文档介绍：AUTOBIOGRAPHY AND SELECTED ESSAYS
AUTOBIOGRAPHY
AND SELECTED
ESSAYS
By THOMAS HENRY HUXLEY
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AUTOBIOGRAPHY AND SELECTED ESSAYS
PREFACE
The purpose of the following selections is to present to students of
English a few of Huxley's representative essays. Some of these
selections plete; others are extracts. In the latter case, however,
they are not extracts in the sense of being plete wholes, for each
selection given will be found to have, in Aristotle's phrase, "a beginning, a
middle, and an end." That they plete in themselves, although
only parts of whole essays, is due to the fact that Huxley, in order to make
eeding material clear, often prepares the way with a long and careful
definition. Such is the nature of the extract A Liberal Education, in reality
a definition to make distinct and forcible his ideas on the ings of
English schools. Such a definition, also, is The Method of Scientific
Investigation.
The footnotes are those of the author. Other notes on the text have
been included for the benefit of schools inadequately equipped with
reference books. It is hoped, however, that the notes may be found not to
be so numerous as to prevent the training of the student in a self-reliant
and scholarly use of dictionaries and reference books; it is hoped, also,
that they may serve to stimulate him to trace out for himself more
completely any subject connected with the text in which he may feel a
peculiar interest. It should be recognized that notes are of value only as
they develop power to read intelligently. If unintelligently relied upon,
they may even foster indifference and lazy mental habits.
I wish to express my obligation to Miss Flora Bridges, whose careful
reading of the manuscript has been most helpful, and to Professor Clara F.
Stevens, the head of the English Department at Mount Holyoke College,
whose very practical aid made this volume possible.
A. L. F. S.
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AUTOBIOGRAPHY AND SELECTED ESSAYS
INTRODUCTION
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