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Leader (1850-1860), 5th May 1855, Edition 2 of 2, Page 18, !ftft^ftbB'is i sometliiMg'quitd-peculia...

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    • ^ , &*r± £ ! ' , ILw^JJIIItfJV '
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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.

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      C & xtics ¦ axe not ttie- 'legislatora . -liut-tiso judges-aud police of literature . They do not zoeke-lawa— thejriutejppret aaa . d try to euforoe them . —Edinburgh Review .

      !Ftft^Ftbb'is I Sometliimg'quitd-Peculia...

      ! ftft ^ ftbB'is sometliiMg'quitd-peculiar inrthe tenacityof life which a good down - right , outspoken absurdity exhibits ; no error lives longer than a palpable esanr . if it live-afcal ^ i £ it . survive the first rash of contradiction . Let it once attain its footing in the world ; and its immortality is sacred . On several occasions we have amused ourselves , and let us hope our readers . also a little , by selecting some vigorous . absurdity for dissection ; and this week we propose to notiGe one more , led ' thereto by the curious introduction < $ f the error in an article which Fraser this month devotes to Hbnbx Lawes , tie * musician , and friend ^ of Milton . to

      ^ We believe Gicbbo was the-first say " Exceptio probat regulam—the exception proves the rule . " No * matter to whose'paternity the aphorism be traced , everyone is familiar with the terrible iteration of " no rule without . an ^ exception "—ox , "it is an exception which proves the rule . " These phtases insult us-evenon grave'pages . Not a week ago we met with the af & ttrdity iii aiscientific workv useff as scvalid argument . Now although it imperfectly unnecessary to inform , our readers that no rule can have an exoption , in the atariet logical sense ; and that the notion of an exception

      pr & ving a rule iff a notion of the most confused logic , yet it may not be wholly superfluous to add that the phrase originally meant nothing of the feind ,. but meant a very good , , sensible meaning , ; viz ., that the very existence < sf » wiiatwaS'signalised as a » exception 1 proved that there was-a rule ; if there was no rule st all there could be no exception ; just as there would be no vices if there were no ruJe-of morality ,, no crimes if there were no Police . But when argumentative ! gentlemen dispose of an objection'b y saying " Ah ! that is one of the exceptions which prove the ¦¦ rule j . ' * they talk sheer non-£ e ~ nse .

      In the'veryr interesting ; article which led to this remark , the writer , whose initials ^ J . H . wiU ^ bettay him * to all lovers of music , truly observes : — Every musician , whose opportunities and tastes have led . , him into the realms of jgeireraVliterature , wOThave been struck—not once or twice , but a thousand times—TS $ : the loose Way in which musical terms are usedby some of our |» est writers , and the-almost universal inaccuracy of their language in . reference to the musical art . The < io ' ser students in every subject"have , of course , much . cause for complaint , of a similar £ SnH : the natural' philosopher , the mathematician , or the . painter , can never want

      opportunity of ascertaining how wildly natural philosophy , mathematics , or pictures ilia ; be talked about . But it is difficult to believe that the same quantity of unadulterated nonsense could be collected from the writings of English authors about anytHiiig as about music : for the simple reason , that it is one of the two or three subjects (• jthedlogy is another ) of which the average Englishman takes what he calls a ' ^ plain , Common-sense , view , " and . on 'which he thinks Tiinnsp . lf entitled , not only to have , but to" express ; an opinion , whenever he thinks proper j-a frame of mind which implies-not 80 much absolute ignorance ^ of a subject , as of the fact that there is anything to be lt & rnt in respect to it . ¦

      Tnis . quiet uncoisciousneaa of the very existence of principles in . general science , and tEis audacious misuse of ita technology , are confined for the most part to writers of lesser note" and-inferior calibre ; but to a collection of musical errata , very great names Would appear in' the li & tTof contributors . TJila is happily laid , and was wonth « saying ;; although in < the illustrations heibriugs forwaid ^ there i 8 one which docs- , not appear to us strictly appo-^ fcfer : Ee'objects tod'the'frequent use of the p hra ser" harmonious voice" as the ** confusion of a combination with a succession of . musical sounds ; " but ^ harmonious ? ' in . JEngUsh has come . to mean : more than that , and when ; apaliifd'to a voiee ^ is used' as signifying a voice which ^ instead ' of jarri ng on

      < jur / sensations , excites them agreeably . Waiving this , point , however , and conceding all . that ; the writer , say * about , the unsoientific use of terms popular e / van among grave writers , we pass onwards a few sentences , and find him committing thevery same error with respect to another science ; After . alluding to the offending writers audacious in their misuse of terms , he < joi » es- to >* 1 SnIij & T 0 N , . adding .: ^** ' The exception- proves the . rale : ; the more ^ s plen di d the exeeption the more-complete the proof . " J . H :, among hi » taxeny accomplishments , may be content to err ( in company with illustrious writers ;) , on a-, point , of Logic . ; nor should -we have noticed so venial an error b « td . ut > not -followed close upon"the exposurcof similar ' errors made by un scientific writers treating of music .

      'This-article on Hjenqst Lawks , which . might . have been longer with ad * vantage , and told us more about thotjoausio of Mic-tow ' a negloetedfiriend , iR ' one of great * intOTesti not onlyascrilMngthe attention of musical amateurs tb a ^ composrer'wliose acquaintance [ is well worth cultivating , but alsoi as in-« i 3 entaUy conveying some piquant bits of information . Among these there i » allusion to i J ^ r . 'Benjanrm'Rogers , who deserves especial mention as the Tory , par excellence , «*> miwical Wfttory ^ - the Eldon o £ harmonists . Born as late aa 1820 , this worthy cettrtimied to make " ialse relations , " —to * scan

      nithMldaa * earra , committing short nnd'lotig , flfrough regnom and Interregnum , till tiro accession of the house of llano vor , and ,, for iBC'Wecan say , the advent of Handel ; having seen the births , lives ,, and deaths of Htartphrey , Wlee , Blow , and Purcoll . ITextin interest , and only next because , its . subject-is- more > familiar « isi the orticle > on , " { Bexairioklea in Pound s" which'no render must' poas over . It is-on 64 VftMHriumB 1 , " how to make them ,, to kcop them , and to enjoy them . The

      Vivarium isthe one newi & feig under the sun . ; the one novelty Soaomon had never seen * dreamt o £ i ; heard of . Our pleasant Naturalist , to > whose light style and erudite pleasantry Fraser has so often been indebted , thus discusses the propriety ; of the name Vivarium : — By What-mane these crystal palaces should be designated is of little importance ; " a-rose by any other name "—and so of a vivarium ; but as , nevertheless , nobod y thinks ' of giving any other name to a rose than its own , we venture to suggest that " vivarium " ' , after all , the very best name for a " vivarium . " It is better than a new name , because , in'the first place , the word is made to our hands , and has classical authority to back its pretensions , which " aquarium" and " aqua-vivarium , "(!) its proposed substitutes , have not . The ancient vivarium was a place where live animals were kept . It w * as chiefly applied to fish-ponds and parks , and thus very

      nearly corresponds with our word " preserve . " Etymologically , it might perhaps extend to a poultry yard , an aviary , a decoy , a sty , or a coop ( most of which had further their own ; distinct name ) ; but in its commonest acceptance it signified , as we have just said , a stew for fish , or an enclosure for game . In place of this word it has been proposed ( in order , it is alleged , to give greater precision to the modern contrivance which is exclusively applied to water livestock ) to adopt anew word— " aquarium . " We forbear to do so , not only because the word is wholly without authority , but because it is anything but explicit . The nearest approach to it we know is Aquarius , the name of the man who holds the water-pot , and if there were such a derivation as aquarium from it ( which there is not ) , that should be by rights the water-pot he holds . We throw away " aquarium , " therefore , and though it may etymologically hold water—it does not etymologically hold stock .

      The following account of the balance of animal and plant life , which regulates the stacking of a -vivarium , is too interesting to be omitted , although we have an objection to make to one passage : The rationale of the contrivance may be given in few words : —The animals yield , in a combined form from their system , carbon ( which is the pabulum of vegetable life ) , while the-weeds of the water support reciprocally the animals , by affording the necessary supplies of oxygen . Such a statement , however , of the balance of animal and vegetable life must not be misunderstood as implying that vegetables anymore than animals can > exist without oxygen . The respiration of the whole organic world is the same . Plants , as much as animals , pant for this vital air , and deprived of it , perish ' speedily . Dr . Daubeny found , on plunging several kinds into vessels filled with caTbonic acid gas , that the vital functions were presently disordered ( as happens

      under similar circumstances to animals ) , and that when the exposure was sufficiently prolonged , they all died in consequence . Every member of Flora's domains ( on land the lofty timber tree and the lichen that encrusts its rind ; in -water the floating duckweed and the fueus , out-of the reach of the plummet line at the bottom of the ocean ) equally absorbs oxygen ; and therefore if matters stopped here , it is clear that the introduction of weeds into either the same atmosphere or water with animals , must prove highly detrimental to the Litter by accelerating the consumption of the limited -Sttpply of oxygen . But the above is only a partial statement of facts . Another 'I Mtaction in the economy of plants ( on the due performance of which the preservation of the animals confined with them in the aquarium depends ) is digestion . This process is just as essential to repair the losses , and to promote the growth of plants as it is to the sustentation of animals . In the latter , both functions may be considered as going on

      persistently , as they might possibly be in plants if the necessary conditions for their performance were at all times present . But this is not the case with one of them ; the function of digestion absolutely requires for its maintenance the intervention of the solar rays , for which no other light will serve as a substitute , and thus is necessarily suspended during the night . Notwithstanding , however , this fitfulness in operation , the process itself is so energetic whilst in action , . that the quantity of oxygen set free by the decomposition of the carbonic acid , during even a moderately bright day , is vastly greater in amount than that which , during the whole twenty-four hours of alternate light and shade , is being continuously taken in through the respiratory surfaces : Thus-While one part of the organisation of the plants contained in a vivarium is appropriating uninterruptedly a small amount of oxygen , and giving out fitfully a much larger supply ( the whole of which surplus goes directly to oxygenate the animals exhalation of carbonic acid

      in the vicinity }; these reciprocally , by the constant gas , bestow upon the plants the carbon necessary for their support and growth j and aa long a » either thus furnishes to other the requisite supplies , the circulating fluid m the animals continues vitalised and purified , and the plants thrive and grow . The objection we must raise is to the extremely loqse phraseology which the writer allows himself when speaking of the function of digestion in plants . He is too good a physiologist to believe in anything of the kind ; but even in popular writing , scientific ideas ought not to be thus confounded , especially when there are already too many scientific men constantly falling into the error of supposing a function can exist tvithoid an apparatus , and to confound Nutrition ( which is ono-of the elementary properties of tissue ) with Digestion , which is a function dependent on a specific apparatus oi

      organs . We-cannot resist the following little picture : Here takingleavc of marine zoology we shall conclude with a few words on freshwater fish . With these last , our cat seems as much pleased as ourseli ; go at any time of the day and there she is , now lying to watch from below the movements or the slow carp within an inch of her excited whiskers , and now having niiuie a loufa series of interesting observations from that position , creeping up by " »>«« * " » i > » purring with delight to put her round head and erect ears in nearer contiguity fl " the gliding fish ; more discreet however in her admiration than man , she ncvoi . » fc "" that cold water is not her element , and so when to get at the object of her « i . ; micis temptation likely to prove too strong , she calmly turns round and sita down to icntci a little , and not till she feela confidence in her powers of eclf-coutrol voiituics io dulge in another peep . Fraser is so very entertaining this month that-wo could |' exhaust our apace and then imagine moro" without coining to a conclusion . Aa Hum , however , may be objectionable , wo will brielly refer to it . s article ^ on " Servian Proverbs , " " Paris in Little , " and " The Reg imental System , as articles worthy to bo read in club or drawing-room , and pass on to ^ ^ ' " ! \ varied , but less interesting than usual—at least to us , who can find mi ^ amusement in such papers us those on the " Poetry of the War , " and on " Modern Novelists — Great and Small , " in which Mw . G <>™ . ^ - ttMNU « inD ,. Mm .. MAB 8 ii , Mrs . Gaskbll , Mihs Jbwsuurv , and the anon ymous , authoress of the House of Itatnj ( who will assuredly have to avow horacii uo lone ) , - Kikqsudx ,. Natibanijsl Hawxiiobnb , Lkvuu , WiLiuifl CoM-uve , aim

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), May 5, 1855, page 18, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_05051855/page/18/