1869 THE NAME 'AGNOSTIC' 461 



confraternity of antagonists, long since deceased, but of 

 green and pious memory, the Metaphysical Society. 

 Every variety of philosophical and theological opinion 

 was represented there, and expressed itself with entire 

 openness ; most of my colleagues were -ists of one sort or 

 another ; and, however kind and friendly they might be, 

 I, the man without a rag of a label to cover himself with, 

 could not fail to have some of the uneasy feelings which 

 must have beset the historical fox when, after leaving the 

 trap in which his tail remained, he presented himself to 

 his normally elongated companions. So I took thought, 

 and invented what I conceived to be the appropriate title 

 of " agnostic." It came into my head as suggestively anti- 

 thetic to the " gnostic " of Church history, who professed 

 to know so much about the very things of which I was 

 ignorant ; and I took the earliest opportunity of parading 

 it at our Society, to show that I, too, had a tail, like the 

 other foxes. To my great satisfaction, the term took ; and 

 when the Spectator had stood godfather to it, any sus- 

 picion in the minds of respectable people that a know- 

 ledge of its parentage might have awakened was, of course, 

 completely lulled. 



As for the dialectical powers he displayed in the 

 debates, it was generally acknowledged that in this, 

 as well as in the power of conducting a debate, he 

 shared the pre-eminence with W. G. Ward. Indeed, 

 a proposal was made that the perpetual presidency in 

 alternate years should be vested in these two; but 

 time and health forbade. 



His part in the debates is thus described in a letter 

 to me from Professor Henry Sidgwick : 



DEAR MK. HUXLEY I became a member of the Meta- 

 physical Society, I think, at its first meeting, in 1869 ; 



