On this page

• Text (3)

  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.

  • 

    £22

  • 

    T« *J,p "Noctes, " all his variety of qu...

  • 

    ARISTOTLE ON THE VITAL PRINCIPLE. Aristo...

• 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.

    £22

    £ 22

    THE LEADE B ,. [ No . 283 , Satubpay ,

    T« *J,P "Noctes, " All His Variety Of Qu...

    T « * J , p " Noctes , " his variety of qual ities has fair play , sincere has ' J * 1 i ? J ^ A ^ ml apart from the special m eri t of the dialogues , the £ S i ? l ' ¦ £ ? curiot record of what was doingjn England in politics , f ^« «« J ^ nerS life during t he early part of this century . Nothing is ISSTilSf / SS that is , a cframatic dtafogue , since in most compositfons Marine the nSe / the men are made for the sayings , and not the sayings for X ^ SL The " ffood things" pass like counters at a game of cards * which hav nothing about them to mark them as one person ' s property rather tha ? toother * . The " Noctes ' are singularly dramatic . The Shepherd feunique . He is a character whom one remembers like the delineations of affreat novel . What Hogg exactly supplied towards the creation would be hard to tell . It is Hogg , and not Hogg . Hogg was not such a converser , yet could Wilson have created the figure without Hogg ? It is Hos «* as a man of genius saw him . Let any one who doubts how much is du ? to Wilson select the most remarkable man he knows , and try to make out of him anything a hundredth part so real ! There is something in this conception of the Shepherd Sancho- Panza-tsh , « nd yet poetical . It is a Scotch Sancho who is a rural poet . It is an embodiment of mother-wit , a most admirable exhibition of our old tnencl — Rusticus , abnormis sapiens , crassaque Minerva . We sha ll select a specimen or two of his happiest vein : — A LITTLE LEARNING . « i Shepherd . You may keep wagging that tongue o' yours , Mr Tickler , till midsumaner but I'll no stir a foot frae my position , that the London University , if weel schemed and weel conduckit , will be a blessing to the nation . It's no for me nor the like 6 * me , to utter a single syllable against edication . Take the good and the bad iftegether , but let a' ranks hae edication . ^ Tickler . All ranks cannot have education . Mullion . I agree with Mr . Tickler , " A little learning is a dangerous thing . _ ^ Drink deep , or taste not the Pierian spring . " W Shepherd . Oh , Man , Mullion ! but you ' re a great gowk ! What the mair dangerous 4 « e y ? wi' your little learning ? There's no a mair harmless creature than yoursel , man , amang a' the contributors . The Pierian spring ! What ken ye about the Pierian ' spr ing . ? Ye never douked your lugs intil't , I ' m sure , let , gin it were anything like a jug o' whisky , faith , ye wad hae drank deep aneuch—and then , danceirous or no dangerous , ye might hae been lugged awa to the Poleesh-office , wi a watchman aneath ilka oxter , kickin and spurrin a' the way , like a pig in a string . Hand your tongue , Mullion , about drinkin deep , and the Pierian spring . Aortft , James , you are very fierce this evening . Mullion scarcely deserved such Shepherd . Fairce ? I ' m nae mair fairce than the lave o' ye . A' contributors are in * manner fairce—but I canna thole to hear nonsense the nicht . Ye may just as weel tell me that a little siller ' s a dan gerous thing . Sae , doubtless it is , in a puir hardworking duel ' s pouch , in a change-house , on a Saturday nicht-but no sae dangerous -either a % mair o'l A guinea ' s mair dangerous than a shilling , gin you reason m that gate . It ' s just perfec sophistry a ' tbegether . In like ' manner you micbt say a little Kent ' s a dangerous thing , and therefore shut up the only bit wurmock in a poor mln ' s house , because the room was ower sma' for a Venetian ! Havers ! havers ! < 5 od ' s blessings are aye God ' s blessings , though they come in sma s and dnblets . ^ That ' s my creed , Mr . North—and it ' s Mr . Canning ' s too , I ' m glad to see , and that o 4 l' the lave o' the enlichtened men in civilised Europe . TA word or two , such as " wunnock" " window , " " oxters "— " armpits , " " havers" for gabble or nonsense , require explanation . The editor is liberal in these matters throughout . ] MEMOIRS OF A FRENCH LA » V . Tickler . What an absurd old beldame is Madame Genlis , in the last number of the ¦ ¦ QuarterTu f Have you read her Memoirs , James ? Shepherd . Me read her Memoirs!—no me indeed ! But I have read the ar icleon slut French and a \ There can be nae doubt but that she would marry yet ! Hoo the-auld lass wad stan paintin her shrivelled cheeks at a plate-glass mirror , wi a frame o' naked Cupids ! Hoo she wad try to tosh up the nzzered haddies o her breest , and wi' paddins round her hainches ! Hoo she wad smirk , and simper , and leer wi' her bleered rheumy een at the marriage ceremony before a Papish Priest ! — - and wha wad venture to say that she wadna cnterteen expectations and howps o fa in into the family-way on the wrang side o' aughty ? Think ye she wad tak to the nursin , and show undue partiality to her first-born ower a' the ither childer ? North . Old age—especially the old age of a lady—should be treated with respectwith reverence / * I cannot approve of the tone of your interrogations , James . Shepherd Yes , Mr . North—old age ought indeed to be treated with respect and reverence . That ' s a God ' s truth . The ancient grandame , seated at the ingle amnng her children ' s children , wi' the Bible open on her knees , and lookin solemn , almost severe , with her dim eyes , through specs shaded by gr « r hairs—now and then brightening up her faded countenance wi' a saintly smile , as she saftly lets fa'her shrivelled hand on the golden head o' some wee bit hafflin imp sittin cowerin by her knee , and , half in love half in . fear , opening not his rosy lips—such an aged woman as thatfor leddy L shall not ca' her—i » indeed an object of respect and reverence ; and beats there a heart within human bosom that would not rejoice , wi' holy awe , to lay the Jiomage of its blessing at her feet?—But North . Beautiful , James!—Tickler , is not that beautiful ? Shepherd . I was thinking just then , sirs , o' my ain mother . North . You needed not to have said so , my dear Shepherd . Shepherd . But to think o' an auld , bedizzened , painted hag o * a French harridan rlpin the ribs «* her wasted carca « 8 wi' the poker o' vanity , to wauken a spark in the dead ashes o * her wonted fires , and try In a' the secrets o' memory and imagination to kindle a glow" i » the chitterin skeleton North . Tickler , what imagery ! Shepherd . To hear her gloating ower sins she can no longer commit—nay , ower the sins o' them that are flesh and bluid nae mair , but' part o' the mouldorin corruption o' catacombs and cemeteries;—to see the unconscious confusion in which tho images o' virtue and vice come waverin thegithor afore her eon , frno tho lung-ago history o' them that , in life , were her Ain kith and kin Tickler . Stop , James!—stop , I beseech you ! - Shepherd . To hearken till * er drivellln , in the same dotage o' undfstinguiahing heartlessncsa , o' chaste matrons that filled the secret drawers in their cabinets wi ' love-letters , no frae their ain husbands , but frae princes , and peers , and counts , and irenrtlemen , and a' sorts o' riff-raff , as plain an pike-staffa ettlin at adultery;—o' nae learn chaste ' maidens bluahln in the dark , in boudoirs , in the grup o' unprincipled panunours , let lowse upon them by their verra ain fathers and mothers , and , ofter year * o' sic perilous rampaugin wl young sodgors , walin out ano at lust for her man ,

    only to plant horns on his head , and lose a haud on the legitimacy o' ony ane o' her subsequent children except the firat , and him mair than apocryphal;—o' limmers that flang their chastity with open hand frao them like chaff , and rolling along m flunkyflanked eckipages by the Boulevards o' Paris , gloried in the blaze o' their iniquity North . I must positively shut your mouth , James . —You will burst a blood-vessel in your righteous indignation . That ' s right , empty your tumbler . There is a raciness and boldness about this and many such passages , which is refreshing in our quieter and more decorous days . And we are bound to say that on returning to the " Noetes" in this new shape , we found them quite as readable as of old when we hunted them up in the volumes of Blackwood ' s Magazine .

    Aristotle On The Vital Principle. Aristo...

    ARISTOTLE ON THE VITAL PRINCIPLE . Aristotle on the Vital Principle . Translated from the Original Text , with Notes by Charles Collier , M . D . Macimllan and Co . Ir will perhaps cause some surprise in certain readers to see the well-know treatise of Aristotle , De Anima , translated by an accomplished physician , as a treatise , not on the Sou / , but on the Vital Principle . To the best of our knowledge this is the first time the work has been correctly designated , at least by translators . De Blainviile , in his Histoire des Sciences de VOrganisation ( Vol . I . p . 220 et seq . \ had already rectified the vulgar error , and established the true meaning of Aristotle . Dr . Collier , in alluding to his predecessors , says that their misconception of this physiological treatise being a psychological treatise , and their ignorance of physiology , have led them into obscurities and errors ; but he himself nowhere establishes how and why the confusion became possible , nor what properly is the signification of the word ylrvxn , translated correctly enough anima , and vital principle . It may not be altogether uninteresting to clear up this point as fur as we can . Every one knows that $ vX *} means 3 duZ ; but it requires slight acquaintance with Greek writers to be made aware that this word also means Uj <; not only in an indirect , derivative sense , but also in the direct sense ; not simply as soul and life are used by us convertibly , but in the specific dis tinction of soul as life and soul as intelligence— vovs . Sometimes , as in Herodotus ( Clio , i . 112 ) , the phrase "he will not perish as to his soul , ovk airoXeftTtjyyfrvxW may be taken as a periphrasis for "be will not die ; " as Homer uses the phrase airo Ovpov o \ eo-0 ai . Then again the expression Ttfp ylrvxnv aTrepprjgfv , " be died , " be the equivalent for he " gave up the ghost . " But there is no such ambiguity in the phrase V"W Trapairfoptvov , " begging far life " nor in such a passage as that in St . Matthew , ii . ' 20 , Tt 0 v *) Ka ( rt yap oi CqTovvres tijv y \ rvxnv tov naibiov , " they are dead who sought the child ' s life" nor in various passages in the Dramatists where life is meant and soul cannot be meant . Throughout his treatise Aristotle obviously is treating directly of Life , and only indirectly of Mind ; although , as Dr . Collier remarks , the term Vital Principle embodies Aristotle ' s idea , yet the writers cited do not always employ the term ^ "XI »« this sense ; nor was Aristotle himself always consistent in his use of it . We are not consistent in our use of such words aa Heart , and Soul , why then should we be rigorous with the Greeks ? The cause of the ambiguity is , however , more interesting to us than the hmbiguity itself ; and that cause , we believe , lay in the superior psychological basis which the Greeks had . We who for centuries have been m the habit of dissociating Life und Mind , of making them either two separate independent Entities residing in tho body , or one Entity ( Mind ) and one process moved by it , controlled by it ( Life ) , are necessarily puzzled at those Greek phrases , which identify and sometimes confound the two . Butunless our reading of Aristotle is erroneous , unless we read into his pa < jes what is not in them—he , at least , saw with more or less clearness , that Mind was only a higher development of Life , tho particular manifestation of a general activity . There could be Life without Mind—the general without the particular form ; but no Mind without Life , Head this masterly passage , in which Aristotle anticipates modern physiology and psychology , and what has just been asserted will , perhaps , become clear : — We aay , then , resuming our inquiry at its outset , that the atiinutte in distinguished from the inanimate by having life . Now the term life li . ia many acceptations , but if one only of the following properties , viz ., mind , sensibility , locomotion , and ro . it , art well as the motion concerned in nutrition , growth , and decay , be manifested in any object , we say that that object is alive . And , therefore , all plants necni to b « "I've , for they all appear to have within them a faculty and a principle by which they acquire growth and undergo decay in opposite directions ; for they do not grow upwards exclusively bat they grow equally in both these and all other directions , and are alive throughout ho long as they are able to imbibe nourishment . It in possible for nutrition to subsist independently of the other functions , but the others cannot possibly , in mortal beings , subsist without it ; and this in manifest in planln , « ince no other than it has been allotted to them . Thus , it is by this faculty of nutrition that life ia manifested in living beings , but an animal ia characterised above all by sensibility ; for we say that creatures endowed with semdbility are not merely livnitf boingtt , but animal * , although they may neither be motive nor change their loruhty . Touch is the sense first manifested in all creatures , nnd , as tho nutritive faculty can be manifested independently of Toucli and other Benson , so the sennc of Touch can bo manifested independently of any other . Wo call nutritive fumtion that part <> t Vital Principle of which plants partake ; but all anim ' nls appear bcni < len it to have tl >« aenso of Touch ; and wo shall , hereafter , oxplain why each of thonci function ** has been allotted . Lot it suffice , for tho present , to nay that Vital Principle b tho Houreo i > i tho nutritivo , tho aontlent , cogitative , and inotivo faculties ; and that by them it !» ' ** boon denned . There are passages in which he seems to contradict thin , but thiH i » the permanent result of his teaching , and may bo summed up in tlu > p hrase n « uses : " Tho Vitnl Principle OHw ) is that by which we lice , fid , und t >'"" from Life ' s outset . " . , If , therefore , Mind is thus identical with Lift , nn tho flower with itH roor , if Life is saturated with Mind , or as Aristotle would say , poasusaoa Aluiu

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Aug. 25, 1855, page 18, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_25081855/page/18/