1883 LETTER TO MORLEY 351 



dinner and everything connected with it at the bottom of 

 the sea, if you are as much disgusted with me as you have 

 a perfect right to be. Ever yours faithfully, 



T. H. HUXLEY. 



The following refers to the Tyneside Sunday 

 Lecture Society at Newcastle, which had invited 

 him to become one of its vice-presidents : 



4 MARLBOROUGH PLACE, N.W., 

 Dec. 30, 1883. 



MY DEAR MORLEY The Newcastle people wrote to me 

 some time ago telling me that Sir W. Armstrong was 

 going to be their President. 1 Armstrong is an old friend 

 of mine, so I wrote to him to make inquiries. He told me 

 that he was not going to be President, and knew nothing 

 about the people who were getting up the Society. So I 

 declined to have anything to do with it. 



However, the case is altered now that you are in the 

 swim. You have no gods to swear by, unfortunately ; 

 but if you will affirm, in the name of X, that under no 

 circumstances shall I be called upon to do anything, they 

 may have my name among the V.-P.'s and much good may 

 it do them. 



All our good wishes to you and yours. The great 

 thing one has to wish for as time goes on is vigour as long 

 as one lives, and death as soon as vigour flags. 



It is a curious thing that I find my dislike to the 

 thought of extinction increasing as I get older and nearer 

 the goal. 



It flashes across me at all sorts of times with a sort of 

 horror that in 1900 I shall probably know no more of 



1 The actual words of the Secretary were "We have asked Sir 

 W. Armstrong to be President," and Huxley was mistaken in 

 supposing this intimation to imply that, as generally happens in 

 such cases, Sir William had previously intimated his willingness to 

 accept the position if formally asked. 



