362 LIFE OF PROFESSOR HUXLEY chap, xxiv 



poned his Lectures to Working Men in London from Octo- 

 ber to February 1871. On October 3 he lectured in Leices- 

 ter on " What is to be Learned from a Piece of Coal," a 

 parallel lecture to that of 1868 on " A Piece of Chalk." 

 On the 17th and 24th he lectured at Birmingham on " Ex- 

 tinct Animals intermediate between Reptiles and Birds " 

 — a subject which he had made peculiarly his own by long 

 study ; and on December 29 he was at Bradford, and lec- 

 tured at the Philosophical Institute upon " The Formation 

 of Coal " {Coll. Ess. viii.). 



He was also busy with two Royal Commissions ; still, at 

 whatever cost of the energy and time due to his own investi- 

 gations and those additional labours by which he increased 

 his none too abundant income, he felt it his duty, in the 

 interests of his ideal of- education, to come forward as a 

 candidate for the newly-instituted School Board for London. 

 This was the practical outcome of the rising interest in 

 education all over the country ; on its working, he felt, de- 

 pended momentous issues — the fostering of the moral and 

 physical well-being of the nation ; the quickening of its in- 

 telligence and the maintenance of its commercial suprem- 

 acy. Withal, he desired to temper " book-learning " with 

 something of the direct knowledge of nature : on the one 

 hand, as an admirable instrument of education, if properly 

 applied ; on the other, as preparing the way for an attitude 

 of mind which could appreciate the reasons for the immense 

 changes already beginning to operate in human thought. 



Moreover, he possessed a considerable knowledge of the 

 working of elementary education throughout the country, 

 owing to his experience as examiner under the Science and 

 Art Department^the establishment of which he describes as 

 " a measure which came into existence unnoticed, but which 

 will, I believe, turn out to be of more importance to the 

 welfare of the people than many political changes over 

 which the noise of battle has rent the air " {ScientiHc 

 Education, 1869; Coll. Ess. iii. p. 131). 



Accordingly, though with health uncertain, and in the 

 midst of exacting occupations, he felt that he ought not to 

 stand aside at so critical a moment, and offered himself for 



