Imperial College of Science and Technology: Huxley Memorial Lectures, 1925–1932

Abstract

THE seven memorial lectures on different aspects of Huxley's life and work which are here collected give a very readable and impressive picture of the influence which T. H. Huxley still exerts in the field of science. It may be true that, as Aldous Huxley remarks in correcting G. K. Chesterton,“Huxley is more of a literary than a scientific man”, but while in one sense as a scientific man Huxley is now a mere historical figure, in another sense his influence as a man of science is still profoundly felt. The impetus he gave to scientific ways of thinking, not merely in some specialised field such as biology but also in the everyday affairs of life, has not yet died out. The battle he joined on the place of scientific method in education is still unfinished but his teachings and example are as inspiring as ever. The publication of these lectures in more permanent form should make known to a wider circle of scientific workers something of the sincerity and the humility which characterised Thomas Huxley, and should encourage them to take part in the yet unfinished warfare which he waged for scientific leadership and to emulate his own felicity of exposition of the aims and results of scientific studies.

Imperial College of Science and Technology: Huxley Memorial Lectures, 1925–1932.

Pp. iii + 12 + 30 + 38 + 27 + 16 + 21 + 28. (London: Macmillan and Co., Ltd., 1932.) 2s. 6d. net.