Hooker, and tell her that if she, of her own natural sagacity and
knowledge of the naughtiness of my heart, affirms that I wrote the
article, I shall not contradict her--but that for reasons of state--I
must not be supposed to say anything. I am pretty certain the Saturday
article was not written by Owen. On internal grounds, because no word in
it exceeds an inch in length; on external, from what Cook said to me.
The article is weak enough and one-sided enough, but looking at the
various forces in action, I think Cook has fully redeemed his promise to
me.

I went down to Sir P. Egerton on Tuesday--was ill when I started, got
worse and had to come back on Thursday. I am all adrift now, but I
couldn't stand being in the house any longer. I wish I had been born an
an-hepatous foetus.

All sorts of good wishes to you, and may you and I and Tyndalides, and
one or two more bricks, be in as good fighting order in 1861 as in 1860.

Ever yours,

T.H. Huxley.

[Speaking of this period and the half-dozen preceding years, in his 1894
preface to "Man's Place in Nature" he says:--]

Among the many problems which came under my consideration, the position
of the human species in zoological classification was one of the most
serious. Indeed, at that time it was a burning question in the sense
that those who touched it were almost certain to burn their fingers
severely. It was not so very long since my kind friend, Sir William