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 propose that we now set to work to spell that story out together.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- Huxley compares learning to read geological history to learning Latin, proposing they study it together.
- In plain terms
- Reading rocks is easier than Latin, and I want to teach it to you.
- What can you take from it?
- Science is accessible if approached with the right method.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- How do you make complex topics easy?
- Is science like a story?
Another view
Simplifying science risks losing detail or accuracy.
More from Thomas Henry Huxley
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…
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Permalink to quote #56 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…
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