146 LIFE OF PROFESSOR HUXLEY cHAP. VI 



been discussing liave merely an academic interest, let me 

 suggest once more that a century ago Robespierre and St. 

 Just proved that the way of answering them may have 

 extremely practical consequences. 



Without pretending to offer any offhand solution 

 for so vast a problem, he suggests two points in con- 

 clusion. One, that in considering the matter we 

 should proceed from the known to the unknown, and 

 take warning from the results of either extreme in self- 

 government or the government of a family ; the other, 

 that the central point is "the fact that the natural 

 order of things — the order, that is to say, as un- 

 modified by human effort — does not tend to bring 

 about what we understand as welfare." The popula- 

 tion question has first to be faced. 



The following letters cover the period up to the 

 trip to the Canaries, already alluded to : — 



3 Jevington Gardens, Eastbourne, 

 Jan. 6, 1890. 



My dear Foster — That capital pliotogi-aph reached 

 me just as we were going up to town (invited for the 

 holidays by our parents), and I j)ut it in my bag to 

 remind me to write to you. Need I say that I brought 

 it back again without haviug had the gi'ace to send a line 

 of thanks ? By Avay of making my peace, I have told 

 the Fine Art Society to send you a copy of the engraving 

 of my sweet self. I have not had it framed — firstly, 

 because it is a hideous nuisance to be obliged to hang a 

 frame one may not like ; and secondly, because by possi- 

 bility you might like some other portrait better, in which 

 case, if you will tell me, I will send that other. I should 

 like you to have something by way of reminder of T. H. H. 



