HUXLEY 15 



industriously gathered together ; and, on the other 

 hand, in the putting forward of nebulous and fan- 

 tastic theories as to that meaning, theories not 

 springing out of the consideration of the facts 

 themselves, but coming from elsewhere, the off- 

 spring of foreign ideas, thrust into the facts from 

 the outside. Huxley's mind, with its clear and 

 exact way of thinking, with its tendency to look 

 upon a machine as a model of excellence, rebelled 

 at the very outset against these vague and mystic 

 theories, the hybrid products, it seemed to him, 

 of careful observation and loose thinking. He 

 strove to replace them by ideas more justly 

 deserving to be spoken of as scientific. He saw 

 how in the sister physical sciences progress con- 

 sisted in the marshalling of facts under laws the 

 knowledge of which came through observation 

 and experiment, and which indeed were but the 

 expression of elaborated observation; and he set 

 himself to the task of making the same fruitful 

 method dominant in biology. The very first 

 papers which he sent home to England from the 

 far-off Southern Seas not only added largely to 

 new knowledge, but served as striking lessons in 

 the new way of attacking biological problems; 

 these were in turn followed by others, all exempli- 

 fying the value of the new method; and though 

 the older men were in two minds about them, dis- 

 liking the new ideas but admiring the ability with 

 which they were put forward, the younger men 

 received them gladly and at once. Under Hux- 



