228 LIFE OF PROFESSOR HUXLEY chap, xvi 



societies was already being mooted, and a letter to Sir C. 

 Lyell gives his ideas thus early not only on this point, but 

 on the general question of women's education. 



March 17, i860. 



My dear Sir Charles — To use the only forcible expression, 

 I " twig " your meaning perfectly, but I venture to think the 

 parable does not apply. For the Geological Society is not, to my 

 mind, a place of education for students, but a place of discussion 

 for adepts ; and the more it is applied to the former purpose the 

 less competent it must become to fulfil the latter — its primary 

 and most important object. 



I am far from wishing to place any obstacle in the way of 

 the intellectual advancement and development of women. On 

 the contrary, I don't see how we are to make any permanent 

 advancement while one-half of the race is sunk, as nine-tenths 

 of women are, in mere ignorant parsonese superstitions ; and to 

 show you that my ideas are practical I have fully made up my 

 mind, if I can carry out my own plans, to give my daughters 

 the same training in physical science as their brother will get, 

 so long as he is a boy. They, at any rate, shall not be got up 

 as man-traps for the matrimonial market. If other people would 

 do the like the next generation would see women fit to be the 

 companions of men in all their pursuits — though I don't think 

 that men have anything to fear from their competition. But 

 you know as well as I do that other people won't do the like, 

 and five-sixths of women will stop in the doll stage of evolution 

 to be the stronghold of parsondom, the drag on civiHsation, the 

 degradation of every important pursuit with which they mix 

 themselves—" intrigues " in politics, and " friponnes " in science. 



If my claws and beak are good for anything they shall be 

 kept from hindering the progress of any science I have to do 

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



Three letters to Mr. Spencer show that he had been 

 reading and criticising the proofs of the First Principles. 

 With regard to the second letter, which gives reasons for 

 rejecting Mr. Spencer's remarks about the power of infla- 

 tion in birds during flight, it is curious to note Mr. Spencer's 

 reply: — 



How oddly the antagonism comes out even when you are not 

 conscious of it ! My authority was Owen ! I heard him assign 



