THE 



GEOLOGICAL MAGAZINE. 



NEW SERIES. DECADE IV. VOL. II. 



No. VIII.— AUGUST, 1895. 



AN UNCEOWNED KING IN SCIENCE. 



IN MEMORI AM. 



THOMAS HENRY HUXLEY, P.O., D.C.L. (OXON), 



LL.D. {CANTAB, EDIN,, ET DUBL.), M.D. (WURZB.), PH.D. (BRESLAU), 

 F.R.C.S., F.R.S., F.L.S., F.G.S., F.Z.S., TRUSTEE BRIT. MUS., ETC. 



BoEN May 4th, 1825. Died June 29th, 1895. 



(With a Portrait.) 



By the death of Professor Huxley another illustrious name must 

 now be inscribed on the walls of our Valhalla, while the world of 

 science mourns the loss of one of its most distinguished leaders, who 

 shares with Owen and Darwin the reputation of having done more 

 to advance the study of biology than any other of the naturalists 

 who have appeared within the present century. 



Though he won his grandest triumphs as a zoologist, there were 

 not many departments of Natural History which he did not cultivate; 

 indeed, it has been truly said of him, by Haeckel, that he was one of- 

 the few investigators who had thoroughly mastered the whole range 

 of biology, and might claim to be the first zoologist in this country. 

 Although capable of specializing in any group of animals or plants, 

 he never lost sight of the broader biological problems which are so 

 often overlooked by the less broad-minded systematist, so that he 

 was able to enter the more limited field of classification, and give 

 those who devoted their whole time to any one group a lesson on 

 their own subject. He may well be regarded as our greatest 

 naturalist. 



Thomas Henry Huxley was born at Ealing on May 4th, 1825, and 

 was for some years educated at the school in his native place, where 

 his father was one of the masters. This preparatory course was 

 followed by assiduous private reading, including German scientific 

 literature, and instruction in medicine received from a brother-in-law 

 who was a physician. He afterwards attended lectures at the 

 Medical School of the Charing Cross Hospital. 



In 1845 he passed the first examination for the degree of M.B. at 

 the University of London, taking honours in physiology. In 1846 

 he was appointed Assistant-Surgeon to H.M.S. "Victory," for service 

 at Haslar Hospital, and seven months later he was gazetted as 



DECADE IV. VOL. II. NO. VIII. 22 



