176 Thomas Henry Huxley 



superseded lately by larger volumes in which there is 

 found more space for some of the recent advances in 

 knowledge, especially comparative embryology, and 

 the more intricate knowledge of the structure of the 

 soft parts of marine invertebrates made possible b}' the 

 newer and more successful methods ofpresennng de- 

 licate tissues. Just before Huxley ceased his regular 

 work as a teacher at the Royal College of Science, there 

 arrived a series of marine embryos, beautifully pre- 

 served and prepared for microscopic work by the zoolo- 

 gists at the International Zoological Station at Naples. 

 Huxley is reported to have exclaimed at their beauty, 

 and to have said : "You 3'oung men cannot realise your 

 advantages ; you have brought to you for stud\' at your 

 leisure in London, creatures that I had to lash ni}- mi- 

 croscope to the mast to get a glimpse of." Huxley's 

 books were written for students with fewer advantages, 

 and, naturall}', laid more stress on the harder skeletal 

 parts and such structures as could be more easily pre- 

 served ; but with this inevitable limitation they still 

 serve as luminous and comprehensive guides to the sub- 

 jects of which they treat. There is no doubt but that if 

 he had been a younger man wdien the new technical 

 methods made their appearance, he would have 

 adopted them and their results in his volumes. One 

 of the first great pieces of work which utilised methods 

 more like those now used in all laboratories than those 

 employed during the greater part of Huxley's life as a 

 teacher was the classical investigation by Van Beneden 

 into the changes in the egg of Ascaris which accom- 

 pany the process of fertilisation. When Huxley read 

 the memoir he exlaimed, "All this by the use of 

 glacial acetic acid — is it possible ! " At once, Professor 

 Howes relates, he repeated the whole investigation 



