2 LIFE OF PROFESSOR HUXLEY CHAP, i 



down together with their chief derivatives. This was his 

 daily portion. 



When at last he grappled with the passage in question, 

 he found that Aristotle had correctly described what he saw 

 under the special conditions of his dissection, when the right 

 auricle actually appears as he described it, an enlargement 

 of the ' great vein." So that this, at least, ought to be 

 removed from the list of Aristotle's errors. The same is 

 shown to be the case with his statements about respiration. 

 His own estimate of Aristotle as a physiologist is between 

 the panegyric of Cuvier and the depreciation of Lewes, " he 

 carried science a step beyond the point at which he found it ; 

 a meritorious, but not a miraculous, achievement." And it 

 will interest scholars to know that from his own experience 

 as a lecturer, Huxley was inclined to favour the theory that 

 the original manuscripts of the Historia Animalium, with 

 their mingled accuracy and absurdity, were notes taken by 

 some of his students. This essay was reprinted in Science 

 and Culture, p. 180. 



This year he brought out his second volume of essays on 

 various subjects, written from 1870 to 1878, under the title 

 of Critiques and Addresses, and later in the year, his long- 

 delayed and now entirely recast Introductory Primer in the 

 Science Primer Series. 



6 BARNEPARK TERRACE, TEIGNMOUTH, 

 Sept, 12, 1879. 



MY DEAR ROSCOE I send you by this post my long-promised 

 Primer, and a like set of sheets goes to Stewart.* 



You will see that it is quite different from my first sketch, 

 Geikie's primer having cut me out of that line but / think it 

 much better. 



You will see that the idea is to develop Science out of com- 

 mon observation, and to lead up to Physics, Chemistry, Biology, 

 and Psychology. 



I want the thing to be good as far as it goes, so don't spare 

 criticism. Ever yours very faithfully, T. H. HUXLEY. 



Best remembrances from us all, which we are jolly. 



* Balfour Stewart, Professor of Natural Philosophy in Owens Col- 

 lege, Manchester. 



