Rod. I. Murchison.

[From this time forth he corresponded with many foreign men of science;
in these years particularly with Victor Carus, Lacaze Duthiers,
Kolliker, and de Quatrefages, in reference to their common interest in
the study of the invertebrates.

At home, the year 1857 opened very brightly for Huxley with the birth of
his first child, a son, on the eve of the New Year. A Christmas child,
the boy was named Noel, and lived four happy years to be the very
sunshine of home, the object of passionate devotion, whose sudden loss
struck deeper and more ineffaceably than any other blow that befell
Huxley during all his life.

As he sat alone that December night, in the little room that was his
study in the house in Waverley Place, waiting for the event that was to
bring him so much happiness and so much sorrow, he made a last entry in
his journal, full of hope and resolution. In the blank space below
follows a note of four years later, when "the ground seemed cut from
under his feet," yet written with restraint and without bitterness.]

December 31, 1856.

...1856-7-8 must still be "Lehrjahre" to complete training in principles
of Histology, Morphology, Physiology, Zoology, and Geology by
Monographic Work in each department. 1860 will then see me well grounded
and ready for any special pursuits in either of these branches.

It is impossible to map out beforehand how this must be done. I must