Chapter 21

[bc]The Hulsean Lecturer before alluded to states this point with most distinct emphasis. Speaking of the Eye as an optical instrument, he says, "Here arefourconditions of things each utterlyindependentof the others, viz. the nerve, then its non-reflecting coating, then a transparent medium investing it, then a most remarkableethersurrounding the whole, the concurrence of all four being essential to the production of vision, nevertheless we are to believe that all these adjustments and adaptations are accidentally made, retained and handed down by inheritance. If there be not evidence here of the selecting, arranging, controlling power ofmind, will, forethought, contrivance, then I feel that I have no evidence for the existence of the individuality of my own being."Analogies,etc., p. 124.[202]There is perhaps no familiar tribe in which the wonders of this mechanical arrangement, can be more easily studied than in the venerable family of owls.[203]The stalk-eyed Crustacea are known to most readers through the fascinating volume of Mr. Bell.[204]De Anima, III. 1, 4.Hist. Animal., I. 9, IV. 8. The structural eye is reduced to an ocellus.[205]M. Le Court: see Geoffrey St. Hilaire,Cours d'Histoire Naturelle, des Mammifères.[206]One is glad of this result for Shakespeare's sake, as well as Aristotle's; though a Warwickshire man might have been expected to know the exact truth so far as his county is concerned; which Shakespeare did not:—"The blind mole castsCopp'd hills towards heaven." (Pericles,I. 1.)"Pray you tread softly that the blind mole may notHear a footfall." (Tempest, IV. 1.)[207]The Proteus Anguinus has been rendered illustrious by Sir H. Davy'sConsolations in Travel. Since his time, living specimens have been kept in England.[208]The English reader will be charmed with the account of him in Bell'sBritish Quadrupeds.[209]"In the organ of hearing in man we have first of all the external orifice of the ear, which is closed at the bottom by the circular tympanic membrane. Behind that membrane is the cavity called the drum of the ear, this cavity being separated from the space between it and the brain by a bony partition, in which there are two orifices, the one round and the other oval. These orifices are also closed by fine membranes. Across the cavity of the drum stretches a series of four little bones: the first, called thehammer, is attached to the tympanic membrane; the second, called theanvil, is connected by a joint with the hammer; a third little round bone connects the anvil with thestirrup bone, which has its oval base planted against the membrane of the oval orifice above referred to. The base of the stirrup bone abuts against this membrane, almost covering it, and leaving but a narrow rim of the membrane surrounding the bone. Behind the bony partition, and between it and the brain, we have the extraordinary organ called thelabyrinth, which is filled with water, and over the lining membrane of which, the terminal fibres of the auditory nerve are distributed. When the tympanic membrane receives a shock, that shock is transmitted through the series of bones above referred to, and is concentrated on the membrane against which the base of the stirrup bone is planted. That membrane transfers the shock to the water of the labyrinth, which, in its turn, transfers it to the nerves."The transmission, however, is not direct. At a certain place within the labyrinth exceedingly fine elastic bristles, terminating in sharp points, grow up between the terminal nerve fibres. These bristles, discovered by Max Schultze, are eminently calculated to sympathise with those vibrations of the water which correspond to their proper periods. Thrown thus into vibration, the bristles stir the nerve fibres which lie between their roots, and excite audition. At another place in the labyrinth we have little crystalline particles calledotolithes—the Hörsteine of the Germans—embedded among the nervous filaments, and which, when they vibrate, exert an intermittent pressure upon the adjacent nerve fibres, thus exciting audition. The otolithes probably subserve a different purpose from that fulfilled by the bristles of Schultze. They are fitted, by their weight, to accept and prolong the vibrations of evanescent sounds, which might otherwise escape attention. The bristles of Schultze, on the contrary, because of their extreme lightness, would instantly yield up an evanescent motion, while they are eminently fitted for the transmission of continuous vibrations. Finally, there is in the labyrinth a wonderful organ, discovered by the Marchese Corti, which is to all appearance a musical instrument, with its chords so stretched as to accept vibrations of different periods, and transmit them to the nerve filaments which traverse the organ. Within the ears of men, and without their knowledge or contrivance, this lute of 3,000 strings has existed for ages, accepting the music of the outer world, and rendering it fit for reception by the brain. Each musical tremor which falls upon this organ selects from its tensioned fibres the one appropriate to its own pitch, and throws that fibre into unisonant vibration. And thus, no matter how complicated the motion of the external air may be, those microscopic strings can analyse it and reveal the constituents of which it is composed." Tyndall.On Sound, pp. 323-4 and 5. We may add that the "fine elastic bristles," mentioned by Dr. Tyndall, are known to be prolongations of the free ends of the epithelial cells. Theotherends of these cells—(i.e.the deep or attached ends) are delicately ramified, and are said to be in connection with slender nerve-fibrils.[210]E.g., Coleridge. "I have at this moment before me, in the flowery meadow, on which my eye is now reposing, one of its most soothing chapters, in which there is no lamenting word, no one character of guilt or anguish. For never can I look and meditate on the vegetable creation without a feeling similar to that with which we gaze at a beautiful infant that has fed itself asleep at its mother's bosom, and smiles in its strange dream of obscure yet happy sensations. The same tender and genial pleasure takes possession of me, and this pleasure is checked and drawn inward by the like aching melancholy, by the same whispered remonstrance, and made restless by a similar impulse of aspiration. It seems as if the soul said to herself: From this state hastthoufallen! Such shouldst thou still become, thyself all permeable to a holier power! thyself at once hidden and glorified by its own transparency, as the accidental and dividuous in this quiet and harmonious object is subjected to the life and light of nature; to that life and light of nature, I say, which shines in every plant and flower, even as the transmitted power, love and wisdom of God over all fills, and shines through, nature! But what the plant is, by an act not its own and unconsciously—thatmust thou make thyself tobecome—must by prayer and by a watchful and unresisting spirit, join at least with the preventive and assisting grace to make thyself, in that light of conscience which inflameth not, and with that knowledge which puffeth not up!"Statesman's Manual.Appendix B. pp. 267, 8. Ed. 1839.[211]Tyndall'sEarlier Thoughts; in hisEssays, p. 72. Dr. Tyndall is never weary of repeating this useful truth, and we may honour him for so doing. The following references are to his last very popular work, and in each place the same thought will be found differently expressed according to the difference of subject-matter.Fragments of Science, pp. 93, 105, 121, 163, 442.[212]George Stephenson used to watch the speed of his locomotive, and pleasantly remark that he was utilizing the solar heat of the great coal-period. The words were his own. The idea was Herschel's.[213]"Time is no agent, as some people appear to think it, that it should accomplish anything of itself. Looking at a heap of stones for a thousand years, will do no more toward making a house of them, than looking at it for one moment. The cause is obvious. Time, when applied to works of any kind, being only a succession of relevant acts, each furthering the work to be accomplished, it is clear that even an infinite succession of irrelevant, and consequently useless acts, would no more achieve or forward the completion of it, than an infinite number of jumps in the same place would advance one toward a journey's end; for there is a motion without progress, in time as well as space; where that has often remained stationary which appeared to us, in leaving it behind, to have receded."—Guesses at Truth.First Ed., pp. 61-2.[214]Fragments of Science, p. 442. The passage has been referred to before—and itspithalone is given here—i.e.the central sentence.[215]Astronomy, Chapter viii. init., note p. 264. Ed. 1850.[216]Page 178, seq.[bd]Compare our summary of Powell's argument on this point, pp. 173-4ante. "We see the necessity of a Moral cause as distinguished from a physical antecedent, when we survey Nature. But Nature does not contain the idea in anexplicitshape. She only necessitates its acceptance."[217]Having before quoted at some length from this distinguished Professor, it seems needless to add anything here, except that the same sentiments will be found reasserted in his later works.—SeeSpirit of Inductive Philosophy, pp. 152-3, and 175-9; and compare Chapter II.ante, Additional notes D and E, pp. 103-107, where these passages are in part quoted and commented on.[218]Of course, if any man pronounces anythingabsolutelyunknowable, he says virtually, "my knowledge equals the sum total of all knowledge."[219]Every one who writes this word, must feel tempted to ask why such a condition attaches to any truth. This Essay avoids metaphysical inquiries; we must, therefore, rest content with having plainly shewn that itdoesattach to themost certain and necessaryofalltruths.[be]The reader may be pleased to recal Professor Huxley's two necessary beliefs—necessary, that is, for making the world we live in less miserable and less ignorant. First, that the Order of Nature is practically ascertainable. Secondly, that our Volition counts for something as a condition in the course of Events. (Lay Sermons, p. 159,—already quoted pp. 247 and 8ante.)Evidently, to count foranything, Volition must produceeffects; that is, cause certainchangesin the natural order of things. This principle, therefore, is clearly asserted by the Professor,—and its consequences follow by logical necessity, as here deduced.Mr. Huxley's idea of the Order of Nature is also coincident with the view of it taken in this Chapter.The present writer is glad to mark these undesigned coincidences of thought. "Lay Sermons" had not reached him when this Essay was sent to the Oxford Registrar. Neither had he seen the Professor's Article in the Fortnightly Review.Addition.—The doctrine in most complete antagonism with Mr. Huxley's position is described as follows by Dr. Carpenter:—"The most thorough-going expression of this doctrine will be found in the 'Letters of the Laws of Man's Nature and Development,' by Henry G. Atkinson and Harriet Martineau. A few extracts will suffice to show the character of this system of Philosophy. 'Instinct, passion, thought, etc., are effects of organized substances.' 'All causes are material causes.' 'In material conditions I find the origin of all religions, all philosophies, all opinions, all virtues, all "spiritual conditions and influences," in the same manner that I find the origin of all diseases and of all insanities in material conditions and causes.' 'I am what I am; a creature of necessity; I claim neither merit nor demerit.' 'I feel that I am as completely the result of my nature, and impelled to do what I do, as the needle to point to the north, or the puppet to move according as the string is pulled.' 'I cannot alter my will, or be other than what I am, and cannot deserve either reward or punishment.'" Carpenter.Mental Physiology, p. 4.[220]Horace would have felt himself bewildered by some modern Philosophies. He says:—"Unde nil majus generatur ipsoNecviget quidquamsimileautsecundum."[221]Every reader of Ben Jonson must recal the Alchemical process of "Exaltation":—"Son, be not hasty, Iexaltour med'cine,By hanging himin balneo vaporoso,And giving him solution; thencongealhim;And thendissolvehim; then againcongealhim."The Alchemist, Act II. Scene i.But who would wish the congelation of our Moral sense? If indeed it could possibly survive the rest of the process.Reading these lines, can any one wonder at the celebrated chemical analysis of bygone days, which ended in discovering an undetermined residuum of dirt?[222]Compare Job iv. 13, seq.[223]De Corona. Sect. 274. The translation in the text is Lord Brougham's, and his note on this passage is worth perusal. Trans. p. 185.

[202]There is perhaps no familiar tribe in which the wonders of this mechanical arrangement, can be more easily studied than in the venerable family of owls.

[203]The stalk-eyed Crustacea are known to most readers through the fascinating volume of Mr. Bell.

[204]De Anima, III. 1, 4.Hist. Animal., I. 9, IV. 8. The structural eye is reduced to an ocellus.

[205]M. Le Court: see Geoffrey St. Hilaire,Cours d'Histoire Naturelle, des Mammifères.

[206]One is glad of this result for Shakespeare's sake, as well as Aristotle's; though a Warwickshire man might have been expected to know the exact truth so far as his county is concerned; which Shakespeare did not:—"The blind mole castsCopp'd hills towards heaven." (Pericles,I. 1.)"Pray you tread softly that the blind mole may notHear a footfall." (Tempest, IV. 1.)

"The blind mole castsCopp'd hills towards heaven." (Pericles,I. 1.)

"The blind mole casts

Copp'd hills towards heaven." (Pericles,I. 1.)

"Pray you tread softly that the blind mole may notHear a footfall." (Tempest, IV. 1.)

"Pray you tread softly that the blind mole may not

Hear a footfall." (Tempest, IV. 1.)

[207]The Proteus Anguinus has been rendered illustrious by Sir H. Davy'sConsolations in Travel. Since his time, living specimens have been kept in England.

[208]The English reader will be charmed with the account of him in Bell'sBritish Quadrupeds.

[209]"In the organ of hearing in man we have first of all the external orifice of the ear, which is closed at the bottom by the circular tympanic membrane. Behind that membrane is the cavity called the drum of the ear, this cavity being separated from the space between it and the brain by a bony partition, in which there are two orifices, the one round and the other oval. These orifices are also closed by fine membranes. Across the cavity of the drum stretches a series of four little bones: the first, called thehammer, is attached to the tympanic membrane; the second, called theanvil, is connected by a joint with the hammer; a third little round bone connects the anvil with thestirrup bone, which has its oval base planted against the membrane of the oval orifice above referred to. The base of the stirrup bone abuts against this membrane, almost covering it, and leaving but a narrow rim of the membrane surrounding the bone. Behind the bony partition, and between it and the brain, we have the extraordinary organ called thelabyrinth, which is filled with water, and over the lining membrane of which, the terminal fibres of the auditory nerve are distributed. When the tympanic membrane receives a shock, that shock is transmitted through the series of bones above referred to, and is concentrated on the membrane against which the base of the stirrup bone is planted. That membrane transfers the shock to the water of the labyrinth, which, in its turn, transfers it to the nerves."The transmission, however, is not direct. At a certain place within the labyrinth exceedingly fine elastic bristles, terminating in sharp points, grow up between the terminal nerve fibres. These bristles, discovered by Max Schultze, are eminently calculated to sympathise with those vibrations of the water which correspond to their proper periods. Thrown thus into vibration, the bristles stir the nerve fibres which lie between their roots, and excite audition. At another place in the labyrinth we have little crystalline particles calledotolithes—the Hörsteine of the Germans—embedded among the nervous filaments, and which, when they vibrate, exert an intermittent pressure upon the adjacent nerve fibres, thus exciting audition. The otolithes probably subserve a different purpose from that fulfilled by the bristles of Schultze. They are fitted, by their weight, to accept and prolong the vibrations of evanescent sounds, which might otherwise escape attention. The bristles of Schultze, on the contrary, because of their extreme lightness, would instantly yield up an evanescent motion, while they are eminently fitted for the transmission of continuous vibrations. Finally, there is in the labyrinth a wonderful organ, discovered by the Marchese Corti, which is to all appearance a musical instrument, with its chords so stretched as to accept vibrations of different periods, and transmit them to the nerve filaments which traverse the organ. Within the ears of men, and without their knowledge or contrivance, this lute of 3,000 strings has existed for ages, accepting the music of the outer world, and rendering it fit for reception by the brain. Each musical tremor which falls upon this organ selects from its tensioned fibres the one appropriate to its own pitch, and throws that fibre into unisonant vibration. And thus, no matter how complicated the motion of the external air may be, those microscopic strings can analyse it and reveal the constituents of which it is composed." Tyndall.On Sound, pp. 323-4 and 5. We may add that the "fine elastic bristles," mentioned by Dr. Tyndall, are known to be prolongations of the free ends of the epithelial cells. Theotherends of these cells—(i.e.the deep or attached ends) are delicately ramified, and are said to be in connection with slender nerve-fibrils.

"The transmission, however, is not direct. At a certain place within the labyrinth exceedingly fine elastic bristles, terminating in sharp points, grow up between the terminal nerve fibres. These bristles, discovered by Max Schultze, are eminently calculated to sympathise with those vibrations of the water which correspond to their proper periods. Thrown thus into vibration, the bristles stir the nerve fibres which lie between their roots, and excite audition. At another place in the labyrinth we have little crystalline particles calledotolithes—the Hörsteine of the Germans—embedded among the nervous filaments, and which, when they vibrate, exert an intermittent pressure upon the adjacent nerve fibres, thus exciting audition. The otolithes probably subserve a different purpose from that fulfilled by the bristles of Schultze. They are fitted, by their weight, to accept and prolong the vibrations of evanescent sounds, which might otherwise escape attention. The bristles of Schultze, on the contrary, because of their extreme lightness, would instantly yield up an evanescent motion, while they are eminently fitted for the transmission of continuous vibrations. Finally, there is in the labyrinth a wonderful organ, discovered by the Marchese Corti, which is to all appearance a musical instrument, with its chords so stretched as to accept vibrations of different periods, and transmit them to the nerve filaments which traverse the organ. Within the ears of men, and without their knowledge or contrivance, this lute of 3,000 strings has existed for ages, accepting the music of the outer world, and rendering it fit for reception by the brain. Each musical tremor which falls upon this organ selects from its tensioned fibres the one appropriate to its own pitch, and throws that fibre into unisonant vibration. And thus, no matter how complicated the motion of the external air may be, those microscopic strings can analyse it and reveal the constituents of which it is composed." Tyndall.On Sound, pp. 323-4 and 5. We may add that the "fine elastic bristles," mentioned by Dr. Tyndall, are known to be prolongations of the free ends of the epithelial cells. Theotherends of these cells—(i.e.the deep or attached ends) are delicately ramified, and are said to be in connection with slender nerve-fibrils.

[210]E.g., Coleridge. "I have at this moment before me, in the flowery meadow, on which my eye is now reposing, one of its most soothing chapters, in which there is no lamenting word, no one character of guilt or anguish. For never can I look and meditate on the vegetable creation without a feeling similar to that with which we gaze at a beautiful infant that has fed itself asleep at its mother's bosom, and smiles in its strange dream of obscure yet happy sensations. The same tender and genial pleasure takes possession of me, and this pleasure is checked and drawn inward by the like aching melancholy, by the same whispered remonstrance, and made restless by a similar impulse of aspiration. It seems as if the soul said to herself: From this state hastthoufallen! Such shouldst thou still become, thyself all permeable to a holier power! thyself at once hidden and glorified by its own transparency, as the accidental and dividuous in this quiet and harmonious object is subjected to the life and light of nature; to that life and light of nature, I say, which shines in every plant and flower, even as the transmitted power, love and wisdom of God over all fills, and shines through, nature! But what the plant is, by an act not its own and unconsciously—thatmust thou make thyself tobecome—must by prayer and by a watchful and unresisting spirit, join at least with the preventive and assisting grace to make thyself, in that light of conscience which inflameth not, and with that knowledge which puffeth not up!"Statesman's Manual.Appendix B. pp. 267, 8. Ed. 1839.

[211]Tyndall'sEarlier Thoughts; in hisEssays, p. 72. Dr. Tyndall is never weary of repeating this useful truth, and we may honour him for so doing. The following references are to his last very popular work, and in each place the same thought will be found differently expressed according to the difference of subject-matter.Fragments of Science, pp. 93, 105, 121, 163, 442.

[212]George Stephenson used to watch the speed of his locomotive, and pleasantly remark that he was utilizing the solar heat of the great coal-period. The words were his own. The idea was Herschel's.

[213]"Time is no agent, as some people appear to think it, that it should accomplish anything of itself. Looking at a heap of stones for a thousand years, will do no more toward making a house of them, than looking at it for one moment. The cause is obvious. Time, when applied to works of any kind, being only a succession of relevant acts, each furthering the work to be accomplished, it is clear that even an infinite succession of irrelevant, and consequently useless acts, would no more achieve or forward the completion of it, than an infinite number of jumps in the same place would advance one toward a journey's end; for there is a motion without progress, in time as well as space; where that has often remained stationary which appeared to us, in leaving it behind, to have receded."—Guesses at Truth.First Ed., pp. 61-2.

[214]Fragments of Science, p. 442. The passage has been referred to before—and itspithalone is given here—i.e.the central sentence.

[215]Astronomy, Chapter viii. init., note p. 264. Ed. 1850.

[216]Page 178, seq.

[bd]Compare our summary of Powell's argument on this point, pp. 173-4ante. "We see the necessity of a Moral cause as distinguished from a physical antecedent, when we survey Nature. But Nature does not contain the idea in anexplicitshape. She only necessitates its acceptance."

[217]Having before quoted at some length from this distinguished Professor, it seems needless to add anything here, except that the same sentiments will be found reasserted in his later works.—SeeSpirit of Inductive Philosophy, pp. 152-3, and 175-9; and compare Chapter II.ante, Additional notes D and E, pp. 103-107, where these passages are in part quoted and commented on.

[218]Of course, if any man pronounces anythingabsolutelyunknowable, he says virtually, "my knowledge equals the sum total of all knowledge."

[219]Every one who writes this word, must feel tempted to ask why such a condition attaches to any truth. This Essay avoids metaphysical inquiries; we must, therefore, rest content with having plainly shewn that itdoesattach to themost certain and necessaryofalltruths.

[be]The reader may be pleased to recal Professor Huxley's two necessary beliefs—necessary, that is, for making the world we live in less miserable and less ignorant. First, that the Order of Nature is practically ascertainable. Secondly, that our Volition counts for something as a condition in the course of Events. (Lay Sermons, p. 159,—already quoted pp. 247 and 8ante.)Evidently, to count foranything, Volition must produceeffects; that is, cause certainchangesin the natural order of things. This principle, therefore, is clearly asserted by the Professor,—and its consequences follow by logical necessity, as here deduced.Mr. Huxley's idea of the Order of Nature is also coincident with the view of it taken in this Chapter.The present writer is glad to mark these undesigned coincidences of thought. "Lay Sermons" had not reached him when this Essay was sent to the Oxford Registrar. Neither had he seen the Professor's Article in the Fortnightly Review.Addition.—The doctrine in most complete antagonism with Mr. Huxley's position is described as follows by Dr. Carpenter:—"The most thorough-going expression of this doctrine will be found in the 'Letters of the Laws of Man's Nature and Development,' by Henry G. Atkinson and Harriet Martineau. A few extracts will suffice to show the character of this system of Philosophy. 'Instinct, passion, thought, etc., are effects of organized substances.' 'All causes are material causes.' 'In material conditions I find the origin of all religions, all philosophies, all opinions, all virtues, all "spiritual conditions and influences," in the same manner that I find the origin of all diseases and of all insanities in material conditions and causes.' 'I am what I am; a creature of necessity; I claim neither merit nor demerit.' 'I feel that I am as completely the result of my nature, and impelled to do what I do, as the needle to point to the north, or the puppet to move according as the string is pulled.' 'I cannot alter my will, or be other than what I am, and cannot deserve either reward or punishment.'" Carpenter.Mental Physiology, p. 4.

Evidently, to count foranything, Volition must produceeffects; that is, cause certainchangesin the natural order of things. This principle, therefore, is clearly asserted by the Professor,—and its consequences follow by logical necessity, as here deduced.

Mr. Huxley's idea of the Order of Nature is also coincident with the view of it taken in this Chapter.

The present writer is glad to mark these undesigned coincidences of thought. "Lay Sermons" had not reached him when this Essay was sent to the Oxford Registrar. Neither had he seen the Professor's Article in the Fortnightly Review.

Addition.—The doctrine in most complete antagonism with Mr. Huxley's position is described as follows by Dr. Carpenter:—

"The most thorough-going expression of this doctrine will be found in the 'Letters of the Laws of Man's Nature and Development,' by Henry G. Atkinson and Harriet Martineau. A few extracts will suffice to show the character of this system of Philosophy. 'Instinct, passion, thought, etc., are effects of organized substances.' 'All causes are material causes.' 'In material conditions I find the origin of all religions, all philosophies, all opinions, all virtues, all "spiritual conditions and influences," in the same manner that I find the origin of all diseases and of all insanities in material conditions and causes.' 'I am what I am; a creature of necessity; I claim neither merit nor demerit.' 'I feel that I am as completely the result of my nature, and impelled to do what I do, as the needle to point to the north, or the puppet to move according as the string is pulled.' 'I cannot alter my will, or be other than what I am, and cannot deserve either reward or punishment.'" Carpenter.Mental Physiology, p. 4.

[220]Horace would have felt himself bewildered by some modern Philosophies. He says:—"Unde nil majus generatur ipsoNecviget quidquamsimileautsecundum."

[220]Horace would have felt himself bewildered by some modern Philosophies. He says:—

"Unde nil majus generatur ipsoNecviget quidquamsimileautsecundum."

"Unde nil majus generatur ipso

Necviget quidquamsimileautsecundum."

[221]Every reader of Ben Jonson must recal the Alchemical process of "Exaltation":—"Son, be not hasty, Iexaltour med'cine,By hanging himin balneo vaporoso,And giving him solution; thencongealhim;And thendissolvehim; then againcongealhim."The Alchemist, Act II. Scene i.But who would wish the congelation of our Moral sense? If indeed it could possibly survive the rest of the process.Reading these lines, can any one wonder at the celebrated chemical analysis of bygone days, which ended in discovering an undetermined residuum of dirt?

[221]Every reader of Ben Jonson must recal the Alchemical process of "Exaltation":—

"Son, be not hasty, Iexaltour med'cine,By hanging himin balneo vaporoso,And giving him solution; thencongealhim;And thendissolvehim; then againcongealhim."The Alchemist, Act II. Scene i.

"Son, be not hasty, Iexaltour med'cine,

By hanging himin balneo vaporoso,

And giving him solution; thencongealhim;

And thendissolvehim; then againcongealhim."

The Alchemist, Act II. Scene i.

But who would wish the congelation of our Moral sense? If indeed it could possibly survive the rest of the process.

Reading these lines, can any one wonder at the celebrated chemical analysis of bygone days, which ended in discovering an undetermined residuum of dirt?

[222]Compare Job iv. 13, seq.

[223]De Corona. Sect. 274. The translation in the text is Lord Brougham's, and his note on this passage is worth perusal. Trans. p. 185.

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