Huxley, however, saw nothing
degrading to man's dignity in the theory of evolution. In a wonderfully
fine sentence he gives his own estimate of the theory as it affects
man's future on earth. "Thoughtful men once escaped from the blinding
influences of traditional prejudices, will find in the lowly stock
whence man has sprung the best evidence of the splendour of his
capacities; and will discover, in his long progress through the past, a
reasonable ground of faith in his attainment of a nobler future." As
a result of all these controversies on The Origin of Species and of
investigations to uphold Darwin's theory, Huxley wrote his first book,
already mentioned, Man's Place in Nature.
To read a list of the various kinds of work which Huxley was doing
from 1870 to 1875 is to be convinced of his abundant energy and many
interests. At about this time Huxley executed the plan which he had had
in mind for a long time, the establishment of laboratories for the
use of students. His object was to furnish a more exact preliminary
training. He complains that the student who enters the medical school
is "so habituated to learn only from books, or oral teaching, that the
attempt to learn from things and to get his knowledge at first hand is
something new and strange." To make this method of teaching successful
in the schools, Huxley gave practical instruction in laboratory work to
school-masters.
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