ARTS AND SCIENCES. PHYSIOLOGY. STATURE. THE vital principle seems to act with the greater energy, as the sphere of its activity is narrowed; which has led Pliny to say, that it was chiefly in the smallest things that Nature has shown the fulness of her power.* The circulation is quicker, the pulse more than the least bird of prey; that the ox has less than the lion and other carnivorous animals. What has been said does not apply to the absolute, but to the relative size of the heart. Now, though the heart of a hawk be absolutely smaller than that of the turkey cock, it is nevertheless larger, in proportion to the other parts of the animal. Besides, the bird of prey, like the other carnivorous animals, in part owes his courage to the strength of his weapons of offence. Another objection, more specious, but no frequent, the determinations more prompt, better founded, is drawn from the courage in men of short stature. Such was the great manifested, on certain occasions, by the Alexander: never did man of colossal make, most timid animals; for example, by the hen display great activity of imagination: none in protecting her young; from the courage of them have glowed with the fire of genius. Slow in their actions, moderate in their desires, they obey without murmuring, the will that governs them, and seem made for slavery. Agrippa (says Emilius Probus, in his History of Augustus) advised that they the body. In civilized man, the prejudices should disband the Spanish guard, and of honour, interested considerations, and a that in its room, Cæsar should choose one of thousand other circumstances, degrade the Germans, "wotting well, that in these large natural inclinations of man, so as to make a bodies, there was little of coverte malice, and yet lesse of subtiltie, and that it was a people more minded to be ruled than to rule." To judge soundly of the remarkable difference which inequality of stature brings into the character, compare extremes; set against a Colossus, a little man of diminutive stature; granting, nevertheless, to this last, full and vigorous health. You may guess that he is talkative, stirring, always in action, always changing his place: one would say that he is labouring to recover in time, what he has lost in space. The probable reason of this difference in the vital activity, following the difference of stature, arises from the relative bulk of the primary organs of life. THE HEART. Courage arises out of the consciousness of strength, and the latter is in proportion to the activity with which the heart propels the blood towards all the organs. The inward sensation occasioned by the afflux of the blood, is the more lively, and the better felt when the heart is powerful. It ison that account that some passions, for example, anger, with which other animals pressed by hunger, surmount all obstacles; but particularly from the heroic valour of men of the most feeble bodies. All these facts, however, are only proofs of the influence of the mind on coward of one whose strength is such as would induce him to brave all kinds of dangers; while on the other hand, men whose organization should render them most timid, are inspired to perform the most daring actions. But all these passions, all these moral affections operate, only by increasing the action of the heart, by increasing the frequency and the force of its pulsation, so that it excites the brain or the muscular system by a more abundant supply of blood. THE FACULTIES. When the mind brings together two ideas, when it compares them, and determines on their analogy, it judges. A certain number of judgments, in series, form a reasoning. To reason, then, is only to judge of the relations that exist among the ideas with which the senses supply us, or which are reproduced by imagination. It is with the faculties of the soul, as with those of the body. When called into full exertion, the intellectual organ gains vigour; it languishes in too long repose. If we exercise certain faculties only, they are greatly developed to the prejudice of the rest. It is thus that, by the study of mathematics, by increasing the action of the heart increases soundness of judgment is acquired, and prea hundred fold both the strength and cour-cision of reasoning, to the extinction of im age, while fear produces an opposite effect. Every being that is feeble, is timorous, shuns danger, because an inward feeling warns him that he does not possess sufficient strength to resist it. It may perhaps be objected, that some animals, as the turkey cock and the ostrich, possess less courage * Nusquam magis quam in minimis est tota Natura, Hist. Nat. lib. II. cap. 2. agination, which never rises to great strength without injury to the judging and reasoning powers. The descriptive sciences employ especially the memory, and it is seldom that they much enlarge the minds of those who study them exclusively. The most scanty languages have been formed in the most barren countries. The savage who strays along the desert shores of New-Zealand, needs but few signs to intellectual faculties. The shades of the distinguish the small number of objects that those agitations, of which however, repuhabitually impress his senses; the sky, the tation, wealth, and power, are the uncerearth, fire, shells, the fish, that form his tain aim. Our passions have not yet been chief food, the quadrupeds, and the vege- analyzed with the same care as our ideas: tables, which are but few in number under no one has yet duly stated the differences this severe climate, are all that he has to there are, in respect to their number and name and to know; accordingly, his vocabu- energy, betwixt savage man, and man in lary is very small; it has been given to us the midst of civilized and enlightened soby travellers in the compass of a few pages. ciety. A copious language, one capable of exAll passions spring from desire, and suppressing a great variety of objects, of sensations and of ideas, supposes high civiliation pose a certain degree of exaltation of the in the people among whom itis spoken. You hear complaints of the perpetual recurrence passions are infinite; they might be all of the same expressions, the same thoughts, arranged by a systematic scale, of which the same images, in the poetry of Ossian; but indifference would be the lowest gradation, living amidst the barren rocks of Scotland, and maniacal rage the highest. A man, the bards could not speak of things of which without passions, is as impossible to imagnothing, on the soil they inhabited, could ine, as a man without desires; yet we distinguish as passionate, those whose will supply them with the idea. The monotony rises powerfully towards one object earnesttheir impressions, always produced by rocks, ly longed for. In the delirium of the pasmists, winds, the billows of the ireful ocean, sions, we are for ever making, unconsciousthe gloomy heath, and the silent pine, &c. The repetition of the same expressions, in the Scriptures, shows that civilization had not made the same progress among the Hebrews, as among the Greeks and Ro of their languages was involved in that of mans. To think is only to feel: and to feel is, for us, the same as to exist: for, it is by sensation we know of our existence. Ideas, ly, false judgments, of which the error is exaggeration. A man recovering from a seizure of fear, laughs at the object of his terror. Look at the lover whose passion is extinct: freed at last from the spell that enthralled him, all the perfections with which his love had invested its objects are vanished; the illusion has passed away; and he can almost believe that it is she who is no longer the same, while himself alone is or perceptions, are either sensations, pro- changed: like those maniacs who, on their perly so called, or recollections, or relations return to reason, wonder at the excesses of which we perceive, or, lastly, the desire that their delirium, and listen, incredulously, to is occasioned in us by these relations. The the relation of their own actions. The amfaculty of thought, therefore, falls into the bitious man feeds on imaginations of wealth natural subdivision of sensibility, properly and power. He who hates, exaggerates the termed memory, judgment, and will. To defects of the object of his hatred, and sees feel, properly speaking, is to be conscious crimes in his lightest faults. of an impression; to remember, is to be The effects of the passions are not, for sensible of the remembrance of a past imtheir uniformity, the less inexplicable. pression; to judge, is to feel relations How, and why does anger give rise to madamong our perceptions; lastly, to will, is to ness, and to sudden death? How does fear desire something Of these four elements, determine paralysis, convulsions, epilepsy, sensations, recollections, judgments, and de- &c.? Why does excessive joy, a sense of sires, are formed all compound ideas. At- pleasure carried to extremity, produce tention is but an act of the will; compari- effects as fatal, as sad and afflicting impressons cannot be separated from judgment, sions? In what way can violence of laughsince we cannot compare two objects withter lead to death? Excess of laughter out judging them; reasoning is only a re- killed the painter Zeuxis and the philosopetition of the act of judging; to reflect, to pher Chrysippus, according to the relation imagine, is to compose ideas, analyzable into sensations, recollections, judgments, and desires. This sort of imagination, which is only certain and faithful memory, ought not to be distinguished from it. of Pliny. The conversion of the reformed of the Cevennes, under Louis XIV. was effected by binding them on a bench, and tickling the soles of their feet, till, overpowered by this torture, they abjured their creed; many died in the convulsions and immoderate laughter which the tickling ex THE PASSIONS. It is to avoid extreme wants, of which a cited. A hundred volumes would be invigilant foresight perceives afar off the sufficient to detail all the effects of the paspossibility-it is to satisfy all the factitious sions on physical man; how many would it wants which society and civilization have take to tell their history in moral man, from created, that men condemn themselves to their dark origin, through all their stages of growth, in the infinite variety of their characters, and in all their evanescent shades. MODULATIONS OF THE VOICE. siognomy is drawn in the lives of Mark Antony and Alcibiades. In Bacchus are found both the forms and the character. But why seek amongst the illustrious men of antiquity, or among its gods, the model of the temperament I have been describing, whilst it is so easy to find it among the moderns? No one, in my opinion, exhibits a more perfect type of it than the Marshal Duke of Richelieu, that man, so amiable, fortunate and brave in war, light and inconstant, to the end of his long and brilliant career. Inconstancy and levity are, in fact, the chief attribute of men of this temperament; good, generous, feeling, quick, and impassioned. In vain he whom nature has endowed with a sanguine temperament, will think to take fixed and lasting likings, to attain, by profound meditation, to the most abstract truths; mastered by his dispositions, he will be for ever driven back to the pleasures from which he flies, to the inconstancy which is his lot; more fitted to the brilliant productions of wit, than the sublime conceptions of genius. Whatever Rousseau may have said, in his Dictionary of Music, singing may be regarded as the most natural expression of the emotions of the soul, since the least civilized nations so use it in their songs of war and love, of joy and mourning: and as every affection of the mind modifies in some way the voice, music, which is only imitated song, can, by the aid of sounds, paint love or rage, sadness or joy, fear or desire, can produce the emotions of these different states, can thus sway the course of our ideas, and direct at pleasure the operations of the understanding, and the acts of the will. Of all the instruments which this art employs, the vocal organ of man is indisputably the most perfect, that from which the most varied powers may be obtained. Who is there that knows not the property of the human voice to lend itself to all accents, and to imitate all languages? I will observe, on the occasion of song, that it is especially consecrated to the expression of tender sentiments or movements of passion, and that it is turning it aside from its natural or primitive destination, to employ it in situations where no emotion can be supposed. It is this that makes the recitative of our operas so intolerably tiresome, and throws such ludicrousness over dialogues where the speakers converse singing, on the most indif- movements of the soul often abrupt and imferent matters. Languages abounding in petuous, the character firm and inflexible. vowels, are thereby fitted to song, and Bold in the conception of a project, constant favour the growth of musical genius. It is and indefatigable in its execution, it is perhaps their smooth and sonorous language among men of this temperament we find that has given to the music of the Italians, those who in different ages have governed its superiority over that of other countries. the destinies of the world; full of courage, The declamation of the ancients was much of boldness and activity, all have signalised more removed than our own, from the common tone of conversation, approached nearer to music, and might be noted like real song. TEMPERAMENTS.' If the heart and the vessels which carry the blood through every part, are of predominant activity, the pulse will be sharp, frequent, regular, the complexion ruddy, the countenance animated, the shape good, the forms softened though distinct, the flesh of tolerable consistence, moderate plumpness, the hair fair and inclining to chesnut; the nervous susceptibility will be lively, and attended with rapid susceptibility, that is to say, that being easily affected by the impressions of outward objects, men of this temperament will pass rapidly from one idea to another; conception will be quick, memory prompt, and the imagination lively. The physical traits of this temperament are to be found in the statues of Antinous and the Apollo Belvidere. Its moral phy If sensibility, which is vivid and easily excited, can dwell long upon one object; if the pulse is strong, hard, and frequent, the sub-cutaneous veins prominent, the skin of a brown, inclining towards yellow, the hair black, moderate fulness of flesh, but firm, the muscles marked, the forms harshly expressed; the passions will be violent, the themselves by great virtues or great crimes, have been the terror or admiration of the universe. Such were Alexander and Julius Cæsar, Brutus, Mahomet, Charles XII., the Czar Peter, Cromwell, Sixtus V., Cardinal Richelieu. As love in the sanguine, ambition is in the bilious the governing passion. Observe a man, who, born of an obscure family, long vegetates in the lower ranks: great shocks agitate and overthrow empires: actor, at first secondary, of these great revolutions, which are to change its destiny, the ambitious hides from all his designs, and, by degrees, raises himself to the sovereign power, employing to preserve it the same address with which he possessed himself of it. This is, in two words, the history of Cromwell, and of all usurpers. The portrait of Justice in the house of a certain Judge. MISCELLANEOUS. ANECDOTES OF MONKEYS. From a late English publication. WHEN Lord Howe commanded at Gibralter a party of his officers, were amusing themselves with whiting-fishing at the back of the rock; but were disturbed and obliged to shift their ground, from being pelted from above, they gained a station where they caught plenty of fish. druins beat to arms, on some unexpected matter upon the table. I need scarcely add that he placed himself in ambush in a neighbouring room, for the purpose of watching his operations. These were very scientifically conducted. The old monkey threw the young one, bound him, and inoculated him with all the skill of a professor. "The usual effects followed. Other stea dy monkeys were thus instructed in the art, after having been themselves previously inoculated, and several are (it is said) now At this time the sending out to South America, provided with all necessary means for spreading the beneficial infection. May the attempt suc occasion, and the officers rowed their boat ashore, and left it high and dry upon the beach, hurrying where their duty called them. "On their return, their surprise was excessive to find their boat beached, not half so high as they left it, and at some little distance from its former position. Their amazement was increased, on examining their tackle, to find some hooks baited, which had been left bare, and to see the disposition of many things altered. The cause was afterwards explained. An officer of Hanoverian grenadiers, who was amusing himself with a solitary walk, happened to be a close observer of animal and vegetable nature. This man, hearing the chatter of monkeys, stole upon a party of young ones, who were pelting the fishers from behind some rocks. While they were so employed, arrived two or three old ones who drove the youngsters away, and then remained behind secretly observing the proceedings of the whitingfishers. "The fishers having beached their boat and retired, the monkeys apparently deemed the time was come for turning their observations to account. They accordingly launched the boat, put to sea, baited their hooks, and proceeded to work. Their sport was small, as might be anticipated, from the impatient nature of the animals; but what few they caught, were hauled up with infinite exultation. When they were tired they landed, placed the boat (as nearly as they could) in her old position, in the friendly spirit on which I have before remarked, and went up the rock with their game." "The small pox having spread fearfully amongst the monkeys of South America, Dr., secretary to the Bloomsburystreet vaccination society, was struck by the idea of arresting its further progress. Vaccination was of course to be the means of staying the plague, and his scheme for its introduction was singularly ingenious. He vaccinated two or three boys, (whom he first bound, hands and feet,) in the presence of an old baboon, who was observed to be closely attentive to his proceedings. He then left him alone with a young monkey, depositing a guarded lancet and some of the ceed, and men and monkeys, throughout that extensive continent, have cause to bless the name of England! "Now the things which most distinguish man from beast, are man's exclusive use of clothing and weapons, and management of fire; yet here we see monkeys adopting two of the habits, which are supposed to be peculiar to man; and my next anecdote will show monkeys exercising the other. " I was promised a private exhibition of these beasts by a showman in a country village. On approaching the covered cart, I was alarmed at finding it lighted, and reproached the master with having made his exhibition public. In this, however, I did him wrong. He assured me that the light was only to keep his monkeys quiet, who would otherwise disturb the whole village with their cries; and in fact I, on entering, found four monkeys seated round a table, with a farthing candle upon it, as if for the purpose of conversation. "The alarm of these monkeys in the dark is another curious fact, though people, who have studied the habits of animals, know that the young of these are as instinctively subject to causeless fear in darkness as children themselves; and I was once or twice thrown on my face, in crossing a heath at night, by a Newfoundland puppy, who howled and ran between my legs for refuge at the sight of every prominent object, more especially if it was white." "In one of the old border peels lived a monkey, who, for a monkey, might be deemed of a very phlegmatic constitution, for his principal gratification was sleeping in the sun on the spacious flat of the tower, in the exclusive possession of which he was however sometimes disturbed. His enemy was a raven, whose petulance would have been intolerable to any but a Scottish monkey. Pug, however, dissembled his rage, and watched his opportunity. "He took some sausages which he found lying in the scullery, and with them made himself a necklace, with a long string hanging down in front, such as that to which ladies often fasten a cross. He strutted about the leads for some time, as if proud of his ornament, with a switch in his hand, which appeared to have been taken up in order to complete his equipment. At last he seemed tired of this display, laid himself down at full length, and closed his eyes. We extract the following description of the famous Beau Nash from "Letters from the west of England:" Of a verity, this same Nash was as complete a despot as an African fiend of Ashantee. When the Duchess of Queensberry appeared at the dress-ball in an apron, he deliberately commanded her to take it off; observing, as he threw it to the attendants, that there was no regulation by which housemaids were admitted to the balls. And when the Princess Amelia applied to him for one more dance after eleven o'clock, he refused, -assuring her, that the laws of Bath were, like those of Lycurgus, unalterable. time for their footman to wait on them home -to prevent disturbance and inconvenience to themselves and others. That no person take it ill that any one goes to another's play or breakfast, and not to theirs-except captious by nature. That gentlemen crowding before ladies, at the ball, show ill manners; and that none do so for the future-except such as respect nobody but themselves. That no gentleman or lady take it ill that another dances before them-except such as have no pretension to dance at all. That the elder ladies and children be content with a second bench at the ball-as being past, or not come to perfection That the younger ladies take notice how many eyes observe them.-N. B. This does not extend to the Have-at-alls. That all whisperers of lies and scandal be taken for the authors. That all repeaters of such lies and scandal be shunned by all company-except such as have been guilty of the same crime. The influence which this firmness, in his government, gave him, in the little world of Nash, like many other heroes, died in poBath, was unbounded; and Nash took care verty, and unlamented. The great, whom to preserve and increase it by a considera- he had served with such devotion, rewarded ble affectation of splendour in his dress and him-as they usually do the minions of their equipage, -aware that external appearance pleasures-by deserting him in the hour of has a powerful and visible effect on the need. Sickness attacked him; and poverty greatest part of mankind, the weak and stared him in the face. These were evils the proud, namely; and that the wise and against which he had provided no defence, and, therefore, they fell upon him with double weight. Sorrow and distress clouded the evening of his days, and reflection came too late for any other purpose, than to display to him the disconsolate situation of that man, when he approaches his end, who has spent his whole life in the pursuit of pleasure and the service of folly. He died in 1761, aged 88,-and was buried at the expense of the corporation, with great pomp and circumstantiality. the good are not quite insensible to it. buz in the glare of awed into subjection, even by-a monkey. Nash, like all other conceited persons, had a wonderful opinion of his own wit and talents; and, by way of displaying them to his admiring dependants, he had the following rules (written by himself) posted in all the places of public amusement. Coarse and impudent as they are, they would not, perhaps, be wholly unserviceable in some of our metropolitan assemblies. Rules by general consent determined. That a visit of ceremony, at coming to Bath, and another at going away, is all that is expected or desired by ladies of quality and fashion-except impertinents. That ladies coming to the balls, appoint a During his life, a marble statue was erected in the Pump-room, and placed between the busts of Newton and Pope; and, after memory in the Abbey, with an eloquent though somewhat flattering inscription, by the celebrated Dr. Harrington. Under the inscription is cut, in marble, the arm of Death, striking his dart at a falling crown and sceptre; with the motto a monument was erected to his "Æquâ pulsat manu!" PUBLISHED EVERY SATURDAY. JAMES G. BROOKS, Editor and Proprietor, No. 4 Wall-street, New-York J. SEYMOUR, printer, 49 John-street. |