INTEREST IN FICTION 129 



to function as the result of evolution, and renders in- 

 telligible many things, such as vestigial organs and im- 

 perfect adaptations, which were simply ignored by its 

 forerunner. While not demanding a theistic standpoint, 

 it is not inconsistent with this. 



As in the previous year a course of lectures was given 

 at Edinburgh during the Summer Session, and one or two 

 incidents relating to this time deserve notice. In a home 

 letter (dated May 8, Life, i, p. 458), we find a list of 

 the light and other literature taken North as a set-off 

 against work, and note that, unlike Darwin, Huxley re- 

 tained an interest in fiction : — 



" I have been getting through an enormous quantity of read- 

 ing, some tough monographs that I brought with me, the first 

 volume of Forster's Life of Swift, Goodsir's Life, and a couple 

 of novels of George Sand, with a trifle of Paul Heyse. You 

 should read George Sand's Cesarine Dietrich and La Mare au 

 Diable that I have just finished. She is bigger than George 

 Eliot, more flexible, a more thorough artist. It is a queer thing 

 by the way, that I have never read Consuelo. I shall get it here. 

 When I come back from my lecture I like to rest for an hour 

 or two over a good story. It freshens me wonderfully." 



It would have been decidedly entertaining to see 

 Huxley on May 25, sitting beside the Lord High Com- 

 missioner at the General Assembly. His report of the 

 proceedings is a model of brevity : — 



"... I heard an ecclesiastical row about whether a certain 

 church should be allowed to have a cover with IHS on the 

 Communion Table or not. After three hours' discussion the 

 IHSers were beaten " (Life, i, p. 458). 



The social side of the temporary residence in Edinburgh 

 at this time left many pleasant memories, especially of the 

 numerous visits to Dr. (afterwards Sir John) Skelton at 

 1 



