176 LIFE OF PROFESSOR HUXLEY CHAP. VII 



Thomson's particular weak point was his Greek, and 

 the terminology of the lectures seems to have been a 

 thorn in his side. This account, which actually tells 

 of the 1876 course, occurs on pp. 36 and 37 of his 

 "Life." 



The experience of studying personally under Huxley 

 was a privilege to which he had been looking forward 

 with eager anticipation ; for he had already been fascinated 

 with the charm of Huxley's writings, and had received 

 from them no small amount of mental stimulus. Nor 

 were his expectations disappointed. But he found the 

 work to be unexpectedly hard, and very soon he had the 

 sense of panting to keep pace with the demands of the 

 lecturer. It was not merely that the texture of scientific 

 reasoning in the lectures was so closely knit, although 

 that was a very palpable fact, but the character of 

 Huxley's terminology was entirely strange to him. It 

 met him on his weakest side, for it presupposed a know- 

 ledge of Greek (being little else than Greek compounds 

 with English terminations) and of Greek he had none. 



Huxley's usual lectures, he writes, are something awful 

 to listen to. One half of the class, which numbers about 

 four hundred, have given up in despair from sheer 

 inability to follow him. The strain on the attention of 

 each lecture is so great as to be equal to any ordinary 

 day's work. I feel quite exhausted after them. And 

 then to master his language is something dreadful. But, 

 with all these drawbacks, I would not miss them, even if 

 they were ten times as difficult. They are something 

 glorious, sublime ! 



Again he writes : 



Huxley is still very difficult to follow, and I have 

 been four times in his lectures completely stuck and 

 utterly helpless. But he has given us eight or nine 



