6 HUXLEY 



not because fellows in black with white ties tell them 

 so, but because these are plain and patent laws of na- 

 ture which they must obey under penalties. 1 



Leaving Mr. Chandler, he was apprenticed to his 

 brother-in-law, Dr. Scott (Huxley's two sisters had 

 married doctors), and began study for the matricula- 

 tion examination of the University of London. He 

 failed in this, but had compensation in winning the 

 silver medal of the Pharmaceutical Society, while the 

 standard reached by his brother James and himself 

 secured them free scholarships in the medical school 

 of Charing Cross Hospital. In 1845 ne passed his 

 M. B. at the University of London and made his first 

 discovery in detecting a hitherto unknown membrane 

 at the root of the human hair. It is known as 

 " Huxley's layer." The next year he acted on the 

 suggestion of a fellow-student, Mr. (now Sir Joseph) 

 Fayrer, and applied to Sir William Burnet, then Di- 

 rector of the Medical Service, for a naval appoint- 

 ment. Sir William returned his visiting card " with 

 the frugal reminder" that he might "probably find it 

 useful on some other occasion," but the interview 

 gained him entry on the books of Nelson's old ship, 

 the Victory, for duty at Haslar Hospital. Then came 

 a turn of the tide which, not without ebb, led on to 

 fortune, at least to the fortune — never, despite the 



'I. 138. 



