EARLY LIFE AND TRAINING 3 



the forerunner of Lyell's Principles, seems sufficiently 

 remarkable, but that he should, a little later, master 

 Hamilton's Logic, is no less than astounding. 



To this period we must refer the inception of Huxley's 

 lifelong interest in philosophy, his ever manifest desire 

 to get behind the facts, to reach bed-rock so far as possible. 

 As a result of his association with his brother-in-law, Dr. 

 Cooke, he now acquired his first direct interest in 

 anatomy, and, most unfortunately, contracted blood- 

 poisoning at a post-mortem examination, which dates the 

 origin of digestive troubles that severely handicapped his 

 entire career. 



Among the works read by Huxley during his early 

 teens were several of Carlyle's, and there can be no 

 doubt that these exerted a profound influence upon his 

 character, strengthening his natural tendency to despise 

 all shams and humbugs, and to entertain high ideals of 

 duty. It would also seem that they were of inestimable 

 service in another respect, leading the young student to 

 commence the study of German, a much neglected lan- 

 guage in those days. 



He also very early laid the foundation of a thorough 

 knowledge of French and Italian. In later years his 

 linguistic attainments were not only of the greatest ser- 

 vice to him in the prosecution of his researches, but his 

 example has effected a complete metamorphosis in the 

 attitude of serious workers in the natural history sciences. 

 Before Huxley's time the results of foreign research 

 were often ignored or neglected. He first inaugurated 

 the now universal custom of making bibliographical 

 references and lists as complete as possible, whereby 

 much overlapping and waste of energy have been averted. 



Many if not most boys in their teens have some idea 

 of what they would like to be, and Huxley was no 



