CHAPTER XXV 

 1871 



" In 1871 " (to quote Sir M. Foster), " the post of Sec- 

 retary to the Royal Society became vacant through the 

 resignation of William Sharpey, and the Fellows learned 

 with glad surprise that Huxley, whom they looked to rather 

 as a not distant President, was willing to undertake the 

 duties of the office." This office, which he held until 1880, 

 involved him for the next ten years in a quantity of anxious 

 work, not only in the way of correspondence and adminis- 

 tration, but the seeing through the press and often revising 

 every biological paper that the Society received, as well as 

 reading those it rejected. Then, too, he had to attend every 

 general, council, and committee meeting, amongst which 

 latter the Challenger Committee was a load in itself. Under 

 pressure of all this work, he was compelled to give up active 

 connection with other learned societies.* 



Other work this year, in addition to the School Board, 

 included courses of lectures at the London Institution in 

 January and February, on " First Principles of Biology," 

 and from October to December on " Elementary Physi- 

 ology" ; lectures to Working Men in London from February 

 to April, as well as one at Liverpool, March 25, on " The 

 Geographical Distribution of Animals " ; two lectures at the 

 Royal Institution, May 12 and 19, on " Berkeley on Vision," 

 and the " Metaphysics of Sensation " (Coll. Ess. vi.). He 

 published one paleontological paper, " Fossil Vertebrates 

 from the Yarrow Colliery " (Huxley and Wright, Irish 

 Acad. Trans.). In June and July he gave 36 lectures to 



* See Appendix II. 



383 



