388 THOMAS HENRY HUXLEY xxm 



by recalling to his memory the number of times he had 

 lectured without anything of the kind happening, and then 

 drawing conclusions as to the improbability of its occurring 

 now, that he was able to brace himself up to the effort of 

 beginning his discourse. When once fairly away on his 

 subject all such apprehensions were at an end. Such ex- 

 periences are, of course, very common, but they were probably 

 aggravated greatly in Huxley's case by the ill health, that 

 miserable, hypochondriacal dyspepsia which, as he says him- 

 self, was his constant companion for the last half century of 

 his life. Bearing in mind the serious inroad this made in the 

 amount of time available for active employment, it is marvellous 

 to think of the quantity he was able to accomplish. When 

 the time comes for forming a just estimate of the value of his 

 scientific work, and if quality as well as quantity be fairly 

 taken into account, it will, without doubt, bear comparison 

 with, if it will not exceed, that of any of his contemporaries. 



If, instead of taking up medicine and afterwards science 

 as a profession, he had gone to the bar, he must infallibly 

 have achieved the highest measure of success. As an advocate 

 he could scarcely have been surpassed. His clear, penetrating 

 insight into the essentials of an intricate question, the rapidity 

 with which he swept aside all that was irrelevant, and the 

 forcible way in which he could state the arguments for his 

 own side of a case, and his brilliant power of repartee, would 

 have been irresistible in a court of justice. He was also free 

 from a quality which paralyses the effective action of many 

 men of great mental capacity the faculty of seeing some- 

 thing at least of both sides of a case at the same time. 

 When he took up a cause he took it up in thorough earnest, 

 and it must be admitted that there was then very little 

 chance of his feeling any sympathy for the other side. He 

 had some strong prejudices against doctrines, against institutions, 

 and against individuals, and as his nature was absolutely 

 honest and truthful, he never cared to conceal them. On the 

 other hand, no man was more loyal to the causes he approved 

 of or the people he liked. He could always be relied upon to 

 carry out to the uttermost of his power anything he had 

 undertaken to do. To the younger workers in his own fields 



