88 THOMAS HENRY HUXLEY 



and sweeping statements, the reduction of numberless superlatives 

 to positives, asserted that, if as a young man he had fallen in with 

 Huxley's writings before Bacon's, they would have produced 

 the same effect upon him." 



The address upon Chalk is noteworthy in a variety of 

 ways. For one thing it marks the increasing interest 

 which men of science were beginning to take in deep-sea 

 life, and which culminated in the equipment and despatch 

 of the Challenger expedition towards the end of 1872. 



The third address, given during 1868, " On the Physical 

 Basis of Life " (Coll. Essays, i, p. 1 30), was delivered in 

 Edinburgh as a lay sermon (Sunday evening, November 8), 

 and attracted an unusual amount of attention, friendly 

 and otherwise. 



In a note (dated 1892) to the reprint of this essay, 

 Huxley remarks : — 



" I cannot say I have ever had to complain of lack of hostile 

 criticism ; but the preceding essay has come in for more than its 

 fair share of that commodity." 



Yet its main object was simply to show that all the 

 manifestations of life as we know it, whether in plants or 

 animals, are associated with a physical substratum of the 

 same character, i.e., protoplasm ; teaching which is now 

 embodied in every elementary course of biology. But 

 after carrying this thesis to its logical conclusion, Huxley 

 expressly says : — 



"... I, individually, am no materialist, but, on the contrary, 

 believe materialism to involve grave philosophical error. This 

 union of materialistic terminology with the repudiation of material- 

 istic philosophy I share with some of the most thoughtful men 

 with whom I am acquainted." 



The address also includes a criticism of the position 

 taken up by Archbishop Thomson, who, in his lecture 



