nderstand. The novelty was
that an attempt should be made to bring these facts within the reach
of all. The idea proved extremely infectious; in Europe and America,
in many languages and by many authors, Huxley's main lines were
followed, with the result that a new branch of education, and almost
of science, was created.

The body of man and the processes of life, in the earlier part of the
century, were almost as unknown to most people as were the structure of
the earth and the great processes of nature. What was known of human
anatomy and physiology was contained in ponderous treatises, written in
difficult and technical language suitable only for students of medicine
and doctors. It was thought to be not only unnecessary but slightly
coarse for those not in the profession to know anything of the viscera
of digestion, circulation, and so forth. Huxley laid low this great
superstition by his _Elementary Lessons in Physiology_, a little volume
first published in 1866, which ran through many editions. In it he wrote
primarily for teachers and learners in boys' and girls' schools, and
selected from the great bulk of knowledge and opinion called human
physiology only the important and well-established truths. So successful
was he in his selection that, notwithstanding the immense increase in
knowledge since he wrote, the book still remains an adequate and useful
elementary treatise, and by this time must have given their main
knowledge of the human body to hundreds and thousands of readers who
otherwise would have remained ignorant.

The books of which we have been writing were addressed to the general
public, but, in addition, Huxley wrote several, of which three are
specially important, for those students who devote themselves
specially to anatomy. _The Crayfish_, his famous volume in the
International Scientific Series, has been called by Professor Howes,
the assistant and successor of Huxley at the Royal College of Science,
"probably the best biological treatise ever written." Many naturalists
have written elaborate monographs on single animals: Lyonet worked for
years on the willow caterpillar, Strauss Durckheim devoted an even
minuter attention to the common cockchafer, and the great Bojanus
investigated almost every fibre in the structure of the tortoise. The
volumes produced by these anatomists were valuable and memorable, and
occupy an honoured place in the library of science, but Huxley's aim
was wider and grea