I8g4 SPEECH AT THE ROYAL SOCIETY DINNER 



409 



in one more scientific record with old allies and true friends 

 • — to " have his niche in the Pantheon " next to Hooker 

 and near to Darwin. 



It was a rare instance of the fitness of things that the 

 three men who had done most to develop and to defend 

 Darwin's ideas should live to stand first in the list of the 

 Darwin medallists; and Huxley felt this to be a natural 

 closing of a chapter in his life, a fitting occasion on which 

 to bid farewell to public life in the world of science. Al- 

 most at the same moment another chapter in science 

 reached its completion in the " coming of age " of Nature, 

 a journal which, when scientific interests at large had grown 

 stronger, had succeeded in realising his own earlier efforts 

 to found a scientific organ, and with which he had always 

 been closely associated. 



As mentioned above, he wrote for the November number 

 an introductory article called " Past and Present," com- 

 paring the state of scientific thought of the day with that 

 of twenty-five years before, when the journal was first 

 started. To celebrate the occasion, a dinner was to be held 

 this same month of all who had been associated with 

 Nature, and this Huxley meant to attend, as well as the 

 more important anniversary dinner of the Royal Society 

 on St. Andrew's Day. 



I have promised (he writes on November 6 to Sir M. Foster) 

 to go to the Nature dinner if I possibly can. Indeed I should be 

 sorry to be away. As to the R.S. nothing short of being confined 

 to bed will stop me. And I shall be good for a few words after 

 dinner. 



Thereafter I hope not to appear again on any stage. 



His letter about the medal expresses his feelings as to 

 the award. 



HODESI.F.A, Nov. 2, 1894. 



My dear Foster — Didn't I tell the P.R.S., Secretaries, 

 Treasurer, and all the Fellows thereof, when I spake about 

 Hooker years ago, that thenceforth the Darwin Medal was to 

 be given to the young, and not to useless old extinct volcanoes ? 

 I ought to be very angry with you all for coolly ignoring my 

 wise counsels. 



