January 31, 1896.] 



SCIENCE. 



151 



the cerebellum inside or outside of tlie 

 skull?' " A story of Ms about babies is 

 also characteristic: "When a fond mother 

 calls upon me to admire her baby I never 

 fail to respond, and, while cooing appropri- 

 ately, I take advantage of an opportunity 

 to gently ascertain whether the soles of its 

 feet turn in and tend to support my theory 

 of arboreal descent." 



Huxley as a teacher can never be forgot- 

 ten by any of his students. He entered his 

 lecture room promptly as the clock was 

 striking nine, rather quickly and with his 

 head bent forward ' as if oppressive with its 

 mind.' He usually glanced attention to his 

 class of about ninety and began speaking 

 before he reached his chair. He spoke be- 

 tween his lips, but with perfectly clear 

 analysis, with thorough interest and with 

 philosophic insight, which was far above the 

 average of his students. He used very few 

 charts, but handled the chalk with great 

 skill, sketching out the anatomy of an ani- 

 mal as if it were a transparent object. As 

 in Darwin's face, and as in Erasmus Dar- 

 win's or Buffon's, and many other anatom- 

 ists with a strong sense of form, his eyes 

 were heavily overhung by a projecting fore- 

 head and eyebrows and seemed at times to 

 look inward. His lips were firm and closely 

 set, with the expression of positiveness, and 

 the other feature which most marked him 

 was the very heavy mass of hair falling 

 over his forehead, which he would fre- 

 quently stroke or toss back. Occasionally 

 he would lighten up the monotony of ana- 

 tomical description by a bit of humor. I 

 remember one instance which was probably 

 reminiscent of his famons tilt with Bishop 

 Wilberforce at the meeting of the British 

 Association in 1860. Huxley was describ- 

 ing the mammalian heart and had just dis- 

 tinguished between the tricuspid valve on 

 the right side of the heart and the bicuspid 

 valve on the left, which you know resembles 

 a bishop's mitre, and hence is known as the 



mitral valve. He said, "It is not easy to 

 recall on which side these respective valves 

 are found, but I recommend this rule; you 

 can easily remember that the mitral is on 

 the left, because a bishop is never known 

 to be on the right." 



Huxley was the father of modern labora- 

 tory instruction, but in 1879 he was so in- 

 tensely engrossed with his own researches 

 that he very seldom came through the lab- 

 oratory, which was ably directed by T. Jef- 

 frey Parker, assisted by G. B. Howes and W. 

 ISTewton Parker, all of whom are now pro- 

 fessors, Howes having succeeded to Hux- 

 ley's chair. Each visit therefore inspired a 

 certain amount of terror, which was really 

 unwarranted, for Huxley always spoke in 

 the kindest tones to his students, although 

 sometimes he could not resist making fun 

 at their expense. There was an Irish stu- 

 dent who sat in front of me, whose ana- 

 tomical drawings in water color were cer- 

 tainly most remarkable productions. Hux- 

 ley, in turning over his drawing-book, paused 

 at a large blur under which was carefully 

 inscribed 'sheep's liver ' and smilingly said, 

 " I am glad to know that is a liver; it re- 

 minds me as much of Cologne cathedral in 

 a fog as of anything I have ever seen before." 

 Fortunately the nationality of the student 

 enabled him to fully appreciate the humor. 



The greatest event in the winter of 1879 

 was Darwin's first and only visit to the 

 laboratory. They came in together, Hux- 

 ley leading slowly down the long, narrow 

 room, pointing out the especial methods of 

 teaching, which he had originated and 

 which are now universally adopted in Eng- 

 land and in this country. Darwin was in- 

 stantly recognized by the class as he en- 

 tered and sent a thrill of curiosity down the 

 room, for no one present had ever seen him 

 before. There was the widest possible con- 

 trast in the two faces. Darwin's grayish- 

 white hair and bushy eyebrows overshad- 

 owed the pair of deeply-set blue eyes, which 



