New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1881-08-01
CRITICS AND PIRATES.


oNMEMrED ABUSE HEaPED UPON HIN BY BIT
TER eNEmEs--AN ESSAY PIaATED FROM THE
ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA-pEyIcEs TO sE-
CURE TIRE ADVANTAGES OF coPYRIGRT-AN
IMPERcEPTIBLE GR'EvAScE-DR. OLIVER WEN
DELL HOLINESS PANE IN ENGLAND
lrltoh THE REGULAR CORRESPONDENT or rHE rRrBuxEr
LONDON, July 1S-A curiously bitter attack on
rroicssor Huxley appears in of The daily papers
over the signature of EDquirer.v The occasion of
IL Is the alleged intention of Professor Huxlev e,
accept the Linacre Professorship of Physiology az
ONiord vacant by the death of Professor Rollcsfon
ihat the letter is ebuliition of long-bottled
wrath is evident from the criticisms on Professor
huxieys present appointments and emoluments of
which Enquirer gives catalogue. more or less
accurate. According to him, Mr. Huxley has long
held Two appointments under Government. the
post of Naturalist to the Geological Survey. and
.pat OF Professor of Natural History TO tho
Royal School of Mines and Museum
Oh PRACTICAL Geology, the former in Jcunyn-st the
latter in South Kensngton. To the one is attached
a salary Oh 46o0 to the other salary of goo,
plus fees to the amount of e2s7 los. Sd. for the
year 1880. think it ought "a have hoa,, ,,,or.
clearly stated from what victim this scientific sh T.
lock wrung that last threepence, but 1 pass ON IA
DIS more heinous offences. 1t has TO bo added that
wle IN receipt OF these vast sums OF public money
Mr. Huxley accepted the Inspectorship of Salmo,
fisheres in succession TO the late Mr. Frank Buck
land; salary f7o0. 1t was then presumed, saws
Enquirer" that he would resign his other places
but he did not, and if this accumulation of prof
liable iniquities we're not enough TO eut his insat
able covetousness, he Is in receipt of GOO n year
more as Secretary of the Rol al Society: Willie the
salary of the Linacre Professorshp for which he ia
hankering and intriguing, would be another ssoo
IN ms bottomless pocket. And by way OF contrast
10 Mr. Huxiey's rapacity d" Enquirer offers MS a
pleasing picture of " our great master in anatomy
and paleontology. Richard Owen" whose modest
worth is sufficiently rewarded with sin Gle post at
$500 year.
And yet well calculated as all this is To rous, tho
indignation of the British economist one of the
most ferocious of his kind-it is almost nitv that
Enquirer" before setting up as nineteenth GEN.
tury Juvena did not take the trouble 10 aet his
iacts night Perhaps it does not much matter that the
two posts Jermyn-st. and South Kensington are in
reaty only one, except that the unfcation of them
rather spols the significance of the hard word plu
ralist which Enquirer filings at his foe 1t IS little
more to the purpose that Professor Huxley did i'm
accepting the Fishery InspectOrship relinauish the
fees accruing to him from his South Kensington lee
lures; abandoning even the threepence of which
Enquirer" takes snch microscopic note But
what most impairs the effect of this attack is
that Mr.. Huxley is not and never has been a
candidate for the Linacre Professorship It is tue
that the post was offered TO him by men who had
the power TO secure his appointment if he had
wished it. But Mr. Huxley instead of consentinr
to be nominated as " Enquirer tells MS refused
and not only refused but has been using all his in
nuence In favor of another man. As for the posts
he now holds and the pay he gets out of the Treas
ury, the posts are just two In number and the nav
assuming Enquirer to be correct on this noiut
is f1,500 year. If anybody thinks that more
than PIotessor huxley's services are worth hsve
nothing to say to him- He can have but slight
notion either of the work done for the money or Of
the abilities devoted TO the work
Nobody disputes that Professor Huxley stands in
the very front rank of living men of science In his
own department be is first III then the counnlaint
of which / have taken too much notice has an,r
meaning, 1t is this that when a man of the highest
capacity and industry gives his life TO science he is
overpaid In getting, after twcnty-seven wears
service, $1,000 year. His Inspectorship with its
$500. came to him last year only. Before
that his yearly salary and the fees now
renowned Were about $1,000. The highest sum
is about half the pay of the manager of an Eng
lish branch bank. 1t is little more than one
quarter the pay of any English judge. 1t is not
more than tenth the earnings of an English At
torney-General Yet there cannot be many persons
who would say that the work of Judge or a law
officer of the Crown demands greater intellectual
power is, on the whole. more beneficial to the
world than the scientific work TO which Professor
Huxley has given the whole of his energies during
the whole of his career. There Is much more TO be
said on the subject but the discussion of il in con-
nection with an individual is not the best way of
discussing ii. doubt whether it is not an impert-
nence for which ought TO ask Mr. Huxley pardon
Mr.. Oscar Browning, in to-day's Times makes
what he calls contribution to- the discussion of
international copyright with America friend
sent him. few days ago, little book published by
an American house, neatly bound in blue cloth and
lettered in gold, History of Education Payney
" On opening it," says Mr.. Browning / found that
il was nothing more than a verbatim reprint of an
article which had written some years ago on this
subject in the Encyclopaedia Britannica The title
stated accurately that it was reprint. but omitted
to mention Mr.. Browning as the author Mr.,
Brownings name does not occur from cover to cover
but Mr.. Payne is exhibited in large type as Pro-
fessor of the Science and Art of Education in the
University of Michigan" 1t does not quite appear
from Mr.. Brownings letter whether Mr. Payne Is ex-
pressy affirmed to be the author of Mr. Browning's
article. but whether that be not. an expiana-
tion from Mr. Payne is clearly in order and would DO
particularly acceptable, one would suppose to the
University of Michigan. The name of the publisher
is not given. Meantime, there is a good deal OF
flavor in Mr.. Oscar Brownings concluding observa-
ton. to the effect that the present conditions of
America copyright greatly facilitate thai endow-
ment of research to which, as Mr. Browning under
stands, American universities devote large portion
of their revenues
letter this subject of copyright appeared
lately from the pen of Miss Amelia b. Edwards.
a writer of some position. Miss Edwards despairing
of an immediate reform of the admitted abuses in
the existing state of the law proposed an expedent
for protecting writers fsom piracy. IL nothing
less than to copyright half of each book u each
country, that in neither England nor the United
States could any unauthorized person reprint the