INTRODUCTION xi 



After the return from America, the same innumerable 

 occupations were continued. It would be impossible in 

 short space even to enumerate all Huxley's various publi- 

 cations of the next ten years. His work, however, A(tal ^i^ 

 changed gradually from scientific investigation tratlve 

 to administrative work, not the least important * 

 of which was the office of Inspector of Fisheries. A second 

 important office was the Presidency of the Royal Society. 

 Of the work of this society Sir Joseph Hooker writes : 

 "The duties of the office are manifold and heavy; they 

 include attendance at all the meetings of the Fellows, and 

 of the councils, committees, and sub-committees of the 

 Society, and especially the supervision of the printing and 

 illustrating all papers on biological subjects that are pub- 

 lished in the Society's Transactions and Proceedings ; the 

 latter often involving a protracted correspondence with the 

 authors. To this muot be added a share in the supervision, 

 of the staff officers, of the library and correspondence, and 

 the details of house-keeping." All the work connected with 

 this and many other offices bespeaks a life too hard-driven 

 and accounts fully for the continued ill-health which 

 finally resulted in a complete break-down. 



Huxley had always advocated that the age of sixty was 

 the time for "official death," and had looked forward to a 

 peaceful " Indian summer.'" With this object pms^t 

 in mind and troubled by increasing ill-health, he * health, 

 began in 1885 to give up his work. But to live even in 

 comparative idleness, after so many years of activity, was 

 difficult. <f I am sure," he says, " that the habit of incessant 

 work into which we all drift is as bad in its way as 

 dram-drinking. In time you cannot be comfortable without 

 stimulus." But continued bodily weakness told upon him to 

 the extent that all work became distasteful. An utter weari- 

 ness with frequent spells of the blues took possession of 

 him ; and the story of his life for some years is the story 

 of the long pursuit of health in England, Switzerland, and 

 especially in Italy. 



Although Huxley was wretchedly ill during this period, 

 he wrote letters which are good to read for their humor 



