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Leader (1850-1860), 12th February 1859, Edition 2 of 2, Page 14

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      Winter, Evenings: Winter Evenings. By Le...

      and -with the -register of his college , ; and what is perhaps of higher importance , -while it rescues the memory of the greatest poet and one of the ripest scholars of England from" a " shade that , has long . rested on' it ; it deprives giddy and " thoughtless youth of a precedent they are fond of quoting for their own irregularities and contumacy . " The following is a slightly paraphrased rendering of the lines above quoted : — The city -which the Thames laves with refluent wave detains me , , And my sweet native place possesses me not against my ¦ will ; Now I have neither a desire to revisit the reedy Cam , Nor does the love of my father ' s fireside , lately forbidden me , ( during Term-time , ) torment me .

      If this be what you call exile—to have visited my father ' s household gods , And , free from cares , to follow charming leisure—I refuse not the name or the lot of a banished man , And gladly I enjoy the condition of exile . Nothing can be clearer than that this , and this only , is Milton ' s meaning . The translation given by Dr . Johnson of vetiti larisseems little less than absurd , so strong was the Tory dogmatist ' s desire to find Milton in the wrong . The word / at ; as Mr .. Ritchie

      himself observes , is one of the most expressive m the language . It is not merely " a habitation ; " it is a home in the deepest meaning of the term—a hearth hallowed by the . spiritual presence of the household god . It is quite beyond belief that an accomplished Latinist like Milton could apply such a name to his solitary room at a college of which he takes so little pains to conceal his dislike and contempt . _ ; .

      . . , . , We have dwelt more oil this than we might else have done , to show that Mr . Bitchie ' book is not compiled of merely light and . trifling essays and tales ,, but also contains some instructive contributions to our literary knowledge .

      206 The Leaded [No.4*64*, "February ! 2,...

      206 THE LEADED [ No . 4 * 64 * , "February ! 2 , 185 9 .

      . Life And Organisation. Outlines Of Phy...

      . LIFE AND ORGANISATION . Outlines of Physiology ; By John Hughes Bennett , M . D ., F . K . S . E ., & c . Edinburgh : Adam & Charles Black . " LlFEj" says the Edinburg h Eevieio , in an article bearing the above title , " includes the greatest of all the problems submitted to human thought . All distinctions and diversities are trifling in comparison to . the distinction between inanimate matter and living- organisms . " On this topic , considering with the reviewer that it is extremely important , we propose to make a few remarks , not taking much notice , however , of the ill-written and confused article in which it is

      discussed at great length . Nor shall we say anything further of the book of which the title is prefixed , than that it is a very concise and useful manual , chiefly devoted to human physiology . " By discovering , " says Mr . Herbert Spencer , in his Principles of JPsgcholoffy , " that certain things shrink when touched ^ or fly away when approached , or start when a noise is made , the child first roughly discriminates between the living and the not living ; and a man , when in doubt whether an object he is looking at be dead or not , stirs it with a stick , shouts , or tlirows a stone at it . " This explains the common idea of life , and it implies only an inherent

      power of self-motion when acted on by external causes . It is formed in childhood , continues with us to the end of our career , arid guides all our actions in treating living organisms . The same writer , however , after much elaborate discussion of what the definition ought to be , defines life as " the continuod adjustment of internal relations to external relations . " Other writers have called it the " sum total of-. the functions which resist death . " " Organisation in action / ' & c . There are , therefore , two prevalent ideas of life —the one formed from first impressions , formed in childhood , remaining throughout our existence ^ and appnrontly common to us all ; the other formed

      from close , minute , and continued observation ot the structuro and functions oE living creatures , and limited , in the first instanoe , to those who study f > h ysiology . The former is the exoteric , and tlio Rtter the esoteric , sido of human knowledge In every branch there is the same distinction . Ideas formed from first and gonoral impressions—as our perception of the sun rising in the cast and sotting in . the woat- —the origin of tho idea of tlio movement of that luminary and all the host of heavenare generally different from , and sometimes totally at variance , as this is , with those formed from oontinucd observation , and-called soionUflo , Wo must remember this distinction to avoid boing puzzled

      know , to what we cannot feel and know , the consciousness of other beings , we infer that all consciousness and all life is on the whole a stream of enjoyment . The liunl of insects , the twittering of birds , the song of man , all testify to the fact th . afc life is pleasure . Individuals perish , races , species of all kinds are continued , life is transmitted from ; one to another , or reproduced , and perishes not . The stony records of tne earth inform us that lif <* was before our time , and our limited experience of

      its continual reproduction convinces us that it will be after our time . In this sense it is eternal . In the same sense consciousness is eternal . It was before us , and will be after us . Every person who has ever given the matter a thought is aware that time and space are reciprocally the measures of oneanother , or rather observed motion is the common measure of both . Life , consciousness , enjoyment , are diffused therefore through time and through space ; they were before and will be after us , which-- , is synonymous with tlieir being eternal .

      We do not overlook the common theory that'lifeis a burden and pain au evil , opposed though it be to the universal practice of striving to preserve life , when it can be voluntarily laid down by individuals and of seeking enjoyment ; and acknowledging , as who can deny , the existence of pain , it seems a very small part , of life . The cessation of consciousness is not pain ; disease and suffering , vnucli as we hear of them , iii order to incite us if possible to remove them , are exceptions to the general rule , and form only a small part of the life of an individual " or of a nation .. : The advanced classes of

      society , who have the most influence over opinion , seem always to imagine that the condition irom which they have advanced is one of suffering , and so they are induced to promote improvement for others . J ? or those who are regularly fed every day , comfortably clothed , and luxuriously lodged , it is a great ' suffering to be . deprived of a meal , to be ragged , shoeless , and homeless . To the poor , accustomed tosuch circumstances from the beginning of their' existence , as to the savage who has never known an improved condition , the actual suffering from theni is much less than opulent and civilised observers suppose . Habit is second

      nature . God tempers the wind , to the shorn lamb ; " nature is kind alike to all , " and the exaggerated sympathy generally felt at the outward signs of suffering , prompting to lessen it , shows how fully and completely enjoyment is an attribute of life . As we infer from bar own love and pursuit of pleasure a similar love and pursuit in other life , so , conversely , we may infer from the pleasure which all inferior life manifests that the conscious life of man is intended to be pleasure , and that the order of nature is contravened by tlie apparent sufferings of the multitude throughout Europe . Pain is a warning and a guide , it teaches us to provide for the

      preservation of the body , and to secure greater enjoyment through a longer period ; but it is only an occasional cross current , impelling us into u new course in the great and overflowing stream of enjoyment . Life is known to us as an inherent power of selfmotion , and industry is life in motion to sustain life . Insects , birds , and other animals , as well ns man , exert themselves to obtain the means of subsistence . The labour which builds up great cities , cultivates and adorns the earth , and covers the ocean with steam-ships , resembles in motives and objects the chase of birds after insects and carnivorous beasts aftor thoir destined proy . It is ono

      by philosophical discussions about life and matter , and space and forcje , and such abstractions ; and also remember , that to whatever conclusions ^ philosophers may be led by observations continued from age to age , they make no pretence to change or upset the ideas formed from- , first impressions * formed in cliildhood i and constituting in the main the conscious life of all . They only teach us , exr citing wonder and reverence , that the last concluobservation leads

      sions to which continuous , are different from those formed from first impressions , by which weguide out conduct . We readily extend , under the guidance of science , the common idea of life from animals and insects to mollusca , vegetables , & c , till we reach , in company with philosophers , the prescient conclusion of the poet : See through this air , this , ocean , and this earth , All matter quick and bursti rig into birth .

      The air is vocal with myriads of insects . Every bucket of sea-water is full of life : the ocean teems with vitality . The surface of the earth , the field , the rock , is alive with vegetables and animals . The sand , the sea-shore , and the solid rock itself are the remains of life . Great beds of coal , many fathoms deep , and many miles of extent , were once thriving forests . All the strata of the earth bear witness to the fact that life has for ever , i . e . before our knowledge begins , existed on its surface . Including veget ation - , life serves to nourish other life . Animals are sustained by it , and animals live on one another ,

      even the most exalted supply -nutriment and life to other and meaner animals . The whole perceptible universe is alive . ' Downwards , this has been traced to the minutest films the microscope has discovered ; upwards , though a notion of a Male of being indefinitely extensive in both directions has long been prevalent , it stops at man , " the head , the heartj and tongue of all . " The ox , the horse , the elephant , the whale , the shark—as well as many now extinct species of animals— -have bigger bodies than man ,

      but they are his servants , nor his slaves . They are pigmies in intellect compared to him , and seem created for his use . Between man and the p lanets , though our literature teems with notices of angels and spiritual existences of various kinds , no organised beings have been yet discovered endowed with life and standing higher in the scale than nian . These facts suggest two very important questions ; the first is , What are the chief attributes of the life universally diffused ? To the inherent power of self motion the writer in the Review adds the

      " wonderful power of reproduction which maintains the continuity of the species ; " and insists earnestly that " no definition of life can be complete without it . " Imperfect as our knowledge may yet be , we know our own life better than we know the life of others . From our own life we must reason to the life of others ; and its ' chief distinction and attribute is Consciousness . We are conscious of life : Science informs us by demonstrating the continual flux and re-formation of the body , and by demonstrating the impossibility of our getting at any knowledge of matter beyond its forces or the impressions it makes on us , that the sum total of our life is consciousness , and nothing but

      consciousness . From this great fact what can wo infer but that all other life is consciousness , or attended by consciousness P That the dog , and the horse , and the elephant , and the crocodile , and the shark , and the snake , aro conscious . —conscious of danger , conscious of man ' s presence if they see him , conscious of pleasure and of pain—is certain . Must we not extend the fact and principle to all life ? Comparative anatomists trace ono type or one form throughout the animal kingdom , and on thej . r prinoiplo wo infer one moral form similar to their one typo , ono corisoiousnos , s , varyiner according to tho variations in tho type through ail life . On tho usual and well-accredited supposition df

      attribute of universal life , andJs so suitable to the structure of our frames that tho exertion which is necessary to obtain subsistence prosorves them in health . Without oxcrtion the body is but hull' developed . Instinct prompts it in infancy , continues it in youth , and habit confirms it in maturity , jlon and women sing at thoir work as birds and insects express their gladnoss as they roam aftor their lood . It is plainly , thoroforo , a mistake to suppose , because labour has been unwisely oonncot . ed wit li slavery , that labour is a pain . Noxt to Wo il & cll , than the

      a uniformity , of design throughout creation such a conclusion is inevitable . Our life is . in tho main consciousness , and it' scicntiflo language have any moaning and bo procise and dofinito , the sum of ail lifo must in tho main bo consciousness . Another important fact is that all consciousness is plcasuro or pain . Tho ohiof if not tho first conceptions of the infant in tho mother ' s arms arc pleasant , it dnnoos with delight . So tho gratifications of our appetites and passions every day of our lives is a pleasure ; and ho is tho Jasl ; discovery of a Jfyraday as to the qualities of bodies or forces ; and tho last disoov . ory of a Horsoholl of now dwellers , double or single , or now ronmors in the milky-way . Thus our consciousness i » generally a stream of enjoyment ; and , arguing from what wo feol and

      nothing should bo more holy and sacrod industry by which if . is subsisted . It is not nmfioial , not ordained by a state , not called into being by legislation ; it bolongs to all lifo . It is tho nieiiiis by whioh all life is sustained . To restricts is 10 maim or to mar lifo , and is noxt door to inlwiUouto or manslaughter . " You tako , my lifo wli , cn vow take that whereby I live . " And so a stato Inkcs away or diminishes life when it impedes industry , L ' ife boing univorsnl and eternal , our lifo , higli as ic is in tho sonki , is only nn atom of a groat wholo . iAio » too , lives on lifo . Matter is orgauisod buforo it enn

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Feb. 12, 1859, page 14, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_12021859/page/14/