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
[The counter to this bold stroke was crushing, if not convincing. He was
ordered to join his ship immediately under pain of being struck off the
Navy list. He was of course prepared for this ultimatum, and whether he
could manage to pursue science in England or might be compelled to set
up as a doctor in Sydney, he considered that he would be better off than
as an assistant surgeon in the Navy. Accordingly he stood firm, and the
threat was carried into effect in March 1854. An unexpected consequence
followed. As long as he was in the navy, with direct claims upon a
Government department for assistance in publishing his work, the Royal
Society had not felt justified in allotting him any part of the
Government Grant. But now that he had left the service, this objection
was removed, and in June 1854 the sum of 300 pounds sterling was
assigned for this purpose, while the remainder of the expense was borne
by the Ray Society, which undertook the publication under the title of
"Oceanic Hydrozoa." Thus he was able to record with some satisfaction
how he at last has got the grant, though indirectly, from the
Government, and considers it something of a triumph for the principle of
the family motto, tenax propositi.
While these fruitless negotiations with the Admiralty were in progress,
he had done a good deal, both in publishing what he could of his
"Rattlesnake" work, and in trying to secure some scientific appointment
which would enable him to carry out his two chief objects: the one his
marriage, the other the unhampered pursuit of science. In addition to
the papers sent home from the cruise--one on the Medusae, published in
the "Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society" for 1849, and one
on the Animal of Trigonia, published in the "Proceedings of the
Zoological Society" for the same year--he had reported to the Admiralty
in June 1851 the publication of seven memoirs:--
1. On the Auditory Organs of the Crustacea. Published in the "Annals of
Natural History."
2. On the Anatomy of the genus Tethea. Published in the "Annals of
Natural History."
3. Report upon the Development of the Echinoderms. To appear in the
"Annals" for July.
4. On the Anatomy and Physiology of the Salpae, with four plates. Read
at the Royal Society, and to be published in the next part of the
"Philosophical Transactions."
5. On two Genera of Ascidians, Doliolum and Appendicularia, with one
plate. Read at the Royal Society, and to be published in the next part
of the "Philosophical Transactions."
6. On some peculiarities in the Circulation of the Mollusca. Sent to M.
Milne-Edwards, at his request, to be published in the "Annales des
Sciences."
7. On the Generative Organs of the Physophoridae and Diphydae. Sent to
Professor Muller of Berlin for publication in his "Archiv."
By the end of the year he had four more to report:--
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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