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    January 26, 1856.] T HJE_ LEADER. ^ 81__

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    ^ \\ tV Illltrf ^/limi UUv.

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    0r ;| i^3 are not iho legislators, but t...

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    We see announced a new work "by Owen Jon...

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    SMITH; O'BRIEN'S 3MEDITATIONS. Principle...

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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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    January 26, 1856.] T Hje_ Leader. ^ 81__

    January 26 , 1856 . ] T HJE _ LEADER . ^ 81 __

    ^ \\ Tv Illltrf ^/Limi Uuv.

    jpmnmu ? .

    0r ;| I^3 Are Not Iho Legislators, But T...

    0 r ;| i ^ 3 are not iho legislators , but the judges ana police of literature , lhey do not make laws U . ' y interpret and try to enforce them . — Edinburgh Hcmcio .

    We See Announced A New Work "By Owen Jon...

    We see announced a new work "by Owen Jones , whom Europe acknowledges as il maestro di color eke sanno , in colour ( we mean no pun ) and ornamentation . It is to be Ths Grammar of Ornament , and to exhibit in three thousand examples tlie origin and development of all those styles of ornamentwhieh the science ami ingenuity of all nations have produced . We are to see , not simply read of , the ornamental worlc of savages , of Egyptians , Persians , Greeks , Pompeians , Romans , Byzantines , Arabs , Turks , Moors , Hindoos ,

    Chinese , Celts , with those of the Middle Ages , Renaissance , Elizabethan period , and the Italians ; and what we see in coloured diagrams Owen Jones will explain in lucid philosophic text as is his wont . The work will appear in ten shilling parts ; the cost of production will be immense , and unhappily the cost of purchase must keep it from many a house where it would be very welcome . Nevertheless some of our readers may he architectural enough , or wealthy enough to make light of this obstacle ; and to such out announcement is addressed .

    While Owen Jones tries to . make us understand how by going back to Nature we may learn the true secrets of ornamentation , Nature herself is somewhat paradoxical in her own caprices . For example , how many leaves she has given us , no two exactly alike ! how many insects she has given us , no two alike ! and as if to play with her very varieties and multiply the i nexhaustible , has . she not given us the Phyllium Scythe , in . other words , the insect which even those forewarned cannot distinguish from a leaf ? The first time , we ever saw one of these Eastern marvels , a lady handed' to us a small box , asking us if we knew what leaf was lying as the l ) ottoni : a sere and

    yellow leaf , with all the sadness of approaching , autumn in its aspect . To lier surprise we ^ - ventured a doubt whether indeed it were a leaf at all . This doubt , which looked like the scepticism of vast knowledge , was indeed but the shaky . offspring of well-grounded ignorance . Our botanical erudition being ludicrously small , the mere appeal . to it was in itself suspicious , and on that hint we spake . Had we been more knowing we should have committed ourselves ; for in sober truth the leaf iaseet is so like a leaf that Me . Andrew Murray assures us , in an admirable paper contributed to the Edinburgh

    Philosophical Journal this quarter " , that when visitors to the Royal Botanic Garden of Edinburgh flocked to see the new wonder , " they usually , after looking at the plant for a minute or two , declared they could see do insect ; " and even when it was pointed out to them they could not rest satisfied until it was made to move , or was taken from the plant and suffered to crawl over the attendant ' s finger . This constant * ' stirring up" appears to have been too much for its nerves ; and its health demanded that only four days in the week should it be publicly exhibited . ?

    The insect now exhibiting in Edinburgh is the first which has been seen alive in this quarter of the Globe ; and it is to Mrs . Major Blackwoon that naturalists are indebted for the sight . Those who cannot go to Edinburgh may at least go to the Edinburgh Philosophical Journal , and read there the very interesting memoir written by Mr . Murray , who has enriched the curious observations made on the Phyllium Scythe with some philosophic speculations on the metamorphoses of insects , too long for extract her , e , but worthy of every one ' s serious attention . Mr . Murray expresses the hope that this specimen will only be the first of a numerous family , and that in a few years the leaf insect will be as common in our conservatories as the canary bird is in our houses . ¦ ' '

    The wings of the Phyllium Scythe have not only the colour and fonn o f leaves , with their stems n . ud venation , but the colour varies at different periods of its life , always resembling some leaf . When first hatched it is of a reddish yellow , something like a half-dried beech loaf ; when onde it lias settled on . a tree it speedily assumes the colour of the leaves on which it feeds . Among the leaves of the common myrtle it cannot be distinguished by the colour of the body ( the legs are browner ) ; and its habit of carrying

    itself adds to the difficulty of detecting it . Tho tail is generally curled up a little , about as much aa the bend of the myrtle leaf . " As it bends its tail up , however , the curl would be the wrong way , unless tbe insect walked back downwards , which in point of fact is its constant habit , adhering to the under sides of the leaves . This habit brings to light another beautiful contrivance for still further heightening its resemblance fco a , leaf . The upper surface is opaque green , just the reverse of tho myrtle or guava leaf ; so that by reversing its position it brings the glossy side up aud the dull side down . "

    Like the leaf it feeds on , it seems to decay on arriving at maturity , ami in the autumn it puts on that " sore and yellow " garment which tho leaf assumes . Here nn interesting question arises , Can the solar influences which thus clmngo the colour or foliage be tho cause of the similar ch & ngo iu the colour of the insect ? la tho identity of change incident on an identity of structure , as regards the chlorophyll and pigment ? Some auch identity would fleom to be indicated by the fact Mr . Mvmray lias noticed , respectin g the cftunibalitmi of tho insect— -it cats tho skin which it moults ! Mr . Murrayvsays he is not aware whether this singular act of cannibalism lias been observed in \ other iiuteota ; nor are wo j but we can furnish him with one

    curious example , bearing out his suggestion that the leaf-insect not only looks like a leaf , but tastes like one . We divided a caterpillar in two for the purpose of watching reflex actions , and in about ten minutes afterwards we observed the one half greedily feeding on the other . As the caterpillar is not carnivorous this conduct greatly surprised us ; however we watched it closely for some time , and the fact became indubitable . Perhaps , after all , there is no such contradiction in either case , as the mere terms convey . It may be only cannibalism in words ; in fact , the insectfeeds on vegetable substance , which has not been metamorphosed into animal substance , ' * although it forms an integral part of animal tissue . This may bring the animal and vegetable kingdoms into more inseparable union than is currently imagined ; but it will

    not otLerwise alter our physiological conceptions . If the reader is sceptical of the existence of vegetable substance retaining its vegetable composition and qualities even while forming an integral part of animal tissues , let us ask him what there is more repugnant in such an idea , than in the existence of inorganic substances retaining their composition and qualities while , forming integral parts of animal tissues ? Does not osseous tissue , to cite , butane example , contain phosphate and carbonate of lime as integral porjbipns , wjhioh can be removed from the organic substance as perfectly as from a lump of earth , but which when removed deprive the organic substance of its osseous qualities ? Into questions so complex and far-ieaching as these we must not further enter . Enough if we have opened thenajfbr the speculative physiologist .

    Smith; O'Brien's 3meditations. Principle...

    SMITH ; O'BRIEN'S 3 MEDITATIONS . Principles of Government ; or . Meditations uj . Exile . By W . Smith CBrien . 2 Volg , Dublin : Daffy Foil eighteen years Mr . Smith O'Brien was a member of the British Parliament . For six years he was a prisoner in a penal settlenaent . He hasheen a grand juror , a magistrate , a guardian of the poor , a political agitator , and a convict . As a country gentleman , he . had opportunities for staying . the manners , faculties , and feelings- of the rural popul a tions , of 5 all classes ; as a legislator ^ the widest and brightest yistas- ^ of ^^] i ^ i ^ p , ^ ' ^^ . w ^ r « , p ]> . en . to . jhis eye . His personai connexions famiiiarasQd hipci with the aristocracy ,-rrbjs early career in the Senate—a career unspotted by factious intrigues-r-laid bare before him the workings of the Parliamentary , system ; his subsequent - alliance with O'Connell was a practical lesson in the art of empirical ^ agitation . He had not the demagogues dangerous want , for he was rich ;

    he had not the demagogue ' s dangerous gift , for lie was by no means eloquent . And yet Mr . Smith O'Brien , whose opportunities for observation were so remarkable , hazarded his fortune , position , and life in a desperate attempt , and it was a desperate failure . As long as hetrod . in the steps of his ancesjpjrs , parallel with the respectable file of Protestant Irish gentry , he wa & pn esteemed , influential , and mediocre individual , a parliamentarian by birth , a justice ^ of the peace by station , a politician by courtesy . In the very hour in which , scanning the world from Daniel O'ConnelPs Pisgah , he ventured upon a . path of his own choosing , he ran into a labyr inth , the outlet of which was in Van Diemen ' s Land . He became first an absurdity , then a nuisance ; he was ridiculed j he was shut in the Speaker ' s Black Hole ; he was transported ; he suffered a graduated series of penalties , and now , a conditional amnesty having softened into serious regrets the last feelings of bitterness in his mincU he publishes , with a preface dated from Brussels / two volumes of scholarly essays , moderate , argumentative , even fascinating in th . ejr dignity and

    Composure . ^ . . In these volumes he has endeavoured to present a synoptical view ot society , and a theory of human government , including generalisation and details . The book , we think , will be particularly welcome to his friends . Mr . Smith O'Brien , as last seen in the three kingdoms , was the central figure of a farce , a dupe as well as a demagogue . He has since endured what , to any man is a bitter infliction , the loss of social position , of personal liberty ? and of the right to live among his countrymen . He owes grace to his exile . It has subdued his passions , brought liis reason into play , philosophised his views of politics and history . Those wholcnew Smith O'Brien as a politician —a patriot , the sympathisers called him , and patriotic he was , no doubt—will be surprised to find in these forty , chapters of speculation , not calmness only , but modesty . They contain no gall of a repining spirit . The style is studiedly

    impersonal . Seldom does an allusion strike at a contemporary . Mr . O Brxen reviews , methodically and without display , the origin of the several forms of government , and starts from this point , upon a survey of the principles introduced into legislation by ancient and modern statesmen . His inquiry , though generalised , descends . to the smallest details of executive administration , of police , of popular health and amusements , and of municipal organisation . It is neither very original in its plan , nor profound in its results , yet it is a clear and sensible exposition of n political theory . " 'Divested of almost all the ordinary interests of life , " cut off from tho means of historical and literary resenr-ch , forced to depend for illustrations on his memory , Mr , O ' Brien almost necessarily filled a large space witty- expanded truisms . But his work is essentially elementary , and » t 8 perusaHvilHae mor « m-nfitnhle to vouni ? men than to mature or prejudiced politicians , io the

    latter class of readers it will be a curiosity ; to the former jt supplies an excellent outline of legislative study . Of course , were we to deal as-polifacal critics with Mr . O'Briqn ' s propositions or witli his arguments , we should ^ at the outset , cross swords with him , and dispute , at mtewals , to the-end ,. He is still , in spirit , a country gen tleman : he never was more , in tatot , tha * a country gentleman who had wandered from the rural orbit . Returning within tlw > ancient limits , he only stands in contrast vntfc his peers because he brings with him the liberality imbibed during a long episode of agitation . For instance , lie argues as if centralisation and a paid magistracy for the counties were inseparable j aa if all peers enjoyed » moral as woll as well as a legal right to their stations ; as if social w » s « ona made her abode in the provinces and were n mere -visitant in the . towns . Nevertheless , there is a passionless and charitable tone in the essaye , ana good 'intentions cover a multitude of errors . Anannittblc platitude is taste-

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Jan. 26, 1856, page 15, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_26011856/page/15/