THOMAS HENRY HUXLEY 



CHAPTER I 



FROM SCHOOI. TO UFE-WORK 



Birth — Parentage — School-days — Choice of Medical Profes- 

 sion — Charing Cross Hospital — End of Medical Studies — 

 Admission to Naval Medical Service. 



SOME men are born to greatness: even before their 

 arrival in the world their future is marked out for 

 them. All the advantages that wealth and the experi- 

 ence of friends can bring attend their growth to man- 

 hood, and their success almost loses its interest because 

 of the ease with which it is attained. Few of the lead- 

 ers of science were in such a position : many of them, 

 such as Priestley, Davy, Faraday, John Hunter, and 

 Linnaeus were of htimble parentage, and received the 

 poorest education : most of them, like Huxley himself, 

 have come from parents who were able to do little more 

 for their children than set them out into life along the 

 ordinary educational avenues. In Huxley's boyhood 

 at least a comfortable income was necessary for this: in 

 every civilised country nowadays, state endowments, 



