ALCOHOL AND BRAIN WORK 



247 



into the air of the Downs, either London, or bother, and still 

 more both combined, intimate respectfully but firmly, that my 

 margin is of the narrowest. — Ever yours, 



T. H. Huxley. 



The following is to his daughter in Paris. Of course it 

 was the Tuileries, not the Louvre, which was destroyed in 

 1871 :— 



I think you are quite right about French women. They are 

 like French dishes, uncommonly well cooked and sent up, but 

 what the dickens they are made of is a mystery. Not but what 

 all womankind are mysteries, but there are mysteries of godli- 

 ness and mysteries of iniquity. 



Have you been to see the sculptures in the Louvre? — dear 

 me, I forgot the Louvre's fate. I wonder where the sculpture 

 is? I used to think it the best thing in the way of art in Paris. 

 There was a youthful Bacchus who was the main support of 

 my thesis as to the greater beauty of the male figure ! 



Probably I had better conclude. 



To Mr. E. T. Collings (of Bolton) 



4 Marlborough Place, April 9, 1S89. 



Dear Sir — I understand that you ask me what I think about 

 " alcohol as a stimulant to the brain in mental work " ? 



Speaking for myself (and perhaps I may add for persons of 

 my temperament), I can say, without hesitation, that I would 

 just as soon take a dose of arsenic as I would of alcohol, under 

 such circumstances. Indeed on the whole, I should think the 

 arsenic safer, less likely to lead to physical and moral degrada- 

 tion. It would be better to die outright than to be alcoholised 

 before death. 



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. 



The circumstances of my life have led me to experience all 

 sorts of conditions in regard to alcohol, from total abstinence 

 to nearly the other end of the scale, and my clear conviction is 

 the less the better, though I by no means feel called upon to 

 forego the comforting and cheering effect of a little. 



But for no conceivable consideration would I use it to whip 

 up a tired or sluggish brain. Indeed, for me there is no working 



