2o8 Thomas Henry Huxley 



which agitated the public not only by service on Com- 

 missions, but by delivering a large number of public 

 addresses and writing a large number of essays on 

 topics of special interest. Much of his work on 

 scientific, educational, and general subjects took its 

 first shape in the form of addresses given to some pub- 

 lic audience. University audiences in England, Scot- 

 land, and America were familiar to him, and from 

 time to time he addressed large gatherings of a mixed 

 character. But probably his favourite audience was 

 composed of working men, and he had the greatest 

 respect for the intelligence and sympathy of hearers 

 who like himself passed the greater portion of their 

 time in hard work. Professor Howes, his pupil, friend, 

 and successor, writes of him : 



" He gave workmeu of his best. The substance of 3fa!t^s 

 Place in Nature, one of the most successful and popular of 

 his writings, and of his Crayfish, perhaps the most perfect 

 zoological treatise ever published, was first communicated to 

 them. In oue of the last communications I had with him, I 

 asked his views as to the desirability of discontinuing the 

 workmen's lectures at Jermyu Street, since the development 

 of workmen's colleges and institutes was regarded by some as 

 rendering their continuance unnecessary. He replied, almost 

 with indignation, 'With our central situation and resources we 

 ought to be in a position to give the workmen that which they 

 cannot get elsewhere,' adding that he would deeply deplore 

 any such discontinuance." 



Huxley had no natural facility for speech. He tells 

 us that at first he disliked it, and that he had a firm 

 conviction that he would break down every time he 

 opened his mouth. The only two possible fatilts of a 

 public speaker which he believed himself to be with- 

 out, were "talking at random and indulging in 

 rhetoric." With practice, he lost this earlier hesit- 



