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
Of course you may command me in all ways in which I can possibly be of
use. But as one of the chiefs of the Society, and personally and
scientifically popular with the whole body, you start with an immense
advantage over me, and will find no difficulties before you.
We will consider this business formally settled, and I shall speak of it
officially.
Ever yours very faithfully,
T.H. Huxley.
[I cannot place the following letter to Matthew Arnold with certainty,
but it must have been written about this period. (The most probable date
being 1869, for on July 1 of that year he dined with Matthew Arnold at
Harrow.) Everyone will sympathise with the situation:--]
26 Abbey Place, July 8.
My dear Arnold,
Look at Bishop Wilson on the sin of covetousness and then inspect your
umbrella stand. You will there see a beautiful brown smooth-handled
umbrella which is NOT your property.
Think of what the excellent prelate would have advised and bring it with
you next time you come to the club. The porter will take care of it for
me.
Ever yours faithfully,
T.H. Huxley.
[The following letter shows how paleontological work was continually
pouring in upon him:--]
Jermyn Street, May 7, 1869.
My dear Darwin,
Do you recollect recommending that the "Nassau," which sailed under
Captain Mayne's command for Magellan's Straits some years ago should
explore a fossiliferous deposit at the Gallegos River?
They visited the place the other day as you will see by Cunningham's
letter which I enclose, and got some fossils which are now in my hands.
The skull to which Cunningham refers, consists of little more than the
jaws, but luckily nearly all the teeth are in place, and prove it to be
an entirely new ungulate mammal with teeth in uninterrupted series like
Anoplotherium, about as big as a small horse.
What a wonderful assemblage of beasts there seems to have been in South
America! I suspect if we could find them all they would make the
classification of the Mammalia into a horrid mess.
Ever yours faithfully,
T.H. Huxley.
[And on July 16, 1869, he writes again to Darwin:--]
To tell you the truth, what with fossils, Ethnology and the great
question of "Darwinismus" which is such a worry to us all, I have lost
sight of the collectors and naturalists "by grace of the dredge," almost
as completely as you have.
[Indeed, the pressure was so great that he resolved to give up the
Hunterian Lectures at the College of Surgeons, as he had already given
up the Fullerian Professorship at the Royal Institution. So he writes to
Professor (afterwards Sir William) Flower:--]
Jermyn Street, June 7, 1869.
PRIVATE, CONFIDENTIAL, PARTICULAR.
My dear Flower,
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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