538 THE JOUENEY TO PALESTINE 



1 



It was this engrossing pressure, common to Hooker and his 

 closest scientific friends, that led to the foundation of the 

 famous X Club. This has already been described at some 

 length in the * Life and Letters of T. H. Huxley,' i. 368 seq., 

 and in * Sketches from the Life of Edward Frankland,' p. 148 

 seq. A further account may be added here, for the club was 

 not only a unique constellation of intellects, but a notable 

 factor in the personal life of its members. All were keen 

 workers in science and progressive thought ; all were friends of 

 long standing. The growing pressure of work made meeting 

 difficult save casually, perhaps dining at the Athenaeum before 

 important lectures at the Koyal Institution or the regular 

 gatherings of the Eoyal and other societies. These unpre- 

 meditated encounters suggested something more definite. * I 

 wonder if we are ever to meet again in this world,' Huxley 

 had written to Hooker in his * remote province ' of Kew. 

 Now in January 1864 Huxley proposed to him that they should 

 organise some sort of a regular meeting. All the friends, 

 with the exception of Herbert Spencer, being Fellows of the 

 Eoyal Society, the date chosen for dining together was the 

 first Thursday in each month (except July, August, and 

 September) before the Society's meeting. The usual hour 

 was six o'clock, so that they should be in good time for the 

 meeting at eight. On December 5, 1885, Huxley, who was 

 treasurer, notes in the minutes, * Got scolded for dining at 

 6.30. Had to prove we have dined at 6.30 for a long time 

 by evidence of waiter.' However, at the February meeting, 

 * agreed to fix dinner hour six hereafter.' 



Eight members met at the first meeting, November 3, 1864 ; 

 at the second, a ninth member was added in William Spottis- 

 woode, but a proposal to add a tenth was never carried out. 

 On the principle of lucus a non lucendo, this gave point to the 

 symbol x for the name of the club, the origin of which is 

 described as follows by Huxley in his reminiscences of John 

 Tyndall in the Nineteenth Century for January 1894 : 



* At starting, our minds were terribly exercised over the 

 name and constitution of our society. As opinions on this 

 grave matter were no less numerous than the members — indeed 



