DARKEST ENGLAND SCHEME 221 



bilities" (Agnostic Annual, 1892, published October 1891. 

 Coll. Essays, v, p. 192), deals with the agnostic attitude 

 in regard to miracles, of which the one relating to the 

 Gadarene Swine had been the subject of so much con- 

 troversy : — 



" Let us be content with rational certainty, leaving irrational 

 certainties to those who like to muddle their beads with them. 

 I cannot see my way to say that demons are impossibilities ; 

 but I am not more certain about anything than I am that the 

 evidence tendered in favour of the demonology, of which the 

 Gadarene story is a typical example, is utterly valueless. I can- 

 not see my way to say that it is ' impossible ' that the hunger of 

 thousands of men should be satisfied out of the food supplied by 

 half-a-dozen loaves and a fish or two ; but it seems to me 

 monstrous that I should be asked to believe it on the faith of the 

 five stories which testify to such an occurrence." 



The controversy on the Salvation Army " Darkest 

 England Scheme," which commenced near the end of 

 1890, had a rather curious origin. A lady who was 

 willing to subscribe j^iooo to this scheme first asked 

 Huxley for his advice in the matter, and the results of 

 his investigations are embodied in " Social Diseases and. 

 Worse Remedies, Letters to the Times on Mr. Booth's 

 Scheme. With a Preface and Introductory Essay " (Coll. 

 Essays, ix, p. 188). The conclusions reached were that 

 serious political and social dangers might be involved in 

 such a scheme ; that it might seriously interfere with 

 other philanthropic enterprises ; and that the administra- 

 tion in a reasonable matter of funds subscribed was not 

 properly secured. But after detailing in the Preface the 

 possible evils which might result from the scheme, 

 Huxley expressly says : — 



" I entirely acquit Mr. Booth of any complicity in far-reaching 

 schemes of this kind ; but I did not write idly when, in my first 



