1885 D.C.L. OF OXFORD 419 



Reference has been made to the fact that the 

 honorary degree of D.C.L. was conferred this May 

 upon Huxley by the University of Oxford. The 

 Universities of the sister kingdoms had been the 

 first thus to recognise his work ; and after Aberdeen 

 and Dublin, Cambridge, where natural science had 

 earlier established a firm foothold, showed the way 

 to Oxford. Indeed, it was not until his regular 

 scientific career was at an end, that the University 

 of Oxford opened its portals to him. So, as he wrote 

 to Professor Bartholomew Price on May 20, in answer 

 to the invitation, " It will be a sort of apotheosis 

 coincident with my official death, which is imminent. 

 In fact, I am dead already, only the Treasury Charon 

 has not yet settled the conditions upon which I am 

 to be ferried over to the other side." 



Before leaving the subject of his connection with 

 the Eoyal Society, it may be worth while to give a 

 last example of the straightforward way in which he 

 dealt with a delicate point whether to vote or not to 

 vote for his friend Sir Andrew Clark, who had been 

 proposed for election to the Society. It occurred 

 just after his return from abroad ; he explains his 

 action to Sir Joseph Hooker, who had urged caution 

 on hearing a partial account of the proceedings. 



SOUTH KENSINGTON, 

 April 25, 1885. 



MY DEAR HOOKER I don't see very well how I 

 could have been more cautious than I have been. I 



