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Biackwood is not brilliant this month . Another article of the series , 'Modem . iLight Literature / on 'Society , ' is pointless , diffuse , and superficial . The "Writer seems , moreover , to have written in absolute ignorance of the subject he professes to discuss . Of course , this is no reproach to him personally ; lie is not bound , to live in ' society ,. ' and is probably much better off ; out of it ; bat he . should hardly undertake to analyze that curiously complex whole ,, if his only sources of information respecting it are Punch and the Neiccomes . An article oa the early legendary history of British saints and shrines , entitled Our Hagiology / though rather heavy , gives a number of curious details touching ^ the . sacred ornithology of those early times . Here is a specimen : —
On such matters as these , and others of a minute and half-domestic character , a -lazy meditative reader will find much , to note and curiously reflect upon in tie biographies of oar early saiats . These recluses had much communion with birds and < the gentler kind of beasts . Their legendary histories speak of these animals as apt mediums of vaticination and miraculous intervention ; but we must be content , in the present age , to count that their frequent appearance , their familiar intercourse with the . saints , and the quaint and amiable incidents in which thev figure , are in reality -characteristic memorials of the gentle kindly feelings and " the innocent pursuits natural to men of gentle dispositions and retired life . Thus Columba one day gives -directions to a brother to be on his ¦ watch at a certain point in the island of Iona , for there , by nine o ' clock on that day , a certain stranger stork will alight and drop down , utterly fatigued with her journey across the ocean . That stork the brother is enjoined to take up gently , and convey to the nearest house , and feed and tend for three days , . after which she will take wing and fly away to the sweet spot of her native Ireland , "whence she had wandered . And this the brother is to do because the bird is a guest . from their own beloved native land . The brother departs , and returns after the proper time . Columba . asks no questions—he knows what has taken place , and commends the obedient piety of the brother -who had sheltered and tended the wanderer . -Another saint s Ailbhe , had a . different kind of intercourse with certain cranes . They went about in a large body ,, destroying the corn in the neighbourhood , and would not bQ'dispersed . The saint went and delivered an oration to them on the unreasonableness of their conduct , and forthwith , penitent and somewhat ashamed , they soared into the sax and went their way . ' St . Cuthbeit ' s ducks' acquired a long celebrity . When that reverenced ascetic went to take up his residence in the wave-bounded solitude of the Fame Islands , he found , the solan-geese there imbued with the wild habits common , to their storm-nurtured race , and totally unconscious of the civilization and refinement of their kinsmen -who graze on commons ,, and hiss at children and dogs . St .
¦^ nthbert tamed them through his miraculous powers , and made them as obedient and docile a flock as abbot ever-ruled . The geese went before him in regular platoons , ^ following the word of command , and doing what he orderedr—whether it might be the roost ordinary act of the feathered biped , or some mighty miracle . Under his successors their conduct seems to have been less regular , though certainly not less peculiar j for we are told that they built their nests on the altar , and around the altar , and in all the houses of the island ; farther , that , during the celebration of mass ,- they familiarly pecked the officiating priest and his assistants with their bills . It is curious enough that the miraculous education of the birds makes its appearance in a Scottish . legal or official document at the close of the fifteenth century . It is an instrument recording an , attestation to the enormous value of the down of these renowned birds ; and seems , indeed ,, to be an advertisement or puff by merchants dealing in the ware , though its ponderous Latinity is in curious contrast with the -neat examples of that &indof literature to which we are accustomed in those days .
JBirirnrER . Lyttcon ' s stoxy , ' "What will he do with it ?* improves as it proceeds . The present part is wholly occupied with the strolling comedian , Gentleman "Watpe , who promises to develop into an interesting and original character ; audi the account of : the way in . which lie realized his favourite scheme o £ exhibiting the Trench , poodle is so graphic and lifelike , that you almost lose . sight of its mherent improbability , not- to say absurdity . Here is a sketch of Waufe at the outset of his new career .:. — Sophy left the . wood and walked oa alowly towards the town , with her hand ^> en-^ itfoly resting cm Sir Isaac ' s head . In less that ten minutes she was joined by Waifc , attired in respectable black ; his hat and . shoes well brushed ; a new green shade to iifteye . ; . and with his finest air of Fere JVbbk . He was now in his favourite element . BLr was acting—call it not imposture . Was Lord Chatham an impostor when he -draped his flannels into the folds of . the toga , andi arrayed the curls of his wig ao > as
to add more sublime effect to the . majesty of his brow and the terrors of its nod ? And ; certainly ,, considering ; , that " Waifo , after all , was but a professional vagabond—• considering : alLtha turns and . shifts to which he has been put for bread and salt—the ¦ w ottder ia , not that he ia full of stage tricks and small deceptions , but that he has -contrived to retain at heart so much childish , simplicity . When a man for a series of years has only had his wita to livo by , I aay not that he is necessarily a rogue—ho may be a . good , fellow ; , bat you . can scarcely expect his code of honoui to bo precisely tha-same aaSic Philip Sidney ' s . Homer exprasaes , through the lipa of Achilles , that ouhlirao lov-e of truth ,, which , oven in thoBo remote times , was the becoming characteristic of a gentleman and a soldier . But ,, then , Aohilloa is well oft" during his -whole life , which , though , distinguished , is snath . On tho other hand , Ulysses , who iasoroly put to it ; kept out of bin property in Ithaca , and , in short , living on his -wita ,. ia not tho losa befriended by tUo immaculate Pallas , because his wisdom flavours aonaawhat of stage trick and ahaup practice . And as to . convenient aliases and - \ vliito fiba ,, where would havo been tho use of hia wits , if Ulyssoa had disdained such arts , and been magnanimously munched up by Polyphomua ? Having thus touched on tha epic aide of Mr . Waifo ' a character with the clemency duo to human nature , but wifck the caution required by tho interests of aocioty , porarit him to r « aumo a ' duplex course , ' sanctioned by ancient precedent , but nob commended to modern imitation . Just as ont travellers neared tho town , tho acreech of a railway whistle resounded towards thoir right—a long train rushed from tho jaws of a tunnel ^ a nd shot into the wdjriibouriiiir station . 44
How lucky ! " exclaimed . Waifo ; " make boats , my dear ! " Was ho going to take the train ? Pshaw ! lie was at hia . joumoy ' tt end . Ho waa , going to mbc with too throng that would soon stream through tlipso wlnto gatos into tlio town ; ho was going to , pucLoin , tha roanectablo appearance of a . paaaonger by tho train . And bo well did ho act thvo part of a bewildered stranger just vomited forth in , to unfamiliar places by « ne of those panting atcara . raonatora , ao > artfully amidst tho busy competition , of
nudging elbows , overbearing shoulders , and the impedimenta of carpet-bags , portmanteaus , babies in arms , and shin-assailing , trucks , did he look round consequentially on the qui vive , turning his one eye now on Sophy , now on Sir ' Isaac , and gripin ° - his bundle to his breast us if he suspected all his neighbour s to be Thugs , comlottieTi ^ and swell-mob , that rn an instant fly-men , omnibus-drivers , cads , and porters marked ' him for their own . " Gateshoro' Arms , " " Spread Eagle , " "Royal Hotel , " "Saracen ' s Head , !—very comfortable , centre of High Street , opposite the Town Hall , " were shouted , bawled , whispered , or whined into his ear . o" / s there an honest porter ?" asked the Comedian piteously . An Irishman presented himself . " And is it meself can serve 3 'our honour !"— " Take this bundle , and walk on before me to the Hieh Street . " — " Could not I take the bundle , grandfather ? The man . will charge so much , " said the prudent Sophy . " Hush ! you . indeed . ' " said the Pere Nolle as if addressing an exiled Allesse rot / ale— " you take a bundle—Miss—Chapman ! " '
' N " ew Sea-side Studies , No . 5 / though too technical and scientific for most readers , is really one of the most important papers of this interestiiin- series-It is mainly occupied with a discussion of one of the most important questions in physiology- —the true seat of the primary vital functions , Sensibilit y and Contractility . The writer thinks that the analysis which traces these functions io nerve and muscles as their ultimate centres is not sufficiently radical , since they exist in the absence of both , and constitute , in fact , the first elementary condition of vital organism . The following passage gives the result of his argument : — What we metaphorically call ' nervous conduction' takes place not only in the absence of fibres , but also in the absence of any nerves whatever . There is nothing like the sharp angle of a paradox to prick the reader ' s attention ; and here is one in all seriousness presented to him . The fact is demonstrable , that both Contractility and Sensibility are manifested by animals totally destitute of either muscles or nerves . Some physiologists , indeed , misled by the a priori tendency to construct the organism in lieu of observing it , speak of the muscles and nerves of the simplest animals ;
because , when they see the phenomena of contractility and sensibility , they are unable to dispossess themselves of the idea that these must he due to muscles and nerves . Thus , when the fresh-water Polype is seen capturing , struggling with , and finally swallowing a worm , yet refusing to swallow a bit of thread , we cannot deny that it manifests both sensibility and contractility , unless we deny these properties to all other animals . Nevertheless , the highest powers of the best microscope tail to detect the slightest trace of either muscle or nerve in the Polype . To call tlie contractile substance a ' muscle , ' is to outrage language more than if a wheelbarrow were spoken of as a railway locomotive ; and as to nerve substance , nothing resembling it is discernible . In presence of these facts , those who cannot conceive Sensibility without a nervous system , but are forced to confess that such a system is undiscoverable , assume that it exists ' in a diffused state . ' I have noticed this illogical position in a former paper . It is a flat contradiction in terms i a diffused nerve is tantamount to a liquid crystal ; the nerve being as specific in its structure , and in the properties belonging to that structure , as a crystal is . Now , this specific structure—or anything approaching it—is not to be found in the Polype .
Whence , then , is the Sensibility derived ? Either we must admit the presence of what cannot be discovered ; or we must admit that a function- can act without its organ ; or , finally , we must modify our conception of the relation between Sensibility and the Nervous system . Which of these three conclusions shall we adopt ? Not the first ; for , to admit the presence of an organ which cannot be discovered , even by the very highest powers , although easily discoverable in other animals by quite medium powers , would be permissible only as the last resource of hypothesis , when no other supposition could be tenable . Not the second ; for philosophic Biology rejects the idea of a function being independent of its organ , since a function is the activity of an organ . The organ is the agent , the function the act—a point to which we will presently recur . The third conclusion , therefore , seems inevitable : we must modify our views . But how ? Instead of saying , " Sensibility is a property of nervous tissue , " we must say , " Sensibility is a general property of the vital organism , which be ~ comes specialized in the nervous tissue in proportion as the organism itselj' becomes specialized . " We have no difficulty in understanding how Contractility , at iir ^ t th e
property of the whole of the simple organism , becomes specialized in muscular tissue . We have no difficulty in understanding how Respiration , at first effected by thu whole surface of the simple organism , becomes specialized in a particular part of that surface ( gills or lungs ) in the more complex , organisms j nor should we have more ditticulty in understanding how Sensibility , from being common to the whole organism , ia handed over to a special structure , which then performs that function exclusively , as the lungs perform that of respiration , or the muscles that of contraction . Nay , more just as animals possessing special organs for Respiration , do also , in a minor degree , respire by the general surface , so , according to my observations , it ia almost diuionstrable that animals possessing a special nervous system also manifest sensibility in parts far removed from any nervous filament . In the higher animals this is probably not the case . The division of labour is more complete . Tho stomach diu ^ sts , the glands secrete , the muscles contract , and the nerves feel . Of course , tho power ia greatly increased by this division of labour ; tho more complex tho organism , the more various and effective each function .
' Teaching and Training .: a Dialogue , ' is one of those papers thul ami orally irritate the nervous readers . " Why have a dialogue at all , " he impatiently exclaims , " when it ia managed in such a still ' , long-winded , and awkward manner ? " The substance of the paper is , however , good ; as also are the lines ' 3 ? rom India '—the beat , in fact , we have , seen on the subject , full oL' louderness ,, lire , and passion , The Dublin Univerntg Magazine ia decidedly ethnological ami philological this month , Dr . Latham contributing ua interesting paper on the ' Isolations of the Irish to the Northmen , ' and Professor Giuik one still more attractive , headed ' Curiosities of tho English Language . ' Towards 1 . lus close * he points out and illustrates , in . a striking mnnnor , the force of ( lie : Jtoinnn clement in the language , and the way ia which it is constantly gaining ground on the Saxon . . ...
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I . i , as M . MoNTJccjuT asserts , America- does not produce much , original literature , she r -i > rodue « 3 i more than any other nation , iu the world . K-oailers in tho States are , according to the statement of a New York journal , live times more numerous thuu in England . Here is the passage , which ia worth extracting , if not for the reasoning , at least for the curious facts it contain * : — Tho Americana havo beoomo tho greatest book-produaors in tho -world . Moro volumes , use aold in this country mono year than in Great Britain , with much . tUo
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. ' ' ——? eriticB aue-not the Legislators , but the judges and police of literature .. They do not make laws—they interpret and try to enforce them . —Edinburgh Heview .
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$ ** T ^ l ) XJ ; 3 & ; . i 3 .-AI > : lL' ^; ., ¦ ¦ [ JS $£ -fflffi- October 18 & 7 .
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Leader (1850-1860), Oct. 3, 1857, page 954, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2212/page/18/
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