Life and Letters of Thomas Henry Huxley — Volume 3Huxley, Thomas Henry
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Life and Letters of Thomas Henry Huxley — Volume 3
Huxley, Thomas Henry
Huxley, Thomas Henry, 1825-1895; Naturalists -- England -- Biography
As a class lecturer Huxley was facile princeps, and only those who were
privileged to sit under him can form a conception of his delivery.
Clear, deliberate, never hesitant nor unduly emphatic, never
repetitional, always logical, his every word told. Great, however, as
were his class lectures, his working-men's were greater. Huxley was a
firm believer in the "distillatio per ascensum" of scientific knowledge
and culture, and spared no pains in approaching the artisan and
so-called "working classes." He gave the workmen of his best. The
substance of his "Man's Place in Nature", one of the most successful
and popular of his writings, and of his "Crayfish", perhaps the most
perfect zoological treatise ever published, was first communicated to
them. In one of the last conversations I had with him, I asked his
views on the desirability of discontinuing the workmen's lectures at
Jermyn Street, since the development of working-men's colleges and
institutes is regarded by some to have rendered their continuance
unnecessary. He replied, almost with indignation], "With our central
situation and resources, we ought to be in a position to give the
workmen that which they cannot get elsewhere," [adding that he would
deeply deplore any such discontinuance.
And now, a word or two concerning Huxley's personal conduct towards his
pupils, hearers, and subordinates.
As an examiner he was most just, aiming only to ascertain the
examinee's knowledge of fundamentals, his powers of work, and the
manner in which he had been taught. A country school lad came near the
boundary line in the examination; though generally weak, his worst
fault was a confusion of the parts of the heart. In his description of
that organ he had transposed the valves. On appeal, Huxley let him
through, observing, most characteristically, "Poor little beggar, I
never got them correctly myself until I reflected that a bishop was
never in the right." (The "mitral" valve being on the left side.)
Again, a student of more advanced years, of the "mugging" type, who had
come off with flying colours in an elementary examination, showed signs
of uneasiness as the advanced one approached. "Stick an observation
into him," said Huxley. It was stuck, and acted like a stiletto, a jump
into the air and utter collapse being the result.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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