160 THOMAS HENRY HUXLEY 



also includes a personal estimate. From this the follow- 

 ing quotations are taken : — 



" This protracted investigation [i.e., of the Scotch Herring 

 Commission (1862), and the Sea Fisheries Commission (1864-5)], 

 had convinced Professor Huxley that the supply of fish in the 

 deep sea was practically inexhaustible, and that, however much 

 it might be necessary to enforce the police of the seas by protect- 

 ing particular classes of sea fishermen from injury done to their 

 instruments by the operations of other classes, the primary duty 

 of the legislature was to develop sea fishing, and not to place 

 restrictions on sea fishermen for any fears of an exhaustion of 

 fish. 



" His scientific training, moreover, made him ridicule the 

 modern notion that it was possible to stock the sea by artificial 

 methods. He was not, however, equally certain that particular 

 areas of sea shore might not be exhausted by our fishing. . . . 

 If, however, Professor Huxley was strongly opposed to un- 

 necessary interference with the labours of sea fishermen, he was 

 well aware of the necessity of protecting migratory fish, like salmon, 

 against over-fishing. . . . 



" It is needless to say that, as a companion, Professor Huxley 

 was the most delightful of men. Those who have met him in 

 society, or enjoyed the hospitality of his house, must have been 

 conscious of the singular charm of a conversation, which was 

 founded on knowledge, enlarged by memory, and brightened by 

 humour. ... In conversation Professor Huxley displayed the 

 quality which distinguished him both as a writer and a public 

 speaker. He invariably used the right words in the right sense. . . . 



" No one could have known Professor Huxley intimately 

 without recognising that he delighted in combat. He was never 

 happier than when he was engaged in argument or controversy, 

 and he loved to select antagonists worthy of his steel. ... If, 

 however, a love of argument and controversy occasionally led 

 him into hot water, I do not think that his polemical tendencies 

 ever cost him a friend. His antagonists must have recognised 

 the fairness of his methods, and must have been susceptible to 

 the charm of the man. The high example which he set in con- 

 troversy, moreover, was equally visible in his ordinary life. Of 

 all the men I have ever known, his ideas and his standard were, 

 on the whole, the highest. He recognised that the fact of his 



