Vlll LIFE OF PROFESSOR HUXLEY 



ledge in so many fields, by his passionate sincerity, 

 his interest not only in pure knowledge, but in 

 human life, by his belief that the interpretation of 

 the book of nature was not to be kept apart from 

 the ultimate problems of existence; by the love of 

 truth, in short, both theoretical and practical, which 

 ga^ve the key to the character of the man himself. 



Accordingly, I have not discussed with any fulness 

 the value of his technical contributions to natural 

 science ; I have not drawn up a compendium of his 

 philosophical views. One is a work for specialists; 

 the other can be gathered from his published works. 

 I have endeavoured rather to give the public a 

 picture, so far as I can, of the man himself, of his 

 aims in the many struggles in which he was engaged, 

 of his character and temperament, and the circum- 

 stances under which his various works were begun 

 and completed. 



So far as possible, I have made his letters, or 

 extracts from them, tell the story of his life. If 

 those of any given period are diverse in tone and 

 character, it is simply because they reflect an equal 

 diversity of occupations and interests. Few of the 

 letters, however, are of any great length ; many are 

 little more than hurried notes; others, mainly of 

 private interest, supply a sentence here and there to 

 fill in the general outline. 



