From T. H. Huxley 5 October 1864
Jermyn St
Oct. 5. 1864
My dear Darwin
I was very glad to see your hand writing (in ink) again and none the less on account of the pretty words into which it was shaped1
It is a great pleasure to me that you like the article for it was written very hurriedly and I did not feel sure when I had done, that I had always rightly represented your views—2
Hang the two scalps up in your wigwam!
Flourens I could have believed anything of: but how a man of Köllikers real intelligence & ability could have so misunderstood the question is more than I can comprehend3
It will be a thousand pities however, if my review interferes with your saying something on the subject yourself— Unless it should give you needless work I heartily wish you would
Everybody tells me I am looking so exceedingly well that I am ashamed to say a word to the contrary— But the fact is I get no exercise & a great deal of bothering work on our Commission’s Course4 & though much fatter (indeed a regular bloater myself) I am not up to the mark
Next year I will have a real holiday—
I am a bachelor My wife and belongings5 being all at that beautiful place, Margate—6 When I came back I found them all looking so seedy that I took them off bag & baggage to that, as the handiest place, before a week was over— They are wonderfully improved already— my wife especially being abundantly provided with her favourite East wind— Your Godson7 is growing a very sturdy fellow—and I begin to puzzle my head with thinking what he is & what he is not to be taught—
Please to remember me very kindly to Mrs Darwin8 | & believe me | Ever yours faithfully | T H Huxley
Footnotes
Bibliography
Clark, Ronald W. 1968. The Huxleys. London: Heinemann.
Corbin, Alain. 1994. The lure of the sea. The discovery of the seaside in the western world 1750–1840. Translated by Jocelyn Phelps. Cambridge: Polity Press.
Desmond, Adrian. 1994–7. Huxley. 2 vols. London: Michael Joseph.
DNB: Dictionary of national biography. Edited by Leslie Stephen and Sidney Lee. 63 vols. and 2 supplements (6 vols.). London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1912. Dictionary of national biography 1912–90. Edited by H. W. C. Davis et al. 9 vols. London: Oxford University Press. 1927–96.
Walton, John K. 1983. The English seaside resort: a social history 1750–1914. Leicester: Leicester University Press.
Summary
Surprised at Kölliker’s misunderstanding; of Flourens he could have believed anything.
Family news.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-4627
- From
- Thomas Henry Huxley
- To
- Charles Robert Darwin
- Sent from
- London, Jermyn St
- Source of text
- DAR 166: 302
- Physical description
- ALS 4pp
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 4627,” accessed on 26 September 2022, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-4627.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 12