34 THE FOUNDATIONS OF ZOOLOGY 



has made notable progress during his lifetime, and in this assurance he 

 tells us at its end that he " shall be content to be remembered, or even 

 not remembered," as one among the many who have brought it about. 



Of all Huxley's essays, those which deal with the development 

 rather than the application of the method of using one's reason 

 rightly in the search for truth are of most value to the student. 

 Among them are the whole of Volume VI., " Hume ; with Helps 

 to the Study of Berkeley" ; as well as the one "On Descartes' Dis- 

 course Touching the Method of Using our Reason Rightly ; and 

 of Seeking Scientific Truth " (I. iv.), and many others, such as 

 "Possibilities and Impossibilities" (V. vi. 1891), and "Scientific 

 and Pseudo-Scientific Realism " (V. ii. 1887). 



The opening paragraph of the book on Hume's Philosophy (VI. 57) 

 may be taken as a statement of the purpose of all these essays : 

 "Kant has said that the business of philosophy is to answer 

 three questions : What can I know? What ought I to do ? and, 

 For what may I hope ? But it is pretty plain that these three 

 resolve themselves in the long run into the first. For rational 

 expectation and moral action are alike based upon belief, and a 

 belief is void of justification unless its subject-matter lies within the 

 boundaries of possible knowledge, and unless its evidence satisfies 

 the conditions of credibility. . . . Fundamentally, then, philosophy 

 is the answer to the question, What can I know ? " 



Huxley is not drawn into this province by the fierce joy of con- 

 troversy, nor by any desire to join those who flit forever over dusky 

 meadows, green with asphodel, in vain search for some reality which 

 is not within the reach of all. His motive is the most practical and 

 serious one we know, " to learn what is true in order to do what 

 is right." This, he tells us, "is the summing up of the whole duty 

 of man, for all who are not able to satisfy their mental hunger with 

 the east wind of authority." The conclusion of the whole matter 

 is that "there is but one kind of knowledge and but one method 

 of acquiring it." This is the melody which runs through all the 

 nine volumes ; now loud and clear, now hidden by the minor inter- 

 est of a scientific topic, or by the heat of controversy or by the 

 charm of literary genius ; but always present, and easy for one 

 who listens to detect. It is because scientific education helps 

 us to acquire the method of using our reason rightly in the search 



