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Juke l&l 1852.] THE L E ABE B. 591
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NATURAL HISTORY OF ANIMALS, The Natural ...
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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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Mrs. Komek's Filia Dolorosa. Filia Dolor...
malce some reparation for all the cruel sufferings to which they had subjected her in her y outh ; aria when they cheered her on her way to the great altar of Notre Patne , it was perhaps with the feeling that she was thitherward passing * not alone to return thanks for herself , hut as a mediatrix to pray for pardon for them . In front of that altar , during the whole period of the religious ceremony , she remained prostrate , unobservant of the gorgeous display around her , and , in the centre of the countless and brilliant crowd , as much alone as though she were standing solitary in a desert , communingin her heart with God . « She needed all the strength that He who is the source of it could give ; for on leaving ' the Cathedral she had to repair to the Tuilleries— --to that house' of her parents which she had not seen since that fatal 10 th of August , when she had left ifc with those who were never to cross its threshold again , and traversing the
gai'den which was to them as the valley of the shadow of death , went to ask succour of that Assembly , who , pledging ; themselves to give it , consigned those who asked it to hard captivity and unjust death . Of the five royal supplicants of that day one alone survived ; and she , again to reach the palace from which she had been thrust , had made a wide and weary pilgrimage . She had stood , face to face with death , had endured a mortal agony cruel as violent death itself , had been shut up in a dungeon , had sighed through a long exile , and wandered from court to court , from refuge to refuge ; and after all , here she was once more , in sight of- — nay , her feet upon—the very threshold from which she had been driven , with all she loved . There stood there to receive her two hundred beautiful girls and women attired in white , on which the Bourbon lily was profusely embroidered . The son of one of them , a boy of the age of the Dauphin when he and his- sister ,
hand in hand , had fled from this spot , addressed to her a few words of welcome . She was deeply moved , and was quite unable to reply , the return was so different from the departure;—ah ! if there had been the same love then . The sense of the contrast overcame her ; and when this fair escort of two hundred ladies fell on their knees , asking the ' daughter of St . Louis' to bless them as she passed , and , as they knelt , allowing her again to see that staircase by which she had descended with her mother , memory became too much for her , and yielding to emotions born of the past as much as of the present , she fell to the ground in a swoon , oppressed alikewith the pain of old griefs and actual joy . It was long before she recovered ; and when at length she was restored to consciousness , and found herself once more in the boudoir which had been the favourite apartment of the Queen her mother , she counted in her heart those who were wanting to this day of joy , and , bursting forth into convulsive sobs , she hurried from a chamber so prolific of sad memories /'
Juke L&L 1852.] The L E Abe B. 591
Juke l & l 1852 . ] THE L E ABE B . 591
Natural History Of Animals, The Natural ...
NATURAL HISTORY OF ANIMALS , The Natural History of Animals : being the Substance of Lectures delivered before the Royal Institution . By T . Rymer Jones , IYE . S . 2 vols . Van Voorst [ SECOlfD ABTICXE . ] We return to these volumes for a more specific description of their contents ; They are but the commencement of a work which , when completed , will stand alone in our language as a popular exposition of the organization and functions of the animal world . Comparative anatomy , the most fascinating of studies , is here brought within the reach of the general reader , who is not harassed by technical terms , rising like barriers between the subject arid his understanding . The first volume embraces a description of the Zoophytes , Polypes , Infusoria , Sea Nettles , Annelida , & c . ; the second is devoted to the large class of Insects . In following Mr . Itymer Jones , the reader follows the ascending scale of ^ Nature , from simple to complex forms , and learns something of the great life of our universe so prodigally manifest . As we have repeatedly said , the great error of Naturalists and Physiologists has been the neglect of Nature ' s own progressive Method , and the almost universal commencing with the studv of man and the hiffher animals , insteading of ascending to
that study through the simpler forms of life . This History of Animals will suggest a better route . . . It is excessively difficult to define what an animal is , when we cease considering the higher types , and endeavour to trace the origin of animal life ; for at what seems the boundary line we find an inextricable entanglement of vegetable with animal life , so that the name ot zoophyte ( animal-plant ) has to be given to these equivocal creatures—a bad name , let us observe in passing , because , to say the least , it inverts the order ot Nature ; if the composite term must be allowed , let us more correctly choose phytozoon ( plant-animal ) , which keeps Nature ' s progression from vegetable to animal distinctly in view . Nor is this criticism purely technical , for recent inquiries tend to make manifest that some ot these at tne
creatures are true vegetables at the earlier and animals laper stages of their existence . When some definition of an animal is secured , the important step of classification is to bo taken . That proposed by JLinncous has been set aside for the superior , yet imperfect classification or Guvior —Viz ., Vertebrata , Mollusca , Articulata , Radiata . The inherent defect of this classification is , that it misses the one true principle of arranging all the forms of life according to the dominant and co-ordinating condition—i . e ., the nervous system . And according to this principle lrofessor Owen has arranged animals into Ad-ita , wherein no distinct trace of nervo is visible ; Nematoncura , wherein the throads of norve begin to appoar ; Momoganqliata , wherein the nervous centres ( ganglia , or small series rupuuuuii Ui
brains , ) appear arranged in two paralloi , eacn pair a the othors ; Heteroaanqliata , wherein the ganglia become more varied both in form and in distribution , implying greater complexity of structure in the animal ; and finally Vertebrata , wherein the ganglia arc onco more arranged in a parallel series , but inclosed in a bony or cartilaginous Column . , . . . nrr ' mi The transcendental anatomists have another classification . Wo will student to bear in
give that proposed by Cams , as one useful for the mind . He begins with Oozoa , or those simple forms of hfo which may bo oallod effffs ; they consist of a more albuminous globule without distinct organs ( Zoophytes , Infusoria , Badiata . ) Next como the Corpozoa , or animals with bodies ; the vitollino eac becomes an intestine ; the stomach and genital organs form the essential portions of the abdomen , in antagonism to - which tho lungs and central organs of circulation aro developed . Abdomen and thorax thus constitute in tho idea of a trunk the most important organH . Hence the Corpoxoa aro divided into
Gasterozoa , in whom the abdominal region predominates ( as Mollusca ) , and Thoracozoa , in whom the thoracic development begins—Articulata . Alter these come the Cephalozoa , in whom the head is developed— - * . -e » ^ tbe animal organs and nervous system . These Cephalozoa are dividedl mto four sub-kingdoms , like those of the Vertebrata ; thus , CephalQ-acidozoa ( Pishes ) , in whom the genital organs have the primitive ovarian form ; CepJialo-gasteroxoa ( Beptiles ) , in whom the abdominal organs are _ developed ; Cephaio-tkoracozoa ( Birds ) , in whom the thorax is developed ; and finally Gephulo-cephalozoa ( Mammalia ) , in whom the head is developed ,. Mr . Bymer Jones adopts Owen ' s classification . After a lucid and entertaining description of Sponges , and Fungi , he enters upon the Am ^ ita , and devotes some hundred pages to their marvels . Bead this , for example : —
" We may well suppose that it would be a beautiful and a wonderful sight , could we contemplate , in its native locality , a mass of mandrepore , even of the dimensions here delineated , covered with its living investment , and feeding itself by the agency of countless mouths , each endowed with separate life and distinct power of action ; slowly precipitating from the surrounding sea cretaceous particles wherewith to build its stony fabric ; gradually constructing , layer by layer , and stratum upon stratum , the elaborately-formed polypary , or skeleton peculiar to its species . But let us not circumscribe our ideas within these petty limits : rather let us give our fancy free scope ; for widely indeed inust we stretch our imagination if we are at all to appreciate the importance of the class of animals we are now considering . Let us endeavour to picture to ourselves an extent of the bed of the ocean , spacious as these realms that we inhabit , carpeted with living plants ; every blade of grass
and every flower instinct with life , and all the vast expanse busily engaged in deriving from the surrounding water materials for subsistence : let us consider that , from age to age , the wide-spread scene is building up , by constant precipitation from the sea , a rocky territory , co-extensive with itself , and then we shall perceive that , in the course of time , even these almost unknown members of the animal creation may perform achievements at which the boldest mind is startled when it conies to survey what they have accomplished . Gradually , the accumulating pile rises towards the surface of the sea , and , at length , after the lapse of ages , portions of the rocky fabric show themselves above the waves . Here further growth is checked ; the polyps cannot live beyond the point where water freely reaches them , from whence they may derive the means of nutriment , and thus they
perish . Still the structure reared becomes a nucleus round which materials may be gathered ; and the multitudes of zoophytes , still living and still acting , swell its bulk , and add continually materials near the edge of the increasing reef . The storm tears up the dirt and sand and sea-weed from the deep to heap it on the summit of the nascent island . Animal and vegetable substances are slowly , but constantly , thrown upon the new-formed rock , and , being entangled among the coral , perish . These decay , and , by decomposition , form a mould fit to support the growth of plants . Seeds arrive , brought there by accident , or by the visits of migrating birds , which , soon taking root , become the germs of future vegetation , till , at length , islands , both broad and long , and richly wooded , stretch where all was once deep sea . Man comes at last , and with him fit inhabitants to people these new countries—regions snatched from ocean by the silent toil of beings such
as those we have described . ' We cannot follow him in his account of the progressive development of the Polypes , or his equally interesting chapter on Infusoria . They must be consulted and studied . As he says" Take any drop of water from the stagnant pools around us , from our rivers , from our lakes , or from tho vast ocean itself , and place it under your microscope ; you will find therein countless living beings , moving in all directions with considerable swiftness , apparently gifted with sagacity , for they readily elude each other in the active dance they keep up . And since they never come into rude
contact , obviously exercise volition and sensation in guiding their movements . " Increase the power of your glasses and you will soon perceive , inhabiting the same drop , other animals , compared to which the former were elephantine in their dimensions , equally vivacious and equally gifted . Exhaust tho art of the optician , strain your eye to the utmost , until the aching sense refuses to perceive the little quivering movement that indicates tho presenco of life , and you will find that you have not exhausted Nature in the descending scale . Perfect as our optical instruments now are , wo need not be long in convincing ourselves that there aro ariimals around us so small that , in all probability , human perseverance will fail in enabling us accurately to detect their forms , much less fully to understand their
organization ! " Vain , indeed , would it bo to attempt by words to give anything like a definite notion of the minuteness of somo of theso multitudinous races . Let mo ask the reader to divide im inch into 22 , 000 parts , and appreciate mentally tho value of each division : having done so , and not till then , shall wo havo a standard sufficiently minute to enable us to measure the microscopic beings , upon tho consideration of which wo nre now entering . " Neither is it easy to give tho student of nature , who has not accurately investigated tho subject for himself , jwlcquato conceptions relative to the numbers in which the Infusoria sometimes crowd tho waters they frL-qnont ; but let him take his microscope , and tho means of making a rough estimate , at least , aro easily at his dispooul . Ho will soon perceive that tho animalcule-inhabitants of a drop of putrid water , possessing , uh many of thorn do , dimensions not larger than tho l-2000 th part of a lino , swim so close together that tho intervals separating them aro not groutor than their own bodierf . Tho matter , therefore , becomes a question for arithmetic to nolve , and wo will pause to mako tho calculation .
" Tho Monas ternto , for example ,- —a creature that might bo pardonably regarded as an embodiment of tho mathematical point , almost literally without cither length or breadth or thickness—has been calculated to measure nbout tho 22 , 000 th part of an inch in its transverse diameter ; and in wuter talcen from tho surface of many putrid infusions , thoy nro crowded ns . olosoly as we havo stated above . Wo may ) therefore , taifely Hay , that , swimming at ordinary distances apart , 10 , 000 of them would bo contained in a linear apace , one inch in length , and consequently u cubic inch of such water will thus contain more living tuul active organized boinga than tboro nro human inhabitants upon tho wholo surface of this globe ! However astounding such a fact may seem when first enunciated , none is more easily doinonBtrated with tho assistance of a good luicroftcopo . * * In an address lately dolivorod boforo tho Microscop ical Society of London , PrqfoBBor Owen , tho president , in allusion to rouourchoa such an thouo , olmorvod thut , in Creation , " everything is groat or email only by comparison . Tho toloucopo toachos us that our
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), June 19, 1852, page 19, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_19061852/page/19/
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