24 



LIFE OF PROFESSOR HUXLEY chap, ii 



a letter, drew a plan, enclosed the two in an envelope, and 

 tremblingly betook myself on the following afternoon to the 

 Royal Institution. 



" Is Dr. Faraday here? " said I to the porter. " No sir, he 

 has just gone out." I felt relieved. " Be good enough to give 

 him this letter," and I was hurrying out when a little man in a 

 brown coat came in at the glass door. " Here is Dr. Faraday," 

 said the man, and gave him my letter. He turned to me and 

 courteously inquired what I wished. " To submit to you that 

 letter, sir, if you are not occupied." " My time is always occu- 

 pied, sir, but step this way," and he led me into the museum or 

 library, for I forget which it was, only I know there was a glass 

 case against which we leant. He read my letter, did not think 

 my plan would answer. Was I acquainted with mechanism, 

 what we calf the laws of motion? I saw all was up with my 

 poor scheme, so after trying a little to explain, in the course of 

 which I certainly failed in giving him a clear idea of what I 

 would be at, I thanked him for his attention, and went off as 

 dissatisfied as ever. The sense of one part of the conversation 

 I well recollect. He said " that were the perpetual motion pos- 

 sible, it would have occurred spontaneously in nature, and would 

 have overpowered all other forces," or words to that effect. I 

 did not see the force of this, but did not feel competent enough 

 to discuss the question. 



However, all this exorcised my devil, and he has rarely come 

 to trouble me since. Some future day, perhaps, I may be able to 

 call Faraday's attention more decidedly. Perge modo ! " wie das 

 Gestirn, ohne Hast, ohne Rast " (Das Gestirn in a midshipman's 

 berth!). 



In other respects also his student's career was a brilliant 

 one. In 1843 he won the first chemical prize, the certificate 

 stating that his " extraordinary diligence and success in the 

 pursuit of this branch of science do him infinite honour." 

 At the same time, he also won the first prize in the class of 

 anatomy and physiology. On the back of Wharton Jones' 

 certificate is scribbled in pencil : " Well, 'tis no matter. 

 Honour pricks me on. Yea, but how if honour prick me 

 ofif when I come on? How then? " 



Finally, in 1845 he went up for his M.B. at London 

 University, and won a gold medal for anatomy and physi- 

 ology, being second in honours in that section. 



