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LIFE-STORIES OF FAMOUS MEN

THOMAS HENRY HUXLEY

ISSUED FOR THE RATIONALIST PRESS ASSOCIATION, LIMITED

[Illustration: From a Photograph by Elliott and Fry: Frontispiece]

LIFE-STORIES OF FAMOUS MEN

THOMAS HENRY HUXLEY

A CHARACTER SKETCH

BY

LEONARD HUXLEY, LL.D.

  LONDON:
  WATTS & CO.,
  17 JOHNSON'S COURT, FLEET STREET, E.C.4
  1920

CONTENTS

PAGE

I. INTRODUCTORY 1 II. EARLY DAYS 2 III. MEDICAL TRAINING 13 IV. VOYAGE OF THE "RATTLESNAKE" AND ITS SEQUEL 17 V. LEHRJAHRE 23 VI. VERACITY AND AGNOSTICISM 29 VII. CONTROVERSY AND THE BATTLE OF THE "ORIGIN" 37 VIII. PUBLIC SPEAKING AND LECTURES 43 IX. POPULAR EDUCATION 51 X. EDUCATION; ESPECIALLY OF TEACHERS AND WOMEN 60 XI. METHODS OF WORK 65 XII. SCIENCE AND ETHICS 72 XIII. MORALITY AND THE CHURCH 80 XIV. LIFE AND FRIENDSHIPS 84 XV. CHARLES DARWIN 92 XVI. HOOKER, FORBES, TYNDALL, SPENCER 100 XVII. IN THE FAMILY CIRCLE 111 XVIII. SOME LETTERS AND TABLE-TALK 117

ILLUSTRATIONS

  PORTRAIT FROM A PHOTOGRAPH BY
  ELLIOTT AND FRY Frontispiece

FROM A DAGUERROTYPE MADE IN 1846 _To face p._20

  PORTRAIT FROM A PHOTOGRAPH BY
  MAULL AND POLYBLANK, 1857 _To face p._44

  PORTRAIT FROM A PHOTOGRAPH BY
  DOWNEY, 1890 _To face p._102

I

INTRODUCTORY

The object of a full-dress biography is to present as completea picture as may be of a man and his work, the influence of hischaracter upon his achievement, the struggle with opposing influencesto carry out some guiding purpose or great idea. With abundantdocuments at hand the individual development, the action of eventsupon character, and of character upon events, can be shown in thespontaneous freedom of letters, as well as in considered publications.But this little book is not a full-dress biography, although it mayinduce readers to turn to the larger Life and Letters, in which(or in the Aphorisms and Reflections of T.H. Huxley) facts andquotations can be turned up by means of the index; it is designedrather as a character sketch, to show not so much the work done aswhat manner of man Huxley was, and the spirit in which he undertookthat work. It will not be a history of his scientific investigationsor his philosophical researches; it will be personal, while from thepersonal side illustrating his attitude towards his scientific andphilosophical thought.

II

EARLY DAYS

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