SCOTTISH UNIVERSITIES 135 



in the Royal School of Mines this year (Nature, xiii, 

 1876, pp. 388-9, 410-12, 429-30, 467-9, 514-6; xiv, 

 1876, pp. 33-4. Sci. Mem., iv, xn, p. 163). The 

 recent advances made in palaeontology are here lucidly 

 explained : — 



" The accurate information obtained in this department of 

 science has put the fact of evolution beyond a doubt ; formerly, 

 the great reproach of the theory was, that no support was lent 

 to it by the geological history of living things ; now, whatever 

 happens, the fact remains that the hypothesis is founded on the 

 firm basis of palasontological evidence." 



During 1876, too, a memoir was published " On the 

 Nature of the Craniofacial Apparatus of Petromyzon " (J. 

 Anat. and Physiol., x, 1876, pp. 412-29. Sci. Mem., 

 iv, x, p. 128). — This deals with the skeleton of the 

 head in the lamprey, the complicated elements of which 

 are described with the most painstaking accuracy. The 

 interpretation given to some of them, however, has not 

 met with general acceptance. 



1877- 



A good deal of time was taken up during 1877 in 

 furthering educational interests of various kinds. 

 Huxley's work as a member of the Scottish Universities 

 Commission necessitated three visits to Edinburgh, and 

 the intimate acquaintance he had gained of the Scottish 

 system would seem to have made a favourable impression 

 as to its worth, in strong contrast with his consistently 

 uncompromising attitude in regard to those supposedly 

 effete centres of learning, Oxford and Cambridge. At 

 any rate his eldest son was entered as a student at St. 

 Andrews in the fall of the year ; though he subsequently 

 went up to Oxford. 



