38 HUXLEY 



ofl&cial and administrative duties, and to that extent, 

 of course, was he deprived of giving so much atten- 

 tion to those investigations which were peculiarly 

 in his line. In 1881 he was appointed Inspector of 

 Fisheries, in addition to his other work — an appoint- 

 ment which was partly administrative and partly 

 scientific. In addition to these duties, he dehvered 

 an address at the International and Medical Congress 

 in London, shoeing the close connection between 

 medicine and the physical sciences. As usual, he 

 attended the British Association meeting, which 

 was held that year at York. 



The year following (1882) was marked by the 

 death of two of England's greatest scientists, Charles 

 Darwin and Francis Balfour. In 1883 Huxley's 

 official work had reached such an enormous volume 

 that he published but one scientific paper. He was, 

 however, busy with his Fishery Commissions, in 

 addition to lecturing and liis duties as examiner, 

 and, to make matters worse, his health was far from 

 good. But this year, however, found him attain- 

 ing the blue ribbon of the scientific world, in his 

 election as President of the Royal Society. In spite 

 of the great honour involved in this, Huxley's own 

 wish was to stand on one side and devote his remain- 

 ing time to his o^n scientific work. But after some 

 pressure he consented to be nominated to fill the 

 temporary vacancy pending the final formal election. 

 His tenure of the Presidency M'as marked, as far as 

 he himself was concerned, by the obvious care that 

 he took, in connection with every subject which 

 came before the Society, to put his own personal 

 opinions on one side. He had lived so much in the 

 light of the public eye that his opinions on more 



