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SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



THOMAS HENRY HUXLEY. 



rri O the student of intellectual progress it must be 

 -*- notable that the two great periods of mental 

 activity should have occurred in this country during 

 the reigns of women. No epoch in English history 

 has shown such literary activity, or writings which 

 have been so enduring as those in the time of 

 Queen Elizabeth, until we reach that of Queen 

 Victoria. We may go so far as to say that in the 

 reign of the former Queen were laid the foundations 

 of modern English Literature. The same may be 

 said with regard to Science during the Victorian 

 era, when this hitherto comparatively neglected, 

 and even publicly scoffed, branch of human know- 

 ledge attained a position that has rot only com- 

 manded respect, but changed the whole conditions 

 of life and customs of a large proportion of the 

 world's human inhabitants. Eor such benefits as 

 have accrued from the discoveries and teachings of 

 science we are indebted to the perseverance and 

 boldness of preachers like Thomas Henry Huxley. 



It is now five years since Huxley passed from 

 among us, and the interval has been well occupied 

 by his son, Mr. Leonard Huxley, in compiling in 

 the two volumes before us his "Lifeand Letters" (*). 

 These volumes are embellished with portraits at 

 different periods of his life, and other subjects of 

 much interest, not the least being one of his study 

 at Hodeslea, the name of his Eastbourne house, 

 where he spent his declining years. Like so 

 much else, he treated this name as a joke, and 

 writing to Sir Michael Foster shortly after settling 

 at Eastbourne he says : — " One is obliged to have 

 names for houses here. Mine will be ' Hodeslea,' 

 which is as near as I can go to ' Hodesleia,' the 

 poetical original shape of my very u?ly name. 

 There was a noble scion of the house of Huxley, of 

 Huxley, who, having burgled and done other 

 wrong things {temp. Henry IV.), asked for "benefit 

 of clergy.' I expect they gave it him. not in the 

 way he wanted, but in the way they would like to 

 ' benefit ' a later member of the family. Between 

 this gentleman and my grandfather there is un- 

 fortunately a complete blank, but I have none the 

 less faith in him as my ancestor." 



What strikes one more than all else in perusal of 

 these two volumes is Huxley's versatility and 

 brilliance as a writer of letters. His correspondence 

 seems to have been most voluminous, and if it 

 were for nothing else the two volumes before us 

 would be amply worth their published price. These 

 letters, extending over the period when science was 

 struggling for its proper place in the public estima- 

 tion, give us an insight that would otherwise be 

 difficult to appreciate, into the efforts of those who 

 were, after all. but amateurs in comparison with the 

 professionally educated man of science of the 

 present time. We must remember, however, that 



(1) "Life and Letters of Thomas Henry Huxley,"* by his son, 

 Leonard Huxley, xviii+1007 pp., 9 in. x 6 in., in two vols., with 

 thirteen illnst rations. (Loudon; Macmillan &. Co., Ltd. 

 I! El 10s 



it was those of the middle nineteenth century who 

 fought the battle and won the place, for them who 

 now follow. Though so much in earnest and so 

 successful, there was, as we may find in the corre- 

 spondence of Professor Huxley, a light-heartedness 

 and confidence in ultimate success that should 

 cheer those who. with less difficulties in the present 

 day, are striving to attain a similar, if higher, goal. 

 After all, men of every age are very human, and it is 

 especially when looking over such letters as those 

 before us that we can appreciate how passing 

 disappointments may in fact be only a check 

 leading to greater successes. Such was the case 

 with Huxley in connection with his application for 

 the chair of zoology in the University of Toronto, 

 when he, like Tyndall, who also was a candidate, 

 was rejected. 



As a private correspondent Huxley was inimit- 

 able. No matter what his subject, gay or grave, 

 he left the recipient of his letter happier for 

 its being written. To take an example, when 

 Charles Darwin sent him a copy of his " Descent 

 of Man and Natural Selection," Huxley wrote : — 

 '• Best thanks for your new book, a copy of which 

 I find awaiting me this morning. But I wish you 

 would not bring your books out when I am so 

 busy with all sorts of things. You know I cin't 

 show my face anywhere in society without having 

 read them — and I consider it too bad. No doubt, 

 too, it is full of suggestions just like that I have hit 

 upon by chance at page 212 of voL i., which con- 

 nects the periodicity of vital phenomena with 

 antecedent conditions. Fancy lunacy, etc., coming 

 out of the primary fact that one's nt\i ancestors 

 lived between the tide-marks '. I declare it is the 

 grandest suggestion I have heard of for an age. 

 I have been working like a horse for the last fort- 

 night with the fag-end of influenza hanging about 

 me — and I am improving under the process, which 

 shows what a good tonic work is. I shall try if I 

 can't pick out from ' Sexual Selection' some prac- 

 tical hint for the improvement of gutter-babies, 

 and bring in a resolution thereupon at the School 

 Board." 



It may be interesting to quote Darwin's note 

 in reply to his receiving an advance copy of 

 Huxley's " Elementary Instruction in Biology : — 

 •• Many thanks for your Biology, which I have read. 

 It was a real stroke of genius to think of such a 

 plan. Lord, how I wish that I had gone through 

 such a course ! "' 



It was not always on grave subjects that Huxley 

 wrote. For instance, we quote a note to Matthew 

 Arnold: — "Look at Bishop Wilson on the sin of 

 covetousness and then inspect your umbrella stand. 

 You will there see a beautiful brown smooth- 

 handled umbrella which is not your property. 

 Think of what that excellent prelate would have 

 advised, and bringr it with you the next time you 

 come to the club." 



Anyone who can secure a copy of the " Life and 

 Letters of Huxley " should be congratulated, for 

 it is one of the most entertaining and suggestive 

 books we have read for a long time" past. 



J. T. C. 



