which they were preserved.  Though Haeckel, with his special experience of Monera, refused to desert Bathybius, a close parallel to which was found off Greenland in 1876, the rest of its sponsors gave it up.  Whatever it might be as a matter of possibility, the particular evidence upon which it had been described was tainted.  Once assured of this, Huxley characteristically took the bull by the horns.  Without waiting for any one else to come forward, he made public renunciation of Bathybius at the British Association in 1879.  The “eating of the leek” as recommended to his friend Dohrn (July 7, 1868), was not merely a counsel for others, but was a prescription followed by himself on occasion:—­]

As you know, I did not think you were on the right track with the Arthropoda, and I am not going to profess to be sorry that you have finally worked yourself to that conclusion.

As to the unlucky publication in the “Journal of Anatomy and Physiology,” you have read your Shakespeare and know what is meant by “eating a leek.”  Well, every honest man has to do that now and then, and I assure you that if eaten fairly and without grimaces, the devouring of that herb has a very wholesome cooling effect on the blood, particularly in people of sanguine temperament.

Seriously you must not mind a check of this kind.

[This incident, one may suspect, was in his mind when he wrote in his “Autobiography” of the rapidity of thought characteristic of his mother:—­]

That characteristic has been passed on to me in full strength; it has often stood me in good stead, it has sometimes played me sad tricks, and it has always been a danger.

[At the Norwich meeting of the Association he also delivered his well-known lecture to working men “On a Piece of Chalk,” a perfect example of the handling of a common and trivial subject, so as to make it] “a window into the Infinite.” [He was particularly interested in the success of the meeting, as his friend Hooker was President, and writes to Darwin, September 12:—­]

We had a capital meeting at Norwich, and dear old Hooker came out in great force as he always does in emergencies.

The only fault was the terrible “Darwinismus” which spread over the section and crept out when you least expected it, even in Fergusson’s lecture on “Buddhist Temples.”

You will have the rare happiness to see your ideas triumphant during your lifetime.

P.S.—­I am preparing to go into opposition; I can’t stand it.

[This lecture “On a Piece of Chalk,” together with two others delivered this year, seem to me to mark the maturing of his style into that mastery of clear expression for which he deliberately laboured, the saying exactly what he meant, neither too much nor too little, without confusion and without obscurity.  Have something to say, and say it, was the Duke of Wellington’s theory of style; Huxley’s was to say that which has to be said in such language that you can stand cross-examination on each word.  Be clear, though you may be convicted of error.  If you are clearly wrong, you will run up against a fact some time and get set right.  If you shuffle with your subject, and study chiefly to use language which will give a loophole of escape either way, there is no hope for you.