Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1902-01-16

with the passing of the day. To this
class belong most Of his cOntrover-
sial papers with Mr.. Gladstone, DR..
WAGE, and others, and many of those
relating to education in science.
Again, of the remainder of his work
the larger portion will survive as spe-
cialiZed technical discussions, and not
as literature proper. Thus much Of
his DarWiniana, together with his BIO
logical and geological essays, may CON
tinue, as at present, popular adapta-
tiOns of scientific questions, while the
essay On Hume has already become
an enduring possession of philosophy
Still again, gems Of thought in the
midst of dry discussions are not litera-
ture; nor are newspaper articles, scat
tered notes, or other such discOnnect-
ed matter. Thus, much as we may re
greet it. all such works Of Huxley
and they are numeTOus-Will pass
away, and this will still further dimin-
ish the mass of his permanent artistic
achievements. To find then, his true
claims upon the literary world, we
must look into the few but priceless
essays that remain. These are not col
lected in one book, but are scattered
promiscuously throughout the nine
volumes Of the last arrangement Of
his works. Such are the ESSAYS of
which The Method of Zadig. Evolution
and Ethics, and the biographical and
critical sketch of Joseph PrieStIey are
examples. These will endure as hui
name literature because they possess
those qualities Of style and humanitar-
ianjsm which are the necessary and
sufficient conditions of such.
1t is displeasing to speak of classify
ing literary production; one may as
we'll speak of measuring a mans soul
with yardstick, or of classifying Beet
hoven's sonatas. Nevertheless. 1T
erary essays may be roughly divided
into the purely artistic, which serve
principally to create artistic atmos-
phereS and display the authors per
sonality, and the semi-artistic, which
are written with a purpose to prove q
principle or state a fact, but which
are cast into artistic form and so be.
come a part of literature. The first
class is well eXemplified by Thoreau
and Hawthorne; the second by RuslliJ
and Huxley.
What, then, shall we consider as
HuXley's mission to the literary world {?
1t was not the prOpounding of new doe
trines; for, with very few exceptions
his doctrines are not new. Nor was it
the pOpulariZing of science, the mere
recasting Of other peoples ideas; for
his works not only embody the spirit
as we'll as the grosser materials of the
scientist, but are everywhere instinC+
with something of his own, more vital
more significant. His most striking
characteristics in doctrine and in char.
acter were unCriginal. Yet the diver
sified elements in each were com
bined into such new and startling
whOles as to produce upon the one
hand philosophy Of life, and upon the
other a character, each distinctly
novel and Of profound, significance
Here were two powerful and original
forces. Then personality welded doe
trine, and the result was Huxley as a
literary man, factor in the literary
world which combined De Quincey's
literature of knowledge and literature
of power. For rarely has knowledge
been used with such power as in the
hands of Huxley. 1t was in this con,
struction out of loose truths of work
able theories of life and ethics that he
excelled. The philosopher finds De,
fore him mass of unassorted facts.
and from them builds a scheme of the
universe So Huxley examined the
unassorted materials of generations of
philosophic and scientific observers of
mankind, and adding to these his Own
copious experiences, deduced there.
from code Of morals, practical phi
losophy, and a workable basis of ac-
ton for that part Of life upon which
science touches. In his autobiography
he sums up his chief objects, which
were ito promote the increase of nat
ural knowledge, and to forward the
application of scientific methods Of in
vestigation to all the problems of life"
He is the exponent of such portion of
the theory Of how we ought to live as
is derivable in this manner