A great chapter of the history of the world is written in the chalk. Few passages in the history of man can be supported by such an overwhelming mass of direct and indirect evidence as that which testifies to the truth of the fragment of the history of the globe, which I hope to enable you to read, with your own eyes, tonight. Let me add, that few chapters of human history have a more profound significance for ourselves. I weigh my words well when I assert, that the man who should know the true history of the bit of chalk which every carpenter carries about in his breeches-pocket, though ignorant of all other history, is likely, if he will think his knowledge out to its ultimate results, to have a truer, and therefore a better, conception of this wonderful universe, and of man's relation to it, than the most learned student who is deep-read in the records of humanity and ignorant of those of Nature.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- Even a small piece of chalk holds profound history about the universe and our place in it.
- In plain terms
- Simple objects like chalk teach deep truths about the world.
- What can you take from it?
- Study ordinary things to understand the universe better.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- What ordinary thing have you ignored that holds a story?
- How does science change your view of everyday objects?
Another view
This view assumes scientific literacy is accessible to everyone.
More from Thomas Henry Huxley
What is this wide-spread component of the surface of the earth? and whence did it come? You may think this no very hopeful inquiry. You may not unnaturally sup…
Permalink to quote #53 The language of the chalk is not hard to learn, not nearly so hard as Latin, if you only want to get at the broad features of the story it has to tell; and I p…
Permalink to quote #55 The chalk is no unimportant element in the masonry of the earth's crust, and it impresses a peculiar stamp, varying with the conditions to which it is exposed,…
Permalink to quote #52
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