48 HUXLEY MEMORIAL LECTURES 



like a dilemma, but the escape was easy. The 

 conditions of science were daily becoming more 

 favourable at our Universities, where the older 

 worker had a parental interest in the younger 

 and would by no means quench the smoking flax 

 by unintended neglect. Science was also rich in 

 societies where old and young could meet, and 

 where through personal contact, far better than 

 by endless hours of reading, the deepest inspira- 

 tion and the highest encouragement could be 

 given and received. 



If, however, the antagonism between the 

 excessive cultivation of the memory and the 

 development of originality was seen in the 

 lives of older men, whose capacity for the 

 highest work was proved and certain, surely 

 conclusions of value were to be learned from 

 those whose duty it was to watch over the 

 developing mind of the young. A little know- 

 ledge was said to be a dangerous thing; but as 

 regarded the awakening and growth of the most 

 indispensable part of our intellectual equipment 

 the imagination it might be more truly said 

 that a great deal of knowledge was a dangerous 

 thing. With the very best intentions, but with 

 the very worst results, the idea had taken root in 

 this country that the imagination must not be 

 allowed free play until some arbitrary amount of 

 knowledge had been imbibed, and the result was 

 that too often all original faculty was waterlogged 

 and drowned in a sea of facts. 



