CHAPTER XXIV 



He had intellect to comprehend his highest duty distinctly, and 

 force of character to do it; which of us dare ask for a higher 

 summary of his life than that? 



Such was Huxley's epitaph upon Henslow ; it was the 

 standard which he endeavoured to reach in his own life. It 

 is the expression of that passion for veracity which was 

 perhaps his strongest characteristic ; an uncompromising 

 passion for truth in thought, which would admit no particle 

 of self-deception, no assertion beyond what could be veri- 

 fied ; for truth in act, perfect straightforwardness and sin- 

 cerity, with complete disregard of personal consequences 

 for uttering unpalatable fact. 



Truthfulness, in his eyes, was the cardinal virtue, with- 

 out which no stable society can exist. Conviction, sin- 

 cerity, he always respected, whether on his own side or 

 against him. Clever men, he would say, are as common 

 as blackberries ; the rare thing is to find a good one. The 

 lie from interested motives was only more hateful to him 

 than the lie from self-delusion or foggy thinking. With 

 this he classed the " sin of faith," as he called it ; that form 

 of credence which does not fulfil the duty of making a right 

 use of reason ; which prostitutes reason by giving assent 

 to propositions which are neither self-evident nor adequately 

 proved. 



This principle has always been far from finding universal 

 acceptance. One of his theological opponents went so far 

 as to affirm that a doctrine may be not only held, but 

 dogmatically insisted on, by a teacher who is, all the time, 

 fully aware that science may ultimately prove it to be quite 

 untenable. 



427 



