1895. | NEW YORK ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. 49 
presence, and so it proved to be. Huxley's especial duty was 
to second the vote of thanks for the Marquis of Salisbury’s ad- 
dress—one of the invariable formalities of the opening meeting 
of the Association. The meeting proved to be the greatest one 
in the history of the Association. The Sheldonian theatre was 
packed with one of the most distinguished scientific audiences 
ever brought together, and the address of the Marquis was 
worthy of the occasion. The whole tenor of it was the unknown 
in Science. Passing from the unsolved problems of Astronomy, 
Chemistry and Physics, he came to Biology. With delicate 
irony he spoke of the “ comforting word, evolution,” and passing 
to the Weismannian controversy implied that the diametrically 
opposed views so frequently expressed nowadays threw the 
whole process of evolution into doubt. It was only too evident 
that the Marquis himself found no comfort in Evolution, and 
even entertained a suspicion as to its probability. It was 
well worth the whole journey to Oxford to watch Huxley during 
this portion of the address. In his red doctor-of-laws gown, 
placed upon his shoulders by the very body of men who had 
once referred to him as ‘‘a Mr. Huxley,” he sank deeper into 
his chair upon the very front of the platform and _ restlessly 
tapped his foot. His situation was an unenviable one. He had 
to thank an ex-Prime Minister of England and present Lord 
Chancellor of Oxford University for an address the sentiments 
of which were directly against those he himself had been main- 
taining for twenty-five years. He said afterwards that when 
the proofs of the Marquis’s address were putin his hands the day 
before he realized that he had before him a most delicate and difti- 
cult task. Lord Kelvin (Sir William Thompson), one of the most 
distinguished living physicists, first moved the vote of thanks, 
but his reception was nothing to the tremendous applause which 
greeted Huxley in the heart of that University whose cardinal 
principles he had so long been opposing. Considerable anxiety 
had been felt by his friends lest his voice would fail to fill the 
theatre, for it had signally failed during his Romanes Lecture 
delivered in Oxford the year before, but when Huxley arose he 
reminded you of s venerable gladiator returning to the arena 
after years of absence. He raised his figure and his voice to 
its full height, and, with one foot turned over the edge of the 
step, veiled an unmistakable and vigorous protest in the most 
gracious and dignified speech of thanks. 
Throughout the subsequent special sessons of this meeting 
Huxley could not appear. He gave the impression of being 
aged but not infirm, and no one realized that he had spoken his 
TRANSACTIONS N. Y. ACAD. Scr., Vol. XV., Sig. 4, January 15, 1896. 
