* Dana, Manual of Geology, p. 591.
Halve, or quarter, this estimate if you will, in order to be certain of erring upon the right side, and still there remains a prodigious period during which the ancestors of existing coral polypes have been undisturbedly at work; and during which, therefore, the climatal conditions over the coral area must have been much what they are now.
And all this lapse of time has occurred within the most recent period of the history of the earth. The remains of reefs formed by coral polypes of different kinds from those which exist now, enter largely into the composition of the limestones of the Jurassic period;126and still more widely different coral polypes have contributed their quota to the vast thickness of the carboniferous and Devonian strata. Then as regards the latter group of rocks in America, the high authority already quoted tells us:—
"The Upper Helderberg period is eminently the coral reef period of the palaeozoic ages. Many of the rocks abound in coral, and are as truly coral reefs as the modern reefs of the Pacific. The corals are sometimes standing on the rocks in the position they had when growing: others are lying in fragments, as they were broken and heaped by the waves; and others were reduced to a compact limestone by the finer trituration before consolidation into rock. This compact variety is the most common kind among the coral reef rocks of the present seas; and it often contains but few distinct fossils, although formed in water that abounded in life. At the fall of the Ohio, near Louisville, there is a magnificent display of the old reef. Hemispherical Favosites, five or six feet in diameter, lie there nearly as perfect as when they were covered by their flowerlike polypes; and besides these, there are various branching corals, and a profusion of Cyathophyllia, or cup-corals."*
* Dana, Manual of Geology, p. 272.
Thus, in all the great periods of the earth's history of which we know anything, a part of the then living matter has had the form of polypes, competent to separate from the water of the sea the carbonate of lime necessary for their own skeletons. Grain by grain, and particle by particle, they have built up vast masses of rock, the thickness of which is measured by hundreds of feet, and their area by thousands of square miles. The slow oscillations of the crust of the earth, producing great changes in the distribution of land and water, have often obliged the living matter of the coral-builders to shift the locality of its operations; and, by variation and adaptation to these modifications of condition, its forms have as often changed. The work it has done in the past is, for the most part, swept away, but fragments remain, and, if there were no other evidence, suffice to prove the general constancy of the operations of Nature in this world, through periods of almost inconceivable duration.
1 (return)[ Autobiography: Huxley's account of this sketch, written in 1889, is as follows: "A man who is bringing out a series of portraits of celebrities, with a sketch of their career attached, has bothered me out of my life for something to go with my portrait, and to escape the abominable bad taste of some of the notices, I have done that."]
2 (return)[ pre-Boswellian epoch: the time before Boswell. James Boswell (1740-1795) wrote the famous Life of Samuel Johnson. Mr. Leslie Stephen declares that this book "became the first specimen of a new literary type." "It is a full-length portrait of a man's domestic life with enough picturesque detail to enable us to see him through the eyes of private friendship. . . ." A number of biographers since Boswell have imitated his method; and Leslie Stephen believes that "we owe it in some degree to his example that we have such delightful books as Lockhart's Life of Scott or Mr. Trevelyan's Life of Macaulay."]
3 (return)[ "Bene qui latuit, bene vixit": from Ovid. He who has kept himself well hidden, has lived well.]
4 (return)[ Prince George of Cambridge: the grandson of King George III, second Duke of Cambridge, and Commander-in-chief of the British Army.]
5 (return)[ Mr. Herbert Spencer (1820—1903): a celebrated English philosopher and powerful advocate of the doctrine of evolution. Spencer is regarded as one of the most profound thinkers of modern times. He was one of Huxley's closest friends.]
6 (return)[ in partibus infidelium: in the domain of the unbelievers.]
7 (return)[ "sweet south upon a bed of violets." Cf. Twelfth Night, Act I, sc. I, l. 5.
O, it came o'er my ear like the sweet soundThat breathes upon a bank of violets,Stealing and giving odour.
For the reading "sweet south" instead of "sweet sound," see Rolfe's edition of Twelfth Night.]
8 (return)[ "Lehrjahre": apprenticeship.
Charing Cross School of Medicine: a school connected with the Charing Cross Hospital in the Strand, London.]
9 (return)[ Nelson: Horatio Nelson, a celebrated English Admiral born in Norfolk, England, 1758, and died on board the Victory at Trafalgar, 1805. It was before the battle off Cape Trafalgar that Nelson hoisted his famous signal, "England expects every man will do his duty." Cf. Tennyson's Ode to the Duke of Wellington, stanza VI, for a famous tribute to Nelson.]
10 (return)[ middies: abbreviated form for midshipmen.]
11 (return)[ Suites a Buffon: sequels to Buffon. Buffon (1707-1781) was a French naturalist who wrote many volumes on science.]
12 (return)[ Linnean Society: a scientific society formed in 1788 under the auspices of several fellows of the Royal Society.]
13 (return)[ Royal Society: The Royal Society for Improving Natural Knowledge; the oldest scientific society in Great Britain, and one of the oldest in Europe. It was founded by Charles II, in 1660, its nucleus being an association of learned men already in existence. It is supposed to be identical with the Invisible College which Boyle mentions in 1646. It was incorporated under the name of The Royal Society in 1661. The publications of the Royal Society are called Philosophical Transactions. The society has close connection with the government, and has assisted the government in various important scientific undertakings among which may be mentioned Parry's North Pole expedition. The society also distributes $20,000 yearly for the promotion of scientific research.]
14 (return)[ Rastignac: a character in Le Pere Goriot. At the close of the story Rastignac says, "A nous deux, maintenant":—Henceforth there is war between us.]
15 (return)[ Pere Goriot: a novel of Balzac's with a plot similar to King Lear.]
16 (return)[ Professor Tyndall (1820-1893): a distinguished British physicist and member of the Royal Society. He explored with Huxley the glaciers of Switzerland. His work in electricity, radiant heat, light and acoustics gave him a foremost place in science.]
17 (return)[ Ecclesiastical spirit: the spirit manifested by the clergy of England in Huxley's time against the truths of science. The clergy considered scientific truth to be disastrous to religious truth. Huxley's attitude toward the teaching of religious truth is illuminated by this quotation, which he uses to explain his own position: "I have the fullest confidence that in the reading and explaining of the Bible, what the children will be taught will be the great truths of Christian Life and conduct, which all of us desire they should know, and that no effort will be made to cram into their poor little minds, theological dogmas which their tender age prevents them from understanding." Huxley defines his idea of a church as a place in which, "week by week, services should be devoted, not to the iteration of abstract propositions in theology, but to the setting before men's minds of an ideal of true, just and pure living; a place in which those who are weary of the burden of daily cares should find a moment's rest in the contemplation of the higher life which is possible for all, though attained by so few; a place in which the man of strife and of business should have time to think how small, after all, are the rewards he covets compared with peace and charity."]
18 (return)[ New Reformation: Huxley writes: "We are in the midst of a gigantic movement greater than that which preceded and produced the Reformation, and really only the continuation of that movement. . . . But this organization will be the work of generations of men, and those who further it most will be those who teach men to rest in no lie, and to rest in no verbal delusion."]
19 (return)[ On the Advisableness of Improving Natural Knowledge: from Method and Results: also published in Lay Sermons, Addresses and Reviews.]
For the history of the times mentioned in this essay, see Green's Short History of the English People.]
20 (return)[ The very spot: St. Martin's Borough Hall and Public Library, on Charing Cross Road, near Trafalgar Square.]
21 (return)[ Defoe (1661-1731): an English novelist and political writer. On account of his political writings Defoe was sentenced to stand in the pillory, and to be "imprisoned during the Queen's pleasure." During this imprisonment he wrote many articles. Later in life he wrote Robinson Crusoe, The Fortunes and Misfortunes of Moll Flanders, Journal of the Plague Year, and other books less well known.]
22 (return)[ unholy cursing and crackling wit of the Rochesters and Sedleys: John Wilmot, the second Earl of Rochester, and Sir Charles Sedley, were both friends of Charles II, and were noted for biting wit and profligacy. Green, in his Short History of the English People, thus describes them: "Lord Rochester was a fashionable poet, and the titles of some of his poems are such as no pen of our day could copy. Sir Charles Sedley was a fashionable wit, and the foulness of his words made even the porters in the Covent Garden belt him from the balcony when he ventured to address them."]
23 (return)[ Laud: Archbishop of Canterbury. Laud was born in 1573, and beheaded at London in 1645. He was throughout the reign of Charles I a staunch supporter of the King. He was impeached by the Long Parliament in 1640 and executed on Tower Hill, in 1645.]
24 (return)[ selenography: the scientific study of the moon with special reference to its physical condition.]
25 (return)[ Torricellian experiment: a reference to the discovery of the principle of the barometer by the Italian, Torricelli, in 1643.]
26 (return)[ Sir Francis Bacon (1561-1626): Bacon endeavored to teach that civilization cannot be brought to a high point except as man applies himself to the study of the secrets of nature, and uses these discoveries for inventions which will give him power over his environment. The chief value of the work was that it called attention to the uses of induction and to the experimental study of facts. See Roger's A Student's History of Philosophy, page 243.]
27 (return)[ The learned Dr. Wallis (1616-1703): Dr. Wallis is regarded as the greatest of Newton's predecessors in mathematical history. His works are numerous and are on a great variety of subjects. He was one of the first members of the Royal Society.]
28 (return)[ "New Philosophy": Bacon's ideas on science and philosophy as set forth in his works.]
29 (return)[ Royal Society: see note, page 11.]
30 (return)[ Newton, Sir Isaac (1642-1721): a distinguished natural philosopher of England. Newton was elected a member of the Royal Society in 1672. His most important scientific accomplishment was the establishing of the law of universal gravitation. The story of the fall of the apple was first related by Voltaire to whom it was given by Newton's niece.]
31 (return)[ "Philosophical Transactions": the publications of the Royal Society.]
32 (return)[ Galileo (1564-1642): a famous Italian astronomer. His most noted work was the construction of the thermometer and a telescope. He discovered the satellites of Jupiter in 1610. In 1610, also, he observed the sun's spots. His views were condemned by the Pope in 1616 and in 1633 he was forced by the Inquisition to abjure the Copernican theory.]
33 (return)[ Vesalius (1514-1564): a noted Belgian anatomist.]
34 (return)[ Harvey (1578-1657): an English physiologist and anatomist. He is noted especially for his discovery of the circulation of the blood.]
35 (return)[ Subtle speculations: Selby gives examples from questions discussed by Thomas Aquinas. Whether all angels belong to the same genus, whether demons are evil by nature, or by will, whether they can change one substance into another, . . . whether an angel can move from one point to another without passing through intermediate space.]
36 (return)[ Schoolmen: a term used to designate the followers of scholasticism, a philosophy of dogmatic religion which assumed a certain subject-matter as absolute and unquestionable. The duty of the Schoolman was to explain church doctrine; these explanations were characterized by fine distinctions and by an absence of real content. See Roger's A Student's History of Philosophy; also Baldwin's Dictionary of Philosophy and Psychology.]
37 (return)[ "writ in water": an allusion to Keats' request that the words "Here lies one whose name was writ in water" be his epitaph. The words are inscribed on his tomb in the Protestant Cemetery at Rome.]
38 (return)[ Lord Brouncker: The first president of the Royal Society after its incorporation in 1662 was Lord Brouneker.]
39 (return)[ revenant: ghost.]
40 (return)[ Boyle: Robert Boyle (1627-1691): a British chemist and natural philosopher who was noted especially for his discovery of Boyle's law of the elasticity of air.]
41 (return)[ Evelyn (1620-1706): an English author and member of the Royal Society. His most important work is the Diary, valuable for the full account which it gives of the manners and customs of the time.]
42 (return)[ The Restoration: In English history the re-establishing of the English monarchy with the return of King Charles II in 1660; by extension the whole reign of Charles II: as, the dramatists of the Restoration. Century Dictionary.]
43 (return)[ Aladdin's lamps: a reference to the story of the Wonderful Lamp in the Arabian Nights. The magic lamp brought marvelous good fortune to the poor widow's son who possessed it. Cf. also Lowell's Aladdin:—
When I was a beggarly boy,And lived in a cellar damp,I had not a friend or a toy,But I had Aladdin's lamp;When I could not sleep for the cold,I had fire enough in my brain,And builded, with roofs of gold,My beautiful castles in Spain!]
44 (return)[ "When in heaven the stars": from Tennyson's Specimens of a Translation of the Iliad in Blank Verse.]
45 (return)[ "increasing God's honour and bettering man's estate": Bacon's statement of his purpose in writing the Advancement of Learning.]
46 (return)[ For example, etc.: could the sentence beginning thus be written in better form?]
47 (return)[ Rumford (1738-1814): Benjamin Thompson, Count Rumford, an eminent scientist. Rumford was born in America and educated at Harvard. Suspected of loyalty to the King at the time of the revolution, he was imprisoned. Acquitted, he went to England where he became prominent in politics and science. Invested with the title of Count by the Holy Roman Empire, he chose Rumford for his title after the name of the little New Hampshire town where he had taught. He gave a large sum of money to Harvard College to found the Rumford professorship of science.]
48 (return)[ eccentric: out of the centre.]
49 (return)[ A Liberal Education: from Science and Education; also published in Lay Sermons, Addresses and Reviews.]
50 (return)[ Ichabod: cf. 1 Sam. iv, 21.]
51 (return)[ senior wranglership: in Cambridge University, England, one who has attained the first class in the elementary division of the public examination for honors in pure and mixed mathematics, commonly called the mathematical tripos, those who compose the second rank of honors being designated senior optimes, and those of the third order junior optimes. The student taking absolutely the first place in the mathematical tripos used to be called senior wrangler, those following next in the same division being respectively termed second, third, fourth, etc., wranglers. Century Dictionary.]
52 (return)[ double-first: any candidate for the degree of Bachelor of Arts in Oxford University who takes first-class honors in both classics and mathematics is said to have won a double-first.]
53 (return)[ Retzsch (1779-1857): a well-known German painter and engraver.]
54 (return)[ Test-Act: an English statute of 1673. It compelled all persons holding office under the crown to take the oaths of supremacy and of allegiance, to receive the sacrament according to the usage of the Church of England, and to subscribe to the Declaration against Transubstantiation.]
55 (return)[ Poll: an abbreviation and transliteration of [Footnote Greek words], "the mob"; university slang for the whole body of students taking merely the degree of Bachelor of Arts, at Cambridge.]
56 (return)[ pluck: the rejection of a student, after examinations, who does not come up to the standard.]
57 (return)[ On a Piece of Chalk: a lecture to working-men from Lay Sermons, Addresses and Reviews.]
58 (return)[ Needles of the Isle of Wight: the needles are three white, pointed rocks of chalk, resting on dark-colored bases, and rising abruptly from the sea to a height of 100 feet. Baedeker's Great Britain.]
59 (return)[ Lulworth in Dorset, to Flamborough Head: Lulworth is on the southern coast of England, west of the Isle of Wight: Flamborough Head is on the northeastern coast of England and extends into the German Ocean.]
60 (return)[ Weald: a name given to an oval-shaped chalk area in England, beginning near the Straits of Dover, and extending into the counties of Kent, Surrey, Hants, and Sussex.]
61 (return)[ Lieut. Brooke: Brooke devised an apparatus for deep-sea sounding from which the weight necessary to sink the instrument rapidly, was detached when it reached the bottom. The object was to relieve the strain on the rope caused by rapid soundings. Improved apparatuses have been invented since the time of Brooke.]
62 (return)[ Ehrenberg (1795-1876): a German naturalist noted for his studies of Infusoria.]
63 (return)[ Bailey of West Point (1811-1857): an American naturalist noted for his researches in microscopy.]
64 (return)[ enterprise of laying down the telegraph-cable: the first Atlantic telegraph-cable between England and America was laid in 1858 by Cyrus W. Field of New York. Messages were sent over it for a few weeks; then it ceased to act. A permanent cable was laid by Mr. Field in 1866.]
65 (return)[ Dr. Wallich (1786-1854): a Danish botanist and member of the Royal Society.]
66 (return)[ Mr. Sorby: President of the Geological Society of England, and author of many papers on subjects connected with physical geography.]
67 (return)[ Sir Charles Lyell (1797-1875): a British geologist, and one of the first to uphold Darwin's Origin of Species.]
68 (return)[ Echinus: the sea-urchin; an animal which dwells in a spheroidal shell built up from polygonal plates, and covered with sharp spines.]
69 (return)[ Somme: a river of northern France which flows into the English Channel northeast of Dieppe.]
70 (return)[ the chipped flints of Hoxne and Amiens: the rude instruments which were made by primitive man were of chipped flint. Numerous discoveries of large flint implements have been made in the north of France, near Amiens, and in England. The first noted flint implements were discovered in Hoxne, Suffolk, England, 1797. Cf. Evans' Ancient Stone Implements and Lyell's Antiquity of Man.]
71 (return)[ Rev. Mr. Gunn (1800-1881): an English naturalist. Mr. Gunn sent from Tasmania a large number of plants and animals now in the British Museum.]
72 (return)[ "the whirligig of time": cf. Shakespeare, Twelfth Night, Act V, se. I, l. 395.]
73 (return)[ Euphrates and Hiddekel: cf. Genesis ii, 14.]
74 (return)[ the great river, the river of Babylon: cf. Genesis xv, 18]
75 (return)[ Without haste, but without rest: from Goethe's Zahme Xenien. In a letter to his sister, Huxley says: "And then perhaps by the following of my favorite motto,—
"'Wie das Gestirn,Ohne Hast,Ohne Rast'—something may be done, and some of Sister Lizzie's fondimaginations turn out not altogether untrue." The quotation entireis as follows:—Wie das Gestirn,Ohne Hast,Aber ohne Rast,Drehe sich jederUm die eigne Last.]
76 (return)[ The Principal Subjects of Education: an extract from the essay, Science and Art in Relation to Education.]
77 (return)[ this discussion: "this" refers to the last sentence in the preceding paragraph, in which Huxley says that it will be impossible to determine the amount of time to be given to the principal subjects of education until it is determined "what the principal subjects of education ought to be."]
78 (return)[ Francis Bacon: cf. note [Footnote 26].]
79 (return)[ the best chance of being happy: In connection with Huxley's work on the London School Board, his biographer says that Huxley did not regard "intellectual training only from the utilitarian point of view; he insisted, e. g., on the value of reading for amusement as one of the most valuable uses to hardworked people."]
80 (return)[ "Harmony in grey": cf. with l. 34 in Browning's Andrea del Sarto.]
81 (return)[ Hobbes (1588-1679): noted for his views of human nature and of politics. According to Minto, "The merits ascribed to his style are brevity, simplicity and precision."]
82 (return)[ Bishop Berkeley (1685-1753): an Irish prelate noted for his philosophical writings and especially for his theory of vision which was the foundation for modern investigations of the subject. "His style has always been esteemed admirable; simple, felicitous and sweetly melodious. His dialogues are sustained with great skill." Minto's Manual of English Prose Literature.]
83 (return)[ We have been recently furnished with in prose: The Iliad of Homer translated by Lang, Leaf and Myers, the first edition of which appeared in 1882, is probably the one to which Huxley refers. The Odyssey, translated by Butcher and Lang, appeared in 1879. Among the best of the more recent translations of Homer are the Odyssey by George Herbert Palmer; the Iliad by Arthur S. Way, and the Odyssey by the same author.]
84 (return)[ Locke (1632-1704): an English philosopher of great influence. His chief work is An Essay Concerning Human Understanding.]
85 (return)[ Franciscus Bacon sic cogitavit: thus Francis Bacon thought.]
86 (return)[ The Method of Scientific Investigation is an extract from the third of six lectures given to workingmen on The Causes of the Phenomena of Organic Nature in Darwiniana.]
87 (return)[ these terrible apparatus: apparatus is the form for both the singular and plural; apparatuses is another form for the plural.]
88 (return)[ Incident in one of Moliere's plays: the allusion is to the hero, M. Jourdain in the play, "La Bourgeois Gentilbomme."]
89 (return)[ these kind: modern writers regard kind as singular. Shakespeare treated it as a plural noun, as "These kind of knaves I knew."]
90 (return)[ Newton: cf. [Footnote 30].]
91 (return)[ Laplace (1749-1827): a celebrated French astronomer and mathematician. He is best known for his theory of the formation of the planetary systems, the so-called "nebular hypothesis." Until recently this hypothesis has generally been accepted in its main outlines. It is now being supplanted by the "Spiral Nebular Hypothesis" developed by Professors Moulton and Chamberlin of the University of Chicago. See Moulton's Introduction to Astronomy, p. 463.]