462 LIFE OF PROFESSOR HUXLEY CHAP. XIX 



with the teeth. I feel very well with mine (which are 

 paid for) but they are surely not sensible ? Old Tomes 

 once published the opinion that the contents of the 

 dentine tubules were sensory nerves, on the ground of 

 our feeling so distinctly through our teeth. He forgot 

 the blind man's stick. Indeed the reference of sensation 

 to the end, of a stick is one of the most interesting of 

 psychological facts. 



It is extraordinary how those dogs of examinees return 

 to their vomit. Almost all the obstinate fictions you 

 mention are of a quarter of a century date. Only then 

 they were dominant and epidemic now they are sporadic. 



I wish Pasteur or somebody would find some microbe 

 with which the rising generation could be protected 

 against them. 



We shall have to re-arrange the Examination business 

 this partner having made his fortune and retiring from 

 firm. Think over what is to be done. Ever yours, 



T. H. H. 



You don't happen to grow gentians in your Alpine 

 region, do you ? 



Of his formal responsibility for the examinations 

 he had written earlier in the year : 



WELLS HOUSE, ILKLEY, 

 June 15, 1886. 



MY DEAR DONNELLY I think it is just as well that 

 you could not lay your hands on ink, for if you had you 

 would only have blacked them. (N.B. This is a goak.) 



You know we resolved that it was as well that I 

 should go on as Examiner (unpaid) this year. But I 

 rather repent me of it for although I could be of use 

 over the questions, I have had nothing to do with 

 checking the results of the Examination except in 

 honours, and I suspect that Foster's young Cambridge 

 allies tend always to screw the standard up. 



