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Leader (1850-1860), 3rd November 1860, Edition 2 of 2, Page 6

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      The New Benevolent Society. W E Have A F...

      The Commission goes so far in its charity as to pay the landlords of the paupers to keep their lodging-houses warm . . . lathe year 1838 , when the population was 300 , 000 , the . Commissioners bad , as messengers , twenty-three paid sergeants , -and twelve poor wards , specially charged with the look-oat alter street beggars , and talcing them to the proper houses of relief . At the time above referred to , the sum total of the expenditure amounted to £ 54 , 000 , raised from legacies , royal gifts voluntary contributions , and municipal taxes , which are confessedly heavy . In many respects , says our writer , this is a poor-law , and our own poor-law operations have probably , in many respects , been borrowed from the G-erman system ; but relief in the latter has a better effect as coming more in the form of benevolence . The agency is strictly eleemosynary , except in the case of the medical men actually in attendance , and a fov working clerks , whose umted _ salaries do £ 2000 and £ 3000

      not seem to amount to more than between , ,. Instead of unpaid sitters at poor-law boards , comparatively an easy affair , listening- to beadles and overseers , the benevolent gentry and tradesmen of Berlin seem themselves to investigate , with some personal trouble , the cases upon which they sit in judgment . Something 1 less severe and hide-bound , and more gracious than our regular poor-law operations , and at the same time less loose and irregular , and often unpersistent and blundering than the efforts of private benevolence frequently are , seems to be wanting . The new Society , if destined to be , as it professes to desire to be ^ very wide in its Operations , can only be efficient if well systematise *! , and if it can make all private efforts regularly working-wheels of a well-organized machine . Both the money and efforts will-l asnpw . pi * 6 p 6 sed , b . e , we suppose , almost entirely those of charity , and it will be a great pity if , for want pf a well-matured plan , misdirection of the efforts leads to misspending of the funds .

      9x0 The Saturday Analyst And Leader. [No...

      9 X 0 The Saturday Analyst and Leader . [ Nov . 3 , 1860

      What Wekng¥ About ' The Unknown.* , ¦ :¦...

      WHAT WEKNG ¥ ABOUT ' THE UNKNOWN . * , ¦ : ¦ . ¦ . ' ¦ ¦ ' ¦ ¦ ' ' . "¦ . " [ second notice . ] ¦ . / . ; ' ' ¦¦ : ¦ . IT seems , at the first blush , a sort of paradox that we should know anything about the" Uhknown ; " we dp know sonxethingj however , as those may see who choose to . consult the work mentioned below . The sceptics sought to establish , the doubt of certitude ,. or the certitude of doubt , we forget which , tricus cent egal , & Vk & . a cognition of the unknowable is an essential element of modern knowledge . Indeed , even one of the ancients , whom a modern poet of some authority in . matters " didactic "^—Pope— considered the Wisest bf the wise men of Greece , declared that all he JcrieV was that he knew nothing ; therefore it would appear that

      the more we know' the les 3 we know ; and since his days astronomy , geology ,, chemistry , physiology * have become , and . sociology is fast becoming , a portion , of our knowledge—arid knowledge in the scientific ? sense of * the w 6 t 4 > too . And it follows that if the more we know the less we ^ now ^ our knowledge of nothing , if riot pur no-knowledge or nescience , must be a pretty considerable deal greater now than formerly . "' . "We remarked , in our former notice , on the suggjbtivenes 6 " of Mr . Spencer ' s work . He alludes , in the openingpages of ther-. pa . rt beforeus , to the earliest traditions haying represented rulers as gods prdeini-gods . By their subjects , he says , primitive kings were regardeid as 3 tiperhum ? irii iii origin and superhuman in power ' ., j . and ; 'k ' c !' '' refeirs .. 'ta ' lh ' e similar beliefs npw existent ; ampnsr savages , instancing Fiji , where " a victim

      stands urilbpund to be killed at the word of the chief ;; himself declarin ^ j whatever the king says must be done , ' " And we may remark in pass'W ^ TMs suggests to us a few . remarks qn the origin of mythology — an enigma hithertp unsolved , fihptigh the astutisi " representatjjye men" of the various .. '¦** phuospphies ' extant hayo sought $ o s <> lye it . l ? ow , ^ . e nnd , atnbng bitter psychical : powers of man , these three , which are among those- in , daily ' use and manifestation . / There i $ the well-known and sometimes eminemtly disagrQeable and ridicplpns , but : in- the tiiain most . usefu ] q ^ aUtyr--cijriosii ( 'y'i , of- which bur old friend '¦] ' Paul " . ijPry * " of Iiistoniari ^ celebrity , is p inipiy a stage incarnation ^ a quality which ia insufferable as developed in the bid lady whb , when sick , and unablo

      personally to iri ^ ui , re libito . her neighbours' affairs ^ nearlycaught her death of ; cold , by keeping her maid pit the open windpw to report whowent in ari < j . out . at every house : in the streot ; but still a quality to wbicjb ^ ei are mainly indebted for every scientific truth we Ictiew . Theje is what ^ e . may call the faculty of analogization , or the ton * deftcy .. to yeasbn ; By analpgy . j to appount for what puzzles us , for what is new , and strange , by assigning what appears to us tb ^ e most likely and ^ rbbabile ca , uso . ^ he savages who : s , aw cjooks and firo fp ' jp tne 5 fi ^ , tiuie ^ tiot ! b 0 iti of Helfmbyement , and < pf ; cbnsunimg bther things , except live animals , ao « cou ^ tedvtb > tjieseobjects of their aurprisp by supppsing th ^ in tp- bo » hye ;»; the ; clpok was jan animal : so was the fire , arid lived urion wood .

      Indeed ^ ftnalogizption is the groundwork . pf ppp 3 ceoi , soningSj riot pnly in % , daily : lbuswess : pf . life l ) tttin scientific investigations . There WirhQb l ? as : beQn patted , <« . the ; flr , st lw of ;» ai ; we , $ ¦'«"«) the instinct of > B ^ # es ^ r . yation ^ / prompting , atnpng othoi things , to oon-r ^ l li ^ j , ] 6 y mfabfi , of present , courtesies ; prayeis ; ffediieot , " $$ ; £ tfrv powerful who dan , do : tf , 8 good ok harin ^ in -ordej :: to avert tljeir M %$ } xb 3 r :: a . n ( l . ¦¦ secure , tfoeir good wiU oiaA gpod offices , , W © dp net diQcus 9 the pojnt her © , whether thesa are sinip ^ e pn | gitittl primary faoulties' pr npt / This is besido pur prosbnt purpose . TIjq psypUioal oharabteristios iii '^ uestipn are " patonttp ' . all : thp wprld . ' ¦ Vfhen , v ^ prel ' Q ^^ . ti bpiii ^ pJP , w | iosq to citu . ro f . lieso iarg a part , « beijpg '; fts y , e ^ uH , infQym himj oomes , $ p

      ponder upon the cosmical i > hcnomena that strike his eyes in every direction , the first sensation is one of surprise and ^ curiosity as to what these things ai-o , and whence they came ? The most prominent objects in nature would be the stin and other heavenly bodies . He would wonder how they could move . Animals , and his fellow men , being the things he was most familiar with that could move , and these being alive and able to move in virtue of their vitality , he would infer , analogically , that the heavenly bodies possessed life also , and moved in consequence . For their apparent motion to the mind of science is real motion to the eye of ignorance . But animals and man arc resentful , vindictive , interested , on the look out for what they can get , capable of it be

      doing very ill turns , or of doing good ones if can made worth their while by suitable inducements and considerations ; and all these qualities arc in respect of their being alive . Thus selfmovement being- regarded as- indicative of being alive , the sun , tho moon , the stars , the winds , the clouds , lightning , storms , meteors , would be thought alive . Aud nothing being more proverbially capricious and inconstant than theso things ( which ,, as to some of them , in great part , make up that by-word for fickleness , tho weather ) , and nothing more spitefu l as well as destructive in the eyes of untutored man , the " instinct of self-preservation " would prompt him to conciliate these dangerpus aiid powerful agents ; and ' analogization " would suggest he would in

      should do so by similar means to those he employ conciliating his fellow living beings on . this earth ; and in this , way mvthology , fetiehism , superstition ,-would arise . None of the attempts to explain this difficulty hitherto given arc- ' satisfactory . Comte ' s " Three Stages " of mental development ( the last theory pn the subject ) cannot throw a glimmer of light upon it . Why does ignorant inexperienced man begin " with fetiehism ? How comes it that that particular phase is the first in the series ? Nay , how does this fetiehism originate , when , it does come ? . To these interrogatives Comte . s dumb . His theory affords no solution ; the above explanation satisfactorily accounts forthe difficulty . Gomte ' s doctrine arnouritsmerply to a statement that in the progress of the mental evolution his three stages arc to be found in the

      order lie has specified . Whether that is so or not ( on which point we do not wish to be understood here as expressing any opinion whatever ) , will not in the least elucidate the difficulty . What caused the first stage ? How did fetiehism and its subsequent developments originate ? ; These queries we have answered above . We eome now to another point suggested by the work before us . This is the doctrine that human- cQiiceptious which , as such , are something entirely subjective , although caused . by objective realities , are the measure or criterion of what is possible in the external uhiversb . Whether there is an external universe or not we do not intend in this place to inquire . For anything we . . shall say here , the reader may believe that his ego , his psi / ckicaliti / is the only existence in nature , and all apparently objective realities a dream .

      We do not believe with Byron , that— - , " When ! Bish 6 p Berkeley said there was no matter , And proved it , 'twas no matter what he said . " . We tliink it matters a great deal what he said , and whether there is ani external world or not ; But we shall not discuss that point here ; we shall solve the riddle by cutting- the knot , or rather cutting the cpntrpversy , and . assuniiiig the existence of an ob j ective universe . The inconsistency of those has been much ruhcu eel , whp , denying ah external wprld , still act as if thoy believeclm one , and take good care not to run their heads agaui ^ t a . ppst , literally sjoeaking ; JxPwever they may bo thoug ht to do so in a figurative sense . But > vhat shall -we say ot the consistency of thoso who , whUp admitting . th . ' « tUo oxternaV world has p , real indepojadent qxistoncy of its own , are yet obnoxious to the paradox of contending that - its oxistonco

      depends , upon intelUgohcoP It is eaiV , howcvci ' , to explain w « caxise Of their blunder . They lnistako pin- concoptwns ol . tho universQ for the universe itself ; just as tihe wprd ?? law " in plnlosophical and scicnfciftQ discussions someti ] ineS ineana tho way in wmen external realities act , and at , Others , is used tp dosignato thp propositions or fprmulas employed to express the way in which things \ wt . Thps we often find mention made pf Nowtpn'H <( Liny bt Grav « a . tibn , " Dal tpn' 8 * ' Law pf definite Propprtions , " Sea . ; as if Walton and Nowton woro the inventors and creators of now laws , instoacl ol the diocoverors pf lavys thtvt prpvipusly oxistod , Dotibtloss tno written proppsitions in 1 which the sophilosophors exprosped tnoir m *

      qoyerios , dpubtless their disbpvqrios thomsolvos , were , a « such , npw and priffinal , arid the result of their pwnminds ; and if wo use tlio wprd " law" tp designate these written prpppsitions and discbvcrios , then they werp the authors of these laws , But this , though a common , is- by nb moans a precise and an accurate form ot oxpvos * Sion . It has Jed . to infinite confusipn bf ideas , and innumerable mistakes , , Thp laws , properly speaking , are the ways in wluon things apt ; the way in which bpdips attract each other j the way m which phqinical eubstancos pomVino tpgothor } the VW * w *" " . they d ^ d attra ' ct and oombino a ^ es before Newton ancl palton wore hprii , i < Jhe way in whif ih , they attract and combine , whether t » e Jjiiman mind pljserye thorn or riot ; th ^ way in . w ¥ oh they wouia attrjicti ^ nd combine , if the human race were annihilated tp-mprrow oarin

      it , ail intqlJUgence Qeased to . exist pn the face ot tnp . "v must always ibo oarofAil t 6 distinguish our idoa , or notion , or concoi > - tipn pf a thing' fi-pm thp thing itself j tho fonder perishes wxtU « 8 » but riot the latter . Thd- samo " ppnlVisipn worso , ooniounaqa , ohtains in roftrenoo t \\ o olassiiloaliipns -Jof natuwil . Imww * Wo oCton ¦ '* he « V it sai d / and : sop it , written ^ t ) h » t species and gp » OKft , <& o . dp not exjist ifli natuipb , put a ; ro mowy

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      _ . *^ r . ; ^/» c } r > ; ' ^« ffi (< j ? rt tfMiifowhYiiViwi l . } Q < noUr , 1990 . ,. pir » U' riuoipiflai W » o , u »] KnoTr « W 9 . ' ! . Jionflwi BfunwAnnff . ; , '¦ . . '

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Nov. 3, 1860, page 6, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_03111860/page/6/