224 REMINISCENCES OF HUXLEY 
sented by the fossil archzeopteryx with its hand-like 
wing and lizard-like tail, the second by the ostrich and 
its congeners, and the third by all other living birds. 
He further demonstrated the peculiarly close relation- 
ship between birds and reptiles through the extinct 
dinosaurs. In all these matters his powerful originality 
was shown in the methods by which these important 
results were reached. [very new investigation which 
he made seemed to do something toward raising the 
study of biology to a higher plane, as for example his 
celebrated controversy with Owen on the true nature 
of the vertebrate skull. The mention of Owen reminds 
us that it was also Huxley who overthrew Cuvier’s 
order of Quadrumana, by proving that apes are not 
four-handed, but have two hands and two feet; he 
showed that neither in limbs nor in brain does man 
present differences from other primates that are of 
higher than generic value. Indeed, there were few 
corners of the animal world, past or present, which 
Huxley did not at some time or other overhaul, and to 
our knowledge of which he did not make contributions 
of prime importance. The instances here cited may 
serve to show the kind of work which he did, but my 
mention of them is necessarily meagre. In the depart- 
ment of classification, the significance of which has 
been increased tenfold by the doctrine of evolution, 
his name must surely rank foremost among the suc- 
cessors of the mighty Cuvier. 
Before 1860 the vastness and accuracy of Huxley’s 
acquirements and the soundness of his judgment were 
well understood by the men of his profession, insomuch 
that Charles Darwin, when about to publish “ The 
Origin of Species,” said that there were three men in 
