The Smoker

Copy of Ostade's "The Smoker"
drawn by THH 1839

Huxley Archives

[Cover, P.1]

[Inside front cover, P.2]

[3] September 29.

Remember to make
a galvanic battery with lead or iron
on the first opportunity.
Also to try the experiment of a simple
galvanic current – having syrup
instead of sulphate
of copper & dilute sulfuric acid
to act on the zinc. Might not
crystalized carbon be
obtained thus?

October 1.

Went to Hinckley.

Began speculating
on the cause of colours
at sunset. Has any explanation
of them ever
been attempted?
(Copy from old book) There is no necessity
for supposing the atmosphere
to be liquified if it has an
internal reflecting angle
as it must have[,] it is sufficient.
[4] Does not the colour of the
sky at sunrise and sunset
arise from the reflexion of the
rays of light from some
liquid? perhaps liquified
air in the upper cold regions.

In this case colours would
appear in this order from
the sun[:]
red, orange, yellow, green [and] blue.
Red is seen nearest the sun because
being refracted least, it strikes
on the reflecting surface at
the greatest angle and reaches
the eye of the spectator first.
Of course all their effects
may be much modified
by the passage of the rays
through transparent clouds such
as those mentioned by [Humboldt.]
Through masses of vapour also
and by equal heating of the
atmosphere[.]

God help you goose!
    1845 –

[6] October 19

Saw an aurora borealis
between 7 & 8 p.m. It appeared
as a mass of milk with the light
in the horizon (Northwest) from
whence extended 5 or 6 streamers
    to the zenith. It passed
    to the north as I watched.
And when I last saw it the
    streamers passed through
Ursa Major. A brilliant
shooting star around one of
the streamers. There had been
a very high wind all day.

at Hinckley. Read
Dr. S. Smith on the Divine
Government. Agree with him
partly. I should say
that a general belief in his
doctrines would have a very
injurious effect on morals.

[7] November 1^st

Tried an electrolyte experiment.
Had a long talk with
my mother and father about the
right to make Dissenters
pay church rates – and whether
there ought to be any establish-
ment. I maintained
that there ought not to be in
both cases. I wonder what will
be my opinions ten years hence?
I think now that it is against
all laws of justice to force
men to support a church
with whose opinions they cannot
conscientiously agree. The
argument that the rate is
so small is very fallacious.
It is as much a sacrifice of
principle to do a little wrong as
to do a great one.

[8] 5^th.

Tried proposition No.2 (Sept. 29^th.).
Carbon is deposited on the copper
plate but [is] not crystalized.
Perhaps this arises from the
shortness of the time. The experiment
has taken.
Perhaps with a thicker division
of plaster I might obtain different
results.

Hinckley – Had a long
argument with Mr. May on the
nature of the soul and the difference
between it and matter.
I maintained that it could
not be proved that matter
is essentially – as to its base –
different from soul.
Mr. M. wittily said, ["]soul
was the perspiration of
matter.["]

[Reverse of 8] We cannot find the absolute basis

[9] of matter[:] we only know it by
its properties[;] neither know we
the soul in any other way.
Cogito, ergo sum – is the only
thing we certainly Know[.]

[10] Why may not the soul and
matter be of the same
substance (i.e. basis whereon
to fix the qualities [,] for we cannot
suppose a quality to exist
per se – it must have a
something to qualify)
but with different qualities.
Let us suppose then an Eon
– a something with no quality
but that of existence – this
Eon endowed with all the intelligence,
mental qualities, and that in the highest
degree is God. This
combination of intelligence with
existence we may suppose to
have existed from eternity.
At the creation we may suppose
that a portion of the Eon was
separated from the intelligence
and it was ordained – it became a

[11] natural law – that it should
have the properties of gravitation
&c., that it should
give to man the ideas of those
properties. The Eon in this
state is matter in the abstract.
Matter[,] then[,] is Eon in the simplest
form in which it possesses qualities
appreciable by the senses.
Out of this matter[,] by the
superimposition of fresh
qualities[,] was made all things
that are.

[12]

1840 ? 1841 see later

January 7. Came to Rotherhithe.

June 20.

What have I done
in the way of acquiring knowledge
since January?

1.	German	}	to be learnt
2.	Italian
1.	To read Müller's Physiology
2.	To prepare for the Matriculation Examination at London University which requires a knowledge of:
	1. Algebra–Geometry	}	Did not begin to read for this till April 9.
	2. Natural Philosophy
	3. Chemistry
	1. Greek–Latin
	2. English History down to end of 17th century
	1. Ancient History
	2. English Grammar
1.	To make copious notes of all things I read–

[13]

Well do I remember how in that
narrow little surgery I used to
work morning after morning
and evening after evening
at that insufferable dry and
profitless book, Hume’s History.
How I worked against hope
through the series of the series of thefts,
robberies and throat-
cutting in those three first volumes,
and how at length I gave up
the task in utter despair.
Mackintosh’s History, on the
other hand, I remember reading
with great pleasure, and also
Guizot’s Civilization in Europe.
The scientific theoretical form of
the latter especially pleased me,
but the want of sufficient knowledge
to test his conclusions was a great
drawback.

_________________ 1845

[14]

1.	partly – 2. not at all
2. 5.	}	stuck to these pretty closely
4.	e. read as far as Henry III in Hume a. Evolution & involution b. refraction of lights – polarisation partly c. laws of combination–must read them over again d. nothing– f. nothing– g. nothing–

[14] I must get on faster than
this. I must adopt a
fixed plan of studies, for unless
this is done I find time slips
away without knowing
it–and let me remember
this–that it is better to
read a little and thoroughly, than
cram a crude and undigested mass
into my head, though it be great
in quantity.

(This is about the only resolution I have stuck to– 1845)

[15]Week – June 20 to 27.
   Tuesday Thursday – Physiology
   Monday – Wednesday – Friday
Chronological abstract of reign of
Henry III. Edward 1^st. And IInd and IIIrd.
Evenings – 1^st 14 theorems and arithmetical properties.
Saturday – Read over atomic theory
and laws of combination and electricity.
Turner and Manuel.
   An hour every afternoon for German.

Truths

"I hate all people who want to
form sects. It is not error but
sectarian error. Nay, and even
sectarian truth, which causes the
unhappiness of mankind." – Lessing.

"It is only necessary to grow old
to become more indulgent. I
see no fault committed that I
have not committed Myself." – Goethe

"One solitary philosopher may be
great, virtuous and happy in the
midst of poverty, but not a whole
nation." – Isaac Iselin

[Top of page cut away]

[16] Week June 27 to July 4.

Monday out Wednesday Friday	}	Chronological abstract and read Edward III Review – in part
Tuesday (ill) Thursday	}	Physiology +
Evenings – 10 theorems & review Geom. propositions & review – German What with going out and being unwell have been very idle this week

Week July 4 to 11.

Monday Wednesday Friday	}	Chronological abstract of Richard II + (History) Henry IV & Henry 5
Tuesday Thursday	}	(Physiology) Abstract pages 231 to 244 + read to End of Cap. III +
Geometry Algebra	}	12 theorems – and reviews – + addition – subtraction – multiplication and division with reasons for the rules. +
German. Loben – learn conjugations of– Translate–

Week August 2 to 9

History (every morning)	{	Henry IV, V and VI. Read and abstract.
German (afternoons)	{	Translate 'Die Ideal'
Mathematics (evenings)	{	First part of Infinite series–Equations of one and two unknowns.

out from 15 to 19^th. – 19^th to 28^th
engage in making an electromagnet.
21^st. to 31^st. – read Guizot’s "History
of Civilization". An excellent
work – very tough reading though.

[18] September 27^th 1841 – to – October 4

1. History	Guizot on feudalism – Robertson on same–finish Hume vol.III. 3
1. Mathematics	Review 20 theorems – Begin the geometry of circles and go through propositions and progressing (Manuel)
1. German	Get up in German adjectives.

a. Read Robertson 7 with 8
    review Guizot. Edward iv. Richard III.
b. Theorems X.
c. German adjectives.

Miscellaneous – Became acquainted with
constitution of the French chambre des
députés and their parties.

Henry vii. Guizot
Propositions
German adjectives

[19]

[Drawn vertically]

[20] 1842 – January 30^th

Sunday Evening –

I have for some time past
been pondering over a
"Classification of Knowledge".
My scheme is to divide
all knowledge in the first place
into two grand divisions.
1. Objective – that for which
    a man is indebted to the
    external world [;] and,
2. Subjective –that which he
    has acquired or may acquire
    by inward contemplation.

Metaphysics comes immediately[,]
of course[,] under the first (2) head –
that is to say[,] the relations of
mind to itself --- of this
Mathematics and Logic[,] together
with Theology[,] are branches.

[21] I am in doubt under
which head to put morality[,]
for I cannot determine
exactly in my own mind
whether morality can exist
independent of others – whether
the idea of morality could ever
have arisen in the mind
of an isolated being or not.
I am rather inclined to the
opinion that it is objective.

Under the head of objective
knowledge comes firstly
Physics – including the whole
body of the relations of inanimate
unorganized bodies[;]

2 [secondly] Physiology – including the
structure and functions of
animal bodies[,] including
Language and Psychology[;]

[22] thirdly comes History.

The object for which I have
attempted to form an
arrangement of knowledge
is that I may test the
amount of my own achievement.
I shall form an extensive
list of subjects on this plan[,]
and as I acquire any of them
I shall strike it out of the
list. May the list
soon get black! Though at the
present I shall hardly be able[,]
I am afraid[,] to spot
the paper.

(A Prophecy! A Prophecy!)
– 1845

[23] April 1842 –

Carlyle’s Miscellaneous Writings
"Characteristics" – (Edinburgh Review 1831)

---

"In the mind as in the body
the sign of health is unconsciousness."

---

"Of our thinking it is but the upper
surface that we shape into
articulate thought – underneath
the region of argument and conscious
discourse, lies the region of meditation."

---

"Genius is ever a secret to itself."

---

"The healthy understanding
we should say, is neither the
argumentative nor the logical,
but the intuitive, for the
end of understanding is not to
prove and find reasons but
to know and believe."

---

"The ages of heroism are
not the ages of Moral Philosophy.
Virtue when it is philosophized of
[24] has become aware of itself[,]
is sickly and beginning to decline."

---

"Goodness which was a rule to itself,
must now appeal to precept[,] and seek strength
from sanctions[;]
the Free will no longer reigns
unquestioned and by Devine
Right, but like a mere earthly
sovereign, by expediency, by
rewards and punishments; or
rather[,] let us say[,] the free-will[,]
so far as may be, has abdicated
and withdrawn into the dark[,]
and a spectral nightmare of
a necessity usurps its throne[;]
for now that mysterious self [–] impulse
of the whole man[,]
heaven [–] inspired[,] and in all
senses partaking of the Infinite[,]
being captiously questioned
in a finite dialect[,] and
answering, as it needs must
[25] by silence – is conceived as non-extant,
and only the outward mechanism
of remains acknowledged;
of Volition, except as the synonym
of Desire, we hear nothing of
Motives without any Mover,
more than enough."

---

Man with relation to society –

"The duties of man to what
is the highest in himself, make but
the first Table of the Law: to the
First Table is now superadded a
Second [,] with the duties of Man
to his Neighbour; whereby also
the significance of the First
now assumes its true importance.
Man has joined himself to man;
soul acts and reacts to soul; a
mystic miraculous unfathomable
Union establishes itself – Life,
with all its elements [,] has
become intensated--consecrated.

[26] "The lightning--spark of thought
generated or say rather heaven– kindled[,]
in the solitary mind awakes.
Its express likeness in another
mind, in a thousand minds[,]
and all blaze together in
combined fire; reverberated
from mind to mind, [fed also with
fresh fuel in each,] it acquires
incalculable new light as thought[,]
Incalculable new heat as converted into Action.
By and by, a common store of
thought can accumulate, and
be transmitted as an everlasting
possession: Literature, whether [as]
preserved in the memory of [the] Bards,
in the Runes and Hieroglyphs
[engraved on the stone,] or in Books
[of written or printed paper] comes into
existence and
begins to play wondrous part.
Politics are formed[:]
the weak submitting to the
strong with a willing

[27] "loyalty, giving obedience
that may receive guidance:
or say rather[,] in honour of our
nature, the ignorance submitting
to the wise [;] for so it is all
even the rudest communities,
man never yields himself
wholly to brute force, but always
to Moral Greatness..."

"Last, as the crown and all
supporting keystone of the fabric,
Religion arises – the devout
meditation of the isolated
man, which flitted through his soul [,]
like a transient tone of love
and awe from the unknown lands [,]
acquire certainty [,] continuance [,]
when it is shared by his
fellow men – Where two
or three are gathered together
in the name of the Highest [,]
then first does the Highest [,]
as it is written, appear

[28] "among them to bless them [;]
then first does an alter and
act of united worship
open a way
from Earth to Heaven;
where on, were it but a simple
Jacob’s Ladder, the heavenly
messenger’s will travel [,] with
glad tidings and unspeakable
gifts of men."

Every Society, every Polity, has a
spiritual principle; [it] is the embodiment,
tentative [and] more or less complete of an
Idea [...]"
[...] this idea, be it of devotion to a man
or a class of men [,] to
a creed, to the institution, or
even [,] as in [a] more ancient
times, to a piece of land [,] is
ever true loyalty [;]
has it something of a religious [,]
paramount, quite infinite
[29] character; it is properly the Soul
of State, its Life; mysterious
as other forms of life, and like
these workings secretly, and in a
depth beyond that of consciousness."

[30] June 1842

I observe that on the
experiment in the figure[,] the
galvanom[eter] needle is deflected.
This may arise from one
of three causes; First[,] the
circuit being completed partially
through p. p. – through this is
extemely improbable. Before[,]
from an induction similar
to that of electricity.
Third, from an induction
similar to that of a wire
through which a current
is passing upon another wire.

[31] The first supposition cannot be
true because 1^st the secondary current
would be in that case stronger when [the] connexion
is broken at A – whereas in that case
all effects ceases.
Second [,] because the recording
current is in an opposite direction
to the primary.
["No answer at all." written over the sentence
– possibly Oct. 1845]
(2) The second view appears to me
the most probable – to wit: that
the liquid (Acid and I[ron] copper) acts as
a sort of dielectric (?) precisely
similar to a plate of air
through which induction ordinary
is going on. For if a piece of copper be placed
like d. e.[,] the extremity d.
becomes covered with copper and
extremity e. dissolves off. Here
there is polarization
precisely similar to that of a
[32] plate of metal insulated
and placed between an
inducteous and inductive body.
In the case of the experiment itself
I imagine that though platinum
plates are in precisely
the same state that two
metal plates connected by a wire
would be if placed [between two] above.
Would not in this case
one of them become subject
positive and the other entirely
negative [?]
I would suppose then
that -particles [...]

[33] Try whether connecting the
zinc with the plate in its cell
through the gal[vanometer] will have any
effect.

[34] October 1845

I have found the singular pleasure –
having accidently raked this
b_chlein from a corner of my
desk – in looking over these scraps
of notices of my past existence.
An illustration of J. Paul’s
saying that a man has but to
write down his yesterday’s doings
and forthwith they appear surrounded
with a poetic

[Bottom of page cut away]

[35]

halo.
But after all these are
but the skimmings of
these five years’ living.
I hardly care to look
back into the seething
depths of the working and
boiling mass that lay
beneath all this froth[,]
and indeed I hardly know
whether I could give
myself any clear account
of it. Remembrances
of physical and mental
pain – of

[Top of page cut away]

[36]

absence of sympathy[,]
and thence a choking up
of such few ideas
as I did form clearly within
my own mind.
Grief too – yet at the
misfortunes of others –
for I have had few properly
my own – so much the worse
for in that case I
might have said or done
somewhat [,] but here was
powerless.

[Only this portion of the page remains.]

[37]


[...] oh Tom[,]
trouble not thyself about
sympathy – thou hast
[38] stout legs and young[,]
wherefore need a staff?
Furthermore[,] it is twenty
minutes past two – and
time to go to bed.
B_chlein[,] it will
be long before my
secretiveness remains so
quiet again – make the
most of what thou hast got.

[39] Modern Poets of whom
I know too little –

Robert Browning – Author of Paracelsus
Sordello [,] etc.,
P.J. Bailey – Author of Festus
Monckton Milnes
Hartley Coleridge
Horne

[Inside of back cover]

[40]

Saturday Mag.

No. 278-9 – Meteorology
– 433-443 – Navigation

Penny Cyclopedia

No? 784&5 – Insects
733&4 – Heart
313 – Brain

Carlyle’s Essay on Characteristics

Edinburgh Review 1831

[Outside back cover, upside down]

[41]

German
Chemistry
Robertson
McIntosh
Guizot
Gil Blas
Latin (Gregory and...?)

Nat Philosophy	{	Mechanics Hydrostatics Acoustics Optics
Mathematics	{	Optics Algebra Arithmetic ------------------- Euclid Bk. I.	Arithmetics & Algebra Geometry Plane & Spherical Trig. Conic Sections Elements of Statics & Dynamics Elements of Hydrostatics Elements of Optics
Languages	{	French German Latin Greek (Italian?)
		Chemistry
History	{	English History (Hume) (McIntosh) Ancient History (Rollin Mitford Gibbon) Guizot[,] Hist Civilization Robertson 1 vol: Charles V.

---

PREVIEW TABLE of CONTENTS BIBLIOGRAPHIES 1.   THH Publications 2.   Victorian Commentary 3.   20th Century Commentary INDICES 1.   Letter Index 2.   Illustration Index TIMELINE FAMILY TREE Gratitude and Permissions C. Blinderman & D. Joyce Clark University 1998

THE HUXLEY FILE

GUIDES § 1. THH: His Mark § 2. Voyage of the Rattlesnake § 3. A Sort of Firm § 4. Darwin's Bulldog § 5. Hidden Bond: Evolution § 6. Frankensteinosaurus § 7. Bobbing Angels: Human Evolution § 8. Matter of Life: Protoplasm § 9. Medusa § 10. Liberal Education § 11. Scientific Education § 12. Unity in Diversity § 13. Agnosticism § 14. New Reformation § 15. Verbal Delusions: The Bible § 16. Miltonic Hypothesis: Genesis § 17. Extremely Wonderful Events: Resurrection and Demons § 18. Emancipation: Gender and Race § 19. Aryans et al.: Ethnology § 20. The Good of Mankind § 21.  Jungle Versus Garden