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1048 THE LEADER. [No. 345, Saturday, -
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IT-ffiVfitftt ^ JLIIXmUIUw
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¦ ¦ ' ¦ • ¦ . ' ¦ ' ¦ ¦¦ ¦ ¦ . ' ¦ . ¦ —...
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¦ . ¦¦• . - ¦ v — - ¦ ¦ . Has any one ev...
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In nothing is modern science so markedly...
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GERALD MASSEY'S POEMS. Craigcrooh Castle...
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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1048 The Leader. [No. 345, Saturday, -
1048 THE LEADER . [ No . 345 , Saturday , -
It-Ffivfitftt ^ Jliixmuiuw
¦¦[ 'XMitixitt ., ;' - .
¦ ¦ ' ¦ • ¦ . ' ¦ ' ¦ ¦¦ ¦ ¦ . ' ¦ . ¦ —...
¦ ¦ ' ¦ ¦ . ' ¦ ' ¦ ¦¦ ¦ ¦ . ' ¦ . ¦ ——?—— ¦ . ¦ ' ¦ ¦' ¦' Critics are not the legislators , but the judges and police of literature . They do not make Iaw 3—tbey interpret and try to enforce them . —Edinburgh Jteview .
¦ . ¦¦• . - ¦ V — - ¦ ¦ . Has Any One Ev...
¦ . ¦¦• . - ¦ v — - ¦ ¦ . Has any one ever written an Essay on Dedications ? If not , ye suggest the subject to contributors , as one capable of -very piquant treatment , and very amusing historical illustration . With the disappearance of patrons , dedications have ceased for the most part , or have merged into friendly salutations . There are still , indeed , a few extremely feeble writers who dedicate to Prince Albert and the Queen of Hanover , as there are occasional pig-tails "which still arrest the passing gaze in quiet provincial towns .
- Should any ingenious reader of this ingenious journal follow our hint , and write the essay , let him by no means forget that marvellous dedication of Edwakds ' s History of Birds , which a writer in Eraser this month has given in a note : — . . ¦; ¦ . ¦ ' . ' ¦"' " ' . ¦ . ' ¦ ¦ ¦ ' ¦ ¦ . ' ' ¦ ¦ .. ¦¦' ' ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ : Though somewhat voluminous , it is a careful and interesting compilation . ' The " dedication" is a literary curiosity : — - .. ¦ -. . ¦ ¦ ¦ ' ,. ¦ . ¦ ' . ¦ ' ' .. - . : ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ . . ¦ ¦ ¦ -: : "ToGod , ; . ¦ . - ¦ ' ¦ ¦ . The one Eternal ! the Incomprehensible ! the Omnipresent , Omniscient , and Almighty Creator of all things that exist ! from orbs itmneasuxably great to the minutest points of matter , this Atom is Dedicated and devoted with all possible gratitude , humiliation , worship , land the highest admiration of both body and mind , " By His most resigned , low , and humble creatiare , u George Edwards . "
It appears that Solomon ' s remark on the absence of novelty is true even of such freaks of madness as the dedication of an Epic poem to the Almighty , which was gravely perpetrated by a writer of our own day , but which we find to have been anticipated more than a century ago . The Kiodern writer thought the Epic ( we beg pardon , the Epopa ) too high a thing to be dedicated to the Creature ,: therefore he dedicated his to the Creator . When the late George Dabxey heard of this , he stuttered out , " I hope' he sent the presentation copy splendidly bound f The . amusing article in Eraser from which we borrowed the passage just quoted is entitled " Sketches on the ' North Coast . " In it the : writer has a passage about the amiable Calvinism of Scotland , which ought to be circulated : —? . ¦ . ;¦' ¦ "; ' .. - ¦ ¦ ' ' ; .. ; ¦ ' .. ¦ . • : . : ¦ ¦ : . ¦ . '; ¦ . " ; ' .. ; ., ¦ :- ' . ¦ . ¦¦ ¦ ... ' ¦ . ¦¦ ¦ To an Episcopalian , the society of indiscriminate Calvinists , who look upon him as given over to the enemy from his baptism , cannot be very entertaining ; and you cannot feel peculiar cordiality for those who , could they get you into their clutches , would certainly send you , my dear Juniper , to the gras 3-market . A Scotch Puritan should keep to his column . He is out of his element in the society of thie ' unregenerate . ' Indeed , how , with his convictions , he can get through the business at all , it is difficult to understand . What do you think , for instance , this gentleman with the rubicund face , who sits beside you during dinner , and whose devotion to the good things of the table you have had occasion to admire—what do you think he believes in his heart ? Do you . know that , innocent , and harmless as he appears on the surface , he sticks to a creed which asserts that the power of evil la inveterate and invincible ; that the power of , God is so feeble , that the dominion of the good must be for ever restricted and confined ; that men ( becausethey have not accepted an economy which from the beginning was limited to the ' elect' ) have been created , not for life ,
but for death , and that they will be eternally punished , not for any good it will do them , but to manifest the righteous and merciful nature of the Being ; who made them what they were ? And the man who holds this consolatory doctrine sits at your elbow and consumes his victuals , and neither smoke nor names issue oat of his mouth ! How can the starched neckcloth , and the black coat , and the spotless shirt-front cover such a furnace , and yet retain their unimpeachable propriety ? It is a dreadful anachronism . One cannot help feeling that , in artistic keeping with such a creed , something shocking ought forthwith to happen , But the rubicund face continues unmoved , and having discussed your claret , it will leave you in the perfect conviction that you are on the high road to destruction . How , next morning in the marketplace , it will strive to overreach its neighbour—how it will grovel in the dust at the feet of Dive 3—how it will sell its own blood for filthy lucre—and yet how , with all these things , it will unite a certain sincerity in its tremendous convictionsis one of those mysteries of the human heart into which one does not care to penetrate .
In Nothing Is Modern Science So Markedly...
In nothing is modern science so markedly distinguished from ancient science as in its clear perception of the difficulties of each problem . The greater our advance , the wider are our eyes opened to the difficulties of advancing ; the more we attempt to verify , the greater doubt attends our verification . Formerly men guessed boldly , and seldom attempted to provu ; now proof itself is subject to counterproof , and that again to severe criticism . Even when experimental proof came into use , men were satisfied with what now satisfies no one . As an example let us consider for a moment the very valuable paper in the Annales des Sciences Naturelles just published . It is on a subject , and enters into details which few of our readers would understand ( RecPterches stir la Voiepar laqiielle de petiis corpmculcs solidcs passent de Vintestin dans les vaisseavx sanguini ) ; but we will place the problem , and the eolation in an intelligible form .
^ The vessels in which our nutrient fluids circulate—aTteries , veins , capillaries , and lymphatics—form , a system of closed canals , without any external openings . Ab there are no openings through which the food can pass from the intestines , but as the food indubitably does pass into the vessels , the first problem ia , How can the food gain entrance P Physiologists answer this by showing that the food is first rendered liquid , every solid particle being rendored soluble by the process of digestion , nnd this liquid passes by endosnaose through the walls of the vessels . So far all is satisfactory . But the presence in the blood of insoluble Bolids—especially tho presence of fat globules—and tho whole question of the absorntipn of fat , was not to bo
thus explained ; accordingly , since 1843 Physiologists have been engaged in researches to ascertain through what avenues these solids have gained entrance . The first experiments seemed to prove that the vessel s absorbed these solids , if very minute , almost as easily as li quids molecules of charcoal having indubitably passed from the intestine into the "blood . But against these experiments it was objected , and with force , that the molecules of charcoal were like so many needles and could easily tear through the delicate walls of the vessels . Nor was this
all . Donders and Mensonides , repeating the experiments , and taugh t bv the spirit of modern science to doubt everything and examine every ° detail with suspicion , thought of examining their own blood and the blood of animals before trying the absorption of charcoal ; and to their surprise they discovered therein corpuscles which were so like the molecules of charcoal as to be indistinguishable from them under the microscope . Is not this a curious example of the necessity for verification of every step ? What was the use of trying experiments with charcoal when the blood already contained particles not distinguishable from charcoal ?
The physiologists whose paper we are now considering- —MM . Makfeis and MoiasscHOTT—feeling the necessity of some more rigorous demonstration , bethought them of employing substances which could not pre-exist in the blood , which were solids , and which could not tear the walls of the vessels . They selected blood corpuscles and pigment cells . The blood corpuscles of different animals differ much in size and figure , and are therefore easily distinguishable one from the other- Our authors first took the
precaution of mixing the blood of a lamb with the blood of a frog , to seeif they were distinguishable when mixed , and to see if they would remain separate . Having ascertained both points , they fed frogs on lamb ' s blood , and had the satisfaction of finding the blood corpuscles absorbed into the veins , and circulating in the vessels as foreign , distinguishable solids . The same result was obtained with pigment . We need not dwell further on the matter ; the conclusion is enough , and that conclusion is : Minute solids can be absorbed . But if the reader wishes for a lesson in scientific evidence such as modern science demands , he will do well to study the whole details of this paper .
Gerald Massey's Poems. Craigcrooh Castle...
GERALD MASSEY'S POEMS . Craigcrooh Castle . By Gerald Massey . David Bogue Those who have followed Mr . Gerald Massey ' s course as a poet "will have noted an improvement which justifies the hope he expresses in the Dedica « tion to this volume . . ;¦ I pray you accept of this second effort as my best for the time being . In other years , God willing , I may win a touch more certain , and a larger reach , upon a harp of tenser strings . Having from the first felt great interest in this young singer , and , while admiring the exuberant fancy he displayed , always warned him against the mistakes into which it led him , we may here frankly say that unless he does " win a touch more certain and a larger reach " the promise of his youtli and the ambition of his manhood will never lx > fulfilled .
\ x \ Cruigcrook Castle there is manifest advance . Without losing any ot his exuberance , his felicity of expression , his lyrical feeling , he has considerably diminished the affectations , conceits , and absurdities into which a riotous fancy seduced his inexperienced style . But the advance is at present only negative . He has not gained new power . He has added no strings to his harp . He was a purely fanciful poet—one in whom Fancy usurped the place of Imagination , Thought , and Emotion ; and such he remains . The beauties and the faults of this volume are , with rare exceptions , the beauties of a quick and graceful Fancy , and the faults of a Fancy uncorrected . In the descriptions of Nature we seldom see the tilings described , or feel the emotions they would excite in us if seen . Instead of vividly making present to us tlie objects themselves ( as the objective poets make them present ) , or
the emotions which sensitive natures feel in their presence ( as the subjective poets contrive to call up within us ) , Mr . Massey presents us with the images which Ms active and capricious Fancy connects with the objects . > We may admire his skill , but we do not share his feeling ; the expression of his Fancy may be felicitous , but , even when it is most so , we arc not enriched as we are enriched by a fine image of the great poets , who teach us to look at Nature with keener eyes and more delicate susceptibilities . For example : — Midsummer Morn her silvcTy-gray Rain-veil upliftcth fold on fold ; And , purnlc-flusht , and topt with gold ,
Tho white clouds kindle and float away O ' er violet-shadowed hills that stand In cloudy crowns , and soft attire ; And , in a fragrancy of fire , Midsummer Morn floods all the land . Did any one ever so consider Midsummer Morn before ? Will any one ever so consider it again ? When Tennyson spoke of " cedar-shadowy Ida / ' he called up nn imago which the mind could dwell on with delight ; bufcwlien Mr . Massey calls the hills " violet-shadowed , " he startles without pleasing ; and tho " Iragrancy of fire" which Morn is supposed to flood over the land neither recals any feeling-wc have of Morning , nor endows us witn a new image which Morning will call up again . Elsewhere lie felicitously describes Morning in a couplet placed among lines which are more fancilui than felicitous : —
Up purple twilights came tho golden soa Of sunlight breaking in a silent surge . This ia an imago which appeals to the reader ' s experience , and by it is ratified ; the dawn does advance like a tide , and this likeness Mr . Massoy h & expressed in novel and happy phrase . J $ V \ Vfho can recognize anything w this?—
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Nov. 1, 1856, page 16, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_01111856/page/16/
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