1841-1846.
[The migration to Rotherhithe, noted under date of January 9, 1841, was
a fresh step in his career. In 1839 both his sisters married, and both
married doctors. Dr. Cooke, the husband of the elder sister, who was
settled in Coventry, had begun to give him some instruction in the
principles of medicine as early as the preceding June. It was now
arranged that he should go as assistant to Mr. Chandler, of Rotherhithe,
a practical preliminary to walking the hospitals and obtaining a medical
degree in London. His experiences among the poor in the dock region of
the East of London--for Dr. Chandler had charge of the parish--supplied
him with a grim commentary on his diligent reading in Carlyle. Looking
back on this period, he writes:--]
The last recorded speech of Professor Teufelsdrockh proposes the toast
'Die Sache der Armen in Gottes und Teufelsnamen' (The cause of the Poor
in Heaven's name and --'s.) The cause of the Poor is the burden of "Past
and Present," "Chartism," and "Latter-Day Pamphlets." To me...this
advocacy of the cause of the poor appealed very strongly...because...I
had had the opportunity of seeing for myself something of the way the
poor live. Not much, indeed, but still enough to give a terrible
foundation of real knowledge to my speculations.
[After telling how he came to know something of the East End, he
proceeds:--]
I saw strange things there--among the rest, people who came to me for
medical aid, and who were really suffering from nothing but slow
starvation. I have not forgotten--am not likely to forget so long as
memory holds--a visit to a sick girl in a wretched garret where two or
three other women, one a deformed woman, sister of my patient, were busy
shirt-making. After due examination, even my small medical knowledge
sufficed to show that my patient was merely in want of some better food
than the bread and bad tea on which these people were living. I said so
as gently as I could, and the sister turned upon me with a kind of
choking passion. Pulling out of her pocket a few pence and halfpence,
and holding them out, "That is all I get for six and thirty hours' work,
and you talk about giving her proper food."
Well, I left that to pursue my medical studies, and it so happened the
shortest way between the school which I attended and the library of the
College of Surgeons, where my spare hours were largely spent, lay
through certain courts and alleys, Vinegar Yard and others, which are
now nothing like what they were then. Nobody would have found robbing me
a profitable employment in those days, and I used to walk through these
wretched dens without let or hindrance. Alleys nine or ten feet wide, I
suppose, with tall houses full of squalid drunken men and women, and the
pavement strewed with still more squalid children. The place of air was
taken by a steam of filthy exhalations; and the only relief to the
general dull apathy was a roar of words--filthy and brutal beyond
imagination--between the closed-packed neighbours, occasionally ending
in a general row. All this almost within hearing of the traffic of the
Strand, within easy reach of the wealth and plenty of the city.
I used to wonder sometimes why these people did not sally forth in mass
and get a few hours' eating and drinking and plunder to their hearts'
content, before the police could stop and hang a few of them. But the
poor wretches had not the heart even for that. As a slight, wiry
Liverpool detective once said to me when I asked him how it was he
managed to deal with such hulking ruffians as we were among, "Lord bless
you, sir, drink and disease leave nothing in them."
[This early contact with the sternest facts of the social problem
impressed him profoundly. And though not actively employed in what is
generally called "philanthropy," still he did his part, hopefully but
soberly, not only to throw light on the true issues and to strip away
make-believe from them, but also to bring knowledge to the working
classes, and to institute machinery by which capacity should be caught
and led to a position where it might be useful instead of dangerous to
social order.
After some time, however, he left Mr. Chandler to join his second
brother-in-law (John Godwin Scott.), who had set up in the north of
London, and to whom he was duly apprenticed, as his brother James had
been before him. This change gave him more time and opportunity to
pursue his medical education. He attended lectures at the Sydenham
College, and, as has been seen, began to prepare for the matriculation
examination of the University of London. At the Sydenham College he met
with no little success, winning, besides certificates of merit in other
departments, a prize--his first prize--for botany. His vivid
recollections, given below, of this entry into the scientific arena are
taken from a journal he kept for his fiancee during his absence from
Sydney on the cruises of the "Rattlesnake."]
ON BOARD H.M.S. "RATTLESNAKE," CHRISTMAS 1847.
Next summer it will be six years since I made my first trial in the
world. My first public competition, small as it was, was an epoch in my
life. I had been attending (it was my first summer session) the
botanical lectures at Chelsea. One morning I observed a notice stuck
up--a notice of a public competition for medals, etc., to take place on
the 1st August (if I recollect right). It was then the end of May or
thereabouts. I remember looking longingly at the notice, and some one
said to me, "Why don't you go in and try for it?" I laughed at the idea,
for I was very young, and my knowledge somewhat of the vaguest.
Nevertheless I mentioned the matter to S. [his brother-in-law.] when I
returned home. He likewise advised me to try, and so I determined I
would. I set to work in earnest, and perseveringly applied myself to
such works as I could lay my hands on, Lindley's and De Candolle's
"Systems" and the "Annales des Sciences Naturelles" in the British
Museum. I tried to read Schleiden, but my German was insufficient.
For a young hand I worked really hard from eight or nine in the morning
until twelve at night, besides a long hot summer's walk over to Chelsea
two or three times a week to hear Lindley. A great part of the time I
worked till sunrise. The result was a sort of ophthalmia which kept me
from reading at night for months afterwards.
The day of the examination came, and as I went along the passage to go
out I well remember dear Lizzie [His eldest sister, Mrs. Scott.], half
in jest, half in earnest, throwing her shoe after me, as she said, for
luck. She was alone, beside S., in the secret, and almost as anxious as
I was. How I reached the examination room I hardly know, but I recollect
finding myself at last with pen and ink and paper before me and five
other beings, all older than myself, at a long table. We stared at one
another like strange cats in a garret, but at length the examiner (Ward)
entered, and before each was placed the paper of questions and sundry
plants. I looked at my questions, but for some moments could hardly hold
my pen, so extreme was my nervousness; but when I once fairly began, my
ideas crowded upon me almost faster than I could write them. And so we
all sat, nothing heard but the scratching of the pens and the occasional
crackle of the examiner's "Times" as he quietly looked over the news of
the day.
The examination began at eleven. At two they brought in lunch. It was a
good meal enough, but the circumstances were not particularly favourable
to enjoyment, so after a short delay we resumed our work. It began to be
evident between whom the contest lay, and the others determined that I
was one man's competitor and Stocks [John Ellerton Stocks, M.D., London,
distinguished himself as a botanist in India. He travelled and collected
in Beloochistan and Scinde; died 1854.] (he is now in the East India
service) the other. Scratch, scratch, scratch! Four o'clock came, the
usual hour of closing the examination, but Stocks and I had not half
done, so with the consent of the others we petitioned for an extension.
The examiner was willing to let us go on as long as we liked. Never did
I see man write like Stocks; one might have taken him for an attorney's
clerk writing for his dinner. We went on. I had finished a little after
eight, he went on till near nine, and then we had tea and dispersed.
Great were the greetings I received when I got home, where my long
absence had caused some anxiety. The decision would not take place for
some weeks, and many were the speculations made as to the probabilities
of success. I for my part managed to forget all about it, and went on my
ordinary avocations without troubling myself more than I could possibly
help about it. I knew too well my own deficiencies to have been either
surprised or disappointed at failure, and I made a point of shattering
all involuntary "castles in the air" as soon as possible. My worst
anticipations were realised. One day S. came to me with a sorrowful
expression of countenance. He had inquired of the Beadle as to the
decision, and ascertained on the latter's authority that all the
successful candidates were University College men, whereby, of course, I
was excluded. I said, "Very well, the thing was not to be helped," put
my best face upon the matter, and gave up all thoughts of it. Lizzie,
too, came to comfort me, and, I believe, felt it more than I did. What
was my surprise on returning home one afternoon to find myself suddenly
seized, and the whole female household vehemently insisting on kissing
me. It appeared an official-looking letter had arrived for me, and
Lizzie, as I did not appear, could not restrain herself from opening it.
I was second, and was to receive a medal accordingly, and dine with the
guild on the 9th November to have it bestowed.
[Silver Medal of the Pharmaceutical Society, 9th November 1842. Another
botanical prize is a book--"La Botanique," by A. Richard--with the
following inscription:--
THOMAE HUXLEY
In Exercitatione Botanices
Apud Scholam Collegii Sydenhamiensis
Optime Merenti
Hunc librum dono dedit
RICARDUS D. HOBLYN, Botanices Professor.]
I dined with the company, and bore my share in both pudding and praise,
but the charm of success lay in Lizzie's warm congratulation and
sympathy. Since then she always took upon herself to prophesy touching
the future fortunes of "the boy."
[The haphazard, unsystematic nature of preliminary medical study here
presented cannot fail to strike one with wonder. Thomas Huxley was now
seventeen; he had already had two years' "practice in pharmacy" as a
testimonial put it. After a similar apprenticeship, his brother had made
the acquaintance of the director of the Gloucester Lunatic Asylum, and
was given by him the post of dispenser or "apothecary," which he filled
so satisfactorily as to receive a promise that if he went to London for
a couple of years to complete his medical training, a substitute should
be appointed meanwhile to keep the place until he returned.
The opportunity to which both the brothers looked came in the shape of
the Free Scholarships offered by the Charing Cross Hospital to students
whose parents were unable to pay for their education. Testimonials as to
the position and general education of the candidates were required, and
it is curious that one of the persons applied to by the elder Huxley was
J.H. Newman, at that time Vicar of Littlemore, who had been educated at
Dr. Nicholas' School at Ealing.
The application for admission to the lectures and other teaching at the
Hospital states of the young T.H. Huxley that "He has a fair knowledge
of Latin, reads French with facility, and knows something of German. He
has also made considerable progress in the Mathematics, having, as far
as he has advanced, a thorough not a superficial knowledge of the
subject." The document ends in the following confident words:--
I appeal to the certificates and testimonials that will be herewith
submitted for evidence of their past conduct, offering prospectively
that these young men, if elected to the Free Scholarships of the Charing
Cross Hospital and Medical College, will be diligent students, and in
all things submit themselves to the controul and guidance of the
Director and Medical Officers of the establishment. A father may be
pardoned, perhaps, for adding his belief that these young men will
hereafter reflect credit on any institution from which they may receive
their education.
The authorities replied that "although it is not usual to receive two
members of the same family at the same time, the officers taking into
consideration the age of Mr. Huxley, sen., the numerous and satisfactory
testimonials of his respectability, and of the good conduct and merits
of the candidates, have decided upon admitting Mr. J.E. and Mr. T.
Huxley on this occasion."
The brothers began their hospital course on October 1, 1842. Here, after
a time, my father seems to have begun working more steadily and
systematically than he had done before, under the influence of a really
good teacher.]
Looking back [he says] on my "Lehrjahre," I am sorry to say that I do
not think that any account of my doings as a student would tend to
edification. In fact, I should distinctly warn ingenuous youth to avoid
imitating my example. I worked extremely hard when it pleased me, and
when it did not, which was a very frequent case, I was extremely idle
(unless making caricatures of one's pastors and masters is to be called
a branch of industry), or else wasted my energies in wrong directions. I
read everything I could lay hands upon, including novels, and took up
all sorts of pursuits to drop them again quite as speedily. No doubt it
was very largely my own fault, but the only instruction from which I
obtained the proper effect of education was that which I received from
Mr. Wharton Jones, who was the lecturer on physiology at the Charing
Cross School of Medicine. The extent and precision of his knowledge
impressed me greatly, and the severe exactness of his method of
lecturing was quite to my taste. I do not know that I have ever felt so
much respect for anybody as a teacher before or since. I worked hard to
obtain his approbation, and he was extremely kind and helpful to the
youngster who, I am afraid, took up more of his time than he had any
right to do. It was he who suggested the publication of my first
scientific paper--a very little one--in the "Medical Gazette" of 1845,
and most kindly corrected the literary faults which abounded in it,
short as it was; for at that time, and for many years afterwards, I
detested the trouble of writing, and would take no pains with it.
[He never forgot his debt to Wharton Jones, and years afterwards was
delighted at being able to do him a good turn, by helping to obtain a
pension for him. But although in retrospect he condemns the fitfulness
of his energies and his want of system, which left much to be learned
afterwards, which might with advantage have been learned then, still it
was his energy that struck his contemporaries. I have a story from one
of them that when the other students used to go out into the court of
the hospital after lectures were over, they would invariably catch sight
of young Huxley's dark head at a certain window bent over a microscope
while they amused themselves outside. The constant silhouette framed in
the outlines of the window tickled the fancy of the young fellows, and a
wag amongst them dubbed it with a name that stuck, "The Sign of the Head
and Microscope."
The scientific paper, too, which he mentions, was somewhat remarkable
under the circumstances. It is not given to every medical student to
make an anatomical discovery, even a small one. In this case the boy of
nineteen, investigating things for himself, found a hitherto
undiscovered membrane in the root of the human hair, which received the
name of Huxley's layer.
Speculations, too, such as had filled his mind in early boyhood, still
haunted his thoughts. In one of his letters from the "Rattlesnake," he
gives an account of how he was possessed in his student days by that
problem which has beset so many a strong imagination, the problem of
perpetual motion, and even sought an interview with Faraday, whom he
left with the resolution to meet the great man some day on a more equal
footing.]
March 1848.
To-day, ruminating over the manifold ins and outs of life in general,
and my own in particular, it came into my head suddenly that I would
write down my interview with Faraday--how many years ago? Aye, there's
the rub, for I have completely forgotten. However, it must have been in
either my first or second winter session at Charing Cross, and it was
before Christmas I feel sure.
I remember how my long brooding perpetual motion scheme (which I had
made more than one attempt to realise, but failed owing to insufficient
mechanical dexterity) had been working upon me, depriving me of rest
even, and heating my brain with chateaux d'Espagne of endless variety. I
remember, too, it was Sunday morning when I determined to put the
questions, which neither my wits nor my hands would set at rest, into
some hands for decision, and I determined to go before some tribunal
from whence appeal should be absurd.
But to whom to go? I knew no one among the high priests of science, and
going about with a scheme for perpetual motion was, I knew, for most
people the same thing as courting ridicule among high and low. After all
I fixed upon Faraday, possibly perhaps because I knew where he was to be
found, but in part also because the cool logic of his works made me hope
that my poor scheme would be treated on some other principle than that
of mere previous opinion one way or other. Besides, the known courtesy
and affability of the man encouraged me. So I wrote a letter, drew a
plan, enclosed the two in an envelope, and tremblingly betook myself on
the following afternoon to the Royal Institution.
"Is Dr. Faraday here?" said I to the porter. "No, sir, he has just gone
out." I felt relieved. "Be good enough to give him this letter," and I
was hurrying out when a little man in a brown coat came in at the glass
door. "Here is Dr. Faraday," said the man, and gave him my letter. He
turned to me and courteously inquired what I wished. "To submit to you
that letter, sir, if you are not occupied." "My time is always occupied,
sir, but step this way," and he led me into the museum or library, for I
forget which it was, only I know there was a glass case against which we
leant. He read my letter, did not think my plan would answer. Was I
acquainted with mechanism, what we call the laws of motion? I saw all
was up with my poor scheme, so after trying a little to explain, in the
course of which I certainly failed in giving him a clear idea of what I
would be at, I thanked him for his attention, and went off as
dissatisfied as ever. The sense of one part of the conversation I well
recollect. He said "that were the perpetual motion possible, it would
have occurred spontaneously in nature, and would have overpowered all
other forces," or words to that effect. I did not see the force of this,
but did not feel competent enough to discuss the question.
However, all this exorcised my devil, and he has rarely come to trouble
me since. Some future day, perhaps, I may be able to call Faraday's
attention more decidedly. Pergo modo! "wie das Gestirn, ohne Hast, ohne
Rast" (Das Gestirn in a midshipman's berth!).
[In other respects also his student's career was a brilliant one. In
1843 he won the first chemical prize, the certificate stating that his
"extraordinary diligence and success in the pursuit of this branch of
science do him infinite honour." At the same time, he also won the first
prize in the class of anatomy and physiology. On the back of Wharton
Jones' certificate is scribbled in pencil: "Well, 'tis no matter. Honour
pricks me on. Yea, but how if honour prick me off when I come on? How
then?"
Finally, in 1845 he went up for his M.B. at London University and won a
gold medal for anatomy and physiology, being second in honours in that
section.
Whatever then he might think of his own work, judged by his own
standards, he had done well enough as medical students go. But a
brilliant career as a student did not suffice to start him in life or
provide him with a livelihood. How he came to enter the Navy is best
told in his own words.]
It was in the early spring of 1846, that, having finished my obligatory
medical studies and passed the first M.B. examination at the London
University, though I was still too young to qualify at the College of
Surgeons, I was talking to a fellow-student (the present eminent
physician, Sir Joseph Fayrer), and wondering what I should do to meet
the imperative necessity for earning my own bread, when my friend
suggested that I should write to Sir William Burnett, at that time
Director-General for the Medical Service of the Navy, for an
appointment. I thought this rather a strong thing to do, as Sir William
was personally unknown to me, but my cheery friend would not listen to
my scruples, so I went to my lodgings and wrote the best letter I could
devise. A few days afterwards I received the usual official circular of
acknowledgment, but at the bottom there was written an instruction to
call at Somerset House on such a day. I thought that looked like
business, so at the appointed time I called and sent in my card while I
waited in Sir William's anteroom. He was a tall, shrewd-looking old
gentleman, with a broad Scotch accent, and I think I see him now as he
entered with my card in his hand. The first thing he did was to return
it, with the frugal reminder that I should probably find it useful on
some other occasion. The second was to ask whether I was an Irishman. I
suppose the air of modesty about my appeal must have struck him. I
satisfied the Director-General that I was English to the backbone, and
he made some inquiries as to my student career, finally desiring me to
hold myself ready for examination. Having passed this, I was in Her
Majesty's Service, and entered on the books of Nelson's old ship the
"Victory," for duty at Haslar Hospital, about a couple of months after
my application.
My official chief at Haslar was a very remarkable person, the late Sir
John Richardson, an excellent naturalist and far-famed as an indomitable
Arctic traveller. He was a silent, reserved man, outside the circle of
his family and intimates; and having a full share of youthful vanity, I
was extremely disgusted to find that "Old John," as we irreverent
youngsters called him, took not the slightest notice of my worshipful
self, either the first time I attended him, as it was my duty to do, or
for some weeks afterwards. I am afraid to think of the lengths to which
my tongue may have run on the subject of the churlishness of the chief,
who was, in truth, one of the kindest-hearted and most considerate of
men. But one day, as I was crossing the hospital square, Sir John
stopped me and heaped coals of fire on my head by telling me that he had
tried to get me one of the resident appointments, much coveted by the
assistant-surgeons, but that the Admiralty had put in another man.
"However," said he, "I mean to keep you here till I can get you
something you will like," and turned upon his heel without waiting for
the thanks I stammered out. That explained how it was I had not been
packed off to the West Coast of Africa like some of my juniors, and why,
eventually, I remained altogether seven months at Haslar.
After a long interval, during which "Old John" ignored my existence
almost as completely as before, he stopped me again as we met in a
casual way, and describing the service on which the "Rattlesnake" was
likely to be employed, said that Captain Owen Stanley, who was to
command the ship, had asked him to recommend an assistant surgeon who
knew something of science; would I like that? Of course I jumped at the
offer. "Very well, I give you leave; go to London at once and see
Captain Stanley." I went, saw my future commander, who was very civil to
me, and promised to ask that I should be appointed to his ship, as in
due time I was. It is a singular thing that during the few months of my
stay at Haslar I had among my messmates two future Directors-General of
the Medical Service of the Navy (Sir Alexander Armstrong and Sir John
Watt-Reid), with the present President of the College of Physicians, and
my kindest of doctors, Sir Andrew Clark.
A letter to his eldest sister, Lizzie, dated from Haslar May 24, 1846,
shows how he regarded the prospect now opening before him.]
...As I see no special queries in your letter, I think I shall go on to
tell you what that same way of life is likely to be--my fortune having
already been told for me (for the next five years at least). I told you
in my last that I was likely to have a permanency here. Well, I was
recommended by Sir John Richardson, and should have certainly had it,
had not (luckily) the Admiralty put in a man of their own. Having a good
impudent faith in my own star (Wie das Gestirn, ohne Hast, ohne Rast), I
knew this was only because I was to have something better, and so it
turned out; for a day or two after I was ousted from the museum, Sir J.
Richardson (who has shown himself for some reason or another a special
good friend to me) told me that he had received a letter from Captain
Owen Stanley, who is to command an EXPLORING EXPEDITION to New Guinea
(not coast of Africa, mind), requesting him to recommend an assistant
surgeon for this expedition--would I like the appointment? As you may
imagine I was delighted at the offer, and immediately accepted it. I was
recommended accordingly to Captain Stanley and Sir W. Burnett, and I
shall be appointed as soon as the ship is in commission. We are to have
the "Rattlesnake," a 28-gun frigate, and as she will fit out here I
shall have no trouble. We sail probably in September.
New Guinea, as you may be aware, is a place almost unknown, and our
object is to bring back a full account of its Geography, Geology, and
Natural History. In the latter department with which I shall have (in
addition to my medical functions) somewhat to do, we shall form one
grand collection of specimens and deposit it in the British Museum or
some other public place, and this main object being always kept in view,
we are at liberty to collect and work for ourselves as we please. Depend
upon it unless some sudden attack of laziness supervenes, such an
opportunity shall not slip unused out of my hands. The great difficulty
in such a wide field is to choose an object. In this point, however, I
hope to be greatly assisted by the scientific folks, to many of whom I
have already had introductions (Owen, Gray, Grant, Forbes), and this, I
assure you, I look upon as by no means the least of the advantages I
shall derive from being connected with the expedition. I have been twice
to town to see Captain Stanley. He is a son of the Bishop of Norwich, is
an exceedingly gentlemanly man, a thorough scientific enthusiast, and
shows himself altogether very much disposed to forward my views in every
possible way. Being a scientific man himself he will take care to have
the ship's arrangements as far as possible in harmony with scientific
pursuits--a circumstance you would appreciate as highly as I do if you
were as well acquainted as I now am with the ordinary opportunities of
an assistant surgeon. Furthermore, I am given to understand that if one
does anything at all, promotion is almost certain. So that altogether I
am in a very fair way, and would snap my fingers at the Grand Turk.
Wharton Jones was delighted when I told him about my appointment. Dim
visions of strangely formed corpuscles seemed to cross his imagination
like the ghosts of the kings in "Macbeth."
What seems his head
The likeness of a nucleated cell has on.
[The law's delays are proverbial, but on this occasion, as on the return
of the "Rattlesnake," the Admiralty seem to have been almost as
provoking to the eager young surgeon as any lawyer could have been. The
appointment was promised in May; it was not made till October. On the
6th of that month there is another letter to his sister, giving fuller
particulars of his prospects on the voyage:--]
My dearest Lizzie,
At last I have really got my appointment and joined my ship. I was so
completely disgusted with the many delays that had occurred that I made
up my mind not to write to anybody again until I had my commission in my
hand. Henceforward, like another Jonah, my dwelling-place will be the
"inwards" of the "Rattlesnake," and upon the whole I really doubt
whether Jonah was much worse accommodated, so far as room goes, than
myself. My total length, as you are aware, is considerable, 5 feet 11
inches, possibly, but the height of the lower deck of the "Rattlesnake,"
which will be my especial location, is at the outside 4 feet 10 inches.
What I am to do with the superfluous foot I cannot divine. Happily,
however, there is a sort of skylight into the berth, so that I shall be
able to sit with the body in it and my head out.
Apart from joking, however, this is not such a great matter, and it is
the only thing I would see altered in the whole affair. The officers, as
far as I have seen them, are a very gentlemanly, excellent set of men,
and considering we are to be together for four or five years, that is a
matter of no small importance. I am not given to be sanguine, but I
confess I expect a good deal to arise out of this appointment. In the
first place, surveying ships are totally different from the ordinary run
of men-of-war. The requisite discipline is kept up, but not in the
martinet style. Less form is observed. From the men who are appointed
having more or less scientific turns, they have more respect for one
another than that given by mere position in the service, and hence that
position is less taken advantage of. They are brought more into contact,
and hence those engaged in the surveying service almost proverbially
stick by one another. To me, whose interest in the service is almost all
to be made, this is a matter of no small importance.
Then again, in a surveying ship you can work. In an ordinary frigate if
a fellow has the talents of all the scientific men from Archimedes
downwards compressed into his own peculiar skull they are all lost. Even
if it were possible to study in a midshipmen's berth, you have not room
in your "chat" for more than a dozen books. But in the "Rattlesnake" the
whole poop is to be converted into a large chart-room with bookshelves
and tables and plenty of light. There I may read, draw, or microscopise
at pleasure, and as to books, I have a carte blanche from the Captain to
take as many as I please, of which permission we shall avail
ourself--rather--and besides all this, from the peculiar way in which I
obtained this appointment, I shall have a much wider swing than
assistant surgeons in general get. I can see clearly that certain
branches of the natural history work will fall into my hands if I manage
properly through Sir John Richardson, who has shown himself a very kind
friend all throughout, and also through Captain Stanley I have been
introduced to several eminent zoologists--to Owen and Gray and Forbes of
King's College. From all these men much is to be learnt which becomes
peculiarly my own, and can of course only be used and applied by me.
From Forbes especially I have learned and shall learn much with respect
to dredging operations (which bear on many of the most interesting
points of zoology). In consequence of this I may very likely be
entrusted with the carrying of them out, and all that is so much the
more towards my opportunities. Again, I have learnt the calotype process
for the express purpose of managing the calotype apparatus, for which
Captain Stanley has applied to the Government.
And having once for all enumerated all these meaner prospects of mere
personal advancement, I must confess I do glory in the prospect of being
able to give myself up to my own favourite pursuits without thereby
neglecting the proper duties of life. And then perhaps by the following
of my favourite motto:--
Wie das Gestirn,
Ohne Hast,
Ohne Rast:--
something may be done, and some of Sister Lizzie's fond imaginations
turn out not altogether untrue.
I perceive that I have nearly finished a dreadfully egotistical letter,
but I know you like to hear of my doings, so shall not apologise. Kind
regards to the Doctor and kisses to the babbies. Write me a long letter
all about yourselves.
Your affectionate brother,
T.H. Huxley.
[One more description to complete the sketch of his quarters on board
the "Rattlesnake." It is from a letter to his mother, written at
Plymouth, where the "Rattlesnake" put in after leaving Portsmouth. The
comparison with the ordinary quarters of an assistant-surgeon, and the
shifts to which a studious man might be put in his endeavour to find a
quiet spot to work in, have a flavour of Mr. Midshipman Easy about them
to relieve the deplorable reality of his situation:--]
You will be very glad to know that I am exceedingly comfortable here. My
cabin has now got into tolerable order, and what with my books--which
are, I am happy to say, not a few--my gay curtain and the spicy oilcloth
which will be down on the floor, looks most respectable. Furthermore,
although it is an unquestionably dull day I have sufficient light to
write here, without the least trouble, to read, or even if necessary, to
use my microscope. I went to see a friend of mine on board the "Recruit"
the other day, and truly I hugged myself when I compared my position
with his. The berth where he and seven others eat their daily bread is
hardly bigger than my cabin, except in height--and, of course, he has to
sleep in a hammock. My friend is rather an eccentric character, and,
being missed in the ship, was discovered the other day reading in the
main-top--the only place, as he said, sufficiently retired for study.
And this is really no exaggeration. If I had no cabin I should take to
drinking in a month.
[It was during this period of waiting that he attended his first meeting
of the British Association, which was held in 1846 at Southampton. Here
he obtained from Professor Edward Forbes one of his living specimens of
Amphioxus lanceolatus, and made an examination of its blood. The result
was a short paper read at the following meeting of the Association,
which showed that in the composition of its blood this lowly vertebrate
approached very near the invertebrates. ("Examination of the Corpuscles
of the Blood of Amphioxus lanceolatus" "British Association Report" 1847
2 page 95 and "Scientific Memoirs" 1.)