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972 TflE pfSADER, [S ^turda^,
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Several of our friends have expressed th...
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MAOGILLIVKAY'S UIUTLSH IJITtDS. A Histor...
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The Question—Is A Poet The Creature Or T...
staff ' s outward appearance to be comical—a caricature of debauched manhood ; but a very little stuffing under the waistcoat would answer all the requirements of the part . The chief justice charges him with ' an increasing belly , ' but with ' a decreasing leg , ' ( Henry IV ., Part II ., act I ., sc . 2 , ) and there can be no reason for that padding of the limbs by which our stage Falstaff becomes so unwieldy . " And let the critic reply that a very little stuffing of the underwaistcoat would not answer to Jack ' s larding the lean earth as he walks along , and impregnating the air with such obesity that the room he sits in becomes itself obese ! " Come out of that fat room , " exclaims the Prince . In that curious and valuable periodical , The Journal of Psychological Medicine , there is an extremely interesting paper on Homicidal Monomania , in which we find another example to be added to the long list of those who like the Cenci , and the Borgia , were at once diabolical and devout : —
" The notorious Burke , who was hanged for murder in Scotland , which he committed for the purpose of selling the remains of his unfortunate victims to the anatomical schools , was very partial and kind to children . He preached religious sermons , and the whole series of his murders was suggested by his confederate Hare reading aloud one winter evening the death of Ben-hadad by Hazael , in the second book of Kings . " The writer adds in a note : — " This is a very curious fact . The diabolical suggestion arose from Hare
reading the account given ( verse 15 , chap , viii . ) of the death of Benhadad , who was thus killed by Hazael : ' And it came to pass on the morrow , that he took a thick cloth , and dipped it in water , and spread it on his face , so that he died . ' Burke and Hare adopted the same plan . They made their victims drunk , and then covered the mouth and nostrils with wet cloths . Sometimes , by kneeling on the epigastrium they forced a deep expiration , which emptied the lungs , and the wet « loths prevented the re-admission of the air . This murderous method was so physiologically scientific , that it was suspected to have been suggested by some anatomist . This was not true : the above statement came out in evidence . "
Puzzling as such apparent contradictions may be to the reader unversed in psychology , we believe they admit of satisfactory explanation directly it is seen that Religion has two elements intimately related but not necessarily co-existing in the same mind—viz ., an element of > Faith or speculative Belief , and an element of Emotion issuing in practical Conduct—in other words , every Religion includes a Theology and a Morality . Experience daily teaches us that men may believe with fierce bigotry every item of a theology , and nevertheless violate the whole spirit no less than the specific details of that creed . In these cases the relation between the intellect and
the emotions is broken ; conduct does not follow the impulse of the creed . Indeed , to take a man ' s creed as an indication of his conduct is , we all know , a most fallacious test ; but if so , why is a man ' s rejection of a specific creed so frequently taken as a test ? If a man who believes in Christianity is not by virtue of that belief to be credited with morality , why must a man who disbelieves in Christianity be credited with immorality ?
972 Tfle Pfsader, [S ^Turda^,
972 TflE pfSADER , [ S ^ turda ^ ,
Several Of Our Friends Have Expressed Th...
Several of our friends have expressed their gratitude to us for the notices we have given of Alexander Smith ' s poems , and will be glad to learn that the Critic of the 1 st of October contains some more scenes of that Life Drama in which he is so prodigal of imagery , and of fine expression . The boldness and originality of his style is seen in its familiar diction , no less than in its loftier phrases . E . g . " How frequent , in the very thick of life , We rub clothes ivith a fate that hurries past !" That is quite Shakspearian ; and is not this Tennysonian : —• " Our studious Edward from his Lincoln Fens And homo quaint-gabled hid in rooky trees . " There is an echo of old Chapman , or of Beaumont and Fletcher , in this : — > " I sang this song some twenty years ago , Hot to the ear tips , with great thumps of heart . On the gold lawn , while , Caisar-liko , the sun Gathered his robes around him as he fell . " There is an abundance of iine passages in this poem—ringing the changes somewhat too freely upon stars , and the sea , as usual with himbut one passage we cannot resist quoting : — " 'Twhh late , for as he reached the open roads , Where night was reddened by the drudging fires , The drowsy steeples tolled the hour of One . The city now was left long miles behind , A largo black hill was looming ' gainst tho stars , He reached its summit . Far above his head , l / p there upon the , still and mighty night , God ' s name was writ in worlds . "
Maogillivkay's Uiutlsh Ijittds. A Histor...
MAOGILLIVKAY'S UIUTLSH IJITtDS . A History of British Bints , Indigenous and Miyratory . By William Macgillivray , A . MC vofa . Orr and Co-Theke arc few books on tho subject of Natural History more worthy of finding a conspicuous place upon our shelves than this elaborate and original History of British Birds . It was composed with tho passionate VWS 1 l ^ Hft ^ rt 1100 of delighted , labour , and furnishes abundant materials to science , V . ^ * , « * j » e n < 3 ral literature , and special inquiries . Not to ornithologists and philo-/ " ^ jV '"' 'I ; 'Jr ' tfwnhfers alone are these pages full of pleasant instruction , but to the ( r >/ £ ? . ? . ' xli' ** ° | S ^^ oy ^ careless reader , tho busy student , and tho busy man , will /^/ ' - i !^' l- y * V * - £ iJ ^ w | RPl « J » tH be found both novel and entertaining , it only remains ' to \/' \ ' ; : XUi \ ^ - ' ^ Wm ^ latter a hint as to tho manner of reading the work . Five thick VjV '' ' — ~~\ Qzffijfflffty 6 « f niore than five hundred pages each are enough to daunt even \ . SCvlJ ^^^ wp ' ageous idler j but if he will skim lightly over the specific- , ornitho-Hiiavai ¦ uw
logical and anatomical descriptions , and read with attention those sections only which relate to the Habits of Birds , and to what the author calls ' Lessons in Practical Ornithology , " we can promise him a rare treat We shall transfer several specimens to our own columns ; but first our duty leads us to an indication of the contents of the work . The three first volumes , published in the years 1837 , 1839 , and 1840 embrace the whole of the Land Birds , indigenous or migrating to the British Isles . The fourth and fifth volumes , published onl y the other day , comprise the Water Birds . The text is illustrated with excellent plates and several hundred woodcuts executed with great care an d felicity . The descriptions are minute , unmistakable ; embracing not merely the general aspect , and the peculiarities of form and plumage , but also the anatomical and physiological peculiarities—the structure , modes of fli ght
of walking , or perching , and " habits oi birds . in this respect , aided by copious indices , it may be considered as a perfect encyclopaedia of British ornithology : as useful for reference as it is delightful to read . Dr . Macgillivray is no closet naturalist—indeed , he has somewhat too prominent a scorn for all such people , forgetting that Science is often materially aided and developed by those very men . It is not the Telescope that will now advance Astronomy . But , in truth , although Dr . Macgillivray deserves every credit for the zeal with which he has gathered together the facts of ornithological structure , it is not in science that he shines . His observations are original , accurate ; but his explanations often make one stare . To take but one example . In the following observation a philosophical anatomist will see valuable material , but he will smile at the explanation we have italicised : —
" One object of the large sternum of birds being to afford a basis to the powerful muscles by which , the wings are moved , its surface is expanded , and in the median line elevated into a projecting lamina , named the crest or ridge , by which the muscular masses are Tcept from blending together . This part , by its greater or less size , indicates a corresponding degree of power in the pectoral muscles , and consequently the strength of flight , although , by no means the actual velocity , which depends upon the form of the wing as much as upon the vigour of its muscular apparatus . In the ostrich and other birds of its family , of which the diminutive wings are not used for flying , the crest of the sternum is wanting . This bone has received so extended a development partly to afford a support to the wino-s , the rapid and powerful motions of which rendered such an arrangement
necessary . " We are touching here upon his weak point , and we will touch it gently , merely adding that it is in consequence of his carelessness as to philosophy that he makes such mistakes in classification—mistakes not only of appreciation but also of positive commission . And yet even upon this question we meet with good incidental remarks , e . g .: — " Much of the discrepancy of opinion respecting the limits of the genera and families of birds arises from forgetfulness of the fact that species alone exist in nature . Most persons acknowledge this truth when it is forced upon them ; but few act under its impression . A species , composed of individuals of two sexes , capable of producing similar individuals , varying however within certain , but hitherto undefined limits , and capable of continuing the race , which remains the same for ages , and of which the varieties , when placed in ordinary circumstances ,
tend to return to the original type , is all that we can consider as having a positive existence . It is merely because species are so numerous , and our faculties so limited , that we throw them into ideal groups , for the purpose of facilitating our recollection of their forms and qualities . Species are more or less allied to each other ; thus , a raven is very similar to a carrion crow , less so to a magpie , and in a much smaller degree to an auk or a penguin . The alliances exhibited between species give rise to the idea of connecting them in various degrees ; but the limits of the groups thus formed being undefined , it is not in the nature of things that those arbitrarily fixed by one man should bo acknowledged by all others . Tt is lass
very evident that genera , families , orders , and all tho mediate sections of a c , must ever remain fluctuating , and that discussions respecting them will continue to be keenly engaged in until men clearly perceive that instead of fighting in earnest , they are merely beating the air . What is a genus ? " The first collocation of species in a system . " An order ? " Tho last or most general group in a class . What constitutes a genus ? " Certain palpable resemblances . " But what are they ? " Come , lot us go on , and you shall see . " There is no need of quarrelling about genera . Let us be courteous : what you call a genus , allow me to consider a s a family ; let it be a tribo with another , and an order in tho system of a fourth . No classification of birds has ever been generally adopted ; and none has stood tor
twenty years . And why ? Because no system-maker ever acquired a clear perception of all tho phenomena of nature . Without tho wisdom of a Solomon , aiul tno longevity of a Methuselah , with many other advantages to boot , no ormthologis will ever arrange tho ten thousand species which probably exist in tho world , in an order conformable to tho plan of their creation . Then let uh just understand tim all systems must be arbitrary ; that a genus , if it bo anything at all , is « ° . niofcl ""[ > as shadowy as one of Osaian ' s ghosts ; that a naturalist who has studied birds , an described their structure , form , and nianiiei-H , adds to our knowledge , although no may not chooso to impose upon species tho newest and mo . st fashionable iiftine ^ , and that the first principle in the classification of natural objects ia , that specie alone exist in nature . "
Ho is fond of a sarcasm against Mr . SwainBon and other class if lcators , and docs not seem to have borne criticism very meekly hnnseli . tUouK he is now , alas ! beyond its reach . A certain Badness han ^ s over tno u volumes . They we ' re published but a few days before Ins death , ana i tho following mournful passage ;—mournful as a setting sun—he spoaJt his lahoura and his approaching end : — "I have finished one of tho many difficult and laborious taalts which I 1 ) nx "" posed upon myself . Twelve- years have elapsed huico the tirnt three voIll "' tioI ) this work were immod to tho public , and I hod scarcely hoped to boo its «) IOP ^ when I wna most unexpectedly encouraged to reviso tho manuscript of ™ ° hQ , lig . lniiining volumes , containing tho Wading and Swimming Birds , of winch ^ ^ lory , in ho far as 1 am acquainted with it , is now given on tho same I ^ adopted for tho Land Itirdti , Commenced in hope , and earned on w ro . though ondod in sorrow and Hickuomi , I can look upon my work without n ^ gnrd to the opinions which contemporary writers may form ot it , * " * " , j ft what is weftd In it will not U forgotten , and knowing that Already it *>«
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Oct. 9, 1852, page 16, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_09101852/page/16/
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