< Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 74.djvu
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THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY

come any nearer than we are at present to the truths which he struggled to attain.

V

On December 8, 1879, when Darwin was in his seventieth year and I in my twenty-second, I had the rare privilege of meeting him and looking steadily in his face during a few moments' conversation. It was in Huxley's laboratory, and I was at the time working upon the anatomy of the Crustacea. The entry in my journal is as follows:

This is a red letter day for me. As I was leaning over my lobster (Homarus vulgaris) this morning, cutting away at the brain, I raised my head and looked up to see Huxley and Darwin passing by me. I believe I never shall see two such great naturalists together again. I went on apparently with skill, really hacking my brain away, and cast an occasional glance at the great old gray-haired man. I was startled, so unexpected was it, by Huxley speaking to me and introducing me to Darwin as "an American who has already done some good paleontological work on the other side of the water." I gave Darwin's hand a tremendous squeeze (for I never shall shake it again) and said, without intending, in an almost reverential tone, "I am very glad to meet you." He stands much taller than Huxley, has a very ruddy face, with benevolent blue ej^es and overhanging eyebrows. His beard is quite long and perfectly white and his hair falls partly over a low forehead. His features are not good. My general impression of his face is very pleasant. He smiled broadly, said something about a hope that Marsh with his students would not be hindered in his work, and Huxley saying, "I must not let you talk too much," hurried him on into the next room.

I may add as distinctly recorded in my memory, that the impression of Darwin's bluish-gray eyes, deepset under the overhanging brows, was that they were the eyes of a man who could survey all nature.

Another memory of interest is that the instant Huxley closed the door I was mobbed as the "lucky American" by the ninety less fortunate students of Great Britain and other countries.

Huxley's solicitude for Darwin's strength was characteristic of him. He often alluded to himself as "Darwin's bull dog."

I have already stated that of the two men Darwin gave the impression of enjoying better health. Huxley was then sixteen years the younger, yet the burdens and strain of London life made him look less young and hale. In this connection an earlier jotting from the same laboratory is as follows:

Huxley comes in as the clock strikes and begins to lecture at once, almost before it ceases. He looks old and somewhat broken, his eyes deeply sunken, but as a lecturer as strong as he ever could have been. His language is very simple too.

VI

What of the conflict between science and theology? We are now in a process of readjustment, but let us imagine our descendants in

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