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LIFE OF PROFESSOR HUXLEY chap. 



His conversation (he writes) was singularly finished, and 

 (if I may so express it), clean cut; never long-winded or prosy; 

 enlivened by vivid illustrations. He was an excellent raconteur, 

 and his stories had a stamp of their own which would have 

 made them always and everywhere acceptable. His sense of 

 humour and economy of words would have made it impossible, 

 had he lived to ninety, that they should ever have been dispar- 

 aged as symptoms of what has been called " anecdotage." 



One drawback to conversation, however, he began to 

 complain of during the later seventies. 



It is a great misfortune (he remarked to Professor Osborn) 

 to be deaf in only one ear. Every time I dine out the lady sit- 

 ting by my good ear thinks I am charming, but I make a mortal 

 enemy of the lady on my deaf side. 



In ordinary conversation he never plunged at once into 

 deep subjects. His welcome to the new-comer was always 

 of the simplest and most unstudied. He had no mannerisms 

 nor affectation of phrase. He would begin at once to talk 

 on everyday topics ; an intimate friend he would perhaps 

 rally upon some standing subject of persiflage. But the 

 subsequent course of conversation adapted itself to his com- 

 pany. Deeper subjects were reached soon enough by those 

 who cared for them ; with others he was quite happy to talk 

 of politics or people or his garden, yet, whatever he touched, 

 never failing to infuse into it an unexpected interest. 



In this connection, a typical story was told me by a 

 great friend of mine, whom we had come to know through 

 his marriage with an early friend of the family. " Going to 

 call at Hodeslea," he said, " I was in some trepidation, 

 because I didn't know anything about science or philoso- 

 phy ; but when your mother began to talk over old times 

 with my wife, your father came across the room and sat 

 down by me, and began to talk about the dog which we 

 had brought with us. From that he got on to the different 

 races of dogs and their origin and connections, all quite 

 simply, and not as though to give information, but just to 

 talk about something which obviously interested me. I 

 shall never forget how extraordinarily kind it was of your 

 father to take all this trouble in entertaining a complete 



