EDUCATION OF A MAN OF SCIENCE 95 



began in 1846 working at a curious Cirripede, i.e., 

 a barnacle, which he had found on his voyage ; 

 this led him to examine others, and in the end he 

 worked seven or eight years at this group of 

 animals. 



To his children the habit of working at barnacles 

 seemed a commonplace human function, like eating 

 or breathing, and it is reported that one of us being 

 taken into the study of a neighbour, and seeing no 

 dissecting table or microscope, asked with justifiable 

 suspicion, "Then where does he do his barnacles ? " 

 When I was writing my father's Life, I asked Mr. 

 Huxley his opinion whether this seven or eight 

 years' work had been, in his judgment, worth the 

 great labour involved. His answer was that no 

 man is a good judge of the speculative strain which 

 may be put on the raw materials of science, unless 

 he knows at first hand how this raw material is 

 acquired, and this knowledge my father gained 

 by his barnacles. The Origin of Species is the 

 evidence that he did not miscalculate the strain 

 his facts would bear, for his theory is as strong as 

 ever. 



There is one influence, of the greatest importance 

 in regard to education, with which I have not 

 attempted to deal. I mean the personal influence 

 of the teacher. This is a part of the pupil's environ- 

 ment which not even a millionaire can undertake to 

 supply to his pet University. It is rather a thing 

 to pray for, and to treasure when the gods send it 

 to us. 



There is a magic in the personal eff"ect of a great 

 teacher, which makes it comparatively unimportant 



