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BOOKS ON OUR TABLE Frcderica Bremer's Wo...
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Ihxthiu.
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We should do our utmost to enoouni//c th...
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OOMTK'S POSITIVE PHILOSOPHY. IIY (it. IT...
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Herbert Spencer's Theory Of Population. ...
nervous development ; the underfeeding of animals increases their fertility , because ( by a law as yet undetermined , but one we hope some day to demonstrate ) by diminishina the rapidity of the formation of the tissues it accelerates the throwing off of those germ cells or sperm cells necessary to reproduction . We despair of making this intelligible to any one not familiar with the latest views of physiology . But we will try a figurative hypothesis : Assuming that the food assimilated hy an organism is equivalent to 20 , and that this 20 is to be divided among the tissues according to the
demand made by the system , it is easy to see that if the demand be very great in all directions—as in the rapid growth of youth—the whole of the 20 will go to form the tissues of the body and none will remain for reproduction ; if the demand of the muscular tissue be excessive , it must be at the expense of the adipose or nervous tissues ; and where there is bulk as well as activity to be supplied , it must also be at the expense of the reproductive power ( which will account for the notorious stupidity and sterility of the athletes ) . In other words the food , when assimilated , is ready for conversion either into any one of the tissues , or into the reproductive cells—and one is always at the expense of the other .
Schwann admirably demonstrated that all the tissues and organized parts are produced from cells similar to those which singly or in a certain group , compose the germ or egg . We know that in the lowest plants and animals each cell separated from the organism can become an independent organism , and as even in the highest organisms all the tissues are developed from cells , which if not developed would have been available for reproduction , so we say that Reproduction varies inversely with the formation of tissue . " The necessary antagonism , " says Mr . Spencer , " of Individuation and Reproduction does indeed show itself amongst the higher animals , in some degree in the manner hitherto traced ; namely , as determining the total bulk . Though the parts now thrown off , being no longer segments of gemmse , are not obvious diminutions of the parent , yet they must be really such . Under the form of internal
fission , tbe separative tendency is as much opposed to the aggregative tendency as ever ; and , oilier things equal , the greater or less development of the individual depends upon the less or greater production of new individuals or germs of new individuals . As in groups of cells , and series of groups of cells , we saw that there was in each species a limit , passing which , the germ product would not remain united ; so in each species of higher animal there is a limit , passing which , the process of cell-multiplication results in the throwing off of cells , instead of resulting in the formation of more tissue . Hence , taking an average view , we see why the smaller animals so soon arrive at a reproductive age , and produce large and frequent broods ; and why , conversely , increased size is accompanied by retarded and diminished fertility . "
We must content ourselves with this incomplete notice of a theory which w ould demand several articles to treat properly ; enough has been done if we have excited the reader ' s attention to it , with some qualification of its statement .
Ar02005
Books On Our Table Frcderica Bremer's Wo...
BOOKS ON OUR TABLE Frcderica Bremer ' s Works ; the Neighbours and other Tales . Translated from the Swedish . By Mary Howitt . ( Bohn ' s Standard JLdbrary . ) II . Q . Boliu . Mary Howitt who introduced the writings of Miss Bremer ten years ago , to a public eager for novelty , has now collected six short tales , and added them to The Neighbours , to form one volume of Bohn's Standard Librarg . Pyrote . chny ; or , a Familiar System of Recreative Fireworks . By G . W . Mortimer . Second Edition , revised . J . S . Hodgson . A povui . a'h and familiar exposition of an art dreaded by mothers , gloried in by small boys , and admired in its results by gaping thousands every summer night . The Comedies of Plautus , literally translated into English prose , with notes . By Henry Thomas Riley , b . A , In M vols . ( Bohn ' s Classical Library . ) Vol . 1 . _H . ii . Bohn . A _utkuai , translation , but , like all literal translations , having advantages and disadvantages pretty equally balanced . The notes are brief and to the purpose . This volume contains The Trinummus , Miles Gloriosns , Pacchidcs , Slichus , Psriidolus , Menachmi , Aid ul aria , Caplivi , A sin aria , and Cur cut io .
Ihxthiu.
Ihxthiu .
We Should Do Our Utmost To Enoouni//C Th...
We should do our utmost to enoouni // c the beautiful , for the Jaei ' ul encourage lLaeli . _—UojcTiiit .
Oomtk's Positive Philosophy. Iiy (It. It...
OOMTK'S POSITIVE PHILOSOPHY . IIY ( it . IT . TjTCWKS . Part XV . —Scope and Method of Biology . It will now be possible to venture on a definition of the science of Life and a circumspection of its scope and Method . Wc bave . seen that the idea of Life ' presupposes the constant co-relation of two indispensable elements , an organism and u medium ( understanding b y medium the whole of the . surrounding circumstances necessary to the _e-fistenee of the organism . ) From the reciprocal action of these two elements , result all the p henomena of life . Hence it follows that the . great , problem of Biology is to establish
for ever } ' case , by tbe smallest possible number of invariable laws , an exact hai . moiiy between these two inseparable powers of tin : vital conflict and the act which constitutes it ; in other words , to connect : the twofold idea of organ and medium with that of function . Thus , positive ltiology is destined to connect , in every determinate case , the anatomical with the physiological point of view , the static with the dynamic condition . It is this which constitutes its true philosophic character . Placed in a given set of circumstances , every organism must always act in a determinate manner ; and inversely , the same action cannot be identically produced by organisms reall y distinct . So that we may infer the agent from tbe act , or tbe net from the agent . The medium being presupposed as thoroughly known , in
Oomtk's Positive Philosophy. Iiy (It. It...
consequence of the results attained by the preliminary sciences , the double Biological problem may thus receive its formula : —• Given , the organ or the organic modification , iofiiid the _futtctioii or the act , and reciprocally . That Biology is far from the state of positivism to admit of such scientific prevision , except in minor cases , all persons familiar with the science need not to be told . This was still more the case at the time Comte published his views , viz ., in 1838 . And although in the first volume of his Politi que Positive , published last year , he alludes to the important discoveries of
Schwann , relative to the " cell doctrine , " it is plain that he has not followed with much attention the rapid course of physiological investigation . I mention this for the sake of those who are about to study his work . Not that the present state of the science in any way modifies the general philosophic considerations he has set forth with such profound and exhaustive insig ht . What Buffon said of Pliny may be truly applied to Comte , that he had " cette _facility de penser en grand qui multiplie la science ( a phrase I can onl y inadequately translate as " that capacity for large generalizations which enriches science" ) .
The definition of the science given , let us now examine its Method . The philosophic law , laid down by Comte , respectin g the inevitable augmentation of our scientific resources according as the phenomena become more complicated , receives in Biology an unequivocal illustration . If the phenomena of life are incomparably more complex than those of the inorganic world , our means of . exploring them are more extensive . He has already pointed out the three capital arts of exploration , viz ., Observation , Experiment , and Comparison ; and he proceeds to show at great length how these three arts are employed in Biology .
Of Observation , properly so called , we not only find a great extension in the study of life , resulting from the countless variety of phenomena to be observed , but also from the employment of artificial means whereby our senses are raised to an incalculabl y higher power : such for example as the microscope and the stethoscope . No one even superficially familiar with microscopical researches will fail to see their immense importance , in spite of the errors into which the very difficulty of rightly observing , and the tendency to see what they wish to see , have led inquirers . What would our knowledge of the tissues be without the microscope ?
Of Experiment , in the strict sense of the word as used in Physics and Chemistry , there is little employment possible : the complexity and cdnnexity ( if I may coin the word ) of the phenomena prevent that indispensable elimination of all the circumstances but the one which we desire to observe ; and almost all the direct experiments are rendered equivocal by the impossibility of isolating the phenomena . Yet Biology has a kind of experiment peculiar to itself , and rich in indications—I mean the experiments Nature herself makes for us in the various anomalies of organization , and the various abnormal indications of Disease .
Comparison is however the great art of Biology , and Comte is right in devoting to it tbe great space he does . Instinctively men avail themselves of this fertile source of knowledge , but so little philosophic conviction is there of its paramount importance that not one physiologist in a hundred conceives himself to be violating scientific Method in beginning and ending his studies with tbe physiology of man ! To begin the study of Euclid at the twelfth book would not be more absurd . Our ascent must be gradual . Taking a broad survey of all its manifestations , we find that Life has two grand divisions—Vegetative and Animal ; or , to use Bichat _' s language ,
Org ante Life and Relative Life . We see Plants and Animals , —the latter feeding on the former ; but we also see that the Animal itself is only distinguished from the Plant by the possession of certain faculties , over and above those of Organic or Vegetative life—viz ., the faculties of sensation and locomotion . Equally to the Animal as to the Plant arc organs of nutrition and reproduction indispensable ; and Cuvier ' s notion of an animal being able to live for a moment b y its Animal Life alone , betrays a profound misconception of the nature of Life . As it is the vegetables which supply Animals with food , so in Animals it is the vegetative life which supports the relative life .
Physiologists have not sufficiently borne in mind that although in Man the Animal Life has a predominance over the Vegetative Life , nevertheless it is only superposed on the Vegetative , and can never for nn instant be independent of it . Nature presents to us a marvellous procession from the Plant , which ban onl y Organic : Life , to the Zoophyte , which exhibits a commencement of Animal Life , up through Animals to Man , with a gradual complexity of organism , and gradual enhancement of the animal life ; so that , from simple processes of assimilation and reproduction our investigation rises to locomotion , sensation , intelligence , morality , and sociality ! The great change from inorganic to organic , that is to say , the first vital act , i . s assimilation ; add thereto the act of reproduction , and you have the whole life of a cell , the simplest of organisms .
" A cell , says Dr . Carpenter , " in physiological language is a closed vesicle , or minute bag , formed b y a membrane in which no definite structure can be discerned , and having no cavity which may contain matter of variable consistence . Every such cell constitutes an entire organism iu such simple plants as red snow or gory dew ; hir although the patches of this kind of vegetation which attract notice are made up of vast aggregations of such cells , yet tbe y have no dependence upon one another , aad the actions of each arc an exact repetition of thoso of the rest . " The cell , in short , is a plant—minute , yet individual—and its _powera of reproduc-
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), July 17, 1852, page 20, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_17071852/page/20/
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