no THOMAS HENRY HUXLEY 



quoted, and scarlet fever is spoken of as a disease that 

 will ultimately be stamped out : — 



"And thus mankind will have one more admonition that 

 ' the people perish for lack of knowledge ; ' and that the allevia- 

 tion of the miseries, and the promotion of the welfare, of man 

 must be sought, by those who will not lose their pains, in that 

 diligent, patient, loving study of all the multitudinous aspects of 

 Nature, the result of which constitute exact knowledge, or 

 Science." 



8. " On the Relations of Penicillium, Torula, and 

 Bacterium" (Address to the Biological Section of the 

 Brit. Assoc, September 13, 1870. Report by E. Ray 

 Lankester in the Q. J. Micros. Sci. New Series, x, 1870, 

 pp. 355-62. Sci. Mem., iii, xxxvii, p. 601). — Here are 

 detailed some of the results of investigations on certain 

 lower forms of plant life (compare 7). Huxley's atten- 

 tion was directed to these forms, partly from a desire to 

 get first-hand knowledge of types he intended to include 

 in a course on practical biology, and partly by the re- 

 searches of Dr. Bastian, in which bacteria were asserted 

 to have been spontaneously generated. 



1871. 



The School Board work of 1 87 1, which has already 

 been dealt with, naturally limited activity in other direc- 

 tions, though there is still plenty to record. The most 

 important event of the year was perhaps Huxley's ac- 

 ceptance of the Secretaryship of the Royal Society, which 

 arduous post he held for the next ten years. Among 

 the most important duties discharged during this period 

 were those in connection with the Challenger committee. 



We find the usual variety of lectures delivered to all 

 sort of audiences, and embracing a wide range of topics. 

 The one on " Administrative Nihilism " (Coll. Essays, i. 



