326 LIFE OF PROFESSOR HUXLEY cHAP. xill 



infer a suppressed impatience from a little twitching 

 of his foot. 



Of this occasion Professor Henry F. Osborn, one 

 of his old pupils, writes in his "Memorial Tribute 

 to Thomas H. Huxley" {Transactions of the N.Y. 

 Acad. Soc. vol. xv.) : — 



Huxley's last public appearance was at the meeting 

 of the British Association at Oxford. He had been 

 very urgently invited to attend, for, exactly a quarter 

 of a century before, the Association had met at Oxford, 

 and Huxley had had his famous encounter with Bishop 

 Wilberforce. It was felt that the anniversary would 

 be an historic one, and incomplete without his presence, 

 and so it proved to be. Huxley's especial duty was to 

 second the vote of thanks for the Marquis of Salisbury's 

 address — one of the invariable formalities of the opening 

 meetings 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 enter- 

 tained 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 shoidders by the very 

 body of men who had once referred to him as " a Mr. 



