i870 LETTER TO DR. DOHRN 361 



Scientific Uses of the Imagination."] I was nervous over the 

 passage about the clergy, but those confounded parsons seem to 

 me to let you say anything while they bully me for a word or a 

 phrase. It's the old story, " one man may steal a horse while 

 the other may not look over the wall." 



Tyndall was not to be outdone, and replied :— 



The parsons know very well that I mean kindness ; if I cor- 

 rect them I do it in love and not in wrath. 



One more extract from a letter to Dr. Dohrn, under 

 date of November 17. The first part is taken up with a 

 long and detailed description of the best English micro- 

 scopes and their price, for Dr. Dohrn wished to get one ; 

 and my father volunteered to procure it for him. The rest 

 of the letter has a more general interest as giving his views 

 on the great struggle between France and Germany then 

 in progress, his di strust of militarism , and above all, his 

 hatred of lying, political as much as any other : — 



This wretched war is doing infinite mischief, but I do not see 

 what Germany can do now but carry it out to the end. 



I began to have some sympathy with the French after Sedan, 

 but the Republic lies harder than the Empire did, and the whole 

 country seems to me to be rotten to the core. The only figure 

 which stands out with anything like nobility or dignity, on the 

 French side, is that of the Empress, and she is only a second- 

 rate Marie-Antoinette. There is no Roland, no Corday, and 

 apparently no man of any description. 



The Russian row is beginning, and the rottenness of English 

 administration will soon, I suppose, have an opportunity of 

 displaying itself. Bad days are, I am afraid, in store for all of 

 us, and the worst for Germany if it once becomes thoroughly 

 bitten by the military mad dog. 



The " happy family " is flourishing and was afflicted, even 

 over its breakfast, when I gave out the news that you had 

 been ill. 



The wife desires her best remembrances, and we all hope 

 you are better. 



The high pressure under which Huxley worked, and 

 his abundant output, continued undiminished through the 

 autumn and winter. Indeed, he was so busy that he post- 



