On this page
- Departments (1)
-
Text (6)
-
UM g?HE XEAPEit. [y0.3^,9, Batukday. _1_...
-
¦ • .. -.. r^+t ± " ' ' ^UMrAt+Wr** * . ¦ ¦ ? ..
-
-»^f/.D o™ r^f fv. fi legislators, but t...
-
Dn> anybody ever invent <anythin£? Is th...
-
Who invented Vivaria? Did Gowus know the...
-
AUKORA LEIGH. Aurora Leigh. By Elizabeth...
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.
-
-
Transcript
-
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.
Um G?He Xeapeit. [Y0.3^,9, Batukday. _1_...
UM g ? HE XEAPEit . [ y 0 . 3 ^ , 9 , Batukday . _ 1 _ ^ ' - - - ¦ _ ^ _ ¦ - 'I I —_ ; . 9
¦ • .. -.. R^+T ± " ' ' ^Umrat+Wr** * . ¦ ¦ ? ..
do and t (? l ^ rnito ? .
-»^F/.D O™ R^F Fv. Fi Legislators, But T...
- »^ f / . D o ™ r ^ f fv . fi legislators , but the judges and police of iiterabuxe .- ^ Pbey not m ^ el ^ s -the ? - interpret try enforce tixem .-Sdihbxtrsth Review .
Dn> Anybody Ever Invent <Anythin£? Is Th...
Dn > anybody ever invent < anythin £ ? Is there on ireeord one discovery ? The Oriental and putwerbial sage declared that there was nothing iiew under the sun—and every man who deludes himself with the belief of having
made a . discovery finds that it was known * long ago . ' If to-morrow an overland route to America should be detected , the next week will disclose that'Groxms knew of it in the thirteenth century , and that Bbown the bagman spoke familiarly of it in commercial rooms . There is something more than churlish , detraction , in this . Men are please ! , no doubt , at discovering in anterior records a trace of the new truth , pleased also that they can make that discovery ; but apart from all such influences there are the indubitable facts of random guessing on the one hand , and of direct filiation of ideas on the other—two sources sufficient to supply any and every invention -with
the appearance of an ancestor . Who invented Uature-Printing ? Not Councillor Aik > is Aver , who claims it , at least for the Viennese Printing Office . Mr . Henry BKADBinar has plainly proved so nruch in the very interesting and elaborate Lecture delivered before the Royal Institution , and now republished with a G-erznan translation . " The distinguishing feature of the process consists , firstly , in impressing natural objects , such as plants , mosses , aeaw . eeds , feathers , into plates of metal , causing , as 5 t were , the objects to engrave themselves by pressure ; secondly , in "being able to take such casts or copies of the impressed plates as can be printed from the ordinary copper-plate press . " The first Nature-printer was—Nature herself . She made such accurate impressions of plants on the plates of her coal-beds , that nearly a thousand species of fossil plants have already been identified in these typographical evidences . Mr . B & Adbubt says : —
EacpCTim « trts to print direct from Nature were made as far back as about two hundred and fifty years ; it is certain therefore that the present successes of the art are mainly attribatable to the generaladvance of science , and the perfection to which it has been brought in particular instances . On account of the great expense attending the production of woodcuts of plants in early times , many naturalists suggested the possibility of making direct use of Nature herself as a copyist . In . the Book of Art , of Alexis Fedemontanus ( printed in the year 1572 , and translated into- German by "VVecker ) , may be found thejirst recorded hint as to taking impressions pf plants . At a later period , in the Journal des Voyages , by M . de Moncoys , in i 650 , it is nientioned that one Welkenstein , a Pane , gave instruction in making impressions of plants . Tfae process adopted to produce such results at this period consisted in laying out flat and drying th & . plants . By aolding them over the smoke of a candle , or
an oil lamp , they became blackened in an equal manner all over ; and by being placed between two soft Iea : ve 3 of paper , and being rubbed down "with a smoothing-lone , the soot vras . imparted to the paper , and the impression of the veins and fibres was so tranqfeweti . But though the plants were dried in every case , it was by no means ¦ itfsoiutely necessary ; as the author has proved by the simple experiment of applying lamp-black or printer ' s ink to a fresh leaf , and producing a successful impression . Linnaeus , In . his Philosophic , Botanica , relates that in America , in 1707 , impressions of plants were made by Hessel ; and later ( 1728—1757 ) , Professor Kniphof , at Erfurt , ( who refers to the experiments of Hessel ) , in conjunction '¦ with the bookseller Fttnke , established a printing-office for the purpose . He produced a work entitled Herbarium
Vimtm . The range and extent of his work , t-welve folio volumes , containing 1200 plates , corroborates the curious fact of a printing-office being required . These impressions were obtained by the substitution of printer ' s ink for lamp-black , and flat pressure for the smoothing-bone ; but a new feature at this time was introduced—that of colouring the impressions by hand according to Nature—a proceeding which , though certainly contributing to the beauty and fidelity of the effect , yet had the disadvantage of frequently rendering indistinct , and even of sometimes totally obliterating , th . e tender structure and finer veins and fibres . Many persons at the time objected t « the indistinctness of such representations , and the absence of the parts of fructification : but it was the decided opinion of Linnaeus , that to obtain a representation of the difference of species was sufficient .
Mr . Bradbuby continues the history -with patient minuteness ; but the reader must seek it in the pamphlet , our space admits of no further extract . As a history of the various tentatives , it is extremely curious , and fully proves that the "Viennese Government has only the credit of applying the invention with more commanding resources .
Who Invented Vivaria? Did Gowus Know The...
Who invented Vivaria ? Did Gowus know them also ? Did Sohwein-SCHNUPJTJ 3 N in his Prodromes clearly indicate their practicability ? Vivaria suddenly eruptive in drawing-rooms , are not fungus-liko in their genesis , however they may resemble fungi in rapidity of distribution : whenc « their origin ? Dr . Lanke 8 T . br in his recent little treatise , T / ie Aquavivcvriim , very much to be recommended to amateurs , hints at differences of opinion on this subject , and adds : — To whomsoever credit may be given for perfecting these arrangements , I cannot for a moment doubt that the original idea was taken from the success attending the cultivation , of plants in closed glasB cases , on tho plan recommended by Mr . Ward . It was hie genius that saw , in the accidental sprouting of a fern in a glass bottlethe
, meanB of maintaining fresh vegetation in the midst of the smoke and dirt of London . Wh « n ha had succeeded in fitting up bis first fernery in Wellclose-square , he was not vi ft dlBCOV « ring , that in the little pools which he so ingeniously constructed there , goiu nattes and other creatures would live in the water , provided plants were present , OB anpnoiB lived iu th « air of his fernery . Th « culture of ferns in cones , by Mr . Ward's irienoa , iea naturally to tho culture of water-plants in the same casea , and air-breathing ami water-breathing animals -were introduced , to incnenso tho interest of tlie scene . As early as June , 1840 , Mr . Ward etated , at a mooting of tlio British Association at - « , „ ° Z I ?•« . ,, Bu ^ eodod , not only in growing sea-weeda in aoa-water , but in TjwtS « > y T ° * . Thia ™ t certainly be regarded as tho first stop towards aiizing tho marine Aquavivarium . From thia time experiments of variotm kinds
were ttiefl , Tor the purpose of enabling persons away from the seaside to " keen « ,. ^ animals . A lady to London frequentl y surprised the scientific societies bvSnS beautiful livmg specunenB of rare marine animals ; and these she sucoeeted ^ tZ ^ iqg for many months by aerating the sea-water by pouring it from oie v 3 " another . *« wo vessel to Previous to the year 1850 , many experiments had been made in London ofWnin sticklebacks , gold feh , and other animals , in jars containing Valianeria I -findI ft ^ some of my own aiotes , that I had sticklebacks in a jar contadninc Valiant ** ^} Water Starwort , in 1849 . In March , 1850 , Mr . Robert Warington wad ? D ™ > before the Chemical Society , whici was afterwards published in the journal of tlYat Society , in which he described tie general conditions necessary to the growth f plants and animals in jars of watw , and gave an account of his own arranm > mm »?« for that purpose . t ^ uems
The practicability of establishing arrangements of this kind . Jbas beeu often dig cussed in the council of the Zoological Society , and in 1852 they , determined to « rcct * under the skilful , guidance of Mr . Mitchell , a house in their gardens in Regent ' s Park ' large enough to hold several water-tanks for marine and fresh-water animals . In the spring of 1853 this house was opened , and at once gave an immense impetus to the establishment of water-vivaries . Most of the marine creatures contained in it were obtained by Mr . Gosse , who had previously cultivated marine myrpals with , plants in sea-water . An account of his experiments is given in his very interesting Rambles of a Naturalist on the Devonshire Coast . In 1854 , Mr . Gosse jiublished a beautiful volume , entitled The Agruariym , 5 ti which he describes minutely the structure a ? d habits of a large number of marine animals adapted for domestication in vessels of sea-Water- .
After the success of his experiments with fresh-water plants and animals , Mr . "W < arington commenced operating upon marine plants and animals-with sea-water . In this he has been more successful than any other operator , probably arising from the care with which he constructed his tanks . An account of his experiments is given in the Annals of Natural History for November , 1853 . Many important hints and suggestions will be found in Mr . TVJmngton's other papers in -the Annals of Natural History . ' \ . ¦ '¦ ' : ¦ ... ¦'¦ . ¦" ... ¦ ' . ; . ;• . . ¦ ¦ - ¦ ' ;¦ .: ' .. ¦ The Vivarium has become so fashionable that the honour of inventing A is worth claiming . Mr . H . J . ' Bohn , who has recently opened an
establishment m Essex-street , Strand , for the sale of glass tanks , £ ea water , aud ' marine stores , ' ' -lias such faith iu the extent and solidity of this new branch of commerce , that lie announces the publication of . a monthly Review devoted exclusively to Vivaria . When a sect is strong enough to support a periodical , it is formidable ; -when an amusement—and Natural History is an amusement to the majority of those who keep Vivaria—can boast of an exclusive ' organ' it must be vigorous indeed . The diama has not been able to support a dramatic periodical for many years . If Mr . Bohn ' s review prospers—which , we sincerely hope—it will indicate the existence of a very large public indeed interested in Vivaria . Mean-while the reader will do well to get Dr . Lankester ' s little book .
Aukora Leigh. Aurora Leigh. By Elizabeth...
AUKORA LEIGH . Aurora Leigh . By Elizabeth Barrett Browning . Chapman and Hall . Whex , some weeks ago , we anticipated the delight of a new poem from . Mrs . Browning , we never , in our keenest expectations , thought of receiving so fine a poem as Aurora Leiffky which surpasses in sustained strength and variety , anything English poetry has had since Childe Harold . It places Mrs . Browning beyond dispute at the head of all poetesses , ancient or modern , and although it will be judged diversely by diverse minds , no one , we fancy , will venture to claim lor any other woman's poem an equal rank .
Having , as justice demands , expressed emphatically our sense cf the greatness of Aurora Leigh , without stint of phrase , and yet without precipitate or careless eulogy , -we must also add that the poem has very many faults , some deeply-seated , some quite superficial and remediable , which faults , perhaps ,-will give the critics occupation , but will not in any appreciable degree affect the success of the work ; for in Art , as in Life , success depends on what is positive , on excellence of some kind ; and -where this exists no amount of mistake , or incompleteness , can finally prevent recognition . Kean ' s acting was fuller of faults than that of many a . man wlxo never rose above mediocrity ; "but Kean ' s genius was of such positive and thrilling influence , that like a meteor he burnt his pathway beforthe wondering gaze of men , who might on reflection object to the ' irregularity , ' but could not ,
even in reflection , forget th « splendour . We cannot in our scanty limits pretend to criticize Aurora Lcif / lt , but certain general points may here be touched , as if we chatted with the reader when the hook was closed . And first as to its conception . It is a threevolume novel in verse . This of itself is something new . Seott and Byron told stories in verse ; Tonnyson in the ^ Princess ana irk Maud has also tried his hand at story-telling , with very indifferent success as a story-teller ; but no poet—at least we know of none—has represented modern life in such forms as it assumes in modern fiction , no one has sung the novel instead oi zcrit ' mg it . Aurora Zeity / ihns a story equal in incident , character , and scenery to almost any three-volume novel of the English type . In no respect does it diifcr from , the novel except that it is sung . It sings of cur actual life , embodying the schemes and struggles , the op inions and the social contrasts of our day . Alton Locke is not more immediately the product of our social conditionnor less idealized .
, , Whether the poet is right or wrong in thus swerving from the almost universal practice of seeking in distant climes and distant nges for t " subject of song , we will not here inquire . Briefly we may suggest that the poet therein should please himself ; let us have poems , and not trouble oux-6 olv « s when they come . JEsqhylus , in writing the JPemc , never ptuisoclto consider whether contemporary events were fitted for ideal U'catmcut ; tie treated them ideally , and was content . But when ivo waive that gonerai question , it only brings us to a more direct consideration of the particular instance . We grant Mrs . Browning the . utmost licence in licr choice only to bo more rigorous in our judgment of the subject clioscn ; and while tlun ing she was at perfect liberty to write a musical novel , we domand froin lie * tho writing of a novel which in itself is good . In jiroportaon as sho intr duces the elements of ordinary fiction into her pocru , she must be CYltx f \ 16 by the standards of fiction . No one thinks of objecting to Childe Harold , o \
-
-
Citation
-
Leader (1850-1860), Nov. 29, 1856, page 14, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_29111856/page/14/
-