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    Kittxalnxt.

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    Critics are not the legislators, but the...

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    Just as the British. Parent is making el...

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    this knowledge. When a movement is made,...

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    INSTINCT OJb 1 ANIMALS. Illustrations of...

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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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    Ar01806

    Kittxalnxt.

    _Kittxalnxt .

    Critics Are Not The Legislators, But The...

    Critics are not the legislators , but the judges and police of literature . They do not make laws—tney interpret and try to enforcethem . —Edinburgh Review .

    Just As The British. Parent Is Making El...

    Just as the British . Parent is making elaborate arrangements for a Continental Trip with his whole family , having in view economy and a " polish " of elegance , Lever brings out the first number of his new serial , The Dodd Family Abroad . It starts capitally . The machinery is good , though old enough : a family of various * ' types" writing severally of their experiences . The humour is of the sl y Milesian kind , some of it excellent ; while the great variety in the characters prevents tedium .

    This Knowledge. When A Movement Is Made,...

    this knowledge . When a movement is made , the Lion strikes or crunches with his teeth , just as the kitten strikes when the ball suspended to a string is moved , hut ceases after awhile to touch it , if left at rest . It is a simple case of reflex action , and the writer of the article we are noticing is interpreting facts hy human motives , in supposing that every movement made to reload the gun was rightly interpreted h y the Lion . The Lion knew nothing of reloading ; hut he was excited by thc movements , and a handkerchief shaken would have roused the same feelings in him .

    Natural History gains some attention this month in Fraser and Tait . In the Mullets and Mullomaniacs of Fraser will be recognised the erudite gossip and gusto of an admired contributor ; in the Pay with a Lion , of Tait we have a very exciting narrative of a lion keeping watch over a man all day long , waiting till hunger should prompt him to spring . It may be worth while to rectify a common error apropos to this anecdote . That the Lion will not mangle his prisoner , so long as the prisoner remains motionless , is well known ; and various are the anecdotes of men escaping by means of

    Besides the paper on Mullets , there is m _xraser an eloquent , ingenious and suggestive mooting of some Ethical Doubts concerning Reineke Fuchs , which may be called an Essay on the causes of our sympathy with successful scoundrelism . Why , indeed , do we disregard the plainest writing of our Moral Code , and suffer sympathy with clever scampishness to overrule the direct reprobation of conscience ? Why do we love Falstaff , and try in vain to think ill of Reynard the Fox ? The writer of this admirable Essay will have it that in the successful scamp we admire the success , and forgive the scampishness for the sake of the vital force which lies behind it and makes it successful

    :---" Now , on thc human stage , a man who has made himself valuable is certain to be valued . However we may pretend to estimate men according to the wrong things which they have done , or abstained from doing , we in fact follow the example of Nobel , the king of the beasts , and give them their places among us according to the serviceableness and capability which they display . We might mention not a few eminent public servants , who the world delights to honour—ministers , statesmen , lawyers , men of science , artists , poets , soldiers , who , if they w ere tried by the negative test , would show but a poor figure ; yet their value is too real to be dispensed with ; and we tolerate unquestionable wrong to secure the services of eminent ability . The world really does , and it always has really done so from the beginning of the human history ; and it is only indolence or cowardice which has

    left our ethical teaching halting so far behind the universal and necessary practice . Even questionable prima donnas , in virtue of their sweet voices , have their praises hymned in drawing-room and newspaper , and applause rolls over them , and gold and bouquets shower on them from lips and hands which , except for those said voices , would treat them to a ruder reward . In real fact , we take our places in this world not according to what we are not , but according to what we are . His Holiness Pope Clement , when his audience-room rang with furious outcries for justice on Benvcnuto Cellini , who , as far as half-a-dozen murders could form a title , was ns fair a candidate for the gallows as ever swung from that unlucky wood , replied , 'All this is very well , gentlemen : these murders are bad things , we know that . But whero am I to get another Benvenuto , if you hang this one for me ? ' '>

    Undeniable , lherc is something more , however . I here is , firstly , a delightful emancipation of the spectator from any personal interest in the proceedings ; his intellect is free to admire , it is unclogged by any egoism . The scoundrelism does not _atfeet him ; the cleverness appeals to his sympathy . FalstttiF owes him no money ; Reynard docs not befool him ; so that his intellect is clear , and appreciates with great gusto . The wronged man hates the clever scamp , hut the spectator ( unless his personal sympathies he involved , and wc are now considering him purely us a spectator ) not being irritated , is able to admire .

    In this " personal emancipation ' here hinted at , lies , we believe , the secret of most of our imaginative pleasures . The terrible becomes the sublime if accompanied by a sense of security . The pathos of a traged y is exquisite pleasure to a spectator , accompanied as it is hy a sense of its not , really agonising thc actors . There i . s a second source of sympathy with the Disreputables , which lies in our imperfectly civilized condition . We are savages , with a thin veneer of order and propriety . The old' wild instinct is in our hearts , and much

    ns wc may preach Order , Rule , ami " . Respectability on Long-acre springs /' the to _Tvoeiroi' is secretly despised . As children , we hate the " good hoys " of story hooks , and delight privately in Don't ( . ' are ; for , as a subtle author well says , in reference to the end Don ' t (' are came to , " at any rate he came to some end , whereas most people come to none . " lie showed vitality , free , unconstrained , independent volition , that Don ' t Care ! This presence of vital force would have made Jckkukv a greater and more estimable man , according to the critic ; in Blackwood , who traces throughout Jul ' i'iljs y _' b life a want of earnestness , which was , indeed , the

    This Knowledge. When A Movement Is Made,...

    _irptorov _ipevtog , or fundamental deficiency of his nature . The critic aft pointing out this dilettante nimbleness , and want of direct purpose savs" What we naturally ask ourselves had a mind of this temper and cast of . thoueht to do with the movement party in the state ? Its place was in tbe ranks of saf and even timid Conservatism . But , in truth , all that Jeffrey had willingly to d _° with these great subjects was to talk of them ; to talk much and well was th ° business of his life ; he would never willingly have acted , or proceeded from discourse to real measure . " The hack-handed blow given to safe Conservatism in this passage is noticeable coming from Blackwood .

    Christopher is again Under Canvas this month , as eloquent as ever We will not dismiss the magazines of this month without a word in praise of the charming periodical for children , The Charm , which ia more eagerly looked for by several youngsters we know than Bleak House is by their parents .

    Instinct Ojb 1 Animals. Illustrations Of...

    INSTINCT OJb ANIMALS . Illustrations of Instinct deduced from the Habits of British Animals . By Jonathan Gouch . F . L . S . VanVooisfc Comparative Anatomy is quite a modern Science ; and yet , in spite of its infancy , all philosophers are sensible of its excessive importance in the construction of a , true science of Biology . A necessary consequence of this study of comparative anatomy with a view to Biology , will he the study of Comparative Psychology , with a view to the clearer appreciation of our psychial condition ; but as yet this new inquiry has only been pursued in a fitful and , so to speak , unconscious mood , owing mainly to the ancient prejudice against recognising anything like intelligence in the brute creation . Brutes have instinct—men have mind : that is the current doctrine ;

    which , deeply considered , is about as true as to say , brutes have four legs —men have legs and arms . Por the arm is not more demonstrably the homologue of a leg , more varied in its function , owing to the varied modification of its construction , than Intelligence is an advance upon Instinct , owing to the greater development of its organ . Comparative anatomy shows us that all the innumerable varieties of vertebrate structure are hut modifications of one type ; and comparative Psychology will show that all the innumerable mental varieties are owing to the various modifications of one type—the nervous system . Instinct is not essentially different from Mind ; it is only the simpler function of a simpler organ . As we

    formerly said : " The earlier forms of mental manifestation are named Instinct ; the more complicated forms , Intelligence ; but as the nervous system is specifically nervous whatever may be the amount of concentration in its central masses , so Mind is specifically Mind whatever the intensity or variety of its manifestations . Man shares with the Brute a twofold life—vegetative and animal : he also shares with the brute a twofold mental life—instinctive and rational . In ascending the scale of creation we see animal life gradually encroaching on the supremacy of vegetative life ; and in like manner we see reason gaining predominance nvor i / nst . inot . '

    Mr . Gouch , in the volume before us , has luminously stated the initial conditions of all inquiry into animal instinct , although he has not steadfastly adhered to his own principles : — " To acquire an accurate idea of the intrinsic nature of the faculty termed Instinct , it will be requisite , first , to notice the conditions of living existence below it in the scale of nature ; in order that , by tracing the successive manifestations of the increasing faculties , we may understand the precise station which this faculty occupies in the ascending scale , and the means through which its operations arc developed . We shall thus be taught that it is not so much an insulated faculty , of which the tissues and organs are no more than instruments—as an accumulation of powers combined together , and occupying a step in the course of a transition from the , lowest to a higher condition of natural rank ; so that its variation or degree is due to the modification of these inferior powers which together form _its constituent parts . "

    Had he resolutely followed out the p lan here traced he would havo made a contribution to science of tho highest value . But his concep tion of Mind as an essence superadded to tho brain—a sp irit peculiar to man —vitiates this portion of tho inquiry , and is _probaoly the cause of his work being so fragmentary aa it is . We cannot hero enter upon the question of the " spirituality" of Mind ; but must be permitted to express our surprise at finding him unaware of the tendency of his own speculations . _, In noting how Mr . Couch ' s volume falls short of its own standard , let us not forget to add , on the other hand , that it is nevertheless a remarkable and suggestive work , crowded with facts and anecdotes nitorcs - ing to the lover of natural history , and containing philosop hic apcrcus which the psychologist will turn to good use . See how ho illustrates reflex action in the following examp les : —

    " It is probable that this compulsory state of the process of swallowing i » t » ° natural condition of the orifice of some animals ; the approach of food to this upei - ture being tho mere result of accident . In them also it may not lie attended wi . consciousness : for , even in tho huniaii body , tho muscular structure ot the _» _lrt the eye , moved as it is by the impression of light , performs its actions without o being at all sensible of them . The closing of its shell in the Oyster , t , lC . _^ tact of some objects , and its opening on the How of the tide , are instances o property ; and regarded in this point of view , they display wonderful adapt ' 'j ° of structure to tho wants and circumstances of the creature , itself unconscious

    want , or , if felt , how to supply it . But recurring to the automatic action ol s \ v «< lowing , which has been already mentioned , perhaps there is no ono in wlia ' dependence of each motion on its predecessor is so distinctly visible and me as this—in which none can lie exerted , except by beginning with the lust »> the chain . A craving for agreeable food is tho exciting cause of the motions ' ' . month aud jaws -. but however agreeable to the palate , this food is not _retains the mouth to obtain the only enjoyment it is capable ol" affording ; but being tin _<>^ over the hinder part of tiie tongue , it is conveyed into tho stomach by the m _^ - luntary muscular contractions of successive portions of the _ojsophagurt or iS ' And it is interesting to observe in somo animals tho interposition of certain ac i

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Sept. 4, 1852, page 18, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_04091852/page/18/