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;126 and 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."*
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.
NOTES
AUTOBIOGRAPHY
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.
That 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."]
ON THE ADVISABLENESS OF IMPROVING NATURAL KNOWLEDGE (1866)
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:—
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.]
A LIBERAL EDUCATION (1868)
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.]
ON A PIECE OF CHALK
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,—
Ohne Hast,
Ohne Rast'—
something may be done, and some of Sister Lizzie's fond
imaginations turn out not altogether untrue." The quotation entire
is as follows:—
Wie das Gestirn,
Ohne Hast,
Aber ohne Rast,
Drehe sich jeder
Um die eigne Last.]
THE PRINCIPAL SUBJECTS OF EDUCATION (1882)
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.]
THE METHOD OF SCIENTIFIC INVESTIGATION (1863)
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.]