[251] Memoir of Sir William Hamilton, by John Veitch, p. 136 et seq., Edinburgh, 1869.
It is frequently said that women, unlike men, are indifferent to fame. This may be true so far as they are personally concerned; but it is certainly not true of them in regard to their husbands, or the men for whom they have a genuine affection. This is abundantly proved by the lives of Mme. Huber, Mme. Pasteur, Caroline Herschel and Lady Hamilton, not to name others who have been mentioned in the foregoing pages. After Sir William Hamilton, at the age of fifty-six, had been stricken by hemiplegia on the right side, as the result of over-work, his faithful wife became for twelve years eyes, hands and even mind for him. She read and consulted books for him, and helped him to prepare his lectures and the works which have given him such celebrity. "Everything that was sent to the press and all the courses of lectures were written by her, either to dictation or from copy." And when we remember that the lectures and books were of the most abstruse character and that Lady Hamilton was associated with her husband in his recondite work throughout his long and brilliant career, we must confess that her conduct was not only heroic to a degree, but also that the fame of the one she loved was to her a matter of the deepest concern.
[252] "Induction is, indeed, a mighty weapon laid up in the armory of the human mind, and by its aid great deeds have been accomplished and noble conquests have been won. But in that armory there is another weapon, I will not say of stronger make, but certainly of keener edge; and, if that weapon had been oftener used during the present and preceding century, our knowledge would be far more advanced than it actually is. If the imagination had been more cultivated, if there had been a closer union between the spirit of poetry and the spirit of science, natural philosophy would have made greater progress, because natural philosophers would have taken a higher and more successful aim, and would have enlisted on their side a wider range of human sympathies." Buckle: The Influence of Women on the Progress of Knowledge.
[253] The Subjection of Women, ut sup., p. 87.
[254] Life and Letters of Thomas Henry Huxley, by his son Leonard Huxley, Vol. I, p. 324, New York, 1900.
[255] Ibid., p. 39, Vol. II, p. 458.