iSgs HIS LAST ILLNESS 423 



way, as it did before, I go to bed and stop there — " the world 

 forgetting and by the world forgot " — until I am killed or cured. 

 So you would not get your article. 



As it stands, it is not a bad gambit. We will play the rest 

 of the game afterwards, D.V. and K.V. 



Hope mother and baby are doing well. — Ever yours, 



T. H. Huxley. 



Hodeslea, Eastbourne, 

 February 23, 1895, 12.30 P.M. 



My dear Knowles — I have just played and won as hard a 

 match against time as I ever knew in the days of my youth. 

 The proofs, happily, arrived by the first post, so I got to work at 

 them before 9, polished them off by 12, and put them into the 

 post (myself) by 12.5. So you ought to have them by 6 p.m. 

 And, to make your mind easy, I have just telegraphed to you to 

 say so. But, Lord's sake ! let some careful eye run over the 

 part of which I have had no revise — for I am " capable de tout " 

 in the way of overlooking errors. 



I am very glad you like the thing. The second instalment 

 shall be no worse. 



I grieve to say that my estimation of Balfour, as a thinker, 

 sinks lower and lower, the further I go. 



God help the people who think his book an important con- 

 tribution to thought ! The Gigadibsians who say so are past 

 divine assistance 1 



We are very glad to hear the grandchild and mother are 

 getting on so well. — Ever yours very truly, 



T. H. Huxley. 



Hodeslea, Eastbourne, March 8, 1895. 



My dear Knowles — The proofs have just arrived, but I am 

 sorry to say that (I believe for the first time in our transactions) 

 I shall have to disappoint you. 



Just after I had sent off the MS. influenza came down upon 

 me with a swoop. I went to bed and am there still, with no 

 chance of quitting it in a hurry. My wife is in the same case ; 

 item one of the maids. The house is a hospital, and by great 

 good fortune we have a capital nurse. 



Doctors says it's a mild type,* in which case I wonder what 



* "But in the matter of aches and pains, restless paroxysms of 

 coughing and general incapacity, I can give it a high character for 

 efficiency." (To M. Foster, March 7.) 



