330 LIFE OF PROFESSOR HUXLEY CUAP. xill 



by no reasonable man ! — in the Sheldonian Theatre by 

 the Chancellor. . 



Of course there is not much left of me, and it will take 

 a fortnight's quiet at Eastbourne (whither we return on 

 Tuesday next) to get right. But it was a pleasant last 

 flare-up in the socket ! 



With our love to you both — Ever yours affectionately, 



T. H. HUXLET. 



HoDESLEA, Aug. 18, 1894. 



My dear Campbell — I am setting you a good 

 example. You and I are really too old friends to go 

 on wasting ink in honorary prefixes. 



I had a very difficult task at Oxford. The old Adam, 

 of course, prompted the tearing of the address to pieces, 

 which would have been a very easy job, especially the 

 latter half of it. But as that procedure would not have 

 harmonised well with the function of a seconder of a 

 vote of thanks, and as, moreover, Lord S. was very just 

 and good in his expressions about Darwin, I had to 

 convey criticism in the shape of praise. 



It was very curious to me to sit there and hear the 

 Chancellor of the University accept, as a matter of course, 

 the doctrines for which the Bishop of Oxford coarsely ana- 

 thematised us thirty -four years earlier. E pur si muove! 



I am not afraid of the priests in the long-run. 

 Scientific method is the white ant which will slowly 

 but surely destroy their fortifications. And the im- 

 portance of scientific method in modern practical life — 

 always growing and increasing — is the guarantee for the 

 gradual emancipation of the ignorant upper and lower 

 classes, the former of whom especially are the strength 

 of the priests. 



My wife had a very bad attack of her old enemy 

 some weeks ago, and she thought she would not be able 

 to go to Oxford. However, she picked up in the 

 wonderfully elastic way she has, and I believe was less 



