232 



LIFE OF PROFESSOR HUXLEY chap, xvi 



together for over forty years without the shadow of a mis- 

 understanding, presupposes an unusually strong friend- 

 ship firmly based upon mutual trust and respect as well 

 as liking, the beginning of which Sir J. Hooker thus de- 

 scribes : — 



My first meeting your father was in 1851, shortly after his 

 return from the Rattlesnake voyage with Captain Stanley. 

 Hearing that I had paid some attention to marine zoology diir- 

 ing the voyage of the Antarctic Expedition, he was desirous 

 of showing me the results of his studies of the Oceanic Hy- 

 drozoa, and he sought me out in consequence. This and the 

 fact that we had both embarked in the Naval service in the 

 same capacity as medical officers and with the same object of 

 scientific research, naturally led to an intimacy which was un- 

 disturbed by a shadow of a misunderstanding for nearly forty- 

 five following years. Curiously enough, our intercourse might 

 have dated from an earlier period by nearly six years had I 

 accepted an appointment to the Rattlesnake offered me by Cap- 

 tain Stanley, which, but for my having arranged for a journey 

 to India, might have been accepted. 



Returning to the purpose of our interview, the researches 

 Mr. Huxley laid before me were chiefly those on the Salpae, a 

 much misunderstood group of marine Hydrozoa. Of these I 

 had amused myself with making drawings during the long and 

 often weary months passed at sea on board the Erebus, but hav- 

 ing other subjects to attend to, I had made no further study of 

 them than as consumers of the vegetable life (Diatoms) of the 

 Antarctic Ocean. Hence his observations on their life-history, 

 habits, and affinities were on almost all points a revelation to 

 me, and I could not fail to recognise in their author all the 

 qualities possessed by a naturalist of commanding ability, in- 

 dustry, and power of exposition. Our interviews, thus com- 

 menced, soon ripened into a friendship, which led to an arrange- 

 ment for a monthly meeting, and in the informal establishment 

 of a club of nine, the other members of which were, Mr. Busk, 

 Dr. Frankland, Mr. Hirst, Sir J. Lubbock, Mr. Herbert Spencer, 

 Dr. Tyndall, and Mr. Spottiswoode. 



Just a month after this letter to his friend, the same 

 year which had first brought Huxley public recognition 

 outside his special sphere brought him also the greatest 

 sorrow perhaps of his whole life. I have already spoken 



