Autobiography and Selected Essays

Autobiography and Selected Essays is by Thomas Henry Huxley, edited with introduction and notes by Ada L. F. Snell. The contents list On the Advisableness of Improving Natural Knowledge, A Liberal Education, On a Piece of Chalk, The Principal Subjects of Education, The Method of Scientific Investigation, On the Physical Basis of Life and On Coral and Coral Reefs.

Huxley once wrote that, if he was to be remembered at all, he would rather it be as a man who did his best to help the people than by any other title. The introduction says that Huxley, in spite of delicate health, became a member of the London School Board, in order to be of greater service to the children. The text says that all the great classes of animals, beasts of the field, fowls of the air, creeping things, and things which dwell in the waters, flourished upon the globe long ages before the chalk was deposited. The notes include an entry on Rumford (1738-1814): Benjamin Thompson, Count Rumford, an eminent scientist.