244 THOMAS HENRY HUXLEY 



which he hit the mark whatever it might be, or the brilliant wit 

 which flashed around his stroke. And yet one word more. 

 As an object seen first at a distance changes in aspect to the 

 looker-on who draws nearer and yet more near, features unseen 

 afar off filling up the vision close at hand, so he seemed to 

 change to those who, coming nearer and nearer to him, gained a 

 happy place within his innermost circle ; his incisive thought, 

 his wide knowledge, his sure and prompt judgment, his ready 

 and sharp word, all these shrunk away so as to seem but a small 

 part of him ; his greater part, and that which most shaped his 

 life, was seen to be a heart full of love which, clinging round 

 his family and his friends in tenderest devotion, was spread over 

 all his fellow-men in kindness guided by justice " (" A Few 

 More Words on Thomas Henry Huxley," Nature, liii, 1895, 

 p. 320). 



A careful review of Huxley's written works brings 

 out one very striking point, the comparatively early age 

 at which intellectual maturity was attained. The direc- 

 tion of his life's activity and, broadly speaking, his 

 general attitude towards science and education, were 

 clearly defined by the time he had secured a foothold in 

 the scientific world, when an average man would still 

 have been very largely in the making. And when, in his 

 closing years, he edited his Collected Essays, surprisingly 

 little was found to alter. The last period in his life, it 

 is true, marks an increasing interest in social and ethical 

 affairs, but this was largely the result of the debarment from 

 active research which physical disabilities made necessary. 

 When all those who came under the spell of Huxley's 

 virile and convincing personality have passed away, when 

 the controversial matters in which he played so prominent 

 a part belong to ancient history, his claim to a prominent 

 position among the great men of the Victorian era will, 

 in all probability, chiefly depend upon the inestimable 

 value of his astonishingly numerous contributions to 

 scientific research. Prof. A. Kowalewsky well remarked, 



