12 HUXLEY 



precociousness, with the singular exception of a 

 very marked talent for drawing, and this, curiously- 

 enough, he never developed to any great extent. 

 Indeed, Huxley's education was strictly limited. 

 He spent a couple of years — ^from eight to ten years 

 ^ age— at a school the society of which, he himself 

 says, was the worst he ever knew, and the only cheer- 

 ful recollection of it was that of a battle with a bully 

 of a schoolmate, whom Huxley, in spite of his more 

 slender physique, effectively disposed of. His in- 

 quiring mind, however, led him to seek information 

 for himself, and his taste for reading — an invariable 

 accompaniment of such a mind — caused him to spend 

 many hours a day over books, such as Hutton's 

 Geology, which showed, even at that age, the trend 

 of his mental tastes. The fact of his having a brother- 

 in-law in the medical profession attracted him towards 

 the study of human anatomy, and also gave him the 

 opportunity of discussing many scientific topics 'svith 

 a man who was evidently interested in the boy of 

 fifteen. He began to take an interest, about the 

 same age, in metaphysics, to which study he was 

 evidently attractexi^by his desire to get at the causes 

 and reasons of things — a feature which characterises 

 his whole life. The same tendency manifests itself 

 in his desire to become a mechanical engineer, but, 

 in spite of this, events decided that he should begin 

 the study of medicine. For this, however, he never 

 really cared, and he afterwards expresses liimself as 

 being horrified to think how little he knew or cared 

 about the art of heahng. Wiiat really interested 

 him in it was the study of physiology — ^the mechanical 

 part of the human machine. His intense curiosity 

 was responsible for an unfortunate result of his at- 



