Background
Thomas Henry Huxley was born on May 4, 1825, at Ealing, England, United Kingdom, the seventh child of George and Rachel Withers Huxley.
(This delightful and insightful series of essays on the pr...)
This delightful and insightful series of essays on the practice of science was written by one of the great minds of the 19th century, Thomas Henry Huxley, a great friend and defender of Charles Darwin and his theory of evolution by natural selection. Includes Huxley's Autobiography, and essays covering Improving Natural Knowledge; A Liberal Education; On a Piece of Chalk; The Principle Subjects of Education; The Method of Scientific Investigation; On the Physical Basis of Life; and a Postscript: A Review of Huxley's Life and Work. Highly readable and very pertinent in this age of doubt.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1565433386/?tag=2022091-20
("On a Piece of Chalk" by Thomas Henry Huxley was first de...)
"On a Piece of Chalk" by Thomas Henry Huxley was first delivered in 1868 as a lecture to the working men of Norwich during the meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science. A literary work of enduring excellence, it is here made available as a separate volume for the first time. Some of the finest writings on science accessible to the general reader have to do with everyday things, and this book is a classic example of such a discourse on a familiar object. It reveals Huxley's natural gift for clear exposition linked with profundity of thought. In his talks to working men he understood instinctively how to take simple things - in this case a well in the earth or a piece of chalk in a carpenter's pocket - and to proceed from the known, by some magical doorway of his own devising, back into the mist of long-vanished geological eras. The lecture is distinguished by beautiful writing, and Loren Eiseley's fine editorship. In addition to supervising the preparation of the manuscript, Dr. Eiseley, the American literary naturalist, has contributed a biographical introduction and assembled a set of notes to illuminate the text for the modern reader. Rudolf Freund, the well-known artist of natural-history subjects, has lavishly illustrated the work. An Appendix (geological time chart), a selected bibliography, and an index add to the usefulness of this completely new edition.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0006BQHM8/?tag=2022091-20
( How is this book unique? • Font adjustments & biograp...)
How is this book unique? • Font adjustments & biography included • Unabridged (100% Original content) • Formatted for e-reader • Illustrated About Man's Place in Nature and Other Essays by Thomas Henry Huxley Man's Place in Nature and Other Essays is an 1863 book by Thomas Henry Huxley, in which he gives evidence for the evolution of man and apes from a common ancestor. It was the first book devoted to the topic of human evolution, and discussed much of the anatomical and other evidence. Backed by this evidence, the book proposed to a wide readership that evolution applied as fully to man as to all other life. In the 18th century Linnaeus and others had classified man as a primate, but without drawing evolutionary conclusions. It was Lamarck, the first to develop a coherent theory of evolution, who discussed human evolution in this context.Robert Chambers in his anonymous Vestiges also clearly made the point. The book came five years after Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace announced their theory of evolution by means of natural selection, and four years after the publication of Darwin's Origin of Species. In the Origin Darwin had deliberately avoided tackling human evolution, but left a gnomic trailer: "Light will be thrown on the origin of man and his history". Darwin's sequel came eight years later, with The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex (1871).
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1520616295/?tag=2022091-20
(In this selection of his most important writings, renowne...)
In this selection of his most important writings, renowned scientist and philosopher Thomas Henry Huxley (1825-1895) discusses his views on the demonstrative evidence of evolution, the physical basis of life, naturalism and supernaturalism, agnosticism and Christianity, and the Christian tradition in relation to Judaic Christianity.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0879757493/?tag=2022091-20
(Originally published in 1888. This volume from the Cornel...)
Originally published in 1888. This volume from the Cornell University Library's print collections was scanned on an APT BookScan and converted to JPG 2000 format by Kirtas Technologies. All titles scanned cover to cover and pages may include marks notations and other marginalia present in the original volume.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1112365702/?tag=2022091-20
(This historic book may have numerous typos and missing te...)
This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1896 edition. Excerpt: ... VI THE ARYAN QUESTION AND PREHISTORIC MAN 1890 The rapid increase of natural knowledge, which is the chief characteristic of our age, is effected in various ways. The main army of science moves to the conquest of new worlds slowly and surely, nor ever cedes an inch of the territory gained. But the advance is covered and facilitated by the ceaseless activity of clouds of light troops provided with a weapon--always efficient, if not always an arm of precision--the scientific imagination. It is the business of these en/ants perdus of science to make raids into the realm of ignorance whereever they see, or think they see, a chance; and cheerfully to accept defeat, or it may be annihilation, as the reward of error. Unfortunately, the public, which watches the progress of the campaign, too often mistakes a dashing incursion of the Uhlans for a forward movement of the main body; fondly imagining that the strategic movement to the rear, which occasionally follows, indicates a battle lost by science. And it must be confessed that the error is too often justified by the effects of the irrepressible tendency which men of science share with all other sorts of men known to me, to be impatient of that most wholesome state of mind--suspended judgment; to assume the objective truth of speculations which, from the nature of the evidence in their favour, can have no claim to be more than working hypotheses. The history of the "Aryan question" affords a striking illustration of these general remarks. About a century ago, Sir William Jones pointed out the close alliance of the chief European languages with Sanskrit and its derivative dialects now spoken in India. Brilliant and laborious philologists, in long succession, enlarged and strengthened this...
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/123036997X/?tag=2022091-20
(Excerpt from Animal Automatism, and Other Essays: Viz.: S...)
Excerpt from Animal Automatism, and Other Essays: Viz.: Science and Culture; Elementary Instruction in Physiology; The Border Territory Between Animals and Plants; Universities, Actual and Ideal It is impossible to obtain direct evi dence in favor of the one conclusion or the other; all that can be said is, that the case of the frog shows that man may be devoid of any kind of consciousness. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0260109401/?tag=2022091-20
(In 1863, the biologist and educator Thomas Henry Huxley p...)
In 1863, the biologist and educator Thomas Henry Huxley published Evidence as to Man's Place in Nature, a compilation of his public lectures on Darwin's theory of evolution - specifically the controversial idea of the ape ancestry of humans. An energetic supporter of Darwin, Huxley's argues that in order to understand the universe, everyone must know their place in the natural world. The book is divided into three parts, each written with the aim of persuading lay audiences. The first covers earlier human beliefs about exotic animals, especially 'man-like' apes. In Part 2, Huxley suggests that every animal on Earth is related in that all go through developmental stages from an egg, whether the animal is 'a silkworm or a school-boy'. Part 3 involves a discussion of recently discovered Neanderthal bones and compares prehistoric craniums to modern human skulls.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1108004571/?tag=2022091-20
Thomas Henry Huxley was born on May 4, 1825, at Ealing, England, United Kingdom, the seventh child of George and Rachel Withers Huxley.
Perhaps because two brothers-in-law were doctors, Thomas decided to enter the medical profession and in the fashion of the time became an apprentice to a brother-in-law, John Godwin Scott, at the age of 15. In 1842 he won a free scholarship to the medical school attached to Chairing Cross Hospital in London. Huxley passed the M. B. examination at Royal College of Urgeons in 1845.
After stidues Huxley sought a position in the medical service of the Royal Navy and was assigned to the Rattlesnake, a surveying ship bound for New Guinea and Australia. The Rattlesnake sailed on December 3, 1846, and returned to England on November 9, 1850. Huxley found time amidst his duties as ship's surgeon to study those delicate marine animals that float near the surface of the sea. He worked up reports of his discoveries and sent them to England for publication. Those on the medusae, or jellyfish, were especially important and original.
Though still in his 26, Huxley was now recognized as an accomplished investigator. But opportunities for a scientific career were rare in England, and from 1851 through 1853 Huxley sought in vain for a teaching position and for funds to cover the costs of publishing his complete researches. Finally, in 1854, he was appointed lecturer on natural history at the Government School of Mines in London. To supplement the meager income from this post, he was a year later named naturalist to the Geological Survey. This position carried with it certain duties with regard to fossils. Huxley accepted both positions with reservations.
In 1859 Huxley's monograph On the Oceanic Hydrozoa was published, but his research interests had expanded greatly by then. He ranged all over the field of zoology, but vertebrate morphology and paleontology had become his leading concerns.
Although Huxley was among the privileged few to hear the outlines of Darwin's theory in advance of publication, his active support for the theory seems to begin with the publication in November 1859 of the Origin of Species. He retained certain reservations about Darwin's theory, pointing out that no new species had been known to result from artificial selection and that Darwin had not given an adequate explanation of how variations are produced in the first place.
From 1860 to 1870 Huxley devoted himself largely to the question of man's origin and place in nature and to the study of paleontology. Along with W. H. Flower he produced apparently irrefutable evidence against Richard Owen's view that the brain of man possessed unique anatomical features. By 1871 Huxley had published 38 paleontological papers, including several on dinosaur fossils. Largely as a result of these papers and of more purely morphological work suggested by them, the evolutionary relationships between reptiles and the birds (the Sauropsida) and between amphibia and fishes (the Ichthyopsida) became more clearly understood. Also during these years Huxley erected a new and largely successful classificatory scheme for the birds.
Huxley was Fullerian professor of physiology at the Royal Institution (1856 - 1858), examiner in physiology and comparative anatomy for the University of London (1856-1863, 1865 - 1870); and Hunterian professor at the Royal College of Surgeons (1863 - 1870). Thereafter he devoted an increasing portion of his time to administrative and public duties.
In 1885 Huxley retired from all active duties and gave himself almost entirely to his philosophical and theological essays. He died at Eastbourne on June 29, 1895.
( How is this book unique? • Font adjustments & biograp...)
(In this selection of his most important writings, renowne...)
(This delightful and insightful series of essays on the pr...)
(In 1863, the biologist and educator Thomas Henry Huxley p...)
("On a Piece of Chalk" by Thomas Henry Huxley was first de...)
(This historic book may have numerous typos and missing te...)
(Excerpt from Animal Automatism, and Other Essays: Viz.: S...)
(Originally published in 1888. This volume from the Cornel...)
Because he denied that the existence of God could be proven, rejected the biblical account of creation and supported instead Darwin's theory of evolution, Huxley's name was anathema in respectable Anglican homes.
Thomas tended toward liberalism or even radicalism in his political views.
With regard to education in general, he insisted on the evils of one-sided education, whether classical or scientific, and on the need to cultivate the physical and moral as well as the intellectual capacities of children. But his main point was to chastise the English schools and universities for failing to recognize that science formed an essential part of Western culture. In his philosophical essays Huxley placed himself in the tradition of "active skepticism" represented by René Descartes and David Hume.
He insisted that life and even thought were at bottom molecular phenomena. For such ideas he was accused of being a materialist, but Huxley argued that "materialism and spiritualism are opposite poles of the same absurdity."
Huxley believed that variation might sometimes take place in larger and more clearly defined steps (what might today be called mutations). But even with these reservations Huxley thought that Darwin's theory was a "well-founded working hypothesis" and a "powerful instrument of research. "
Quotations: Huxley states: "Agnosticism, in fact, is not a creed, but a method, the essence of which lies in the rigorous application of a single principle. .. the fundamental axiom of modern science. .. In matters of the intellect, follow your reason as far as it will take you, without regard to any other consideration. .. In matters of the intellect, do not pretend that conclusions are certain which are not demonstrated or demonstrable".
Thomas became a member of the Royal Society in 1851.
From his father he thought he derived little except a quick temper and the artistic faculty which proved of great service to him.
In 1855, Thomas married Henrietta Anne Heathorn (1825–1915), an English émigrée whom he had met in Sydney. They kept correspondence until he was able to send for her. They had five daughters and three sons.