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LIFE OF PROFESSOR HUXLEY chap, xxii 



would have been a very easy job, especially the latter half of 

 it. But as that procedure would not have harmonised well with 

 the function of a seconder of a vote of thanks, and as, moreover, 

 Lord S. was very just and good in his expressions about Dar- 

 win, I had to convey criticism in the shape of praise. 



It was very curious to me to sit there and hear the Chancellor 

 of the University accept, as a matter of course, the doctrines 

 for which the Bishop of Oxford coarsely anathematised us 

 thirty- four years earlier. E pur si ntuove ! 



I am not afraid of the priests in the long-run. Scientific 

 method is the white ant which will slowly but surely destroy 

 their fortifications. And the importance of scientific method in 

 modern practical life — always growing and increasing — is the 

 guarantee for the gradual emancipation of the ignorant upper 

 and lower classes, the former of whom especially are the strength 

 of the priests. 



My wife had a very bad attack of her old enemy some weeks 

 ago, and she thought she would not be able to go to Oxford. 

 However, she picked up in the wonderful elastic way she has, 

 and I believe was less done-up than I when we left on the 

 Friday morning. I was glad the wife was there, as the meeting 

 gave me a very kind reception, and it was probably the last flare- 

 up in the socket. 



The Warden of Merton took great care of us, but it was sad 

 to think of the vacuity of Balliol. 



Please remember me very kindly to Father Steffens and the 

 Steeles, and will you tell Herr Walther we are only waiting for 

 a balloon to visit the hotel again ? 



With our affectionate regards to Mrs. Campbell and yourself 

 —Ever yours very faithfully, T. H. Huxley. 



Here also belong several letters of miscellaneous interest. 

 One is to Mrs. Lewis Campbell at the Maloja : — 



HODESLEA, Aug. 20, 1894. 



My dear Mrs. Campbell — What a pity I am not a telepath ! 

 I might have answered your inquiry in the letter I was writing 

 to your husband yesterday. 



The flower I found on the island in Sils Lake was a cross 

 between Gentiana lutea and Gentiana punctata — nothing new, 

 but interesting in many ways as a natural hybrid. 



As to baptising the island, I am not guilty of usurping 

 ecclesiastical functions to that extent. I have a notion that the 



