XXIII 

 KEMINISCENCES OF PKOFESSOK HUXLEY 1 



THERE is no intention in this paper of giving either a 

 biographical notice of Professor Huxley or an estimate of 

 his position in science, philosophy, or literature. Both have 

 been done over and over again in numerous journals and 

 magazines that have appeared since his death. The main 

 facts of his career, and his great contributions to human 

 knowledge, must be perfectly familiar to the readers of this 

 Review. I have, however, in response to an appeal from 

 the Editor, put down a few personal reminiscences, gathered 

 during a friendship of nearly forty years, which may throw 

 some additional light upon the character and private life of 

 one in whom all English-speaking people must take a deep 

 interest. In doing this I fear I have been obliged to intro- 

 duce myself to the notice of the reader more frequently than 

 I should wish, but this seems inevitable in an article of this 

 nature, and I trust will be forgiven for the sake of the main 

 subject. 



When Huxley returned to London from his four years' 

 surveying cruise in H.M.S. Rattlesnake, under the command 

 of Captain Owen Stanley, E.N., one of the first men of kindred 

 pursuits who took him by the hand was George Busk, then 

 surgeon to the Seaman's Hospital, the Dreadnought, lying 

 in the Thames off Greenwich. About this time Busk removed 

 from Greenwich to Harley Street, and although doing some 

 practice as a surgeon, and even attaining to the position of 

 President of the Eoyal College of Surgeons, his main occupation 

 and chief pleasure were in purely scientific pursuits, and his 



1 The North American Beview, September 1895. 



