Part 1 (1/2)
Thomas Henry Huxley; A Sketch Of His Life And Work
by P Chalmers Mitchell
PREFACE
This voluraphy of Huxley It is simply an outline of the external features of his life and an account of his contributions to biology, to educational and social proble it, I have been indebted to his own Autobiography, to the obituary notice written by Sir Michael Foster for the Royal Society of London, to a sketch of hie of Science, and to his published works The latter consist of many well-known separate voluists, and of a vast number of eneral publications The general Essays were collected into nine volumes, revised by himself in the later years of his life, and published by Messrs Macenerous enterprise of the sa associated, and to the pious labours of Sir Michael Foster and Professor Ray Lankester, are in process of reissue in the form of four volumes, two of which have now appeared These will contain all his important contributions to science, with the exception of a large separate treatise on the _Oceanic Hydrozoa_ published by the Ray Society in 1859 There is also announced a forraphy, prepared by his son, so that future admirers or students of Huxley's ill be in an exceptionally favourable position
LONDON, 1900
P CHALMERS MITChell
THOMAS HENRY HUXLEY
CHAPTER I
FROM SCHOOL TO LIFE-WORK
Birth--Parentage--School-days--Choice of Medical Profession--Charing Cross Hospital--End of Medical Studies--Adreatness: even before their arrival in the world their future is es that wealth and the experience of friends can bring attend their growth to manhood, and their success almost loses its interest because of the ease hich it is attained Few of the leaders of science were in such a position: many of them, such as Priestley, Davy, Faraday, John Hunter, and Linnaeus were of hue, and received the poorest education: most of them, like Huxley himself, have come from parents ere able to do littlethe ordinary educational avenues In Huxley's boyhood at least a comfortable income was necessary for this: in every civilised country nowadays, state endowments, or private endowments, are ready to help every capable boy, as far as Huxley was helped, and in his progress fro that cannot be emulated by every boy at school to-day The s when they are born into the world are as naked as their bodies; it randparents, and remoter ancestors were unlettered or had the wisdoes, the newWe cannot even say with certainty that children inherit mental aptitudes and capacities from their parents; for as tall sons ly parents, so we may find in the capacities of the parents no traces of the future greatness of their children None the less it is interesting to learn e can about the parents of great men; and Huxley tells us that he thinks himself to have inherited many characters of his body and mind from his mother
Tho, then a little country village, now united to London as a great suburb He was the seventh child of George Huxley, as secondIn these days private schools of varying character were very nuland, and this establishh-class character, for Cardinal Newuished men received part of their education there His mother, whose maiden name was Rachel Withers, was, he tells us hietic te black eyes I ever saw in a woman's head With no more education than other women of the middle classes in her day, she had an excellentcharacteristic, however, was rapidity of thought If one ventured to suggest she had not taken much time to arrive at any conclusion, she would say, 'I cannot help it
Things flash across me' That peculiarity has been passed on to ood stead: it has soer
But, after all, ifI would less willingly part with than my inheritance of 'mother wit'”
From his father he thinks that he inherited little except an inborn capacity for drawing, ”a hot temper, and that amount of tenacity of purpose which unfriendly observers soift for drawing proved of the greatest service to hiator of the anatomy of plants and animals should be able to sketch his observations, and there is no greater aid to seeing things as they are than the continuous attempt to reproduce them by pencil or brush
Huxley was christened Thomas Henry, and he was unahy these names were chosen, but he humorously records the curious chance that his parents should have chosen for him the ”name of that particular apostle hom he had always felt most sympathy”
Of his childhood little is recorded He re vain of his curls, and his ret that he soon lost the beauty of early childhood He attended for so hich his father was associated, but he has little to say for the training he received there He writes:
”My regular school training was of the briefest, perhaps fortunately: for, though my way of life has made me acquainted with all sorts and conditions of hest to the lowest, I deliberately affirm that the society I fell into at school was the worst I have ever known We boys were average lads with ood and evil as any others; but the people ere set over us cared about as much for our intellectual and moral welfare as if they were baby-farle for existence a was the least of the ill practices current a us Almost the only cheerful reminiscence in connection with the place which arises in my mind is that of a battle which I had with one of my class-er I was a very slight lad, but there was a wild-cat eleht, and I licked my adversary effectually
However, one of h and ready nature of justice, as exhibited by the course of things in general, arose out of the fact that _I_--the victor--had a black eye, while he--the vanquished--had none, so that I got into disgrace and he did not One of the greatest shocks I ever received in rooht me my horse in a stable-yard in Sydney, that he wasstory of family misfortune to account for his position--but at that time it was necessary to deal very cautiously with ers in New South Wales, and on enquiry I found that the unfortunate young one more than one colonial conviction”
Huxley was soon removed from school and continued his own education for several years, by reading of the most desultory sort His special inclinations were towards mechanical problems, and had he been able to follow his oishes there is little doubt but that he would have entered on the profession of an engineer It is probable that there was a great deal more in his wishes than the fah the pursuit of anatomy, which was the chief business of his life, it was the structure of aniround-plans which they presented, that interested hi did not present itself, and at an exceedingly early age he began to study medicine Two brothers-in-laere doctors, and this accidental fact probably determined his choice In these days the study of eneral and scientific education, but the young ed in practice He was supposed to learn the cos in the dispensary attached to the doctor's consulting-roo of wounds and the superficial details of the medical craft while he pursued his studies in anatomy under the direction of the doctor Huxley's master was his brother-in-law, Dr Salt, a London practitioner, and he began his hen only twelve or thirteen years of age In this systeuidance of a conscientious and able reat deal of science and to become an expert in the treatment of disease Huxley, however, had only a short experience of this kind of training He was taken by some senior student friends to a post-h his life, he was reeable side of anatoratified his curiosity too ardently He did not cut himself, but in some way poisonous matter from the body affected him, and he fell into so bad a state of health that he had to be sent into the country to recruit He lived for some time at a farmhouse in Warwickshi+re with friends of his father and slowly recovered health Froh his life, he suffered periodically fro dyspepsia After so he resumed his work under his brother-in-law in London He confesses that he was far from a model student
”I worked extremely hard when it pleased me, and when it did not,--which was a frequent case,--I was extre caricatures of one's pastors and masters is to be called a branch of industry), or else wastedI could lay hands upon, including novels, and took up all sorts of pursuits to drop theain quite speedily”
It is almost certain, however, that Huxley underestimated the value of this time He stored his mind with both literature and science, and laid the foundation of the extremely varied intellectual interests which afterwards proved to hi this tie of French and Gererate the value to hie To do the best work in any scientific pursuit it is necessary to freshen one's own mind by contact with the ideas and results of other workers As these workers are scattered over different countries it is necessary to transcend the confusion of Babel and read what they write in their own tongues