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    PLINY AS A NATURALIST . " saa ^^^ » 5 S £ , 51 ^ ^ * £ & 5 lS ^ in seience ,-hiS Natural History an ad ^ ble work Admirable the -work is in some respects .- it is elegantl y written , llhorioustv coropaed ; contains what no other work contains with equal feJness—namelrr a survey of the ignorance of the ancients on matters of Wjitural Hfetorr , ' and is , moreover , to be admired as an amusing collection of fables , extravagances , credulities , and good stories . But as a work of science it is every way contemptible ; and in saying this we do not look Jttytrn from stroercuiotis heights of modern achievements , but from the heights to which Aristotle had previously raised the science . Compared with the Sistory of Animals by Aristotle , the work of his successor ( long considered this rival ) is not more contemptible in its want of the a be of natural investigation fhan in its want of philosophic conception , either of method or classification . Pliny was in truth neither Thinker nor Observer . He was a Compiler—a Compiler -without sagacity , without criticism , without prac-4 zeal knowledge '

    , _ „ , ., __ , ^_ He was incessantly reading , and making extracts from what he read . On quitting his bath a slave read to him ; he never walked , but went in his fitter , because in his litter he could read : and lie reproached h « s nephew with losing so much time in walking . His faith in what was written seems to have been unshakable . It is enough for him that he finds a fact recorded ; the record is proof . Thus he says : — Mentor , a native of Syracuse , was met in Syria by a lion , who rolled before him in a suppliant manner ; though smitten with fear and desirous to escape , the wild beast cm every side opposed his flight , and licked his feet with a fawning air . Upon this , Mentor observed on the 'paw of the lion a swelling and a wound ; from Tvhich , after extracting a splinter , he . relieved the creature's pain . There' is a picture at Syracuse which bears witness to the truth of this transaction . The mind ready to accept such proof would of course never question a favourite author ; accordingly we have a collection of the absurdest stories gravely put forth as facts , arid these are made to substantiate things even more outrageous ^ E . g .:

    —; ,-jFacts such . as these induce us to give some credit to what Democritus Telates , who © ays that a man ,, called . Thoas , was preserved in Arcadia by a dragon . When a boy , b . &had become much , attached tft . it , and had reared it very tenderly ; but his father , being aiarmed at the nature and monstrous size of the reptile , had taken and left it in the desert . iTloas being here ; attacked by some robbers who lay in ambush , he was delivered from them by the dragon , which recognised Ids voice , and came to his assistance . ' " Or this deliciously humorous instance : — We must abo make mention , here of another marvellous story that is related by

    JPhylarchus about . the aap . He tells us that in Egypt one of these animals , after having received its daily nourishment at the table of a certain person , brought forth , , * nd that it so happened that tbe son . of its entertainer was killed by one of its young ones ; upon wiiich , . returning to . its food as usual , ami hecov \ ing sensible of the crime , ifc immediately lulled the young one , and / returned ' to the house no more . " -The dragon becoming sensible ^ 6 f the crime is perfect ! ;>; " : ' ¦ The ignorance which Pliiiy ' s credulity implies is quite amazing when he ^^ at ' sof ^ niilnals familiar to the world . Conceive this case being gravely Jreeo ' rcled :- —• •' . . ¦ ' ; , ; . ' ; ' ¦ ¦ '' . '' . ' .

    "" //^ hen , Alexander the Great was on hjs Indian expedition , he was presented by the King of Albania with a dog oi , unupuaVeize ; being greatly delighted with its noble appearance , he . ordered bears , and after them wild loars ,, and then deer ^ to be let loose before it ; but the clog lay down , and regarded ' them with a kind of imh > ovable contempt . The noble spirit of the general became irritated by the sluggishness thus manifested by an ' animal ' of such ' vast bulk , and he ordered It to be killed . The report of this reached the king , -who accordingly sent another dog , and at the same time sent word that its powers wore tt > be tried , not upon small animals , but upon the lion or the elephant ; adding , that , he had ^ had originally but two , and that if this one were , put to death , tlie race Should be extinct . Alexander , without delay , procured a lion , which in his presence iyas instantly torn to pieces . He then ordered an elephant to be ' brought , and never Vasf . lie ' more' dellghterf Vitli any spectacle ; for the dog , bristling-up its'naiir all'over tlib t > ody , began by thundering forth a loud barking , and then attacked t 11 e animal , leaping at It first on bne '( tfde and then on the other , attacking it in the moi * t'sMtfftl 'manner , ' and then again retreating at tJio opportune moment , until'at last < th& elopliamty -being rendered quite giddy by turning round and round , fell to the earthy and naado it quite re-echo with his fall .

    ¦¦ ¦ Or this : — : • ¦ ¦ . ' . ; ; ¦ ¦!¦ -. ' ¦ ' ' 2 i iswell knbhmi that' in 'Lvsitarila , in the vicinity of the town of Olisipo and the river Tagus , the mares ; by turning their faces towards the west wind as it blows , become impregnated byits breezes , and that the foals which are conoeived in this way are remarkable for their extreme floetness ; but they never live beyond three years . - This also is notable r- - ' 1 1 ¦ V The stag , ' too , flghta ' with the serpent : it traces out the serpent ' s holo , and draws it forth'by £ htf 'toriBath of its' nbstr ' ils , ahel hence it is that t 7 io smell of burnt stays' horn has the rejiictrkable jroioer of driving away serpents . The very best remedy for the bite of n eorpent ia the reniuJtofa firttn that has been killed in the womb of its mother .

    The logic of the passage "in italic ^ must not passed over . " We find it stated in many authors , " he says , * ' that a serpent is produced from the spinal marrow of man . " > One of the editors oi this volume is kind enough to inform us that Ovid " makes mention of tho belief ; '' but ho is not kind enough to odd that the belief 'is an old woman ' s belief . Indeed , the editors , who have been 1 liberal in their 1 ' notes , fdr which the reader will thank them , have not had the knowledge requisite to control such a mass of mistakes as these books of Pliny offer . > ! ¦ ' Although in the preceding observations we halve spoken of Pliny ' a pretensions in no admiration , ' let'us not conclude without insisting on what arc his claims to tho attention of our ago , No more instructive book can canily be named , if rightly used . It gives us tho nescience of antiquity , which tnay ftfclp to throw light on our science . It tells us what men thought , how they observed , with what evidence they were aatiulicd . Besides tins , it is a very amusing book . Open where you will , and you light on pneeages like this : —

    Scorpions live on earth . Serpents , when an opportunity presents itself , show 1 esnecial liking foi wine , although in other respects they need but very little drin These animals , also , when kept shut up , require but little aliment , hardly any at a ] in fact . The same is the case also with spiders , which at other times live by suctio Hence it is , that no venomous animal will die of hunger or thirst ; it being the fa that they have neither heat , blood , nor sweat ; all which humours , from their natun saltness , increase the animal ' s voracity . In this class of animals all those are tl most deadly , which have eaten some of their own kind just before they inflict tl wound . Or this : —

    When the lioness is defending her whelps , it is said that she fixes her eyes steadil ob the ground , that she may not be frightened at the spears of the hunters . In a other respests , these animals are equally free from deceit and suspicion . They neve look at an object obliquely , and they dislike being looked at themselves in such manner . It is generally believed , that , when the lion is dying , he bites at the eartl and sheds tears at his fate . Powerful , however , and fierce as this animal is , he i terrified by the motion of wheels or of an empty chariot , and still more so on seein the crest or hearing the crowing of a cock ; but most of all , is he afraid of fire . Tli only malady to which the lion is subject , is loss of appetite ; this , however , is cure by putting insults upon him , by means of the pranks of monkeys placed about him , thing which rouses his anger ; immediately he tastes their blood , he ia relieved . Tho only caution requisite is : Believe nothing which you there fin stated . " Barring that , ' as the Irishman says , the book is as pretty a bool as you could desire .

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    VAMETIES . Some time ago we noticed the first of a scries of small but solid stories , pulj lished by Mr * . J . H . Parker , each pointed with a moral for the day . T \ v more of them aro before us , The Recruit and The Strike—a tale of th political war in the East , and a tale of the social conflict ever continuing with short truees , between those who have the willingness to work am those who have the power to pay . The teachings implied arc not 0 a very practical character ; they are resolved into the old , old cxhor tations : be frugal , be temperate , be persevering , and trust to the luw All good and true , no doubt , but nothing more . The writer , win illustrates the nature and effects of a strike in his romance of politico economyhas sympathy for the industrious orders , and urges a strom

    , appeal in their favour . They are generally composed of good citizens , In believes , who , in their mosf desperate hours , love peace , and are loyal t ( the state . In parallel with them he alludes to the class of masters , am affirms that many a factory . is a bed of thorns to choke the lessons of tlie school . Ear lias not heard , and pen has not described , the vicious life of ai ill-regulated mill . This springs from the moral apathy of the-cotton lords and their indifference produces , or perpetuate ? , the corruption of their work men . Up to this point , then , education is the author ' s desire . But he goes further , and asks for limited liability , to open a prospect of independence tc the operative . When the spinner , the weaver , and the engineer , posses :

    this power of profitable combination , they vrtll desist trom strikes ; they wil cease to fight with the cross-bow of Agincourt when they can use the artillery of Alma . Meanwhile , the theory spreads out in cold platitudes and does not sharpen to a point , or lay bare the vital parts of our socin ' anatomy . What is wanted now is , not a salvo of loose rattle and flash , bill steady and precise firing , —logic at close quarters , a descent from generalisation to analysis . Tho fictions in Mr ; Parker ' s series are more amiable than telling ; they draw portraits of the poor with little satire or idealism but they add nrtt a word to the argument by which this world is at last tn be persuaded , tli at while engines are perfected , while pendulums arc watched like sacred vestal'flames , and while looms are anxiously improved , men aro

    not to remain as they were when steam only sang out of the kettle . In The ' Recruit there i . s less opportunity for social discussion , yet it touches on the fretting topics of the day , on tho inducements which bring troops to our army , on tlie career they follow in its ranks * and on tho channel through which tho mental energies of our j'ounger sectaries are encouraged to flow . The writer ' s satire on debating societies is ill-directed , and provoke * 11 suspicion of his sincerity . At tho same time he deals temperately with the subject , though entirely missing an obvious opportunity for saying a little on the other side . There was probably inWayford another place , besides the li Xoiing' Men's Union , " in winch " sound and fury , signifying nothing , ' was poured forth . A reference fco this wns necessary , for the sake of reason and truth : We make tho allusion , because it ueoms to us that The Recruit is occupied too exclusively with a Jeremiad on the weaknesses of wayward and uncultivated young debaters . There are two sets of our follow-crcaturcs ¦ whoso existence is equally to bo deplored;— -mou who pass their youth without education ; and man who receive education without benefit to themselves or others . Here is matter ibr satire ulao , or better , for plain

    and earnest writing . Not so ambitiously , yet in a similarly didactic style , Mr . Herbert Byug Hall writes Soldiers and Sailors , in Peace as in War . ( Chapman and Hall . ) In his opinion the qualities of the common soldier and sailor are habitually underrated . The seaman of moek-navul novels and minor theatres ia a good-humoured , lively , random beiug , never very selfish , never very sober , ail ways 11 child , and rarely with a soul above a quid in piping times of peace , or a long shot in war . As for the ranks , —they arc

    supposed to be filled from ' * tho scum of poople . " These two ideas , kindred and coeval , are set down by J \ h \ Hall an wrong , mid ho makes out a part , of his « aso . Few readers , however , aro persuaded by narratives ¦ which , however based on truth , have the dress of fiction . They arc to plain facts what figuros of speech arc to reasonings : thoy aid and adorn tho forms of rhetoric , baft nro not convincing in themselves . The incidents amplified by Mr , Hall , himself an old campaigner , aro , nevertheless , s » i £ - jjestivo as well as interesting . They nro plcusingly related , and varied judiciously .

    Again a boolc on wnr ; but the war of Prophecies . One Hign of a jierturbed social Btnto is the appearance of writeiH who protend to unveil the future , nnd to disclose tlio sccretu of tluil , which ha » not . been . We have little partiality for dogmas on the allUira of nges anterior to history ; w ^ oven doubt tlie value of disputes on , tlie fiialiiona worn iu tho £ > uu 5 but

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    676 THE LEAPEB . [ No . 277 , Saturday ,

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), July 14, 1855, page 676, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2099/page/16/