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let the drops be doubled in weight , and the required time will be diminished by one half ; let them be quadrupled , and the effect will be produced in one quarter of the time . Time here is only one standard ot the conditions , as it is in the nine-months' gestation of a human embryo . It is manifestly absurd to suppose that , all other things remaining the same , Time could ever effect a change ; unless the conditions changed , the result would not change ; even if millions of years were to roll over them ; and if in the course of time a change takes place in the conditions , no one supposes that change to be owing to Time . Thus , a grain of whett placed in certain specific conditions will grow into a plant in a specinc time ; but the grains which were found in the pyramids would not there have developed into plants , had millions instead of hundreds of years passed over them . ¦ _ T
But the author of the Vestiges , consciously or unconsciously , mates Time itself a special condition , and one of the highest importance—one that can be independent of all external circumstance . " Time and a succession of forms in gradation and affinity , become elements in the idea of organic creation . " ( P . 146 . ) Asifthis were not enough , hesays elsewhere : — " It is now to be remarked that what has been ascertained of the actual history of organic beings upon earth , is in no respect out of harmony with this idea of their creation after the manner of law . We have seen that these did not come at once , as they might have been expected to do if produced by some special act , or even some special interposition of will , on the part of the Deity . They camo in a longextending succession , in an order , as would appear , of progressive organization ; grade following grade , till , from a humble starting-point in both kingdoms , the the evolution of
highest forms were realized . Time , we see , was an element in Being , as it is in the reproduction of an individual at the present day . At the beginning of geological investigation , it was thought that some' immediate external conditions ruled the appearance of particular classes of animals at particular tiines : as that the absence of dry land was the cause of the late commencement of terrestrial animals ; that there being for a long time only reptilian land vertebrata , was owing to an overcharge of the atmosphere with carbonic acid—the store from which came the chief material of the abundant vegetation of the carbonigenous age ; and so forth . But it is now seen that the progress of the animal world was , in its main features , independent of such circumstances . There was dry land for many ages before there were any land animals . The sea abounded in invertebrate animals , while as yet fish did not exist , though the conditions required for the existence of both are the same . The oolitic continents , where only reptiles roamed ,
could have equally supported mammalia , for which the atmosphere was then fully fitted , even upon the admission of the carbonic acid hypothesis , as the coal was by that time formed ; yet mammalia came not . It was supposed at the dawn of true . geology , that fresh creations of animals were connected with great physical revolutions of the surface ; as if , at particular times , all had perished in storms of volcanic violence , and been replaced with a wholly new fauna . This idea is likewise passing away . It is now seen that changes in specific forms took place quietly in the course of time , while no volcanic disturbances are traceable . In short , it is always becoming more and more manifest that organic progress—both the specinc changes in classes formerly existing , and the accession of new and higher classes—depended , not by any means wholly or immediately upon external circumstances , but in great part upon time . All this looks very unlike either special working or special willing on the part of the Creator , but , on the contrary , very like the simply natural procedure of things in the world of our own day . "
This is an astounding passage . Observe how utterly ho rejects the Lamarckian argument of " external circumstances , " and how he makes development " independent of them , " and owing mainly to Time . Moreover , he displays inaccuracy in his conception of conditions , when he uses as an argument that there toas land before animals , and sea before fish ; and this inaccuracy is brought into stronger relief by his palpable contradiction to this notion at p . 121 , " Where there is light there will bo eyes ; " an assertion which Sedgwick justly ridiculed . It would seem that the author has boon led to this aberration respecting Time by the millions of years taken by the gestation of our universe . But to carry out this notion consistently , lie must assume a gestation of conditions as well as of life : ns , however , he admits deviations from the line
of development , and in one place says , " If ; has its ebbs as well sis its Hows , though tho general movement is to be contemplated as onwards , " these admissions would settle him in si dilemma with an antagonist , who should say , "Then-are these ebbs and ilows purls of a pre-ordained scheme , or are they external limitations to the organic impulse P and if so , whence do they come P" lie would thus be reduced to admit , 1 st , that God has intentionally planned temporary hindrances to his plans , or , 2 nd , that there is , external to his power , a temporaril y invincible limitation . The errors we have pointed out are fundamental , and permeate tho book . They originate , we believe , in the author ' having neglected to study Embryology , and nought succour from treacherous Metaphysics . If the reader's patience be not exhausted , we will ask him in somo future paper to consider a , I ' ew physiological errors resulting from the sumo cause .
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laiSTSm © ® W £ v W&&&I&&E 1 DD . XV L * Hdvtm IlillH , April 131 h , 1 H 52 . L > # w * iw ^ OW much m ore simple are events thuu the vain perplexities which ? hK $ M ( jj we create for ourselves in our own imaginations when we depart VH ^ Bffi fr ° m < U (! straight and natural path . Neither you , my beuutiful frJJ&As ) Helen , nor you , degnosissimo mio (« iorgio , will suspect in these mv words , uttered without study of utterance , but only with study Hoo . Leader , NvB . 125 , VM ) , 1137 , 128 , 120 , 130 , 131 , 132 , 133 , 134 , 13 ( 5 , 130 , 141 , 140 , 164 , 1 G 7 .
of thought , that I wish , with the miserable Rousseau , tp return to a " st t of nature ; " or think that I find the model for society in the Huron an ** more than the Bosjeman . Cultivated man is better than rude man th more since rude man , if so he can be called , usually bears traces of ' degeneracy . Take your man with all his faculties cultivated—not the degenerate savage of the prairie , with slow brain and limited thought , any more than the savage of the study , with soft muscles and stunted senses ; but a man
whose perfect growth is attested in his form , his eloquence , his affections —his strength , his self-utterance , his influence—and trace in his healthy instincts the laws which human nature must and does obey . For disobedience to natural laws results so far in obliteration of human life ; and human life exists , therefore , so far , and so far only , as it obeys . False laws , begetting mortification—present mortification—are all that we know of annihilation ; since that which is they cause mo ? to be for him that tries to follow those false laws .
But I preach to you who know so much better than I . I strive to stammer out with words those truths that you have already ; for to your unperverted sense natural truths are self-apparent . When our dear , because all beautiful , Helen looks out upon a truth , she sees it , and it rises into the light of her countenance to be a truth darting straight into the hearts of those that behold her . We puzzle ourselves to " find out" polarization , "to account" for the vibratory theory , to anatomise the ray in the prism ; yet light is still nothing grander than light to us ; our young eyes love to wake upon it ; our aged eyes regret to close upon it ; and if , by the blessing of God , we " know" more about it , our farthest ' researches do but teach us that light and life cling together and are , perhaps , interchangeable as love and life .
Still I preach , and you , I say , who have these things , which I in this desolate land * of crowded savages begin to dim by talking about , are wishing to know more of those other living truths here that reflect yourselves . After what I told you in my last letter , the simplicity of the sequel may surprise you , save that hearts which know the mutations of truth are proof against all surprise . When Yseult sent for me I found her very tranquil ; but , with a naivete that did not altogether seem strange , she declared that she began to grow really uneasy about Edwardes . She hesitated , and evidently would not tell me all ; but there was nothing , she said , to account for his absence . ' ' _
" Nothing ? " I asked : " Could she not even conjecture the reason ?' No . She had had a difference with him in a matter of opinion , and of conduct even , she said ; but it was not new ; and—here she hesitated much more—she had told him something which had angered him—" for he is a generous fellow ! " But whither he had gone she guessed not . And she asked me what could be done to discover his departure ?
Of course I could only refer her to the search already made . I had myself sought the whole neighbourhood for traces , and only found such as led to nothing . Later in the day there was another meeting of mag istrates ; another private examination of Yseult ; and more mysterious whisperings . Margaret appeared to me as if she knew more than she had told ; but her unchanging countenance prevented my discovering whether it was so ; and if it was , evidently she did not intend to tell me ; so I did not ask her . Her perfect calm reassured me . I expressed uneasiness about Edwardes ; and she admitted some anxiety on her own part ; but not positively , we had , as yet , she said , no more reason for fear than for confidence ; save oui
ignorance . Julie ' s eyes , wandering from one to another , showed a growing curiosity , almost eager to corroborate the adverse " appearances tlia thickened against Yseult ; whose irrepressible passion was so clos followed by Edwardes ' s disappearance . Markham gossiped , and w Julie ' s curiosity with stimulants . Poor Fanny Chetham helped our perplexities , for , without intending it , she ascribed to Yseult so strange ft manner , of repressed anger , and a coldness struggling with kindness , " ^ Markham asked me if Yseult ' s mind h . id always been sound . The qucs io ^ was a shock in itself ; but I could not answer it ; except with the express ^ of a belief that a vigorous mind like hers , in a healthy frame , could n < ^ wander . It was a wretched day that ; and I think amongst us the mo wretched was poor Fanny , who seemed to feel herself inscrutably responsi
lor the calamity which had fallen upon us . That same evening , Margaret and T , whom a certain unity of U-c ' had kept much together , were sitting on the bank near the gnte lul . into the vill as when she silently pointed down the road . Slowly w » ^ up , with his hands behind his back , was the missing Kdwan des . ^ hastened forward when he saw us , held out his hands to grasp OIIlS ^ tjjer only remarked that he had sent " his things" by a man along nI V ,, i iwifli T shiwlvwwl fill * otitjk < Vai . 4-lwi ~ . r .. l-.. * . .. ... n ~«< l iiw »*» flTKl WC aCl'l " I 1 ) 11111 ujiuiiiHiim- £ iuior welcome u »»« »>—
,. x . . .. a ; T , ne wanuerur , % i \ X ' him towards the house . He bad been to sec bis patients in town . ^_ garet told him that all bad been perplexed by bis absence ; and he recci ^ intimation with a . smile , as much as to say that he thought it natm " - ^ ^ when she told him of the kind of enquiries tbnt had been made , « n ^ Yseult had been subjected to examination and watch , bis brow g 1 ^ ^ jjt with indignation ; and quickenin g bis pace , ho entered the bouse , « ^^ straight up to Yseult ' s room . There he remained some short ^^ j , j he spoke with Margaret ; and then he joined us at supper , nHu « b ^ absence with the air of a man who had been summoned qn mat c great importance , yet not desiring to be questioned .
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884 THE LEADER . C ^^^^ ,
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Sept. 10, 1853, page 884, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2003/page/20/
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