INTRODUCTION 



I 



THE LIFE OF HUXLEY 



OF Huxley's life and of the forces which moulded his 

 thought, the Autobiography gives some account ; but many 

 facts which are significant are slighted, and necessarily the 

 later events of his life are omitted. To supplement the story 

 as given by him is the purpose of this sketch. The facts 

 for this account are gathered entirely from the Life and 

 Letters of Thomas Henry Huxley, by his son. For a real 

 acquaintance with Huxley, the student should consult this 

 source for himself ; he will count the reading of the Life 

 and Letters among the rare pleasures which have come to 

 him through books. 



Thomas Henry Huxley was born on May 4, 1825. His 

 autobiography gives a full account of his parents, his early 

 Early boyhood, and his education. Of formal education, 



education. Huxley had little ; but he had the richer school- 

 ing which nature and life give an eager mind. He read 

 widely ; he talked often with older people ; he was always 

 investigating the why of things. He kept a journal in 

 which he noted thoughts gathered from books, and ideas 

 on the causes of certain phenomena. In this journal he 

 frequently wrote what he had done and had set himself to 

 do in the way of increasing his knowledge. Self-conducted, 

 also, was his later education at the Charing Cross Hospital. 

 Here, like Stevenson in his university days, Huxley seemed 

 to be idle, but in reality, he was always busy on his own 

 private end. So constantly did he work over the microscope 

 that the window at which he sat came to be dubbed by 

 his fellow students " The Sign of the Head and Micro- 

 scope." Moreover, in his regular courses at Charing Cross, 

 he seems to have done work sufficiently notable to be 

 recognized by several prizes and a gold medal. 



