DICTA HUXLEYANIA 71 



in their readiness to fall into error, but in their readi- 

 ness to acknowledge these inevitable lapses." 



Atheism. — " To my mind, atheism is, on purely 

 philosophical gromids, untenable. That there is no 

 evidence of the existence of such a being as the God 

 of the theologians is true enough ; but strictly 

 scientific reasoning can take us no further. Where 

 we know nothing we can neither affirm nor deny 

 with propriety." 



Home Rule. — " If anybody will show me a way 

 by which the Irish may attain all they want without 

 playing the devil with us, I am ready to give them 

 their own talking-shop or anytlang else." 



Stimulants and Brain Work. — " If a man cannot 

 do brain work without stimulants of any kind, he 

 had better turn to hand work — it is an indication 

 on Nature's part that she did not mean him to be 

 a head worker." 



Orthodoxy. — " I desire that the next generation 

 may be less fettered by the gross and stupid super- 

 stitions of orthodoxy than mine has been. And I 

 shall be well satisfied if I can succeed to however 

 small an extent in bringing about that result." 



Rational Beliefs. — '" It is not to be forgotten that 

 what we call rational grounds for our beUefs are 

 often extremely uTational attempts to justify om* 

 instincts." 



Absolute Certainty. — " Only one absolute certainty 

 is possible to man — namely, that at any given 

 moment the feeling which he has exists." 



The Permanent Satisfaction. — " There is nothing 

 of permanent value (putting aside a few human 

 affections), nothing that satisfies quiet reflection — : 

 except the sense of having worked according to one's 



