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Thomas Henry Huzley. 177 
Art. XVITI.— Thomas Henry Huzley. 
In the present half century of English science, four names 
stand forth preéminent ; Darwin, Huxley, Spencer, and Tyndall, 
and of these masters Spencer alone survives. It has been my 
good fortune to know each of these men, under circumstances 
that brought out their prominent characteristics, intellectual 
and social, and my intercourse with each and all of them I 
recall as among the brightest spots in my life. Darwin I saw 
only at his own country home, but the others I met more fre- 
quently in London, and held still closer relations with them 
during their visits to this country. With Darwin and Huxley, 
as the leaders in modern natural science, my associations were 
more intimate than with the others, while Huxley was to me 
a guide, philosopher, and friend, almost from the time I made 
choice of science as my life work. For this reason, I cannot 
now bring myself to attempt an estimate of the loss to science 
and to the world occasioned by his death. I can only at 
present place on record a few facts of his life, and add some- 
thing about the man himself as he appeared to me. 
Thomas Henry Huxley was born at Ealing, Middlesex, 
England, May 4, 1825. His early education was obtained 
mainly at home, and in the Ealing school of which his father 
was one of the masters. He began his scientific studies in 
1842, at the medical school of Charing Cross Hospital, and 
passed the M.B. examination at the University of London in 
1845. In the following year, he entered the medical service of 
the Royal Navy at the Haslar Hospital, and from there was 
appointed to the post of assistant surgeon to H. M.S. L2attle- 
snake, then preparing for a surveying voyage to the South 
Seas. The ship left England in 1846 and returned in 1850, 
having surveyed the inner route between the barrier reef and 
the east coast of Australia and New Guinea, and also complet- 
ing a voyage around the world. Huxley’s scientific work dur- 
ing this voyage is well known, and in recognition of it he was 
elected, in 1851, a fellow of the Royal Society. He left the 
naval service in 1853, having failed to obtain from the govern- 
ment the publication of his researches during his voyage. This 
was afterwards done by the Royal Society. ' 
In 1854, Huxley was appointed naturalist to the Geological 
Survey, and in the same year was made professor of natural 
history in the Government School of Mines, a position which 
he filled with marked success until his retirement in 1885. He 
was appointed in 1854 Fullerian professor of physiology in 
the Royal Institution, and also became examiner in physiology 
and comparative anatomy to the University of London. 
Am. Jour. Sc1.—TsiRD SERIES, VoL. L, No 296.—AvGustT, 1895. 
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