Choice of Profession 5 



engineering. All through the pursuit of anatonn','^ 

 which was the chief business of his life, it was the 

 structure of animals, the different modifications of great 

 ground-plans which they presented, that interested 

 him. But the opportunity for engineering did not 

 present itself, and at an exceedingl)^ early age he 

 began to study medicine. Two brothers-in-law were 

 doctors, and this accidental fact probablj^ determined 

 his choice. In these daj^s the stud^ of medicine did_ 

 not begin as now with a general and scientific education, 

 but the young medical student was apprenticed to a 

 doctor engaged in practice. He was supposed to learn 

 the compounding of drugs in the dispensary attached 

 to the doctor's consulting-room ; to be taught the dress- 

 ing of wounds and the superficial details of the medical 

 craft while he pursued his studies in anatomy under 

 the direction of the doctor. Huxley's master was his 

 brother-in-law. Dr. Salt, a London practitioner, and he 

 began his work when only twelve or thirteen yesLts of 

 age. In this system everything depended upon the 

 superior ; under the careful guidance of a conscientious 

 and able man it was possible for an apt pupil to learn 

 a great deal of science and to become an expert in the 

 treatment of disease. Huxley, however, had only a 

 short experience of this kind of training. He was 

 taken by some senior student friends to a post-mortem 

 examination, and although then, as all through his 

 life, he was most sensitive to the disagreeable side of 

 anatomical pursuits, on this occasion he gratified his 

 curiosity too ardently. He did not cut himself, but in 

 some way poisonous matter from the body affected him, 

 and he fell into so bad a state of health that he had to 

 be sent into the country to recruit. He lived for some 

 time at a farmhouse in Warwickshire with friends of 



