The sun., 1900-12-23

/
finally. " achieved tho fato. which IL th'
outhnrnsio - scientific work tie fato o'
! b"inR enclosed among tho hubble NJ the foun.
dalton of later tnowlsdse aud forgotten
w.
During thls period NJ special vrrh ~ the
arthropolosical aide of tho evolution theory
/ lIuNlsv mad" two important contributions
- IN" general question As Secretary Of
tho Go logical Sooio'y tho duty ~ de iyertns
tho anniversary address fell 10 him IN 1907
The object AZ which he aim. appears from
the postscript - n brief note 70 Hooker i
am writing tho boIy NJ tho address and am
going To- ctiticise palcontological doctrines
In scnrr al In n way that will nutter their nerve,
considerably Darwin IL met overywhcre
with ON. this ~ opposed TO paleontolosy
or that Ia opposed to palsontolosy and !
mean 10 turn round and ask. Now. mcs-
slrur' l's palooutolczues. what tho devil
d. YOU roally know Tho address Itself
Is thus described by sir Charles fyeiI: lux
ley d"lycrc q brilliant critical discourse
on what raleontology has and has not done.
and proved the value ~ negative evidence.
how much the progressive development
system has heen rushed too far. how little
can be said in favor Of OWENS more gcner-
bratn and invortebrata Of remote ages. tho
persistencv ~ many forms. high and low
throughout time. how little We know Of the
beginning Of Nfe upon the earth. how often
events called contcinporaneous in geology
are applied 20 things which. instead Of coin
Gliding in time. may have happened ten mil
lions OF years apart. &c. and mastery
sketcH comparing tH- p9.t mi Tresent in al
most every claSs o' zoology. and sometimes
of botany cited from Hooker. which he said
ne lad Gonc because II was useful To look
into IA" cellars and see how much gold there
was there. and whether the quantity Of bull
lion justified such an enormous circulation
Of paper. | never remember an address
listened to with such applause. though there
were many private protests against some OF
HE bold in!ons.
The other contribution to the general
question was tho six Working Mems Lectures
delivered In November and December. 1882.
Huxley wrote about them 20 Darwin: 4
cant find ANYTHING 70 talk to the working
men about this year but your book. / mean
to give them a commentary a Ia Coke upon
Lyttleton." OF these lectures Darwin wrote on
Dec. ls' Il have read Mo-. ". and V. They
are simply perfect. They ought 20 be largely
advertised but II IL very good In me To say
80, for I threw down No. " with this re-
Election. What is the good Of my writing a
laundering big book when everything is In
this green little book 60 dcspicnble for its
si2e?' In the namc OF all that Ia good and bad.
] may "a we'll shut UP shop altogether As
for the value Of the work thus done In sup
port Of Darwin's theory. the present b,og-
rapher quotes the words OF Lord Kelvin.
when. ma President Of the Royal Society In
1894, II fell to him 20 award 70 Huxley the Dar-
win medal. ITO the world at large perhans.
Mr.. Huxley's share in moulding the thesis
OF Natural Selection Is less known than T. his
bold. unwearied exposition and defence OF
II after II had been made public An. indeed
a speculative triHer. revelling In the prob
lens 81 the might have been. would find n
consenial theme in the inquiry how soon
what we call 'Darwinism' would have mot
with the acceptance with which It has met and
have gained the power which II has gained
had II not been for tho brilliant advocacy
with which In its early DAYS It was e1pounde
TO all classes Of men. That advocacy had
one atrikinR mark: whIle It made or strovc
TO make clear how deep the now view went
down and how fur It re'ched. It never shrank
from trying 70 make equally clear the limit
beyond which II could not go"
In 1852 Huxley was made examiner IN
an office which he held until 1870. and In tn.
came year he wa. appointed 70 tho Puntorian
I rrofe.sorship In the same institution In
a letter datsd May 7. tse3, we Ind reference
70 Robert Lowe. afterward Lord Sherbrooke,
which has a quasl-prophetc interest: Il
have come TO the conviction that our friend
Bob ls most admirable. well-iudgtnc states-
man, for he says | am the only man NJ 20 be
at the head Of the British Museum, and that.
II he had his way. he would put me there-
Years aftorward on Sir n. Owens retire
ment the post was offered 10 Huxley. but
Re declined 1t. as he greatly disliked the
kind Of work. Al the same time he pointed
out 10 the Minister who made the offer
that the man o! all others for the place would
he Sir W. II. Flower. a suggestion happily
acted on. In a letter OF about tho same
date addressed TO Charles ingsley. we fnd
Home interesting illusions TO metaphysical
specuations which Huxley abhorr-d Il
know nothing OF Necessity. abominate tho
word Law. except as meaning that we know
nothing TO the contrary. and am quit. ready
to admit that thcro may be some place tho
other side OF nowhere par srenpie. where
2-2=s. and where all bodies natur ally repel
one another instead Of cravitatins together.
/ don't know whether Matter is anything
distinct from Force. don't know that
atoms arc anything but pure myths. Cocito
ergo sunl is to my mind q ridiculous piece Of
had logic, all | can saw at any time being
'Cooito. The Latin form Of the assertion
hold to be prefer BILE to the English. I think
because the latter asserts tho existence Of
m Ego nbout which the bundle OF phenomen,
at present addressing you knows nothlng'
Elsewhere In the same letter Huxley ssys
y am quite a. ready 10 admit your doctrine
th6 souls secrete bodies a. am the opposite
ore that bodies secrete souls-simply because
I deny the possibility Of obtaining any evil
dence as to the truth or falsehood Of either
hypothesis. My fundamental axiom OF
speculative philosophy 10 that u,aterialism
and spiritusllsm are opposite poles Of the
same absurdity-the absurdity Of ima4fnlns
that we know anything about either spirit
or matter Huxley goes on TO illustrate
his own attitude toward speculation as fol-
lows This universe is. I conceive. like
20 a gre1t aamo being played out. and We
poor mortals are allowed to take A hard
BY great good fortune the wiser among us
hsvs made out some few Of the rules OF the
game a. at present played. We call them
Laws Of Naturs. and honor them because
we hnd that II We ohcy thcrn we win some
thing for our pains. The cards are our
theories and hypothesis. the tricks our OK
perlInentsl vcrinoations Rut what sane