William Henry Harvey
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PEOPLE MENTIONED IN CAPE COD PEOPLE MENTIONED IN CAPE COD: WILLIAM HENRY HARVEY “NARRATIVE HISTORY” AMOUNTS TO FABULATION, THE REAL STUFF BEING MERE CHRONOLOGY “Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project People of Cape Cod: William Henry Harvey HDT WHAT? INDEX THE PEOPLE OF CAPE COD:WILLIAM HENRY HARVEY PEOPLE MENTIONED IN CAPE COD CAPE COD: One species of kelp, according to Bory St. Vincent, has PEOPLE OF a stem fifteen hundred feet long, and hence is the longest CAPE COD vegetable known, and a brig’s crew spent two days to no purpose collecting the trunks of another kind cast ashore on the Falkland Islands, mistaking it for drift-wood. (See Harvey on Algæ.) This species looked almost edible, at least, I thought that if I were starving I would try it. One sailor told me that the cows ate it. It cut like cheese; for I took the earliest opportunity to sit down and deliberately whittle up a fathom or two of it, that I might become more intimately acquainted with it, see how it cut, and if it were hollow all the way through. The blade looked like a broad belt, whose edges had been quilled, or as if stretched by hammering, and it was also twisted spirally. The extremity was generally worn and ragged from the lashing of the waves. A piece of the stem which I carried home shrunk to one quarter of its size a week afterward, and was completely covered with crystals of salt like frost. The reader will excuse my greenness –though it is not sea-greenness, like his, perchance– for I live by a river shore, where this weed does not wash up. When we consider in what meadows it grew, and how it was raked, and in what kind of hay weather got in or out, we may well be curious about it. One who is weather- wise, has given the following account of the matter:– “When descends on the Atlantic, The gigantic Storm-wind of the equinox, Landward in his wrath he scourges The toiling surges, Laden with sea-weed from the rocks. “From Bermuda’s reefs, from edges Of sunken ledges, On some far-off bright Azore; From Bahama and the dashing, Silver-flashing Surges of San Salvador; “From the tumbling surf that buries The Orkneyan Skerries, Answering the hoarse Hebrides; And from wrecks of ships and drifting Spars, uplifting On the desolate rainy seas; “Ever drifting, drifting, drifting On the shifting Currents of the restless main.” WILLIAM HENRY HARVEY HDT WHAT? INDEX THE PEOPLE OF CAPE COD:WILLIAM HENRY HARVEY PEOPLE MENTIONED IN CAPE COD But he was not thinking of this shore, when he added– “Till, in sheltered coves, and reaches Of sandy beaches, All have found repose again.” These weeds were the symbols of those grotesque and fabulous thoughts which have not yet got into the sheltered coves of literature. “Ever drifting, drifting, drifting On the shifting Currents of the restless heart,” And not yet “in books recorded They, like hoarded Household words, no more depart.” HDT WHAT? INDEX THE PEOPLE OF CAPE COD:WILLIAM HENRY HARVEY PEOPLE MENTIONED IN CAPE COD 1811 February 5, Tuesday: William Henry Harvey was born at Summerville near Limerick, Ireland, the youngest of 11 children of Friend Joseph Massey Harvey and Friend Rebecca Mark Harvey. His father, Friend Joseph Massey Harvey, was a prominent merchant. He would start his education at Ballitore School in County Kildare (a Quaker institution, emphasizing science). Upon leaving school he would join the family business. In person I am tall, and in a good degree awkward. I am silent, and when I do speak say little, particularly to people of whom I am afraid, or with whom I am not intimate. I care not for city sports, or for the diversions of the country. I am equally unknown to any healthful amusement of boys. I cannot swim nor skate. I know nothing of the delight of these, and yet I can amuse myself and be quite happy, seemingly without any one to share my happiness. My botanical knowledge extends to about thirty of the commonest plants. I am very fond of botany, but I have not much opportunity of learning anything, because I have only to show the plant to James White, who tells me all about it, which I forget the next minute. My mineralogy embraces about twelve minerals, of which I know only the names. I am totally unacquainted with foreign shells, and know only about two hundred and fifty native ones. As to ornithology, I have stuffed about thirteen birds. In chemistry I read a few books, and tried some experiments. In lithography I broke a stone and a printing press. These are my pretensions to science. King George III of England having been legally declared to have become in some unknown manner incapacitated –insane– George, Prince of Wales set his signature to documents making him regent for his father. He was 48 years old while his whacko daddyo was 72. (Although by strict interpretation the Regency Era begins in this year and ends in 1820 with the death of George III and the crowning of the Prince Regent as King George IV, in common use the term often describes a broader era, to wit the period between the end of the Georgian age and the beginning of the Victorian age, many of what we term “Regency” romances actually being set during the previous decade.) In America, Friend Stephen Wanton Gould wrote in his journal: 3rd day 5 of 2 M My mind has been refreshed this Afternoon with the precious savor of the spirit of life, it is as food to an hungry Man - Set the eveng at home except a short call at Neighbor Towles ————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————— NOBODY COULD GUESS WHAT WOULD HAPPEN NEXT “Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project People of Cape Cod: William Henry Harvey HDT WHAT? INDEX THE PEOPLE OF CAPE COD:WILLIAM HENRY HARVEY PEOPLE MENTIONED IN CAPE COD 1829 At the age of 18, Friend William Henry Harvey had the opportunity to kibitz at a science recognition ceremony. The proceedings seems to have amused him: The President wore a three-cocked hat of ample dimensions, and sat in a crimson arm-chair in great state. I saw a number of new Fellows admitted. They were marched one by one to the president, who rose, and taking them by the hand, admitted them. The process costs £25. (This would not be the only science recognition ceremony that Friend William would ever attend.) NO-ONE’S LIFE IS EVER NOT DRIVEN PRIMARILY BY HAPPENSTANCE “Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project People of Cape Cod: William Henry Harvey HDT WHAT? INDEX THE PEOPLE OF CAPE COD:WILLIAM HENRY HARVEY PEOPLE MENTIONED IN CAPE COD 1831 Professor William Jackson Hooker’s BRITISH FLORA CRYPTOGAMIA. SIR WM. JACKSON HOOKER Discovering a moss new to Ireland, Hookeria laetevirens, at Killarney, led William Henry Harvey to a lifelong friendship with Professor Hooker. It also led to an opportunity for him to devote his life to something other than, as he would delicately put the matter, “buying cheap and selling dear.” DO I HAVE YOUR ATTENTION? GOOD. “Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project People of Cape Cod: William Henry Harvey HDT WHAT? INDEX THE PEOPLE OF CAPE COD:WILLIAM HENRY HARVEY PEOPLE MENTIONED IN CAPE COD 1833 William Henry Harvey’s “Div. II. Confervoideae. Div. III. Gloiocladeae,” in Professor William Jackson Hooker’s edition of THE ENGLISH FLORA OF SIR JAMES EDWARD SMITH (London). The British government was being persuaded to send along botanists on all their exploring expeditions. While Professor Hooker’s works were in progress his herbarium at Kew was receiving very substantial contributions from all regions of the earth. His status with the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences was changed from that of just another “corresponding member,” to that of foreign member. HDT WHAT? INDEX THE PEOPLE OF CAPE COD:WILLIAM HENRY HARVEY PEOPLE MENTIONED IN CAPE COD William Hooker in this year produced a NEW POCKET PLAN OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK (but, this is not the same person as the Professor William Jackson Hooker above): LIFE IS LIVED FORWARD BUT UNDERSTOOD BACKWARD? — NO, THAT’S GIVING TOO MUCH TO THE HISTORIAN’S STORIES. LIFE ISN’T TO BE UNDERSTOOD EITHER FORWARD OR BACKWARD. “Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project People of Cape Cod: William Henry Harvey HDT WHAT? INDEX THE PEOPLE OF CAPE COD:WILLIAM HENRY HARVEY PEOPLE MENTIONED IN CAPE COD 1834 William Henry Harvey’s “Algologhical illustrations. No. 1; Remarks on some British algae and descriptions of a new species recently added to our flora,” in Hooker’s Journal of Botany (1:296-305). THE FUTURE IS MOST READILY PREDICTED IN RETROSPECT “Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project People of Cape Cod: William Henry Harvey HDT WHAT? INDEX THE PEOPLE OF CAPE COD:WILLIAM HENRY HARVEY PEOPLE MENTIONED IN CAPE COD 1835 The father of the Harvey family, Friend Joseph Massey Harvey, had just died, disrupting home life. When his brother, Friend Joseph Harvey, instead of him, was mistakenly nominated by Thomas Spring-Rice (afterward, Lord Monteagle) as Colonial Treasurer, Friend William Henry Harvey went along with his brother to South Africa aboard the Carnatic. THE FUTURE CAN BE EASILY PREDICTED IN RETROSPECT “Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project People of Cape Cod: William Henry Harvey HDT WHAT? INDEX THE PEOPLE OF CAPE COD:WILLIAM HENRY HARVEY PEOPLE MENTIONED IN CAPE COD 1836 When the health of his brother, Friend Joseph Harvey, failed, Friend William Henry Harvey took over his duties in Cape Town, South Africa as Colonial Treasurer.1 WHAT I’M WRITING IS TRUE BUT NEVER MIND YOU CAN ALWAYS LIE TO YOURSELF April 14, Thursday: The brothers Friend William Henry Harvey and Friend Joseph Harvey embarked in Cape Town, South Africa for the journey back to the British Isles.