i895. HUXLEY. 121 



would be a man, a man of restless and versatile intellect who, not 

 content with an equivocal success in his own sphere of activity, 

 plunges into scientific questions with which he has no real acquaint- 

 ance, only to obscure them by an aimless rhetoric and distract the 

 attention of his hearers from the real point at issue by eloquent digres- 

 sions and skilled appeals to religious prejudice," 



Thirty-four years later, just a year ago this August, the same face 

 was seen once again at the same Association's meeting in the same 

 University city. Huxley, with his hair now silver-white, and his 

 shoulders adorned with the scarlet gown of a D.C.L., rose once more 

 to do battle for the great doctrine of development. With the same 

 precision and the same cold courtesy with which he had rebuked 

 S. Oxon long ago — he now, as it were, nailed Lord Salisbury's 

 admissions to the table ; no retreat was possible. The doctrine 

 ridiculed in i860 was accepted by all in 1894. 



E. Ray Lankester. 



II. — As A Zoologist. 



In looking through Huxley's zoological work, one of the first 

 observations one makes is that in an important respect it resembles 

 the work of younger generations of zoologists, rather than that of his 

 immediate predecessors and contemporaries. Huxley had a great 

 knowledge of the literature of his subject ; his own contributions 

 were always illuminated and explained by being put in contrast or 

 in sympathy with the allied investigations of other naturalists. I am 

 unaware at what period he learned to read German, but his earliest 

 papers show that he had made himself familiar with the best work 

 done on the Continent and in England. It is true, of course, that 

 scientific men read French and German before the time of Huxley ; 

 but the deliberate consultation of all the authorities available has been 

 maintained in historical succession since Huxley's earliest papers, and 

 was absent in the papers of his early contemporaries. 



There were two sharply marked periods in his zoological work. 

 The periods, naturally enough, were separated by the appearance of 

 the Origin of Species : but it is a curious accident that in each period 

 Huxley's attention was directed conspicuously to the group of 

 animals that attracted least attention among other zoologists. Most 

 of his papers published before 1859 dealt with invertebrates, though 

 the morphology of these received little attention from others until 

 zoology, quickened by its acceptance of the doctrine of evolution, 

 concerned itself above all with the lowher types of life. The greater 

 part of what he published after 1859 dealt with vertebrate anatomy. 

 The explanation of this merely is that his " Rattlesnake " material, 

 and matters directly arising from it, occupied the first part of his 

 career. The second part was determined chiefly by his connection 

 with the Geological Survey. His most important contributions to 



