Teachings of Thomas Huxley 7 



the Royal Society. Later on, at the age of 

 twenty-six, he was admitted as a member of 

 that body and became a "Fellow of the Eoyal 

 Society." J 



In 1858 there was published a "Beview of 

 the Cell Theory/'* concerning which Sir 

 Michael Foster (himself a most learned and en- 

 tertaining writer on physiology) said: "A 

 paper which more than one young physiolo- 

 gist at the time read with delight and which 

 even to this day may be studied with no little 

 profit. He (Huxley) drove the sword of ra- 

 tional inquiry through the heart of conception, 

 metaphysical and transcendental, but domi- 

 nant."^ Here one can see the breadth of Hux- 

 ley's views and how he was able to project him- 

 self into the future with so remarkable a degree 

 of accuracy. Not less noteworthy are his abili- 

 ties as a compiler— he picked the best out of 

 everything and wove it into such a perfect or- 

 ganic whole that doubt concerning his correct- 

 ness seems almost an impossibility. Another 

 essay that brought its author no little credit 

 m certain quarters was that "On the Theory 

 of the Vertebrate Skull," a ma tter which the 



* The cell theory ennunciated by Schleiden and 

 Schwann in 1838-39 instead M simplify- 

 ing pur biological views has rather em- 

 phasized their complexityf-especially in re- 

 lation to evolution and inheritance. 



