ESSAYS AND ADDRESSES OF THOMAS HENRY HUXLEY EDITED WITH NOTES AND AN INTRODUCTION BY PHILO MELVYN BUCK, JR. MCKINLEY HIGH SCHOOL, ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI New York THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 1910 All rights reserved PREFATORY NOTE IN selecting the Essays and Addresses for this volume the editor has desired first of all to give a fair view of the wide field of Huxley's interest. Many of the intellectual conflicts, however, in which he felt called to take part have since his time become almost dead issues. It would be quite out of place to revive them in a book meant largely for classroom use. For the sake of classes of greater maturity and readers who desire to see Huxley's relation to certain philosophical problems, two lectures, On Descartes' Discourse and On the Physical Basis of Life, have been added. For ordinary class-room purposes they are entirely too speculative, though certain passages stand out as models of perfectly clear exposition. Huxley's clear and logical style is perhaps what makes his work chiefly interesting to-day, and we see it best when he is dealing with what would otherwise appear as abstruse and uninviting. In the Introduction the editor has purposely refrained from giving a chronological account of Huxley's life, but by means of extracts from his letters and other writings he has attempted to give a picture of the many-sided man. An outline of his life would be too scattered to be attractive and illuminating. Finally, the editor wishes to acknowledge the courtesy of D. Appleton & Co. for permission to print the essays and addresses from the "Authorized Edition" of which they are the publishers, and to use extracts from the interesting volume, Life and Letters of Thomas H. Huxley, by his son, Leonard Huxley. THE LINDELL, Lincoln, Nebraska, |