CHAPTER IV 



EARLY DAYS IN LONDON 



Scientific Work as Unattached Ship-Surgeon — Introduction to 

 London Scientific Society — Translating, Reviewing, and 

 Lecturing — Ascidians — Molluscs and the Archetype — 

 Criticism of Pre-Darwinian Evolution — Appointment to 

 Geological Survey. 



THE Rattlesnake was paid off at Chatham on No- 

 vember 9, 1850. In the natural course of events 

 Huxley would have been appointed before long to 

 active service upon another ship. But he had no inten- 

 tion of relapsing into the position of a mere navy doc- 

 tor ; he had accumulated sufficient scientific material 

 to keep him employed on scientific investigation for 

 years, and so he applied to the Admiralty to " be borne 

 on the books" of H.M.S. Fisgard at Woolwich, — 

 that is to say, to be appointed assistant-surgeon to the 

 ship " for particular service," so that he should not be 

 compelled to live on board, but might remain in town, 

 and, with free access to libraries and museums, work 

 up the observations he had made on the Rattlesnake 

 into serious and substantial contributions to science. 

 His request was granted, largely' b}- the aid of his old 

 chief, Sir W. Burnett, who continued to take the most 

 useful interest in the young man he had originally 



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