Life and Letters of Thomas Henry Huxley — Volume 1Huxley, Thomas Henry
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Life and Letters of Thomas Henry Huxley — Volume 1
Huxley, Thomas Henry
Huxley, Thomas Henry, 1825-1895; Naturalists -- England -- Biography
If one had but two heads and neither required sleep!
[One immediate result of his investigations, which appeared in a lecture
at the Royal Institution (February 7, 1862), "On the Fossil Remains of
Man," was incorporated in "Man's Place in Nature." But a more important
consequence of this impulse was that he went seriously into the study of
Ethnology. Of his work in this branch of natural science, Professor
Virchow, speaking at the dinner given him by the English medical
profession on October 5, 1898, declared that in the eyes of German
savants it alone would suffice to secure immortal reverence for his
name.
The concluding stage in the long controversy raised first at Oxford, was
the British Association meeting at Cambridge in 1862. It was here that
Professor (afterwards Sir W.H.) Flower made his public demonstration of
the existence in apes of the cerebral characters said to be peculiar to
man.
From the 1st to the 9th of October Huxley stayed at Cambridge as the
guest of Professor Fawcett at Trinity Hall, running over to Felixstow on
the 5th to see his wife, whose health did not allow her to accompany
him.
As President of Section D he had a good deal to do, and he describes the
course of events in a letter to Darwin:--]
26 Abbey Place, October 9, 1862.
My dear Darwin,
It is a source of sincere pleasure to me to learn that anything I can
say or do is a pleasure to you, and I was therefore very glad to get
your letter at that whirligig of an association meeting the other day.
We all missed you, but I think it was as well you did not come, for
though I am pretty tough, as you know, I found the pace rather killing.
Nothing could exceed the hospitality and kindness of the University
people--and that, together with a great deal of speaking on the top of a
very bad cold, which I contrived to catch just before going down, has
somewhat used me up.
Owen came down with the obvious intention of attacking me on all points.
Each of his papers was an attack, and he went so far as to offer stupid
and unnecessary opposition to proposals of mine in my own committee.
However, he got himself sold at all points...The Polypterus paper and
the Aye-Aye paper fell flat. The latter was meant to raise a discussion
on your views, but it was all a stale hash, and I only made some half
sarcastic remarks which stopped any further attempts at discussion...
I took my book to Scotland but did nothing. I shall ask leave to send
you a bit or two as I get on.
Ever yours,
T.H. Huxley.
A "Society for the propagation of common honesty in all parts of the
world" was established at Cambridge. I want you to belong to it, but I
will say more about it by and by.
[This admirable society, which was also to "search for scientific truth,
especially in biology," seems to have been but short lived. At all
events, I can find only two references to subsequent meetings, on
October 7 and December 19 in this year.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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