Rolleston's Types i 79 



of Animal Life had devised the method of teaching 

 comparative anatomy by the study of a graded series 

 of animals. But his method depended on the exist- 

 ence of a series of dissections and preparations made 

 by a skilled craftsman ; the tradition of teaching by 

 authority instead of by investigation was maintained, 

 although the authority of books and lectures was aided 

 by museum specimens in glass bottles, the actual basis 

 of the book being a series of dissections prepared by 

 \lx. Charles Robertson, Rolleston's laboratory assist- 

 ant, for the great International Exhibition of i86r. 

 The authorities of Huxley's students were to be found 

 in nature itself. The green scum from the nearest 

 gutter, a handful of weed from a pond, a bean-plant, 

 some fresh-water mud, a frog, and a pigeon were the 

 ultimate authorities of his course. His students were 

 taught how to observe them, and how to draw and 

 record their observations. However familiar the ob- 

 jects, each student had to verify every fact afresh for 

 himself. The business of the teacher was explanation 

 of the methods of verification, insistence on the ac- 

 complishment of verification. It was a training in the 

 immemorial attitude of the scientific mind, codified 

 by Huxley and made an integral part in national 

 education. 



As a matter of fact it was comparatively late in 

 his life as a teacher that Huxle}' had complete oppor- 

 tunity for putting into practice his scheme for the 

 laboratory teaching of biology. In 1854 there was no 

 laboratory attached to the Natural History Department 

 of the School of Mines. lycctures alone were given, 

 and the only opportunity the student had of any 

 practical acquaintance with the facts was in a short 

 interview with the professor at the lecture table after 



