One characteristic of his early papers should not pass unnoticed. This was his familiarity with the best that had been written on his subjects abroad as well as in England. Thoroughness in this respect was rendered easier by the fact that he read French and German with almost as much facility as his mother tongue. "It is true, of course, that scientific men read French and German before the time of Huxley; but the deliberate consultation of all the authorities available has been maintained in historical succession since Huxley's earliest papers, and was absent in the papers of his early contemporaries." (P. Chalmers Mitchell in "Natural Science" August 1895.) About this time his activity in several branches of science began to find recognition from scientific societies at home and abroad. In 1857 he was elected honorary member of the Microscopical Society of Giessen; and in the same year, of a more important body, the Academy of Breslau (Imperialis Academia Caesariana Naturae Curiosum). He writes to Hooker:--] 14 Waverley Place, April 3, 1857. Having subsided from standing upon my head--which was the immediate causation of your correspondence about the co-extension Imperialis Academia Caesariana Naturae Curiosum (don't I know their thundering long title well!)--I have to say that I was born on the 4th of May of the year 1825, whereby I have now more or less mis-spent thirty-one years and a bittock, nigh on thirty-two. Furthermore, my locus natalis is Ealing, in the county of Middlesex. Upon my word, it is very obliging of the "curious naturals," and I must say wholly surprising and unexpected. I shall hold up my head immensely to-morrow when (blessed be the Lord) I give my last Fullerian. Among other things, I am going to take Cuvier's crack case of the 'Possum of Montmartre as an illustration of MY views. I wondered what had become of you, but the people have come talking about me this last lecture or two, so I supposed you had erupted to Kew. My glacier article is out; tell me what you think of it some day. I wrote a civil note to Forbes yesterday, charging myself with my crime, and I hope that is the end of the business. [Principal James Forbes, with whose theory of glaciers Huxley and Tyndall disagreed.] My wife is mending slowly, and if she were here would desire to be remembered to you. [In December 1858 he became a Fellow of the Linnean, and the following month not only Fellow but Secretary of the Geological Society. In 1858 also he was elected to the Athenaeum Club under Rule 2, which provides that the committee shall yearly elect a limited number of persons distinguished in art, science, or letters. His proposer was Sir R. Murchison, who wrote:-- Athenaeum, January 26. My dear Huxley,