Vol. 52.] ANNIVERSARY ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT. lxV 



1850. During the greater part of that time the Rattlesnake was 

 employed in surveying the eastern and northern coasts of Australia 

 and the coast of New Guinea. The seas lying between the Great 

 Barrier Eeef and the coast of the mainland were of special interest 

 to the naturalist. Huxley took ample advantage of his opportunities 

 to study the fauna of the seas which he traversed, with the results 

 known to all naturalists. The communications which he sent home 

 during the voyage made his name well known to the scientific world 

 even before his return. Several of these were published in the 

 ' Philosophical Transactions ' of the Royal Society, and it is in- 

 teresting to note that his first paper was presented to the Society 

 by the then Bishop of Norwich (father of Capt. Owen Stanley, R.N., 

 who commanded the Rattlesnake), and read June 21st, 1849 : 

 1 On the Anatomy and Affinities of the Medusas.' Huxley in vain 

 endeavoured to obtain the publication by the Government of a part 

 of the work done during his voyage, and it was not until 1859 that 

 his great work, entitled ' Oceanic Hydrozoa, a description of the 

 Calycophoridae and Physophoridee observed during the voyage of 

 Her Majesty's ship Rattlesnake, was given to the world. 



The reputation which he had already attained at the early age of 

 26 is evident from the fact that in the year after his return, 1851, 

 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society, and in 1852 was 

 awarded one of the Society's Royal medals. In 1853 he left the 

 Naval Service, and the following year, on the removal of Edward 

 Forbes from the Royal School of Mines to the Chair of Natural 

 History in Edinburgh, Huxley was appointed Professor of Natural 

 History, including Palaeontology, in that institution, a post which 

 he held until his retirement at the age of 60 — an age at which, as he 

 was wont to assert, every scientific man ought to commit the happy 

 despatch. In the same year, 1854, he was appointed Fullerian 

 Professor of Physiology to the Royal Institution and Examiner in 

 Physiology and Comparative Anatomy to the University of London. 

 Other posts and honours crowded thick upon him. From 1863 to 

 1869 he held the Chair of Hunterian Professor at the Royal College 

 of Surgeons. In 1862 he was President of the Biological Section 

 at the Cambridge Meeting of the British Association, and eight years 

 later held the Presidency of the Association at the Liverpool Meet- 

 ing. In 1869 and 1870 he was President of the Geological and 

 Ethnological Societies. As might be expected, Prof. Huxley held 

 strong and well-defined views on the subject of education. He was 

 a man who at all times had a keen sense of public duty, and it was 



