INTRODUCTION ix 



ethnologist. How this was possible any one will readily 

 understand who knows from his own experience how great 

 the value of personal observation is for the development 

 of independent and unprejudiced thought." Without 

 adequate equipment for research, with very few books 

 of reference, with his microscope lashed to the mast on 

 the hot deck of a ship in tropical waters, Huxley during 

 these years of unremitting work made observations and 

 generalizations, the firm foundation upon which later 

 workers have built. That this work was done before he 

 was twenty-six shows what manner of man Huxley really 

 was. 



Upon his return from his voyage there followed a four 

 years' struggle to obtain a foothold in science. For some 

 reason the government, while giving him leave of absence 

 to complete the preparation of the papers embodying the 

 results of his observations, refused to allow the promised 

 ."^"'^liL to publish them. IN or, as a matter of principle, 

 would the learned societies undertake the work. Hux- 

 ley s Ousiinacy came to his assistance, for he worked away, 

 striving by all honorable means for the recognition that 

 was his just due. Out of this struggle grew the clear 

 consciousness that the proper sphere of activity for him 

 lay not in the Navy, but in science. How to secure a 

 post that would enable him to devote himself to this work 

 and at the same time to live, was the real proljlem. He 

 wrote to his sister, " Science in England does everything — 

 but pay. You may earn praise but not pudding." 



In truth he was earning praise. In 1851 he was elected 

 Fellow of the Royal Society and in the next year he was 

 granted the Royal Medal — both highly coveted honors, 

 bestowed only for original research and sought by all 

 leaders in science; but this time awarded to a young man 



