On this page
-
Text (5)
-
Untitled Article
-
Untitled Article
-
Untitled Article
-
Untitled Article
-
Untitled Article
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.
Untitled Article
CHAS £ 2 « rRjEA 0 dB , ace .. " dashedoff" ( asithe » -phraaeTrunfl ) , ia . Bketche »» € W > mer tinwfrgood ^ and eotnethnfiStquiteiTaindoma . TJi ® aofciiole ^ onK " The-Length ! -of Htuaan < iLife'' is * h analysis . of & very trumpery bookVby Flocrbns , which has excited attention in Paris ( fiof among scientific men ) by its attempt to prove thUt every , man . ought to live a century , ^ nd that only in his eighty-fifth * year does he pcoperly enter upon old ige . The pnly good passage * in . FxouBEtrs is given ' by the-. writer .. Buffqn had i investigated the . subject and came .-to this conclusion : — " The total duration of life may : be ^ efltunatedto . ascertain degree by that of the duration of an animaL ' s gi ; awih ^ . . . . Mftn increase * ; in . height up , to his sixteenth or eighteenth year , and yet the full development in jsize of all the parts of Jus : body ia not completed till the thirtieth year . The dog attains its full length in one year , and only in the second yearcompletes its . growth , in bulk or size . Man , who takes thirty years to grow , lives .. ninety or a . hundred years . The dog , which , grows only , xluring . twoor three yearsj . Jiv « s only . ten . or-iweive ^ . an d it is the same with most other animals . "
This , passage contains , the . germ-of an ide * : which -he afterwards . develops more clearly . " The duration of life in the horse , " he says , " as in all other species of animals ,.- , is . proportionate to the length of time during which it grows ... Man , who takes fourteen years to grow , may live six or seven times as long ; that is , to ninety or < a ( hnndred years . The horse , which , completes its growth in fouryears , may live six or seven times as long ; that is , to twenty or thirty years . " And again , " as the stag is five or six years in growing , it . lives- also , seven , limes five . or six ; that is , to thirty-five op forty years .. " IT Z . OCBB 5 B strikes in afc ^ this point :- ' — " I find , " he says , " the true sign of th ' e terra of animal growth in the reunion of the * -bones to their ¦ ep ipb . yses . So long as this-union does not take place , the animal grows . As soon as the bones are united to their epipbyses , the animal ceases to grow . " _ .. ..
In man , this reunion takes place at the age of twenty years , and be lives ti ninety or a ¦ hundred . The following table contains the other data given by M . Frororens : — Man grows for 20 years , and lives 90 or 100 Thocamel , 8 v ... 40 The horse , 5 ... 25 The ox , 4 ... 15 to 20 The lion , 4 ... 20 The dog , 2 ... 10 to 12 The cat , l £ ... 9 or 10 The hare , 1 ... 8 The guinea-pig , 7 months , 6 'br 7 "
By *~ these data'the result of Buflbn" is corrected . All the larger animals live about f ive times longer than they grow , instead of six or seven times , as- inferred by Biiffon . Thus , by a physiological ' analogy , tire ordinary natural life of a man . is fixed at a hundred years . Before concluding , let the writer be informed that the notion of a definite -quantity of life on our globe , and even the notion . of " organic molecules " fviriohiihypothetically supports it ; are not'to be dismissed so summarily , " inconsistent with our positive knowledge . " "Very positive thinkers , MM . Robin and Verpeit , for example , adopt a modification of . Buffok ' s tteary , uand . of his . hypothetical molecules . If the writer of the article turn t < y their Chimie Anatomique he will see reason to pause ere he again classes Buffon ' s notion among " vain fancies . "
What shall be said to the writer on " Coal" in the Dublin University Magazine ( a place where one meets trash with some astonishment ) , who gravclyundertakes to show that coal not only proves the existence " God of Providence , but even of a God of Redemption . " In the same Magazine there is a continuation of the biographical sketches " The Dramatic Writers of Ireland , " and a sketch of " The Life and Writings of Hans Christian Andersen . " Tait has a pleasant satiricaL . paper . oa-. " GeateeL . Thieves , ' purporting to be- written by an . old shopkeeper . ; and iDentley has an- article on " Haalitt . Withithis we mjasfci close our -Magazinio survey .
Untitled Article
A Central Committee of the Institute of France held a special meeting on Tuesday last , to draw up a protest against the Imperial decree , which degrades that illustrious Corps samaut to tho condition of a dependency of the * Ministry of Public Instruction . The protest formally declares the dooreo-to h&inexecutable , ct attcntatoirc auz privileges tie Vlnstiiut . It is not the adjunction . of . a fifth section of non -elected creatures of ithe > Government thab constitutes-the gravest objection to the decree , 'ibt is-the masked attack ofii a < joalouai and > stealthy despotism ' , which throws a network of quasilegislative enactments and of irresponsible decrees over all-that remains . of z'ighit and freedom .. According , to . this decree , I ; The- Government , and not tho Institute , proposes the subjects for prizesi
2 . Tho Government , and not tho Institute , regulates the admissions to the public seances . 3 . Tho Government nominates the employe ' s of tho Institute . 4 . Tho Government composes one-half of the commissions charged with awarding prizes in tho name of the Institute . . 5 . In short , tho Institute becomes a simple appendage to tho Ministry of Public Instruction , and loses its distinctive character , its individual exists cnoe . ^ a vic . proprc )) its liberty , its dignity . Th * . consequences of this invasion are so patent , that even men like MM . Cft'A'Rr . Ea Tbopi . ono andDuri ? f are constrained to voto with their colleagues Only one has been found to approve the decree , and . his name deserves to bo » reoorded—Ambs ^ h TiiiE » nr : MMv Thibrs , Guizot , and Cousiwr , lead Ujua > opposition >{ and though it has been apprehended that the Government
may > deem it prudent : to- pjcoppse sonie compromise , it . is ., to be hoped that , the * resistance , wfeich . has far greater importance . than ; some of . oucareaders ? may be inolined to suppose ; will be rigorously sustained . At the introduction of the new Academicians , par brevet , the other day ^ * there were Jive members of the Institute present , who did not even raise- "; their eyes . upon the- interlopers . It is . worth adding that M . Fohtottl ,-Minister of rPublic Instruction , and author of the . decree , is known as one ofthe > sorriest-of political renegades . At the beginning of his public career ^' he disgraced republican , opinions by his violence and exaggeration , but hischief notoriety was that of a . farceur . He it was who , after writing a coit . elusive article in an architectural review , in favour of preserving the Pantheon , signed it away to the Jesuits by his first decree after . the coup d ' etat .- , His faith in , the Empire may be judged ibom the remark . he . once made upon his own hopeful ichildy-4 & / il verra passer bien de * gouvemements !
Untitled Article
A most remarkable series of Illustrations has just been commenced ; a monograph of the ** Ferns of Great Britain . " * It is a truly unique work ^ comprising in itself two kinds of novelty ; it is printed after the process called Nature-printing , which has been carried out in the Imperial Press of yienna . The nature of the process is not explained , but it consists in some way of taking the impress of the plants themselves so that they appear to constitute ^ . a kind of model of the plant compressed upon paper . In this way , although the process fails to catch some of the minuter characteristics , it forms an exact
transcript of the leaves , their shape , the veins , indentations , &c , by which the botanist immediately recognises . the plant in all its . delicate varieties . The act of compression , indeed , necessarily alters the aspect of the original , and gives a certain heaviness and roundness ; yet "the exactness exceeds anything that ordinary painters , even of a skilful grade , can accomplish . It cannot be said to approach to such living exactness as Wieliam Htnray but it would of course be impossible for a Hunt to be engaged in elaboratingevery specimen in this reallywonderful collection of a numerous and obscure * that particularly requires-the most patient family fidelity of transcription .
Untitled Article
LTEIX'S GEOLOGY . A Manual of " Elementary Geology ; or , Changes of the Ancient Earth and its Inhabitants as Illustrated by Geological Monuments . By Sir Charles Lyell . Fifth Edition , greatly enldrgedV Murray . This is a very valuable work—a new work more than a new edition—for Sir Charles Lyell is not only the most eminent of our geologists , he is one of the best and most conscientious of writers on his science . He is not content with his laurels . He is not to be seduced . into trading upon hisreputation . But as each successive edition of his work is called for by the public he sets earnestly to the Xask of making that work the accurate representative of the present state of science . Our differences with Sir Charles
on speculative points do not prevent our hearty acknowledgment of his value , and of the superiority of his works . Therefore , while we see the money of the public tempted by so niany works professing to be popular , and being for the most part superficial compilations , we cannot resist an emphatic appeal in favour of works like those of Sir Charles , which are popular in every sense of the term , which are as intelligible to beginners as the most exacting ignorance can demand , and are at the same time thoroughly scientific , and claim-lae attention of professors . The purchaser of this Manual will pay little more for it than he would pay for trash—scarcely so much considering its bulk and its seven hundred and fifty illustrationsand he will have the satisfaction of giving his money for money ' s worth .
In running through this fifth edition , enriched as it is with a hundred and forty pages of text ' entirely new , not to mention minor corrections and additions , and with two hundred new illustrations , one cannot hel ^ being struck'with the enormous accumulation of accurate observation which was necessary before-any one chnpbercould have been written . T-hink of what it is to read the pages of the great Stone Book ; to decipher its mysterious alphabet , and by the aid of such penetration into the laws of nature as we have already attained ,- , to read the history of our planet millions of years before History ( in the ordinary sense ) had even a beginning . Geology is to our planet-what History is to our race . To decipher its simplest phenomena we need' the most accurate knowledge of the mechanical ,, chemical , and biological processes now in action : for it is only b y mechanics , chemistry , and biology that we can gain any clue through this labyrinth . If , therefore , we consider what an amount of observation and thought has been requisite
to establish the principles of these sciencesj and then reflect on the labour of applying them to Geologyj we approximate to a conception of the vastness of the achievement . For , observe , this Stone Book is in every sense written . " in a dead language . We have only surmounted the first difficulty in recognising the fact thnt its alphabet is the al p habet of mechanical , chemical , and ' biological laws . When a problem is before us such us the formation of a rock , the appearance of a " dip" or a " fault , " the formation of valleys , or . anything else we need to have explained , it is not enough to settle how it might have occurred , we must- settle how it did occur . The mechanical action of running water—the action of volcanic eruption—tho action of chemical combination—although shown , by what occurs in our time , to be a probable-cause , is not enough . Philosophy demands more than probability . Tho operations of mechanical and chemical laws , however-demonstrable , may have to be ranged under a higher law—they may bo regarded as tho mero accessories of development , instead of the simple ami direct ' agencies . To illustrate what we mean it is necessary to refer to somd modern speculations which—especially in Germany—tend , to give a now aspect to Goology . Theodore Sclmller , Jbr example , has recently published the first part '
Untitled Article
" TfoJFernesifartat Britain . ( M' ***™ -Printed . ) With -Dosoriptione by Thomas Mooro , F . L . S . Edited by JDr . Lindloy . Brudbury mid Evans .
Untitled Article
MayvJS 1653 . ] T mm EEAB TSE-ffi . 43 & .
-
-
Citation
-
Leader (1850-1860), May 5, 1855, page 427, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2089/page/19/
-