HUXLEY Scientific papers

Scope and Content

Scientific papers of T H Huxley, 1846-1898, comprising notebooks made whilst Assistant Surgeon to HMS RATTLESNAKE, 1846-1850, containing his observations, sketches of specimens, notably oceanic hydrozoa, mollusca and crustacea, related notes; scientific notebooks, papers and correspondence, [1855-1888], relating to botany and principally zoology, bound in volumes largely according to zoological classification, including invertebrata, crustacea, vertebrata, teleostei, amphibia, reptilia, aves, mammalia, carnivora, primates, anthropology, mycological, bacteria, hirudinea, mollusca, petromyzon, ganoidei, sturiones, dipnoi, teleostei, salmonidae, insectivora, rodentia, lepus, canidae, fossil fishes, dinosauria, ethnology, origins of biology, gentiana; correspondence concerning deep sea soundings, 1857; syllabus and notes for lectures, [1860-1886], for the Government (later Royal) School of Mines, Royal Institution, working men, London Institution, University of Edinburgh, notably on natural history, zoology, ethnology, elementary geography, physiography; correspondence, 1851-1894; notebooks, [1847-1884], concerning visits to Switzerland, Tenby, Italy, notes on anatomy and vertebrae; drawings, [1847-1895] many illustrating laboratory work, and relating to observations in his notebooks, relating to protozoa and botany; coelenterata, brachiostomata, echinodermata, mollusca; vermes and arthropoda with peripatus; pisces with tunicata and amphioxus; mammalia; anthropological photographs, [1868-1898].

Arrangement

The papers were sorted and arranged by Professor GB Howes and officers of the Science Library, and was probably begun during Huxley's lifetime. This arrangement, by subject or record form, has been generally preserved. The volumes of scientific notebooks, papers and correspondence are arranged in two series of 16 and 128 volumes. Some of this material has been recatalogued and consequently also appears in the Huxley papers, listed by W R Dawson, principally notebooks relating to HMS RATTLESNAKE, 1846-1850.