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Oct. 6, 1860] The Saturday Analyst arid ...
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Serial.S. The People's Dluthnary Of The ...
Eraser's Magazine . No . 370 . October , i 860 . London , J . W Parker and Son . "A . 1 £ . H . 33 . " opens the present number with a very amusing and delectable paper , entitled "Concerning Seylla and CJharybdis , " by which are ' typified the extremes of conduct into which people rush * so seldom flndiug the " golden mean . " There is a " X / ast Word on Lord Macaulay , " which will be read with interest . The number also contains chapters 27 lo 29 of ' . ? Gryll Grange . " «' Ida Conway , " chapters 3 and 4 . " A Ride for the fling , " ' one of G . J . Whyte Melville's amusing papers ; " A Snow Pic-nic ; " " The English Pompeii , " may also be specmed . The " Chronicle of Current History , " summarises the month ' s events , after the condensed and comprehensive fashion of our " Hecord . " The graver articles , in addition to the Chronicle , are a paper on- " The Financial Condition of Turkey , " and one on Professor Owen ' s work on Paloeontology , the importance of the discussions in which cannot , in a scientific point of view , be over-rated . We extract the following passages : — " With respect to the origin of Bpecies , the two extreme views , one or the other of which has hitherto been generally held by speculators upon this most interesting subject , may be broadly stated as follows . According to one each species is distinct and immutable , and was originally produced by a distinct act of creative power ; according to the other , species are mutable , and have been produced by constant transi tional valuations froni a small number of original types . The adoption by Mr . Darwin of a peculiarly attractive form of the latter of these views has recently directed the public attention most strongly to this subject ; and the opinion of so distinguished an authority as Professor Owen caniiot but be anxiously . looked for and respectfully received . On this question the Professor expresses himself with the utmost caution . One thing * however , is clear , that he does riot believe that each species has had . its origin in the direct interference of a first cause—in a distinct and special exertion of the creative power . 'It is not probable , ' he says , 'that the species of the mineralogist and the botanist should be owing to influences 39 different as is implied by the operation of a second caiise and the direct interference- of a first cause . The nature of the forces operating in the production of a lichen may not be so clearly understood as those which arranged the atoms of the crystal on which the lichen spi'eads . Pouchefc has contributed the most valuable evidence as to the fact and . mode of the production by external influences . of species of Protozoa . We would simply remark , that if it be granted that species are originated , not by a direct interference of creative power , but by soino modification of the ordinary course of ¦ generation , the question is at once limited to the amount of time required for the production of a new : species . Does one species pass into another , as supposed by Darwin , Lamarck , & c , through , a lortg series of infinitely small transitional modifications : ; ' or is the change effected , as has already been suggested by the author of Vestiges of Creation , by a sudden and abrupt leap ? Is ic more probable that the dog should , through a series of gradations extending over many generations , have descended from the wolf ; or that , when the time for the introduction of the new species was fully come , ? pair of specific wolves should have suddenly produced a specific dog ? Another question closely related to those to which we have just referred is , whether the course of unimul life upon the earth , froni the earliest periods down to the present time , has or has not been one of progressive development . We can scarcely conceive how any one who attaches a real value to paltvontological evidence can hesitate to agree with Professor Owen's verdict on this question , that , -as fur as any general conclusion can be derived from the existing mass of evidence , it is against the doctrine of the uniforniitarian , and that , in regard to animal life and its assigned work on this p lanet , there has plainly been an ascent and progress in . tho main . ' The principal objection urged by the unifornutu-rian against the theory of the progressionist is , that this theory rests entirely upon negativo evidence . But on what other than negative evidence does he admit tho provisional distinction between palsoozoie , mesozoic , and cainozoie stmta ? On what other evidence does ho base his conviction that eiiuliosuurd did not exist ; in tho tertiary period , or that the numerous marino invertobrata wbioh are characteristic of the ptilroozoic ago are extinct hi existing fleas ? When Mr . Darwin propounds his thoovy of natural selection . v does the uniformitarian hesitate to bring against him the negative evidenoe afforded by tho non-discovery of fossil transitionul forms ? Did it n ever ocour to him that he is relying upon precisely that imperfection in tho geological record which the most advanced of progressionists is compelled to postulate in support of his theoryP As Professor Owen well observes , no order of the mammalian class is at tho present day represented by suoli numerous and widely dieporsed individuals as that of vetaoea , whioh ' tis Hahes , dwell and oau only live in tho ocean . Tho members of this order attain to a size far surpassing that of the largest reoent or extinot animals ; and are admirably adapted for fossil preservation , by the complete ossification of their skeleton and the large number of their vortobnu . If , thereforo , oetacen had oxistod in palaeozoic or niosozoio seas , it is absolutely inconceivable that they should not have loft abundant evidonoo of their existence in the deposits of these oceans , When we compare tho soanty and dubious evidonuo of them in secondary strata with the extraordinary abundunoo of thoii remains in the Suffolk oruig , surely tho only rational conclusion is to rogurcl tho former inclioaUond as marking tho period of tho first introduction of this order into tho sous of our globe . Evidonoo has , howevor , beon recently udduood whiuh sooins to show that tho introduction of man into this planot took pluuo at a date groatly earlior than that usually assigned to this ovont by tho atudonts of Bibh ' oal qlivonology . Flint ; instrumonls oiUleil aelts , ' unquestionably thp work of human hands , huve rooantly boon diBqovurod at , ooneulexablo depths bolow tho surfuo ' e . in bods of sk-iitiflod gravel , probably 6 i poet-p'Uooono ugo , ussoomtod with tho fossil remains of many oxtinot xnnnqmulian animals . Human bonus have lilcowiso boen found , mixed with those of oxtinot anrnivom , in oflsiforouH uiivorns 'in various piwts of Europe Tho present condition of tho ovitloiico is sourooly buoIi us to warrant any authoritative condition on this iuohI . lulorCHtina point j but Sir 0 . 1 / yoll , at tho mooting of tho Briti sh A . BHoeiution at Aberdeen , oxproBBod his opinion that thcr antiquity of Uioso flint in . afcninion . tB , if compnrod with tho times of history mul < vucUUoh , is groat hulood ( his
belief being mainly grounded upon the immense time required for the formation of the gravel deposits in which they have been found . " ¦ Once a TVeek , Part 15 . September .- ¦ JLondon : Bradbury and 32 vans . — -There scarcely ever was a periodical publication , of any price . whatever , in which so wide a range , and so complete an ensemble , as regards variety in the instructive and amusing elements of a literary journal , and those of first-class quality , have : been presented to the . public as in the excellent serial before us . The illustrations are capital , the fiction of a sterling character , and the information copious and accurate . In the part before us there is an interesting paper on " Representative Women . " The " Scientific Students" selected are Caroline L . Herschel , Sophie Gci"rnain , and Mrs . Somerville . The history and . character of the second are very cui-ious . We quote the article : — " Next comes tho French lady , who was born later and died earlier than Caroline Herschel . Sophie Grermain began her career in a very different way . Hers was a . case . of such a preponderance of the mathematical faculties that they regulated lier whole mind and life . She loved poetry , as many mathematicians have done ; and she insisted that the division set up between reason and imagination was arbitrary and false . "We now and then hear froni superficial persons an expression of wonder that the finest taste is found in those who arc conspicuous for judgment ; but Mademoiselle Germain would have wondered more if the case had been otherwise ; for she saw how the decisions of reason must harmonise ' with the . principles of taste . Goodness was , in her eyes , order ; and wisdom was the discernment of fundamental order ., As fixed relations exist among oil truths and all objects , and the discovery of any one may lead to the discernment of any number , no lieights of speculation astonished , and' no flights of fancy disconcerted her ^ She was mathematical if ever human being was so ; but this did not mean that she was prosaic , rigid , and harrow . . She was qualified for large and philosophical criticism in literature , no less than for inquisition into the theory , of numbers ; and she applied ¦ herself , amidst the tortures of death by cancer , to exhibit the state of not only the science ? , but of literature at different periods of their cultiire , : This was the subject of her posthumous , work . . . . , The more . terrible the prophecies she heard in her father ' s drawing-rooni ( he : being a member of the Constituent Assembly , and therefore hying in political society ) the more strenuously did httle Sophie apply her faculties to this History of Mathematics and the studies it indicated , to the amaze- ' ¦' ., ¦ ¦ . ment of her family ,. w ho could not conceive why she was . suddenly engrossed in the study of Euler . They were not only amazed but displeased : and among other modes of opposition they took away ull -her clothes at night , ' wlien the weather was so cold as to freeze tho ink in the glass . Sophie quietly rose , when they were all asleep , wrapped herself iii the bedclothes , and pursued her studies . The elementary books she could lay hold of were not such as we have to learn fronii now . They were full of faults and omissions , according to our present view ; and they gave her more trouble than her family did . She advanced beyond those books , however ; and in time her family let her . alone . During the Reign of Terror she made herself mistress of the ¦ Differential Calculus pf Cousin . Times improved for her when society was so far settled as that the Normal and Polytechnic schools of Paris were opened . By one device or another sho obtained the notes of many of the professors' lessons ; and she was presently bewitched by Lugrange ' s new and luminous analysis . It was the custom for such students as desired it to oiler their observations in writing to tlio professor , at the close of his course . Sophie took advantage of this custom to get her notes handed in to Lugrange , ae coming from a student ; and groat was the praise awarded to tho mysterious student , whoso real name was soon betrayed to tho great man . Her first specific enterprise illustrates her ¦ courage and perseverance as thouroughly as her whole life . Napoleon was dissatisfied that there was no scientific expression of the rosults of tho curious experiments of Chlndni on tho vibrations of elustic metal plates ; and ho offered an extraordinary prize if tho Institute could discover the mathematical laws of those vibrations . Lagrango at once deelurod the thing impossible ; that is , it would require a now species of analysis . Fovv would havo thought of proceeding in the face of such an opinion : but Sophie said , 'My dour master , why not try ? ' After a world of study , sho sent in , as tho result , an equation of tho movement of elastic surfaces . It wus faulty ; and sho saw why . But for the irregularity of her mathematical education , the failure could not . have happened ; and sho set to work to remedy tho evil . She actually produced tho now kind of unalysis whioh Lagrango had declared to bo necessary ; and ho was the first to applaud tho foat . Moreover , ho obtained tho exact equation from her scheme . Sho herself pursued tho application , and obtuined honourable mention for this second attempt . Slie was invited to ontor again into tho competition 5 and on this third 00-ension sho suocoeded completely She wrought out ; tho applications of her own methods , andsuppliod sovoral theorems to Logondro on tho theory of numbers , wln ' oh ho published in tho supplomenfc to his socond edition ; and tho furthor sho went in mathematics tho more widely who extended her Btudios in other departments , ospooially chemistry , physico , geography , and tho history of philosophy , soionoo , Mid literature . She employed hor analytic faculty in all directions , and manifested her synthetic powor 011 ( ivory subject whioh sho touched . Wo « ro told that in hor manners' and -conversation , tho utmost grace of aocuraoy wus niauifestotl . Hor expression of lioi ideas and feelings , and hor narrative oi incidents wero bo prooiso , so brief , bo perfect , that no improvomont was possiblo , and ovory alteration must bo for tho worse . Tho sumo fltnijds , clounicflB , einoority , uppourod in'ull slib did . Her life wan not tho loss goniul for this , nor her conversation tho loaa lively and nuturul . It had a somowhut pootioal oust , or sooinod to havo to thono wliw wore oxpooting to find ' a matliomatioul prude , ' or a dry podant , Slio diod in 1831 , uftor long und oruol suiroring , ljoroioully borne . fc 5 l > o was fifty yoara old—younger by a gonoration thaii Ourolino Jlorsohol , but dying eovontoon yours boforo hor . " . Tlio ChrMian Examiner , No . 221 . September , 3 . 80 U . . Hoston , U . S . \ Wallcor , Wiao , anil Cp . Tho ourront muubor of tliin Amonoan porioclioul oontnlufl tho sooonrt ai'liolo on Tlmolcoray ' s wopKh , wlionoo wo quoto tho following passngos vrliioh show tlio writor s onnabihty of appreciating tho gvoUt anatomist of modern aooloty and faitliful dohnoator oroharaotori- ^ TlKvokoray ' B books , lileo Mrs . PrimroBo ' e _' wedding gpwn , ' woai' well , though they nmy » ot at onco captivato tho fanor .
Oct. 6, 1860] The Saturday Analyst Arid ...
Oct . 6 , 1860 ] The Saturday Analyst arid Leader . 851
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Oct. 6, 1860, page 11, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_06101860/page/11/
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