64 



upon which the mind of man has become most sensitive are conspicuous 

 among their number. 



With orthodoxy Htjxlei waged open warfare, believing in "scepticism 

 as the highest duty and in blind faith as the one unpardonable sin''. 

 To most men a course such as this would have meant ruin ; he, keeping 

 an open mind, labouring iu the pursuit of truth for its own sake, passed 

 triumphantly through the fire of adverse criticism, of obloquy and abuse. 

 Throughout it all he never made a real enemy, and many of those 

 who cannot embrace his conclusions and are most opposed to his methods 

 are loudest in admiration of his manliness and good intent. He has 

 removed not a little of the debris from the path of life, and has opened 

 up new ways for advancing thought. 



Huxley has taught us that "all the phenomena of nature are, in their 

 ultimate analysis, known to us only as facts of consciousness", but withal 

 he was no mere materialist — witness his belief in that "consciousness of 

 the limitation of man, that sense of an open secret which he cannot pene- 

 trate, in which lies the essence of all religion". It is his to have made 

 clear to us that "ethical nature while born of cosmic nature is necessarily 

 at variance with its parent'', and that while the lower organisms carry 

 the struggle for existence to the bitter end human society seeks to put 

 a limitation upon it. "Agnosticism'' was his attitude — a creed it is 

 not — an attitude which denotes "that we know nothing of what may 

 be beyond phenomena" and that "a man shall not say he knows or believes 

 that which he has no scientific grounds for professing to know or believe". 



Huxley was in sympathy with every branch of culture. He once 

 said to the writer of this notice that if he had been born pencil in hand 

 he believed he would "have drawn straight away". In the intervals of 

 work and reflection he was often to be heard whistling the fugues of 

 Bach; and after a visit to Joachim he remarked "if I thought I could 

 play the fiddle like that man I would learn it to-morrow". "Noble in heart 

 and mind, grand in his fulfilment of duty, and loveable beyond knowledge", 

 he has said "I desire no place in the minds of coming generations beyond 

 that which might be kept warm for me by those I love and who love me". 



The present century will be for all time remarkable for the advance- 

 ment in knowledge of organic nature, and for the diffusion of that know- 

 ledge and its application to the conduct of human affairs. In both de- 

 partments Huxley stands out a champion. The evolutionary principle 

 has permeated all branches of science not wholly mathematical, and its 

 extension has revolutionized thought. But for Huxley this might not 

 have been. In thus ensuring the passage of his unadorned name to 

 posterity he has realized the highest ambition of man, and in the higher 

 mental status of his race his memory will endure. 



To know Huxley was to love him ; to express one's appreciation of 

 his work and indebtedness to his teaching is but inadequately to state 

 the obligation under which he has placed mankind at large. He was 

 buried on July 1st at Marylebone Cemetery, East Finchley, in accordance 

 with his own request, and with his eldest son who died an infant. 



Our photograph depicts him at the age of 67. 



Frommaniische Buchdruckerei (Hermann Fohle) in Jena. 



