Hooker was a close friend of Thomas Henry Huxley , a member of the X-Club ( which dominated the Royal Society in the 1870s and early 1880s ) , and the first of the three X-Clubbers in succession to become President of the Royal Society . He was a close friend of Thomas Henry Huxley , a member of the X-Club ( which dominated the Royal Society in the 1870s and early 1880s ) , and the first of the three X-Clubbers in succession to become President of the Royal Society .