I02 LIFE OF PROFESSOR HUXLEY chap, vii 



mind not so great as he thinks himself. He can only work in 

 the concrete from bone to bone, in abstract reasoning he be- 

 comes lost — witness " Parthenogenesis " which he told me he 

 considered one of the best things he had done ! 



He has, however, been very civil to me, and I am as grate- 

 ful as it is possible to be towards a man with whom I feel it 

 necessary to be always on my guard. 



Quite another being is the other leader of Zoological Science 

 in this country — I mean Edward Forbes, Paleontologist to the 

 Geological Survey. More especially a Zoologist and a Geologist 

 than a Comparative Anatomist, he has more claims to the title 

 of a Philosophic Naturalist than any man I know of in England. 

 A man of letters and an artist, he has not merged the man in the 

 man of science—he has sympathies for all, and an earnest, truth- 

 seeking, thoroughly genial disposition which win for him your 

 affection as well as your respect. Forbes has more influence by 

 his personal weight and example upon the rising generation of 

 scientific naturalists than Owen will have if he write from now 

 till Doomsday. 



Personally I am greatly indebted to him (though the opinion 

 I have just expressed is that of the world in general). During 

 my absence he superintended the publication of my paper, and 

 from the moment of my arrival until now he has given me all 

 the help one man can give another. Why he should have done 

 so I do not know, as when I left England I had only spoken 

 to him once. 



The rest of the naturalists stand far below these two in 

 learning, originality, and grasp of mind. Goodsir of Edinburgh 

 should I suppose come next, but he can't write intelligibly. Dar- 

 win might be anything if he had good health. Bell is a good man 

 in all the senses of the word, but wants qualities 2 and 3. New- 

 port is a laborious man, but wants i and 3. Grant and Rymer 

 Jones — arcades ambo — ^have mistaken their vocation. 



My old chief Richardson is a man of men, but troubles him- 

 self little with anything but detail zoology. What think you of 

 his getting married for the third time just before his last ex- 

 pedition? I hardly know by which step he approved himself 

 the bolder man. 



I think I have now fulfilled my promise of supplying you 

 with a little scientific scandal — and if this long epistle has repaid 

 your trouble in getting through it, I am content. 



Believe me, I have not forgotten, nor ever shall forget, your 

 kindness to me at a time when a little appreciation and encour- 



