The Life and Letters of Thomas Henry Huxley, vol 1 | Page 2

further from his mind than the desire to found a school of thought. He
only endeavoured as a scholar and a student to clear up his own
thoughts and help others to clear theirs, whether in the intellectual or
the moral world. This was the help he steadfastly hoped to give the
people, that interacting union of intellectual freedom and moral

discernment which may be furthered by good education and training,
by precept and example, that basis of all social health and prosperity.
And if, as he said, he would like to be remembered as one who had
done his best to help the people, he meant assuredly not the people only
of his native land, but the wider world to whom his words could be
carried.
PREFACE TO THE ENGLISH EDITION.
My father's life was one of so many interests, and his work was at all
times so diversified, that to follow each thread separately, as if he had
been engaged on that alone for a time, would be to give a false
impression of his activity and the peculiar character of his labours. All
through his active career he was equally busy with research into nature,
with studies in philosophy, with teaching and administrative work. The
real measure of his energy can only be found when all these are
considered together. Without this there can be no conception of the
limitations imposed upon him in his chosen life's work. The mere
amount of his research is greatly magnified by the smallness of the time
allowed for it.
But great as was the impression left by these researches in purely
scientific circles, it is not by them alone that he made his impression
upon the mass of his contemporaries. They were chiefly moved by
something over and above his wide knowledge in so many fields--by
his passionate sincerity, his interest not only in pure knowledge, but in
human life, by his belief that the interpretation of the book of nature
was not to be kept apart from the ultimate problems of existence; by the
love of truth, in short, both theoretical and practical, which gave the
key to the character of the man himself.
Accordingly, I have not discussed with any fulness the value of his
technical contributions to natural science; I have not drawn up a
compendium of his philosophical views. One is a work for specialists;
the other can be gathered from his published works. I have
endeavoured rather to give the public a picture, so far as I can, of the
man himself, of his aims in the many struggles in which he was
engaged, of his character and temperament, and the circumstances
under which his various works were begun and completed.
So far as possible, I have made his letters, or extracts from them, tell
the story of his life. If those of any given period are diverse in tone and

character, it is simply because they reflect an equal diversity of
occupations and interests. Few of the letters, however, are of any great
length; many are little more than hurried notes; others, mainly of
private interest, supply a sentence here and there to fill in the general
outline.
Moreover, whenever circumstances permit, I have endeavoured to
make my own part in the book entirely impersonal. My experience is
that the constant iteration by the biographer of his relationship to the
subject of his memoir, can become exasperating to the reader; so that at
the risk of offending in the opposite direction, I have chosen the other
course.
Lastly, I have to express my grateful thanks to all who have sent me
letters or supplied information, and especially to Dr. J.H. Gladstone, Sir
Mountstuart Grant Duff, Professor Howes, Professor Henry Sidgwick,
and Sir Spencer Walpole, for their contributions to the book; but above
all to Sir Joseph Hooker and Sir Michael Foster, whose invaluable help
in reading proofs and making suggestions has been, as it were, a final
labour of love for the memory of their old friend.

CONTENTS.
PREFACE TO THE AMERICAN EDITION.
PREFACE TO THE ENGLISH EDITION.

CHAPTER 1.
1. 1825-1842.

CHAPTER 1.
2. 1841-1846.

CHAPTER 1.
3. 1846-1849.

CHAPTER 1.

4. 1848-1850.

CHAPTER 1.
5. 1850-1851.

CHAPTER 1.
6. 1851-1854.

CHAPTER 1.
7. 1851-1853.

CHAPTER 1.
8. 1854.

CHAPTER 1.
9. 1855.

CHAPTER 1.
10. 1855-1858.

CHAPTER 1.
11. 1857-1858.

CHAPTER 1.
12. 1859-1860.

CHAPTER 1.

13. 1859.

CHAPTER 1.
14. 1859-1860.

CHAPTER 1.
15. 1860-1863.

CHAPTER 1.
16. 1860-1861.

CHAPTER 1.
17. 1861-1863.

CHAPTER 1.
18. 1864.

CHAPTER 1.
19. 1865.

CHAPTER 1.
20. 1866.

CHAPTER 1.
21. 1867.

CHAPTER 1.

22. 1868.

CHAPTER 1.
23. 1869.

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LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.