VII. 



Huxley. 



THOMAS HENRY HUXLEY was born at Ealing, on May 4, 1825. His father 

 was master in a small school there, and in this school the boy received his first 

 instruction. Little is known of his early life, but it is certain that he early 

 obtained a mastery over languages, more especially German, afterwards to be of the 

 greatest service in his scientific labours. He entered Charing Cross Hospital 

 Medical School in 1842, where he had the advantage of hearing lectures from Wharton 

 Jones. He took the M.B., London, in 1S45, the M.R.C.S. in 1846, and entered the 

 naval service, going to Haslar under Sir John Richardson. Contact with so 

 distinguished a traveller and naturalist had no doubt much influence on Huxley's 

 career, and we find him appointed to the " Rattlesnake," then fitting out for a 

 surveying voyage to the Great Barrier Reef, New Guinea, and the Louisiades, 

 under Captain Owen Stanley. He made good use of his opportunity, and even 

 while away sent home several papers on natural history subjects of such importance, 

 that already on his return in 1850, he found himself a man of considerable reputation. 

 He was immediately elected a Fellow of the Royal Society, and received the Royal 

 medal from that body in 1852. Leaving the service in 1853, he succeeded Edward 

 Forbes the following year as Professor of Natural History to the Royal School of 

 Mines. In the same year he became FuUerian Professor to the Royal Institution, 

 and was appointed Examiner in Physiology and Comparative Anatomy to the 

 University of London. In 1849 his first great work, on " Oceanic Hydrozo'a," 

 appeared in the publications of the Ray Society ; his earliest paper, on the root- 

 sheath of the hair, having appeared when he was a medical student. He was 

 appointed Croonian Lecturer in 1857, and in the same year assisted Tyndall in the 

 study of glaciers. In 1862 Huxley was President of the British Association, a post 

 he also held in 1870, the year of publication of his famous " Lay Sermons." A keen 

 interest in educational matters led him to seek election on the London School Board 

 in 1870, a position only held by him for two years on account of his failing health. 

 In 1869 and 1870, too, he held the presidency of the Geological and of the Ethno- 

 logical Societies, and in 1873 he became one of the secretaries of the Royal Society, 

 being elected to the presidency in 18S3. From 1881 to 18S5 he was Inspector of 

 Salmon Fisheries, in which post he succeeded Frank Buckland, and he held for 

 many years the office of Dean at the Royal College of Science. Retiring in 1885 from 

 most of his offices, Hu.xley gave himself up almost entirely to literary work. He 

 was Lord Rector of Aberdeen University in 1872, and again served in Scotland in 

 1875 as Professor of Natural History to the University of Edinburgh, during the 

 absence of Sir Wyville Thomson. Huxley's best known works, beyond those already 

 quoted, are " Lectures on the Elements of Comparative Anatomy " (1864), " Lessons 

 in Elementary Physiology " (1866), " Manuals of the Anatomy of Invertebrated and 

 Vertebrated Animals " (1870 and 1S71), " Elementary Biology," in conjunction with 

 H. N. Martin (1875), "The Crayfish" (1881), "Critiques and Addresses" (1873), 

 " American Addresses " (1879), " Science and Culture " (1881). He was the great 

 exponent of the Darwinian theories, and his " Man's Place in Nature" (1863) did 

 much to smooth acceptance of the truths elucidated by Darwin and his feliow- 

 workers. His later controversial writings are too fresh in memory to need recapitu- 

 lation here. One of Huxley's last efforts was to re-issue, in collected form, an 

 edition of his works, other than scientific, in nine volumes. He was chosen a Privy 

 Councillor in 1892. In late years Huxley lived at Hodeslea, Eastbourne, where he 

 died, after a protracted illness, on June 29, 1895, ^^ ^^^ ^8^ °^ seventy. He was 

 buried on July 4, at the cemetery of St. Marylebone, East Finchley. 



