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    SSB ^^ SSS ^ SIXSSS fpf ^ pS sKa ^ sss ^ ^ B ^ aranTd ^ ubt tke fa ^ fc that . tte . polyp ^ lwes-AS ^ Qoni ^ lete ly to its new fi £ « S ? y"St ^ a 3 it . did ia itsowgiwa ^ statQ ? Or d . oe ^ he merely doubt , whether the- miad of . the polype—swte rudimentary mind at least as that uaiamaasioned , individual with . so . simple a-narvouBtissuenMJst possess—be aet&er uuyivr

    really divfeibl © as , weH as its body ? J ^ ullery , w prejuaieea or ludieed , is not in court ,. jind 1 n ! eiaier , PaatJieismvnor /' Eofc , theisna can sway , toe awsweiv Si ? Benja ^ Uir be ^ af-physiologisfc , and-not a sckolar , we will , not press , him tpo closely oa the subject of Pythagoras * so strangely dragged , in as- the progenitor , of Mullens , alleged Pantheism ,, 'Eke mere-doctrine of mefempfychp 8 is . 8 hou ] < d . l » ve / . war . ned . Su ? Benjamin that Pythagoras was , not exactly in ; plaGe here .. . . Wje have , Raid , that Sir BenjamwUs a . physiologist ; , he is . known , indeed , for some , admirable contributions , to that science * and ouj ? surprise wasi great ii * reading-tjw « volume to find , in , it , physiological , blunders so gross that , it t ^ y . h . ad opcurredin the Vestiges , they would have ^ drawn forth the scorn of reviewers , but . which , occurring r in the page ^ of so-competent a person as Sfe Benjamiar Brodie , can of course only be-set . down to that ? large category of . oversight to , whichvfallible authors so . plentifully contribute . \ V orthy ot remark it is . that professional men may make blunder * , with impunity , winch , in thft unnrofessional meet with the harshest : condemnation ; just as the proal his

    fe ^ ionpbysiciaft may . kill patients , if he k * ll them " according to toe rulesof art /'" while thehomceopathist . and , hydr © pathist is for the same thing tried ,. for . , m anslaughter , The word of an , anpnymoua reviewer , wdl . npt * , oi course * be * tak « fl in thepressnt case without examples- We ; shall , therefore , sefecttswC At . page- 109 , he , draw ^ a dUtinctw * betw « en . the spinal . cord and the brain , iu * whicKhe says-:. " We recognise , in the brain , not a simple aB ^ uni ' forw organ , , but a-congeries-of organs , each having a , peculiar struptuyft-and . beiog ^ wdently intended to answer a peculiar and speeial purpose . Ifewif tl » is > . meaps-anything it means that the spinal cord is , a , simple , umthat have onl

    fojmjorgan * not a congeries oforgans ; an error so patent we : y to caU , Sir . Benjamin ' s attention to it for him at once to be aware of the ewrpry We may state , however , for the reader ' s benefit—not of-course for . Sii ? Bflnjamin ' s—that the spinal , cord , is very far from being a simple , organ ; that ^ tf is , composed of a s eries of ganglia , each ganglion haw ' ngits . separate paic | of . n ^ &vesr " and , thatc . although in the vertebrate aniinalsthe whole series is 7 uni $ e&by nervous strands , into one , whole , it . has different parts , anil the func ^ ws oX the different , parts- are different ( deglutition , je ^ iration , loconjptioay&c . ) - Indeed , in theriowest of , the , invertebrate-ammftJsr , the omr t ^ zokms . ' these spinal eaneli * are not onlvseparat e- ; but are secnitftbs . geparate .

    The following , example isj-perhaps ^ not so palpable a-blunder ^ owing to tbe eauivocatipn of langaage , bufcyet it is . one of those blunders-for which t % author of the . Vestiges , had he fallen into it , would have received np quarter . It is at page 116 * . and runs thus : " There is no doubt that mere animal life may exfst without either , sensation ^ or volition , or without ,. anytbin »' that ; bears » . even > th © most-remote relation to the mental . principle * For inetaince , Bf . John- Glarke has given an account ; of an extraordinary product offhumap generation , in which there was neither brain , spinal marrow , nor nerves , norheart i nor lungs , but which , was nevertheless a livings organised mass , containing several bones tolerably well formed , and vestiges of ; some hical Transactions of

    other organs . " The authority for this , is the Philosop jYaJjj ;; butthat ^ which in 17 « S '"'^ igTilhrpa ^" s : 'amphg ~ thvD ^ r-ifbhn' -eia rkesrisjsoniewhat astQunding ., in 1855 to the readers of Sir Benjamin Brodie . If Sifiv B . enjam 4 n simply meant \ that , masses of organised matter could exist without'sensation or volition , or any relation to a mental princi p le ,- the first bujtefter ' s shop would have supplied him , with abundant illustrations ; for he jnighbas-welltulk of a legof mutton being aJiving organised mass as that « JS . tEaprdUiary product of * which . I ) r . John Glarke has , given an : aocount * Th >< , studen $ has-advanced a-. vepy . ilittleway in the study of organised beings wbodoes not know that in tumours-masses of organised matter , such as tefeHh , hajr , bones ,, &c ., « ire notunfVequently fouwd , ; but he . , must be a . very young , student indeed who takes- these massos for " liv-h >» beings , " or who belftjyes t ^ at mere animal . life , may exist without volition , and sensation upon

    no . Jaefcten evidence than this . . At'page 91 ' , after-a series of facts and observations tending . to show that mental derangement depends upon nervous derangement , Sir Benjamin , with a-- desire to rescue his " indivisible percipient and thinking being , ' brings in moral causes . " Ypu cannot deny , " says , Eubulus , one of the interfoeutors , " that in many instances mental derangement may be- traced justoos iplainly to the pperation pf moral causes . Tho . m . ind ' . njny break down ali a * once under some sudden aflliction , or it ? may yield mare gradually when theattention has been long and , constantiy ^ and' anxiously divected to some subject of unusual interest . Suoh facts asthese cannot be quostionod , Hindis not the conclusion from them inevitable ? " The conclueioii ^ we draw is / that Eubulus is as completely in the dark about " moral : causes as people usually are who adopt that lino of argument .. Moral causes may produce mental derangement , aa they also prPduce diarrhoea , f » untmg sweating , co ^ shivers , loss of iippotito , and twenty otUiir pliysical .

    dQrangementa . ; and . iu a . similar way . Turning from physiology to psychology , wo find the same Ji-ubuhis making ttfo eort ' of remiwJi ; to bp expected in sormona , or in an after-dinner orntion ^ butnotnto ha , expected in a ' work of scientific pretensions . u 1 here are : epMemicu . o ^ opimon , " he says , " as well' as of disease , anl they prevail at lewt f . wjiMioU among the wolUeducated as among the uneducated classes of SQCjeftyv It is-indeed a melancholy fact , that a great extension , of education a n ^ . ku ^ edfip dPes not produce any corresponding ; improvement in this , respect .. Stillj . in . the end , good sense prevnils . Errova-and doeeptions last ° » ty % . a 4 im » . Those which disgrace one age vanish and are succeeded by thoso which disgrace the next . But a truth once established remains

    undisputed , andUociety , ^ on , the . whole advances . ! ' Bufc , howv . " g ? M > ¦¦« onse / wt&f , prevaU-when Qducaltibn . fjias , when a . great . extensi 6 tt of knowledge-fails ,. aad , ; how . a truth . is / tQ , beconae established , how the . ecrprs and . dqc ^ tiftas are toW vanish , if " -extension ofi knowledge" is powerless , and- , if wfiUreducated ^ people are quite aa helpless as uneducated ^ people , we : dp npt undejstand . The examples already given will , we suppose ,, bear put our judgment . q £ ^ thifi worky when it . is tested by ; anything like the standard which " the subjec ^ : and the authan ' s , reputation require . We . cannot , however , park from it ^ without again , say-ing , that it is . an interesting little work , which to the greafti majority , of ' readers will . perhaps be mpre acceptable than , if it , were better ,, but for wnicli " _ * ¦ i i ?) . T > i . . 1 » -.. _« . LL , ^ mnn . J ^ nnn « Jt" Xe % i + > W

    Among ; the . points , we had noted for extract , we nna we uave < r no space , tbei' ^ is a . very interesting passage upon drowning , tending to showthat it is not ,, either morally or p hysically , a painful death . A friend of Sir , Benjamin ' s , . who nearlyJpst his life in this manner * , says that , the last thing wh-ich he , remembers is looking at the pebbles and weeds at . the bottom otT the river ^ with little or no fear of what was about to happen , and . no bodily suffering . The calmness with which people die is ; illustrated by what Sir Benjamin says , namely , that in , his ? own experience he has known _ but two instances in which in . the act of dying . there were manifest indications of asfear of death .

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    THE . WEE AND . TIMES OF SALVATOR ROSA .. The Iiife - and Times of Salvator Rosa . By Lady Morgan . New Edition . London-. 1855 . . . DavLd Bryce « Th-d public will accept ^ no . doubt with pleasure , this first instalment of a < reprint of works which formed the delight of- a very large portion of the > nublie in , what must now be- called the pastt age . It will , moreover , give satisfaction to all perspns , of taste and feeling to reflect thattheauthoress is livin ^ in veteran retirement to enjoy- the revival and increase ; of her reputation .. Fortune is not always so ; favourable to talent . Few- writers are aliowedtp round off ancLcomplete a . career , much lesa to beccme contempo-. rarg"with Posterity , and receive applause from the sons of the critics who ; fira * . admired . them . Lady Morgan is indulged witk this enviable distinction ; and even-those wJbonever entertained the principles to which shehas so un-i swepvingly held , or felt thein breasts glow with the sympathies from which , was . derived the warmth of her : style , will scarcely grudge or envy the rewards denied by , time : to so many . At any . rate , we should feel that . we were miss- " . inff the opportunity to perform a duty if we foiled to receive this " new ,.

    edition '' with : due honours . ,. "' " ¦ , ' , « The Life of Salvator Rosa was ^ pne eminently fit to emplpy the pen o % Lady Morgan * Her styler—wprked up with great , attention to . effect , yefe not destitote of ease ; and . grace—sharing , some of the literary ^ vices popular inj her -time r ' : and a gpod many of its Sterling virtues- —full of point and parallel jk quotation «« 4 alltt « ion ^^ -expanding sometimes into the romantic ,- and boi > rowing colpu ^ ajid . forms from all foreign tongues—this style , we say , could , searcely-ha ^ e " he&ar brought to bear on ' a more congenial theme . Sftlvatori llosa . was ah , almost-universal genius , bprji in . a country where what may be called the- rough material of genius is scattered with : profusion , but in which a mantis rarelyfound possessed of that invincible and

    persevering energy without , which the most brilliant qualities may be dribbled away in theiowest regions of endeavour—in the intrigues of a parish priest ^ or the simpering cunning of a lazarone . Salvator , too , was born ata period iii' tho history of the Arts peculiarly unfavourable to the development of ordinal power . Pointing , at least in that part of the world , was producing Hariast masterpieces , applying rules but not creating them , and appealing , to a public which : had lost much of the taste and discrimination for which Italy had so long beeu celebrated . It is true that some of the most popular namea . of the second ; prder in the history of Art belonged to men who ¦ flouriahed-contemporary--with-Salvator .-B , osa .- _ . He .. jobtainedlmucKpf ^ Ms practical knowledge in the school of the ferocious Ribera . ; and painted at Rome whilst Gaspard Poussin was in his highest glory . At that time lived the sombre and unfortunate Caravaggio , with Guido , Reni , and Domeniadmiration tor

    chino : and the Flemish school ( to which , in her exclusive the grand and beautiful ,, Lady Morgan , we may mention by the way , is hostile even to injustice and violence ) was beginning tp be fashionable in the south . But the great man . of the age— -he who secured the sympathy and bountiful patronage . of Popes and princes—was Bernini , whose name is now only remembered . a * a symbol of successful mediocrity . Although Salvatar Rosa at the culminating point of his cai-eer cameih contact with many of the artistic celebrities of that period , his life was a life apart from * theiwv Almost a beggar at the outset , he became a man of tUe world ; a poet ; a satirist , almost a politician towards the close . He was born irt . the fifteenth yeap of the seventeenth century , and died in the seventy-third * His father was- an artist , who , having been himself unsuccessful in tha < t professien , fear-ed that his son would also be so ,, and endeavoured- to direct talents , which early manifested themselves-into channels where profit was more surely to be fpund . But S&lvutpr ppssessed a genius

    for , painting which , may really be styled innate . Nothing could keep himfrom the exercise of the Art for which he was born ; but the opposition he encountered prevented , him from being placed regularly and . atanoarJy age in . any oatablisl * ed school , and . forced him to go at once to the groat school of nature . It would- bo a mistake , however , to suppose that , he never , learned the rudiments of his art . fvo . » n < othera He learned thorn , but piecemeal , and in a fragmentary- manner ; and was forced immediately to apply the , knowledge lie acquired to ^ he-representation of natural objects . , tor a long time ho had no * inodelB- but rocks and trees , or his own face in-the glass ; and it is traditionally asserted , , that oven when greater facilities . wore at us , connnandjluv never studied the . human figure but from . tho reflexion of his

    We : mwtt refer thereader who w » l > es to refresh h . s memory on the details of this romantic life tp tho eloquent pages of Lady Morgan . . He will thero find , them narrated with ornaments and « m P h" « o "f ^ ^^ 'r « writer ' s own experience of tho scenes , amidst winch , they occurred . I he Kwyvof tlw famous Giro is an admirable instance of the creation of materidsTithouTtbe assistant of positive documents ; and the ntferences whicft Lady ' Morgan derives from it are in a great measure legitimate . In all tho

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• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), March 31, 1855, page 307, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2084/page/19/