2 Tfactttngs OF ThOMAsHuXXSY 



tainmentfl whom all the world delights to honor 

 becniiM- of a seeming emancipation from the 

 laws of time and spare whieli limit the capacity 

 of ordinary mortals and cause their names to 

 be "writ in water." Such an one was Thomas 

 Henry Huxley, who, though burdened with an 



always failing health, was possessed of such 

 remarkable versatility that he found time to 

 become an expert in many lines of scientific 

 inquiry, and who made frequent excursions 

 into fields of literary and general culture as 

 well, always returning with baskets laden with 

 rich fruit plucked from every prolific branch 

 within reach of his path. His was truly the 

 versatility of genius, a type quite distinct from 

 that other which passes under the name of 

 Versatility and which in these later davs be- 



* * 



longs distinctly to the "Smart Set," who, like 

 Talleyrand's physician, know a little of every- 

 thing, "Even a little physic." 



It seems to me that two main forces were 

 at work throughout Huxley's life: the one that 

 of the scientific investigator full of enthusiasm, 

 dominant, persevering, toiling arduously day 

 by day in the laboratory, discovering new facts 

 and placing them aside for future use, and test- 

 ing scientific theories to make sure that there 

 was no mistaken hypothesis which might mis- 

 lead in using it as a basis for further conclu- 

 Bionf. The other was that of the polemical 

 philosopher, fond of arguments, combative, 



