104 LIFE OF PROFESSOR HUXLEY . CHAP. VI 



Admiralty to know what was to be done with me, as 

 my leave had expired. " Now," said he, " go to Forrest " 

 (his secretary), " write a letter to me, stating what you 

 want, and I will get it done for you." So away I went 

 and applied for an indefinite amount of leave, on condi- 

 tion of reporting the progress of my work every six 

 months, and as I suppose I shall get it, I feel quite easy 

 on that head. 



In May 1851 he applied to the Eoyal Society for 

 help from the Government Grant towards publishing 

 the bulk of his work as a whole, for much of its 

 value would be lost if scattered fragmentarily among 

 the Transactions of various learned societies. Person- 

 ally, the members of the committee were very willing 

 to make the grant, but on further consideration it 

 appeared that the money was to be applied for pro- 

 moting research, not for assisting publication; and 

 moreover, it was desirable not to establish a precedent 

 for saddling the funds at the disposal of the Society 

 with all the publications which it was the clear duty 

 of the Government to undertake. On this ground 

 the application was refused, but at the same time it 

 was resolved that the Government be formally asked 

 to give the necessary subvention towards bringing 

 out these valuable papers. 



A similar resolution was passed at the Ipswich 

 meeting of the British Association in July 1851, 

 and at a meeting of its Council in March 1852 the 

 President declared himself ready to carry it into 

 effect by asking the Treasury for the needful 300. 

 But at the July meeting he could only report a non 



