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834 THE LE APE R. _______ [Saturday ,
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A BATCH OF IiEPUHLlCATIONS. In our anxie...
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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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, ^ Lamarck And T.Imc V.Nstkxek. Vestige...
than one which we never think of wondering afc , because familiar to us —• namely , that in the gestation of the mammals , the animalcule-like ovum of a few days is the parent , in a sense , of the , .-, chick-h'ko form of a few weeks , and that in all the subsequent stages—fish , reptile , & c . —the one may , with scarcely a metaphor , be said to be the progenitor
of the other . I suggest , then , as an hypothesis already countenanced by much that is ascertained , and likely to be further sanctioned by much that remains to be known , that the first step was are advance under favour of peculiar conditions , from the simplest forms of oeing , to tlie next more complicated , and this through the medium of the ordinary process of generation "
Although , when seeking for illustrations the author of the Vestiges does of course allow the modifying influence of the Medium to appear , yet whenever he has to state dogmatically his conceptions , he uniformly disregards it , in favour of the '' internal development force" ( p . 208 ) , or of the " inherent impulse , " or of the pre-ordained Plan . For example : — " The imagination eagerly aspires to picture the world of the Oolitic Era , when there were scarcely any living creatures of more exalted character than reptiles . There were then vast tracts of dry land , as now ; their surface bore a luxuriant vegetation of no mean kind . The meteoric agencies , the rise and fall of tides , were common phenomena of that time , as of the present . Day after day , through long drawn ages , the sun passed on his course . Night after night , the sparkling garniture of the sky looked down on this green world . But a being of superhuman
intelligence , coming to examine our globe , would have seen all this existing only for fishes and still humbler creatures in the sea , and for reptiles , insects , and perhaps a few birds , and still fewer opossums , upon land . He would have beheld the tyrant sauria pursuing their carnivorous instincts upon the wave , upon the shore , and even in the air ; huge turtles creeping along the muddy coasts ; still more huge megalosaurs traversing the plain ; and with all this , the air filled with multitudes of insects . But no flocks would have met his eye upon the mountains , no herds quietl y roaming in the valleys . He would encounter no tiger or elephant in the jungle . None of the smaller mammalian quadrupeds , as the deg > the genet , the hedgehog , the hare , the-male , would . have presented themselves . And not only
were no human beings to be seen , but our supernatural visitant would know that this scene must lie spread out in perfect capability for their reception , during whole millenniums / before such beings were to exist ; the stream flowing and glittering in the sun , but not to cheer the eye of man ; the whole jocund earth spread out in unenjoved beauty , as yet unwitting" of the glory and the gloom which human impulses were to bring upon it . How strange to reflect on the contemplations of the supposed visitant ! What a vast void ! What a stretch of time before there was to be even a commencement to its proper filling ! And yet the certainty that in good time , in the ripeness of the plans of the mighty Author , the higher animals were to come , and among the last the Creature of Creatures—who , in his infinity of device , wna to turn it all to his use—the historical being of the world !
" It has been supposed by some geologists , that there was a special adaptation of the earth at this time to its predominating tenants , as if it presented only lowmuddy coasts and marshes fit for the residence of reptiles . And it has been thought that this state of the earth is what led to the existence of so many reptiles . But all such speculations rest on insecure grounds . When we consider that the Age of Reptiles , as it has been called , is interposed between an age of fishes and an age of mammals , reptiles being also intermediate to these in the animal scale , we cannot but surmise that the fact , depends on some organic law , rather than upon one in physical geography . "
JN ^ ow , the positive thinker may reasonably ask for some more precise statement of this " organic law . " Are we to suppose it antecedent to , and independent of , such external conditions—a pre-existent idea among the " plans" of the Creator ? " yen , " says the author of the Vestiges , not doubting Hint he lias penetrated the Creator ' s plans ! We admit that the- phrase , " state of the- earth , " is inadequate , unless in it be included all terrestrial conditions , pre-existent and existent . The notion of an " organic law" independent of conditions is a bit of pure metaphysics . But we must reserve our remarks on the metaphysics of the- Vestiges uiltil our next . Let it sufliec for the present that we have shown how the author disregards the one factor , as Lamarck disregards the other . The idea of Life is inseparably connected with the co-relation of an Organism and a Medium ; to disregard either is to wander into error .
834 The Le Ape R. _______ [Saturday ,
834 THE LE APE R . _______ [ Saturday ,
A Batch Of Iiepuhllcations. In Our Anxie...
A BATCH OF IiEPUHLlCATIONS . In our anxiety to keep the reader tolerably an coura / d , and at the same time not to express opinions too carelessly or hastily formed , we are as morally perplexed aa we are physically , by the want of space necessary to give half the books published notices of reasonable length . By collective surveys we try to get as well out of the diiliculty as may be . Here is a collection of works , all of which the reader will be glad to hear of , howover briefly . . , ' . Ifitut in importance , as in bulk , comes the new edition of the Enci / clovolume 2 and Black ) 3 ingenuous reader
jui'dia Hritauvica , ( A . C . . Mo supposes that we have conscientiously gone through theso nine hundred double-columned quarto pages , or that , we could bo in any condition to review the same , if we had gone through them . But we have done more tlwui look at the title-jmgo ; we havo inspected the articles Agriculture and Anatomy , and find in each easo that ; the subject ; is really brought down to . the ' present ; state of knowledge , and not left , to bo simply reprinted from former editions . Ono objection , however , wo must , mako : iho article Anatomy in not , finished in tins volume , nor are any of tho plates illuHtrnting the portion here published given in this part ; now , either the article should have been given entire , or left till tho commencement of tho new volume , because it will hereafter bo found exceedingly
i nconvenient in making references to have two bulky volumes in lieu of one to take down from the shelves . This hint we give the editor for future gU rd John Bussell has produced a new edition of his Life qf Lord William Mussell ( Longman and Co . ) in an elegant J orm . The only point calling for remark is the notice Lord John gives , m his preface , of a -better spirit animating the present French Government with respect to the inspection of its archives for literary purposes . Hitherto Lord John had not been permitted to consult Banllons correspondence ; . but- he no * thanks Mignet for the courtesy with which the permission has been executed . He finds that Sir John Dalrymple had correctly copied the
despatches . He publishes , moreover , a letter of Louis XIV . to Barillon , throwing light on the state of parties , and bearing " unsuspected testimony to the integrity of Lord William Russell , ^ Something more than a mere announcement is due to the new edition of Southeys Poetical Works , in ten handsome , and remarkably cheap pocket volumes ( Longman and Co . ) , because , while the copyright of the earlier works has expired , and they are being reprinted pother publishers , the public should be warned of the injustice of suck reprints to the author ( not to mention the questionable propriety of sending forCk a confessedl y inferior work ) . Southey was always a great corrector : thus , it is calculated that in the first book of Joan of Arc alone , out of 543 lines , a full third have been changed ; and if Southey is to be read at all , his reputation demands that he shall be read in his own revised text . Another motive strengthens the already strong motive of self-interest m the purchase of Longman ' s edition—it is the only one in which the poet ' s representatives have any
interest . , , , , , ,. Mr . James Nichol , of Edinburgh , has commenced a great undertaking — a republication of the British Poets . There are to be six volumes issued every year , the annual subscription being one guinea ; but the volumes are complete in themselves , and may be separately purchased at four and sixpence each . The editor is Mr . George Gilfillan , whose edit , ing , however , appears confined to the biographical and critical ^ memoirs preceding the works . The volumes before us contain Milton and Ihompson . They are printed in large handsome type , fitted even for ancient eyes , with liberal margins for the loving pencils of students . As reprints , they are the cheapest and handsomest we can name . los Monieshas
Theophile Gautier ' s charming gossip on Spain , Tra , been translated for Messrs . Ingram and Cooke's Illustrated Library , under the title , Wanderings in Spain . Although , where so much depends on style , the translator has a difficult if not impossible task , this book may be commended to those who have not seen the original as a lively , picturesque , impertinent , gossipy book , and not the wor 3 t account of Spanish life that has appeared . " "_ . . In Chapman ' s Library for the People we have a new edition of . Newman's Phases of Faith , a work which has produced greater and healthier influence than any theological work published for a long while . It was reviewed at such length in our first volume that we have nothing new to say on it , except to notice the alterations in this reprint , ihese aro spoken of in the preface : —
" I have expanded a few passages in the latter portions of this book , where , by reason ( I suppose ) of my too great brevity , I have been greatly misapprehended . For the same reason I have enlarged a . short discussion into an entire new chapter , on the Moral Perfection of Jesus . Disagreeable experience warns me , that hostile reviewers will endeavour , as before , to excite prejudice against me , by picking out my conclusions , and carefully stripping oil" every reason which I assign , aa also every qualifying and softening addition ; preparatory to turning on me , and charging mo with ' inconsistency / for not being as onesided as they havo told their readers that I am . I now say : not only is this careful suppression of my arguments a cowardly trick , and a mark of their conscious weakness ; but , aa they well in
know that every word whispered ngainst the personal perfection of Jesua is - tensely offensive , I charge them ( if they have some conscience , as I hope ) , not to outrage their readers , and pretend it is I who do so . To give my reasons , as well an my conclusions , may nid to a true and stable result , whether I prove convincing or unconvincing . To give my conclusions alone , and inadequately , can proceed from none but a malignant intention . " I have also added a chapter at tho end , chiefly in reply to the Eclipse ofFanli a boolc which has been highly extolled as a refutation of my writings . " Tho reply to that extremely shallow and bitter book , The Eclipse of Faith is calm , dignified , and crushing . Unhappily the persons who read the Eclipse will not read the Phases , and , if they do , they are for tno most part very insensible to any dishonesty of polemics on their side . volume
Douglas Jerrold ' s collected works havo reached the sixth , containing tho novel originally published in parts , A Man wade of Money * and the quaint fantasy , The Chronicles of Clovernook . What an accumulation of wit , sarcasm , imagery , quaintness , and indignation in these volumes ! . . Mr . Bosworth has started a Literature for the People , of which w « numbers arc before us : tho first , a translation of Madame d'ArbouvnlO ' story , Christine von Amberg ; the second being the first part of a n 0 * edition of tho Spectator , with a Biographical and Critical Preface aim Explanatory Notes—the writer thereof not named . The pub " '"* the Critic hns also commenced a Selected Series of French J ^ . ^ ' ' ^ The-plan is u good one . Madame da Sevigvc , who forms tho huI > 1 < ' <<> ' ^ the two parts wo have seenis presented to the reader biograp hical ! V
, lively Memoir , and in a selection from her Letters ( translated ) wltll A , ] planatory notes . This is , perhaps , tho very best way of publishing « c . ^ tioiis . Among railway readings , let us mention Mrs . Taylor ' s trans '"; \> of Auerbach ' s new village ) tale , Florian and Orescenz ( Chapman and XWh a charming bit of Black Forest life ; and G . 1 \ It . James ' s novel , xa Forgery ( Simms and M'lntyre ) , for Ike lovers of mild mediocrity . The Poets of England and America ( Whifctakor and Co . ) is a woH-nim selection from tho boat , writers—a selection made for tho most ; Pftl ' j | ythe compiler , and not ; copied from oil an" compilation !* , it i » « l 8 t 0 done ; and is , what it is cnllod , a " companion" to all lovers ot \> ° ^ jjj By way of relieving the dryness of this survey of now books , w ^ quote two sonnets , which occupy two opposito pages of this volume .
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Aug. 27, 1853, page 18, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_27081853/page/18/
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