CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY Cornell University Library The original of this book is in the Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http:/Awww.archive.org/details/cu31924024543849 EDIT: J. REYNOLDS GREEN, D.Sc. THOMAS HENRY HUXLEY ENGLISH MEN OF SCIENCE Edited by J. Reynotps Green, D.Sc. HERBERT SPENCER. By J. Arruur THomson JOSEPH PRIESTLEY. By T. E, Tuorre GEORGE BENTHAM. By B. Daypon Jackson SIR WILLIAM FLOWER. By R, Lypexxer JOHN DALTON. By J. P. MILLINGTON THOMAS HENRY HUXLEY By J. R. Amswortu Davis hotel WA Mansell br THOMAS H. HUXLEY BY J. R. AINSWORTH DAVIS, M.A. Trinity College, Cambridge PUBLISHED IN LONDON By J. M. DENT & CO., AND IN NEW YORK BY E. P. DUTTON & CO. 1907 All Rights Reserved ‘* To smite all humbugs, however big; to give a nobler tone to science; to set an example of abstinence from petty personal controversies, and of toleration for every- thing but lying; to be indifferent as to whether the work is recognised as mine or not, so long as it is done :— are these my aims? 1860 will show. ¢Willst du dir ein hiibsch Leben zimmern, Musst dich ans Vergangene nicht bekiimmern ; Und wire dir auch was Verloren, Musst immer thun wie neugeboren. Was jeder Tag will, sollst du fragen ; Was jeder Tag will, wird er sagen. Musst dich an eigenen Thun ergotzen ; Was andere thun, das wirst du schatzen. Besonders keinen Menschen hassen Und das Ubrige Gott iiberlassen.’” [Goerue.] (Last entry in T. H. Huxley’s Private Journal, December 31, 1856. Life, i, p. 151.) PREFACE AN attempt has been made in this short biography to bring into prominence Huxley’s scientific work, though much of it was of so specialized a nature as to make a full presentment to other than professed zoologists practically impossible. It has been necessary to incur a large debt to Mr. Leonard Huxley’s admirable Life and Letters of Thomas Henry Huxley, the chief source of information, and this is gratefully acknowledged. Reference has been made to the first edition, in two volumes (1900), the abbreviation “ Life” being em- ployed. In dealing with the published works, the Memorial Edition of the Scientific Memoirs (Sci. Mem.) and the nine volumes of Collected Essays (Coll. Essays) have been used wherever possible, as being most convenient. J. R. AINSWORTH DAVIS. Aserystwytn, December 1906, vii CONTENTS CHAPTER I EARLY LIFE AND TRAINING [1825-45 | CHAPTER II EXPERIENCES AS A NAVAL SURGEON ON THE ‘* RATTLE= snake” [1846-50] . CHAPTER III SUCCESSES AND FAILURE [1850-4] CHAPTER IV BEGINNING OF PROFESSORIAL WORK IN LONDON [1854-8] CHAPTER V EARLY WORK ON FOSSILS AND BACKBONED ANIMALS. MUSEUM ARRANGEMENT [1856-8] . CHAPTER VI THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES [1859]. ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ CHAPTER VII THE DEFENCE OF DARWIN [1860]. 3 ; CHAPTER VIII DISSEMINATION AND SUPPORT OF EVOLUTIONARY pocrrines [1861-2]. . : : : . ix PAGE 15 24 34 42 50 58 x CONTENTS CHAPTER IX MAN’S PLACE IN NATURE — ETHNOLOGY — VIEWS ON epucaTion [1863-6]. 3 ‘ ? CHAPTER X BIRDS AND REPTILES —— PROTOPLASM — AGNOSTICISM (1867-69) . CHAPTER XI OFFICIAL AND ADMINISTRATIVE work [1870-71] . CHAPTER XII EGYPT — LORD RECTOR OF ABERDEEN UNIVERSITY— PRACTICAL BIOLOGY [1872-75] . CHAPTER XIII visit TO AMERICA [1876-77] . : 3 3 CHAPTER XIV HARVEY AND HUME — CRAYFISHES — DUBLIN AND CAMBRIDGE DocToraTes [1878-79] CHAPTER XV PRESIDENT OF THE ROYAL socleTy [1880-83] CHAPTER XVI BREAKDOWN AND RETIREMENT —— CRITICAL THEOLOGY [1884-86] CHAPTER XVII TECHNICAL EDUCATION — CONTROVERSIAL WRITINGS [1887]. ; ; ‘ : : ; : PAGE 72 85 98 If4 128 142 174 CONTENTS xi CHAPTER XVIII PAGE DEFENCE OF AGNosTicisM [1888-1889] . ; » 201 CHAPTER XIX POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY — MORE CRITICAL THEOLOGY [1890-1891]. : ‘ : , : . 241 CHAPTER XX CLosInc YEARS [1892-1895] - 226 CHAPTER XXI CHARACTER AND POSITION AMONG CONTEMPORARIES . 242 APPENDIX . : ; ‘ ‘ : 4 255 INDEX : ; ‘ i : . 281 Thomas Henry Huxley CHAPTER I EARLY LIFE AND TRAINING [1825-45]. Tuomas Henry Huxzey was born at Ealing on May 4, 1825, his father, George Huxley, being senior master in the well-known semi-public school of which Dr. Nicholas was then the head. Under the older name of Hodesleia the family can be traced back in Cheshire to the time of Richard I., but there is nothing in its annals foreshadowing the extraordinary eminence attained during the last half of the nineteenth century by its best known representative. So far as our information goes, Huxley was decidedly a “sport”—as he himself described the : great Newton—a concrete illustration of the biological fact that variations of large amount may from time to time occur. To the first volume of his Collected Essays, issued in 1893, Huxley prefixed a short Autobiography, originally written for another purpose, in which the bulk of his physical and mental characteristics are ascribed to inheri- tance from his mother. As to the former, he was tall, dark, and rather spare, with a commanding presence, and a striking though not handsome countenance, chiefly remarkable for breadth of forehead, prominence of chin, and a profusion of long straight hair. Huxley’s most salient mental characteristics were absolute sincerity and A 2 THOMAS HENRY HUXLEY straightforwardness, unrivalled powers of criticism and generalization, and an equally remarkable faculty of rapid intuition, of which last he says: ‘If my time were to come over again, there is nothing I would less will- ingly part with than my inheritance of mother wit.” To these must be added, as supposed endowments from the paternal side, a sufficiently hot temper, and a vast tenacity of purpose, “‘ which unfriendly observers some- times call obstinacy,” but without which he could never have persisted in the upward climb to distinction which in its earlier stages often necessitated—to use his own phrase—‘‘ hanging on by the eyelids.” From his father was inherited, too, the artistic power which rendered such signal service to his scientific work, and which made his lightning blackboard sketches during lecture both the despair and delight of his pupils. His artistic faculties also included an intense appreciation of music, which his strenuous life enabled him all too infrequently to gratify, as well as very strong literary tastes. Had Huxley been the eldest child, he might perhaps have become an “infant phenomenon,” but as the seventh, this stunting experience, fortunately for science and the world at large was spared him. His experience of “‘unreformed public school-life,” between the ages of eight and ten, leaves little that is pleasant to record, the memory of a successful fight being the only illuminating spot. In 1835 his father returned to the original home at Coventry, to become manager of a savings bank, and from this time on the boy’s systematic school education seems practically to have come to anend. But this was far more than compensated by his passion for reading, and friendships contracted with older persons. For a boy of twelve to read—and appreciate—Hutton’s Geohgy, EARLY LIFE AND TRAINING 3 the forerunner of Lyell’s Principles, seems sufficiently remarkable, but that he should, a little later, master Hamilton’s Logic, is no less than astounding. To this period we must refer the inception of Huxley’s lifelong interest in philosophy, his ever manifest desire to get behind the facts, to reach bed-rock so far as possible. Asa result of his association with his brother-in-law, Dr. Cooke, he now acquired his first direct interest in anatomy, and, most unfortunately, contracted blood- poisoning at a post-mortem examination, which dates the origin of digestive troubles that severely handicapped his entire career. Among the works read by Huxley during his early teens were several of Carlyle’s, and there can be no doubt that these exerted a profound influence upon his character, strengthening his natural tendency to despise all shams and humbugs, and to entertain high ideals of duty. It would also seem that they were of inestimable service in another respect, leading the young student to commence the study of German, a much neglected lan- guage in those days. He also very early laid the foundation of a thorough knowledge of French and Italian. In later years his linguistic attainments were not only of the greatest ser- vice to him in the prosecution of his researches, but his example has effected a complete metamorphosis in the attitude of serious workers in the natural history sciences. Before Huxley’s time the results of foreign research were often ignored or neglected. He first inaugurated the now universal custom of making bibliographical references and lists as complete as possible, whereby much overlapping and waste of energy have been averted. Many if not most boys in their teens have some idea of what they would like to be, and Huxley was no 4 THOMAS HENRY HUXLEY exception to the rule, We read in his Autobiography as follows :— “As I grew older my great desire was to be a mechanical engineer, but the fates were against this, and, while very young, I commenced the study of medicine under a medica] brother-in- law. . .. I amonot sure that I have not all along been a sort of mechanical engineer in partibus infidelium, . .. The only part of my professional course which really and deeply interested me was physiology, which is the mechanical engineering of living machines . . . what I cared for was the architectural and engineering part of the business, é.¢., natural history, the working out the wonderful unity of plan in the thousands and thousands of diverse living constructions, and the modifications of similar apparatuses to serve diverse ends ”’ (Coll. Essays, i, pp. 6-7). In January, 1841, he went to Rotherhithe, and com- menced his medical studies by becoming assistant to Dr. Chandler. He now for the first time came into contact with the very poor, and to this period we may refer the beginning of that marked interest in the working-classes, which afterwards bore fruit in his contributions to schemes for the improvement of elementary education, and in his numerous lectures to working men. Somewhat later on, the young student of medicine was apprenticed to his brother-in-law, J. G. Scott, a doctor in North London, the husband of his eldest and favourite sister Lizzie, and took his first step towards graduation by beginning to prepare for the matriculation examination of London University, attending lectures at Sydenham College. His class successes were consider- able, and included a silver medal for botany, given by the Apothecaries’ Society, the winning of which, he afterwards declared, gave him more pleasure than the award of the Royal Society’s Medal years later. We learn from an old diary kept during these years that in addition to examination studies and the pursuit of Ger- FIRST RESEARCH PAPER 5 man, he read the Physiology of the eminent Berlin professor, Johannes Miiller, whose epoch-making comparative work in natural history he afterwards continued and extended with such brilliant success. October 1, 1842, was an important date in the life of young Huxley, for, together with his brother James, he began his medical course at Charing Cross Hospital as a Free Scholar. Wharton Jones, the lecturer on physio- logy, undoubtedly made the most marked impression upon him, partly in virtue of his subject, but still more on account of his personality. Huxley’s own opinion of himself as a man and as a student, at this epoch, was sufficiently pessimistic, and we may well allow our- selves to discount it altogether. The feature that most impressed his fellow-students was his extraordinary energy, one result of which was his first contribution to science, in the form of a paper entitled, ‘‘On a Hitherto Undescribed Structure in the Human Hair-sheath,” published in the London Medical Gazette for July 1845 (Sci. Mem., i, 1, p. 1). The structure in question is still known as ‘‘ Huxley’s layer,” and in the paper we find that the German literature is dealt with in character- istic fashion. It is given to but few medical students to make even small additions to the sum of scientific knowledge. He passed through his student’s course with marked distinction, taking a first prize in chemistry, as well as one in anatomy and physiology. For the two latter subjects he was awarded a gold medal, his place being second in honours in the M.B. examination of the University of London, 1845. CHAPTER II EXPERIENCES AS A NAVAL SURGEON ON THE ‘“‘ RATTLESNAKE” [1846-50]. Tue chance suggestion made by Huxley’s fellow- student Fayrer (afterwards Sir Joseph Fayrer) that he should apply for a post in the Medical Service of the Navy, determined his whole future career, and conse- quently had a momentous influence on the progress of scientific thought and research. Early in 1846 he entered the Navy, and was appointed to the Victory, for duty at Haslar Hospital, serving under Sir John Richardson, through whose recommendation he was transferred after some delay to the Rattlesnake frigate during October of the same year, in the capacity of assistant surgeon. It was also understood that he would co-operate with Macgillivray, the naturalist to the expedition. The ship was detailed for survey work in Australian and East Indian waters. During the months that elapsed between the time the appointment was promised him (May) and that of departure (December), young Huxley with unremitting energy took every opportunity of fitting himself for the work of investigation before him. Owen, Gray, and particularly Edward Forbes, gave him much in- formation and counsel which afterwards proved invalu- able. Forbes, a pioneer in the art of dredging for scientific purposes, was especially friendly, sparing no pains in explaining the technical methods employed for the capture of marine animals. From him too Huxley 6 EXPERIENCES AS NAVAL SURGEON 7 obtained a living specimen of the Lancelet (Amphioxus lanceolatus), for the purpose of investigating the nature of its blood, on which he read a short paper at the Meeting of the British Association, held that year at Southampton (Brit. Assoc. Rep., 1847, Part 2, p. 95. Sci. Mem., i, u, p. 4). It is interesting to notice that Charles Darwin and Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker, who were afterwards among Huxley’s most intimate friends, began, as he did, their scientific work on board ship, and given sufficient initial ability, there is much to be said for some such way of gaining horizon and wealth of imagination at the outset of a specialist career in natural history. There is at least no question that Huxley’s early experiences in a ship of discovery were an important factor in giving that breadth of knowledge and interest by which he was so eminently characterized. From letters of the period we learn that the young naturalist looked forward to the cruise with the most eager anticipation, and chafed at the delays which inter- vened between the promise of the appointment and the departure of the Rattlesnake. She at last left Spithead on December 3, 1846, and was away for four years, of which nearly three were spent in Australian waters. Professor Virchow in the Huxley Lecture for 1898, summarized the value of the training acquired in the following admirable way :— «When Huxley himself left Charing Cross Hospital in 1846, he had enjoyed a rich measure of instruction in anatomy and physiology. Thus trained, he took the post of naval surgeon, and by the time that he returned, four years later, he had become a perfect zoologist anda keen-sighted ethnologist. How this was possible, any one will readily understand who knows from his own experience how great the value of personal observation is for the development of independent and unprejudiced thought. 8 THOMAS HENRY HUXLEY For a young man who, besides collecting a rich treasure of positive knowledge, has practised dissection and the exercise of a critical judgment, a long sea-voyage and a peaceful sojourn among entirely new surroundings afford an invaluable opportunity for original work and deep reflection. Freed from the formalism of the schools, thrown upon the use of his own intellect, compelled to test each single object as regards properties and history, he soon forgets the dogmas of the prevailing system and becomes, first a sceptic, and then an investigator” (Times, Oct. 4, 1898). Apart from the necessary appliances for marine sur- veying, her chief work, the scientific equipment of the Rattlesnake was nil, nor was she provided with any books of reference. This was only a part of the cheese- paring policy of the then Admiralty, which, as we shall see in the sequel, nearly led to Huxley’s abandoning science as a profession altogether. But this sad lack of equipment only adds to the brilliance of the work effected under such trying and difficult conditions. Regarding the routine details of Huxley’s life on board ship we learn that congenial company largely atoned for inconvenient quarters, and his personal char- acteristics stood him in good stead. Kindly good-nature and equable spirits, combined with a saving sense of humour and entire absence of “ side,” will go far to avert friction, even among a band of cooped-up explorers. After touching at Madeira, the Rattlesnake sailed to Rio de Janeiro, where dredging for marine animals began. Thence vid the Cape and Mauritius to Hobart Town and Sydney, the last being reached on July 16, 1847. Besides a paper on a rare bivalve mollusc of ancient type,! the scientific first fruits of the voyage were in the form of two memoirs, one on the ‘“ Anatomy of 1 Description of the Animal of Trigonia, from Actual Dissection”? (Proc. Zool. Soc., xvii, 1849 } and Annals and Mag. Nat. Hist., v, 1850, Sci, Mem., i, 11, p. 6). EARLY RESEARCHES 9 Physalia,” 1 the Portuguese man-of-war, a colonial jelly- fish (Proc. Linn. Soc., 1849), and the other “On the Anatomy and the Affinities of the Family of the Meduse” (Phil. Trans. Roy. Soc., 1849, Part 2, p. 413. Sci. Mem., i, Iv, p. 9). Several other memoirs? may be grouped with these, as well as the classical monograph on “ The Oceanic Hydrozoa” (Ray Society, 1858), of which the publication was long delayed, owing to the penuri- ousness of the Government. These publications deal with those lower organisms known to the older naturalists as “‘ Zoophytes,” and now technically named Ccelentera. They include hydroid zoophytes, medusz or jelly-fishes, sea-anemones, corals, and various other forms. Until Huxley’s time the systematics of this vast assemblage of apparently diverse types was in a state of the utmost chaos, the attention of previous workers having been chiefly devoted to description and naming of species without due compari- son. The young navy surgeon reduced this chaos to order, and proved that a common plan of structure dominates the entire series. He demonstrated, in short, that the body of any one of these animals essentially consists of two cellular membranes, bounding variously shaped cavities, and suggested the equivalence of the said membranes to ‘‘the two primary germinal leaf- lets in the vertebrate embryo” (Prof. G. J. Allman, Life, i, Pp. 40). t Brief notice only. The complete “Memoir on Physalia,” op. cit., ii, 1855, pp» 3-5. Sci. Mem., i, xxxvi, p. 361. 2 ¢¢ On the Anatomy of Diphyes, and on the Unity of Composition of the Diphyide and Physophoride, etc.” (Brief notice in Proc. Linn. Soc., 1849. Complete Memoir, op. cit., ti, 1855, pp. 67-9. Sci. Mem., i, XXXVII, p. 363). ‘¢Notes on Meduse@ and Polypes” (Annals and Mag. Nat. Hist., vi, 1850. Sci. Mem., i, v, p. 33). “Ueber die Sexualorgane der Diphyidz und Physophoride” (Miiller’s Archiv., 1851. Sci. Mem,, i, x1v, p. 122). 10 THOMAS. HENRY HUXLEY These important generalizations constitute a firm foundation on which Haeckel and many other subsequent workers have built, and they in themselves are amply sufficient to give their author a prominent place in any philosophical history of zoology. And when we remember that Huxley’s scientific memoirs, published from 1845 to 1888 (inclusive), amount to no less than 170, ranging over the entire animal kingdom as well as including valuable ethnological work, and that many of them are of epoch-making char- acter and will ever remain classical, our conceptions as to the vast industry and capacity of the man must be almost indefinitely enlarged. In later years Huxley was so prominently before the public as a hard-hitting controversialist, especially on behalf of Darwinism and the higher criticism, possessed of unrivalled sardonic humour, that many are apt to regard him as of a somewhat unsympathetic nature. Such an idea, however, is entirely devoid of any solid foundation, for like so many independent and positive characters, he was extremely sensitive to the sympathy of others, and was himself warm-hearted and appreciative to a degree. It is somewhat unfortunate that a number of his pungent epigrams, thrown off in moments of irritation or as flashes of irrepressible sarcastic wit without thought of their perpetuation, have been pre- served to give a totally wrong impression of his general character. As for the advancement of science, so also for Huxley’s private life, the voyage of the Rattlesnake proved to be of no small importance. For in Sydney he met, and became engaged to, his future wife, Miss Henrietta Anne Heathorn, his ideal union with whom was destined to endure for forty years. The eleven months spent from EARLY RESEARCHES Il first to last in Sydney afforded abundant opportunity for intimate mutual knowledge. Apart from a short visit made to Bass’s Strait, the Rattlesnake made three northern cruises, surveying the inshore Passage (between Australia and the Great Barrier Reef), and thence exploring Torres Straits, the Louisiade Archipelago and S.E. New Guinea. A westward ex- tension of this work in the direction of Java and Sumatra was prevented by the premature death of the commander, Captain Owen Stanley. The ship finally left Australia for England in May, 1850, returning by way of the Falk- lands and Azores to Plymouth, and arriving at Chatham on November 9, of the same year. In a letter to Sir John Richardson, dated October 31, 1850, Huxley summarizes his Rattlesnake work (Life, i, pp- 57-8), and the information there given is supple- mented by his paper, “ Zoological Notes and Observa- tions made on board H.M.S. Rattlesnake during the years 1846-50” (Annals and Mag. Nat. Hist., Ser. 2, vii, 1851, pp- 304-6, and viii, 1851, pp. 433-42. Sci. Mem., i, 1x, p. 80). Apart from the paper on Trigonia and the re- searches on Medusz already mentioned, they include the following, of which the three first are embodied in the “ Notes” just mentioned. 1. “Upon Thalassicola,” an undescribed type of the Protozoa or simple unicellular animals, most of which are microscopic. In the middle of last century zoo- logical classification was dominated by the views of Cuvier, who had established several large groups or sub- kingdoms, of which one was known as the “ Radiata.” This included a vast assemblage of heterogeneous forms, among which were Medusz and their allies, Echinoderms (star-fishes, etc.), Entozoa (parasitic worms), Ascidians (sea-squirts ), Bryozoa(moss-polypes),and the above-named 7 12 THOMAS HENRY HUXLEY Protozoa, with which the sponges were then associated. One of Huxley’s aims was to reduce the Radiata to order, breaking it up into smaller natural groups, and determin- ing their affinities so far as possible. His papers on Meduse had succeeded in doing this for one large set of forms, and the paper now under discussion was not merely a description of a new animal, but also a successful attempt to define and delimit the Protozoa. Huxley’s view, now (if sponges are ex- cluded) universally accepted, that these are of relatively simple structure, directly traversed the authority of the celebrated Ehrenberg, already challenged by a number of distinguished naturalists. 2. “On the Anatomy of the Genus Tethya” (a sponge). 3. ‘On the Auditory Organs in the Crustacea.” The much-vexed question as to the position of these structures (to which another function is now ascribed) in the higher Crustacea, such as prawns and the like, is definitely settled in this paper. 4. ‘‘ Observations sur la Circulation du Sang chez les Mollusques, des Genres Firole et Atlante” (Ann. des Sci. Nat., x1v, 1850, pp. 193-5. Sci. Mem., i, vi, p. 36). —Here we have a positive contribution to the physiology of certain pelagic snails, founded upon observations made on living specimens. Even at the present day physio- logical work on invertebrates is relatively scanty, and that so young a naturalist as Huxley then was should devote some time to it is one of many proofs of the wide nature of his interests. 5. “Observations on the Genus Sagitta” (Brit. Assoc. Rep., 1851. Sci. Mem., i, x, p. 96).—The little arrow- worms (Sagitta, etc.) occur in vast numbers in the float- ing population (plankton) of the sea, and their classifi- catory position is still a moot point. In this short paper EARLY RESEARCHES 13 Huxley is inclined to associate them either with certain degenerate Crustacea, or with the Arachnida (scorpions, spiders, etc.), rather inclining to the latter view. But in his letter to Sir John Richardson he tentatively speaks of them as Annelids, or segmented worms. 6. ‘Observations upon the Anatomy and Physiology of Salpa and Pyrosoma” (Phil. Trans. Roy. Soc., 1851, Part 2, pp. 567-94. Annals and Mag. Nat. Hist., ix, 1852, pp. 242-4. Sci. Mem. i, vm, p. 38). 7. ‘Remarks upon Appendicularia and Doliolum, two Genera of the Tunicata” (Phil. Trans. Roy. Soc., 1851, Part 2, pp. 595-606. Sci. Mem., i, vim, p. 69). The last two important memoirs deal with pelagic members of the Tunicata, Ascidians, or sea-squirts, animals which are now known to constitute a lowly group of the Vertebrata. Huxley largely added to our knowledge of their anatomy and physiology, and it does not detract from the merits of his work that parts of it had been anticipated. As in so many of his contribu- tions to science the comparative method of Johannes Miller was applied with eminent success, and the work on Salpa was of especial interest. For earlier in the century Chamisso discovered in these creatures what he termed ‘alternation of generations,” z.ec., the alternation of a sexual and an asexual stage in the same life-history, a phenomenon which is now known to be of frequent occurrence among plants and in several groups of animals. Huxley succeeded in placing Chamisso’s conclusions on a firm basis, at the same time modifying and extending them, While the memoirs now briefly dealt with, and some others to be subsequently mentioned, were the direct result of Huxley’s voyage, the material collected and the observations then made led to other and later contribu- tions to science. i4 THOMAS HENRY HUXLEY In attempting to estimate the value of the earlier contributions to science it is of course necessary to bear in mind the backward state of many departments of natural history, and the relatively crude nature of biological technique compared with its present condition, especially as regards microscopes, section-cutting and the like. CHAPTER III SUCCESSES AND FAILURE [1850-4]. From the return of the Rattlesnake till 1854 Huxley’s career was scientifically a brilliant success, but other- wise a long series of disappointments, not unmixed with family sorrow. In 1849 the Admiralty had promised him either rapid promotion or financial aid in the publi- cation of his scientific work, but neither promise was redeemed. In spite of the backing of many influential friends, including Sir John Richardson, Prof. Owen and Prof. Edward Forbes, the concessions granted him practically amounted to leave of absence for three years and a half, these being largely spent in working out his results, as embodied in the memoirs dealt with in the last chapter, and in preparation of the monograph on “