Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB
[merged small][ocr errors][ocr errors]

This is one of the noblest of the pine tribe, and perhaps one of the most magnificent trees in the world. It is a native of the Cordilleras, in Chili, where it forms extensive forests. The limit of its range extends from 36° of north latitude, to 46° of south, thus embracing a considerable portion of the great mountain-range of the Andes. It fixes its roots among the bold rocky slopes of the mountains and in the moist boggy valleys, forming dense forests of towering trees. So completely do these huge monarchs of the mountain take possession of the soil, that few other plants or trees can rear their heads within their dominions. According to Pavon, the fe male tree attains a height of 150 feet, while the male only rises to 40 or 50 feet. The trunk grows straight, and without knots, and is covered with two barks, which, in old trees, are from five to six inches thick, and of a corky nature, from both of which a resin flows. In young trees, the trunk is studded with leaves, which continue to be renewed for twelve to fifteen years, when they disappear. The branches proceed from the trunk at intervals, in whorls of from six to eight. They are largest near the ground, and at the top terminate in a pyramidal head. The leaves are ovolanceolate, sessile, verticillate, and in whorls of seven to eight; they remain attached to the tree for several years. The male and female catkins are produced on separate trees. The cones, which grow from the end of the boughs, are from three to four inches in diameter. The seeds, of which there are two under each scale, are wedgeshaped, and about an inch in length. The Indians eat these seeds, and distil a liquor from them. The wood is of a white colour, hard, and solid. The araucaria was first introduced into Britain in the year 1796. A plant was raised in the hot-house at Kew, and afterwards planted out in the open air, where it is found to stand the winter with the aid of matting in the severe weather. In 1836, according to Mr Loudon, its height, after 40 years, was 12 feet. But Mr M'Nab informs me that

[blocks in formation]

The tree here engraved from the accurate pencil of Mr Stewart, is one of two growing in the open air in the Botanic Garden of Edinburgh, and reared under the fostering care of Mr M'Nab. They are now 27 years old, and were planted out in the open air 17 years ago. They are in full vigour, have attained the height of 11. feet, and are beautiful specimens of the Chili pine.

They are almost completely acclimated, and bear the winter well, only requiring protection by matting in very severe frosts. The soil is the common mould of the garden. From the thriving condition of these trees, there is little doubt but, in the course of time, they will grow to nearly their full natural size. The low temperature, especially during winter, no doubt retards their growth considerably; for, even in the south of England, the same species expand more rapidly. It is exceedingly interesting, however, to find that at least one species of the araucaria will flourish in the open air in this country, more especially as within a couple of miles of the spot where the tree above figured now grows, we find large fossil trunks of a species of araucaria enveloped among the sandstone strata of the district, and under such circumstances as leave no doubt but that in a former era such trees flourished in their full perfection in this district. I shall take an opportunity, in a future number, to describe some of the other species of the araucaria, and also point out the resemblance of their internal structure to that of the fossil trees of Craigleith and Granton quarries.

THE IDENTITY OF LIGHT AND ELECTRICITY.--The idea has long existed, that heat, light, electricity, and magnetism, are but modifications of one great power prevailing in nature. About sixty years ago, Dr Hutton expounded his views on this subject to the Royal Society of Edinburgh, and arrived at this belief from a priori reasoning. Mr Fa raday has come to a similar conclusion by the test of experiment, and, at a late meeting of the Royal Society of London, has demonstrated, that a ray of light may be electrified and magnetized, and that lines of magnetic force may be rendered luminous. His principal experiment was as follows: A ray of light issuing from an Argand lamp is first polarized in the horizontal plane by reflection from a glass mirror, and then made to pass for a certain space through glass composed of silicated borate of lead, on its emergence from which it is viewed through a Nichol's eyepiece capable of revolving on a horizontal axis, so as to in terrupt the ray, or allow it to be transmitted alternately in the different phases of its revolution. The glass is then placed between the two poles of a powerful electro-magnet arranged in such a position, as that the line of magnetic force resulting from this combined action shall coincide with, or differ but little from, the course of the ray in its passage through the glass. It was then found, that if the eye-piece had been so turned as to render the ray invisible to the observer looking through the eye-piece before the electric current had been established, it becomes visible whenever, by the completion of the current, the magnetic force is in operation, but instantly becomes again invisible on the cessation of that force by the interruption of the circuit. Further investigation showed that the magnetic action caused the polarized ray to rotate, for the ray was again rendered visible by turning the eye-piece to a certain extent. The direction of rotation was to the right, on application of the south pole, and the reverse on applica

[graphic]

tion of the other, and its rotatory action was directly in proportion to the intensity of the magnetic force.

GEOLOGY.- Impressions in Mill-stone Grit.-There has lately been discovered in a quarry in Nottinghamshire, belonging to Mr Rhodes of Twintwistle, some remarkable impressions as of the footsteps of some animal. The quarry is composed of sandstone or mill-stone grit, lying below the coal measures, with a dip to S.S.W. On one portion, five distinct impressions are perceptible in a line; each of these are from 10 to 12 inches in length, by 4 inches in breadth. They are irregularly oval, with a depression in the middle, and narrow towards one of the ends. They extend over the slab in nearly a linear series to the distance of 11 feet. The three uppermost of the series of impressions are the most perfect. They are similar to each other, except that the straighter side of the one is placed alternately with that of the other. One end of each is depressed in the bed obliquely downward for about four inches, while the other end is scarcely sunk be low the level surface, At this end, several waved or ruf fled folds appear in the rock, as if they had been made by the body pushing the soft sandy mass before it. The incumbent beds of sandstone contain casts of these hollow impressions. Various other impressions, of similar form, are found in more irregular positions in the same slab. ANALYSIS OF THE POTATO.-PHILLIPS. One hundred parts contain

[blocks in formation]

Proceedings of Societies.

Royal Society of Edinburgh Monday, 15th December. A paper was read by Professor Forbes on the topography and geology of the Cuchullin Hills, island of Skye, and on the traces of ancient glaciers there indicated.

The Professor recognized very striking remains of glacier action on the lower ranges of rocks forming these hills. At the head of Loch Scavig, these stria and groov ings run in a south direction. On the west side of a long ridge which bounds the border of this loch, they run west in the valleys; on the north side they run north. He also found, in various localities, oblong dome-shaped hillocks, similar to the roches montonnées of the Alps, smoothed and striated on every side except on that towards the lower part of the valleys. He also found erratic blocks of several tons weight resting on the tops of hillocks.

Dr Traill also read a notice regarding the recent eruption of Mount Hecla, and the shower of volcanic dust which fell in Orkney and Shetland Islands. The distance which the dust must have travelled is 700 miles. It consists of a fine impalpable powder.

Royal Scottish Society of Arts. At the Meeting of the Society 8th December, 1. A notice of a Patent Italian Cement, by Mrs Marshall, was read, and its merits referred to consideration of a Committee. 2. Account of experiments on electro-culture, by Professor A. Fyfe. In this paper the result of trials on the application of electricity to vegetation, as recommended by Dr Foster, were detailed, and Dr Fyfe concluded that no benefit whatever was observed to follow the application of electricity to growing plants, either by the mode recommended by Dr Foster, or by galvanic electricity; at the same time he was far from asserting that electricity might not be found beneficial. 3. Notice of a new Tablet for representing music, by Mr J. Gall, jun. 4. Description of model of Screw Bridge, by Mr J. Stevens, Edinburgh. 5. Specimens of Sculpture in soft slate, by A. Munro.

Literature.

A History of the British Freshwater Alga.

By ARTHUR HILL HASSAL, F.L.S., 2 Vols. 8vo. 1845.

The first volume contains an introductory account of the structure of the Algae and Conferva-the reproductive organs consisting of cytoblasts, spores, and zoospores, with a description of the genera and species. The genera amount to nearly one hundred. The second volume contains one hundred plates, illustrative of the microscopic structure, and the characters of the various families and species. This is the only work of the kind devoted to British Freshwater Algæ,-an interesting department of botany hitherto little pursued in this country, and contains many new genera not noticed previously. These families constitute the minutest and simplest forms of vegetable life, many species being barely visible in water, or not thicker than a hair. They inhabit lakes, pools, running streams, and stagnant ditches, and are found attached to stones, wood, or other larger plants. They form organised food for animals, and in their decayed state, for larger plants. Their simple cellular structure and mode of propagagation are also most instructive to the physiological botanist. The work bears the spirit of true science and the love of science. We shall return to it afterwards.

Foreign works on same subject, "Vaucher Histoire des Conferves d'Eau Douce;" "Annales de Science Naturelle;" "Hugo Mohl in Linnæa," &c.

A Gallery of Literary Portraits. By GEORGE GILFILLAN. Edinburgh. 1845.

As no man, according to the ancient adage, should be styled happy till his death,-so no man should be dissected till after that event. There has always appeared to us something cruel in sticking a pin or a pen through any human being, and then holding him up to the gaze of the public writhing upon a piece of paper. It may do all very well with the public, who know nothing about the victims; but what strange emotions it raises in the breasts of the wives, daughters, sons, and familiar acquaintances of such, when, sitting down to breakfast, they see poor papa impaled and wriggling on the pasteboard. What aggravates the thing is, that in most of these cases, it is only a vision of the man, or a sort of spectral illusion formed upon abstract principles -or more commonly, a man of seeming flesh and blood, but only made up of shreds and patches of the same man's ideas gleaned from his works. He who knows an eminent man best, is the least inclined thus to show him up or eviscerate him. We, by no means, however, mean to accuse the author of this amusing volume of undue cruelty. Mr Gilfillan is a humane and generous-hearted man, as well as an acute observer; a forcible writer, though over-fond of ambitious style, and one who has studied books and men too-who seems to have read and relished modern literature, and who has a kindly and kindred feeling for genius. The " Gallery" includes some five-and-twenty of the most eminent authors of the day, and the bulk of the sketches, eschewing generally, though not always, mere personal gossip, consists chiefly of critiques on the literary and oratorical talents of the respective individuals. In this lies the forte of the author. His eriticism is smart, discriminating, not over-deep or always profound, but never dull or prosing. A little more practice will subdue and polish a style, which, as we have said, savours of the ambition we have referred to. The extracts to be afterwards given will afford a sample of the whole.

Oliver Cromwell's Letters and Speeches. By Thomas Carlyle. 2 vols. Two thick volumes of original docu. ments, carefully edited, and containing much interesting matter, to which we shall afterwards refer. It is understood a Life of Cromwell, by the editor, is to follow.

Outlines of Astronomy, illustrative of the Perforated Planisphere. By J. Mollison.-A little work calculated to impart a complete practical view of Astronomy, the Planisphere serving all the purposes of a celestial globe, and with the advantage of being portable and cheap. An excellent Christmas present for youth.

Tales of an Old Bachelor. By Thomas Aird.--The collected prose sketches of a mind deeply imbued with the feelings and fancy of the poet.

Report of Proceedings and Correspondence of the Free Church relative to Refusal of Sites.-A subject not exactly within our province, except in so far as it comes within the great general principle, "Do to others as you would be done by," and which is clearly violated in this correspondence.

The Fine Arts.

Reading the Bible in the Crypt of Old St Paul's. Painted by GEORGE HARVEY, R.S.A.

This is one of the happiest efforts of this eminent artist. The subject is well chosen-of general, as well as of national interest-admirably suited to the present tone of the public mind, and with a unity of action, which is at a glance perceived and understood by the spectator. In 1537 Henry VIII. first permitted a translation of the Bible in the vernacular tongue to be circulated among, and read to, the people in public. One" John Porter" is here represented reading aloud from this wonderful, and, in that age, almost unknown volume, to eager groups, assembled in the crypt of Old St Paul's Cathedral. There is much art in the conception and grouping of the three or four principal figures, as well as in the subordinate groups. The picture is so contrived, as to represent the two prevailing opinions of the age. On the right, are groups of the old school, and of the old religion, scowling priests, and squalid, ignorant people; on the left, the eager listening, for the most part youthful and deeply affected converts of the new. At the first glance, one is apt to think that sufficient interest has not been given to the reader, John Porter. He appears an earnest, but an ordinary-looking man; yet the object of the artist evidently seems to be, to make the large venerable Bible, chained to the pillar, the prominent object in the picture, and the effects of its heart-searching contents on the hearers, the main action of the scene. In this we think he has shown a profound and philosophical artistic skill. It is difficult to throw effective expression into the countenance of an orator. This is seen even in Raphael's cartoon of Paul preaching at Athens, and in Wilkie's Knox at St Andrews.

The execution of this painting is free, bold, deep-toned, and, on the whole, very effective. It has been in the hands of the engraver for the last four years, and this is its first exhibition in public. It has been, we believe, purchased by a gentleman in Liverpool for one thousand guineas. The engraving, by Graves, promises to do every justice to the original.

Burns' Edinburgh Statue.-Mr George Thomson, the correspondent of Burns, lately proposed to the Edinburgh Town-Council, that the statue of the poet should be removed from his monument at the Calton, and placed in the College Library. We are not insensible to the compliment implied in placing the statue of an uneducated genius in the hall of a learned university; but, as the library is not a place of popular resort, except so far as students are concerned, we think the Royal Institution would answer the purpose infinitely better.

Gleanings.

WORDSWORTH.

Wordsworth's mission has been a lofty one, and loftily fulfilled, to raise the mean, to dignify the obscure, to reveal that natural nobility which lurks under the russet gown and the clouted shoe; to extract poetry from the cottage, and from the turf-fire upon its hearth, and from the solitary shieling, and from the mountain tarn, and from the grey ancestral stone at the door of the deserted mansion, and from the lichens of the rock, and from the furze of the melancholy moor. It is to "hang a weight of interest"-of brooding, and passionate, and poetical feeling, upon the hardest, the remotest, and the simplest objects of nature--it is to unite gorgeousness of imagination with prosaic literality of fact-it is to interweave the deductions of a subtle philosophy with the "short and simple annals of the poor." And how to the waste and meaningless parts of creation has he, above all men, given a voice, an intelligence, and a beauty! The sweet and solitary laugh of a joyous female, echoing among the hills, is to his ear more delightful than the music of many forests. A wooden bowl is dipt into the well, and comes out heavy, not merely with water, but with the weight of his thoughts. A spade striking into the spring ground moves in the might of his spirit. A village drum, touched by the strong finger of his genius, produces a voice which is poetry. The tattered cloak of a poor girl is an Elijah's mantle to him. A thorn on the summit of a hill, "known to every star and every wind that blows," bending and whispering over a maniac, becomes a banner-staff to his imagination. A silent tarn collects within and around it the sad or terrible histories of a sea; and a fern stalk floating on its surface has the interest of a forest of masts. A leech gatherer is surrounded with the sublimity of "cloud, gorse, and whirlwind, on the gorgeous moor." A ram stooping to see his "wreathed horns superb," in a lake among the mountains, is to his sight as sublime as were an angel glancing at his features in the sea of glass which is mingled with fire. A fish leaps up in one of his tarns like an immortal thing. If he skates, it is "across the image of a star." Icicles to him are things of imagination. A snowball is a Mont Blanc; a little cottage girl a Venus de Medicis, and more; a water-mill, turned by a heart-broken child, a very Niagara of wo; the poor beetle that we tread is "a mailed angel on a battle day;" and a day-dream among the hills, of more importance than the dates and epochs of an empire. Wordsworth's pen is not a fork of the lightning-it is a stubble stalk from the harvest field. His language has not the swell of the thunder, nor the dash of the cataract-it is the echo of the "shut of eve,"— "When sleep sits drowsy on the labourer's eye." His versification has not the "sweet and glorious redundancy" of Spenser, nor the lofty rhythm of Milton, nor the uncertain melody of Shakspere, nor the rich swelling spiritual note of Shelley, nor the wild, airy, and fitful music of Coleridge, nor the pointed strength of Byron-it is a music sweet and simple as the running brook, yet profound in its simplicity as the unsearchable ocean. His purpose is to extract what is new, beautiful, and sublime, from his own heart, reflecting its feelings upon the simplest objects of nature, and the most primary emotions of the human soul. And here lies the lock of his strength. It is comparatively easy for any gifted spirit to gather off the poetry creaming upon lofty subjects-to extract the imagination which such topics as heaven, hell, dream-land, fairyland, Grecian or Swiss scenery, almost involve in their very sounds; but to educe interest out of the every-day incidents of simple life-to make every mood of one's mind a poem-to find an epic in a nest, and a tragedy in a tattered cloak-thus to "hang a pearl in every cowslip's ear" to find "sermons in stones," and poetry in every thing to have thoughts too deep for tears" blown into the soul by the wayside flower,- this is one of the rarest and most enviable of powers. And hence Wordsworth's song is not a complicated harmony, but a "quiet tune," his instrument not a lyre, but a rustic reed-his poetic potation not Hippocrene, but simple water from the stream-his demon no Alecto or Tisiphone, but a stingarmed insect of the air-his emblem on earth not the gaudy tulip nor the luscious rose, but the bean-flower, with its modest, yet arrowy odour-his emblem in the sky not the glaring sun, nor the gay star of morning, nor the "sun of the sleepless melancholy star," nor the "star of Jove, so beautiful and large"-it is the mild and lonely moon shining down through groves of yew upon pastoral graves.-Gilfillan's Literary Portraits.

upon

in the

THE LIFE OF THE EARTH.-Mark our planet's power of locomotion in its diurnal movement, and in its annual course, the dignity of its march, the fidelity with which it keeps its appointments, and the even tenor of its way as it wheels its ethereal round. Behold the variety of its dress, the verdant drapery of spring, the flowery robe of summer, the russet mantle of autumn, and the eiden of its snowy coverlet. See the flash of its eye i roras, and fire-columns in the volcanic flan lightning's blaze. Hear its gentle voice in the murmurs of its granite rocks, the tinkling of its driven sand, the murmurs of its waters, or its louder strain in the roar of its foaming breakers, and the awful diapason of its subterraneous thunder. Listen to its breathing in the gaseous elements, which exhale from its pores, or in the suffocating vapours which rush from its burning lungs. Nor is this earth life but a name to please the imagination and scare the judgment. The globe, which it animates, has a real dynamical existence, instinct with vital power, sustained from perennial resources, and wielding inexhaustible energies. No created arm is needed to repair its mechanism, no human skill to direct its operations. The mighty steam power, which works the wonders of our age, is but man's tool, useless unless he guides it, dead unless he feeds it. But the locomotive giant, which carries us on its shoulders, is framed by an abler artist, and poised by a mightier arm. It affords to man's mortal being a pilgrim home at first a cradle, at last a grave. It is the nursery, too, of his race, the gymnasium for the development of his intellectual powers, the elysium of his enjoyments. But while thus the self-supplied store-house for his physical wants, it is tributary also to his spiritual necessities. It is the grand penitentiary of the moral world, in which are bred the spirits, and secreted the hearts of its inmates; and, according to the efficacy of its discipline, it may prove either the gloomy prison car which conducts to judgment, or the triumphal chariot which transports to victory.-N. British Review.

News of the Week.

LONDON LITERARY GOSSIP.-(From our Private Correspondent). Mr Dickens' new work, "The Cricket on the Hearth," was subscribed a few days ago to the trade. The number taken by the booksellers was about 15,000. The last Christmas work by the same author reached a sale in two or three months of nearly 20,000 copies.

Mr Dickens, it is generally known, is to have the management of the literary department of the forthcoming daily paper. Many persons suppose that he is to be the general editor. This is not the fact. Over the political department of the journal he is not to have any control. Several writers of the highest rank in the literary world, are, if reports may be credited, engaged as contributors of leading articles to the Daily News. Among them, the names of Mr Macaulay and Mr Charles Buller are confidently mentioned.

The new journal is to be conducted on a scale of splendid liberality. The reporters are to receive seven guineas per week; and eight or nine out of fourteen or fifteen engaged, are already in the weekly receipt of their salary, although the paper will not make its appearance for four or five weeks to come. The capital of the paper is said to be £180,000.

The publishing business has been remarkably dull for the last few months. Scarcely any new book is selling. Three-volume works of fiction fall still-born from the press. Even those written by popular authors do not, in many instances, reach a sale of 200 copies.

Periodical literature is in an equally depressed state. The circulation of the most popular and most talented of our magazines is falling at an astounding rate. One

[ocr errors]

Monthly," price half-a-crown, which, three short years ago, could boast of a circulation of nearly 5000 copies, has now only a sale of about 1200 copies.

Two or three new periodicals start with the new year. Neither of them can boast of any popular contributors, but even if they did, there would not be the slightest chance for them. It is clear, that the day of monthly periodical literature of the high-priced class is over, never, in all probability, to return.

Of" Punch's Almanac," which appeared last week, upwards of 100,000 copies were sold in ten days. For the advertisements which appeared in the number, the charge was at the astounding rate of forty-five guineas per page. The money received for advertisements in that number of Punch, could not have been less than £500.

[blocks in formation]

619 making a total of about 1132.

316

Divinity, 50 to 60

PROFESSORSHIP OF BOTANY.-Some time ago, the Town Council of Edinburgh, as patrons of the Chair of Botany in the University, elected Dr Balfour to the Professorship, vacant by the death of Dr Graham. After considerable delay, the Crown, who has the nomination of the curator. ship of the Botanic Gardens, appointed Dr Balfour Regius Professor of Botany. Does this merely supplement or infringe upon the rights of the Town-Council? Once get a finger into the pie, and every body knows what will follow. On the previous vacancy of this professorship, the Crown, without consulting the Town-Council, elected their keeper of the gardens. They have now an unchallenged precedent for electing a professor also.

TRIGONOMETRICAL SURVEY OF SCOTLAND.-A party of the engineers employed in this survey, have pitched their temporary abode on the very summit of Arthur's Seat. Their small domicile, exposed to all the blasts of heaven, looks, at a distance, somewhat like one of the erected ears of the lion couchant, which fancy has associated with the figure of this picturesque hill.

THE DAILY NEWS.-Amid the throes and heavings of the great political world, a champion is about to enter the lists as an opponent to the Times. This is a bold step, considering that the Times is the greatest giant of his peers, -in fact, one of the wonders of the age, and mightier far than the famed Colossus of Rhodes; for he stands with one leg on the old and one on the new world, and his arms are spread over every kingdom and dynasty of the earth. Full of years, of unbounded wealth, and with that power which accumulated talent gives, he is sufficient to crunch the bones of railways, railway-schemers, and of governments too. Yet the railway king, it is said, backs his rival, and Dickens, with the whole armoury of Punch, goes forth to the battle. Between the two rivalries, some of our best reporters and litterateurs have been summoned to London, the largesse being liberal.

CAUTION TO PUBLISHERS OF PERIODICALS.-Sheriff. Clerk's Office, Auchtermuchty, November 14.-In causa, Henry Paterson, stationer, Auchtermuchty, v. the Rev. Thomas Martin, Strathmiglo. The account was for the value of the Penny Cyclopædia, from July 1841 to December 1843, amounting to £2, 58. The Sheriff-substitute assoilzied the defender, the publishers having pledged themselves, in the preface to vol. i., to complete the work in twenty vols. whereas it extended to twenty-seven vols. The Sheriff held, that the publishers were bound to complete the work, and that subscribers and purchasers were not bound to pay for more than twenty vols, in terms of the publisher's pledge.-Newspaper.

[If any work deserve forbearance, as to the defining of limits, it is a Cyclopædia; and we fully believe that the projectors of the Penny Cyclopædia exerted themselves to the utmost to keep within the prescribed bounds, and probably, rather than have the work incomplete, they may have intentionally exceeded their prospectus, trusting that the generosity of their subscribers would regard the error as one leaning to virtue's side. It had been well, however, that they had taken the precaution to use the lawyer phrase of so many volumes, "or thereby," and so have forestalled litigation.-ED. T.]

NEW PLANET.-A new planet is said to have been discovered by a German astronomer, in the constellation Taurus, near the bright star Aldebaran. May this not be a new birth from the "Fire Mist" of the Vestiges' school?

D'AUBIGNE'S NEW VOLUME.-D'Aubigne spoke to me with the kindest openness and freedom of his History of the Reformation, especially the part he was then engaged upon, the length of time before he should be able to issue another volume, and the impossibility of pleasing the opposing parties in his account of the Refor mation in England. He told me that he was quite beset with the multitude of letters, which were sent to him, urging him to set this, and that, and the other points in such and such a light... It is not difficult to see on which side the sympathies of the author belong; but the tenor of the history thus far assures us that it will still be strict. ly impartial and faithful.-Cheever's Wanderings.

THE DELUSIONS OF THE DAY.

THE human mind assumes various phases according to the condition in which it is placed, and the various external circumstances by which it is influenced. In a rude and semi-barbarous state, we have it swayed by ideas of witchcraft and demonology, exciting gloomy and cruel, and all manner of wayward propensities; or in its lighter fancies, filled with aerial legends of fairies, and genii, and mermaids, peopling every mountain, and grove, and sea cave, with their equivocal inhabitants. All then is fancy and wild imagination, unchecked or undisciplined by a knowledge of facts or of sober reasoning. A little learning and a little refinement succeed, and then we have astrology,-a reading of men's destinies in the stars,-a belief in the sway of the celestial luminaries over the creatures of the earth,-the baneful influence of the comet trailing its tail across the heavens-those lonely and mysterious wanderers of the universe, now blazing for a few months and then disappearing for ages; the awe inspired by the lurid meteor dashing across the sky, or the dancing northern lights, presageful of wars and fierce combats. Then too, are the times of alchemy and of the occult sciences, the labours of philosophers to transmute one metal into another, the golden dreams of the experimenter in his laboratory, toiling to produce the elixir of life, the grand panacea for old age, the spiritual drops of resuscitation. And these were the dreams and aberrations, not of the vulgar only, but of even strong and vigorous minds which had not yet an opportunity to emerge from the enveloping mists of false and uncertain knowledge by which they were surrounded.

When we proceed still farther, and come to a stage of high and general refinement, one would be apt to think that such mental aberrations would disappear. When knowledge of all kinds flows through the land in full stream, it might be supposed that all vagaries of thought would be swept away, and that common sense, at least, if not high intellect, would have the universal ascendant. Yet this result has by no means followed. On the contrary, the present age is evidently more fertile in delusions than any of the preceding. Perhaps they are not of so gross or so palpable a nature as some of those we have enumerated as prevailing in darker eras, but though more subtle and sometimes more refined, they are not the less errors and delusions. It would almost appear, indeed, that the more civilized a society becomes, the more apt are visionary notions to spring up and flourish, just as we find hysteries and nervous vapours to prevail among fine ladies, while their robust maids are exempt from any thing of the kind.

A few of the prevailing "follies of the age," we propose to glance at, reserving to future opportunities, more minute and searching investigations. THE TORCH, NO. II.

Perhaps some sage adviser, "terribly arched and aquiline his nose," may whisper to us to let the world its follies alone, -and if one's sole aim ought to lease the world, to soothe and flatter instead of to counsel, which is always an unwelcome thing, even when the counsel is adopted, the old gentleman, our adviser, may be right,-but on lighting our Torch, this soothing system did not enter into our consideration; on the contrary, one cherished aim was to endeavour, in some degree, to do our duty,-to adopt an unflinching and straight-forward course, even at the risk of all subordinate considerations.

We have said that certain external conditions have a considerable influence in modifying human thought; yet it will be found that the mind, especially as regards its aberrations, preserves a wonderful degree of sameness under very different circumstances, and thus we may perceive not so much contrasts as near resemblances in the follies of remote and recent times. Everybody laughs at the absurd miracle-workings of the dark ages,-the curing diseases by the touch of old bones and relics of saints, the influence of charms, and amulets, and so forth; yet these can be matched by the metallic tractors of the last century, and the revived mesmerism of the present. We laugh at the gullibility of former times, the divining rod, palmistry, and the arts of the spae-wife,-but will any but the present age believe that hundreds of men and women, of good education and rank in life, have night after night attended séances, where bakers' and tailors' wives, in fits of assumed inspiration, have astonished their dupes by pretending to read with their fingers and toes, and tell the minutest arrangements of rooms and houses that they never saw, or of which they never were within hundreds of miles. Will any age but the present believe that impudent and lying abigails were eagerly listened to and repeatedly questioned about mysteries of thought, even beyond the ken of their otherwise acute and talented interrogators? Will it be believed, that learned philosophers gravely sat and countenanced the most impudent impositions of itinerant quacks, with their sleeping singing girls and their phreno-mesmeric shoe-blacks, that newspaper editors puffed and blew, and books innumerable lauded the new discoveries to the skies? Alas! for poor human nature; it is ever the same,-ever ready to grasp at novelties and to swallow gilded delusions, without ever pausing to look of what they are composed!

Nobody now-a-days would tolerate the old quack doctor, who in many cases, however, was an amusing, clever, and self-avowed rogue. His harangues from his elevated stage, his pills and potions for curing all diseases,-his bold assurance, and his biting satire, would now be scouted by every peasant as

JAN. 10. 1846,

« AnteriorContinuar »