PREFACE 



The great French philosopher, M. Henri Bergson, 

 in his recent Huxley Lecture at Birmingham Uni- 

 versity (May 29, 1911) asked: "What scientific 

 question, what philosophic problem, is there which 

 did not interest Huxley's luminous intellect — one 

 of the broadest and most comprehensive that nine- 

 teenth-century England produced, fertile in great 

 intellects as it was ? " That being so, it can be well 

 understood that no one volume could deal with all 

 the varied aspects of liis strenuous and crowded life. 

 Here there is no such attempt. In these few pages 

 the effort has been to show as clear a portrait as 

 possible, to show the man as distinct from his con- 

 temporaries, and to indicate his place in the gallery 

 of great British minds. 



The quotations in these pages, unless other\^'ise 

 indicated, are from the Life and Letters of Thomas 

 Henry Huxley, by his son, Leonard Huxley — that 

 delightful biography to which we trust these pages 

 may draw our readers. The other references from 

 Huxley's works are taken from " The Eversley 

 Series " (Macmillan & Co.). 



GERALD LEIGHTON, M.D. 



Edinbukgh, 1912. 



