CHARACTER AS A FRIEND 143 



which occur to me, one will suffice. One evening in London, 

 at a grand annual reception of the Royal Academy, where 

 celebrities of every rank were present, Huxley said to me, 

 ' When I was in America, you showed me every extinct 

 animal that I had read about, or even dreamt of. Now, if 

 there is a single living lion in all Great Britain that you wish 

 to see, I will show him to you in five minutes ? ' He kept his 

 promise, and before the reception was over, I had met many 

 of the most noted men in England, and from that evening, I 

 can date a large number of acquaintances, who have made my 

 subsequent visits to that country an ever-increasing pleasure " 

 (Life, i, p. 494). 



Huxley's anxiety at this time about the failing health 

 of Prof. W. K. CliiFord affords further evidence, were 

 such necessary, of his sterling character as a friend. 



Another personal matter of the year was the confer- 

 ment of the degree of LL.D. {honoris causd) of the 

 University of Dublin, which took place during the 

 meeting of the British Association, where he had 

 delivered an address to the section on Anthropology. 

 The subject was " Informal Remarks on the Conclusions 

 of Anthropology," the central point being that Man is a 

 legitimate subject of scientific study, and that the possi- 

 bility of his origin by a process of evolution must be 

 admitted (Nature, xviii, 1878, pp. 445-8. Sci. Mem., 

 iv, XV, p. 265). 



In a letter to his eldest daughter later in the year 

 (December 7), upon the Afghan war, Huxley shows 

 that absorbing scientific and educational work did not 

 preclude a lively interest in political events and the wel- 

 fare of the empire : — 



" I am strong for justice as any one can be, but it is real justice, 

 not sham conventional justice which the sentimentalists howl 

 for. 



" At this present time real justice requires that the power of 



