308 LIFE OF PROFESSOR HUXLEY chap, xvh 



that you are physiologically omniscient, so don't belie the char- 

 acter ! 



This year a number of Huxley's essays were translated 

 into French. Nature for July 23, 1891 (vol. xliv, p. 272), 

 notes the publication of " Les Sciences Naturelles et l'Edu- 

 cation," with a short preface by himself, dwelling upon the 

 astonishing advance which had been made in the recogni- 

 tion of science as an instrument of education, but warning 

 the younger generation that the battle is only half won, and 

 bidding them beware of relaxing their efforts before the 

 place of science is entirely assured. In the issue for Decem- 

 ber 31 (Nature, 46, 397), is a notice of " La Place de 

 I'Homme dans la Nature," a re-issue of a translation of 

 more than twenty years before, together with three ethno- 

 logical essays, newly translated by M. H. de Varigny, to 

 whom the following letters are addressed. 



To H. de Varigny 



May 17, 1891. 



I am writing to my publishers to send you Lay Sermons, 

 Critiques, Science and Culture, and American Addresses, pray 

 accept them in expression of my thanks for the pains you are 

 taking about the translation. Man's Place in Nature has been 

 out of print for years, so I cannot supply it. 



I am quite conscious that the condensed and idiomatic Eng- 

 lish into which' I always try to put my thoughts must present 

 many difficulties to a translator. But a friend of mine who is a 

 much better French scholar than I am, and who looked over two 

 or three of the essays, told me he thought you had been remark- 

 ably successful. 



The fact is that I have a great love and respect for my native 

 tongue, and take great pains to use it properly. Sometimes I 

 write essays half-a-dozen times before I can get them into the 

 proper shape ; and I believe I become more fastidious as I grow 

 older. 



November 25, 1891. 



I am very glad you have found your task pleasant, for I am 

 afraid it must have cost you a good deal of trouble to put my 

 ideas into the excellent French dress with which you have pro- 

 vided them. It fits so well that I feel almost as if I might be 

 a candidate for a seat among the immortal forty ! 



