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 the prevailing system and becomes, first a sceptic, and then an investigator.  This change, which did not fail to affect Huxley, and through which arose that Huxley whom we commemorate to-day, is no unknown occurrence to one who is acquainted with the history, not only of knowledge, but also of scholars.

But he was not destined to find his subsequent path easy.  Once in England, indeed, he did not lose any time.  No sooner had the “Rattlesnake” touched at Plymouth than Commander Yule, who had succeeded Captain Stanley in the command of the ship, wrote to the head of the Naval Medical Department stating the circumstances under which Huxley’s zoological investigations had been undertaken, and asking the sanction of the Admiralty for their publication.  The hydrographer, in sending the formal permission, says:—­

But I have to add that their Lordships will not allow any charge to be made upon the public funds towards the expense.  You will, however, further assure Mr. Huxley that any assistance that can be supplied from this office shall be most cheerfully given to him, and that I heartily hope, from the capacity and taste for scientific investigation for which you give him credit, that he will produce a work alike creditable to himself, to his late Captain, by whom he was selected for it, and to Her Majesty’s service.

Personally, the hydrographer took a great interest in science; but as for the department, Huxley somewhat bitterly interpreted the official meaning of this well-sounding flourish to be made:  “Publish if you can, and give us credit for granting every facility except the one means of publishing.”

Happily there was another way of publishing, if the Admiralty would grant him time to arrange his papers and superintend their publication.  The Royal Society had at their disposal an annual grant of money for the publication of scientific works.  If the Government would not contribute directly to publish the researches made under their auspices, the favourable reception which his preliminary papers had met with led Huxley to hope that his greater work would be undertaken by the Royal Society.  If the leading men of science attested the value of his work, the Admiralty might be induced to let him stay in England with the nominal appointment as assistant surgeon to H.M.S.  “Fisguard” at Woolwich, for “particular service,” but with leave of absence from the ship so that he could live and pursue his avocations in London.  There was a precedent for this course in the case of Dr. Hooker, when he had to work out the scientific results of the voyage of the “Erebus” and “Terror.”

In this design he was fortified by his old Haslar friend, Dr. (afterwards Sir John) Watt Reid, who wrote:  “They cannot, and, I am sure, will not wish to stand in your way at Whitehall.”  Meanwhile, the first person, naturally, he had thought of consulting was his old chief, Sir John Richardson, who had great weight at the Admiralty, and to him he wrote the following letter before leaving Plymouth.]