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Darwin Correspondence Project

From T. H. Huxley   3 December 1873

4 Marlborough Place | NW

Decr. 3rd. 1873

My dear Darwin

I have had a letter from Dohrn at last— As I suspected would be the case, he declined our proposition apparently on the ground of the objection his father would have to it— But I inclose his letter for your inspection   Please return it to me when you have read it1

Hooker’s inauguration was a perfect success—and he got through his speeches excellently   It was the largest & best gathering of the Fellows I have ever seen at an Anniversary Dinner—2 Owen distinguished himself at the Meeting in his way   I think he is mad with spite & malice against me3

[Enclosure]4

Wenn ich einige Tage wartete, ehe ich auf Ihren für mich so wichtigen Brief antwortete, so lag das an der Vielseitigkeit der Situation, die Ihr Brief geschaffen.5

Meine erste Empfindung war, dass ich aus meiner schwerigen Situation durch Ihr Anerbieten erlöst würde. Aber bald musste ich doch fühlen, dass ich noch andre Rücksichten zu nehmen habe, als diese einzige. Und diese hauptsächliche Rücksicht nennt sich: mein Vater.

Er würde es als eine Verletzung empfinden, wenn ich eine Subscription annähme in einer Angelegenheit, welche, mag sie immerhin eine hohe wissenschaftliche Bedeutung besitzen, doch auch eine sehr persönliche für seinen Sohn hat. Wäre mein Schicksal weniger eng nicht Gelingen oder Misslingen der Zoolog. Station verbunden, so würde er sicher keinen Anstoss nehmen,—und ich hätte dann keinen ernstlichen Grund die Hilfe abzulehnen, die mir von Ihnen und Mr. Darwin angeboten wird. Handelte es sich z.B. um die Beschaffung eines Dampffboots für Fischerei-Zwecke, oder um Erbauung einer zweiter Station in Messina,—ja wäre es überhaupt nicht, um mich persönlich aus einer Verlegenheit zu befreien,—so würde ich keine seiner Empfindlichkeiten gelten lassen.

So aber bin ich verpflichtet,—und Sie werden das begreifen, nichts zu thun, dass ihm den Gedanken erwecken könnte, sein Sohn hätte Mittel benutzt, die er selber nicht billigt. Mein Vater ist alt, und wir sind unser ganzen Leben bei aller inneren Verwandtschaft aus einem oft recht schroffen Gegensatz nicht herausgekommen. Ich muss also ihm zu Liebe die Schwierigkeit der Lage annehmen,—und habe versucht mich durch ein vielleicht gefährliches Arrangement daraus zu befreien.

Da ich meinem Contractor für 1874 & 1875 je 750£. zu zahlen habe, welche er als Garantie für soliden Bau in meinen Haenden lassen muss, so bin ich nicht meinem Credit für ihn eingetreten, d.h. ich habe mich verpflichtet, gesetzlich, ihm im nächster October und übernachsten October diese Summe zu zahlen. Dies Document halt es ihm ermöglicht aus seinen Verlegenheiten sich zu befreien, und gegenwärtig wird an der Vollendung der Station eifrig weitergearbeitet.

Da zugleich die bedrohliche Cholera-Epidemic in Abnehmen gegriffen ist,6 so hoffe ich auf einer Einnahme in nächsten Frühjahr, die mich über Wasser hält.

Sollte trotz dem ein Deficit sich einstellen,—nun dann habe ich ein gewisses Recht, meinem Vater zu sagen: willst Du mir dies Deficit decken? will oder kann er es nicht,—dann muss er mir es überlassen, mir selbst zu helfen,—und dann, Professor Huxley, werden Sie und Mr. Darwin mir gewiss nicht nachtragen, dass ich dissmal aus den eben dargelegten Gründen die Hilfe nicht annehmen kann.

Mir wird es sehr schwer, Ihnen diesen Brief zu schreiben,—ich würde viel lieber darüber mit Ihnen sprechen, denn dann wäre ich sicher, dass ich meine Empfindungen klarer ausdrücken würde. Aber ich habe ein so feste Zutrauen, dass Sie meine Gesinnung nicht missverstehen, und diese Rücksicht anerkennen, dass ich Ihnen diesen Brief doch so wie er ist, zusende

Uebrigens hat Armstrong7 für eine etwaige Subscription 50 £. angeboten,—aber jedes Seilen von Geld abgewiesen.

Ich hoffe aber nur um so lebhafter, Sie möchten Zeit und Lust finden sich im nächsten Frühjahr “Italy-bitten” zu empfinden,—und dann die Station selbst betrachten. Mir, dem Individuum Anton Dohrn,—ist freilich kein persönliches Gefühl im Wege, mit allen nur möglichen, ehrlichen Mitteln den Ausbau dieses Unternehmens zu fördern, denn was auch Philister darüber reden könnten, ich weiss mich frei von der Sucht, Geld zu machen. Wenn es also möglich bleibt, dass Sie, Darwin, Foster8 u. A. Sich auch noch später zu solcher Unterstützung meiner Bestrebungen entschliessen könnten, so würde ich sogar versuchen, in Deutschland einer Anschluss dafür zu wecken, und dem Unternehmen, das ich verwalte und wovon ich öffentlich Rechnung legen werde, so viel Mittel als möglich zu erwerben.

Hätte ich nicht so rasend viel zu arbeiten, so würde ich sofort einen aehnlichen Brief an Mr. Darwin schreiben,—aber da einerseits die Station, anderseits die leider wiedergekehrten blue devils sich um meinen exclusiven Besitz streitten, so muss ich allmälig erst diese Mittheilung an Darwin, Foster u. Dew.-Smith, Balfour gelungen lassen.9

Ceterum censeo:10 nehmen Sie diesen Brief nicht übel, und setzen Sie mich seinethalben nicht nun einen Grad tiefer in Ihrer Sympathie, die mir zu Kostbar ist, als dass ich sie für irgend etwas weggeben könnte.

Grüssen Sie die Happy family und Mrs. Huxley11 recht herzlich; erst gestern setzte ich einen hermit-crab, der 7 Actinien schlappte in meine Tanks,—dabei gedachte ich der schweren Pflichten von Mrs. Huxley freute mich aber, ihr dies sagen zu können.

Grant12 grüsst sehr freundlich! | Ihr | treuer u dankbar, | Anton Dohrn

Miss Mary13 befindet sich so wohl, als ihr 30 Grad Kälte erlauben.

Pallazo Torlonia. 26.11.1873

Footnotes

Anton Dohrn was raising money for the zoological station he had built at Naples. Dohrn’s father was Carl August Dohrn.
Joseph Dalton Hooker had been elected president of the Royal Society of London (Record of the Royal Society of London). The anniversary dinner was normally held on 30 November (St Andrew’s day), but in 1873, 30 November was a Sunday so the dinner was held instead on 1 December (The Times, 2 December 1873, p. 7).
Richard Owen’s address to the fellows of the Royal Society (Owen 1873) touched on the subject of payment to secretaries of the society; Huxley had been elected secretary at the anniversary meeting (The Times, 2 December 1873, p. 7).
For a translation of the enclosure, see Appendix I.
Huxley had sent Dohrn a draft appeal for funds for the Naples station (see letter from T. H. Huxley to Anton Dohrn, 15 November 1873). This enclosure is Dohrn’s reply.
The cholera epidemic in Naples in 1873 lasted for about four months and resulted in over 1200 deaths (Snowden 1995, p. 16).
Foster had tried to persuade the University of Cambridge to agree to support a bench (that is, a dedicated workspace for researchers in the laboratory) at the Naples Station (see Heuss 1991, p. 130). Albert George Dew-Smith and Francis Maitland Balfour were the first English researchers to visit the Naples Station when it opened (Heuss 1991, p. 153).
Ceterum censeo: furthermore I consider (Latin; from the Latin oratorical phrase ‘Ceterum censeo Carthaginem delendam esse’: Furthermore, I consider that Carthage must be destroyed).
Charles Grant also lived at the Palazzo Torlonia, where Dohrn resided in Naples.
Probably a reference to Maria von Baranowska, whom Dohrn married in 1874 (Heuss 1991, p. 161).

Bibliography

Heuss, Theodor. 1991. Anton Dohrn: a life for science. Translated from the German by Liselotte Dieckmann. Berlin and New York: Springer Verlag.

Owen, Richard. 1873. [Address to the fellows of the Royal Society on the questions of income, elections, presidents, and payment of secretaries.] London: privately printed.

Record of the Royal Society of London: The record of the Royal Society of London for the promotion of natural knowledge. 4th edition. London: Royal Society. 1940.

Snowden, Frank Martin. 1995. Naples in the time of cholera, 1884–1911. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Translation

From T. H. Huxley   3 December 1873

[Enclosure]1

If I have waited a few days before answering your letter, which was so important to me, it was because of the many-sidedness of the situation created by your letter.2

My first feeling was that I would be saved from my difficult situation by your offer. But soon, however, I had to feel that I should take other reasons besides this one into consideration. And this primary consideration was: my father.

He would take it as an affront if I were to accept a subscription in a matter that, however high a scientific import it had, also had a very personal meaning for his son. If my fate were less narrowly bound with the success or failure of the Zoolog. Station, he would surely not take exception,—and then I would have no serious reason to refuse the help offered to me by you and Mr Darwin. If it were a case, e.g., of the procurement of a steamboat for the purpose of fishing, or the building of a second station in Messina,—if, indeed, it were not above all about freeing me personally from a difficult position,—then I would not credit his sensitiveness.

But I am obliged,—and you will understand, nothing could be done to convert him to the idea, that his son would employ a method that he himself did not authorise. My father is old, and for our whole lives in all inner relationship we have not got over an often quite sharp opposition. I must therefore for the love of him accept the difficulty of the situation,—and have tried to free myself through a perhaps dangerous arrangement.

Since I have to pay my contractor 750£. for 1874 & 1875, which he has had to leave in my hands as a guarantee for sound construction, I haven’t advanced him any credit, i.e., I am bound, legally, to pay him this sum next October and the following October. This document makes it possible for him to free himself from his difficulties, and at present work will continue apace on completion of the station.

Since at the same time the threatening cholera-epidemic has been on the wane,3 I hope to see a return next spring that will keep my head above water.

If in spite of this a deficit appears,—well then I have a certain right to say to my father: will you cover this deficit? If he will not or cannot,—then he must leave it to me to help myself,—and then, Professor Huxley, you and Mr Darwin will certainly not hold it against me, that for the reasons explained I cannot at this time accept help.

It is very difficult for me to write this letter to you,—I would far rather discuss it with you, for then I would be sure that I expressed my feelings clearly. But I have such a firm belief that you will not misunderstand my meaning, and recognise this consideration, that I still am sending this letter as it is

Moreover Armstrong4 offered a subscription of about 50£.—but every line of money was refused.

I only hope very much, however, that you might find the time and desire next spring to feel yourself ‘Italy-bitten’,—and then to consider the station itself. For me, the individual Anton Dohrn,—there is certainly no personal feeling hindering the demand, with all possible noble means, for the completion of this undertaking, since, whatever the Philistine could say about it, I know myself free of the addiction of money-making. If it is still possible, therefore, that you, Darwin, Foster5 and others could decide to support such an undertaking later on, then I would even try to form an association in Germany, and to raise as much as possible for the undertaking, which I would manage and of which I would give a public account.

If I did not have so terribly much to do, I would immediately send Mr Darwin a similar letter,—but on one hand the station, on the other the blue devils that sadly have returned, are fighting for my exclusive attention, so I must just gradually get the news to Darwin, Foster and Dew-Smith, Balfour.6

Ceterum censeo:7 do not take this letter badly, and do not put me a degree lower in your estimation, which is so valuable to me, that I could give anything for it.

Give my very heartfelt greetings to the Happy family and Mrs Huxley;8 only yesterday I put a hermit-crab, that defeated 7 sea-anemones, in my tank,—in the course of this I remembered the difficult duties of Mrs Huxley, but was happy to be able to tell her this.

Friendly greetings from Grant!9 | Your | faithful and thankful, | Anton Dohrn

Miss Mary10 is as well as can be, given the temperature of 30 degrees below zero.

Pallazo Torlonia. 26.11.1873

Footnotes

For a transcription of this enclosure in its original German, see pp. 530–1.
Huxley had sent Dohrn a draft appeal for funds for the Naples station (see letter from T. H. Huxley to Anton Dohrn, 15 November 1873). This enclosure is Dohrn’s reply.
The cholera epidemic in Naples in 1873 lasted for about four months and resulted in over 1200 deaths (Snowden 1995, p. 16).
Foster had tried to persuade the University of Cambridge to agree to support a bench (that is, a dedicated workspace for researchers in the laboratory) at the Naples Station (see Heuss 1991, p. 130). Albert George Dew-Smith and Francis Maitland Balfour were the first English researchers to visit the Naples Station when it opened (Heuss 1991, p. 153).
Ceterum censeo: furthermore I consider (Latin; from the Latin oratorical phrase ‘Ceterum censeo Carthaginem delendam esse’: Furthermore, I consider that Carthage must be destroyed).
Charles Grant also lived at the Palazzo Torlonia, where Dohrn resided in Naples.
Probably a reference to Maria von Baranowska, whom Dohrn married in 1874 (Heuss 1991, p. 161).

Bibliography

Heuss, Theodor. 1991. Anton Dohrn: a life for science. Translated from the German by Liselotte Dieckmann. Berlin and New York: Springer Verlag.

Owen, Richard. 1873. [Address to the fellows of the Royal Society on the questions of income, elections, presidents, and payment of secretaries.] London: privately printed.

Record of the Royal Society of London: The record of the Royal Society of London for the promotion of natural knowledge. 4th edition. London: Royal Society. 1940.

Snowden, Frank Martin. 1995. Naples in the time of cholera, 1884–1911. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Summary

A letter from Anton Dohrn declines the proposed fund [that THH and others suggested be raised in England for marine biological station at Naples].

Hooker’s inaugural as President of Royal Society a success.

R. Owen distinguished himself in his way.

Letter details

Letter no.
DCP-LETT-9169
From
Thomas Henry Huxley
To
Charles Robert Darwin
Sent from
London, Marlborough Place, 4
Source of text
DAR 166: 330; Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine Archives (Huxley 13: 252)
Physical description
inc

Please cite as

Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 9169,” accessed on 19 March 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-9169.xml

Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 21

letter