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^.^ u if» t TTT-E LEADER. 265
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It is interesting to note how influences...
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to the amount of reflection contained in...
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It is known to most readers that one Ame...
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The mention of Aristotle reminds us that...
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I HELPS'S SPANISH CONQUEST. T7ie Spanish...
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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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.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
^.^ U If» T Ttt-E Leader. 265
^ . ^ u if » t TTT-E LEADER . 265
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It Is Interesting To Note How Influences...
It is interesting to note how influences act and react on each other . Because sckntific investigations have been until recently confined to special cu'cles , and excluded from tbe general public , it lias become impossible to speak now to . tnj ceneral public of topics which would be intensely interesting , but are excluded on account of the prudery of language gradually increasing ; and thus , because we cannot mention certain organs a * d functions to cars polite , tbe possessors of those sensitive ears are kept in perpetual ignorance of phenomena which would greatly interest them . Mr . Van Voobst has just issued . a . book oi unusual interest , not only interesting to men of science , but to every lady who lias ever kept a bee-hive or reared silk-worms ; yet such is tbe ^ rigour of convention that we dare not , in . these by-no-means-timid columns , give any account of its wondrous revelations , because , the subject being reproduction , it can only be spoken of by tbe introduction of words , innocent enough , but " unfit for newspapers . " The work is entitled , On true Parthenogenesis in Moths and Bees" and is well translated from ike German of Von Siebold by Mr . "W . S . Dalxas , with . notes by Professor Owen . A richer contribution to entomology find the ' history of reproduction in animals has not appeared for a long while .
To The Amount Of Reflection Contained In...
to the amount of reflection contained in these pages , it is sufficient answer to sav that in transactions so distant from interest , because so aloof from the obvious course of European history , the English reader could take httte sympathy were they not thus philosophically connected withJns present doubles and present strivings . In the events and personages of Greek and Roman history ' we are directly interested . Mere presentation suffices . The fisure of Pericles , the passage of the Alps , the dismemberment of the empire , the deeds of Nero , or of Plutarch ' s heroes , are in themselves of commanding and universal interest . But who cares for Atahuallpa ? Who is interested in Guatemala ? Who understands anything about the Encomiendas ? To make these historically interesting the historian must connect them with our universal nature by his dramatic presentation , and mth our immediate Scafdifficultly , b his phUosophical reflections . This is done by Mr , HeS ana admirably done . Gre £ t therefore , as the labour of special eruditionSaVeTby this work undoubtedly is , and pr ecious as auch special e ^ SionS eve ^ ^^^^ ^_~_ : _ u a ^ , ^;« o tiio tahI vftlue of the work lies , we must tnmic , m its £ ^
^ ec ^ oS the admSration of Cortes . To it succeeds the discovery of mcaragu ^ by Davila . To that succeeds a very luminous account of the EncomienUas , SSSftrill be new to almost every reader ; eqLuaU y new , and stdl more rateresting is the book devoted to Guatemala , and the efforts of Las Lasas . The An " o-Saxon and the Spaniard have been the two grea colonizers of modern ° times 7 and as Anglo-Saxons , it behoves us to study closely the pro-Sdu ^ oSe SpaTdardS . The conquest of Peru is a romance ; and m the hands of Mr , Helps this story loses nothing of its romantic mo vj ^^ Having thus summarily indicated the scope and quality of this volume , we ^ nav Sow draw on it for an extract or two which can ^ bedetached withfeuH ^ fromthe narrative . Here is one vindicating the Mexicans from
tnd to % are tblotliS conspirators , as his discovery of this conspiracy deepened the n ^ ressfon which the Mexicans already entertained of his supernatural knowledg e . Sv had slen him at the time of greatest difficulty call for a mysterious-lookup hut that he had teen conversing with that mysterious little rod of iron , whose tremblh-sLd again revealed to its master the course to be taken in the mid 8 t of the AnZJ ^ that beset him Cortes was not the man . to omit any opp ortunity of imbS- Sers SthTsensc of his power . The belief of the attendant Mexicans in pressing otl ers ^« u a blhb i ed to tbe Spanish commander grew to ^^ S ^ l ^^^^ ^^»^ musf have been quite clear of Zl S i ; , begged him to look in the mirror and the chart , and »«« there
^ S ^ aSee ^^ uSisrSS of the " simplicity" of the Me ^ ca ^ but ^ UMmmmmm the nation naxion
kings ^ as absolutely the destruction of , as a , * Min to stir from now in such a state of stolidity that no reward , hardly can induce himto stir from the sauattintr position that ho has once taken up before the fire , is the lineal aes ^ MtwrZsrtavna ^ o projected , or helped to carry out , with canning " orkmanskS constructions which are still a marvel to the most intelligent persons of the mos SvSd nations in the world . The destructibility of ^ Jf ^ f ^™" the Assvrian Ejrvptian , Mexican , or Peruvian , and perhapa of others as notable , Ihote names ' evtShave been lost , or exist only in symbols that may never be interiiieW ^ i mall tin .
Here is another on the Peruvian telegraph ;—SSSBe " # i 3 ^ € ? HS ¦ «
I I V » 1 1 I I V . I I IIM . MHI'J ' ¦ " J ^ hundred leagues in an incredibly nhort timo . The Peruvians worshipped Nature , not in tho metaphorical sense of the moderns , but in a quite earnest sense : — Vcn . e « l as Wo are in second-hand thoughts about Nature , but ^« w « erwr w » - rendcrinff o « r « elvoH to it * influence , it must a ways be a great effort for uao . enter into tho feelings with which a Persian , a Babylonian , a Hindoo , or a Ie" ™> ™* inn , rcHHC < l , whSn beholding tho natural phenomena that came bo ctoo- to Him in h £ bri- 'lit atmosphere . Intellectually , and even graphically , wo perceive it all . We can J imagine , and perhapH even portray , the a ^ embled » ult . tudejrw « iting to hc « the Jcrcd lire rekindled , or to welcome , witli unutterable fervom tbo » K ^ . i . n ..... ........ Homo . nomine of a solemn foHLivnl . Hut our northern i atun . » tnu
i . anily comprehend how the „„ , and the moo ,, and the Btara W ™ - ^ lu , nt of u Peruvian , and dwelt there ; -how the changes ,. ! thc ^ ' 'V ' ll . n ,: n , nl , inWl wilh all Ihh feeling , and his fortuncB-, how tlio dnwn ^«« ' * ° j ' ^ ; how the n « rce mid-day brighti . e . SH wu « Power to bun ; how Ui « declining Hun was
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I Philosophy is not restricted in this way . It has very hard technical terras to repel the lazy , but no improper terms to alarm the prude . It is even susceptible of every grace of style , as may be seen in a volume recently issued on . "Lcs PbilosophesFrancais duXlXeSiecle , " byM . H . TAWE , one of the remarkable young writers of the Revue des Deux Mondes . A pleasanter scries of feuilleton sketcb . es of Labomigtjiebe , Maine de Biban , Eoyeb-Coilabd , Cousdj , and Joufkroy , we cannot recal . But althougb M . Taike has powers higher than the feuilleton , the defect of his volume is a certain constrained liveliness ^ and feuilleton flippancy unworthy of the subject , and surprising in on « wh . 0 is so ] vivacious and incisive as to run no chance of becoming dull .
It Is Known To Most Readers That One Ame...
It is known to most readers that one American , and one English writer have recently denied Shaksieaub ' s claim to the authorship of Shakspeahe ' s plays—Garth did not write Ms own Dispensary—¦ and ' BACdir , say tliese discoverers , wrote Hamlet , Othello , and Macbeth . Tlie evidence for this wild supposition has already been sufficiently discussed , and we have no intention of reopening it . But the notes to the new edition oi Bacon ' famish a case which a dexterous advocate might press into his service .
In the De Awjmentis , Bacon quotes Abistotle as saying : Jpeeiies non esse idoneos Moralis TldlosopMce audit ores . Upon which Mr . Ellis adds tins note : " Abistotkb , however , speaks uot of moral , but of political philosophy . It is interesting to . observe that the . error of the text , which occuis also in the Advancement of Learning , has been followed by Shakspeabe in Troilus and Crcssida : — __ Not much Unlike young men , whom Aristotle thought Unfit to hoar moral philosophy .
The Mention Of Aristotle Reminds Us That...
The mention of Aristotle reminds us that once move has modem science vindicated the truth of Ms statements , which for many years have been , repudiated . It has long been regarded as an indisputable generalization that the sexes arc separate in all vertebrate animals . Only in . cases of monstrosity could hexmaphroditism be predicated of a vertebrate animal . This was the generalization universally accepted , when lo ! Dr . Dufosse proved , by three i hundred and sixty-eight dissections , that in one genus—tbe Serramis , or Perch I Tmrmfmhroditism is the normal condition . In the last number of tbe Annales
> c 7 cs Sciences Naturelles , the reader will find all the details ; we content ourselves \ with announcing the astoandiug fact , and with adding thereto the fact that Abistoxle suspected it : his words arc , " trWs yap eiplcrKovTai Kv ^ ara I t ovrts , —for they arc always found pregnant ; " and on this account he makes them an-exception to the fishes of separate sexes . It is true that some fishes are | viviparous , and not hermaphrodite ; but Aristotle did not know it , and his I words point distinctly to hcrmapbroditism .
I Helps's Spanish Conquest. T7ie Spanish...
I HELPS'S SPANISH CONQUEST . T 7 ie Spanish Conquest in America , and its Relation to the History of Slavery ^ d to thc Government of Colonies . By Arthur Helps . Vol . III . J . W . Tartar and Son . The third volume of Mr . Ilelps ' s history is oi" deeper and more general interest than its two predecessors , and the historian himself deems to have acquired a "renter ease in the mastery of his scattered details . Jhc style , % without losing its impressive and seduetive influence , without withholding ; its thoughtful snn-ficity and picturesque conoretencss ^ has gained in historical dignity and continuity . Throe heroic figures move through this volume , very dissimilar , nil ndmirably presented : Cortee , Lns Cnnas , and Piznrro . We are made to know these men , to sec into their motives , to sympath . ze will , their efforts , ami condemn their errors . J hey are no lay figures of also is
history , but dramatic nom . uages vividly di . stinct . Our sympathy excilf « l for the poor Imlinn ? , who are fhown to have l . c-on very ar from " barbarians" in the vulgm- Hense of the word , nlllionuh their culture was stangely unlike our European civilization . Many are the k ^ omi ; „ , oolo . ual government which rfco ^ pontuncously out of tbc ^ o narratives oi the Snainsh attempts at colonization ; many are the gvnvo political k'Hs < . n » Mr Helps inciilcut . es by the mmuicr of prcHi-ntina bis narrative , no less than by the reflection : ; which naturally accon . piuiy it . And to tho ^ o wku wouUl object
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), March 14, 1857, page 15, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_14031857/page/15/
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