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than one which we never think of wondering at , because familiar to usnamely , that in the gestation of the mammals , the animalcule-like ovum of a few days is the parent , in a sense , of the chick-like form of a few weeks * « nd that in all the subsequent stages- —fish , reptile , &c—the one may , with scarcely a metaphor , be said to be the progenitor
of the other . I suggest , then , as an hypothesis already countenanced by much that is ascertained , and likely to be further sanctioned by much that remains to be known , that the first step was an advance under favour of peculiar conditions , front the simplest forms of being , to the next more complicated , and this through the medium of the ordinary process of generation . "
Although when seeking for illustrations the author of the Vestiges does of course allow the modifying influence of the Medium to appear , yet whenever he has to state dogmatically his conceptions , he uniformly disregards it , in favour of the '' internal development force" ( p . 208 ) , or of the " inherent impulse , " or of the pre-ordained Plan . For example : — " The imagination eagerly aspires to picture the world of the Oolitic Era , when there were scarcely any living creatures of more exalted character than reptiles . There were then vast tracts of dry land , as now ; their surface bore a luxuriant vegetation of no mean kind . The meteoric agencies , the rise and fall of tides , were common phenomena of that time , as of the present . Day after day , through long drawn ages , the sun passed on his course . Night after night , the sparkling garniture of the sky looked down on this green world . But a being of superhuman
intelligence , coming to examine our globe , would have seen all this existing only for fishes and still humbler creatures in the sea , and for reptiles , insects , and perhaps a few birds , and still fewer opossums , upon land . He would have beheld the tyrant sauria pursuing their carnivorous instincts upon the wave , upon the shore , and even in the air ; huge turtles creeping along the muddy coasfs ; still more huge megalosaurs traversing the plain ; and with all this , the air filled with multitudes of insects . But no flocks would have met his eye upon the mountains , no herds quietly roaming in the valleys . He would encounter no tiger or elephant in the jungle . None of the smaller mammalian quadrupeds , as the dog , the genet , the hedgehog , the hare , the mole , would have presented themselves . And not only
were no human beings to be Been , but our supernatural visitant would know that this scene must lie spread out in perfect capability for their reception , during 1 whole millenniums , before such beings were to exist ; the stream flowing and glittering in the sun , but not to cheer the eye of man ; the whole jocund earth spread out in unenjoyed beauty , as yet unwitting of the glory and the gloom which human impulses were to bring upon it . How strange to reflect on the contemplations of the supposed visitant ! What a vast void ! What a stretch of time before there was to be , oven a commencement to its proper filling ! And yet the certainty that in good time , in the ripeness of the plans of the mighty Author , the higher animals ivere to come , and among the last the Creature of Creatures—who , in bis infinity of device , was to turn it all to his use—the historical being of the world !
" It has been supposed by some geologists , that there was a special adaptation of the earth at this time to its predominating tenants , as if it presented only low muddy coasts and marshes fit for the residence of reptiles . And it has been thought that this state of the earth is what led to the existence of so many reptiles . But all such speculations rest on insecure grounds . When we consider that the Ago of Reptiles , as it has been called , is interposed between an age of fishes and an age of mammals , reptiles being also intermediate to these in the animal scale , we cannot but surmise that the fact depends on some organic law , rather than upon one in physical geography . "
Now , the positive thinker may reasonably aslc for some more precise statement of this " organic law . " Are we to suppose it antecedent to , and independent of , such external conditions—a pre-oxistent idea among the "plans" of the Creator P "Yes , " says the author of the Vestiges , not doubting that he has penetrated the Creator ' s plans ! We admit that the phrase , " state of the earth , " is inadequate , unless in it be included all terrestrial conditions , pre-existent and existent . The notion of an " organic law" independent of conditions is a bit of pure metaphysics . But wo must reserve our remarks on the metaphysics of the Vestiqcs until our next . Let it suffice- for the present that we havo shown how the author disregards the one factor , as Lamarck disregards the oilier . The idea of Life is inseparably connected with the co-relation of an Organism and a Medium ; to disregard cither is to wander into error .
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A BATCH OF RKPUHLICATIONS . In" our anxiety to keep the reader tolerably au courant , and at the same time not to express opinions too carelessly or hastily formed , we are as morally perplexed as we are physically , by the want of space necessary to givo half the books published notices of reasonable length . By collective surveys wo try to get as well out of the difficulty as may bo . Hero is a collection of works , all of which the reader will be glad to hear of , however briefly . First in importance , as in bulk , comes tho now edition of the Encyclopedia , lirilannica , volume 2 ( A . and C . Black ) . No ingenuous reader
supposes that we have conscientiously gone through these nine hundred double-columned quarto pageH , or that , we could be in any condition to review the name , if we had gone through them . But wo have done more than look at the title-page ; we have inspected the articles Agriculture and Anatomy , and find in ench en so that the subject is really brought ; down to the ' present state of knowledge , and not left to be simply reprinted from former editions . One objection , however , we must ; make : the article Anatomy is not finished in this volume , nor are any of the p lniew illuHtrnting the portion here published given in this part ; now , either the article should havo been given entire , or left till the commencement of tho now volume , because it will hereafter bo found exceedingly
i nconvenient in making references to have two bulky volumes in lieu of one to take down from the shelves . This hint we give the editor for futur ( j guidance . , ,.. „ ,. _ . Lord John Russell has produced a new edition of his Life of Lord Wil liam Russell ( Longman and Co . ) m an elegant form . The only poi ni calling for remark is the notice Lord John gives , in his preface , of a bet ter spirit animating the present French Government with respect to the inspection of its archives for literary purposes . Hitherto Lord John had
not been permitted to consult Banllon s correspondence ; but he now thanks Mignet for the courtesy with which the permission has been executed . He finds that Sir John Dairymple had correctly copied the despatches . He publishes , moreover , a letter of Louis XIV . to Barillon throwing light on the state ofparties , and bearing " unsuspected t estimony to the integrity of Lord William Russell . " Something more than a mere announcement is due to the new edition of Southey s Poetical Works , in ten handsome , and remarkably cheap pocket volumes ( Longman and Co . ) , because , while the copyright of the earlier works has expiredand they are being reprinted by other publis hers , the
, public should be warned of the injustice of such reprints to the author ( not to mention the questionable propriety of sending forth a confessedl y inferior work ) . Southey was always a great corrector : thus , it is calculated that in the first book of Joan of Arc alone , out of 543 lines , a full third have been changed ; and if Southey is to be read at all , his reputation demands that he shall be read in his own revised text . Another motive strengthens the already strong motive of self-interest in the purchase of Longman ' s edition—it is the only one in which the poet ' s representatives have any
interest . Mr . James Nichol , of Edinburgh , has commenced a great underta king — a republication of the British Poets . There are to be six volumes issued every year , the annual subscription being one guinea ;¦ but . the volumes are complete in themselves , and may be separately purchased at four and sixpence each . The editor is Mr . George Gilfillan , whose editing , however , appears confined to the biographical and critical memoirs preceding the works . The volumes before us contain Milton and Thompson . They are printed in large handsome type , fitted even for ancient eyes , with liberal margins for the loving pencils of students . As reprints , they are the cheapest and handsomest we can name .
Theophile Gautier s charming gossip on Spain , Tra los Monies , has been translated for Messrs . Ingram and Cooke ' s Illustrated Library under the title , Wanderings in Spain . Although , where so miich depends on style , the translator has a difficult if not impossible task , this book may be commended to those' who have not seen the orig inal as a lively , picturesque , impertinent , gossipy book , and not the wor 3 t account of Spanish life that has appeared . ' . « -v ' In Chapman ' sLibrary for the people we have a new edition of JNewi . man ' s Phases of Faith , a work which has produced greater and healthier influence than any theological work published for a long while . It was reviewed at such length in our first volume that we have nothing new to say on it , except to notice the alterations in this reprint . These are spoken of in the preface : —
" I have expanded a few passages in the latter portions of this hook , where , by reason ( I suppose ) of my too great brevity , I have been greatly misapprehended . For the same reason I have enlarged a short discussion into an entire new chapter , on the Moral Perfection of Jesus . Disagreeable experience warns me , that hostilo reviewers will endeavour , as before , to excite prejudice against me , by picking out my conclusions , and carefully stripping off every reason which I assign , as also every qualifying and softening addition ; preparatory to turning on me , and charging me with 'inconsistency , ' for not being as onesided as they have told their readers that I am . I now say : not only is this careful suppression of my arguments a cowardly trick , and a mark of their conscious weakness ; but , as they well know thut every word whispered against the personal perfection of Jesus is intensely ofFensive , I charge them ( if they have some conscience , as I hope ) , not to outrage their renders , and pretend it is " I who do so . To givo my reasons , as well aa my conclusions , may aid to a truo and stable result , whether I prove convincing or unconvincing . To eivc my conclusions alone , and inadequately , can proccc
from nono but a malignant intention . . . " I have also added a chapter at tho end , chiefly in reply to the Eclipse- ofFaiM
a . book which has been highly extolled as a refutation of my writings . The reply to that extremely shallow and bitter book , The Eclipse of Faith is calm , dignified , and crushing . Unhappily the persons wi" > read tho Eclipse will not read tho Phases , and , if they do , they are for tnc most part very insensible to any dishonesty of polemics on their side . Douglas Jerrold ' s collected works havo reached the sixth volume , containing the novel originally published in parts , A Man made of Money , and the quaint fantasy , The Chronicles of ClovornooJc . What an j ^" mulation of wit , sarcasm , imagery , quaintnoss , and indignation iu tllOfl volumes ! .... . „
Mr . I 3 osworth has started a Literature for the People , of wJliciI \ . V \ ° numbers are before uh : the first , a translation of Madame d'Arbouvil o story , Christine von Amhcrq ; the second being tho first part or a u ° , edition of the Spectator , with » . Biographical and Critical Preface «» Explanatory Notes—tho writer thereof not named . The pubhsl »< j r tho Critic has also commenced a Selected Scries of French JMcMlMI ' j Tho plan is ji good one . Madamede Scvignc ,, who forms tho . ' j ' the two parts wo havo seen , is presented to tho reader biograp h i ^' . 'y ^ lively Memoir , and in a selection from her Letters ( translated ) W 1 , ( 1 ( ., planittory notes . This is , perhaps , the very best way of j > ul > lisUin ^ « . ^^ tionH . Among railway readings , let uh mention Mrs . Taylor's trans "I ; < of Auerbach ' fl ncwvillago talc , Florian and Crescenz ( Chapman ana jv' l > a charming bit of Black Forest life ; and G . P . it . James ' s novel , u
Forqen / ( SiminB and M'lntyro ) , for the lovers of mild mediocrity . , The Poets of England and America ( Whittaker and Co . ) is a . woll-nji - selection from tho bout writers—a selection made for the most l ) a / jjy tlio compiler , and not copied from other compilations . It in to »¦*' done ; andi is , what it \ h called , a ' companion" to all lovers ot V ^ By way of relieving tho drynesn of this survey of now books , w ^ quote two Bonnets , which occupy two opposite pages of this volume
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^^^ ¦^^^ - ^^— . 1 . I I HUIHUI . UP .. LJ ., I . IJWW . I . ' 4 » . W < . W ^' - ^ WMt . « Wmi » . »^ WWWIiPIWHi > W » PIW M * mV *^> 'W ^ "B ™^ mV ^™ ' ™«~~~^ :-- " ~ . ' ¦ "' / ; ¦ . ' .. ' ' ' . ^ " **? ^! glWMl 834 THE L E AD E R . [ SATtiR bAY
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Aug. 27, 1853, page 834, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2001/page/18/
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