CHAPTEE VIII 



1854 



THE year 1854 marks the turning-point in Huxley's 

 career. The desperate time of waiting came to an 

 end. By the help of his lectures and his pen, he 

 could at all events stand and wait independently 

 of the Navy. He could not, of course, think of 

 immediate marriage, nor of asking Miss Heathorn 

 to join him in England ; but it so happened that her 

 father was already thinking of returning home, and 

 finally this was determined upon just before Pro- 

 fessor Forbes' translation to a chair at Edinburgh 

 gave Huxley what turned out to be the long-hoped- 

 for permanency in London. 



June 3, 1854. 



I have often spoken to you of my friend Edward 

 Forbes. He has quite recently been suddenly appointed 

 to a Professorial Chair in Edinburgh, vacated by the 

 death of old Jamieson. He was obliged to go down there 

 at once and lecture, and as he bad just commenced his 

 course at the Government School of Mines in Jermyn 

 Street, it was necessary to obtain a substitute. He had 

 157 



