862 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



Twelve miles to the south, the first or south- 

 erly range is lifted into view in Block Island. 

 The sea covers the next thirty miles on the 

 line of continuation of these two series of 

 hills, but both emerge again, the northern 

 forming the Elizabeth Islands and traversing 

 the west-to-east portion of Cape Cod ; while 

 the southern moraine forms No-Man's-Land, 

 the crest of Gay Head, and prominent ranges 

 of hills in the northwestern part of Martha's 

 Vineyard, extending northeast nearly to 

 Vineyard Haven. Here it is lost, but it re- 

 appears on Chappaquiddick and Tucanuck 

 Islands, and in Saul's Hills and Sankaly 

 Head on Nantucket. 



Professor Huxley on Bathybins. In sec- 

 onding the vote of thanks to Professor All- 

 man at the close of his able address on pro- 

 toplasm, delivered at the late meeting of 

 the British Association, and elsewhere 

 printed in this number, Professor Huxley 

 alluded as follows to his past and pres- 

 ent views regarding Bathybius : " It is 

 my business to recollect, on the present 

 occasion, that I have come to praise Cae- 

 sar, and not to bury him under any moun- 

 tain of talk of my own ; and I will, there- 

 fore, not venture to dwell upon any of 

 those very large topics upon which he has 

 dwelt with so much fairness, with so much 

 judgment, and with so remarkable a knowl- 

 edge of the existing information respecting 

 them. But I will ask you to allow me to 

 say one word rather on my own account, in 

 order to prevent a misconception which, I 

 think, might arise, and which I should re- 

 gret if it did arise. I dare say that no one 

 in this room, who has attained middle life, 

 has been so fortunate as to reach that age 

 without being obliged now and then to look 

 back upon some acquaintance, or, it may 

 be, intimate ally of his youth, who has not 

 quite verified the promises of that youth. 

 Nay, let us suppose he has done the very 

 reverse, and has become a very question- 

 able sort of character, and a person whose 

 acquaintance does not seem quite so desir- 

 able as it was in those young days: his way 

 and yours have separated ; you have not 

 heard much about him; but eminently 

 trustworthy persons have assured you he 

 has done this, that, or the other ; and is 

 more or less of a black sheep, in fact. The 



President, in the early part of his address, 

 alluded to a certain thing I hardly know 

 whether I ought to call it thing or not of 

 which he gave you the name Bathybius, 

 and he stated, with perfect justice, that 1 

 had brought that thing into notice ; at any 

 rate, indeed, I christened it, and I am, in a 

 certain sense, its earliest friend. For some 

 time after that interesting Bathybius was 

 launched into the world, a number of ad- 

 mirable persons took the little thing by the 

 hand, and made very much of it, and, as 

 the President was good enough to tell, you, 

 I am glad to be able to repeat and verify 

 all the statements, as a matter of fact, 

 which I had ventured to make about it. 

 And so things went on, and I thought my 

 young friend Bathybius would turn out a 

 credit to me. But, I am sorry to say, as 

 time has gone on, he has not altogether 

 verified the promise of his youth. In the 

 first place, as the President told you, he 

 could not be found when he was wanted ; 

 and, in the second place, when he was 

 found, all sorts of things were said about 

 him. Indeed, I regret to be obliged to tell 

 you that some persons of severe minds went 

 so far as to say that he was nothing but 

 simply a gelatinous precipitate of slime, 

 which had carried down organic matter. If 

 that is so, I am very sorry for it, for, who- 

 ever else may have joined in this error, I 

 am undoubtedly primarily responsible for 

 it. But I do not know at this present time 

 of my own knowledge how the matter 

 stands. Nothing would please me more 

 than to investigate the matter afresh in the 

 way it ought to be investigated, but that 

 would .require a voyage of some time, and 

 the investigation of this thing in its native 

 haunts is a kind of work for which, for 

 many years past, I have had no opportu- 

 nity, and which I do not think I am very 

 likely to enjoy again. Therefore my own 

 judgment is in an absolute state of suspen- 

 sion about it. I can only warn you what 

 has been said about this friend of mine, but 

 I can not say whether what is said is justi- 

 fied or not. But I feel very happy about 

 the matter. There is one thing about us 

 men of science, and that is, no one who has 

 the greatest prejudice against science can 

 venture to say that we ever endeavor to 

 conceal each other's mistakes. And, there- 



