Life and Letters of Thomas Henry Huxley — Volume 1Huxley, Thomas Henry
Science
Life and Letters of Thomas Henry Huxley — Volume 1
Huxley, Thomas Henry
Huxley, Thomas Henry, 1825-1895; Naturalists -- England -- Biography
Such a museum, if residents who are interested in these sciences take
proper pains, may be brought to a great degree of perfection and be
unique of its kind. It will tell both natives and strangers exactly what
they want to know, and possess great scientific interest and importance.
Whereas the ordinary lumber-room of clubs from New Zealand, Hindoo
idols, sharks' teeth, mangy monkeys, scorpions, and conch shells--who
shall describe the weary inutility of it? It is really worse than
nothing, because it leads the unwary to look for the objects of science
elsewhere than under their noses. What they want to know is that their
"America is here," as Wilhelm Meister has it.
Yours faithfully,
T.H. Huxley.
Alfred Walker, Esq., Nant-y-Glyn, Colwyn Bay.
TO THE REVEREND P. BRODIE OF WARWICK.
Jermyn Street, October 14, 1859.
My dear Mr. Brodie,
I am sorry to say that I can as yet send you no catalogue of ours. The
remodelling of our museum is only just completed, and only the
introductory part of my catalogue is written. When it is printed you
shall have an early copy.
If I may make a suggestion I should say that a catalogue of your museum
for popular use should commence with a sketch of the topography and
stratigraphy of the county, put into the most intelligible language, and
illustrated by reference to mineral specimens in the cases, and to the
localities where sections showing the superposition of such and such
beds is to be seen. After that I think should come a list of the most
remarkable and interesting fossils, with reference to the cases where
they are to be seen; and under the head of each a brief popular account
of the kind of animal or plant which the thing was when alive, its
probable habits, and its meaning and importance as a member of the great
series of successive forms of life.
Yours very faithfully,
T.H. Huxley.
[The reorganisation of the course of studies at Jermyn Street, fully
sketched out in the 1857 notebook, involved two very serious additions
to his work over and above what was required of him by his appointment
as Professor. He found his students to a great extent lacking in the
knowledge of general principles necessary to the comprehension of the
special work before them. To enable them to make the best use of his
regular lectures, he offered them in addition a preliminary evening
course of nine lectures each January, which he entitled "An Introduction
to the Study of the Collection of Fossils in the Museum of Practical
Geology." These lectures summed up what he afterwards named
Physiography, together with a general sketch of fossils and their
nature, the classification of animals and plants, their distribution at
various epochs, and the principles on which they are constructed,
illustrated by the examination of some animal, such as a lobster.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account