CHAPTER XVIII 

 1892 



The revival of part of the former controversy which he 

 had had with Mr. Gladstone upon the story of creation, 

 made a warlike beginning of an otherwise very peaceful 

 year. Since the middle of December a great correspond- 

 ence had been going on in the Times, consequent upon the 

 famous manifesto of the thirty-eight Anglican clergy touch- 

 ing the question of inspiration and the infallibility of the 

 Bible. Criticism, whether " higher " or otherwise, defended 

 on the one side, was unsparingly denounced on the other. 

 After about a month of this correspondence, Huxley's name 

 was mentioned as one of these critics ; whereupon he was 

 attacked by one of the disputants for " misleading the pub- 

 lic " by his assertion in the original controversy that while 

 reptiles appear in the geological record before birds, Gene- 

 sis affirms the contrary ; the critic declaring that the word 

 for " creeping things " (rehmes) created on the sixth day, 

 does not refer to reptiles, which are covered by the " mov- 

 ing creatures " (shehretz) used of the first appearance of 

 animal life. 



It is interesting to see how, in his reply, Huxley took 

 care to keep the main points at issue separate from the 

 subordinate and unimportant ones. His answer is broken 

 up into four letters. The first (Times, January 26) rehearses 

 the original issue between himself and Mr. Gladstone ; 

 wherein both sides agreed that the creation of the sixth day 

 included reptiles, so that, formally at least, his position was 

 secure, though there was also a broader ground of differ- 

 ence to be considered. Before proceeding further, he asks 

 314 



