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    354 THE IiEADEB. Qo- 398, October 3,1857...

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    ~*x», , ^'¦ •iWri'ltUrB > ""'

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    w Critics are not the legislators, but t...

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    Btackwood is not brilliant this month. A...

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    If, as M. MontiJuux asserts, America doc...

• Transcript

  • 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.

    354 The Iieadeb. Qo- 398, October 3,1857...

    354 THE IiEADEB . Qo- 398 , October 3 , 1857 .

    ~*X», , ^'¦ •Iwri'lturb ≫ ""'

    ICdtrntuw .

    W Critics Are Not The Legislators, But T...

    w Critics are not the legislators , but the judges and police of literature . They do not make 1 & "W 3—they interpiet and try to enforce them . —Edinburgh Review .

    Btackwood Is Not Brilliant This Month. A...

    Btackwood is not brilliant this month . Another article of the series , 'Modem Zjight Literature , ' on ' Society / is pointless , diffuse , and superficial . The "writer seems , moreover , to liave written in absolute ignorance of the subject lie professes to discuss . Of course , this is no reproach to Mm personally ; he is not bound to live in ' society / and is probably much better off out of it ; but he should hardly undertake "to analyze that curiously complex whole , if his only -sources of information respecting it arc Punch and the Newcomes . An article -on 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 limes . Here is a specimen : —

    On such matters as these , and others of a minute and half-domestic character , a lazy meditative reader "will fiad much to note and curiously reflect upon in the biographies of our eariy saints- These recluses had much communion with hirds and the gentler kind of beasts . Their legendary histories speak of these animals & s apt mediums of vaticination and miraculous intervention ; but we must be content , in the present age , to count that theii frequent appearance , their familiar intercourse with the saints , and the quaint and amiable incidents in which they figure , are in reality -characteristic memorials of the gentle 3 undly 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 davs ,

    . after which she will take wing and fly a-way to the sweet spot of her native Ireland , whence she had "wandered . And this th « brother is to do because the hird 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 ,. AflJblie , had a different kind of interciwirse with certain cranes . They -went about in a large body , destroying the corn in the neighbourhood , and would not be 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 air and-went their way . ' St . Cuthbert's ducks' acquired a long celebrity . When that reverenced ascetic went io take up Ids 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 ? ace , and totally unconscious of the civilization and refinement of their kinsmen who graze on commons , and hiss at children and dogs . St .

    ¦ Cuthbert tamed them througl his miraculous powers , and made them as obedient and < locile a flock as abbot ever ruled . The geese went before him in regular platoons , ^ following the word of command , and doiag what he ordered—whether it might be the most 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 ; 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 zecording an attestation to the enormous value of the down of these renowned birds ; -and seems , indeed , to be an advertisement or puff b j' merchants dealing in the ware , though its ponderous Latinity is in curious contrast with the neat examples of that Jkind of literature to which w « are accustomed in those days .

    Bulweh Lxtxon ' s story , * What "will he do with it ? ' improves as it projects . The present part is -wholly occupied with the strolling eomedian , Gentleman "Watfe , vrho promises to develop into an interesting and original character ; and the account oi the way in which he realized his favourite scheme ¦ of exhibiting the ^ French poodle is so graphic and lifelike , that you almost lose « ight of its inherent improbability , not to say absurdity . Here is a sketch of "Waite at the outset of his new career : — ^ Sophy left the wood and walked on slowly towards the town , with her hand pensively resting on Sir Isaac ' s head . In less that tea minutes sho was joined by " Waife , attired in respectable black ; bis hat and shoes -well brushed ; a new green shade to Jbia « ye ; and -with his finest air of Pere Noble . He was now in his favourite element . He . -was acxcho—call it not imposture- Was Lord Chatham an impostor -when he -draped his flannels into the folds of the toga , and arrayed the curia of his wig so as

    ¦ to add more sublime effect to the majesty of his lirow and the terroia of its nod ? And certainly , considering that Waife , after all , was but a professional vagabond — considexiog all the turns an < i shifts ta which he has been put for bread and salt—the ¦ woadex ia , not that ho is full of stage tricks and small deceptions , but that h « has -contrived to retain at heart so much childjah simplicity . When a man for a series of y « ara has only had . bis wita to live by , I say not that he is necessarily a rogue—he may be a good fellow ; "but you can scarcely expect his code of honour to bo precisely toe same as Sis Philip Sidney's . Hom « expresses , through the lips of Achilles , that . sublime lore of truth * which , even in those remote , times , was the becoming characteristic of a gentleman and a aoldier . But , thet ^ Achillea ia wel l off during his whole life , which , though distinguished , la short . On the other handUlysseswho

    , , ia sorely- put to it , kept out of his property ia Ithaca , and , in short , living on his wita > ia not the lesa befriended by the inaraaculftte Pallas , because hia wisdom Bavours somewhat of stage trick and Bharp practice . And as to convenient aliuses and white iibe , where would have been the use of hia wita , if Ulysses had disdained such arts , - and been mugnamimoualy munched up by Polyphemus ? Having thus touched on the epic side of Mr- Wmfe ' a character with tho clemency due to liunau nature , but with , tbo caution required by the interests of society , permit him to rosurao a ' duplex course , ' sanctioned by ancient precedent , but not commended to modern imitation . JTuat as onr travellers neared the town , the ncreech of a rnilwaj' whistle resounded towards theix right— -a long train ru & hed from the jaws of a tunnel , sind shot into the neighbouring station .

    " How lucky ! exclaimed Waifo ; " make haste , mydoar ! " Was ho going to itake the train 2 Pshaw 1 ho was at hia journey ' * end . Ho was going to mix with the throng . that would soon , stream . through thoae white gatoa into the town ; he wan going to purloin tho respectable appearance-. of a passenger by the train . And so well did he act the part of a bewildered tttiungor just vomited forth into uiittimiliur plncea by one of ± Uoao panting ateam monsters , ao artfully amidnt tho busy competition , of

    nudging elbows , overbearing shoulders , and the impedimenta of carpet-bacs norT manteaus , babies in arms , and shin-assailing trucks , did he look round consequential ! on the qui vive , turning his one eye now on Sophy , now on Sir Isaac , and griping hu bundle to his breast as if he suspected all his neighbours to be Thugs , coadottieri ° anl swell-mob , that hi an instant fly-men , omnibus-drivers , cads , and porters marked hi ™ for their own . " Gatesboro' Anns , " " Spread Eagle , " "Royal Hotel , " " SaxaceiK Head , —very comfortable , centre of High Street , opposite the Town Hall " - _ * shouted , bawled , whispered , or whined into his ear . "Is there an honest porter' " asked the Comedian piteously . An Irishman presented himself . " And is it meself can serve your honour ! "—" Take this bundle , and walk on before me to the Hid Street . "— " Could not I take the bundle , grandfather ? The man will charge s much , " said the prudent Sophy . " Hush ! you indeed ! " said the Pere Noble us if addressing an exiled Atiesse royaie—» " you take a bundle—Miss—Chapman ! " '

    'New Sea-side Studies , No . 5 , ' though too technical and scientific for most readers , is really one of the most important papers of this mterestinn- 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 , Sensibility ami Contractility . The writer'thinks that the analysis whieh traces these functioas to 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 wa metaphorically call ' nervous conduction' takes place not only in the absence of fibres , but also in the absence of any nerves whatever . There nothing like the sharp angle of a paradox to prick the reader ' s attention ; and here is one i n 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 . Soane physiologists , indeed , misled by the it 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 be 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 , -vve 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 iail to detect the slightest trace of either muscle or nerve m the Polype . To call the 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 tnat such a system is undiscoverable , assume that it exists ' in a diffused state . ' 1 have noticed this illogical position in a former paper . It is a flat contradiction , in terms : 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 wliat 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 ? Kot 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 ; ifor 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 bacomes specialized in the nervous tissue in proportion as the organism itself becomes specialized . ' Wo have no difficulty in understanding how Contractility , at iirst tie

    property of the whole- of the simple organism , becomes specialized m iim . scular tissue . We have no difficulty in understanding how Kespiration , at first effected by the whole surface of th-e simple organism , becomes specialized iu a particular part of that surface ( gills or lungs ) in the more complex , organisms ; nor should we have inure tliiliculty in understanding how Sensibility , from , being common to the whole organism , id handed over to a special structure , which then performs that function exclusively , as tlie lungs perform that of respiration , or tho muscles that of contraction . Nay , more : just as animals possessing 1 special organs for Respiration do also , in a minor degree , respire by the general surface , so , according to my observations , it ia almost demonstrable that animals possessing a special nervous system also manifest . sensibility in parts far removed from any nervous filament . In the highbr animals this is probably not the case . Tho division of labour ia more complete . The stouniicli digits , the glands secrete , tho muscles contract , and the nerves feeL Of course , the powor is greatly increased by this division of labour ; tho more complex tho orguuiiu ) , the more various and effective each

    function' Teaching and Training : a Dialogue , ' is one of those papers that naturally irritate the nervous readers . " Why have a dialogue at all , " he impatiently cx . chum . ss , " when , it ia managed iu such a stiff , long-winded , and awkward manner ? " The substance of the paper is , however , good ; as also arc the . Hues ' From India' —the best , in fact , we have seen on the sulked , full of tenderness , lire , and passion . The Dti & liu Un ' werahty Magazine is decidedly ethnological and p hilological this month , Dr . Ljixham contributing an . interesting paper on tho ' ltelatious of the Irish to tlie Northmen , ' and Professor ( Jraik one still more Jittractive , headed ' Curiosities of tho English Language . ' Towards I lie dose , lie points out and illustrates , in a striking manner , tho force of the Koinau element in . the language , and the way iu which it i 3 constantly gaining ground on the Saxon . . .

    If, As M. Montijuux Asserts, America Doc...

    If , as M . MontiJuux asserts , America docs not produce much original litcmtuve , she reproduces more than any other nation in tlie world . Headers m the States are , according- to the statement of a New York journal , live , limes inore numerous than in England . Here is the passage , which is worth extracting , if not for Lho reasoning ; , at least for the curious facts it conluin . s : — Tho Amoricans have bacomo tho greatest book-producers in tho world . Moru volumes uro sold iu this country in oua year Uuui iu Groat Britain , with much tuo

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Oct. 3, 1857, page 18, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_03101857/page/18/