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Dec. 27, 1851.] 1$%$ %t&rttt. 1237
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POPULAR HISTORY OF MOLLUSCA. J. Popular ...
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GIFT HOOKS. Norica ; or. Tales of Aurnlx...
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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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Dec. 27, 1851.] 1$%$ %T&Rttt. 1237
Dec . 27 , 1851 . ] 1 $%$ % t & rttt . 1237
Popular History Of Mollusca. J. Popular ...
POPULAR HISTORY OF MOLLUSCA . J . Popular History of the Mollusca ; comprising a familiar account of their classification , instincts , habits , and of the grmoth and distinguishing characteristics of their shells . By Mary Roberts . Reeve and Benham . Alth ough not by many degrees so good a book as it might have been , this is , nevertheless , a book both useful and instructive . Compiled chiefly from the writings of Lovell Reeve , arid illustrated with some fifty or sixty admirable coloured engravings of the mollusca in their shells , it will form a pleasant introduction to the study of Conchology , and interest the lover of Natural History .
But Miss Mary Roberts does not possess the true secret of writing popular science , or else she keeps that secret marvellously well . It is not by the introduction of rhapsodies and some very prosaic poetry that Conchology is to be made popular ; but by the familiar exposition of its leading principles and facts , aided by the interest excited in everything relating to the habits and instincts of the creatures . The best parts of her book are not the ambitious passages ; but such as this , for example : —
" The cowry can even form a new shell when fully grown—a phenomenon which modern naturalists long hesitated to receive ; but which is now proved beyond doubt by Lieutenant Hankey , who was himself an 'eye-witness of the curious fact , and who relates that he has seen the shell of a cowry , when too small for its occupant , begin to crack and swell ; at which time some powerful solvent or decomposing fluid had evidently been distributed over its outer surface by that all-important instrument , the mantle ; for it gradually became more dull in colour and thin
in . substance , till at length the shell disappeared , and the cowry was rendered homeless . Short time , however , elapsed before the creature set to work , and secreted a thin layer of glutinous matter , which in a few days assumed the fragile consistency of shelllac . The dwelling then rapidly progressed , till at length it was consolidated into one of those beautifully spotted shells , which equally ornament the widow ' s cottage , cherished as remembrances of her sailor boy , and the costly cabinets of the shell collector . "
Apropos of this process , it might have served to impress it on the mind , had its analogy with the reparation of bone in the cases of fracture been pointed out in a sentence or two . It is by such facts and such analogical illustrations that works are made popular j not by rhetoric and " wondering . " What are we to understand by the concluding sentence of this account of the
FORMATION OP SKKLLS . "But how , it may be asked , are the shells of the mollusca constructed ; and what are their component parts ? Shells may be regarded as epidermal in their character , being formed upon the surface of a filmy , cloak-like organ , called a mantle , and which answers to the true skin of other animals . A slimy juice , consisting of a membranaceous tissue , consolidated by an admixture of carbonate of lime , exudes from the glands of this important organ , and , thickening in successive layers , becomes hardened and moulded on the body ; at first simple and unadorned , but subsequently embellished according to the ( taste or inclination of the occupant . " \ Is it meant seriously that the moll / isk builds its
house according to its own architectural caprice or <( taste " ? It would seem so frojn that sentence , and from this which occurs subsequently : — " Not less wonderful is the gradual increase and development of shelly structures , with gradations of form and hue , and architectural embellishments which occur at different periods . It even fieems as if the animal inhabitant , in progressing from youth to full maturity , acquired new ideas , with skill to embody them . " The notion , it must be ; confessed , in extravagant , and should at least bo stated as a " fancy , " if not seriously intended .
We touch ., here upon the defects of the book . Wo do not forget its merits in ho doing ; they are , as we have already intimated , such us to make the book both attractive ? and UNcful , and we commend it a « such . One extract more in all we can find room for : OKOORAIMIY OK RIIKIXK . " Conefl , which an ; mostly inhabitants of deep water , arc nearly all tropical ; their vivid colonrH
neem in accordance with the aspect of vegetation in Hiumy climes . Cowries also belong to the name lati tildes , with the exception of one or two small grooved flpoeien that are ( bund on our coasts . Nvw Holland nnd the ' Pacific have each their species , and tin ; cowry liantherinu iw brought in great abundance from the lted Hea . CymbiumH and melons are found in Australia ; but the greater number are from the ; coast , of Africa , where they burrow in the Hand at low water , nnd livo mostly concealed from view .
Popular History Of Mollusca. J. Popular ...
" Beautiful volutes strew the shores of Australia , New Guinea , and New Zealand ; a few species , those of the Brazils and Ceylon , Timor , and Western Africa . Pociiiar as regards tlu-ir place of abode , they rarel y inhabit localities where mitres abound . In the Philip ; ii ! i * . > Manila , where Mr . Cuming collected between two and three hundred species , scarcely a volute was to be seen . ¦ ' Marginellse are mostly found within the tropics ; while the terebrse chiefly inhabit the easter n world , and are peculiar to warm temperatures , one species only reaching so far north as the Mediterranean . Olives are exclusively confined within tropical regions ; and the nassae are equally restricted to the southern and tropical portions of the globe .
"The magilus especially affects the shores of the Red Sea ; the harps those of Ceylon , the Mauritius , and the Philippine islands . Cassides , or helmets , are found in the same localities as the magilus , with the addition of Ceylon and the West Indies . Struthiolaria inhabit the shores of New Holland ; and * the finest specimens of rostellaria are from China and the Moluccas . Others , unlike the restricted tribes , are generally distributed throughout the globe . Strombi are found in places the most dissimilar , such as the West Indies and Australia , Ceylon , and the Bed Sea . Tritons equally reward the labours of conchologiats , whether searching for them in the United States or the Cape of Good Hope , along the shores of New Holland , or those of the Moluccas .
" Cancellarise , chitons , fissurellae , and many beautiful genera are associated with the memory of the Incas in Peru ; they also bring to mind the Gulf of Panama , where pearl fisheries abound ; China , with its pagodas and mandarins , the classic shores of the Mediterranean , and the Eastern Archipelago , for such are their favourite localities . " The Gulf of Tarentum and the coast of Naples and Sardinia afford varieties of porcelain shells , with pectins of all hues . The island of Sardinia is celebrated for a fine species of white oyster ; and Corsica , Majorca , and Minorca , for the pinna marina , the silkworm of the ocean . Bright yellow ancillarise and orange-brown eburnse are found on the shores of New Holland and Japan ; and the solitary concholepas , resembling a compressed cornucopia , has alone been discovered at Peru .
" There is scarcely , on the contrary , any limit to the geographical distribution of the neritinae , save in the Arctic regions , and cold temperate zones . The genus is represented by a humble but very delicately painted specimen on the shores of Britain ; and numerous varieties abound in the West Indies ^ and throughout the great continent of America . This extensive genus is equally diffused in South Africa and the Eastern world . Magnificent specimens were collected by Mr . Cuming in the Philippines , in Sumatra also , and other islands of the Oriental Archipelago . __ considerabl
" The range of the helix putris is y extended , and comprises a great variety of soil and climate , from dark Norwegian forests to sunny Italy , creeping at its slow and stealthy pace throughout the United States and Newfoundland , Jamaica , Tranquobar , and the Marianne Islands . The margin of pools and streams , where aquatic birds resort to bathe and dress their feathers , are his favourite haunts ; hence the dispersion of the helix putris is readily accounted for . The eggs , being generally aflixed to the stems and leaves of water p lants , become attached to the feathers of such birds as resort among them , and are in consequence widely disseminated .
" The helix aspersa , one ot the most common among our larger land shells , is dispersed in like manner through places the most dissimilar . St . Helena and the foot of Chimborazo , in South America , reveal its olive-coloured . shell , as also thu citron groves of Cayenne . But with this difference , it is conjectured , that the species being considered nutritious , were imported from casual ships ; their power of sustaining life without air or nourishment during the longest voyages being equalled only by their ready assimilation with opposite climates . "
Gift Hooks. Norica ; Or. Tales Of Aurnlx...
GIFT HOOKS . Norica ; or . Tales of Aurnlxenj from the Olden Time . After 11 MS . of llu ' Sixteenth Century . TriuiuhttMl from the < J < : rinaii of August llagcn . . lolinCliapinan . Women of Christianity exemplary for Actt of Piety and Charity . Ity . lulia KavanatfU . Hniil . li un « l KUIcr . Alice . Le . iirnwnt . A Fairy Talc ; . Ity tin : authored offXiiv ; . The llcudoj ( he /'' amity , & r , i ^ (; ii ; i |> inan and Hull . The Uiftnmer ' s Almanack and Political Year Hook for IHW . Aylol . 1 and . loneu .
KvmtY Christinas Gift Hooks abound , bright an the holly which hangs over the picture frame , and forgotten as quickly . Many of these bookn are within the reach of long purses only ; many of them ; ne more modest in their claims , and from them we select four as appropriate preheats . We iirst p resent them to yon , and you will present them Lo others . Norica ; or , Talcs of Number ;/ has a quaint mediaeval elegance of aspect which not inaptly prepares the mind lor its quiet quaint contenta . The
burgher life of Niirnberg , the reverence inspired by Albert Durer , the pervading passion of Art , the poetical guild of Meister singers , with their Hans Sachs , these and other glimpses of mediaeval Germany are displayed in a not very dexterouslycontrived framework , but are portrayed with an earnestness which carries you on . Not Life ana its tumults , its impassioned movements , its grand aspiratings , its chequered incidents , light deepening into sombre shadows , darkness clearing into noonnothing of the heights and depths of Poetry and Fiction meets you in these pages ; but something still , ancient , remote , placid , something of the calmness of sunset , something , too , of the garrulity
of old age . It is no more like Fiction than one of those old German towns is like the mighty Mother City . Yet who that has passed a pleasant day ( a week would be purgatory ) in such an old town , does not remember how charmed he was with the place , its quiet , and its people ? One cannot say those people were the greatest one has seen ; yet assuredly they were not the least memorable—kind , placid souls f with simple , naive manners and imperfect teeth ! Very much what they are among men this Norica is among books . The professed novel reader will remorselessly yawn over its simple pages ; the reader who has some culture and less need of stimulus will not despise it .
The Women of Christianity Miss Kavanagh introduces to us , will be great favourites with the " Mothers of England . " The book is excellent as a gift book , and must be popular among the large class of patrons who seek above all things " good " books . Let us add that while it equals " good " books in the material of which it is composed , it surpasses them in the treatment of that material , being free from offensive prudery and bigotry , and the cant of " goodness . " It presents us with biographical sketches of the women who , in the early days of Christianity , gained for themselves a name and a place beside the Saints and Martyrs , — it then touches on the civilizing influences of woman during the Middle Ages , . with kit-cat sketches of several illustrious women—after these
come the women ( better known ) of the seventeenth century , from Madame de Chantat to Lady Rachel Russ ' el ; and the women of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries close the series . There is a mass of biographical material skilfully arranged here , which will be new to most readers and pleasant to all . We have nothing but praise to give Miss Kavanagh for the style in which she has executed her task . The objections we should make , if our present mood were critical , would be directed against what is almost inevitable in the
plan of the work itself , viz ., a monotony arising from the compression of all the incidents of the lives into one mould—the disregard of the human feminine traits that are not illustrative of piety and charity . A pious charitable woman is undoubtedly a graceful night ; but , after all , it is the pious woman we love , not the abstract quality . Miss Kavanagh has not made us fall in love with her Women of Christianity ; and the secret we take to be precisely that which makes every honest boy righteously hate the " good boy" of his story book .
A wiser and a truer moral pervades the fairy tale of Alice . Leannont , which has only one drawback , and that a drawback only in Southron ears , viz ., the prodigality of Scotch dialect . A new-born babe is spirited away by the lilves , and for awhile loses in Fairyland the strong human sympathies and affections which build up a nature higher than that of Fairies . But by degrees the love of her mother awakens the dormant sympathies ; humanity begins to live and move a living thing in her bosom , and as it does so her eyes are opened to the false , cold , hollow brilliancy of Fairyland : she learns to see it not as it seems , hut as it is . All the fair wood , alive with flickering leaves and waving plants , had become a forest of ban ; lifeless
trees . The foliage had dropped on" the houghs , the flowers had withered where they grew . There was no beauty , no pleasure therein ; nothing but discordant voices and a dead blank of . sight and Hound . The banquet hall had faded into ruins ; the dainties were only so many withered leaves ; the golden tables nothing but fungi and ugly incrustations of blasted trees ; the gay draperies , mere spider webs , flittering to and fro in the gusty wind ; the Queen of the Fairies , a loathly , ghastly hag ; the rent , n court of withered , worn-looking creatures , that in their uncomely age imitated the frolicH of youth . This wan Fairyland when the glamour was gone . Home , lit up with the nplendoms of affection , won her to its nobler health . Ih not . the ideu pretty ?—and how essentially
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Dec. 27, 1851, page 1237, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/ldr_27121851/page/17/
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