On the other hand, if any one maintains that the material substance of the wafer persists, while its accidents change, within the body, and that this identical substance is sooner or later voided, I do not see how he is to be driven out of that position by any scientific reasoning.  On the contrary, there is every reason to believe that the elementary particles of the wafer and of the wine which enter the body never lose their identity, or even alter their mass.  If one could see one of the atoms of carbon which enter into the composition of the wafer, I conceive it could be followed the whole way—­from the mouth to the organ by which it escapes—­just as a bit of floating charcoal might be followed into, through, and out of a whirlpool.

[On October 6, 1892, died Lord Tennyson.  In the course of his busy life, Huxley had not been thrown very closely into contact with him; they would meet at the Metaphysical Society, of which Tennyson was a silent member; and in the “Life of Tennyson” two occasions are recorded on which Huxley visited him.

November 11, 1871.

Mr. Huxley and Mr. Knowles arrived here (Aldworth) on a visit.  Mr. Huxley was charming.  We had much talk.  He was chivalrous, wide, and earnest, so that one could not but enjoy talking with him.  There was a discussion on George Eliot’s humility.  Huxley and A. both thought her a humble woman, despite a dogmatic manner of assertion that had come upon her latterly in her writings. (Op. cit. 2 110.)

March 17, 1873.

Professor Tyndall and Mr. Huxley called.  Mr. Huxley seemed to be universal in his interest, and to have keen enjoyment of life.  He spoke of “In Memoriam”. (Ibid. 2 143.)

With this may be compared one of Mr. Wilfrid Ward’s reminiscences ("Nineteenth Century” August 1896).

“Huxley once spoke strongly of the insight into scientific method shown in Tennyson’s ‘In Memoriam’, and pronounced it to be quite equal to that of the greatest experts.”

This view of Tennyson appears again in a letter to Sir M. Foster, the Secretary of the Royal Society:—­]

Was not Tennyson a Fellow of the Royal Society?  If so, should not the President and Council take some notice of his death and delegate some one to the funeral to represent them?  Very likely you have thought of it already.

He was the only modern poet, in fact I think the only poet since the time of Lucretius, who has taken the trouble to understand the work and tendency of the men of science.

[But this was not the only side from which he regarded poetry.  He had a keen sense for beauty, the artistic perfection of expression, whether in poetry, prose, or conversation.  Tennyson’s talk he described thus:  “Doric beauty is its characteristic—­perfect simplicity, without any ornament or anything artificial.”  And again, to quote Mr. Wilfrid Ward’s reminiscences:—­

Tennyson he considered the greatest English master of melody except Spenser and Keats.  I told him of Tennyson’s insensibility to music, and he replied that it was curious that scientific men, as a rule, had more appreciation of music than poets or men of letters.  He told me of one long talk he had had with Tennyson, and added that immortality was the one dogma to which Tennyson was passionately devoted.