THE PLACE OF HUXLEY 89 



man who gave it can be too great. When the 

 Darwinian controversy is forgotten, and its truths 

 embodied in everyday science, and when all the other 

 controversies into which Huxley was drawTi by 

 virtue of his strong convictions, have faded into 

 obscurity, this one thing will remain an everlasting 

 monument to the greatness of his mind — that he 

 fought for intellectual freedom. This will be his 

 permanent contribution to the world — and there 

 could be no greater. If it shall be impossible ever 

 again in this country for a man to be persecuted 

 merely for expressing his thoughts and convictions, 

 supporting them with arguments which cannot be 

 met — that is due to Huxley, and almost to Huxley 

 alone. This, we take it, is his great claim upon his 

 country. 



It would be quite impossible within the space of 

 these pages at our disposal to have followed out in 

 any detail any of the numerous lines of activity 

 which made up Huxley's life. Nor was it in the 

 least necessary for our purpose to do so. It is 

 sufficient to have indicated in a general way the main 

 directions of his activity. The view that a biography 

 has as its primary business to be complete is not 

 the truest view. A very incomplete picture of a 

 man may tell us far more than a detailed descrip- 

 tion of all he did. A recent writer has said, and 

 said truly, that the " one and indivisible purpose of 

 biography is to achieve in words the portrait of the 

 individual concerned, and as its merits may not be 

 measured by the nobility of the man or the woman 

 who is its theme, it need not lay too much stress 

 upon tlie official actions of hero or heroine. It 



