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the M [ A A ^ . fl H JG&EU. P &. No . 3g...
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The Revue desjjenx Mondes for April 15,c...
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:. .;.-,:, : THE OXFORD ESSAYS: Oxfbi-cL...
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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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One Of Tho Strangest Of Vexed Questions ...
M other tb ^ $ c tou ^ a ^ ii 1 ^ thisSvriter is vitality of animals sand iheir power to support injuries : — ' . _ . ' . ^^^^^^^ m ^^^ rM-i ^ M ^ l ^^^ t ^^^ st ^&^^ t ^^ 2 K ?« 5 cut off his head whilsthe was running towards the grain ; the bird ran twenty yards to his food , and , when there , bent over to pick up the grains . Hence also the ' common superstition that snakes will not die before sunset ? their tenacity of life ia so great that the severed head of a viper bit the famous Charas , several days after its decapitation , fiercely enough to expose him to serious danger . The other day we removed the heart ; and intestines from a young tadpole , whose tail had previously been cut off , and although he had been dead some Quarter of an hour , and had been under the microscope part of the time , ,, « + ™ tmrhlna the sDinal chord the fragment of an animal shrank and
Wriggled as if nothing had been done to it . Those who regard motion as evidence of sensation will feel shocked at the cruelty of all such experiments ; but they may be reassured : ' pain is a sensation felt apparently only by the ' higher animals , and . even with them many of the expressions well fcnown as ° characteristic of pain , are proved to be produced without any pain at all . If we see a man convulsively withdraw a leg on the application of certain stimuli , we naturally conclude he has felt great pain ; yet , in some conditions of the nervous system , he will assure us that he is not only perfectly unconscious of any pain , but unconscious of having made the convulsive motion . .- ¦ ..- ¦¦ . :
The M [ A A ^ . Fl H Jg&Eu. P &. No . 3g...
the M [ A A ^ . fl H JG & EU . P & . No . 3 gO , ^/ ftfei > . ¥ , ¦"•" TV _ r .. „ , ^^ ^^^^^^^^^ ^^^^^^^ j ^ jj ^^ jjjfl ^^ j ^^ jl ^ j— ^ —_^»»^—^»^^—— ^_^ . ^_ _^ ^^^^ ^^ ^^ ^ ^ ^ mmmmmmmmmm ^^^^^______ —MBM 1 ^_^^^
The Revue Desjjenx Mondes For April 15,C...
The Revue desjjenx Mondes for April 15 , continues Saint-Majrc Girardin s charming papers on KqussKAxrr considering him as he appears in his betters ; a pretty story also , by A . Achabd called" Mdile . du Rosier , ] ' is worth reading ; and a severe , but in many respect 3 well-merited , criticism on the stylein which MoilknE is performed at this Theatre-Francais , should not be overlooked . Gustave Pi . a . nche , never famous for his' amenity , holds the pedagog ic rule above the heads of the actors who , while declaring they are the repositories of ' uie Moxiiks : traditions , nevertheless violate the plain indention ' 3 £ . ojj £ re , asthe cyitic shows , ^ Especially vraisemblable is his criticism on the manner in which Jbrnolphe is conceived and represented , namely , as one who is aware of his own absurdity , and laughs with the pit at his own ridiculous positions . This want of sincerity is the besetting sin of the stage . Few actors can bring themselves to be the character they represent—especially when that character is ridiculous . They like-to have their share of the laughter ; as if to inform the audience that in their own private persona they ate by no mefetns the fools they perform .
:. .;.-,:, : The Oxford Essays: Oxfbi-Cl...
:. . ; .-,:, : THE OXFORD ESSAYS : Oxfbi-cL Essays . ContrHbuted by Members of the University . 1856 . . , ; ... ¦ -, - . , ¦ ' " . ¦' • ¦ ¦ J . W . Parker and Son . Shotjud these Oxford Essays continue as they have begun they will form a valuable collection ; and we think the editor is very judicious in selecting topics of permament rather than of immediate interest . Many thoughtful men will consider it a great ^ boon to be able to publish an essay on a subject , and not be forced to expand , that es , say into ; a volume . Published separately , an essay of fifty pages meets with small attention , and is , by the very nature
Vf the case , neglected among pamphlets ; but if bound up in a volume , the essay has great publicity to start with , and is always accessible hereafter . 1 liet us 1 suppose , fd ' r lris ^ tancd , that Professor Max MuUer had printed the ESsay bn Comparative m / thdlogy in" a separate form . ' It woMd not ^ have been Jess valuable , it would not have been read with loss eagerness , but ; it would Have reached its audiences w ? th great difficulty and aftermucli expense , and having reached them , Would have run all those risks ' of being mislaid Which bang fatally Over pamphlets and thin essays . It is a production which no bne ' would willingly suffer' i 6 be huddled among heaps of neglected papers , tt is something to be priced , and p fabtjd on shelves of hotiour . But , after alVa ' pambbletbf dight ^ p l ag es '•&*"« " g & i mislaid , will slip between , thicker ttre'fensioriiB , and fall' ^ oWn Behind more p ' oriderbus claims . In the Oxford ms & ya it runs' tid ' such' risk . There it is secure of an accessible position . 1 A finer essay , richer in kiibwledge arid in tttbiight , we know not where to finij . Profespot . Miiller ' s enormous learning is carried lightly and with xhast ' erv , isivW niomentitm to his intellect , hot impeding it . Although no such as
* n # ri' could ade § u ^ elv treat a subject Comparative Mythology without m ' ea ^ 'lbarhiVijr ' , philological ahd philosophical , it is unhappily but too well Shown how ; frequently the leaching exists without the capacity to wield it . We' have groaned' under so niariy erudite Germans , that to meet With one like Professor Muller , who is as eusy under his lorid as if his load -were no heavier than a Fren 6 hman ' s , and at the saihe time is more erudite than the dullest of Germans , is , to use an expression consecrated by reviewers , '' quite Refreshing . " , 1
, Whaf isit which gives Hfe and keen interest to the study of antiquitywhat cbnipeja mert , in busy and sad times like these , to sacrifice leisure ilind li ^ iabdiijiqus jiays . in the attempt to read the dark traditions of human ity , ifvc'n as Written hi the graceful blut utterly foreign legends of the old mythologies '? Wiito this question Professor Miiller arrests the reader who , having Woughl Ifttte < if myth 6 l 6 gy . - might ' be , apt to disregard \ t as unimportant . The answer is , that to' fcWoto ' tyhjffc' Wan is we ought to know whut man has % c ^ . ' In ^ yfllologV w 6 ' ' are'Ho longer ctmtenjt with the full-statured SWhSny Vw « 'Wk' ^ what he' Wad , and by what eyolli'ttottB ^ 'fclecaya ' e ^ h ' at he ia .. ' In Sociology Wo are rioit content to take rtien ^' it ^^;; MV ' muBk'leafhUh ^ ouffh History the evolutions by which' ilioyi ¦ ¦¦¦
f ^^ m ^ g | r ;^ ca |^ itioh , ' ' " '/; - ;¦ , ; ; , " ,, : . „ . ; ' : ., r 12 $ m ™ Wmdeif We oaonld n & rmy'c 6 mbtef im moans ' of arriving at tllia knowledge adequate WWUmiaWkM" W ' ntt ^ inil ttUM'W TJ rel ' eininenWy'tlioihdiVi ' dUal , 'iho huWiita ' ipWKy itsH ^^ thiiyt tfriy + iftrc ^ ^ di idJ befri ^ Dut ^ dnri mani fehtation dt a po ' wer , of , WIT' lkf'inlgfhti ^ h *^ WiMi' ^ te W ^ 'Us tfliattA'irt'AndJthrotigh an endlbto Vfttjety of humWi souls . Ho Is over aeoking to solve the mystery of human nature by brooding over his own mind , by watching the secret workings of the soul , by analyzing the organs of
^ knowledge ; and by trying to determine their proper limits ; and thus the last result of his philosophy was , that he knew but one thing , and this was , that he knew nothing . To us , man is no longer this solitary being , complete in itself , and self-3 ufg , cient ; man to us is a brother among brothers , a member of a class , of a genus , or a kind , and therefore intelligible only with reference to his equals . The earth was unintelligible to the ancients , because looked upon as a solitary being , without a peer in the whole universe ; but it assumed ia new and true significance as soon as it rose before the eye of man as one of many planets , all governed by the same laws , and all revolving around the same centre . It is the same -with the hitman soul , and its nature stands before our mind in quite a different ; light since man has been taught to know and feel himself as a member of one great family , —as one of the myriads of wandering stars , all governed by the same laws , and all revolving around the same centre , and all deriving their light from the same source . The history of the " world , or , as it is called , Universal History , ' has laid open new avenues of thought , and it has enriched our language with a word which never passed the lips of Socrates , or Plato , or Aristotle—wtan ^ fcMW * . Where' the Greek saw barbarians , we see brethren ; where the Greek Baw __ heroes and demi-gods , we see out parents and ancestors ; where the Greek saw nations ( fflw /) , we see mankind , toiling and suffering , separated b y oceans , divided by language , and severed by national enmity , —yet evermore tending , under a divine control , towards the fulfilment of that inscrutable purpose for which the world was created , and man placed in it , bearing the image of God . History , therefore , with its dusty and mouldering pages , is to us as sacred a volume as the book of nature . By a happy illustration Professor Muller enforces this view : — The history of those distant ages and distant men—rapparently so foreign to our modern interests , —assumes a new charm as soon as we know that it tells us the story of our own race , of our own family—nay , of our own selves . Sometimes , when opening a desk which we have not opened for many years , —when looking over letters which we have not read for many years , we read on for some time with a cold indifference , and though we see it is our own handwriting , and though we meet with names once familiar to our heart , yet we can hardly believe that we ' wrote these letters , that we felt those pangs , that we shared in those delights , till at last the past draws near and we draw near to the past , and our heart grows warm , and we feel again as we felt of old , and we know that these letters were our letters . It is the same in reading ancient history : at first it seem 3 something strange and foreign ; but the more intensely we read , the more our thoughts arc engaged and our feelings warmed ; and the history of those ancient men becomes , as it were , our own history , —their sufferings our sufferings , —their joys our joys . Without this sympathy , history is a dead letter , and might as well be burnt and forgotten ; whQe , if it is once enlivened by this feeling , it appeals not only to the antiquarian , but to the heart of every man . We cannot follow the writer through his admirable examination , philological and philosophical , of the various mythologies , nor will we damage the effect of his rich and often poetical treatment by a dry abstract . Let the reader get the Essay , and , in quiet study , possess himself of its details . Adwn ^ bl ^ alao in knowledge and in , writing is Mr . Montague Bernards Essay on The Growth of Laws and Usages qf War , a subject which has its apropos just now , but which will preserve its interest through tue profoundest periods of peace . It traces in clear masterly outlines the gradual intervention of the moral elements in warfare , and this juxtaposition of social instincts with instincts so anti-social as those called out by war , is very piquant and instructive . Mr . George Butler gives an account of the Raphael Drawings at Oxford , which will be read with interest ; Mr . William O'Connor Morris treats of the Land System of Ireland ; Mr . F . Temple ot National Education , and Mr . R . J . King of Carlovingian Romance ; but as we have not found leisure to read these papers , we must content ourselves with the announcement . . ' ! The last Essay is by Mr . Goldwin Smith , in the form of a review of Mr ; Congreve '/ s Roman Empire of the West , which has roused so much discussion . , ¦ It has recently occurred to an advanced and slightly terrorist school of philanthropists that nuden free iinstitutions it ia necessary occasionally to defer to the opinions of other people , and that as other people are obviously in the wrong , tbia is a great hindrance to the improvement of our political system and the progress of tue species . They therofore propose , for the checks and responsibilities of a constitutional system , to substitute an autocracy with no checks except those which may bo imposed on the autocrat by his own sense of the eternal fitness of things , and no responsibilitj ' , except to the judgment of professors of the political acience , for tue safety of whose headL when the adverse verdict of science shall have been pronounced , no adequate vision has yet been adeTo secure tho ascendancy of reason m politica , Ha
pro m . autocrat is to be elected through , a process not yet determined on , by the uneducated part of the nation ; and to purify government from class influences and antipathies , and inaugurate the fraternitv of men , lie is to represent tho interests and feelings ot tho lower classes against tho ' upper . In our time and country probably tho fulfilment of this theory would have raised Mr . Feargus O'Connor to the throne , or rather to tno altar : and the first measure of that eminent leader of the proletariat would most likely have been to create a few dozen dukea ; bis second , to take off the heads oi writers of Roman history and editors of Greek classics , as obviously useless to a proletariut republic founded on the organization of labour . This bright hope of a deinacopcic tyranny for tho future , with which Mr . Congrevo feels a cultivated sympathy , has not failed to throw back its light upon the past , and in the clear and \» tcre 3 t ^ rSsume of the history of the Empire before us , it gilds the cruelties of Caligula , mo
extortions of Caracalla , and even tho brow of Tiberius . ThiB opening passage explicitly enough indicates the tone of the whole Essay ; and ill its we can afford the space , we must give one more uxtract from ; Mr . Goldwin Smith ' s paper , in which he protests against inoucru Cmsarisnv :- - ¦¦ ¦¦ ¦ ¦ , What wen > tho actual measures of Crosar when he bad obtained supreme power nnu hnd carte blarioha for the regeneration of tho universe ? He very properly lntroducea a strict system of criminal law among his old fellow-riotora , and , as wo have saw , docked their largesses arid put down thoir clubs . He reformed tho Calendar , —n . useful ,-wo » k , which tho despot ordered' and the astronomers performed . Ho P Jcct ! r codulcution ot the law , which Cicoro eeoms to have projected also , —just as tho coivention left the Code Ndpolton in thoir bureau . He plannod several groat pnou works , which inquires no grout effort of geiriuS'on the part of any one who has nn » - limited command of public mbnoy . ' He showed a liberal taato by opening " P libTaryy—a mimificemu which lAicutlluri had anticipated , and perhaps ex « co < leu , ij Opening' to * the'public hlh own . He formed ft scheme for restoring Cnrtuatfo » Corinth by trannporthig inhabitant * to "themwhich would perhaps have been nu > irn
, gttUtfying to the-historical seritimtentnH » fc'thAiV advantageous to tho persons ' sportecll •• ¦¦ H * romttted o " portion ofoH ' debts ; wisely , peritaps , but without mucli xwi 4 f * 6 rt or expense 4 lmn > it gouts d mediceval ' king to remit , for tho sake of " | debts which his subjects owed the Jews . His attempts to revive and enforce tue orship of morals and tho sumptuary laws wore in tho narrowest and moat pew
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), May 10, 1856, page 16, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_10051856/page/16/
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