336 LIFE OF PROFESSOR HUXLEY CHAP. XIV 



unfinished scientific researches. But he felt very 

 strongly that the President of the Royal Society 

 ought to be chosen for his eminence in science, not 

 on account of social position, or of . wealth, even 

 though the wealth might have been acquired through 

 the applications of science. The acknowledgment 

 of this principle had led some years back to the 

 great revolution from within, which succeeded in 

 making the Society the living centre and representa- 

 tive of science for the whole country, and he was 

 above all things anxious that the principle should be 

 maintained. He was assured, however, from several 

 quarters that unless he allowed himself to be put 

 forward, there was danger lest the principle should 

 be disregarded. 



Moved by these considerations of public necessity, 

 he unwillingly consented to be nominated, but only 

 to fill the vacancy till the general meeting, when the 

 whole Society could make a new choice. Yet even 

 this limitation seemed difficult to maintain in the 

 face of the widely expressed desire that he would 

 then stand for the usual period of five years. " The 

 worst of it is," he wrote to Sir M. Foster on July 2, 

 " that I see myself gravitating towards the Presidency 

 en permanence, that is to say, for the ordinary period. 



And that is what I by no means desired. has 



been at me (as a sort of deputation, he told me, from 

 a lot of the younger men) to stand. However, I 

 suppose there is no need to come to any decision 

 yet." 



