442 LIFE OF PROFESSOR HUXLEY CHAP. XVIII 



house, called "From the Hut to the Pantheon." 

 Beginning with a description of the Pantheon, that 

 characteristically Roman work with its vast dome, 

 so strongly built that it is the only great dome 

 remaining without a flaw : 



For a long time (he says) -I was perplexed to know 

 what it was about the proportions of the interior of the 

 Pantheon which gave me such a different feeling from 

 that made by any other domed space I had ever entered. 



The secret of this he finds in the broad and simple 

 design peculiar to the building, and then shows in 

 detail how 



the round hut, the ^Edes Vestae, and the Pantheon are so 

 many stages in a process of architectural evolution which 

 was effected between the first beginnings of Roman 

 history and the Augustan age. 



The relation between the beehive hut, the terremare, 

 and the pile-dwellings of Italy lead to many suggestive 

 bits of early anthropology, which, it may be hoped, 

 bore fruit in the minds of some of his youthful 

 readers. 



We find him also reading over proofs for Mr. 

 Herbert Spencer, who, although he might hesitate to 

 ask for his criticism with respect to a subject on 

 which they had a " standing difference," still 



concluded that to break through the long-standing usage, 

 in pursuance of which I have habitually submitted my 

 biological writing to your castigation, and so often profited 

 by so doing, would seem like a distrust of your candour 

 a distrust which I cannot entertain. 



