54 



LIFE OF PROFESSOR HUXLEY CHAP, iv 



Among these may be noted the Fishmongers, the Mer- 

 cers, who had already interested themselves in technical 

 education, and gave their hall for the meetings of the City 

 and Guilds Council, of which Huxley was an active member ; 

 the Clothworkers, in whose schools he distributed the prizes 

 this year ; and, not least, the Salters, who presented him 

 with their freedom on November 13. Their master, Mr. 

 J. W. Clark, writing in August, after Huxley had accepted 

 their proposal, says : ' I think you must admit that the 

 City Companies have yielded liberally to the gentle com- 

 pression you have exercised on them. So far from helping 

 you to act the traitor, we propose to legitimise your claim 

 for education, which several of us shall be willing to unite 

 with you in promoting " (see vol. i, p. 508). 



The crowning addition, however, to Huxley's official 

 work was the Presidency of the Royal Society. He had 

 resigned the Secretaryship in 1880, after holding office for 

 nine years under three Presidents Airy, Hooker, and 

 Spottiswoode. Spottiswoode, like Hooker, was a member 

 of the x Club, and was regarded with great affection and 

 respect by Huxley, who in 1887 wrote of him to Mr. John 

 Morley : 



It is quite absurd you don't know Spottiswoode, and I shall 

 do both him and you a good turn by bringing you together. He 

 is one of my best friends, and comes under the Ai class of 

 " people with whom you may go tiger-hunting." 



On June 7, writing to Professor (afterwards Sir E.) 

 Frankland, he says : 



You will have heard that Spottiswoode is seriously ill. The 

 physicians suspect typhoid, but are not quite certain. I called 

 this morning, and hear that he remains much as he has been for 

 the last two or three days. So many of our friends have dropped 

 away in the course of the last two years that I am perhaps 

 morbidly anxious about Spottiswoode, but there is no question 

 that his condition is such as to cause grave anxiety. 



But by the end of the month his fears were realised. 

 Consequently it devolved upon the Council of the Royal 

 Society to elect one of their own body to hold office until 



