126 



CHAPTER VI. 



1861—1870. 



The death of tlie Prince Consort on December 14, 1861, 

 deprived the Society of an able and sympathetic President, 

 whose powerful influence had been continuously exercised in 

 furthering the objects it was established to promote. As a 

 token of respect the monthly meeting that, under ordinary 

 circumstances, would have been held on December 19, did not 

 take place. A committee, consisting of Admiral Bowles, Sir 

 J. E. Tennent, and the Secretary, was appointed to prepare 

 an address of condolence, which was presented to Her late 

 Majesty by the Home Secretary. 



At the Anniversary Meeting in April, 1862, the Council 

 reminded the Fellows of "the great and undeviating interest 

 ever exhibited by their late President in the objects which 

 this Society have most at heart, and of the many valuable 

 donations which His Royal Highness's patronage was the means 

 of conferring upon them." 



It is worth noting that one of the last acts of the Prince in 

 connection with the Society was the appointment of Huxley, 

 " the great and beloved chief," and Wilberforce, Bishop of 

 Oxford, Vice-Presidents "of the Society.^ 



At the Council Meeting of February 5, 1862, Sir George 

 Clerk was elected into the Council, and then chosen as President 

 till the next Anniversary, when the choice was approved. He 

 held ofl&ce till his death on December 23, 1867, and his services 

 to the Society are thus recorded: 



The late Sir George Clerk had been a member of the Society since 1830, 

 and, before his election as President in 1861, had frequently served on the 



* The story of the " too venturesome " Bishop's attack on Huxley, and, through 

 him, on the " Origin of Species," at the Oxford meeting of the British Association, in 

 1860, was told in brief by Professor E. Ray Lankester in Natural Science (vii. 120), 

 in his memorial notice of Huxley. Fuller details will he found in the " Life and 

 Letters of Charles Darwin" (ii. 320-3). 



