44° TRANSACTIONS OF THE [Nov. 11, 
English of the Bible; he took as especial models Hume and 
Hobbes, until finally he wrote his mother tongue as no other 
Englishman wrote it. Take up any one of his essays, biologi- 
eal, literary, philosophical, you at once see his central idea and 
his main purpose, although he never uses italics or spaced letters 
as many of our German masters do to relieve the obscurity of 
their sentences. We are carried along upon the broad current 
of his reasoning without being confused by his abundant side 
illustrations. He gleaned from the literature ofall time until 
his mind was stocked with apt similes. Who but Huxley would 
have selected the title “‘ Lay Sermons,” for his first volume of 
addresses; or, in 1880, twenty-one years after Darwin’s work 
appeared, would have entitled his essay upon the influence of 
this work: “The Coming of Age of the Origin of species.” 
Or to whom else would it have occurred to repeat over the grave 
of Balfour the exquisitely appropriate lines: ‘‘ We mourn for 
Lycidas—Dead before his prime.” Who else could have in- 
veighed thus against modern specialization: ‘‘ We are in the 
case of Tarpeia, who opened the gates of the Roman citadel to 
the Sabines and was. crushed by the weight of the reward be- 
stoyed upon her. It has become impossible for any man to keep 
pace with the progress of the whole of any important branch of 
science. It looks as if the scientific, like other revolutions, 
meant to devour its own children; as if the growth of science 
tended to overwhelm its votaries; as if the man of science of 
the future were condemned to diminish into a narrower specialist 
as time goes on. It appears to me that the only defense against 
this tendency to the degeneration of scientific workers lies in 
the organization and extension of scientific education in such a 
manner as to secure breadth of culture without superficiality ; 
and, on the other hand, depth and precision of knowledge with- 
out narrowness.” 
Huxley’s public addresses always gave the impression of be- 
ing largely impromptu, but he once told me; “TI always think 
out carefully every word I am going to say. There is no 
greater danger than the so-called inspiration of the moment, 
which leads you to say something which is not exactly true, or 
which you would regret afterward. I sometimes envy your 
countrymen their readiness and believe that a native American, 
if summoned out of bed at midnight, could step to his window 
and speak well upon any subject.” I told him I feared he had 
been slightly misinformed; I feared that many American im- 
promptu speeches were more distinguished by a flow of lan- 
guage than of ideas. But Huxley was sometimes very impressive 
when he did not speak. In 1879 he was strongly advocating 
