On this page

• Text (2)

  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.

  • Untitled
  • 

    JEKDAN'S AUTOBIOGRAPHY. The Autobiograph...

• 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.

    Are The Staks Inhabited ? Flectricity An...

    these specs of lig ht were masses immeasurably greater than our own globe , that notion received a shock ; it recovered itself , however , and _suggested that probably these astral worlds were also inhabited—were the s plendid theatres for the drama of human life . Against this suggestion Science emphatically pronounces . We do not know much of the constitution of the stars , Wt we know of certain conditions which altogether disprove the notion of the stars being proper theatres for organic life , _understanding by the term " organic life , anything _analogous to what we know oi it . Dr . George Wilson ' s Essay undertakes to prove this . He takes an imaginary jury of common-sense men , bids them observe the differences , and draw their conclusions : —

    . " Our twelve shall first cast a glance at our own solar system , and observe that no one of its p lanets has the same magnitude , inclination of axis , so far as that has been observed , density , time of rotation , or arrangement of orbit ; but that each , in nearly all these particulars , differs greatly from its brethren . They shall notice that several of the planets have no moons : that our Earth has one relatively very large one : Jupiter , four relatively small ones : Saturn , seven of greatly varying dimensions : Uranus , as is believed , six ; and Neptune , two or more . They shall see the splendid girdles which Saturn wears , and be warned that twp at least of the moons of Uranus move from east to west , or in a direction opposite to that of their planet , and of all tbe other bodies of the solar system .

    « The enormous differences in the length of the planetary years shall startle them ; that of Mercury , for example , being equal to about three of our months ; that of Neptune , to 164 of our years . The lesser , but marked diversities in the length of their days shall awaken notice , the Mercurial day being , like our own , twenty-four hours long , the Saturnine only ten . The variations in the amount of heat and lig ht received from the Sun by each of its attendants shall not be forgotten ; Uranus , for example , obtaining two thousand times less than Mercury , which receives seven times more than the Earth . They shall also observe the extent to which the planets are subject to changes of season ; the Earth knowing its four g rateful vicissitudes ; Jupiter knowing none ; whilst the winter in Saturn under the shadow of his rings is fifteen years long . All those : unresembling particulars

    shall be made manifest to our observant twelve . Neither shall they be forgetful of those dissimilarities in relation to atmosphere , and perhaps to physical constitution , which astronomers have detected . When so much diversity has been seen to shine through the unity of the solar system , our twelve shall gaze forth into space , to see if all be sameness there . Sameness ! They shall discern stars of the first magnitude , stars of the second magnitude , of the third , of the fourth , of the seventh , down to points so small , even to the greatest telescopes , that the soberest of philosophers can devise no better name for them than star-dust ; and one of them declares ' that for anything experience has hitherto taught us , the number of the stars may be really infinite , in the only sense in which we can assign a meaning to the word / They shall find that the Dog-star is a sun , whose light has an intrinsic

    splendour sixty-three times greater than that of our own solar orb , and that he is not counted chief of the stars . They shall search in vain through the abysses for a system similar to our own , nnd find none , but perceive instead , multitudes of double-stars or twin suns , revolving round each other . They shall learn that there are triple systems of suns , and that there may be more complex ones j and try to conceive how unlike our planetary arrangements must be tho economy of the worlds to which these luminaries furnish light . They shall gaze at purple and orange _jqms , at blue and _jgreen and yellow and red ones ; and become aware of double sys . t <* . us where the one twin appears to be a self-luminous sun , and the . other a dark sphere of corresponding magnitude , like a sun gone out , as if modern science would assign an exact meaning to Origen's reference to * stars , which ray down darkness . ' _"

    , And their verdict is this : — " ' There are celestial bodies , and bodies terrestrial : but the glory of the celestial it one , and the glory of the terrestrial is another . There is one glory of the sun , amd another glory of the moon , and another glory of the stars : star differeth _* rom . star in glory . ' To which verdict , we , for our part , understanding the words in their _whJest sense , will append our heartiest Amen . " The * _fubwss of Him that filleth all in all' is of its essence inexhaustible , as we perhaps best realize when all metaphor is set aside , and we reflect on the one quality that 'belong * to God's attributes : namely , that they aro Infinite . It is part of his kindness to us , that he never lets us lose sight of this great prerogative ¦ of tils nature , but , alike by suns and by atoms , teaches us that his power and his wisdom havo no bounds .

    " It _ciAnnot bo that he reveals himself otherwise in thc oceans of space . Wero we privileged to set sail among the shining _archipelagws and starry islands that fill these seas , we should search like marvelling but adoring children for wonder npon wonder , and feel a cold chill of utter disappointment if the widest diversity * lid not everywhere prevail . Tho sense of Unity is an over-ruling power which never lays aside the _sceptre , and will not be disobeyed . Wc should not fear that it would fade away , nay , we know that it would stand forth mightiest when its kingdom seemed to have sunk under overwhelming diversity . Unity is in nature often

    nearest us exactly when variety seems to havo put it furthest away . We are like the sailors of Magellan who first rounded tho globe . Every day thoy sailed further as they reckoned from tho p lace of their departure , and ploughed what _seemed to them a straight line of increasing length , which had all to lie retraced before tbeir first harbour could bo gained : but , _lichohl , when they had nailed longest , and seemed furthest from home , they had tho least to sail over , and wero nearest to ]> ort . _ICxiu ' . tly when hope of return _wuh faintest wore they called on to exclaim , like the Ancient Mariner , —

    " ' Oh dream of joy ! is thin indeed The lighthouse top I see P Is this tho hill ? is this tho kirk ? Is this my own countreo i " " A voyago through space wpuld in like manner turn out to bo a circumnavigation . Wo should set sail from Unity , and traverse the great circle of a universe ' s variet y till wo came round to Unity again . The words on our lips as wo dropt anchor would be , ' There are differences of administrations , but the same Lord , and there are diversified of o ]> erationB , but it is the name Ood which worketh all in uH . '» We cannot follow Hn Wilson through the series of illustrations of his essay , but content ourselves with tho following : — " We should be blinded with tho glare and burnt up if transported into _Mercury , where the sun acts as if seven times hotter than on this earth ; and we should

    Are The Staks Inhabited ? Flectricity An...

    shiver in the dark , and be frozen to death if removed to Uranus , where the sun is three hundred times colder than he is felt to be by us . To pass from Uranus to Mercury , would be to undergo in the latter exposure to a temperature some two thousand times higher than we had experienced in the former , whilst on this earth the range of existence lies within some two hundred degrees of the Fahrenheit thermometer . " As for our satellite , Sir John Herschel says of it , * The climate of the moon must be very extraordinary : the alternation being that of unmitigated and burning sunshine , fiercer than an equatorial noon , continued for a , whole fortnight , and the keenest severity of frost , far exceeding that of- our polar winters , for an equal time . ' It would seem , then , that though all else were equal , the variations in amount of light and heat , ' would alone necessitate the manifestation of a

    non-terrestrial life upon the sun , and the _^ _heres which accompany the earth in its revolutions around it . All else , however , is not equal . The intensity of gravity at the surfaces of the different heavenly bodies differs enormously . At the sun it is neirly twenty-eight times greater than at the earth . ' The efficacy of muscular power to overcome weight is therefore proportionably nearly twenty-eight times less on the sun than on the earth . An ordinary man , for example , would not only be unable to sustain his own weight on the sun , but would literally be crushed to atoms under the load . ' 'Again , the intensity of gravity , or its efficacy in counteracting muscular power , and repressing animal activity on Jupiter , is nearly two and a half times that on the earth , on Mars is not more than one-half , on the moon one-sixth , and on the smaller planets probably not more than one-twentieth ; giving a scale of which the extremes are in the proportion of sixty to one . ' "

    We have only further to add , that these Essays form the twenty-sixth Part of Messrs . Longman ' s admirable and healthy series , the Traveller ' s Library .

    Ar01903

    Jekdan's Autobiography. The Autobiograph...

    JEKDAN'S _AUTOBIOGRAPHY . The Autobiography of W . lerdan . With Literary , Political , and Social Reminiscences and Correspondence during the last Fifty Years . Vol . II . Arthur Hall , Virtue , and Co . It may be remembered that we were forced to speak with some severity of Mr . Jordan ' s former volume ; to be able to speak favourably of this , the second volume of his autobiography , would have given us unfeigned pleasure . We cannot do so . The slipshod garrulity , and utter _worthlessness of this volume , surpass the mischievous twaddle of the first . He has really nothing to tell of any interest ; and what he tells is told in a style that could on 2 y make way by the momentum of serious matter . An

    accomplished writer would doubtless have given the slight materials here presented a form so agreeable as to lure the pleased reader unfatigued to the end . But Mr . Jerdan is not an accomplished writer ; he is no writer at all . The texture of hia style is as loose , common-place , and inaccurate , as the thoughts they _erxaswa . . He does not write with the plain energetic directness of men who , _Bering something to say , are careless of the manner of saying it ; n « r wifcb the vividness , precision , delicacy , and grace of the cultivated stylist , conscious of the charm that lies in the form . He writes like a penny-a-liner , and a bad one . Open at random : sentences like these " jump into your eyes" : —

    " He supposed that the Admiralty orders against making public the particulars of a Government expedition , were violated by some officer who was in duty bound by them ; and his resentment was warm . Ho suspected one individual , and pointed his ire against him and his claims , which merged in a widow and children , for he fell a victim to the climate . " The dance of pronouns here would drive Dr . Dillworth to distraction . A few pages on we meet another specimen : — "At Little Chelsea , however , at my first occupancy , my proximate neighbour was the exiled Princess of Conde , with whom the Duchess d'Angouleme frequently stayed . The establishment was upon a very moderate scale , and the daughter of the murdered king of France dressed little better than a milkmaid , which rank indeed she much resembled in her form , and tvalkiny about in thick-soled boots . "

    Occasionally , Mr . Jordan flavours his common-place with an infusion of tho Classics . He quotes Horace ( but onl y the well-worn passages ) , and even ventures on a Latin adaptation of his own , —e . g ., " Henry Erskine and Lady Wallace , and all the racy jests of their gay pastime aro as if they had never been , sic transit facetiiai mundi / " Ho might as well have said transeunt while he was about it ; but the fastidious exigencies of grammar seldom trouble him ! The reader will not _supposo wo have quoted these passages for the purpose of making merry with them ; they are quoted as the writing of one who writes diatribes against the profession of Literature , and who ? rea ches from the text of his ow n experience . Ho defends hiuiHclf in a ' refatory Chapter , and with garrulous incoherence throughout , the

    volume , from the charge which we , and others , brought against him , of having insulted Literature , by making it responsible for his misfortunes ; but his defence is as feeble as his allegations wero misplaced . Our position in tho dispute is simply this;—Literature may or may not be " less profitable than felony , " and altogether in a pitiable condition ; but you , William Jordan , have not the ri ght to say so in respect of your personal fortunes ; it gavo you money , it gave you friends , it gavo you consideration far exceeding your literary merits ; and your complaint as a personal complaint is preposterous and insulting . Let us turn from this unpleasant subject , and beg Mr . Jordan , in future volumes , to think a little more of tiie substance of his chapters , to givo ns moro matter of personal interest , more " gossip" even , so that if bo amusing , and no more extracts from his own forgotten writings .

    The present volume everyone must feel to he excessively meagre and " made up . " To find a passage worth extracting is not easy , so we fall back upon anecdotes , not of tho newest , though worth re-reading .

    TAT . MA AND KEEI-HT . " Talma , soon after his return to Paris , where the playgoers were rtngry at bis long absence , performed Coriolanus at the _Tltfiitro _I'Viuiyais ; anel when he came to the line Adieu , Rome ;; jo pursa sharp voico called out from the parterre , I _' our lew _elrfpiirlomcnts—

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Aug. 14, 1852, page 19, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_14081852/page/19/