Word: huxley
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Undeniably the book contains much technical exposition of both the scientific and intellectual uproar which evolution provoked--a discussion necessary because it would be impossible and undesirable to separate Huxley and Darwin from the idea which motivated their lives. The general reader will probably find the book most compelling when the author moves from intellectual controversy to concentrate specifically on the human qualities in his subjects...
...discoverer" of evolution, Darwin, surprisingly enough, lacked Huxley's brilliance and his ability to reason quickly. Yet Darvin's own slowness and tenacity were qualities admirably suited to the task of gradually, almost unconsciously, developing an idea. Huxley's more piercing intellect moved from subject to subject, a versatility which would have made him incapable of discovering anything except by sudden inspiration. Such inspiration, at least in the case of evolution, never came. The notion of evolution, of course, was centuries old. But to Darwin goes the credit of introducing the principle of natural selection--an el- of the unfinished...
...great names of Victorian science, philosophy and theology find a place in Biographer Irvine's brilliant study. Thomas Henry Huxley, who was Darwin's right-hand man and champion, actually takes up half the book. And yet, as Huxley himself readily admitted, it is Charles Darwin who dominates the scene...
Except for a few short trips, Darwin emerged from Down House only for his funeral (1882) in Westminster Abbey. The ceremony was terrific: all sat in awe as the coffin of the archfiend, "borne by Huxley, Hooker, Wallace, Lubbock, James Russell Lowell, Canon Ferrar, an Earl, two Dukes, and the President of the Royal Society," was carried in amid the angelic chanting of choirboys. Fortunately, there was a living Darwin present, his son William, to give the ceremony a characteristically Darwinian touch. The abbey was very drafty, so William, "with the respect shown by all Darwins for the possible invasion...
Died. Maria Nys Huxley, 55, wife of British-born Poet-Essayist-Novelist Aldous Huxley (Point Counter Point, Brave New World); of cancer; in Los Angeles...