Autobiography and Selected EssaysHuxley, Thomas Henry
Science
Autobiography and Selected Essays
Huxley, Thomas Henry
Science
[Footnote 2: pre-Boswellian epoch: the time before Boswell. James
Boswell (1740-1795) wrote the famous Life of Samuel Johnson. Mr. Leslie
Stephen declares that this book "became the first specimen of a new
literary type." "It is a full-length portrait of a man's domestic life
with enough picturesque detail to enable us to see him through the eyes
of private friendship. . . ." A number of biographers since Boswell have
imitated his method; and Leslie Stephen believes that "we owe it in some
degree to his example that we have such delightful books as Lockhart's
Life of Scott or Mr. Trevelyan's Life of Macaulay."]
[Footnote 3: "Bene qui latuit, bene vixit": from Ovid. He who has kept
himself well hidden, has lived well.]
[Footnote 4: Prince George of Cambridge: the grandson of King George
III, second Duke of Cambridge, and Commander-in-chief of the British
Army.]
[Footnote 5: Mr. Herbert Spencer (1820--1903): a celebrated English
philosopher and powerful advocate of the doctrine of evolution. Spencer
is regarded as one of the most profound thinkers of modern times. He was
one of Huxley's closest friends.]
[Footnote 6: in partibus infidelium: in the domain of the unbelievers.]
[Footnote 7: "sweet south upon a bed of violets." Cf. Twelfth Night, Act
I, sc. I, l. 5.
O, it came o'er my ear like the sweet sound
That breathes upon a bank of violets,
Stealing and giving odour.
For the reading "sweet south" instead of "sweet sound," see Rolfe's
edition of Twelfth Night.]
[Footnote 8: "Lehrjahre": apprenticeship.
Charing Cross School of Medicine: a school connected with the Charing
Cross Hospital in the Strand, London.]
[Footnote 9: Nelson: Horatio Nelson, a celebrated English Admiral born
in Norfolk, England, 1758, and died on board the Victory at Trafalgar,
1805. It was before the battle off Cape Trafalgar that Nelson hoisted
his famous signal, "England expects every man will do his duty." Cf.
Tennyson's Ode to the Duke of Wellington, stanza VI, for a famous
tribute to Nelson.]
[Footnote 10: middies: abbreviated form for midshipmen.]
[Footnote 11: Suites a Buffon: sequels to Buffon. Buffon (1707-1781) was
a French naturalist who wrote many volumes on science.]
[Footnote 12: Linnean Society: a scientific society formed in 1788 under
the auspices of several fellows of the Royal Society.]
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