4 LIFE OF PROFESSOR HUXLEY cHAr. I 



However, a course of action was proposed which by no 

 means commended itself to several members of the council. 

 Tyndall begs Huxley " not to commit us to a venture of the 

 kind unless you see clearly that it meets a public need, and 

 that it will be worked by able men," and on February 6 the 

 latter writes — 



After careful consideration of the whole circumstances of 

 the case, I have definitely arrived at the conclusion that it is not 

 expedient to go on with the undertaking. 



I therefore resign my Presidency, and I will ask you to be 

 so good as to intimate my withdrawal from the association to 

 my colleagues. 



In spite of having long ago " burned his ships " with 

 regard to both the great Universities, Huxley was agreeably 

 surprised by a new sign of the times from Cambridge. The 

 University now followed up its recognition of Darwin two 

 years before, by offering Huxley an honorary degree, an 

 event of which he wrote to Professor Baynes on June 9 : — 



I shall be glorious in a red gown at Cambridge to-morrow, 

 and hereafter look to be treated as a person of respectability. 



I have done my best to avoid that misfortune, but it's of 

 no use. 



A curious coincidence occurred here. Mr. Sandys, the 

 public orator,* in his speech presenting him for the degree, 

 picked out one of his characteristics for description in the 



* The speech delivered by the public orator on this occasion (June 

 10, 1879) ran as follows : — Academi inter silvas qui verum quaerunt, 

 non modo ipsi veritatis lumine vitam hanc umbratilem illustrare 

 conantur, sed illustrissimum quemque veritatis investigatorem aliunde 

 delatum ea qua par est comitate excipiunt. Adest vir cui in veritate 

 exploranda ampla sane provincia contigit, qui sive in animantium 

 sive in arborum et herbarum genere quicquid vivit investigat, ipsum 

 illud vivere quid sit, quali ex origine natum sit : qui exquirit quae 

 cognationis necessitudo inter priores illas viventium species et has 

 quae etiam nunc supersunt, intercedat. Olim in Oceano Australi, ubi 

 rectis " oculis raonstra natantia" vidit, victoriam prope primam, velut 

 alter Perseus, a Medusa reportavit ; varias deinceps animantium 

 formas quasi ab ipsa Gorgone in saxum versas sagacitate singulari 

 explicavit ; vitae denique universae explorandae vitam suam totam 

 dedicavit. Physicorum inter principes diu honoratus, idem (ut verbum 



