Thomas Henry Huxley; A Sketch Of His Life And Work

Thomas Henry Huxley; A Sketch Of His Life And Work

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Title: Thomas Henry Huxley; A Sketch Of His Life And Work
Author: P. Chalmers Mitchell
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Language: English
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[Illustration: THOMAS HENRY HUXLEY]

Leaders in Science
THOMAS HENRY HUXLEY
A SKETCH OF HIS LIFE AND WORK
BY
P. CHALMERS MITCHELL, M.A. (_Oxon._)
G.P. PUTNAM'S SONS
NEW YORK
27 WEST TWENTY THIRD STREET
LONDON
24 BEDFORD STREET STRAND
The Knickerbocker Press
1900

COPYRIGHT 1900
BY
G.P. PUTNAM'S SONS
The Knickerbocker Press, New York

PREFACE
This volume is in no sense an intimate or authorised biography of Huxley. It is simply an outline of the external features of his life and an account of his contributions to biology, to educational and social problems, and to philosophy and metaphysics. In preparing it, I have been indebted to his own Autobiography, to the obituary notice written by Sir Michael Foster for the Royal Society of London, to a sketch of him by Professor Howes, his successor at the Royal College of Science, and to his published works. The latter consist of many well-known separate volumes which are familiar to all zo?logists, and of a vast number of memoirs and essays scattered in various scientific and general publications. The general Essays were collected into nine volumes, revised by himself in the later years of his life, and published by Messrs. Macmillan. The Scientific Memoirs, thanks to the generous enterprise of the same publishing firm, with which he was so long associated, and to the pious labours of Sir Michael Foster and Professor Ray Lankester, are in process of reissue in the form of four volumes, two of which have now appeared. These will contain all his important contributions to science, with the exception of a large separate treatise on the Oceanic Hydrozoa published by the Ray Society in 1859. There is also announced a formal Biography, prepared by his son, so that future admirers or students of Huxley's work will be in an exceptionally favourable position.
LONDON, 1900.
P. CHALMERS MITCHELL.

Leaders in Science

CONTENTS
PAGE PREFACE iii
CHAPTER I
FROM SCHOOL TO LIFE-WORK 1
Birth--Parentage--School-days--Choice of Medical Profession--Charing Cross Hospital--End of Medical Studies--Admission to Naval Medical Service.
CHAPTER II
THE VOYAGE OF THE RATTLESNAKE 13
The Objects of the Voyage--The Route--The Naturalist and the Surgeon--Collecting and Dredging--Stay in Sydney--Adventures with the Natives--Comparison with Darwin's Voyage on the Beagle.
CHAPTER III
FLOATING CREATURES OF THE SEA 30
The Nature of Floating Life--Memoir on Medus? Accepted by the Royal Society--Old and New Ideas of the Animal Kingdom--What Huxley Discovered in Medus?--His Comparison of them with Vertebrate Embryos
CHAPTER IV
EARLY DAYS IN LONDON 46
Scientific Work as Unattached Ship-Surgeon--Introduction to London Scientific Society--Translating, Receiving, and Lecturing--Ascidians--Molluscs and the Archetype--Criticism of Pre-Darwinian Evolution--Appointment to Geological Survey.
CHAPTER V
CREATURES OF THE PAST 67
Beginning Pal?ontological Work--Fossil Amphibia and Reptilia--Ancestry of Birds--Ancestry of the Horse--Imperfect European Series Completed by Marsh's American Fossils--Meaning of Geological Contemporaneity--Uniformitarianism and Catastrophism Compared with Evolution in Geology--Age of the Earth--Intermediate and Linear Types.
CHAPTER VI
HUXLEY AND DARWIN 89
Early Ideas on Evolution--Erasmus Darwin--Lamarck--Herbert Spencer--Difference between Evolution and Natural Selection--Huxley's Preparation for Evolution--The Novelty of Natural Selection--The Advantage of Natural Selection as a Working Hypothesis--Huxley's Unchanged Position with regard to Evolution and Natural Selection from 1860 to 1894.
CHAPTER VII
THE BATTLE FOR EVOLUTION 110
Huxley's Prevision of the Battle--The Causes of the Battle--The Times Review--Sir Richard Owen attacks Darwinism in the _Edinburgh Review_--Bishop Wilberforce attacks in the _Quarterly Review_--Huxley's Scathing Replies--The British Association Debates at Oxford--Huxley and Wilberforce--R��sum�� of Huxley's Exact Position with Regard to Evolution and to Natural Selection.
CHAPTER VIII
VERTEBRATE ANATOMY 128
The Theory of the Vertebrate Skull--Goethe, Oken, Cuvier, and Owen--Huxley Defends Goethe--His own Contributions to the Theory--The Classification of Birds--Huxley Treats them as "Extinct Animals"--Geographical Distribution--Sclater's Regions--Huxley's Suggestions.
CHAPTER IX
MAN AND THE APES 144
Objections to Zo?logical Discussion of Man's Place--Owen's Prudence--Huxley's Determination to Speak out--Account of his Treatment of _Man's Place in Nature_--Additions Made by More Recent Work.
CHAPTER X
SCIENCE AS A BRANCH OF EDUCATION 167
Science-Teaching Fifty Years Ago--Huxley's Insistence on Reform--Science Primers--Physiography--Elementary Physiology--_The Crayfish_--Manuals of Anatomy--Modern Microscopical Methods--Practical Work in Biological Teaching--Invention of the Type System--Science in Medical Education--Science and Culture.
CHAPTER XI
GENERAL PROBLEMS OF EDUCATION 188
Establishment of Compulsory Education in England--The Religious Controversy--Huxley Advocates the Bible without Theology--His Compromise on the "Cowper-Temple" Clause--Influence of the New Criticism--Science and Art Instruction--Training of Teachers--University Education--The Baltimore Address--Technical Education--So-called "Applied Science"--National Systems of Education as "Capacity-Catchers."
CHAPTER XII
CITIZEN, ORATOR, AND ESSAYIST 204
Huxley's Activity in Public