372 Zoological Classification. 



he possesses in a very high degree a devotion to truth. We 

 have no one extant among ns who surpasses him, and few who 

 come near him, in that enviable quality of being able to use 

 an hypothesis without becoming a slave to it. He is ardent in his 

 sympathies with what appears to be a wide and sound generali- 

 zation ; but always on the look-out for any unexpected fact 

 that might contradict it. We wish he would give up his life- 

 long quarrel with Owen, whom he has distanced in science as 

 well as convicted of error. We believe those who admire 

 him most are really sick of this squabble, and he should 

 not let it haunt him as King Charles' head haunted Mr. Dick. 



The Elements of Comparative Anatomy promises to be one 

 of the greatest scientific works of our time ; but we can't help 

 feeling that its author wants leisure to make the best of his 

 materials. Successive courses of lectures, published at inter- 

 vals, do not, and cannot, make the most complete work. If 

 there be, however, blame for not doing better, it rests not with 

 Professor Huxley, but with our so-called state of ' ' civilization." 

 Every one able to form an opinion on the subject, has long seen 

 that in Mr. Huxley we had our best opportunity of taking a 

 high stand in Comparative Anatomy and Zoology. Of our 

 rising scientific men he was the most likely to furnish a goodly 

 supply of new truths in his department, and to connect them 

 with each other, and with old truths, by a philosophy at once 

 cautious and comprehensive. Our society, in its collective 

 capacity, found out enough of this obvious fact to enlist his 

 services in an educational department : but it imposed upon 

 upon him a preposterous quantity of work for a ridiculous 

 quantity of pay. To do justice to his own powers, and conduce 

 most highly to the intellectual development of his country, fair 

 remuneration and sufficient leisure are palpable requisites. Our 

 system leaves him no leisure ; and as members of our ruling 

 class saunter from their luxurious clubs, within a stone's-throw 

 of the scene of his labours, they may do well to reflect that a 

 man, whose name will live when theirs is forgotten, toils for a 

 pittance far below the salary of a clever and fortunate cook. 



