THE CONSTRUCTOR 239 



societies are formed of which the bond in many cases 

 seems to be purely psychological — that is to say, it 

 appears to depend upon the liking of the individuals 

 for one another's company. Love and fear come into 

 play, and enforce a greater or less renunciation of 

 self-will." l 



But " the theory of evolution encourages no millen- 

 nial anticipations." As the story of the formation 

 and dissolution of the solar system and kindred aggre- 

 gations is but a chapter in a history which had no be- 

 ginning and will have no end, so life as a whole upon 

 this globe is but a brief chapter of that history, and 

 the life of man a momentary episode in the chapter. 



Neither optimist nor pessimist in a world which he 

 confessed was u a hopeless riddle," 2 Huxley was no 

 dweller at ease in a scientific Zion. As in the intel- 

 lectual sphere he had exercised the spirit of inquiry 

 by which alone advance in knowledge is possible, so 

 in the moral sphere he gave expression to the spirit of 

 discontent by which alone amelioration is possible. 



There are [he said] two things I really care about 

 — one is the progress of scientific thought, and the 

 other is the bettering of the condition of the masses of 

 the people by bettering them in the way of lifting them- 

 selves out of the misery which has hitherto been the 

 lot of the majority of them. Posthumous fame is 

 not particularly attractive to me, but, if I am to be 



1 Coll. Essays, ix. p. 115. 2 H. 134. 



