1883 ELECTED PRESIDENT OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY 55 



the St. Andrew's Day following, when a regular President 

 would be elected at a general meeting of the Society. 



Huxley himself had no wish to stand. He writes to 

 Sir M. Foster on June 27, announcing Spottiswoode's death, 

 which had taken place that morning : — 



It is very grievous in all ways. Only the other day he and I 

 were talking of the almost miraculous way in which the x Club 

 had held together without a break for some 18 years, and little 

 did either of us suspect that he would be the first to go. 



A heavy responsibility falls on you in the Royal Society. It 

 strikes me you will have to call another meeting of the Council 

 before the recess for the consideration of the question of the 

 Presidency. It is hateful to talk of these things, but I want you 

 to form some notion of what had best be done as you come up 

 to-morrow. 



is a possibility, but none of the other officers I think. 



Indeed, he wished to diminish his official distractions 

 rather than to increase them. His health was unlikely to 

 stand any additional strain, and he longed to devote the 

 remainder of his working years to his unfinished scientific 

 researches. But he felt very strongly that the President 

 of the Royal Society ought to be chosen for his eminence 

 in science, not on account of social position, or of wealth, 

 even though the wealth might have been acquired through 

 the applications of science. The acknowledgment of this 

 principle had led some years back to the great revolution 

 from within, which succeeded in making the Society the 

 living centre and representative of science for the whole 

 country, and he was above all things anxious that the prin- 

 ciple should be maintained. He was assured, however, from 

 several quarters that unless he allowed himself to be put 

 forward, there was danger lest the principle should be dis- 

 regarded. 



Moved by these considerations of public necessity, he 

 unwillingly consented to be nominated, but only to fill the 

 vacancy till the general meeting, when the whole Society 

 could make a new choice. Yet even this limitation seemed 

 difficult to maintain in the face of the widely expressed 

 desire that he would then stand for the usual period of five 



