CHAPTER XX 



CLOSING YEARS [1892-I895]. 



It is generally understood that Huxley might have had 

 a title in recognition of his eminence as a scientist, but his 

 views on the subject were very clearly defined and were 

 expressed, for instance, in his address on " Administrative 

 Nihilism" (Coll. Essays, i, p. 287) : — 



" The sole order of nobility which, in my judgment, becomes 

 a philosopher, is the rank which he holds in the estimation of his 

 fellow-workers, who are the only competent judges in such 

 matters. Newton and Cuvier lowered themselves when the one 

 accepted an idle knighthood, and the other became a baron of 

 the empire. The great men who went to their graves as 

 Michael Faraday and George Grote seem to me to have under- 

 stood the dignity of knowledge better when they declined all 

 such meretricious trappings." 



His objection, however, did not apply to men of science 

 occupying official posts, and given titles on that account. 

 Nor did it extend to membership of the Privy Council 

 (an office involving a title), as once stated in conversation 

 to Sir John Donnelly. And, during the summer of 1 892, 

 Huxley was offered and accepted the distinction of a 

 Privy Councillorship, Donnelly, as Secretary of the Science 

 and Art Department, having first been sounded on the 

 matter. The compliment gave very natural pleasure, not 

 unmixed with a little quiet amusement. Both these 

 elements, for example, together with appreciation of long- 

 standing friendship, are to be found in a letter to Donnelly 

 (dated August 20, 1892) : — 



226 



