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
Some of these days I shall look up the ape question again, and go over
the rest of the organisation in the same way. But in order to get a
thorough grip of the question, I must examine into a good many points
for myself. The results, when they do come out, will, I foresee,
astonish the natives.
I am cold-proof, and all the better for the Welsh trip. To say truth, I
was just on the edge of breaking down when I went. Did I ever send you a
letter of mine on the teaching of Natural History? It was published
while you were away, and I forget whether I sent it or not. However, a
copy accompanies this note...
Of course there will be room for your review and welcome. I have put it
down and reckon on it.
Ever yours faithfully,
T.H. Huxley.
[Huxley returned from the trip to Wales in time to be with his wife for
the New Year. The plot she had made with Dr. Tyndall had been entirely
successful. The threatened breakdown was averted. Wales in winter was as
good as Switzerland. Of the ascent of Snowdon he writes on December 28:]
"Both Tyndall and I voted it under present circumstances as good as most
things Alpine."
[His wife, however, continued in very weak health. She was prostrated by
the loss of her little boy. So in the middle of March he gladly accepted
Mr. Darwin's invitation for her and the three children to spend a
fortnight in the quiet of his house at Down, where he himself managed to
run down for a week end.] "It appears to me," [he writes to his wife,]
"that you are subjecting poor Darwin to a savage Tennysonian
persecution. I shall see him looking like a martyr and across talk
double science next Sunday."
[In April another good friend, Dr. Bence Jones, lent the invalid his
house at Folkestone for three months. Unable even to walk when she went
there, her recovery was a slow business. Huxley ran down every week; his
brother George and his wife also were frequent visitors. Meanwhile he
resolved to move into a new house, in order that she might not return to
a place so full of sorrowful memories. On May 30 he effected the move to
a larger house not half a mile away from Waverley Place--26 Abbey Place
(now 23 Abercorn Place). Here also Mrs. Heathorn lived for the next
year, my grandfather, over seventy as he was, being compelled to go out
again to Australia to look after a business venture of his which had
come to grief.
Meantime the old house was still on his hands for another year. Trying
to find a tenant, he writes on May 21, 1861:--]
I met J. Tyndall at Ramsay's last night, and I think he is greatly
inclined to have the house. I gave him your message and found that a
sneaking kindness for the old house actuated him a good deal in wishing
to take it. It is not a bad fellow, and we won't do him much on the
fixtures.
[Eventually Tyndall and his friend Hirst established themselves there.
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