INFLUENCE ON BOARD SCHOOLS 105 



Board Schools of London, and indirectly the still greater number 

 in other schools throughout the land." 



Huxley's influence endures to-day not merely in the 

 general character of elementary instruction, but also in 

 the easily available means by which pupils of ability are 

 enabled to take advantage of higher education. Indeed, 

 the "educational ladder" is perhaps set at too easy an 

 angle. 



Baseless assertions were made at the time that Huxley 

 was led by personal ambition to become a member of the 

 School Board, and that he contemplated a political career. 

 As a matter of fact the opportunity was more than once 

 afforded him of offering himself as a candidate to a 

 parliamentary constituency, and in the opinion of those 

 most competent to judge, e.g.. Sir Mountstuart Grant 

 Duff ("Life, i, pp. 354"5)j he would have proved a 

 brilliant success in the House of Commons, provided the 

 strain had not proved too much for his physical en- 

 durance. 



For the sake of continuity Huxley's School Board work 

 has been taken as a whole, and it will now be necessary 

 to go back to 1870 for the purpose of considering other 

 events and other kinds of activity. The publication 

 of Lay Sermons, Addresses and Reviews during this year, 

 largely extended his influence as an educationist, and met 

 with a large and increasing popularity. A volume of 

 selections from it was published during the following 

 year. 



An address " On Medical Education " (Coll. Essays, 

 iii, p. 303), given during 1870 to the medical students 

 of University College, London, contains some very in- 

 teresting suggestions, some of which might still be carried 

 out with advantage, despite the many advances which 

 have been made during the last thirty-five years. The 



