uxley certainly was: but the quality which gives meaning to
his work, which makes it live, is a certain human quality due to the
fact that Huxley was always keenly alive to the relation of science to
the problems of life. For this reason, he was not content with the
mere acquirement of knowledge; and for this reason, also, he could not
quietly wait until the world should come to his way of thinking. Much
of the time, therefore, which he would otherwise naturally have spent
in research, he spent in contending for and in endeavoring to popularize
the facts of science. It was this desire to make his ideas prevail
that led Huxley to work for a mastery of the technique of speaking and
writing. He hated both, but taught himself to do both well. The end of
all his infinite pains about his writing was not because style for its
own sake is worth while, but because he saw that the only way to win
men to a consideration of his message was to make it perfectly clear and
attractive to them. Huxley's message to the people was that happiness,
usefulness, and even material prosperity depend upon an understanding
of the laws of nature. He also taught that a knowledge of the facts of
science is the soundest basis for moral law; that a clear sense of
the penalties which Nature inflicts for disobedience of her laws must
eventually be the greatest force for the purification of life. If he
was to be remembered, therefore, he desired that he should be remembered
primarily as one who had helped the people "to think truly and to live
rightly." Huxley's writing is, then, something more than a scholarly
exposition of abstruse matter; for it has been further devoted to the
increasing of man's capacity for usefulness, and to the betterment of
his life here on earth.

II -- SUBJECT-MATTER, STRUCTURE, AND STYLE

From the point of view of subject-matter, structure, and style, Huxley's
essays are admirably adapted to the uses of the student in English.
The themes of the essays are two, education and science. In these
two subjects Huxley earnestly sought to arouse interest and to impart
knowledge, because he believed that intelligence in these matters is
essential for the advancement of the race in strength and morality. Both
subjects, therefore, should be valuable to the student. In education,
certainly, he should be interested, since it is his main occupation, if
not his chief concern. Essays like A Liberal Education and The Principal
Subject