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part of which was spent with Sir Joseph Hooker; a noted English

botanist; visiting the volcanoes of Auvergne。  After this trip he

steadily improved in health; with no other serious illness for ten

years。



In 1876 Huxley was invited to visit America and to deliver the

inaugural address at Johns Hopkins University。  In July of this

year accordingly; in company with his wife; he crossed to New York。

Everywhere Huxley was received with enthusiasm; for his name was a

very familiar one。  Two quotations from his address at Johns

Hopkins are especially worthy of attention as a part of his message

to Americans。  〃It has been my fate to see great educational funds

fossilise into mere bricks and mortar in the petrifying springs of

architecture; with nothing left to work them。  A great warrior is

said to have made a desert and called it peace。  Trustees have

sometimes made a palace and called it a university。〃



The second quotation is as follows:





I cannot say that I am in the slightest degree impressed by your

bigness or your material resources; as such。  Size is not grandeur;

territory does not make a nation。  The great issue; about which

hangs true sublimity; and the terror of overhanging fate; is; what

are you going to do with all these things? 。 。 。



The one condition of success; your sole safeguard; is the moral

worth and intellectual clearness of the individual citizen。

Education cannot give these; but it can cherish them and bring them

to the front in whatever station of society they are to be found;

and the universities ought to be; and may be; the fortresses of the

higher life of the nation。





After the return from America; the same innumerable occupations

were continued。  It would be impossible in short space even to

enumerate all Huxley's various publications of the next ten years。

His work; however; changed gradually from scientific investigation

to administrative work; not the least important of which was the

office of Inspector of Fisheries。  A second important office was

the Presidency of the Royal Society。  Of the work of this society

Sir Joseph Hooker writes: 〃The duties of the office are manifold

and heavy; they include attendance at all the meetings of the

Fellows; and of the councils; committees; and sub…committees of the

Society; and especially the supervision of the printing and

illustrating all papers on biological subjects that are published

in the Society's Transactions and Proceedings; the latter often

involving a protracted correspondence with the authors。  To this

must be added a share in the supervision of the staff officers; of

the library and correspondence; and the details of house…keeping。〃

All the work connected with this and many other offices bespeaks a

life too hard…driven and accounts fully for the continued ill…

health which finally resulted in a complete break…down。



Huxley had always advocated that the age of sixty was the time for

〃official death;〃 and had looked forward to a peaceful 〃Indian

summer。〃  With this object in mind and troubled by increasing ill…

health; he began in 1885 to give up his work。  But to live even in

comparative idleness; after so many years of activity; was

difficult。  〃I am sure;〃 he says; 〃that the habit of incessant work

into which we all drift is as bad in its way as dram…drinking。  In

time you cannot be comfortable without stimulus。〃  But continued

bodily weakness told upon him to the extent that all work became

distasteful。  An utter weariness with frequent spells of the blues

took possession of him; and the story of his life for some years is

the story of the long pursuit of health in England; Switzerland;

and especially in Italy。



Although Huxley was wretchedly ill during this period; he wrote

letters which are good to read for their humor and for their

pictures of foreign cities。  Rome he writes of as an idle;

afternoony sort of place from which it is difficult to depart。  He

worked as eagerly over the historic remains in Rome as he would

over a collection of geological specimens。  〃I begin to understand

Old Rome pretty well and I am quite learned in the Catacombs; which

suit me; as a kind of Christian fossils out of which one can

reconstruct the body of the primitive Church。〃  Florence; for a man

with a conscience and ill…health; had too many picture galleries。

〃They are a sore burden to the conscience if you don't go to see

them; and an awful trial to the back and legs if you do;〃 he

complained。  He found Florence; nevertheless; a lovely place and

full of most interesting things to see and do。  His letters with

reference to himself also are vigorously and entertainingly

expressed。  He writes in a characteristic way of his growing

difficulty with his hearing。  〃It irritates me not to hear; it

irritates me still more to be spoken to as if I were deaf; and the

absurdity of being irritated on the last ground irritates me still

more。〃  And again he writes in a more hopeful strain; 〃With fresh

air and exercise and careful avoidance of cold and night air I am

to be all right again。〃  He then adds: 〃I am not fond of coddling;

but as Paddy gave his pig the best corner in his cabinbecause

'shure; he paid the rint'I feel bound to take care of myself as a

household animal of value; to say nothing of other points。〃



Although he was never strong after this long illness; Huxley began

in 1889 to be much better。  The first sign of returning vigor was

the eagerness with which he entered into a controversy with

Gladstone。  Huxley had always enjoyed a mental battle; and some of

his fiercest tilts were with Gladstone。  He even found the cause of

better health in this controversy; and was grateful to the 〃Grand

Old Man〃 for making home happy for him。  From this time to his

death; Huxley wrote a number of articles on politics; science; and

religion; many of which were published in the volume called

Controverted Questions。  The main value of these essays lies in the

fact that Huxley calls upon men to give clear reasons for the faith

which they claim as theirs; and makes; as a friend wrote of him;

hazy thinking and slovenly; half…formed conclusions seem the base

thing they really are。



The last years of Huxley's life were indeed the longed…for Indian

summer。  Away from the noise of London at Eastbourne by the sea; he

spent many happy hours with old…time friends and in his garden;

which was a great joy to him。  His large family of sons and

daughters and grandchildren brought much cheer to his last days。

Almost to the end he was working and writing for publication。

Three days before his death he wrote to his old friend; Hooker;

that he didn't feel at all like 〃sending in his checks〃 and hoped

to recover。  He died very quietly on June 29; 1895。  That he met

death with the same calm faith and strength with which he had met

life is indicated by the lines which his wife wrote and which he

requested to be his epitaph:





Be not afraid; ye waiting hearts that weep;

For still He giveth His beloved sleep;

And if an endless sleep He wills; so best。





To attempt an analysis of Huxley's character; unique and bafflingly

complex as it is; is beyond the scope of this sketch; but to give

only the mere facts of his life is to do an injustice to the vivid

personality of the man as it is revealed in his letters。  All his

human interest in people and thingspets; and flowers; and family…

…brightens many pages of the two ponderous volumes。  Now one reads

of his grief over some backward…going plant; or over some garden

tragedy; as 〃A lovely clematis in full flower; which I had spent

hours in nailing up; has just died suddenly。  I am more

inconsolable than Jonah!〃  Now one is amused with a nonsense letter

to one of his children; and again with an account of a pet。  〃I

wish you would write seriously to M。  She is not behaving well

to Oliver。  I have seen handsomer kittens; but few more lively; and

ener

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