Essays like A Liberal Education and The Principal
Subjects of Education may suggest to him the meaning of all his work,
and may suggest, also, the things which it would be well for him to
know; and, even more, a consideration of these subjects may arouse him
to a greater interest and responsibility than he usually assumes toward
his own mental equipment. Of greater interest probably will be the
subjects which deal with nature; for the ways of nature are more nearly
within the range of his real concerns than are the wherefores of study.
The story of the formation of a piece of chalk, the substance which lies
at the basis of all life, the habits of sea animals, are all subjects
the nature of which is akin to his own eager interest in the world.
Undoubtedly the subjects about which Huxley writes will "appeal" to
the student; but it is in analysis that the real discipline lies. For
analysis Huxley's essays are excellent. They illustrate "the clear power
of exposition," and such power is, as Huxley wrote to Tyndall, the one
quality the people want,--exposition "so clear that they may think they
understand even if they don't." Huxley obtains that perfect clearness
in his own work by simple definition, by keeping steadily before his
audience his intention, and by making plain throughout his lecture a
well-defined organic structure.
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