310 LIFE OF PROFESSOR HUXLEY chap, xvn 



ments bearing upon the Darwinian theory could be carried 

 out. After congratulating Professor Romanes upon his re- 

 cent election to the Athenaeum Club, he proceeds : — 



In a review of Darwin's Origin published in the JVestminstcr 

 for i860 (Lay Sermons, pp. 323-24), you will see that I insisted 

 on the logical incompleteness of the theory so long as it was not 

 backed by experimental proof that the cause assumed was com- 

 petent to produce all the effects required. See also Lectures to 

 Working Men, 1863, pp. 146, 147.) In fact, Darwin used to 

 reproach me sometimes for my pertinacious insistence on the 

 need of experimental verification. 



But I hope you are going to choose some other title than 

 " Institut transformiste," which implies that the Institute is 

 pledged to a foregone conclusion, that it is a workshop devoted 

 to the production of a particular kind of article. Moreover, I 

 should say that as a matter of prudence, you had better keep 

 clear of the word " experimental." Would not " Biological Ob- 

 servatory " serve the turn? Of course it does not exclude ex- 

 periment any more than " Astronomical Observatory " excludes 

 spectrum analysis. 



Please think over this. My objection to " Transformist " is 

 very strong. 



In August his youngest daughter wrote to him to find 

 out the nature of various " objects of the sea-shore " which 

 she had found on the beach in South Wales. His answers 

 make one wish that there had been more questions. 



Hodeslea, Eastbourne, Aug. 14, 1891. 

 Dearest Babs— i. " Ornary " or not " ornary " B is merely 

 A turned upside down and viewed with the imperfect apprecia- 

 tion of the mere artistic eye ! 



2. Your little yellow things are, I expect, egg-cases of dog 

 whelks. You will find a lot of small eggs inside them, one or 

 two of which grow faster than the rest, and eat up their weaker 

 brothers and sisters. 



The dog whelk is common on the shores. If you look for 

 something like this [sketch of a terrier coming out of a whelk 

 shell], you will be sure to recognise it. 



3. Starfish are not born in their proper shape and don't 

 come from your whitish yellow lumps. The thing that comes 

 out of a starfish egg is something like this [sketch], and swims 



