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884 THE LEADER. [Saturday,
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^ ini tjilin.
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We should do our ut.mofll. l.o (Micounu'...
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BaSVff&t&S- ©F & WMiM>®53!£U XVI.* (Sdvo...
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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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.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
Unnoticed Ekroks Of The "Vestiges." Vest...
let the drops be doubled in weight , and the required tune will be diminished by one half ; let them be quadrupled , and the effect . will be produced in one quarter of the time . Time here is only one standard of the conditions , as it is in the nine-months' gestation of a human embryo . It is manifestly absurd to suppose that , all other things remaining the same , Time could ever effect a change ; unless the conditions changed , the result would not change , even if millions of years were to rollover them , ; and if in the course of time a change takes place in the conditions , ^ ^ supposes that change to be owing to Time . Thus , a grain of wheat placed in certain specific conditions will grow into a plant in a specinc time ; but the grains which were found in the pyramids would not there have developed into plants , had millions instead of hundreds of years
passed over them . . But the author of the Vestiges , consciously or unconsciously , makes Time itself a special condition , and one of the highest importance—one that can be independent of all external circumstance . " Time and a succession of forms in gradation and affinity , become elements m the idea of organic creation . " ( P . 146 . ) Asifthis were not enough , he says elsewhere : — " It is now to be remarked that what lias been ascertained of the actual history of organic beings upon earth , is in no respect out of harmony with this idea of their creation after the manner of law . We have seen that these did not come at once , to do
as they mi ^ ht h ave been expected if produced by some special act , or even some special interposition of will , on the part of the Deity . They came in a longextending succession , in an order , as would appear , of progressive organization ; grade following grade , till , from a humble starting-point in both kingdoms , the highest forms were realized . Time , tve see , was an element in the evolution of Being , as it is in the reproduction of an individual at the present day . Ab the beginning of geological investigation / it was thought that some immediate external conditions ruled the appearance of particular classes of animals at particular times : as that the absence of dry land was the cause of the late commencement of terrestrial animals ; that there being for a long time only reptilian land vertebrata , was owing to an overcharge of the atmosphere with carbonic acid—the store from which came the chief material of the abundant vegetation of the carbonigenous
age ; and so forth . But it is now seen that the progress of the animal world was , in its main features , independent of such circumstances . There was dry land for many ages before there were any land animals . The sea abounded in invertebrate animals , while as yet fish did not exist , though the conditions required for the existence of both are the same . The oolitic continents , where only reptiles roamed , could have equally supported mammalia , for which the atmosphere was then fully fitted , even upon the admission of the carbonic acid hypothesis , as the coal was by that time formed ; yet mammalia came not . It was supposed at the dawn of true geology , that fresh creations of animals were connected with great physical revoluin torms of volcanic
tions of the surface ; as if , at particular times , all had perished s violence , and been replaced with a wholly new fauna . This idea is likewise passing away . It is now seen that changes in specinc forms took place quietly in the course of time , while no volcanic disturbances are traceable . In short , it is always becoming-more and more manifest that organic progress—both the specific changes in classes formerly existing , and the accession of new and higher classes—depended , not by any means wholly or immediately upon external circumstances , ltd in great part upon time . All tins looks very unlike either special working or special willing on the part of the Creator , but , on the contrary , very like the simply natural procedure of things in the world of our own day . "
This is an astounding- passage . Observe how utterly ho rejects the Lamarckian argument of " external circumstances , " and how he makes development " independent of them , " and owing mainly to Time . Moreover , he displays inaccuracy in his conception of conditions , when he uses as an argument that there was land before animals , and sea before fish ; and this inaccuracy is brought into stronger relief by his palpable contradiction to this notion at p . 121 , " Whore there is light there will be
eyes ; " an assertion which Sedgwick justly ridiculed . It would seem that the author lias been led to this aberration respecting Time by the millions of years taken by the gestation of our universe . But to carry out this notion consistently , he must assume a gestation of conditions as well as of lii ' e ; as , however , he admits deviations from the lino of development , and in one place says , "It has its ebbs as well as its
flows , though the general movement is to be contemplated as onwards , " these admissions would settle him in a dilemma with an antagonist , who nhould say , "Then are these ebbs and Hows parts of a pre-ordained scheme , or are they external limitations to the organic impulse ? and if ho , whence do they come P" He would thus be reduced to admit , 1 st , that God has intentionally planned temporary hindrances to his plans , or , 2 nd , that there is , external to his power , ji temporarily invincible limitation .
The errors wo have pointed out are fundamental , and permeate the book . They originate , we believe , in the author ' s having neglected to study 10 mbryology , and . sought succour from treacherous Metaphysics . If the reader'a patience be not exhausted , we will n . sk him in some futurepaper to consider a few physiological errors resulting from the same cjiuso . ¦
884 The Leader. [Saturday,
884 THE LEADER . [ Saturday ,
^ Ini Tjilin.
^ ini tjilin .
We Should Do Our Ut.Mofll. L.O (Micounu'...
We should do our ut . mofll . l . o ( Micounu'V I , he Uouul . iful , for tlio fj . ic . f ' ul oneounu'ofl it . iKlli ' . — UoKTHK . '
Basvff&T&S- ©F & Wmim>®53!£U Xvi.* (Sdvo...
BaSVff & t & S- © F & WMiM >® 53 ! £ U XVI . * ( Sdvou Hillti , April l " . ltli , lftr > 2 . iw & kir LiOW much more simple are events than the vain perplexities which ^ fifr'M $ w 0 <' ' « ; il <; * f ° ourselves in our own imaginations when we depart fP / l $ fr ° lh ( ' utrni tf ht and natural path . Neither you , n » y beautiful wR ^ R-i Hrleii , nor you , degnosisHimo mio ( Jior ^ io , will suspect in theae my words , uttered without study of utterance , hut only with study Hoo Leader , Nob . 1 ^ 5 , 120 , 127 , 128 , 120 , I ' M , 1 » 1 , 1 U 2 , 1 U 3 , 1 U , 13 ( 1 , 13 i > , Ul , 140 , 1 M , lf , 7 .
of thought , that I wish , with the miserable Rousseau , to return to a " stat of nature ; " or think that I find the model for society in the Huron a ^ more than the Bosjeman . Cultivated man is better than rude man ; th ^ more since rude man , if so he can be called , usually bears traces of degeneracy . Take your man with all his faculties cultivated—not the degenerate savage of the prairie , with slow brain and limited thought , any more than the savage of the study , with soft muscles and stunted senses ; but a man
whose perfect growth is attested in his form , his eloquence , his affections —his strength , his self-utterance , his influence—and trace in his healthy instincts the laws which human nature must and does obey . For disobedience to natural laws results so far in obliteration of human life ; and human life exists , therefore , so far , and so far only , as it obeys . False laws , begetting mortification—present mortification—are all that we know of annihilation ; since that which is they cause not to be for him that tries to follow those false laws .
But I preach to you who know so much better than I . I strive to stammer out with words those truths that you have already ; for to your unperverted sense natural truths are self-apparent . When our dear , because all beautiful , Helen looks out upon a truth , she sees it , and it rises into the light of her countenance to be a truth darting straight into the hearts of those that behold her . We puzzle ourselves to " find out" polarization , "to account" for the vibratory theory , to anatomise the ray in the prism ; yet light is still nothing grander than light to us ; our young eyes love to wake upon it ; our aged eyes regret to close upon it ; and if , by the blessing of God , we " know" more about it , our farthest researches do but teach us that light and life cling together and are , perhaps , interchangeable
as love and life . Still I preach , and you , I say , who have these things , which I in this desolate land of crowded savages begin to dim by talking about , are wishing to know more of those other living truths here that reflect yourselves . After what I told you in my last letter , the simplicity of the sequel may surprise you , save that hearts which know the mutations of truth are proof against all surprise . When Yseult sent for me I found her very tranquil ; but , with a naivete that did not altogether , seem strange , she declared that she began to grow really uneasy about Edwardes . She hesitated , and evidently would npt tell me all ; but there was nothing , she said , to account for his absence .
, " Nothing ? " I asked : " Could she not even conjecture the reason ?' No . She had had a difference with him in a matter of opinion , and of conduct even , she said ; but it was not new ; and—here she hesitated much more—she had told him something which had angered him— " for he is a generous fellow ! " But whither he had gone she guessed not . And she asked me what could be done to discover his departure ?
Of course I could only refer her to the search already made . I had myself sought the whole neighbourhood for traces , and only found such as led to nothing . Later in the clay there was another meeting of magistrates ; another private examination of Yseult ; and more mysterious whisperings . Margaret appeared to me as if she knew more than she had told ; but her unchanging countenance prevented my discovering whether it was so ; an « if it was , evidently she did not intend to tell me ; so I did not ask her . Her perfect calm reassured me . I expressed uneasiness about Edwardes , and she admitted some anxiety on her own part ; but not positively . c had , as yet , she said , no more reason for fear than for confidence ; save ou ignorance . Julie ' s eyes , wandering from one to another , showed a growing
curiosity , almost eager to corroborate the adverse " app earances thickened against Yseult ; whose irrepressible passion was so c followed by Edwsmlcs ' s disappearance . Markham gossiped , mid Julie ' s curiosity with stimulants . Poor Fanny Chctham helped our perplexities , for , without intending it , she ascribed to Yseult so strftlI ^ j t manner , of repressed anger , and a coldness struggling with kindness , Markham asked me if Yseult ' s mind had always been sound . The l J was a shock in itself ; but I could not answer it ; except with tne ^ 'Vl , ot of a . belief that a vigorous mind like hers , in a healthy frame , eon « ^ wander . It was a wretched day that ; and I think amongst us the m ^ wretched was poor Fanny , who seemed to feel herself inscrutably rcsnon
for the calamity which had fallen upon us . That same evening , Margaret and I , whom a certain unity ot *^_ ^ had kept much together , were sitting on the bank near the g » tc w ^ into the village , when she silently pointed down the road . Slowly w » ^ up , with his hands behind his back , was the mussing Edwnn es . ^ hastened forward when he saw un , held out his hands to grasp " ! ^ jicr only remarked that he had sent " his tlmics" by n man along ll . , i only remarked that he had sent - " Ins things" by a man Ul * m \ eft accomi
path . 1 opened the gate for the welcome wanderer , and we ^ him towards the house . He had been to sec his patients m Iovvm- ^^ garet told him that all had been perplexed by his absence ; and he n : < ei ^ intimation with n smile , as much as to nay that he thoug ht it naturi - ^ ^ when she told him of the kind of enquiries that liwl been ma ' ^ ( liirk Y ' aeult had been subjected to examination and watch , his brow fi ^ ^ with indignation ; and quickening his pace , he entered the house , ^ ^ ^ . straight up to Yseult ' s room . There lie remained some short " "_' , liis he spoke with Margaret ; and then be joined uh at supper , n"i « ' ^ ^ ubsence with the air of a man who had been summoned on m » ^ reat importance , yet not denning to be questioned .
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Sept. 10, 1853, page 20, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_10091853/page/20/
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