266 LIFE OF PROFESSOR HUXLEY cHAP. XI 



HoDERLEA, Eastbourne, 

 Nov. 24, 1892. 



My dear Donnelly- — It is obvious that you have 

 somebody in the Department who is an adept in the 

 imitation of handwriting. 



As there is no way of proving a negative, and I am 

 too loyal to raise a scandal, I will just father the scrawl. 



Positively, I had forgotten all about the business. I 

 suppose because I did not hear who was appointed. It 

 would be a good argument for turning people out of ofi&ce 

 after 65 ! But I have always had rather too much of the 

 lawyer faculty of forgetting things when they are done 

 with. 



It was very joUy to have you here, and on principles 

 of Christian benevolence you must not be so long in 

 coming again. — Ever yours, T. H. Huxley. 



I do not remember being guilty of paying postage — 

 but that doesn't count for much. 



The following is an answer to one of the unexpected 

 inquiries which would arrive from all quarters. A 

 member of one of the religious orders working in the 

 Church of England wrote for an authoritative state- 

 ment on the following point, suggested by passages 

 in section 5 of Chapter I. of the Elementary 

 Physiology : — When the Blessed Sacrament, con- 

 sisting, temporally and mundanely speaking, of a 

 wheaten wafer and some wine, is received after about 

 seven hours' fast, is it or is it not " voided like other 

 meats " 1 In other words, does it not become 

 completely absorbed for the sustenance of the body 1 



Huxley's help in this physiological question — and 



