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
X-- has made a horrid mess of it, and I am sorry to say, from what I
know of him, that I cannot doubt where the fault lies. The worst of it
is that he has a wife and three children over here, left without a penny
or any means of support. The poor woman wrote to me the other day, and
when I went to see her I found her at the last shilling and
contemplating the workhouse as her next step. She has brothers in
Australia, and it appeared to me that the only way to do her any good
was to get her out. She cannot starve there, and there will be more hope
for her children than an English poor-house. I am going to see if the
Emigration Commissioners will do anything for her, as of course it is
desirable to cut down the cost of exportation to the smallest amount.
It is most lamentable that a man of so much ability should have so
utterly damned himself as X-- has, but he is hopelessly Celtic.
I shall be at the Phil. Club next Thursday.
Ever yours faithfully,
T.H. Huxley.
14 Waverley Place, Monday morning [November 1861].
My dear Hooker,
The obstinate manner in which Mrs. Hooker and you go on refusing to give
any address leads us to believe that you are dwelling peripatetically in
a "Wan" with green door and brass knocker somewhere on Wormwood Scrubbs,
and that "Kew" is only a blind. So you see I am obliged to inclose Mrs.
Hooker's epistle to you.
You shall have your own way about the dinner, though we shall have
triumphed over all domestic difficulties by that time, and the first
lieutenant scorns the idea of being "worrited" about anything. I only
grieve it is such a mortal long way for you to come.
I could find it in my heart to scold you well for your generous aid to
my poor client. I assure you I told you all about the case because it
was fresh in my mind, and without the least notion of going to you for
that kind of aid. May it come back to you in some good shape or other.
I find it is no use to look for help from the emigration people, but I
have no fear of being able to get the 50 pounds sterling which will send
them out by the "Walter Hood."
Would it be fair to apply to Bell in such a case? I will have a talk to
you about it at the Phil. Club.
Ever, my dear Hooker, yours faithfully,
T.H. Huxley.
[In 1862, in addition to all the work connected with the species
question already detailed, Huxley published three paleontological papers
("On the new Labyrinthodonts from the coal-field of Edinburgh"; "On a
Stalk-eyed Crustacean from the coal-fields of Paisley"; and "On the
Teeth of Diprotodon."), while the paper on the "Anatomy and Development
of Pyrosoma," first read on December 1, 1859, was now published in the
"Proceedings of the Linnean Society."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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