1890 DR. ABBOTT ON ILLUSIONS 165 



education ought to include, and a correspondent 

 wrote to ask him, among other things, whether he 

 did not think the higher mathematics ought to be 

 included. He replied : — 



Geand Hotel, Eastbourne, 

 Aug. 16, 1890. 



I think mathematical training highly desirable, but 

 advanced mathematics, I am afraid, would be too great 

 a burden in proportion to its utility, to the ordinary 

 student. 



I fully agree with you that the incapacity of teachers 

 is the weak point in the London schools. But what is 

 to be expected when a man accepts a lectureship in a 

 medical school simply as a grappling-u"on by -which he 

 may hold on until he gets a hospital appointment ? 



Medical education in London will never be what it 

 ought to be, until the " Institutes of Medicine," as the 

 Scotch call them, are taught in only two or three well- 

 found institutions — while the hospital schools are confined 

 to the teaching of practical medicine, surgery, obstetrics, 

 and so on. 



The following letters illustrate Huxley's keenness 

 to correct any misrepresentation of his opinions from 

 a weighty source, and the way in which, without 

 abating his just claims, he could make the peace 

 gracefully. 



In October Dr. Abbott delivered an address on 

 " Illusions," in which, without, of course, mentioning 

 names, he drew an unmistakable picture of Huxley as 

 a thorough pessimist. A very brief report appeared 

 in the Times of October 9, together with a leading 

 article upon the subject. Huxley thereupon wrote 



