LIFE OF PROFESSOR HUXLEY CHAP, xxn 



For, whatever they ought to do, it is quite certain the ma- 

 jority of men will act as if the attainment of certain positive 

 and negative pleasures were the end of action. 



We want a science of " Eubiotics " to tell us exactly what 

 will happen if human beings are exclusively actuated by the 

 desire of well-being in the ordinary sense. Of course the utili- 

 tarians have laid the foundations of such a science, with the 

 result that the nicknamer of genius called this branch of science 

 " pig philosophy," making just the same blunder as when he 

 called political economy " dismal science." 



' Moderate well-being " may be no more the worthiest end 

 of life than wealth. But if it is the best to be had in this queer 

 world it may be worth trying for. 



But you will begin to wish the train had been punctual! 



Draw comfort from the fact that if error is always with us, 

 it is, at any rate, remediable. I am more hopeful than when I 

 was young. Perhaps life (like matrimony, as some say) should 

 begin with a little aversion ! Ever yours very faithfully, 



T. H. HUXLEY. 



Some years before this, a fund for a " Darwin Medal ' 

 had been established in memory of the great naturalist, the 

 medal to be awarded biennially for researches in biology. 

 With singular appropriateness, the first award was made to 

 Dr. A. R. Wallace, the joint propounder of the theory of 

 Natural Selection, whose paper, entrusted to Darwin's liter- 

 ary sponsorship, caused the speedy publication of Darwin's 

 own long-continued researches and speculations. The sec- 

 ond, with equal appropriateness, was to Sir J. D. Hooker, both 

 as a leader in science and a helper and adviser of Darwin. 



Huxley's own view of such scientific honours as medals 

 and diplomas was that they should be employed to stimu- 

 late for the future rather than to reward for the past; and 

 delighted as he was at the poetic justice of these two awards, 

 this justice once satisfied, he let his opinion be known that 

 thenceforward the Darwin Medal ought to be given only 

 to younger men. But when this year he found the Darwin 

 Medal awarded to himself ' for his researches in biology 

 and his long association with Charles Darwin," he could 

 not but be touched and gratified by this mark of appre- 

 ciation from his fellow-workers in science, this association 



