' Professor 

 Huxley and Agnosticism," Feb. 9, 1889, which suggests, with 

 regard to demoniac possession, that the old doctrine of one spirit 

 driving out another is as good as any new explanation, and 

 fortifies this conclusion by a reference to the phenomena of 

 hypnotism. 



