EEFUSAL TO RESIGN' 165 



summer of 1872, when an ' amicable settlement ' had been 

 suggested. Small wonder that Hooker writes to Bentham 

 (February 2, 1872) : * My life has become utterly detestable 

 and I do long to throw up the Directorship. What can be more 

 humiliating than two years of wrangling with such a creature ! ' 

 As long as the attack on Kew appeared to be Ayrton's 

 only, he was prepared to resign if Ayrton were not removed 

 or Kew placed under another department. But when he found 

 the Government had known of his views and had not checked 

 them whether or no they favoured them he at once changed 

 front, and determined to hold on till turned out, if so they 

 dared. The attack was on Science, and his scientific friends 

 rallied round the cause. Huxley, who was away in Scotland, 

 writes on August 23 : 



From T. H. Huxley 



Ardlui, Arrochar : August 23, 1871. 



MY DEAR HOOKER, I heartily wish I could have been 

 within tongue-reach of you and have aided and abetted 

 in the cooking of your new kettle of fish. I hope you have 

 not made the fire too hot, which is what one generally does 

 if left to one's own devices at least, I do. As for your 

 resigning Kew, that's out of the question. Ayrton has made 

 such a brute of himself in all quarters, that the fact of your 

 rebelling against him will be a strong prima facie argument 

 in your favour in the minds of all men and we shall make 

 common cause and shew him that he has caught a Tartar 

 in presuming to meddle with Science. Only let not thy 

 soul be vexed by that Amalekite to the verge of losing sleep, 

 Morpheus being the god of temper and patience. 



I like what I have seen of Thomson much. He is, 

 mentally, like the scene which lies before my windows, 

 grand and massive but much encumbered with mist 

 which adds to his picturesqueness but not to his intelligi- 

 bility. Tait * worships him with the fidelity of a large dog 



1 Peter Guthrie Tait (1831-1901) was educated at Edinburgh and Cam- 

 bridge, where he was Senior Wrangler and First Smith's Prizeman. From 

 1854-60 he was Professor of Mathematics at Queen's College, Belfast, and 

 thereafter Professor of Natural Philosophy at' Edinburgh. Besides important 

 works on mathematics and physics, he wrote in conjunction with Prof. Balfour 

 Stewart, The Unseen Universe. 



