CHAPTER XXX 



HcxLEY only delivered one address outside his regular 

 work in 1S75. on " Some Results of the ' Challenger ' Ex- 

 f>edition," given at the Royal Institution on Januan,- 29. 

 For all through the summer he was away from London, 

 engaged ujKiin the summer course of lectures on X'atural 

 History at Edinburgh. This was due to the fact that Pro- 

 fessor (afterwards Sin \\'\-ville Thomson was still absent 

 on the Challenger expedition, and Professor Victor Cams, 

 who had acted as his substitute before, was no longer 

 available. Under these circumstances the Treasury granted 

 Huxley leave of absence from South Kensington. His 

 course began on May 3. and ended on July 23. and he 

 thought it a considerable feat to deal with the whole Ani- 

 mal Kingdom in 54 lectures. No doubt both he and his 

 students worked at high pressure, especially when the latter 

 came scantily prepared for the task, like the late Joseph 

 Thomson, afterwards distinguished as an African traveller, 

 who has left an account of his experience in this class. 

 Thomson's particular weak point was his Greek, and the 

 terminology of the lectures seems to have been a thorn in 

 his side. This account, which actually tells of the 1876 

 course, occurs on pp. 36 and 37 of his " Life." 



The experience of studying personally under Huxley was a 

 privilege to which he had been looking forward with eager 

 anticipation; for he had already been fascinated with the charm 

 of Huxley's writings, and had received from them no small 

 amount of mental stimulus. Nor were his expectations disap- 



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