462 LIFE OF PROFESSOR HUXLEY chap, xxix 



which is attainable by mere reading, though infinitely better 

 than ignorance, is knowledge of a very different kind from 

 that which arises from direct contact with fact." 



" Direct contact with fact ! " What can that mean (so, at 

 least, very many ask) but a declaration, on high authority, to 

 teachers and learners that vivisection alone can give them any 

 real and effective instruction ? 



But the subsequent passage is still stronger, for it states 

 " that the worth of the pursuit of science, as an intellectual dis- 

 cipline, is almost lost by those who only seek it in books." 



Is not language like this calculated to touch the zeal and 

 vanity of teachers and learners at the very quick, and urge them 

 to improve their own minds and stand well in the eyes of the 

 profession and the public by positive progress in experimental 

 physiology? Ordinary readers, most people would think, could 

 come to no other conclusion. 



But a disclaimer from Professor Huxley is enough ; I am 

 sorry to have misunderstood him; and I must ask his pardon. I 

 sincerely rejoice to have received such an assurance that his 

 great name shall never be used for such a project as that which 

 excited our fears. 



On this he wrote : — 



You will have seen Lord Shaftesbury's reply to my letter. 

 I thought it frank and straightforward, and I have written a 

 private letter * to the old boy of a placable and proper char- 

 acter. 



In 1874 he had also had a small passage of arms with the 

 late Mr. W. E. Forster, then Vice-President of the Council, 

 upon the same subject. Mr, Forster was about to leave 

 office, and when he gave his official authorisation for sum- 

 mer courses of lectures at South Kensington on Biology, 

 Chemistry, Geology, etc., he did so with the special proviso 

 that there be no vivisection experiments in any of the 

 courses, and further, appended a Memorandum, explaining 

 the reasons on which he acted. 



Now, although Huxley was mentioned by name as hav- 

 ing taken care to avoid inflicting pain in certain previous 



* " Huxley, the Professor, has written me a very civil, nay kind, 

 letter. I replied in the same spirit." (Lord Shaftesbury, Life and 

 Work, iii. 373, June 3, 1876.) 



