There is something calm and dignified about the tone of the whole--which
eminently befits a philosophical work which means to live--and nothing
can be more clear and forcible than the argument.

I rejoice that you have made a beginning, and such a beginning--for the
more I think about it the more important it seems to me that somebody
should think out into a connected system the loose notions that are
floating about more or less distinctly in all the best minds.

It seems as if all the thoughts in what you have written were my own,
and yet I am conscious of the enormous difference your presentation of
them makes in my intellectual state. One is thought in the state of hemp
yarn, and the other in the state of rope. Work away, then, excellent
rope-maker, and make us more ropes to hold on against the devil and the
parsons.

For myself I am absorbed in dogs--gone to the dogs in fact--having been
occupied in dissecting them for the last fortnight. You do not say how
your health is.

Ever yours faithfully,

T.H. Huxley.

September 19, 1860.

My dear Spencer,

You will forgive the delay which has occurred in forwarding your proof
when I tell you that we have lost our poor little son, our pet and hope.