780 The American Naturalist. [August, 
father was one of the teachers. At the age of seventeen he entered the 
Charing Cross Medical School, and after three years of severe study he 
graduated with the degree of Batchelor of Medicine, taking high hon- 
ors in physiology. He entered the navy as an assistant surgeon in 
1846, and was appointed to H. M.S. Rattlesnake, Captain Stanley, 
which sailed the same year on an exploring expedition in the South 
Pacific and Torres Straits. He collected a great number of specimens 
and wrote several admirable papers, which he sent home, and which 
were published after his return in 1850 on the Philosophical Transac- 
tions of the Royal Society. His theories excited much interest among 
that scientific body, and he was in 1851 elected a fellow, which, when 
conferred on so young a man, was a tribute to talent and learning. 
He resigned his navy appointment in 1853, and succeeded Professor 
Forbes in the chair of natural history in the government School of 
Mines. Besides this he was connected with other institutions as in- 
structor and lecturer. From 1863 to 1869 he was Hunterian profes- 
sor in the Royal College of Surgeons and served twice as Fullerian 
professor of physiology to the Royal Institution. His time was con- 
stantly devoted to researches in science, particularly zoology, to ad- 
vance which he contributed as much as any other contemporaneous 
investigator. He was a warm friend of Professor Tyndall, and travel- 
led with him over the Alps in early life. The friendship formed in 
early life continued until death. 
The name of Professor Huxley came prominently before the pub- 
lic in 1870 in connection with the London School Board, to which 
he was elected in that year. In the deliberations of the Board he 
was especially prominent as the fierce opponent of denominational 
education, and was particularly conspicuous by his fiery fulminations 
against the doctrines of the Roman Catholic Church. He retired from 
the Board in 1872. In the same year he was elected Lord Rector of 
the University of Aberdeen, and was installed in 1874. On the death 
of Frank Buckland, in January, 1881, he succeeded that indefatigable 
naturalist as Inspector General of Fisheries, a posttion which he filled 
with his accustomed energy, ability and zeal. 
His essays and memoirs were principally contributed to the Journals 
and Transactions of the Royal, the Geological, the Linnean and the 
Zoological Societies. He is the author of “ Oceanic Hydrozoa” and 
“ Man’s Place in Nature,” 1863 ; “ Lectures on Comparative Anatomy,” 
1864; “ Lessons in Elementary Physiology,” 1866; “An Introduction 
to the Classification of Animals,” 1869; “Lay Faraons, Addresses and 
Reviews,” 1870; “ Manual of the Anatomy of Vertebrated Animals,”, 
