1886 THE 'GENESIS' CONTROVERSY 427 



shot But, on personal grounds, the perusal of it sent 

 me blaspheming about the house with the first healthy 

 expression of wrath known for a couple of years to my 

 wife's great alarm and I should have " busted up " if I 

 had not given vent to my indignation ; and secondly, 

 all orthodoxy was gloating over the slap in the face 

 which the G.O.M. had administered to science in the 

 person of Re'ville. 



The ignorance of the so-called educated classes in this 

 country is stupendous, and in the hands of people like 

 Gladstone it is a political force. Since I became an 

 official of the Royal Society, good taste seemed to me to 

 dictate silence about matters on which there is "great 

 division among us." But now I have recovered my 

 freedom, and I am greatly minded to begin stirring the 

 fire afresh. 



Within the last month I have picked up wonderfully. 

 If dear old Darwin were alive he would say it is because 

 I have had a fight, but in truth the fight is consequence 

 and not cause. I am infinitely relieved by getting rid 

 of the eternal strain of the past thirty years, and hope 

 to get some good work done yet before I die, so make 

 ready for the part of the judicious bottle-holder which 

 I have always found you. Ever yours very faithfully, 



T. H. HUXLEY. 



4 MARLBOROUGH PLACE, 

 Jan. 13, 1886. 



MY DEAR FAKRER My contribution to the next 

 round was finished and sent to Knowles a week ago. I 

 confess it to have been a work of supererogation ; but 

 the extreme shiftiness of my antagonist provoked me, 

 and I was tempted to pin him and dissect him as an 

 anatomico-psychological exercise. May it be accounted 

 unto me for righteousness, though I laughed so much 

 over the operation that I deserve no credit 



I think your notion is a very good one, and I am not 



