274 LIFE OF PROFESSOR HUXLEY CHAP. XI 



mankind not excluded from such a view of Judaism 

 and Jesus of Nazareth as that which at last you have 

 given us. 



I cannot doubt that your work will have a great 

 success not only in the grosser, but the better sense of the 

 word. I am yours very faithfully, T. H. HUXLEY. 



The winter of 1879-80 was memorable for its pro- 

 longed spell of cold weather. One result of this may 

 be traced in a New Year's letter from Huxley to his 

 eldest daughter. "I have had a capital holiday 

 mostly in bed but I don't feel so grateful for it as 

 I might do." To be forced to avoid the many inter- 

 ruptions and distractions of his life in London, which 

 claimed the greater part of his time, he would regard 

 as an unmixed blessing; as he once said feelingly 

 to Professor Marsh, " If I could only break my leg, 

 what a lot of scientific work I could do ! " But he 

 was less grateful for having entire inaction forced 

 upon him. 



However, he was soon about again, and wrote as 

 follows in answer to a letter from Sir Thomas (after- 

 wards Lord) Farrer, which called his attention, as 

 an old Fishery Commissioner, to a recent report on 

 the sea-fisheries. 



4 MARLBOEOUGH PLACE, 

 Jan. 9, 1880. 



MY DEAR FARRER I shall be delighted to take a 

 dive into the unfathomable depths of official folly ; but 

 your promised document has not reached ma 



Your astonishment at the tenacity of life of fallacies, 

 permit me to say, is shockingly unphysiological. They, 



