126 THOMAS HENRY HUXLEY 



During 1875 the vivisection controversy culminated 

 in the appointment of a " Royal Commission on the 

 Practice of subjecting Live Animals to Experiments for 

 Scientific Purposes." In writing to the then Home 

 Secretary (Mr, Cross) to express his willingness to 

 serve, Huxley sufficiently defines his position in the 

 matter : — 



" If I can be of any service I shall be very glad to act on the 

 Commission, sympathising as I do on the one hand with those 

 who abhor cruelty to animals, and, on the other, with those 

 who abhor the still greater cruelty to man which is involved in 

 any attempt to arrest the progress of physiology and of rational 

 medicine" (Life, i, p. 439). 



The report of the Commission, presented in the early 

 part of 1876, was decidedly unsatisfactory, and the legisla- 

 tion which followed upon it was still more so. 



In 1875 the first edition appeared of A Course of 

 Practical Instruction in Elementary Biology, in the prepara- 

 tion of which the late Dr. H. N. Martin collaborated. 

 Up to this time the only practical book available to the 

 student was Rolleston's Forms of Animal Life^ which was 

 not only expensive but of limited use for laboratory 

 purposes, since it merely described the Oxford series of 

 dissections, and gave no practical directions at all. 

 " Huxley and Martin" was largely used for many years, 

 and did yeoman service in advancing the cause of 

 practical biology. Owing largely to its employment, 

 the '* type system " became firmly established as the 

 recognized method of teaching biology in this country. 

 Unfortunately, in course of time, it underwent a curious 

 perversion, due to unintelligent teaching and still more 

 unintelligent examining. A mass of minute detail gradu- 

 ally became associated with the chosen types, the acquisi- 

 tion of which prevented average students from grasping 



