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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/17882-h.zip b/17882-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..9c1ebc6 --- /dev/null +++ b/17882-h.zip diff --git a/17882-h/17882-h.htm b/17882-h/17882-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..fb27363 --- /dev/null +++ b/17882-h/17882-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,5206 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html + PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> +<html> +<head> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=US-ASCII" /> +<title>Consolations in Travel</title> + <style type="text/css"> +/*<![CDATA[ XML blockout */ +<!-- + P { margin-top: .75em; + margin-bottom: .75em; + } + H1, H2 { + text-align: center; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + } + H3, H4 { + text-align: left; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-bottom: 1em; + } + BODY{margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + } + .blkquot {margin-left: 4em; margin-right: 4em;} /* block indent */ + + .smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + + .pagenum {position: absolute; + left: 92%; + font-size: smaller; + text-align: right; + color: gray;} + + // --> + /* XML end ]]>*/ + </style> +</head> +<body> +<h2> +<a href="#startoftext">Consolations in Travel, by Humphrey Davy</a> +</h2> +<pre> +The Project Gutenberg eBook, Consolations in Travel, by Humphrey Davy, +Edited by Henry Morley + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: Consolations in Travel + or, the Last Days of a Philosopher + + +Author: Humphrey Davy + +Editor: Henry Morley + +Release Date: February 28, 2006 [eBook #17882] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CONSOLATIONS IN TRAVEL*** +</pre> +<p><a name="startoftext"></a></p> +<p>Transcribed from the 1889 Cassell & Company edition by David +Price, email ccx074@coventry.ac.uk</p> +<h1>CONSOLATIONS IN TRAVEL;<br /> +OR, THE LAST DAYS OF A PHILOSOPHER.</h1> +<p>BY SIR HUMPHRY DAVY, <span class="smcap">Bart.</span>,<br /> +<i>Late President of the Royal Society</i>.</p> +<p>CASSELL & COMPANY, <span class="smcap">limited</span>:<br /> +<i>LONDON, PARIS, NEW YORK & MELBOURNE</i>. 1889</p> +<h2><!-- page 5--><a name="page5"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 5</span>INTRODUCTION.</h2> +<p>Humphry Davy was born at Penzance, in Cornwall, on the 17th of December, +1778, and died at Geneva on the 29th of May, 1829, at the age of fifty. +He was a philosopher who turned knowledge to wisdom; he was one of the +foremost of our English men of science; and this book, written when +he was dying, which makes Reason the companion of Faith, shows how he +passed through the light of earth into the light of heaven.</p> +<p>His father had a small patrimony at Varfell, in Ludgvan. His +mother had lost in early childhood both her parents within a few hours +of each other, and had been adopted by John Tonkin, an eminent surgeon +in Penzance, to whom, therefore, so to speak, Humphry Davy became grandson +by adoption. There were five such grandchildren—Humphry, +the elder of two boys, the other boy being named John, and three girls.</p> +<p>At a preparatory school and at the Penzance Grammar School Humphry +Davy was a noticeable boy. He read eagerly and showed great quickness +of imagination, delighted in legends, when eight years old told stories +to his companions, and as a boy wrote verse. There was a Quaker +saddler who made for himself an electrical machine and mechanical models, +in which young Davy took keen interest, and from that saddler, Robert +Dunkin, came the first impulse towards experiments in science. +At fifteen Davy was placed for further education at a school in Truro. +A year later his father died, and John Tonkin apprenticed him, on the +10th of February, 1795, to Dr. Borlase, a surgeon in large practice +at Penzance. Medical practitioners in those days dispensed their +own medicines, and the inquiring mind of this young apprentice being +let loose upon a store-room of chemicals, experimental chemistry became +his favourite pursuit. His grandfather, by adoption, allowed him +to fit up a garret as a laboratory, notwithstanding <!-- page 6--><a name="page6"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 6</span>the +fears of the household that “This boy, Humphry, will blow us all +into the air.”</p> +<p>Activity and originality of mind, with a persistent habit of inquiry +and experiment, brought Davy friends who could appreciate and help him. +When Dr. Beddoes, of Bristol, was examining the Cornish coast, in 1798, +he came upon young Humphry Davy, was told of researches made by him, +and urged to engage him as laboratory assistant in a Pneumatic Institution +that he was then establishing in Bristol. Davy went in October, +1798, then in his twentieth year; but his good friend, and grandfather +by adoption, had set his heart upon Humphry’s becoming an eminent +burgeon, and even altered his will when his boy yielded to the temptation +of a laboratory for research. Men also know something of the trouble +of the hen who has a chance duckling in her brood, and sees that contumacious +chicken run into the water deaf to all the warnings of her love.</p> +<p>At Bristol Humphry Davy came into companionship with Coleridge and +Southey, who were then also at the outset of their career, and there +are poems of his in the Poetical Anthology then published by Southey. +But at the same time Davy contributed papers on “Heat, Light, +and the Combinations of Light,” on “Phos-Oxygen and its +Combinations,” and on “The Theory of Respiration,” +to a volume of West Country Collections, that filled more than half +the volume. He was experimenting then on gases and on galvanism, +and one day by experiment upon himself, in the breathing of carburetted +hydrogen, he almost put an end to his life.</p> +<p>In 1799 Count Rumford was founding the Royal Institution, and its +home in Albemarle Street was then bought for it. The first lecturer +appointed was in bad health, and in 1801 he was obliged to resign. +Young Davy was now known to men of science for the number and freshness +of his experiments, and for the substantial value of his chemical discoveries. +It was resolved by the managers, in July, 1801, that Humphry Davy be +appointed Assistant-Lecturer in Chemistry, Director of the Chemical +Laboratory, and assistant-editor of the journals of the Royal Institution. +His first remuneration was a room in the house, coals and candles, and +£100 a year. Count Rumford held out the prospect of a professorship +with £300 a <!-- page 7--><a name="page7"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 7</span>year, +and the certainty of full support in the use of the laboratory for his +own private research. His age then was twenty-three. He +at once satisfied men of science and amused people of fashion. +His energy was unbounded; there was a fascination in his personal character +and manner. He was a genial and delightful lecturer, and his inventive +genius was continually finding something new. A first suggestion +of the process of photography was dropped incidentally among the records +of researches that attracted more attention. Davy had been little +more than a year at the Royal Institution when he was made its Professor +of Chemistry. After another year he was made a Fellow. Dr. +Paris, his biographer, says that “the enthusiastic admiration +which his lectures obtained is at this period scarcely to be imagined. +Men of the first rank and talent—the literary and the scientific, +the practical, the theoretical—blue-stockings and women of fashion, +the old and the young, all crowded—eagerly crowded—the lecture-room.” +At the beginning of the year 1805 his salary was raised to £400 +a year. In May of that year the Royal Society awarded to him the +Copley Medal. Within the next two years he was elected Secretary +of the Royal Society. Since 1800 he had been advancing knowledge +by experiments with galvanism. The Royal Institution raised a +special fund to place at his disposal a more powerful galvanic battery +than any that had been constructed. The fame of his discoveries +spread over Europe.</p> +<p>The Institute of France gave Davy the Napoleon Prize of three thousand +francs for the best experiments in galvanism. Dublin, in 1810, +paid Davy four hundred guineas for some lectures upon his discoveries. +The Farming Society of Ireland gave him £750 for six lectures +on chemistry applied to agriculture. In the following year he +received more than a thousand pounds for two courses of lectures at +Dublin, and was sent home with the honorary degree of LL.D. In +April, 1812, he was knighted, resigned his professorship at the Royal +Institution, and “in order more strongly to mark the high sense +of his merits” he was elected Honorary Professor of Chemistry. +In the same month Davy married a young and rich widow, who had charmed +all Edinburgh by her beauty and her wit. Two months after marriage +Sir Humphry Davy dedicated to his wife his “Elements of <!-- page 8--><a name="page8"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 8</span>Chemical +Philosophy.” In March, 1813, he published his “Elements +of Agricultural Chemistry.” He travelled abroad, and was +received with honour by the chief men of science in all places that +he visited. When, at Pavia, he first met Volta: he found that +Volta had put on full-dress to receive him.</p> +<p>In August, 1815, Davy’s attention was drawn to the loss of +life by explosions of fire-damp, and by the end of the year he had devised +his safety-lamp. The coal owners subscribed £1,500 for a +testimonial, gave him also a dinner and a service of plate. In +October, 1818, he was made a baronet. In November, 1820, he was +elected President of the Royal Society.</p> +<p>His next researches were chiefly on electro-magnetism and the protection +of the copper sheathing on ships’ bottoms. At the end of +1826 his health failed seriously. He went to Italy; resigned, +in July, 1827, the Presidency of the Royal Society; came back to England, +longing for “the fresh air of the mountains;” wrote and +published his “Salmonia, or Days of Fly-fishing.” +In the spring of 1828 he left England again. He was at Rome in +the winter of 1829, still engaged in quiet research, and it was then +that he wrote his “Consolations in Travel; or, the Last Days of +a Philosopher.” His wife, who shone in London society, did +not go with him upon this last journey, but travelled day and night +to reach him when word came to her and to his brother John, who was +a physician, that he had again been struck with palsy and was dying. +That stroke of palsy followed immediately upon the finishing of the +book now in the reader’s hand. Davy lived to see again his +wife and brother, rallied enough to leave Rome with them, and had got +as far as Geneva on the 28th of May, 1829. He died in the next +night.</p> +<p>H. M.</p> +<h2><!-- page 9--><a name="page9"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 9</span>A +NOTE,</h2> +<p><i>Prefixed to the First Edition, by Sir Humphry Davy’s Brother</i>.</p> +<p>As is stated in the Preface which follows, this work was composed +during a period of bodily indisposition;—it was concluded at the +very moment of the invasion of the Author’s last illness. +Had his life been prolonged, it is probable that some additions and +some changes would have been made. The editor does not consider +himself warranted to do more than give to the world a faithful copy, +making only a few omissions and a few verbal alterations. The +characters of the persons of the dialogue were intended to be ideal, +at least in great part such they should be considered by the reader; +and, it is to be hoped, that the incidents introduced, as well as the +persons, will be viewed only as subordinate and subservient to the sentiments +and doctrines. The dedication, it may be specially noticed, is +the author’s own, and in the very words dictated by him, at a +time when he had lost the power of writing except with extreme difficulty, +owing to the paralytic attack, although he retained in a very remarkable +manner all his mental faculties unimpaired and unclouded.</p> +<p>JOHN DAVY.<br /> +<i>London</i>,<br /> +<i>January 6th</i>, 1830.</p> +<p><!-- page 11--><a name="page11"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 11</span>TO +THOMAS POOLE, ESQ. OF NETHER STOWEY<br /> +IN REMEMBRANCE OF<br /> +THIRTY YEARS OF CONTINUED AND FAITHFUL<br /> +FRIENDSHIP.</p> +<h2><!-- page 13--><a name="page13"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 13</span>AUTHOR’S +PREFACE.</h2> +<p>Salmonia was written during the time of a partial recovery from a +long and dangerous illness. The present work was composed immediately +after, under the same unfavourable and painful circumstances, and at +a period when the constitution of the Author suffered from new attacks. +He has derived some pleasure and some consolation, when most other sources +of consolation and pleasure were closed to him, from this exercise of +his mind; and he ventures to hope that these hours of sickness may be +not altogether unprofitable to persons in perfect health.</p> +<p><i>Rome</i>,<br /> +<i>February</i> 21, 1829.</p> +<h2><!-- page 15--><a name="page15"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 15</span>DIALOGUE +THE FIRST. THE VISION.</h2> +<p>I passed the autumn and the early winter of the years 18-- and 18-- +at Rome. The society was, as is usual in that metropolis of the +old Christian world, numerous and diversified. In it there were +found many intellectual foreigners and amongst them some distinguished +Britons, who had a higher object in making this city their residence +than mere idleness or vague curiosity. Amongst these my countrymen, +there were two gentlemen with whom I formed a particular intimacy and +who were my frequent companions in the visits which I made to the monuments +of the grandeur of the old Romans and to the masterpieces of ancient +and modern art. One of them I shall call Ambrosio: he was a man +of highly cultivated taste, great classical erudition, and minute historical +knowledge. In religion he was of the Roman Catholic persuasion; +but a Catholic of the most liberal school, who in another age might +have been secretary to Ganganelli. His views upon the subjects +of politics and religion were enlarged; but his leaning was rather to +the power of a single magistrate than to the authority of a democracy +or even of an <!-- page 16--><a name="page16"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 16</span>oligarchy. +The other friend, whom I shall call Onuphrio, was a man of a very different +character. Belonging to the English aristocracy, he had some of +the prejudices usually attached to birth and rank; but his manners were +gentle, his temper good, and his disposition amiable. Having been +partly educated at a northern university in Britain, he had adopted +views in religion which went even beyond toleration and which might +be regarded as entering the verge of scepticism. For a patrician +he was very liberal in his political views. His imagination was +poetical and discursive, his taste good and his tact extremely fine, +so exquisite, indeed, that it sometimes approached to morbid sensibility, +and disgusted him with slight defects and made him keenly sensible of +small perfections to which common minds would have been indifferent.</p> +<p>In the beginning of October on a very fine afternoon I drove with +these two friends to the Colosæum, a monument which, for the hundredth +time even, I had viewed with a new admiration; my friends partook of +my sentiments. I shall give the conversation which occurred there +in their own words. Onuphrio said, “How impressive are those +ruins!—what a character do they give us of the ancient Romans, +what magnificence of design, what grandeur of execution! Had we +not historical documents to inform us of the period when this structure +was raised and of the purposes for which it was designed, it might be +imagined the work of a race of giants, a Council Chamber for those Titans +fabled to have warred against the gods of the pagan mythology. +The size of the masses of travertine of which it is composed is in harmony +with the immense magnitude of the building. It is hardly to be +wondered <!-- page 17--><a name="page17"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 17</span>at +that a people which constructed such works for their daily sports, for +their usual amusements, should have possessed strength, enduring energy, +and perseverance sufficient to enable them to conquer the world. +They appear always to have formed their plans and made their combinations +as if their power were beyond the reach of chance, independent of the +influence of time, and founded for unlimited duration—for eternity!”</p> +<p>Ambrosio took up the discourse of Onuphrio, and said, “The +aspect of this wonderful heap of ruins is so picturesque that it is +impossible to regret its decay; and at this season of the year the colours +of the vegetation are in harmony with those of the falling ruins, and +how perfectly the whole landscape is in tone! The remains of the +palace of the Cæsars and of the golden halls of Nero appear in +the distance, their gray and tottering turrets and their moss-stained +arches reposing, as it were, upon the decaying vegetation: and there +is nothing that marks the existence of life except the few pious devotees, +who wander from station to station in the arena below, kneeling before +the cross, and demonstrating the triumph of a religion, which received +in this very spot in the early period of its existence one of its most +severe persecutions, and which, nevertheless, has preserved what remains +of that building, where attempts were made to stifle it almost at its +birth; for, without the influence of Christianity, these majestic ruins +would have been dispersed or levelled to the dust. Plundered of +their lead and iron by the barbarians, Goths, and Vandals, and robbed +even of their stones by Roman princes, the Barberini, they owe what +remains of their relics to the sanctifying influence of that faith which +has preserved for the world all <!-- page 18--><a name="page18"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 18</span>that +was worth preserving, not merely arts and literature but likewise that +which constitutes the progressive nature of intellect and the institutions +which afford to us happiness in this world and hopes of a blessed immortality +in the next. And, being of the faith of Rome, I may say, that +the preservation of this pile by the sanctifying effect of a few crosses +planted round it, is almost a miraculous event. And what a contrast +the present application of this building, connected with holy feelings +and exalted hopes, is to that of the ancient one, when it was used for +exhibiting to the Roman people the destruction of men by wild beasts, +or of men, more savage than wild beasts, by each other, to gratify a +horrible appetite for cruelty, founded upon a still more detestable +lust, that of universal domination! And who would have supposed, +in the time of Titus, that a faith, despised in its insignificant origin, +and persecuted from the supposed obscurity of its founder and its principles, +should have reared a dome to the memory of one of its humblest teachers, +more glorious than was ever framed for Jupiter or Apollo in the ancient +world, and have preserved even the ruins of the temples of the pagan +deities, and have burst forth in splendour and majesty, consecrating +truth amidst the shrines of error, employing the idols of the Roman +superstition for the most holy purposes and rising a bright and constant +light amidst the dark and starless night which followed the destruction +of the Roman empire!”</p> +<p>Onuphrio now resumed the discourse. He said, “I have +not the same exalted views on the subject which our friend Ambrosio +has so eloquently expressed. Some little of the perfect state +in which these ruins exist may <!-- page 19--><a name="page19"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 19</span>have +been owing to causes which he has described; but these causes have only +lately begun to operate, and the mischief was done before Christianity +was established at Rome. Feeling differently on these subjects, +I admire this venerable ruin rather as a record of the destruction of +the power of the greatest people that ever existed, than as a proof +of the triumph of Christianity; and I am carried forward in melancholy +anticipation to the period when even the magnificent dome of St. Peter’s +will be in a similar state to that in which the Colosæum now is, +and when its ruins may be preserved by the sanctifying influence of +some new and unknown faith; when, perhaps, the statue of Jupiter, which +at present receives the kiss of the devotee, as the image of St. Peter, +may be employed for another holy use, as the personification of a future +saint or divinity; and when the monuments of the papal magnificence +shall be mixed with the same dust as that which now covers the tombs +of the Cæsars. Such, I am sorry to say, is the general history +of all the works and institutions belonging to humanity. They +rise, flourish, and then decay and fall; and the period of their decline +is generally proportional to that of their elevation. In ancient +Thebes or Memphis the peculiar genius of the people has left us monuments +from which we can judge of their arts, though we cannot understand the +nature of their superstitions. Of Babylon and of Troy the remains +are almost extinct; and what we know of these famous cities is almost +entirely derived from literary records. Ancient Greece and Rome +we view in the few remains of their monuments; and the time will arrive +when modern Rome shall be what ancient Rome now is; and ancient Rome +and Athens <!-- page 20--><a name="page20"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 20</span>will +be what Tyre or Carthage now are, known only by coloured dust in the +desert, or coloured sand, containing the fragments of bricks or glass, +washed up by the wave of a stormy sea. I might pursue these thoughts +still further, and show that the wood of the cross, or the bronze of +the statue, decay as quickly as if they had not been sanctified; and +I think I could show that their influence is owing to the imagination, +which, when infinite time is considered, or the course of ages even, +is null and its effect imperceptible; and similar results occur, whether +the faith be that of Osiris, of Jupiter, of Jehovah, or of Jesus.”</p> +<p>To this Ambrosio replied, his countenance and the tones of his voice +expressing some emotion: “I do not think, Onuphrio, that you consider +this question with your usual sagacity or acuteness; indeed, I never +hear you on the subject of religion without pain and without a feeling +of regret that you have not applied your powerful understanding to a +more minute and correct examination of the evidences of revealed religion. +You would then, I think, have seen, in the origin, progress, elevation, +decline and fall of the empires of antiquity, proofs that they were +intended for a definite end in the scheme of human redemption; you would +have found prophecies which have been amply verified; and the foundation +or the ruin of a kingdom, which appears in civil history so great an +event, in the history of man, in his religious institutions, as comparatively +of small moment; you would have found the establishment of the worship +of one God amongst a despised and contemned people as the most important +circumstance in the history of the early world; you would have found +the Christian dispensation naturally arising out of the <!-- page 21--><a name="page21"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 21</span>Jewish, +and the doctrines of the pagan nations all preparatory to the triumph +and final establishment of a creed fitted for the most enlightened state +of the human mind and equally adapted to every climate and every people.”</p> +<p>To this animated appeal of Ambrosio, Onuphrio replied in the most +tranquil manner and with the air of an unmoved philosopher:—“You +mistake me, Ambrosio, if you consider me as hostile to Christianity. +I am not of the school of the French Encyclopædists, or of the +English infidels. I consider religion as essential to man, and +belonging to the human mind in the same manner as instincts belong to +the brute creation, a light, if you please of revelation to guide him +through the darkness of this life, and to keep alive his undying hope +of immortality: but pardon me if I consider this instinct as equally +useful in all its different forms, and still a divine light through +whatever medium or cloud of human passion or prejudice it passes. +I reverence it in the followers of Brahmah, in the disciple of Mahomet, +and I wonder at in all the variety of forms it adopts in the Christian +world. You must not be angry with me that I do not allow infallibility +to your Church, having been myself brought up by Protestant parents, +who were rigidly attached to the doctrines of Calvin.”</p> +<p>I saw Ambrosio’s countenance kindle at Onuphrio’s explanation +of his opinions, and he appeared to be meditating an angry reply. +I endeavoured to change the conversation to the state of the Colosæum, +with which it had begun. “These ruins,” I said, “as +you have both observed, are highly impressive; yet when I saw them six +years ago they had a stronger effect on my imagination; whether it was +the charm of novelty, <!-- page 22--><a name="page22"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 22</span>or +that my mind was fresher, or that the circumstances under which I saw +them were peculiar, I know not, but probably all these causes operated +in affecting my mind. It was a still and beautiful evening in +the end of May; the last sunbeams were dying away in the western sky +and the first moonbeams shining in the eastern; the bright orange tints +lighted up the ruins and as it were kindled the snows that still remained +on the distant Apennines, which were visible from the highest accessible +part of the amphitheatre. In this glow of colouring, the green +of advanced spring softened the grey and yellow tints of the decaying +stones, and as the lights gradually became fainter, the masses appeared +grander and more gigantic; and when the twilight had entirely disappeared, +the contrast of light and shade in the beams of the full moon and beneath +a sky of the brightest sapphire, but so highly illuminated that only +Jupiter and a few stars of the first magnitude were visible, gave a +solemnity and magnificence to the scene which awakened the highest degree +of that emotion which is so properly termed the sublime. The beauty +and the permanency of the heavens and the principle of conservation +belonging to the system of the universe, the works of the Eternal and +Divine Architect, were finely opposed to the perishing and degraded +works of man in his most active and powerful state. And at this +moment so humble appeared to me the condition of the most exalted beings +belonging to the earth, so feeble their combinations, so minute the +point of space, and so limited the period of time in which they act, +that I could hardly avoid comparing the generations of man, and the +effects of his genius and power, to the swarms <!-- page 23--><a name="page23"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 23</span>of +luceoli or fire-flies which were dancing around me and that appeared +flitting and sparkling amidst the gloom and darkness of the ruins, but +which were no longer visible when they rose above the horizon, their +feeble light being lost and utterly obscured in the brightness of the +moonbeams in the heavens.”</p> +<p>Onuphrio said: “I am not sorry that you have changed the conversation. +You have given us the history of a most interesting recollection and +well expressed a solemn though humiliating feeling. In such moments +and among such scenes it is impossible not to be struck with the nothingness +of human glory and the transiency of human works. This, one of +the greatest monuments on the face of the earth, was raised by a people, +then its masters, only seventeen centuries ago; in a few ages more it +will be but as dust, and of all the testimonials of the vanity or power +of man, whether raised to immortalise his name, or to contain his decaying +bones without a name, no one is known to have a duration beyond what +is measured by the existence of a hundred generations; and it is only +to multiply centuple for instance the period of time, and the memorials +of a village and the monuments of a country churchyard may be compared +with those of an empire and the remains of the world.”</p> +<p>Ambrosio, to whom the conversation seemed disagreeable, put us in +mind of an engagement we had made to spend the evening at the conversazione +of a celebrated lady, and proposed to call the carriage. The reflections +which the conversation and the scene had left in my mind little disposed +me for general society. I requested them to keep their engagement, +and said I was resolved to spend an hour amidst the <!-- page 24--><a name="page24"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 24</span>solitude +of the ruins, and desired them to send back the carriage for me. +They left me, expressing a hope that my poetical or melancholy fancy +might not be the occasion of a cold, and wished me the company of some +of the spectres of the ancient Romans.</p> +<p>When I was left alone, I seated myself in the moonshine, on one of +the steps leading to the seats supposed to have been occupied by the +patricians in the Colosæum at the time of the public games. +The train of ideas in which I had indulged before my friends left me +continued to flow with a vividness and force increased by the stillness +and solitude of the scene; and the full moon has always a peculiar effect +on these moods of feeling in my mind, giving to them a wildness and +a kind of indefinite sensation, such as I suppose belong at all times +to the true poetical temperament. It must be so, I thought to +myself; no new city will rise again out of the double ruins of this; +no new empire will be founded upon these colossal remains of that of +the old Romans. The world, like the individual, flourishes in +youth, rises to strength in manhood, falls into decay in age; and the +ruins of an empire are like the decrepit frame of an individual, except +that they have some tints of beauty which nature bestows upon them. +The sun of civilisation arose in the East, advanced towards the West, +and is now at its meridian; in a few centuries more it will probably +be seen sinking below the horizon even in the new world, and there will +be left darkness only where there is a bright light, deserts of sand +where there were populous cities, and stagnant morasses where the green +meadow or the bright cornfield once appeared. I called up images +of this kind <!-- page 25--><a name="page25"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 25</span>in +my imagination. “Time,” I said, “which purifies, +and as it were sanctifies the mind, destroys and brings into utter decay +the body; and, even in nature, its influence seems always degrading. +She is represented by the poets as eternal in her youth, but amongst +these ruins she appears to me eternal in her age, and here no traces +of renovation appear in the ancient of days.” I had scarcely +concluded this ideal sentence when my reverie became deeper, the ruins +surrounding me appeared to vanish from my sight, the light of the moon +became more intense, and the orb itself seemed to expand in a flood +of splendour. At the same time that my visual organs appeared +so singularly affected, the most melodious sounds filled my ear, softer +yet at the same time deeper and fuller than I had ever heard in the +most harmonious and perfect concert. It appeared to me that I +had entered a new state of existence, and I was so perfectly lost in +the new kind of sensation which I experienced that I had no recollections +and no perceptions of identity. On a sudden the music ceased, +but the brilliant light still continued to surround me, and I heard +a low but extremely distinct and sweet voice, which appeared to issue +from the centre of it. The sounds were at first musical like those +of a harp, but they soon became articulate, as if a prelude to some +piece of sublime poetical composition. “You, like all your +brethren,” said the voice, “are entirely ignorant of every +thing belonging to yourselves, the world you inhabit, your future destinies, +and the scheme of the universe; and yet you have the folly to believe +you are acquainted with the past, the present, and the future. +I am an intelligence somewhat superior to you, though there are <!-- page 26--><a name="page26"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 26</span>millions +of beings as much above me in power and in intellect as man is above +the meanest and weakest reptile that crawls beneath his feet; yet something +I can teach you: yield your mind wholly to the influence which I shall +exert upon it, and you shall be undeceived in your views of the history +of the world, and of the system you inhabit.” At this moment +the bright light disappeared, the sweet and harmonious voice, which +was the only proof of the presence of a superior intelligence, ceased; +I was in utter darkness and silence, and seemed to myself to be carried +rapidly upon a stream of air, without any other sensation than that +of moving quickly through space. Whilst I was still in motion, +a dim and hazy light, which seemed like that of twilight in a rainy +morning, broke upon my sight, and gradually a country displayed itself +to my view covered with forests and marshes. I saw wild animals +grazing in large savannahs, and carnivorous beasts, such as lions and +tigers, occasionally disturbing and destroying them; I saw naked savages +feeding upon wild fruits, or devouring shell-fish, or fighting with +clubs for the remains of a whale which had been thrown upon the shore. +I observed that they had no habitations, that they concealed themselves +in caves, or under the shelter of palm trees, and that the only delicious +food which nature seemed to have given to them was the date and the +cocoa-nut, and these were in very small quantities and the object of +contention. I saw that some few of these wretched human beings +that inhabited the wide waste before my eyes, had weapons pointed with +flint or fish-bone, which they made use of for destroying birds, quadrupeds, +or fishes, that they fed upon raw; but their greatest delicacy <!-- page 27--><a name="page27"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 27</span>appeared +to be a maggot or worm, which they sought for with great perseverance +in the buds of the palm. When I had cast my eyes on the varied +features of this melancholy scene, which was now lighted by a rising +sun, I heard again the same voice which had astonished me in the Colosæum, +and which said,—“See the birth of Time! Look at man +in his newly created state, full of youth and vigour. Do you see +aught in this state to admire or envy?” As the last words +fell on my ear, I was again, as before, rapidly put in motion, and I +seemed again resistless to be hurried upon a stream of air, and again +in perfect darkness. In a moment, an indistinct light again appeared +before my eyes and a country opened upon my view which appeared partly +wild and partly cultivated; there were fewer woods and morasses than +in the scene which I had just before seen; I beheld men who were covered +with the skins of animals, and who were driving cattle to enclosed pastures; +I saw others who were reaping and collecting corn, others who were making +it into bread; I saw cottages furnished with many of the conveniences +of life, and a people in that state of agricultural and pastoral improvement +which has been imagined by the poets as belonging to the golden age. +The same voice, which I shall call that of the Genius, said, “Look +at these groups of men who are escaped from the state of infancy: they +owe their improvement to a few superior minds still amongst them. +That aged man whom you see with a crowd around him taught them to build +cottages; from that other they learnt to domesticate cattle; from others +to collect and sow corn and seeds of fruit. And these arts will +never be lost; another generation will see them more perfect; the houses, +in a <!-- page 28--><a name="page28"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 28</span>century +more, will be larger and more convenient; the flocks of cattle more +numerous; the corn-fields more extensive; the morasses will be drained, +the number of fruit-trees increased. You shall be shown other +visions of the passages of time, but as you are carried along the stream +which flows from the period of creation to the present moment, I shall +only arrest your transit to make you observe some circumstances which +will demonstrate the truths I wish you to know, and which will explain +to you the little it is permitted me to understand of the scheme of +the universe.” I again found myself in darkness and in motion, +and I was again arrested by the opening of a new scene upon my eyes. +I shall describe this scene and the others in the succession in which +they appeared before me, and the observations by which they were accompanied +in the voice of the wonderful being who appeared as my intellectual +guide. In the scene which followed that of the agricultural or +pastoral people, I saw a great extent of cultivated plains, large cities +on the sea-shore, palaces—forums and temples ornamenting them; +men associated in groups, mounted on horses, and performing military +exercises; galleys moved by oars on the ocean; roads intersecting the +country covered with travellers and containing carriages moved by men +or horses. The Genius now said, “You see the early state +of civilisation of man; the cottages of the last race you beheld have +become improved into stately dwellings, palaces, and temples, in which +use is combined with ornament. The few men to whom, as I said +before, the foundations of these improvements were owing, have had divine +honours paid to their memory. But look at the <!-- page 29--><a name="page29"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 29</span>instruments +belonging to this generation, and you will find that they are only of +brass. You see men who are talking to crowds around them, and +others who are apparently amusing listening groups by a kind of song +or recitation; these are the earliest bards and orators; but all their +signs of thought are oral, for written language does not yet exist.” +The next scene which appeared was one of varied business and imagery. +I saw a man, who bore in his hands the same instruments as our modern +smiths, presenting a vase, which appeared to be made of iron, amidst +the acclamations of an assembled multitude engaged in triumphal procession +before the altars dignified by the name of Apollo at Delphi; and I saw +in the same place men who carried rolls of papyrus in their hands and +wrote upon them with reeds containing ink made from the soot of wood +mixed with a solution of glue. “See,” the Genius said, +“an immense change produced in the condition of society by the +two arts of which you here see the origin; the one, that of rendering +iron malleable, which is owing to a single individual, an obscure Greek; +the other, that of making thought permanent in written characters, an +art which has gradually arisen from the hieroglyphics which you may +observe on yonder pyramids. You will now see human life more replete +with power and activity.” Again, another scene broke upon +my vision. I saw the bronze instruments, which had belonged to +the former state of society, thrown away; malleable iron converted into +hard steel, this steel applied to a thousand purposes of civilised life; +I saw bands of men who made use of it for defensive armour and for offensive +weapons; I saw these iron-clad men, in small numbers <!-- page 30--><a name="page30"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 30</span>subduing +thousands of savages, and establishing amongst them their arts and institutions; +I saw a few men on the eastern shores of Europe, resisting, with the +same materials, the united forces of Asia; I saw a chosen band die in +defence of their country, destroyed by an army a thousand times as numerous; +and I saw this same army, in its turn, caused to disappear, and destroyed +or driven from the shores of Europe by the brethren of that band of +martyred patriots; I saw bodies of these men traversing the sea, founding +colonies, building cities, and wherever they established themselves, +carrying with them their peculiar arts. Towns and temples arose +containing schools, and libraries filled with the rolls of the papyrus. +The same steel, such a tremendous instrument of power in the hands of +the warrior, I saw applied, by the genius of the artist, to strike forms +even more perfect than those of life out of the rude marble; and I saw +the walls of the palaces and temples covered with pictures, in which +historical events were portrayed with the truth of nature and the poetry +of mind. The voice now awakened my attention by saying, “You +have now before you the vision of that state of society which is an +object of admiration to the youth of modern times, and the recollections +of which, and the precepts founded on these recollections, constitute +an important part of your education. Your maxims of war and policy, +your taste in letters and the arts, are derived from models left by +that people, or by their immediate imitators, whom you shall now see.” +I opened my eyes, and recognised the very spot in which I was sitting +when the vision commenced. I was on the top of an arcade under +a <!-- page 31--><a name="page31"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 31</span>silken +canopy, looking down upon the tens of thousands of people who were crowded +in the seats of the Colosæum, ornamented with all the spoils that +the wealth of a world can give; I saw in the arena below animals of +the most extraordinary kind, and which have rarely been seen living +in modern Europe—the giraffe, the zebra, the rhinoceros, and the +ostrich from the deserts of Africa beyond the Niger, the hippopotamus +from the Upper Nile, and the royal tiger and the gnu from the banks +of the Ganges. Looking over Rome, which, in its majesty of palaces +and temples, and in its colossal aqueducts bringing water even from +the snows of the distant Apennines, seemed more like the creation of +a supernatural power than the work of human hands; looking over Rome +to the distant landscape, I saw the whole face, as it were, of the ancient +world adorned with miniature images of this splendid metropolis. +Where the Roman conquered, there he civilised; where he carried his +arms, there he fixed likewise his household gods; and from the deserts +of Arabia to the mountains of Caledonia there appeared but one people, +having the same arts, language, and letters—all of Grecian origin. +I looked again, and saw an entire change in the brilliant aspect of +this Roman world—the people of conquerors and heroes was no longer +visible; the cities were filled with an idle and luxurious population; +those farms which had been cultivated by warriors, who left the plough +to take the command of armies, were now in the hands of slaves; and +the militia of freemen were supplanted by bands of mercenaries, who +sold the empire to the highest bidder. I saw immense masses of +warriors collecting in the north and east, carrying with them <!-- page 32--><a name="page32"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 32</span>no +other proofs of cultivation but their horses and steel arms; I saw these +savages everywhere attacking this mighty empire, plundering cities, +destroying the monuments of arts and literature, and, like wild beasts +devouring a noble animal, tearing into pieces and destroying the Roman +power. Ruin, desolation, and darkness were before me, and I closed +my eyes to avoid the melancholy scene. “See,” said +the Genius, “the melancholy termination of a power believed by +its founders invincible, and intended to be eternal. But you will +find, though the glory and greatness belonging to its military genius +have passed away, yet those belonging to the arts and institutions, +by which it adorned and dignified life, will again arise in another +state of society.” I opened my eyes again, and I saw Italy +recovering from her desolation—towns arising with governments +almost upon the model of ancient Athens and Rome, and these different +small states rivals in arts and arms; I saw the remains of libraries, +which had been preserved in monasteries and churches by a holy influence +which even the Goth and Vandal respected, again opened to the people; +I saw Rome rising from her ashes, the fragments of statues found amidst +the ruins of her palaces and imperial villas becoming the models for +the regeneration of art; I saw magnificent temples raised in this city +become the metropolis of a new and Christian world, and ornamented with +the most brilliant masterpieces of the arts of design; I saw a Tuscan +city, as it were, contending with Rome for pre-eminence in the productions +of genius, and the spirit awakened in Italy spreading its influence +from the South to the North. “Now,” the Genius said, +“society has taken its modern and <!-- page 33--><a name="page33"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 33</span>permanent +aspect. Consider for a moment its relations to letters and to +arms as contrasted with those of the ancient world.” I looked, +and saw, that in the place of the rolls of papyrus, libraries were now +filled with books. “Behold,” the Genius said, “the +printing-press; by the invention of Faust the productions of genius +are, as it were, made imperishable, capable of indefinite multiplication, +and rendered an unalienable heritage of the human mind. By this +art, apparently so humble, the progress of society is secured, and man +is spared the humiliation of witnessing again scenes like those which +followed the destruction of the Roman Empire. Now look to the +warriors of modern times; you see the spear, the javelin, the shield, +and the cuirass are changed for the musket and the light artillery. +The German monk who discovered gunpowder did not meanly affect the destinies +of mankind; wars are become less bloody by becoming less personal; mere +brutal strength is rendered of comparatively little avail; all the resources +of civilisation are required to maintain and move a large army; wealth, +ingenuity, and perseverance become the principal elements of success; +civilised man is rendered in consequence infinitely superior to the +savage, and gunpowder gives permanence to his triumph, and secures the +cultivated nations from ever being again overrun by the inroads of millions +of barbarians. There is so much identity of feature in the character +of the two or three centuries that are just passed, that I wish you +only to take a very transient view of the political and military events +belonging to them. You will find attempts made by the chiefs of +certain great nations to acquire predominance and empire; you will <!-- page 34--><a name="page34"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 34</span>see +those attempts, after being partially successful, resisted by other +nations, and the balance of power, apparently for a moment broken, again +restored. Amongst the rival nations that may be considered as +forming the republic of modern Europe, you will see one pre-eminent +for her maritime strength and colonial and commercial enterprise, and +you will find she retains her superiority only because it is favourable +to the liberty of mankind. But you must not yet suffer the vision +of modern Europe to pass from your eyes without viewing some other results +of the efforts of men of genius, which, like those of gunpowder and +the press, illustrate the times to which they belong, and form brilliant +epochs in the history of the world. If you look back into the +schools of regenerated Italy, you will see in them the works of the +Greek masters of philosophy; and if you attend to the science taught +in them, you will find it vague, obscure, and full of erroneous notions. +You will find in this early period of improvement branches of philosophy +even applied to purposes of delusion; the most sublime of the departments +of human knowledge—astronomy—abused by impostors, who from +the aspect of the planetary world pretended to predict the fortunes +and destinies of individuals. You will see in the laboratories +alchemists searching for a universal medicine, an elixir of life, and +for the philosopher’s stone, or a method of converting all metals +into gold; but unexpected and useful discoveries you will find, even +in this age, arise amidst the clouds of deception and the smoke of the +furnace. Delusion and error vanish and pass away, and truths seized +upon by a few superior men become permanent, and the property of an +enlightening world. <!-- page 35--><a name="page35"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 35</span>Amongst +the personages who belong to this early period, there are two whom I +must request you to notice—one an Englishman, who pointed out +the paths to the discovery of scientific truths, and the other a Tuscan, +who afforded the happiest experimental illustrations of the speculative +views of his brother in science. You will see academies formed +a century later in Italy, France, and Britain, in which the sciences +are enlarged by new and varied experiments, and the true system of the +universe developed by an illustrious Englishman taught and explained. +The practical results of the progress of physics, chemistry, and mechanics, +are of the most marvellous kind, and to make them all distinct would +require a comparison of ancient and modern states: ships that were moved +by human labour in the ancient world are transported by the winds; and +a piece of steel, touched by the magnet, points to the mariner his unerring +course from the old to the new world; and by the exertions of one man +of genius, aided by the resources of chemistry, a power, which by the +old philosophers could hardly have been imagined, has been generated +and applied to almost all the machinery of active life; the steam-engine +performs not only the labour of horses, but of man, by combinations +which appear almost possessed of intelligence; waggons are moved by +it, constructions made, vessels caused to perform voyages in opposition +to wind and tide, and a power placed in human hands which seems almost +unlimited. To these novel and still extending improvements may +be added others, whish, though of a secondary kind, yet materially affect +the comforts of life, the collecting from fossil materials the elements +of combustion, and applying them so as to illuminate, by <!-- page 36--><a name="page36"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 36</span>a +single operation, houses, streets, and even cities. If you look +to the results of chemical arts you will find new substances of the +most extraordinary nature applied to various novel purposes; you will +find a few experiments in electricity leading to the marvellous result +of disarming the thunder-cloud of its terrors, and you will see new +instruments created by human ingenuity, possessing the same powers as +the electrical organs of living animals. To whatever part of the +vision of modern times you cast your eyes you will find marks of superiority +and improvement, and I wish to impress upon you the conviction that +the results of intellectual labour or of scientific genius are permanent +and incapable of being lost. Monarchs change their plans, governments +their objects, a fleet or an army effect their purpose and then pass +away; but a piece of steel toached by the magnet preserves its character +for ever, and secures to man the dominion of the trackless ocean. +A new period of society may send armies from the shores of the Baltic +to those of the Euxine, and the empire of the followers of Mahomet may +be broken in pieces by a northern people, and the dominion of the Britons +in Asia may share the fate of that of Tamerlane or Zengiskhan; but the +steam-boat which ascends the Delaware or the St. Lawrence will be continued +to be used, and will carry the civilisation of an improved people into +the deserts of North America and into the wilds of Canada. In +the common history of the world, as compiled by authors in general, +almost all the great changes of nations are confounded with changes +in their dynasties, and events are usually referred either to sovereigns, +chiefs, heroes, or their armies, which do, in fact, originate from entirely +different <!-- page 37--><a name="page37"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 37</span>causes, +either of an intellectual or moral nature. Governments depend +far more than is generally supposed upon the opinion of the people and +the spirit of the age and nation. It sometimes happens that a +gigantic mind possesses supreme power and rises superior to the age +in which he is born, such was Alfred in England and Peter in Russia, +but such instances are very rare; and, in general, it is neither amongst +sovereigns nor the higher classes of society that the great improvers +or benefactors of mankind are to be found. The works of the most +illustrious names were little valued at the times when they were produced, +and their authors either despised or neglected; and great, indeed, must +have been the pure and abstract pleasure resulting from the exertion +of intellectual superiority and the discovery of truth and the bestowing +benefits and blessings upon society, which induced men to sacrifice +all their common enjoyments and all their privileges as citizens to +these exertions. Anaxagoras, Archimedes, Roger Bacon, Galileo +Galilei, in their deaths or their imprisonments, offer instances of +this kind, and nothing can be more striking than what appears to have +been the ingratitude of men towards their greatest benefactors; but +hereafter, when you understand more of the scheme of the universe, you +will see the cause and the effect of this, and you will find the whole +system governed by principles of immutable justice. I have said +that in the progress of society all great and real improvements are +perpetuated; the same corn which four thousand years ago was raised +from an improved grass by an inventor worshipped for two thousand years +in the ancient world under the name of Ceres, still forms the principal +food <!-- page 38--><a name="page38"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 38</span>of +mankind; and the potato, perhaps the greatest benefit that the Old has +derived from the New World, is spreading over Europe, and will continue +to nourish an extensive population when the name of the race by whom +it was first cultivated in South America is forgotten.</p> +<p>“I will now call your attention to some remarkable laws belonging +to the history of society, and from the consideration of which you will +be able gradually to develop the higher and more exalted principles +of being. There appears nothing more accidental than the sex of +an infant, yet take any great city or any province and you will find +that the relations of males and females are unalterable. Again, +a part of the pure air of the atmosphere is continually consumed in +combustion and respiration; living vegetables emit this principle during +their growth; nothing appears more accidental than the proportion of +vegetable to animal life on the surface of the earth, yet they are perfectly +equivalent, and the balance of the sexes, like the constitution of the +atmosphere, depends upon the principles of an unerring intelligence. +You saw in the decline of the Roman empire a people enfeebled by luxury, +worn out by excess, overrun by rude warriors; you saw the giants of +the North and East mixing with the pigmies of the South and West. +An empire was destroyed, but the seeds of moral and physical improvement +in the new race were sown; the new population resulting from the alliances +of the men of the North with the women, of the South was more vigorous, +more full of physical power, and more capable of intellectual exertion +than their apparently ill-suited progenitors; and the moral effects +or final causes of the migration of races, the plans of conquest and +ambition which have led to <!-- page 39--><a name="page39"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 39</span>revolutions +and changes of kingdoms designed by man for such different objects have +been the same in their ultimate results—that of improving by mixture +the different families of men. An Alaric or an Attila, who marches +with legions of barbarians for some gross view of plunder or ambition, +is an instrument of divine power to effect a purpose of which he is +wholly unconscious—he is carrying a strong race to improve a weak +one, and giving energy to a debilitated population; and the deserts +he makes in his passage will become in another age cultivated fields, +and the solitude he produces will be succeeded by a powerful and healthy +population. The results of these events in the moral and political +world may be compared to those produced in the vegetable kingdom by +the storms and heavy gales so usual at the vernal equinox, the time +of the formation of the seed; the pollen or farina of one flower is +thrown upon the pistil of another, and the crossing of varieties of +plants so essential to the perfection of the vegetable world produced. +In man moral causes and physical ones modify each other; the transmission +of hereditary qualities to offspring is distinct in the animal world, +and in the case of disposition to disease it is sufficiently obvious +in the human being. But it is likewise a general principle that +powers or habits acquired by cultivation are transmitted to the next +generation and exalted or perpetuated; the history of particular races +of men affords distinct proofs of this. The Caucasian stock has +always preserved its superiority, whilst the negro or flat-nosed race +has always been marked for want of intellectual power and capacity for +the arts of life. This last race, in fact, has never been cultivated, +and a hundred generations, <!-- page 40--><a name="page40"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 40</span>successively +improved, would be required to bring it to the state in which the Caucasian +race was at the time of the formation of the Greek republics. +The principle of the improvement of the character of races by the transmission +of hereditary qualities has not escaped the observations of the legislators +of the ancient people. By the divine law of Moses the Israelites +were enjoined to preserve the purity of their blood, and there was no +higher crime than that of forming alliances with the idolatrous nations +surrounding them. The Brahmins of Hindostan have established upon +the same principle the law of caste, by which certain professions were +made hereditary. In this warm climate, where labour is so oppressive, +to secure perfection in any series of operations it seems essential +to strengthen the powers by the forces acquired from this principle +of hereditary descent. It will at first perhaps strike your mind +that the mixing or blending of races is in direct opposition to this +principle of perfection; but here I must require you to pause and consider +the nature of the qualities belonging to the human being. Excess +of a particular power, which in itself is a perfection, becomes a defect; +the organs of touch may be so refined as to show a diseased sensibility; +the ear may become so exquisitely sensitive as to be more susceptible +to the uneasiness produced by discords than to the pleasures of harmony. +In the nations which have been long civilised the defects are generally +those dependent on excess of sensibility—defects which are cured +in the next generation by the strength and power belonging to a ruder +tribe. In looking back upon the vision of ancient history, you +will find that there never has been an instance of a migration to any +<!-- page 41--><a name="page41"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 41</span>extent +of any race but the Caucasian, and they have usually passed from the +North to the South. The negro race has always been driven before +these conquerors of the world; and the red men, the aborigines of America, +are constantly diminishing in number, and it is probable that in a few +centuries more their pure blood will be entirely extinct. In the +population of the world, the great object is evidently to produce organised +frames most capable of the happy and intellectual enjoyment of life—to +raise man above the mere animal state. To perpetuate the advantages +of civilisation, the races most capable of these advantages are preserved +and extended, and no considerable improvement made by an individual +is ever lost to society. You see living forms perpetuated in the +series of ages, and apparently the quantity of life increased. +In comparing the population of the globe as it now is with what it was +centuries ago, you would find it considerably greater; and if the quantity +of life is increased, the quantity of happiness, particularly that resulting +from the exercise of intellectual power, is increased in a still higher +ratio. Now, you will say, ‘Is mind generated, is spiritual +power created; or are those results dependent upon the organisation +of matter, upon new perfections given to the machinery upon which thought +and motion depend?’ I proclaim to you,” said the Genius, +raising his voice from its low and sweet tone to one of ineffable majesty, +“neither of these opinions is true. Listen, whilst I reveal +to you the mysteries of spiritual natures, but I almost fear that with +the mortal veil of your senses surrounding you, these mysteries can +never be made perfectly intelligible to your mind. Spiritual natures +are eternal and <!-- page 42--><a name="page42"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 42</span>indivisible, +but their modes of being are as infinitely varied as the forms of matter. +They have no relation to space, and, in their transitions, no dependence +upon time, so that they can pass from one part of the universe to another +by laws entirely independent of their motion. The quantity, or +the number of spiritual essences, like the quantity or number of the +atoms of the material world, are always the same; but their arrangements, +like those of the materials which they are destined to guide or govern, +are infinitely diversified; they are, in fact, parts more or less inferior +of the infinite mind, and in the planetary systems, to one of which +this globe you inhabit belongs, are in a state of probation, continually +aiming at, and generally rising to a higher state of existence. +Were it permitted me to extend your vision to the fates of individual +existences, I could show you the same spirit, which in the form of Socrates +developed the foundations of moral and social virtue, in the Czar Peter +possessed of supreme power and enjoying exalted felicity in improving +a rude people. I could show you the monad or spirit, which with +the organs of Newton displayed an intelligence almost above humanity, +now in a higher and better state of planetary existence drinking intellectual +light from a purer source and approaching nearer to the infinite and +divine Mind. But prepare your mind, and you shall at least catch +a glimpse of those states which the highest intellectual beings that +have belonged to the earth enjoy after death in their transition to +now and more exalted natures.” The voice ceased, and I appeared +in a dark, deep, and cold cave, of which the walls of the Colosæum +formed the boundary. From above a bright and rosy light broke +into this cave, so <!-- page 43--><a name="page43"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 43</span>that +whilst below all was dark, above all was bright and illuminated with +glory. I seemed possessed at this moment of a new sense, and felt +that the light brought with it a genial warmth; odours like those of +the most balmy flowers appeared to fill the air, and the sweetest sounds +of music absorbed my sense of hearing; my limbs had a new lightness +given to them, so that I seemed to rise from the earth, and gradually +mounted into the bright luminous air, leaving behind me the dark and +cold cavern, and the ruins with which it was strewed. Language +is inadequate to describe what I felt in rising continually upwards +through this bright and luminous atmosphere. I had not, as is +generally the case with persons in dreams of this kind, imagined to +myself wings; but I rose gradually and securely as if I were myself +a part of the ascending column of light. By degrees this luminous +atmosphere, which was diffused over the whole of space, became more +circumscribed, and extended only to a limited spot around me. +I saw through it the bright blue sky, the moon and stars, and I passed +by them as if it were in my power to touch them with my hand. +I beheld Jupiter and Saturn as they appear through our best telescopes, +but still more magnified, all the moons and belts of Jupiter being perfectly +distinct, and the double ring of Saturn appearing in that state in which +I have heard Herschel often express a wish he could see it. It +seemed as if I was on the verge of the solar system, and my moving sphere +of light now appeared to pause. I again heard the low and sweet +voice of the Genius, which said, “You are now on the verge of +your own system: will you go further, or return to the earth?” +I replied, “I have left an abode which is damp, dreary, <!-- page 44--><a name="page44"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 44</span>dark +and cold; I am now in a place where all is life, light, and enjoyment; +show me, at least before I return, the glimpse which you promised me +of those superior intellectual natures and the modes of their being +and their enjoyments.” “There are creatures far superior,” +said the Genius, “to any idea your imagination can form in that +part of the system now before you, comprehending Saturn, his moons and +rings. I will carry you to the verge of the immense atmosphere +of this planet. In that space you will see sufficient to wonder +at, and far more than with your present organisation it would be possible +for me to make you understand.” I was again in motion, and +again almost as suddenly at rest. I saw below me a surface infinitely +diversified, something like that of an immense glacier covered with +large columnar masses, which appeared as if formed of glass, and from +which were suspended rounded forms of various sizes, which, if they +had not been transparent, I might have supposed to be fruit. From +what appeared to me to be analogous to masses of bright blue ice, streams +of the richest tint of rose-colour or purple burst forth and flowed +into basins, forming lakes or seas of the same colour. Looking +through the atmosphere towards the heavens, I saw brilliant opaque clouds +of an azure colour that reflected the light of the sun, which had to +my eyes an entirely new aspect, and appeared smaller, as if seen through +a dense blue mist. I saw moving on the surface below me immense +masses, the forms of which I find it impossible to describe; they had +systems for locomotion similar to those of the morse or sea-horse, but +I saw with great surprise that they moved from place to place by six +extremely thin membranes, which they used as wings. Their colours +<!-- page 45--><a name="page45"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 45</span>were +varied and beautiful, but principally azure and rose-colour. I +saw numerous convolutions of tubes, more analogous to the trunk of the +elephant than to anything else I can imagine, occupying what I supposed +to be the upper parts of the body, and my feeling of astonishment almost +became one of disgust, from the peculiar character of the organs of +these singular beings; and it was with a species of terror that I saw +one of them mounting upwards, apparently flying towards those opaque +clouds which I have before mentioned. “I know what your +feelings are,” said the Genius; “you want analogies and +all the elements of knowledge to comprehend the scene before you. +You are in the same state in which a fly would be whose microscopic +eye was changed for one similar to that of man; and you are wholly unable +to associate what you now see with your former knowledge. But +those beings who are before you, and who appear to you almost as imperfect +in their functions as the zoophytes of the Polar Sea, to which they +are not unlike in their apparent organisation to your eyes, have a sphere +of sensibility and intellectual enjoyment far superior to that of the +inhabitants of your earth. Each of those tubes which appears like +the trunk of an elephant is an organ of peculiar motion or sensation. +They have many modes of perception of which you are wholly ignorant, +at the same time that their sphere of vision is infinitely more extended +than yours, and their organs of touch far more perfect and exquisite. +It would be useless for me to attempt to explain their organisation, +which you could never understand; but of their intellectual objects +of pursuit I may perhaps give you some notion. They have used, +<!-- page 46--><a name="page46"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 46</span>modified, +and applied the material world in a manner analogous to man; but with +far superior powers they have gained superior results. Their atmosphere +being much denser than yours and the specific gravity of their planet +less, they have been enabled to determine the laws belonging to the +solar system with far more accuracy than you can possibly conceive, +and any one of those beings could show you what is now the situation +and appearance of your moon with a precision that would induce you to +believe that he saw it, though his knowledge is merely the result of +calculation. Their sources of pleasure are of the highest intellectual +nature; with the magnificent spectacle of their own rings and moons +revolving round them, with the various combinations required to understand +and predict the relations of these wonderful phenomena their minds are +in unceasing activity and this activity is a perpetual source of enjoyment. +Your view of the solar system is bounded by Uranus, and the laws of +this planet form the ultimatum of your mathematical results; but these +beings catch a sight of planets belonging to another system and even +reason on the phenomena presented by another sun. Those comets, +of which your astronomical history is so imperfect, are to them perfectly +familiar, and in their ephemerides their places are shown with as much +accurateness as those of Jupiter or Venus in your almanacks; the parallax +of the fixed stars nearest them is as well understood as that of their +own sun, and they possess a magnificent history of the changes taking +place in the heavens and which are governed by laws that it would be +vain for me to attempt to give you an idea of. They are acquainted +with the revolutions and <!-- page 47--><a name="page47"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 47</span>uses +of comets; they understand the system of those meteoric formations of +stones which have so much astonished you on earth; and they have histories +in which the gradual changes of nebulas in their progress towards systems +have been registered, so that they can predict their future changes. +And their astronomical records are not like yours which go back only +twenty centuries to the time of Hipparchus; they embrace a period a +hundred times as long, and their civil history for the same time is +as correct as their astronomical one. As I cannot describe to +you the organs of these wonderful beings, so neither can I show to you +their modes of life; but as their highest pleasures depend upon intellectual +pursuits, so you may conclude that those modes of life bear the strictest +analogy to that which on the earth you would call exalted virtue. +I will tell you however that they have no wars, and that the objects +of their ambition are entirely those of intellectual greatness, and +that the only passion that they feel in which comparisons with each +other can be instituted are those dependent upon a love of glory of +the purest kind. If I were to show you the different parts of +the surface of this planet, you would see marvellous results of the +powers possessed by these highly intellectual beings and of the wonderful +manner in which they have applied and modified matter. Those columnar +masses, which seem to you as if arising out of a mass of ice below, +are results of art, and processes are going on in them connected with +the formation and perfection of their food. The brilliant coloured +fluids are the results of such operations as on the earth would be performed +in your laboratories, or more properly in your refined <!-- page 48--><a name="page48"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 48</span>culinary +apparatus, for they are connected with their system of nourishment. +Those opaque azure clouds, to which you saw a few minutes ago one of +those beings directing his course, are works of art and places in which +they move through different regions of their atmosphere and command +the temperature and the quantity of light most fitted for their philosophical +researches, or most convenient for the purposes of life. On the +verge of the visible horizon which we perceive around us, you may see +in the east a very dark spot or shadow, in which the light of the sun +seems entirely absorbed; this is the border of an immense mass of liquid +analogous to your ocean, but unlike your sea it is inhabited by a race +of intellectual beings inferior indeed to those belonging to the atmosphere +of Saturn, but yet possessed of an extensive range of sensations and +endowed with extraordinary power and intelligence. I could transport +you to the different planets and show you in each peculiar intellectual +beings bearing analogies to each other, but yet all different in power +and essence. In Jupiter you would see creatures similar to those +in Saturn, but with different powers of locomotion; in Mars and Venus +you would find races of created forms more analogous to those belonging +to the earth; but in every part of the planetary system you would find +one character peculiar to all intelligent natures, a sense of receiving +impressions from light by various organs of vision, and towards this +result you cannot but perceive that all the arrangements and motions +of the planetary bodies, their satellites and atmospheres are subservient. +The spiritual natures therefore that pass from system to system in progression +towards power and knowledge <!-- page 49--><a name="page49"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 49</span>preserve +at least this one invariable character, and their intellectual life +may be said to depend more or less upon the influence of light. +As far as my knowledge extends, even in other parts of the universe +the more perfect organised systems still possess this source of sensation +and enjoyment; but with higher natures, finer and more ethereal kinds +of matter are employed in organisation, substances that bear the same +analogy to common matter that the refined or most subtle gases do to +common solids and fluids. The universe is everywhere full of life, +but the modes of this life are infinitely diversified, and yet every +form of it must be enjoyed and known by every spiritual nature before +the consummation of all things. You have seen the comet moving +with its immense train of light through the sky; this likewise has a +system supplied with living beings and their existence derives its enjoyment +from the diversity of circumstances to which they are exposed; passing +as it were through the infinity of space they are continually gratified +by the sight of new systems and worlds, and you can imagine the unbounded +nature of the circle of their knowledge. My power extends so far +as to afford you a glimpse of the nature of a cometary world.” +I was again in rapid motion, again passing with the utmost velocity +through the bright blue sky, and I saw Jupiter and his satellites and +Saturn and his ring behind me, and before me the sun, no longer appearing +as through a blue mist but in bright and unsupportable splendour, towards +which I seemed moving with the utmost velocity; in a limited sphere +of vision, in a kind of red hazy light similar to that which first broke +in upon me in the Colosæum, I saw <!-- page 50--><a name="page50"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 50</span>moving +round me globes which appeared composed of different kinds of flame +and of different colours. In some of these globes I recognised +figures which put me in mind of the human countenance, but the resemblance +was so awful and unnatural that I endeavoured to withdraw my view from +them. “You are now,” said the Genius, “in a +cometary system; those globes of light surrounding you are material +forms, such as in one of your systems of religious faith have been attributed +to seraphs; they live in that element which to you would be destruction; +they communicate by powers which would convert your organised frame +into ashes; they are now in the height of their enjoyment, being about +to enter into the blaze of the solar atmosphere. These beings +so grand, so glorious, with functions to you incomprehensible, once +belonged to the earth; their spiritual natures have risen through different +stages of planetary life, leaving their dust behind them, carrying with +them only their intellectual power. You ask me if they have any +knowledge or reminiscence of their transitions; tell me of your own +recollections in the womb of your mother and I will answer you. +It is the law of divine wisdom that no spirit carries with it into another +state and being any habit or mental qualities except those which may +be connected with its new wants or enjoyments; and knowledge relating +to the earth would be no more useful to these glorified beings than +their earthly system of organised dust, which would be instantly resolved +into its ultimate atoms at such a temperature; even on the earth the +butterfly does not transport with it into the air the organs or the +appetites of the crawling worm from which it sprung. There is, +however, one sentiment or passion which the <!-- page 51--><a name="page51"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 51</span>monad +or spiritual essence carries with it into all its stages of being, and +which in these happy and elevated creatures is continually exalted; +the love of knowledge or of intellectual power, which is, in fact, in +its ultimate and most perfect development the love of infinite wisdom +and unbounded power, or the love of God. Even in the imperfect +life that belongs to the earth this passion exists in a considerable +degree, increases even with age, outlives the perfection of the corporeal +faculties, and at the moment of death is felt by the conscious being, +and its future destinies depend upon the manner in which it has been +exercised and exalted. When it has been misapplied and assumed +the forms of vague curiosity, restless ambition, vain glory, pride or +oppression, the being is degraded, it sinks in the scale of existence +and still belongs to the earth or an inferior system, till its errors +are corrected by painful discipline. When, on the contrary, the +love of intellectual power has been exercised on its noblest objects, +in discovering and in contemplating the properties of created forms +and in applying them to useful and benevolent purposes, in developing +and admiring the laws of the eternal Intelligence, the destinies of +the sentient principle are of a nobler kind, it rises to a higher planetary +world. From the height to which you have been lifted I could carry +you downwards and show you intellectual natures even inferior to those +belonging to the earth, in your own moon and in the lower planets, and +I could demonstrate to you the effects of pain or moral evil in assisting +in the great plan of the exaltation of spiritual natures; but I will +not destroy the brightness of your present idea of the scheme of the +universe by degrading <!-- page 52--><a name="page52"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 52</span>pictures +of the effects of bad passions and of the manner in which evil is corrected +and destroyed. Your vision must end with the glorious view of +the inhabitants of the cometary worlds; I cannot show you the beings +of the system to which I, myself, belong, that of the sun; your organs +would perish before our brightness, and I am only permitted to be present +to you as a sound or intellectual voice. <i>We</i> are likewise +in progression, but we see and know something of the plans of infinite +wisdom; we feel the personal presence of that supreme Deity which you +only imagine; to you belongs faith, to us knowledge; and our greatest +delight results from the conviction that we are lights kindled by His +light and that we belong to His substance. To obey, to love, to +wonder and adore, form our relations to the infinite Intelligence. +We feel His laws are those of eternal justice and that they govern all +things from the most glorious intellectual natures belonging to the +sun and fixed stars to the meanest spark of life animating an atom crawling +in the dust of your earth. We know all things begin from and end +in His everlasting essence, the cause of causes, the power of powers.”</p> +<p>The low and sweet voice ceased; it appeared as if I had fallen suddenly +upon the earth, but there was a bright light before me and I heard my +name loudly called; the voice was not of my intellectual guide—the +genius before me was my servant bearing a flambeau in his hand. +He told me he had been searching me in vain amongst the ruins, that +the carriage had been waiting for me above an hour, and that he had +left a large party of my friends assembled in the Palazzo F---.</p> +<h2><!-- page 53--><a name="page53"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 53</span>DIALOGUE +THE SECOND. DISCUSSIONS CONNECTED WITH THE VISION IN THE COLOSÆUM.</h2> +<p>The same friends, Ambrosio and Onuphrio, who were my companions at +Rome in the winter, accompanied me in the spring to Naples. Many +conversations occurred in the course of our journey which were often +to me peculiarly instructive, and from the difference of their opinions +generally animated and often entertaining. I shall detail one +of these conversations, which took place in the evening on the summit +of Vesuvius, and the remembrance of which from its connection with my +vision in the Colosæum has always a peculiar interest for me. +We had reached with some labour the edge of the crater and were admiring +the wonderful scene around us. I shall give the conversation in +the words of the persons of the drama.</p> +<p><i>Philalethes</i>.—It is difficult to say whether there is +more of sublimity or beauty in the scene around us. Nature appears +at once smiling and frowning, in activity and repose. How tremendous +is the volcano, how magnificent this great laboratory of Nature in its +unceasing fire, its subterraneous lightnings and thunder, its volumes +of smoke, its showers of stones and its rivers of ignited lava! +How contrasted the darkness of the scoriæ, the ruins and the desolation +round the crater with the scene below! There we see the rich field +covered with flax, or maize, or millet, and intersected by rows of trees +which support the green and graceful festoons of the vine; the orange +and lemon tree covered with golden fruit appear in the sheltered glens; +the olive trees cover the lower hills; islands <!-- page 54--><a name="page54"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 54</span>purple +in the beams of the setting sun are scattered over the sea in the west, +and the sky is tinted with red softening into the brightest and purest +azure; the distant mountains still retain a part of the snows of winter, +but they are rapidly melting and they absolutely seem to melt reflecting +the beams of the setting sun, glowing as if on fire. And man appears +emulous of Nature, for the city below is full of activity; the nearest +part of the bay is covered with boats, busy multitudes crowd the strand, +and at the same time may be seen a number of the arts belonging to civilised +society in operation—house-building, ship-building, rope-making, +the manipulations of the smith and of the agriculturist, and not only +the useful arts, but even the amusements and luxuries of a great metropolis +may be witnessed from the spot in which we stand; that motley crowd +is collected round a policinello, and those smaller groups that surround +the stalls are employed in enjoying the favourite food and drink of +the lazzaroni.</p> +<p><i>Ambrosio</i>.—We see not only the power and activity of +man, as existing at present, and of which the highest example may be +represented by the steam-boat which is now departing for Palermo, but +we may likewise view scenes which carry us into the very bosom of antiquity, +and, as it were, make us live with the generations of past ages. +Those small square buildings, scarcely visible in the distance, are +the tombs of distinguished men amongst the early Greek colonists of +the country; and those rows of houses, without roofs, which appear as +if newly erecting, constitute a Roman town restored from its ashes, +that remained for centuries as if it had been swept from the face of +the <!-- page 55--><a name="page55"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 55</span>earth. +When you study it in detail you will hardly avoid the illusion that +it is a rising city; you will almost be tempted to ask where are the +workmen, so perfect art the walls of the houses, so bright and uninjured +the painting upon them. Hardly anything is wanting to make this +scene a magnificent epitome of all that is most worthy of admiration +in Nature and art; had there been in addition to the other objects a +fine river and a waterfall the epitome would, I think, have been absolutely +perfect.</p> +<p><i>Phil</i>.—You are most unreasonable in imagining additions +to a scene which it is impossible to embrace in one view, and which +presents so many objects to the senses, the memory, and to the imagination; +yet there is a river in the valley between Naples and Castel del Mare; +you may see its silver thread and the white foam of its torrents in +the distance, and if you were geologists you would find a number of +sources of interest, which have not been mentioned, in the scenery surrounding +us. Somma which is before us, for instance, affords a wonderful +example of a mountain formed of marine deposits, and which has been +raised by subterraneous fire, and those large and singular veins which +you see at the base and rising through the substance of the strata are +composed of volcanic porphyry, and offer a most striking and beautiful +example of the generation and structure of rocks and mineral formations.</p> +<p><i>Onuphrio</i>.—As we passed through Portici, on the road +to the base of Vesuvius, it appeared to me that I saw a stone which +had an ancient Roman inscription upon it, and which occupied the place +of a portal in the modern palace of the Barberini.</p> +<p><!-- page 56--><a name="page56"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 56</span><i>Phil</i>.—This +is not an uncommon circumstance: Most of the stones used in the palaces +of Portici had been employed more than two thousand years before in +structures raised by the ancient Romans or Greek colonists; and it is +not a little remarkable that the buildings of Herculaneum, a town covered +with ashes, tufa, and lava, from the first recorded eruption of Vesuvius +more than seventeen hundred years ago, should have been constructed +of volcanic materials produced by some antecedent igneous action of +the mountain in times beyond the reach of history; and it is still more +remarkable that men should have gone on for so many ages making erections +in spots where their works have been so often destroyed, inattentive +to the voice of time or the warnings of nature.</p> +<p><i>Onu</i>.—This last fact recalls to my recollection an idea +which Philalethes started in the remarkable dream which he would have +us believe occurred to him in the Colosæum, namely—that +no important facts which can be useful to society are ever lost; and +that, like these stones, which though covered with ashes or hidden amongst +ruins, they are sure to be brought forward again and made use of in +some new form.</p> +<p><i>Amb</i>.—I do not see the justness of the analogy to which +Onuphrio refers; but there are many parts of that vision on which I +should wish to hear the explanations of Philalethes. I consider +it in fact as a sort of poetical epitome of his philosophical opinions, +and I regard this vision or dream as a mere web of his imagination in +which he intended to catch us, his summer-flies and travelling companions.</p> +<p><i>Phil</i>.—There, Ambrosio, you do me wrong. I will +acknowledge, if you please, that the vision in the <!-- page 57--><a name="page57"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 57</span>Colosæum +is a fiction; but the most important parts of it really occurred to +me in sleep, particularly that in which I seemed to leave the earth +and launch into the infinity of space under the guidance of a tutelary +genius. And the origin and progress of civil society form likewise +parts of another dream which I had many years ago, and it was in the +reverie which happened when you quitted me in the Colosæum that +I wove all these thoughts together, and gave them the form in which +I narrated them to you.</p> +<p><i>Amb</i>.—Of course we may consider them as an accurate representation +of your waking thoughts.</p> +<p><i>Phil</i>.—I do not say that they strictly are so, for I +am not quite convinced that dreams are always representations of the +state of the mind modified by organic diseases or by associations. +There are certainly no absolutely new ideas produced in sleep, yet I +have had more than one instance, in the course of my life, of most extraordinary +combinations occurring in this state, which have had considerable influence +on my feelings, my imagination, and my health.</p> +<p><i>Onu</i>.—Why Philalethes, you are becoming a visionary, +a dreamer of dreams. We shall perhaps set you down by the side +of Jacob Behmen or of Emanuel Swedenbourg, and in an earlier age you +might have been a prophet, and have ranked perhaps with Mahomet. +But pray give us one of these instances in which such a marvellous influence +was produced on your imagination and your health by a dream that we +may form some judgment of the nature of your second sight or inspirations; +and whether they have any foundation, or whether they are not, as I +<!-- page 58--><a name="page58"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 58</span>believe, +really unfounded, inventions of the fancy, dreams respecting dreams.</p> +<p><i>Phil</i>.—I anticipate unbelief, and I expose myself to +your ridicule in the statement I am about to make, yet I shall mention +nothing but a simple fact. Almost a quarter of a century ago, +as you know, I contracted that terrible form of typhus-fever known by +the name of gaol-fever, I may say, not from any imprudence of my own, +but whilst engaged in putting in execution a plan for ventilating one +of the great prisons of the metropolis. My illness was severe +and dangerous. As long as the fever continued, my dreams or delirium +were most painful and oppressive; but when the weakness consequent to +exhaustion came on, and when the probability of death seemed to my physicians +greater than that of life, there was an entire change in all my ideal +combinations. I remained in an apparently senseless or lethargic +state, but in fact my mind was peculiarly active; there was always before +me the form of a beautiful woman, with whom I was engaged in the most +interesting and intellectual conversation.</p> +<p><i>Amb</i>.—The figure of a lady with whom you were in love.</p> +<p><i>Phil</i>.—No such thing; I was passionately in love at the +time, but the object of my admiration was a lady with black hair, dark +eyes, and pale complexion; this spirit of my vision, on the contrary, +had brown hair, blue eyes, and a bright rosy complexion, and was, as +far as I can recollect, unlike any of the amatory forms which in early +youth had so often haunted my imagination. Her figure for many +days was so distinct in my mind, as to form almost a visual image. +As I gained strength, the visits of my good angel (for so I <!-- page 59--><a name="page59"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 59</span>called +it) became less frequent, and when I was restored to health they were +altogether discontinued.</p> +<p><i>Onu</i>.—I see nothing very strange in this—a mere +reaction of the mind after severe pain—and, to a young man of +twenty-five, there are few more pleasurable images than that of a beautiful +maiden with blue eyes, blooming cheeks, and long nut-brown hair.</p> +<p><i>Phil</i>.—But all my feelings and all my conversations with +this visionary maiden were of an intellectual and refined nature.</p> +<p><i>Onu</i>.—Yes, I suppose, as long as you were ill.</p> +<p><i>Phil</i>.—I will not allow you to treat me with ridicule +on this point till you have heard the second part of my tale. +Ten years after I had recovered from the fever, and when I had almost +lost the recollection of the vision, it was recalled to my memory by +a very blooming and graceful maiden, fourteen or fifteen years old, +that I accidentally met during my travels in Illyria; but I cannot say +that the impression made upon my mind by this female was very strong. +Now comes the extraordinary part of the narrative. Ten years after, +twenty years after my first illness, at a time when I was exceedingly +weak from a severe and dangerous malady, which for many weeks threatened +my life, and when my mind was almost in a desponding state, being in +a course of travels ordered by my medical advisers, I again met the +person who was the representative of my visionary female, and to her +kindness and care I believe I owe what remains to me of existence. +My despondency gradually disappeared, and though my health still continued +weak, life began to possess charms for me which I had thought were for +ever gone; and I could not help identifying the living angel <!-- page 60--><a name="page60"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 60</span>with +the vision which appeared as my guardian genius during the illness of +my youth.</p> +<p><i>Onu</i>.—I really see nothing at all in this fact, whether +the first or the second part of the narrative be considered, beyond +the influence of an imagination excited by disease. From youth, +even to age, women are our guardian angels, our comforters; and I dare +say any other handsome young female, who had been your nurse in your +last illness, would have coincided with your remembrance of the vision, +even though her eyes had been hazel and her hair flaxen. Nothing +can be more loose than the images represented in dreams following a +fever, and with the nervous susceptibility produced by your last illness, +almost any agreeable form would have become the representative of your +imaginary guardian genius. Thus it is, that by the power of fancy, +material forms are clothed in supernatural attributes; and in the same +manner imaginary divinities have all the forms of mortality bestowed +upon them. The gods of the pagan mythology were in all their characters +and attributes exalted human beings; the demon of the coward, and the +angelic form that appears in the dream of some maid smitten by devotion, +and who, having lost her earthly lover, fixes her thoughts on heaven, +are clothed in the character and vestments of humanity changed by the +dreaminess of passion.</p> +<p><i>Amb</i>.—With such a tendency, Philalethes, as you have +shown to believe in something like a supernatural or divine influence +on the human mind, I am astonished there should be so much scepticism +belonging to your vision in the Colosæum. And your view +of the early state of man, after his first creation, is not <!-- page 61--><a name="page61"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 61</span>only +incompatible with revelation, but likewise with reason and everything +that we know respecting the history or traditions of the early nations +of antiquity.</p> +<p><i>Phil</i>.—Be more distinct and detailed in your statements, +Ambrosio, that I may be able to reply to them; and whilst we are waiting +for the sunrise we may discuss the subject, and for this, let us seat +ourselves on these stones, where we shall be warmed by the vicinity +of the current of lava.</p> +<p><i>Amb</i>.—You consider man, in his early or first created +state, a savage, like those who now inhabit New Holland or New Zealand, +acquiring by the little use that they make of a feeble reason the power +of supporting and extending life. Now, I contend, that if man +had been so created, he must inevitably have been destroyed by the elements +or devoured by savage beasts, so infinitely his superiors in physical +force. He must, therefore, have been formed with various instinctive +faculties and propensities, with a perfection of form and use of organs +fitting him to become the master of the earth; and, it appears to me, +that the account given in Genesis of the first parents of mankind having +been placed in a garden fitted with everything necessary to their existence +and enjoyment, and ordered to increase and multiply there, is strictly +in harmony with reason, and accordant with all just metaphysical views +of the human mind. Man as he now exists can only be raised with +great care and difficulty from the infant to the mature state; all his +motions are at first automatic, and become voluntary by association; +he has to learn everything by slow and difficult processes, many months +elapse before he is able to stand, and many years before he is able +to provide for the common <!-- page 62--><a name="page62"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 62</span>wants +of life. Without the mother or the nurse in his infant state, +he would die in a few hours; and without the laborious discipline of +instruction and example, he would remain idiotic and inferior to most +other animals. His reason is only acquired gradually, and when +in its highest perfection is often uncertain in its results. He +must, therefore, have been created with instincts that for a long while +supplied the want of reason, and which enabled him from the first moment +of his existence to provide for his wants, to gratify his desires, and +enjoy the power and the activity of life.</p> +<p><i>Phil</i>.—I acknowledge that your objection has some weight, +but not so much as you would attribute to it. I will suppose that +the first created man or men had certain powers or instincts, such as +now belong to the rudest savages of the southern hemisphere; I will +suppose them created with the use of their organs for defence and offence +and with passions and propensities enabling them to supply their own +wants. And I oppose the fact of races who are now actually in +this state to your vague historical or traditionary records; and their +gradual progress or improvement from this early state of society to +that of the highest state of civilisation or refinement may, I think, +be easily deduced from the exertions of reason assisted by the influence +of the moral powers and of physical circumstances. Accident, I +conceive, must have had some influence in laying the foundations of +certain arts; and a climate in which labour was not too oppressive, +and in which the exertion of industry was required to provide for the +wants of life must have fixed the character of the activity of the early +improving people; where nature is too kind a mother, man is generally +a <!-- page 63--><a name="page63"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 63</span>spoiled +child; where she is severe, and a stepmother, his powers are usually +withered and destroyed. The people of the south and the north +and those between the tropics offer, even at this day, proof of the +truth of this principle; and it is even possible now to find on the +surface of the earth, all the different gradations of the states of +society, from that in which man is scarcely removed above the brute, +to that in which he appears approaching in his nature to a divine intelligence. +Besides, reason being the noblest gift of God to man, I can hardly suppose +that an infinitely powerful and all-wise Creator would bestow upon the +early inhabitants of the globe a greater proportion of instinct than +was at first necessary to preserve their existence, and that he would +not leave the great progress of their improvement to the development +and exaltation of their reasoning powers.</p> +<p><i>Amb</i>.—You appear to me in your argument to have forgotten +the influence that any civilised race must possess over savages; and +many of the nations which you consider as in their original state, may +have descended from nations formerly civilised; and, it is quite as +easy to trace the retrograde steps of a people as their advances; the +savage hordes who now inhabit the northern coast of Africa are probably +descended from the opulent, commercial, and ingenious Carthaginians +who once contended with Rome for the empire of the world; and even nearer +home, we might find in Southern Italy and her islands, proofs of a degradation +not much inferior. What I contend for is the civilisation of the +first patriarchal races who peopled the East, and who passed into Europe +from Armenia, in which paradise is supposed to have been placed. +The early <!-- page 64--><a name="page64"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 64</span>civilisation +of this race could only have been in consequence of their powers and +instincts having been of a higher character than those of savages. +They appear to have been small families—a state not at all fitted +for the discovery of arts by the exercise of the mind; and they professed +the most sublime form of religion, the worship of one Supreme Intelligence—a +truth which, after a thousand years of civilisation, was with difficulty +attained by the most powerful efforts of reasoning by the Greek sages. +It appears to me, that in the history of the Jews, nothing can be more +in conformity to our ideas of just analogy than this series of events. +Our first parents were created with everything necessary for their wants +and their happiness; they had only one duty to perform, by their obedience +to prove their love and devotion to their Creator. In this they +failed, and death—or the fear of death—became a curse upon +their race; but the father of mankind repented, and his instinctive +or intellectual powers given by revelation were transmitted to his offspring +more or less modified by their reason, which they had gained as the +fruit of their disobedience. One branch of his offspring, however, +in whom faith shone forth above reason, retained their peculiar powers +and institutions and preserved the worship of Jehovah pure, whilst many +of the races sprung from their brethren became idolatrous, and the clear +light of heaven was lost through the mist of the senses; and that Being, +worshipped by the Israelites only as a mysterious word, was forgotten +by many of the nations who lived in the neighbouring countries, and +men, beasts, the parts of the visible universe, and even stocks and +stones, were set up as objects of adoration. <!-- page 65--><a name="page65"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 65</span>The +difficulty which the divine legislators of the Jewish people had to +preserve the purity of their religion amongst the idolatrous nations +by whom they were surrounded, proves the natural evil tendency of the +human mind after the fall of man. And, whoever will consider the +nature of the Mosaical or ceremonial law and the manner in which it +was suspended before the end of the Roman Empire, the expiatory sacrifice +of the Messiah, the fear of death destroyed by the blessed hopes of +immortality established by the resurrection of Jesus Christ, the destruction +of Jerusalem by Titus, and the triumphs of Christianity over paganism +in the time of Constantine, can I think, hardly fail to acknowledge +the reasonableness of the truth of revealed religion as founded upon +the early history of man; and whoever acknowledges this reasonableness +and this truth, must I think be dissatisfied with the view which Philalethes +or his genius has given of the progress of society, and will find in +it one instance, amongst many others that might be discovered, of the +vague and erring results of his so much boasted human reason.</p> +<p><i>Onu</i>.—I fear I shall shock Ambrosio, but I cannot help +vindicating a little the philosophical results of human reason, which +it must be allowed are entirely hostile to his ideas. I agree +with Philalethes that it is the noblest gift of God to man; and I cannot +think that Ambrosio’s view of the paradisaical condition and the +fall of man and the progress of society is at all in conformity with +the ideas we ought to form of the institutions of an infinitely wise +and powerful Being. Besides, Ambrosio speaks of the reasonableness +of his own opinions; of course his notions of reason must be different +from mine, or we have adopted different forms <!-- page 66--><a name="page66"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 66</span>of +logic. I do not find in the biblical history any idea of the supreme +Intelligence conformable to those of the Greek philosophers; on the +contrary, I find Jehovah everywhere described as a powerful material +being, endowed with organs, feelings, and passions similar to those +of a great and exalted human agent. He is described as making +man in His own image, as walking in the garden in the cool of the evening, +as being pleased with sacrificial offerings, as angry with Adam and +Eve, as personally cursing Cain for his crime of fratricide, and even +as providing our first parents with garments to hide their nakedness; +then He appears a material form in the midst of flames, thunder and +lightning, and was regarded by the Levites as having a fixed residence +in the Ark. He is contrasted throughout the whole of the Old Testament +with the gods of the heathens, only as being more powerful; and in the +strange scene which took place in Pharaoh’s court He seemed to +have measured His abilities with those of certain seers or magicians, +and to have proved His superiority only by producing greater and more +tremendous plagues. In all the early history of the Jewish nation +there is no conception approaching to the sublimity of that of Anaxagoras, +who called God the Intelligence or <i>νους</i>. +He appears always, on the contrary, like the genii of Arabian romance, +living in clouds, descending on mountains, urging His chosen people +to commit the most atrocious crimes, to destroy all the races not professing +the same worship, and to exterminate even the child and the unborn infant. +Then, I find in the Old Testament no promise of a spiritual Messiah, +but only of a temporal king, who, as the Jews believe, is yet to come. +The serpent in Genesis <!-- page 67--><a name="page67"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 67</span>has +no connection with the spirit of evil, but is described only as the +most subtle beast of the field, and, having injured man, there was to +be a perpetual enmity between their races—the serpent when able +was to bite the heel of the man, and the man when an opportunity occurred +was to bruise the head of the serpent. I will allow, if you please, +that an instinct of religion or superstition belongs to the human mind, +and that the different forms which this instinct assumes depend upon +various circumstances and accidents of history and climate; but I am +not sure that the religion of the Jews was superior to that of the Sabæans +who worshipped the stars, or the ancient Persians who adored the sun +as the visible symbol of divine power, or the eastern nations who in +the various forms of the visible universe worshipped the powers and +energies of the Divinity. I feel like the ancient Romans with +respect to toleration; I would give a place to all the gods in my Pantheon, +but I would not allow the followers of Brahmah or of Christ to quarrel +about the modes of incarnation or the superiority of the attributes +of their trien God.</p> +<p><i>Amb</i>.—You have mistaken me, Onuphrio, if you think I +am shocked by your opinions; I have seen too much of the wanderings +of human reason ever to be surprised by them, and the views you have +adopted are not uncommon amongst young men of very superior talents, +who have only slightly examined the evidences of revealed religion. +But I am glad to find that you have not adopted the code of infidelity +of many of the French revolutionists and of an English school of sceptics, +who find in the ancient astronomy all the germs of the worship of the +Hebrews, who identify the <!-- page 68--><a name="page68"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 68</span>labours +of Hercules with those of the Jewish heroes, and who find the life, +death and resurrection of the Messiah in the history of the solar day. +You, at least, allow the existence of a peculiar religious instinct, +or, as you are pleased to call it, superstition, belonging to the human +mind, and I have hopes that upon this foundation you will ultimately +build up a system of faith not unworthy a philosopher and a Christian. +Man, with whatever religious instincts he was created, was intended +to communicate with the visible universe by sensations and act upon +it by his organs, and in the earliest state of society he was more particularly +influenced by his gross senses. Allowing the existence of a supreme +Intelligence and His beneficent intentions towards man, the ideas of +His presence which He might think fit to impress upon the mind, either +for the purpose of veneration, or of love, of hope or fear, must have +been in harmony with the general train of His sensations—I am +not sure that I make myself intelligible. The same infinite power +which in an instant could create a universe, could of course so modify +the ideas of an intellectual being as to give them that form and character +most fitted for his existence; and I suppose in the early state of created +man he imagined that he enjoyed the actual presence of the Divinity +and heard His voice. I take this to be the first and simplest +result of religious instinct. In early times amongst the patriarchs +I suppose these ideas were so vivid as to be confounded with impressions; +but as religious instinct probably became feebler in their posterity, +the vividness of the impressions diminished, and they then became visions +or dreams, which with the prophets seem to have constituted inspiration. +I do not suppose <!-- page 69--><a name="page69"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 69</span>that +the Supreme Being ever made Himself known to man by a real change in +the order of Nature, but that the sensations of men were so modified +by their instincts as to induce the belief in His presence. That +there was a divine intelligence continually acting upon the race of +Seth as his chosen people, is, I think, clearly proved by the events +of their history, and also that the early opinions of a small tribe +in Judæa were designed for the foundation of the religion of the +most active and civilised and powerful nations of the world, and that +after a lapse of three thousand years. The manner in which Christianity +spread over the world with a few obscure mechanics or fishermen for +its promulgators; the mode in which it triumphed over paganism even +when professed and supported by the power and philosophy of a Julian; +the martyrs who subscribed to the truth of Christianity by shedding +their blood for the faith; the exalted nature of those intellectual +men by whom it has been professed who had examined all the depths of +nature and exercised the profoundest faculties of thought, such as Newton, +Locke, and Hartley, all appear to me strong arguments in favour of revealed +religion. I prefer rather founding my creed upon the fitness of +its doctrines than upon historical evidences or the nature of its miracles. +The Divine Intelligence chooses that men should be convinced according +to the ordinary train of their sensations, and on all occasions it appears +to me more natural that a change should take place in the human mind +than in the order of nature. The popular opinion of the people +of Judæa was that certain diseases were occasioned by devils taking +possession of a human being; the disease was cured by our Saviour, and +this <!-- page 70--><a name="page70"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 70</span>in +the Gospel is expressed by his casting out devils. But without +entering into explanations respecting the historical miracles belonging +to Christianity, it is sufficient to say that its truth is attested +by a constantly existing miracle, the present state of the Jews, which +was predicted by Jesus; their temple and city were destroyed, and all +attempts made to rebuild it have been vain, and they remain the despised +and outcasts of the world.</p> +<p><i>Onu</i>.—But you have not answered my objections with respect +to the cruelties exercised by the Jews under the command of Jehovah, +which appear to me in opposition to all our views of divine justice.</p> +<p><i>Amb</i>.—I think even Philalethes will allow that physical +and moral diseases are hereditary, and that to destroy a pernicious +unbelief or demoniacal worship it was necessary to destroy the whole +race root and branch. As an example, I will imagine a certain +contagions disease which is transmitted by parents to children, and +which, like the plague, is communicated to sound persons by contact; +to destroy a family of men who would spread this disease over the whole +earth would unquestionably be a mercy. Besides, I believe in the +immortality of the sentient principle in man; destruction of life is +only a change of existence, and supposing the new existence a superior +one it is a gain. To the Supreme Intelligence the death of a million +of human beings is the mere circumstance of so many spiritual essences +changing their habitations, and is analogous to the myriad millions +of larvæ that leave their coats and shells behind them and rise +into the atmosphere, as flies in a summer day. When man measures +the works of the Divine Mind by his own <!-- page 71--><a name="page71"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 71</span>feeble +combinations, he must wander in gross error; the infinite can never +be understood by the finite.</p> +<p><i>Onu</i>.—As far as I can comprehend your reasoning, the +priests of Juggernaut might make the same defence for their idol, and +find in such views a fair apology for the destruction of thousands of +voluntary victims crushed to pieces by the feet of the sacred elephant.</p> +<p><i>Amb</i>.—Undoubtedly they might, and I should allow the +justness of their defence if I saw in their religion any germs of a +divine institution fitted to become, like the religion of Jehovah, the +faith of the whole civilised world, embracing the most perfect form +of theism and the most refined and exalted morality. I consider +the early acts of the Jewish nation as the lowest and rudest steps of +a temple raised by the Supreme Being to contain the altar of sacrifice +to His glory. In the early periods of society rude and uncultivated +men could only be acted upon by gross and temporal rewards and punishments; +severe rites and heavy discipline were required to keep the mind in +order, and the punishment of the idolatrous nation served as an example +for the Jews. When Christianity took the place of Judaism the +ideas of the Supreme Being became more pure and abstracted, and the +visible attributes of Jehovah and His angels appear to have been less +frequently presented to the mind; yet even for many ages it seemed as +if the grossness of our material senses required some assistance from +the eye in fixing or perpetuating the character of religious instinct, +and the Church to which I belong, and I may say the whole Christian +Church in early times, allowed visible images, pictures, statues, and +relics as the means of awakening the stronger devotional feelings. +We have been accused of worshipping <!-- page 72--><a name="page72"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 72</span>merely +inanimate objects, but this is a very false notion of the nature of +our faith; we regard them merely as vivid characters representing spiritual +existences and we no more worship them than the Protestant does his +Bible when he kisses it under a solemn religious adjuration. The +past, the present, and the future being the same to the infinite and +divine Intelligence, and man being created in love for the purposes +of happiness, the moral and religious discipline to which he was submitted +was in strict conformity to his progressive faculties and to the primary +laws of his nature. It is but a rude analogy, yet it is the only +one I can find, that of comparing the Supreme Being to a wise and good +father who, to secure the well-being of his offspring, is obliged to +adopt a system of rewards and punishments in which the senses at first +and afterwards the imagination and reason are concerned; he terrifies +them by the example of others, awakens their love of glory by pointing +out the distinction and the happiness gained by superior men by adopting +a particular line of conduct; he uses at first the rod, and gradually +substitutes for it the fear of immediate shame; and having awakened +the fear of shame and the love of praise or honour with respect to temporary +and immediate actions he extends them to the conduct of the whole of +life, and makes what was a momentary feeling a permanent and immutable +principle. And obedience in the child to the will of such a parent +may be compared to faith in and obedience to the will of the Supreme +Being; and a wayward and disobedient child who reasons upon and doubts +the utility of the discipline of such a father is much in the same state +in which the adult man is who doubts if there be good in <!-- page 73--><a name="page73"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 73</span>the +decrees of Providence and who questions the harmony of the plan of the +moral universe.</p> +<p><i>Onu</i>.—Allowing the perfection of your moral scheme of +religion and its fitness for the nature of man, I find it impossible +to believe the primary doctrines on which this scheme is founded. +You make the Divine Mind, the creator of infinite worlds, enter into +the form of a man born of a virgin, you make the eternal and immortal +God the victim of shameful punishment and suffering death on the cross, +recovering His life after three days, and carrying His maimed and lacerated +body into the heaven of heavens.</p> +<p><i>Amb</i>.—You, like all other sceptics, make your own interpretations +of the Scriptures and set up a standard for divine power in human reason. +The infinite and eternal mind, as I said before, fits the doctrines +of religion to the minds by which they are to be embraced. I see +no improbability in the idea that an integrant part of His essence may +have animated a human form; there can be no doubt that this belief has +existed in the human mind, and the belief constitutes the vital part +of the religion. We know nothing of the generation of the human +being in the ordinary course of nature; how absurd then to attempt to +reason upon the acts of the Divine Mind! nor is there more difficulty +in imagining the event of a divine conception than of a divine creation. +To God the infinite, little and great, as measured by human powers, +are equal; a creature of this earth, however humble and insignificant, +may have the same weight with millions of superior beings inhabiting +higher systems. But I consider all the miraculous parts of our +religion as effected by changes in the sensations or ideas of the human +mind, and not <!-- page 74--><a name="page74"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 74</span>by +physical changes in the order of nature; a man who has to repair a piece +of machinery, as a clock, must take it to pieces, and, in fact, re-make +it, but to infinite wisdom and power a change in the intellectual state +of the human being may be the result of a momentary will, and the mere +act of faith may produce the change. How great the powers of imagination +are, even in ordinary life, is shown by many striking facts, and nothing +seems impossible to this imagination when acted upon by divine influence. +To attempt to answer all the objections which may be derived from the +want of conformity in the doctrines of Christianity to the usual order +of events would be an interminable labour. My first principle +is, that religion has nothing to do with the common order of events; +it is a pure and divine instinct intended to give results to man which +he cannot obtain by the common use of his reason, and which at first +view often appear contradictory to it, but which when examined by the +most refined tests, and considered in the most extensive and profound +relations, are, in fact, in conformity with the most exalted intellectual +knowledge, so that, indeed, the results of pure reason ultimately become +the same with those of faith—the tree of knowledge is grafted +upon the tree of life, and that fruit which brought the fear of death +into the world, budding on an immortal stock, becomes the fruit of the +promise of immortality.</p> +<p><i>Onu</i>.—You derive Christianity from Judaism; I cannot +see their connection, and it appears to me that the religion of Mahomet +is more naturally a scion from the stock of Moses. Christ was +a Jew, and was circumcised; this rite was continued by Mahomet, and +is to this day adopted by his disciples, though rejected by <!-- page 75--><a name="page75"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 75</span>the +Christians; and the doctrines of Mahomet appear to me to have a higher +claim to divine origin than those of Jesus; his morality is as pure, +his theism purer, and his system of rewards and punishments after death +as much in conformity with our ideas of eternal justice.</p> +<p><i>Amb</i>.—I will willingly make the decision of the general +question dependent upon the decision of this particular one. No +attempts have been made by the Mahometans to find any predictions respecting +their founder in the Old Testament, and they have never pretended even +that he was the Messiah; therefore, as far as prophecy is concerned, +there is no ground for admitting the truth of the religion of Mahomet. +It has been the fashion with a particular sect of infidels to praise +the morality of the Mahometans, but I think unjustly; they are said +to be honest in their dealings and charitable to those of their own +persuasion; but they allow polygamy and a plurality of women, and are +despisers and persecutors of the nations professing a different faith. +And what a contrast does this morality present to that of the Gospel +which inculcates charity to all mankind, and orders benevolent actions +to be performed even to enemies! and the purity and simplicity of the +infant is held up by Christ as the model of imitation for His followers. +Then, in the rewards and punishments of the future state of the Mahometans, +how gross are all the ideas, how unlike the promises of a divine and +spiritual being; their paradise is a mere earthly garden of sensual +pleasure, and their Houris represent the ladies of their own harems +rather than glorified angelic natures. How different is the Christian +heaven, how sublime in its idea, indefinite, yet well suited to a being +of intellectual and progressive <!-- page 76--><a name="page76"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 76</span>faculties; +“Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, nor hath it entered into the +heart of man to conceive the joys that He hath prepared for those who +love Him.”</p> +<p><i>Onu</i>.—I confess your answer to my last argument is a +triumphant one; but I cannot allow a question of such extent and of +such a variety of bearings to be decided by so slight an advantage as +that which you have gained by this answer. I will now offer another +difficulty to you. The law of the Jews, you will allow, was established +by God Himself and delivered to Moses from the seat of His glory amongst +storms, thunder, and lightnings, on Mount Sinai; why should this law, +if pure and divine, have been overturned by the same Being who established +it? And all the ceremonies of the Hebrews have been abolished +by the first Christians.</p> +<p><i>Amb</i>.—I deny that the divine law of Moses was abolished +by Christ, who Himself says, “I came to confirm the law, not to +destroy it.” And the Ten Commandments form the vital parts +of the foundation of the creed of the true Christian. It appears +that the religion of Christ was the same pure theism with that of the +patriarchs; and the rites and ceremonies established by Moses seem to +have been only adjuncts to the spiritual religion intended to suit a +particular climate and a particular state of the Jewish nation, rather +a dress or clothing of the religion than forming a constituent part +of it, a system of discipline of life and manners rather than an essential +part of doctrine. The rites of circumcision and ablution were +necessary to the health and perhaps even to the existence of a people +living on the hottest part of the shores of the Mediterranean. +And in the sacrifices made of the first fruits <!-- page 77--><a name="page77"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 77</span>and +of the chosen of the flock, we may see a design not merely connected +with the religious faith of the people but even with their political +economy. To offer their choicest and best property as a proof +of their gratitude to the Supreme Being was a kind of test of devotedness +and obedience to the theocracy; and these sacrifices by obliging them +to raise more produce and provide more cattle than were essential to +their ordinary support, preserved them from the danger of famine, as +in case of a dearth it was easy for the priests under the divine permission +to apply those offerings to the necessities of the people. All +the pure parts of the faith which had descended from Abraham to David +were preserved by Jesus Christ; but the ceremonial religion was fitted +only for a particular nation and a particular country; Christianity, +on the contrary, was to be the religion of the world and of a civilised +and improving world. And it appears to me to be an additional +proof of its divine nature and origin, that it is exactly in conformity +to the principles of the improvement and perfection of the human mind. +When given to a particular race fixed in a peculiar climate, its objects +were sensible, its discipline was severe, and its rites and ceremonies +numerous and imposing, fitted to act upon weak, ignorant, and consequently +obstinate men. In its gradual development it threw off its local +character and its particular forms, and adopted ceremonies more fitted +for mankind in general; and in its ultimate views, it preserves only +pure, spiritual, and I may say philosophical doctrines, the unity of +the divine nature and a future state, embracing a system of rewards +and punishments suited to an accountable and immortal being.</p> +<p><i>Phil</i>.—I have been attentively listening to your <!-- page 78--><a name="page78"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 78</span>discussion. +The views which Ambrosio has taken of Christianity certainly throw a +light over it perfectly new to me; and, I must say in candour, that +I am disposed to adopt his notion of the early state of society rather +than that of my Genius. I have always been accustomed to consider +religious feeling as instinctive; but Ambrosio’s arguments have +given me something approaching to a definite faith for an obscure and +indefinite notion. I am willing to allow that man was created, +not a savage, as he is represented in my vision, but perfect in his +faculties and with a variety of instinctive powers and knowledge; that +he transmitted these powers and knowledge to his offspring; but that +by an improper use of reason in disobedience to the divine will, the +instinctive faculties of most of his descendants became deteriorated +and at last lost, but that these faculties were preserved in the race +of Abraham and David, and the full power again bestowed upon or recovered +by Christ. I am ready to allow the importance of religion in cultivating +and improving the world; and Ambrosio’s view appears to me capable +of being referred to a general law of our nature; and revelation may +be regarded not as a partial interference but as a constant principle +belonging to the mind of man, and the belief in supernatural forms and +agency, the results of prophecies and the miracles, as one only of the +necessary consequences of it. Man, as a reasoning animal, must +always have doubted of his immortality and plan of conduct; in all the +results of faith, there is immediate submission to a divine will, which +we are sure is good. We may compare the destiny of man in this +respect to that of a migratory bird; if a slow flying bird, as a landrail +in the Orkneys in autumn, <!-- page 79--><a name="page79"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 79</span>had +reason and could use it as to the probability of his finding his way +over deserts, across seas, and of securing his food in passing to a +warm climate 3,000 miles off, he would undoubtedly starve in Europe; +under the direction of his instinct he securely arrives there in good +condition. I have allowed the force of your objections to that +part of my vision relating to the origin of society, but I hope you +will admit that the conclusion of it is not inconsistent with the ideas +derived from revelation respecting the future state of the human being.</p> +<p><i>Amb</i>.—Revelation has not disclosed to us the nature of +this state, but only fixed its certainty. We are sure from geological +facts, as well as from sacred history, that man is a recent animal on +the globe, and that this globe has undergone one considerable revolution, +since the creation, by water; and we are taught that it is to undergo +another, by fire, preparatory to a new and glorified state of existence +of man; but this is all we are permitted to know, and as this state +is to be entirely different from the present one of misery and probation, +any knowledge respecting it would be useless and indeed almost impossible.</p> +<p><i>Phil</i>.—My Genius has placed the more exalted spiritual +natures in cometary worlds, and this last fiery revolution may be produced +by the appulse of a comet.</p> +<p><i>Amb</i>.—Human fancy may imagine a thousand manners in which +it may be produced, but upon such notions it is absurd to dwell. +I will not allow your Genius the slightest approach to inspiration, +and I can admit no verisimility in a reverie which is fixed on a foundation +you now allow to be so weak. But see, the twilight is beginning +to appear in the orient sky, and <!-- page 80--><a name="page80"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 80</span>there +are some dark clouds on the horizon opposite to the crater of Vesuvius, +the lower edges of which transmit a bright light, showing the sun is +already risen in the country beneath them. I would say that they +may serve as an image of the hopes of immortality derived from revelation; +for we are sure from the light reflected in those clouds that the lands +below us are in the brightest sunshine, but we are entirely ignorant +of the surface and the scenery; so, by revelation, the light of an imperishable +and glorious world is disclosed to us; but it is in eternity, and its +objects cannot be seen by mortal eye or imaged by mortal imagination.</p> +<p><i>Phil</i>.—I am not so well read in the Scriptures as I hope +I shall be at no very distant time; but I believe the pleasures of heaven +are mentioned more distinctly than you allow in the sacred writings. +I think I remember that the saints are said to be crowned with palms +and amaranths, and that they are described as perpetually hymning and +praising God.</p> +<p><i>Amb</i>.—This is evidently only metaphorical; music is the +sensual pleasure which approaches nearest to an intellectual one, and +probably may represent the delight resulting from the perception of +the harmony of things and of truth seen in God. The palm as an +evergreen tree and the amaranth a perdurable flower are emblems of immortality. +If I am allowed to give a metaphorical allusion to the future state +of the blest, I should image it by the orange grove in that sheltered +glen, on which the sun is now beginning to shine, and of which the trees +are at the same time loaded with sweet golden fruit and balmy silver +flowers. Such objects may well portray a state in which hope and +fruition become one eternal feeling.</p> +<p><!-- page 81--><a name="page81"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 81</span><i>Onu</i>.—This +glorious sunrise seems to have made you both poetical. Though +with the darkest and most gloomy mind of the party I cannot help feeling +its influence, I cannot help believing with you that the night of death +will be succeeded by a bright morning; but, as in the scene below us, +the objects are nearly the same as they were last evening, with more +of brightness and brilliancy, with a fairer prospect in the east and +more mist in the west, so I cannot help believing that our new state +of existence must bear an analogy to the present one, and that the order +of events will not be entirely different.</p> +<p><i>Amb</i>.—Your view is not an unnatural one; but I am rejoiced +to find some symptoms of a change in your opinions.</p> +<p><i>Onu</i>.—I wish with all my heart they were stronger; I +begin to feel my reason a weight and my scepticism a very heavy load. +Your discussions have made me a Philo-Christian, but I cannot understand +nor embrace all the views you have developed, though I really wish to +do so.</p> +<p><i>Amb</i>.—Your wish, if sincere, I doubt not will be gratified. +Fix your powerful mind upon the harmony of the moral world, as you have +been long accustomed to do upon the order of the physical universe, +and you will see the scheme of the eternal intelligence developing itself +alike in both. Think of the goodness and mercy of omnipotence, +and aid your contemplation by devotional feelings and mental prayer +and aspirations to the source of all knowledge, and wait with humility +for the light which I doubt not will be so produced in your mind.</p> +<p><i>Onu</i>.—You again perplex me; I cannot believe that <!-- page 82--><a name="page82"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 82</span>the +adorations or offerings of so feeble a creature can influence the decrees +of omnipotence.</p> +<p><i>Amb</i>.—You mistake me: as to their influencing or affecting +the supreme mind it is out of the question, but they affect your own +mind, they perpetuate a habit of gratitude and of obedience which may +gradually end in perfect faith, they discipline the affections and keep +the heart in a state of preparation to receive and preserve all good +and pious feelings. Whoever passes from utter darkness into bright +sunshine finds that he cannot at first distinguish objects better in +one than in the other, but in a feeble light he acquires gradually the +power of bearing a brighter one, and gains at last the habit not only +of supporting it, but of receiving delight as well as instruction from +it. In the pious contemplations that I recommend to you there +is the twilight or sober dawn of faith which will ultimately enable +you to support the brightness of its meridian sun.</p> +<p><i>Onu</i>.—I understand you, but your metaphor is more poetical +than just; your discipline, however, I have no doubt, is better fitted +to enable me to bear the light than to contemplate it through the smoked +or coloured glasses of scepticism.</p> +<p><i>Amb</i>.—Yes, for they not only diminish its brightness +but alter its nature.</p> +<h2>DIALOGUE THE THIRD. THE UNKNOWN.</h2> +<p>The same persons accompanied me in many journeys by land and water +to different parts of the Phlegræan fields, and we enjoyed in +a most delightful season, the <!-- page 83--><a name="page83"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 83</span>beginning +of May, the beauties of the glorious country which encloses the Bay +of Naples, so rich, so ornamented with the gifts of nature, so interesting +from the monuments it contains and the recollections it awakens. +One excursion, the last we made in southern Italy, the most important +both from the extraordinary personage with whom it made me acquainted +and his influence upon my future life, merits a particular detail which +I shall now deliver to paper.</p> +<p>It was on the 16th of May, 18-- that we left Naples at three in the +morning for the purpose of visiting the remains of the temples of Pæstum, +and having provided relays of horses we found ourselves at about half-past +one o’clock descending the hill of Eboli towards the plain which +contains these stupendous monuments of antiquity. Were my existence +to be prolonged through ten centuries, I think I could never forget +the pleasure I received on that delicious spot. We alighted from +our carriage to take some refreshment, and we reposed upon the herbage +under the shade of a magnificent pine contemplating the view around +and below us. On the right were the green hills covered with trees +stretching towards Salerno; beyond them were the marble cliffs which +form the southern extremity of the Bay of Sorento; immediately below +our feet was a rich and cultivated country filled with vineyards and +abounding in villas, in the gardens of which were seen the olive and +the cypress tree connected as if to memorialise how near to each other +are life and death, joy and sorrow; the distant mountains stretching +beyond the plain of Pæstum were in the full luxuriance of vernal +vegetation; and in the extreme distance, as if in the midst of a desert, +<!-- page 84--><a name="page84"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 84</span>we +saw the white temples glittering in the sunshine. The blue Tyrrhene +sea filled up the outline of this scene, which, though so beautiful, +was not calm; there was a heavy breeze which blew full from the southwest; +it was literally a zephyr, and its freshness and strength in the middle +of the day were peculiarly balmy and delightful; it seemed a breath +stolen by the spring from the summer. I never saw a deeper, brighter +azure than that of the waves which rolled towards the shore, and which +was rendered more striking by the pure whiteness of their foam. +The agitation of nature seemed to be one of breathing and awakening +life; the noise made by the waving of the branches of the pine above +our heads and by the rattling of its cones was overpowered by the music +of a multitude of birds which sung everywhere in the trees that surrounded +us, and the cooing of the turtle-doves was heard even more distinctly +than the murmuring of the waves or the whistling of the winds, so that +in the strife of nature the voice of love was predominant. With +our hearts touched by this extraordinary scene we descended to the ruins, +and having taken at a farmhouse a person who acted as guide or cicerone, +we began to examine those wonderful remains which have outlived even +the name of the people by whom they were raised, and which continue +almost perfect whilst a Roman and a Saracen city since raised have been +destroyed. We had been walking for half an hour round the temples +in the sunshine when our guide represented to us the danger that there +was of suffering from the effects of malaria, for which, as is well +known, this place is notorious, and advised us to retire into the interior +of the temple of Neptune. We followed <!-- page 85--><a name="page85"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 85</span>his +advice, and my companions began to employ themselves in measuring the +circumference of one of the Doric columns, when they suddenly called +my attention to a stranger who was sitting on a camp-stool behind it. +The appearance of any person in this place at this time was sufficiently +remarkable, but the man who was before us from his dress and appearance +would have been remarkable anywhere. He was employed in writing +in a memorandum book when we first saw him, but he immediately rose +and saluted us by bending the head slightly though gracefully; and this +enabled me to see distinctly his person and dress. He was rather +above the middle stature, slender, but with well-turned limbs; his countenance +was remarkably intelligent, his eye hazel but full and strong, his front +was smooth and unwrinkled, and but for some grey hairs, which appeared +silvering his brown and curly locks, he might have been supposed to +have hardly reached the middle age; his nose was aquiline, the expression +of the lower part of his countenance remarkably sweet, and when he spoke +to our guide, which he did with uncommon fluency in the Neapolitan dialect, +I thought I had never heard a more agreeable voice, sonorous yet gentle +and silver-sounded. His dress was very peculiar, almost like that +of an ecclesiastic, but coarse and light; and there was a large soiled +white hat on the ground beside him, on which was fastened a pilgrim’s +cockle shell, and there was suspended round his neck a long antique +blue enamelled phial, like those found in the Greek tombs, and it was +attached to a rosary of coarse beads. He took up his hat, and +appeared to be retiring to another part of the building, when I apologised +for <!-- page 86--><a name="page86"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 86</span>the +interruption we had given to his studies, begged him to resume them, +and assured him that our stay in the building would be only momentary, +for I saw that there was a cloud over the sun, the brightness of which +was the cause of our retiring. I spoke in Italian; he replied +in English, observing that he supposed the fear of contracting the malaria +fever had induced us to seek the shelter of the shade: but it is too +early in the season to have much reasonable fear of this insidious enemy; +yet, he added, this bottle which you may have observed here at my breast, +I carry about with me, as a supposed preventive of the effects of malaria, +and as far as my experience, a very limited one, however, has gone, +it is effectual. I ventured to ask him what the bottle might contain, +as such a benefit ought to be made known to the world. He replied, +“It is a mixture which slowly produces the substance called by +chemists chlorine, which is well known to be generally destructive to +contagious matters; and a friend of mine who has lived for many years +in Italy, and who has made a number of experiments with it, by exposing +himself to the danger of fever in the worst seasons and in the worst +places, believes that it is a secure preventive. I am not convinced +of this; but it can do no harm; and in waiting for more evidence of +its utility, I employ it without putting the least confidence in its +power; nor do I expose myself to the same danger as my friend has done +for the sake of an experiment.” I said, “I believe +several scientific persons—Brocchi amongst others—have doubted +the existence of any specific matter in the atmosphere producing intermittent +fevers in marshy countries and hot climates; and have been more disposed +<!-- page 87--><a name="page87"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 87</span>to +attribute the disease to physical causes, dependent upon the great differences +of temperature between day and night and to the refrigerating effects +of the dense fogs common in such situations in the evening and morning; +and, on this hypothesis, they have recommended warm woollen clothing +and fires at night as the best preventives against these destructive +diseases, so fatal to the peasants who remain in the summer and autumn +in the neighbourhood of the maremme of Rome, Tuscany, or Naples.” +The stranger said, “I am acquainted with the opinions of the gentlemen, +and they undoubtedly have weight; but that a specific matter of contagion +has not been detected by chemical means in the atmosphere of marshes +does not prove its non-existence. We know so little of those agents +that affect the human constitution, that it is of no use to reason on +this subject. There can be no doubt that the line of malaria above +the Pontine marshes is marked by a dense fog morning and evening, and +most of the old Roman towns were placed upon eminences out of the reach +of this fog. I have myself experienced a peculiar effect upon +the organs of smell in the neighbourhood of marshes in the evening after +a very hot day; and the instances in which people have been seized with +intermittents by a single exposure in a place infested by malaria in +the season of fevers gives, I think, a strong support to something like +a poisonous material existing in the atmosphere in such spots; but I +merely offer doubts. I hope the progress of physiology and of +chemistry will at no very distant time solve this important problem.” +Ambrosio now came forward, and bowing to the stranger, said he took +the liberty, as he saw from his familiarity with the <!-- page 88--><a name="page88"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 88</span>cicerone +that he was well acquainted with Pæstum, of asking him whether +the masses of travertine, of which the Cyclopean walls and the temples +were formed, were really produced by aqueous deposition from the River +Silaro, as he had often heard reported. The stranger replied, +“that they were certainly produced by deposition from water; and +such deposits are made by the Silaro. But I rather believe,” +he said, “that a lake in the immediate neighbourhood of the city +furnished the quarry from which these stones were excavated; and, in +half an hour, if you like, after you have finished your examinations +of the temples with your guide, I will accompany you to the spot from +which it is evident that large masses of the travertine, marmor tiburtinum, +or calcareous tufa, have been raised.” We thanked him for +his attention, accepted his invitation, took the usual walk round the +temples, and returned to our new acquaintance, who led the way through +the gate of the city to the banks of a pool or lake a short distance +off. We walked to the borders on a mass of calcareous tufa, and +we saw that this substance had even encrusted the reeds on the shore. +There was something peculiarly melancholy in the character of this water; +all the herbs around it were grey, as if encrusted with marble; a few +buffaloes were slaking their thirst in it, which ran wildly away on +our approach, and appeared to retire into a rocky excavation or quarry +at the end of the lake; there were a number of birds, which, on examination, +I found were sea swallows, flitting on the surface and busily employed +with the libella or dragon-fly in destroying the myriads of gnats which +rose from the bottom and were beginning to be very troublesome by their +bites to us. “There,” <!-- page 89--><a name="page89"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 89</span>said +the stranger, “is what I believe to be the source of those large +and durable stones which you see in the plain before you. This +water rapidly deposits calcareous matter, and even if you throw a stick +into it, a few hours is sufficient to give it a coating of this substance. +Whichever way you turn your eyes you see masses of this recently-produced +marble, the consequence of the overflowing of the lake during the winter +floods, and in that large excavation where you saw the buffaloes disappear +you may observe that immense masses have been removed, as if by the +hand of art and in remote times. The marble that remains in the +quarry is of the same texture and character as that which you see in +the ruins of Pæstum, and I think it is scarcely possible to doubt +that the builders of those extraordinary structures derived a part of +their materials from this spot.” Ambrosio gave his assent +to this opinion of the stranger; and I took the liberty of asking him +as to the quantity of calcareous matter contained in solution in the +lake, saying that it appeared to me, for so rapid and considerable an +effect of deposition, there must be an unusual quantity of solid matter +dissolved by the water or some peculiar circumstance of solution. +The stranger replied, “This water is like many, I may say most +of the sources which rise at the foot of the Apennines: it holds carbonic +acid in solution which has dissolved a portion of the calcareous matter +of the rock through which it has passed. This carbonic acid is +dissipated in the atmosphere, and the marble, slowly thrown down, assumes +a crystalline form and produces coherent stones. The lake before +us is not particularly rich in the quantity of calcareous matter that +it contains, for, as I have found by experience, <!-- page 90--><a name="page90"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 90</span>a +pint of it does not afford more than five or six grains; but the quantity +of fluid and the length of time are sufficient to account for the immense +quantities of tufa and rock which in the course of ages have accumulated +in this situation.” Onuphrio’s curiosity was excited +by this statement of the stranger, and he said, “May I take the +liberty of asking if you have any idea as to the cause of the large +quantity of carbonic acid which you have been so good as to inform us +exists in most of the waters in this country?” The stranger +replied, “I certainly have formed an opinion on this subject, +which I willingly state to you. It can, I think, be scarcely doubted +that there is a source of volcanic fire at no great distance from the +surface in the whole of southern Italy; and, this fire acting upon the +calcareous rocks of which the Apennines are composed, must constantly +detach from them carbonic acid, which rising to the sources of the springs, +deposited from the waters of the atmosphere, must give them their impregnation +and enable them to dissolve calcareous matter. I need not dwell +upon Etna, Vesuvius, or the Lipari Islands to prove that volcanic fires +are still in existence; and there can be no doubt that in earlier periods +almost the whole of Italy was ravaged by them; oven Rome itself, the +eternal city, rests upon the craters of extinct volcanoes; and I imagine +that the traditional and fabulous record of the destruction made by +the conflagration of Phæton in the chariot of the sun and his +falling into the Po had reference to a great and tremendous igneous +volcanic eruption, which extended over Italy and ceased only near the +Po at the foot of the Alps. Be this as it may, the sources of +carbonic acid are numerous, not merely in the Neapolitan, <!-- page 91--><a name="page91"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 91</span>but +likewise in the Roman and Tuscan states. The most magnificent +waterfall in Europe, that of the Velino, near Terni, is partly fed by +a stream containing calcareous matter dissolved by carbonic acid, and +it deposits marble, which crystallises even in the midst of its thundering +descent and foam in the bed in which it falls. The Anio or Teverone, +which almost approaches in beauty to the Velino in the number and variety +of its falls and cascatelle, is likewise a calcareous water; and there +is still a more remarkable one which empties itself into this river +below Tivoli, and which you have probably seen in your excursions in +the campagna of Rome, called the lacus Albula or the lake of the Solfatara.” +Ambrosio said, “We remember it well, we saw it this very spring; +we were carried there to examine some ancient Roman baths, and we were +struck by the blue milkiness of the water, by the magnitude of the source, +and by the disagreeable smell of sulphuretted hydrogen which everywhere +surrounded the lake.” The stranger said, “When you +return to Latium I advise you to pay another visit to a spot which is +interesting from a number of causes, some of which I will take the liberty +of mentioning to you. You have only seen one lake, that where +the ancient Romans erected their baths, but there is another a few yards +above it, surrounded by very high rushes, and almost hidden by them +from the sight. This lake sends down a considerable stream of +tepid water to the larger lake, but this water is less strongly impregnated +with carbonic acid; the largest lake is actually a saturated solution +of this gas, which escapes from it in such quantities in some parts +of its surface that it has the appearance of being actually in ebullition. +<!-- page 92--><a name="page92"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 92</span>I +have found by experiment that the water taken from the most tranquil +part of the lake, even after being agitated and exposed to the air, +contained in solution more than its own volume of carbonic acid gas +with a very small quantity of sulphuretted hydrogen, to the presence +of which, I conclude, its ancient use in curing cutaneous disorders +may be referred. Its temperature, I ascertained, was in the winter +in the warmest parts above 80° of Fahrenheit, and it appears to +be pretty constant, for I have found it differ a few degrees only, in +the ascending source, in January, March, May, and the beginning of June; +it is therefore supplied with heat from a subterraneous source, being +nearly twenty degrees above the mean temperature of the atmosphere. +Kircher has detailed in his “Mundus Subterraneus” various +wonders respecting this lake, most of which are unfounded, such as that +it is unfathomable, that it has at the bottom the heat of boiling water, +and that floating islands rise from the gulf which emits it. It +must certainly be very difficult, or even impossible, to fathom a source +which rises with so much violence from a subterraneous excavation, and, +at a time when chemistry had made small progress, it was easy to mistake +the disengagement of carbonic acid for an actual ebullition. The +floating islands are real, but neither the Jesuit nor any of the writers +who have since described this lake had a correct idea of their origin, +which is exceedingly curious. The high temperature of this water, +and the quantity of carbonic acid that it contains, render it peculiarly +fitted to afford a pabulum or nourishment to vegetable life. The +banks of travertine are everywhere covered with reeds, lichens, confervæ, +and various <!-- page 93--><a name="page93"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 93</span>kinds +of aquatic vegetables, and, at the same time that the process of vegetable +life is going on, the crystallisations of the calcareous matter, which +is everywhere deposited in consequence of the escape of carbonic acid, +likewise proceed, giving a constant milkiness to what, from its tint, +would otherwise be a blue fluid. So rapid is the vegetation, owing +to the decomposition of the carbonic acid, that, even in winter, masses +of confervæ and lichens, mixed with deposited travertine, are +constantly detached by the currents of water from the bank and float +down the stream, which being a considerable river is never without many +of these small islands on its surface; they are sometimes only a few +inches in size, and composed merely of dark-green confervæ or +purple or yellow lichens, but they are sometimes even of some feet in +diameter, and contain seeds and various species of common water-plants, +which are usually more or less encrusted with marble. There is, +I believe, no place in the world where there is a more striking example +of the opposition or contrast of the laws of animate and inanimate Nature, +of the forces of inorganic chemical affinity and those of the powers +of life. Vegetables in such a temperature, and everywhere surrounded +by food, are produced with a wonderful rapidity, but the crystallisations +are formed with equal quickness, and they are no sooner produced than +they are destroyed together. Notwithstanding the sulphureous exhalations +from the lake, the quantity of vegetable matter generated there and +its heat make it the resort of an infinite variety of insect tribes, +and even in the coldest days in winter numbers of flies may be observed +on the vegetables surrounding its banks or on its floating island’s, +and a <!-- page 94--><a name="page94"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 94</span>quantity +of their larvæ may be seen there sometimes encrusted and entirely +destroyed by calcareous matter, which is likewise often the fate of +the insects themselves, as well as of various species of shell-fish +that are found amongst the vegetables, which grow and are destroyed +in the travertine on its banks. Snipes, ducks, and various water-birds, +often visit those lakes, probably attracted by the temperature and the +quantity of food in which they abound; but they usually confine themselves +to the banks, as the carbonic acid disengaged from the surface would +be fatal to them if they ventured to swim upon it when tranquil. +In May, 18--, I fixed a stick on a mass of travertine covered by the +water, and I examined it in the beginning of the April following for +the purpose of determining the nature of the depositions. The +water was lower at this time, yet I had some difficulty, by means of +a sharp-pointed hammer, in breaking the mass which adhered to the bottom +of the stick; it was several inches in thickness. The upper part +was a mixture of light tufa and the leaves of confervæ; below +this was a darker and more solid travertine, containing black and decomposed +masses of confervæ; in the inferior part the travertine was more +solid and of a grey colour, but with cavities which I have no doubt +were produced by the decomposition of vegetable matter. I have +passed many hours, I may say many days, in studying the phenomena of +this wonderful lake; it has brought many trains of thought into my mind +connected with the early changes of our globe, and I have sometimes +reasoned from the forms of plants and animals preserved in marble in +this warm source to the grander depositions in the secondary rocks, +where the <!-- page 95--><a name="page95"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 95</span>zoophytes +or coral insects have worked upon a grand scale, and where palms, and +vegetables now unknown are preserved with the remains of crocodiles, +turtles, and gigantic extinct animals of the <i>sauri genus</i>, and +which appear to have belonged to a period when the whole globe possessed +a much higher temperature. I have, likewise, often been led, from +the remarkable phenomena surrounding me in that spot, to compare the +works of man with those of Nature. The baths, erected there nearly +twenty centuries ago, present only heaps of ruins, and even the bricks +of which they were built, though hardened by fire, are crumbled into +dust, whilst the masses of travertine around it, though formed by a +variable source from the most perishable materials, have hardened by +time, and the most perfect remains of the greatest ruins in the eternal +city, such as the triumphal arches and the Colosæum, owe their +duration to this source. Then, from all we know, this lake, except +in some change in its dimensions, continues nearly in the same state +in which it was described 1,700 years ago by Pliny, and I have no doubt +contains the same kinds of floating islands, the same plants, and the +same insects. During the fifteen years that I have known it it +has appeared precisely identical in these respects, and yet it has the +character of an accidental phenomenon depending upon subterraneous fire. +How marvellous then are those laws by which even the humblest types +of organic existence are preserved though born amidst the sources of +their destruction, and by which a species of immortality is given to +generations floating, as it were, like evanescent bubbles, on a stream +raised from the deepest caverns of the earth, and instantly losing what +may be <!-- page 96--><a name="page96"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 96</span>called +its spirit in the atmosphere.” These last observations of +the stranger recalled to my recollection some phenomena which I had +observed many years ago, and of which I could then give no satisfactory +explanation. I was shooting in the marshes which surround the +ruins of Gabia, and where there are still remains supposed to be of +the Alexandrine aqueduct; I observed a small insulated hill, apparently +entirely composed of travertine, and from its summit there were formations +of tufa which had evidently been produced by running water, but the +whole mass was now perfectly dry and encrusted by vegetables. +At first I suspected that this little mountain had been formed by a +jet of calcareous water, a kind of small fountain analogous to the Geiser, +which had deposited travertine and continued to rise through the basin +flowing from a higher level; but the irregular form of the eminence +did not correspond to this idea, and I remained perplexed with the fact +and unable to satisfy myself as to its cause. The views of the +stranger appeared to me now to make it probable that the calcareous +water had issued from ancient leaks in the aqueduct and formed a hillock +that had encased the bricks of the erection, which in other parts, where +not encrusted by travertine, had become entirely decayed, degraded, +and removed from the soil. I mentioned the circumstance and my +suspicion of its nature. The stranger said: “You are perfectly +correct in your idea. I know the spot well, and if you had not +mentioned it I should probably have quoted it as an instance in which +the works of art are preserved, as it were, by the accidents of Nature. +I was so struck by this appearance last year that I had the travertine +partially removed by <!-- page 97--><a name="page97"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 97</span>some +workmen, and I found beneath it the canal of the aqueduct in a perfect +state, and the bricks of the arches as uninjured as if freshly laid.” +The stranger had hardly concluded this sentence when he was interrupted +by Onuphrio, who said, “I have always supposed that in every geological +system water is considered as the cause of the destruction or degradation +of the surface, but in all the instances that you have mentioned it +appears rather as a conservative power, not destroying but rather producing.” +“It is the general vice of philosophical systems,” replied +the stranger, “that they are usually founded upon a few facts, +which they well explain, and are extended by the human fancy to all +the phenomena of Nature, to many of which they must be contradictory. +The human intellectual powers are so feeble that they can with difficulty +embrace a single series of phenomena, and they consequently must fail +when extended to the whole of Nature. Water by its common operation, +as poured down from the atmosphere in rain and torrents, tends to level +and degrade the surface, and carries the material of the land into the +bosom of the ocean. Fire, on the contrary, in volcanic eruptions +usually raises mountains, exalts the surface, and creates islands even +in the midst of the sea. But these laws are not invariable, as +the instances to which we have just referred prove, and parts of the +surface of the globe are sometimes destroyed even by fire, of which +examples may be seen in the Phlegræan fields, and islands raised +by one volcanic eruption have been immerged in the sea by another. +There are, in fact, no accidents in Nature; what we call accidents are +the results of general laws in particular operation, but we cannot deduce +these laws from <!-- page 98--><a name="page98"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 98</span>the +particular operation or the general order from the partial result.” +Ambrosio said to the stranger: “You appear, sir, to have paid +so much attention to physical phenomena that few things would give us +more pleasure than to know your opinion respecting the early changes +and physical history of the globe, for I perceive you do not belong +to the modern geological schools.” The stranger said, “I +have certainly formed opinions or rather speculations on these subjects, +but I fear they are hardly worth communicating; they have sometimes +amused me in hours of idleness, but I doubt if they will amuse others.” +I said, “The observations which you have already been so kind +as to communicate to us, on the formation of the travertine, lead us +not only to expect amusement but likewise instruction.”</p> +<p><i>The Stranger</i>.—On these matters I had facts to communicate; +on the geological scheme of the early history of the globe there are +only analogies to guide us, which different minds may apply and interpret +in different ways; but I will not trifle with a long preliminary discourse. +Astronomical deductions and actual measures by triangulation prove that +the globe is an oblate spheroid flattened at the poles, and this form +we know, by strict mathematical demonstrations, is precisely the one +which a fluid body revolving round its axis, and become solid at its +surface by the slow dissipation of its heat or other causes, would assume. +I suppose, therefore, that the globe, in the first state in which the +imagination can venture to consider it, was a fluid mass with an immense +atmosphere revolving in space round the sun, and that by its cooling +a portion of its atmosphere was condensed in water which occupied a +part of the surface. In this state no forms of life such as <!-- page 99--><a name="page99"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 99</span>now +belong to our system could have inhabited it; and, I suppose, the crystalline +rocks (or, as they are called by geologists, the primary rocks), which +contain no vestiges of a former order of things, were the results of +the first consolidation on its surface. Upon the further cooling +the water which more or less had covered it contracted, depositions +took place, shell-fish and coral insects of the first creation began +their labours, and islands appeared in the midst of the ocean raised +from the deep by the productive energies of millions of zoophytes. +Those islands became covered with vegetables fitted to bear a high temperature, +such as palms and various species of plants similar to those which now +exist in the hottest parts of the world; and the submarine rocks or +shores of these new formations of land became covered with aquatic vegetables, +on which various species of shell-fish and common fishes found their +nourishment. The fluids of the globe in cooling deposited a large +quantity of the materials they held in solution, and these deposits +agglutinating together the sand, the immense masses of coral rocks, +and some of the remains of the shells and fishes found round the shores +of the primitive lands, produced the first order of secondary rocks. +As the temperature of the globe became lower, species of the oviparous +reptiles were created to inhabit it; and the turtle, crocodile, and +various gigantic animals of the sauri kind, seem to have haunted the +bays and waters of the primitive lands. But in this state of things +there was no order of events similar to the present; the crust of the +globe was exceedingly slender, and the source of fire a small distance +from the surface. In consequence of contraction in one part of +the mass, cavities were opened, which <!-- page 100--><a name="page100"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 100</span>caused +the entrance of water, and immense volcanic explosions took place, raising +one part of the surface, depressing another, producing mountains, and +causing new and extensive depositions from the primitive ocean. +Changes of this kind must have been extremely frequent in the early +epochas of nature, and the only living forms of which the remains are +found in the strata that are the monuments of these changes, are those +of plants, fishes, birds, and oviparous reptiles, which seem most fitted +to exist in such a war of the elements. When these revolutions +became less frequent, and the globe became still more cooled, and the +inequalities of its temperature preserved by the mountain chains, more +perfect animals became its inhabitants, many of which, such as the mammoth, +megalonix, megatherium, and gigantic hyena, are now extinct. At +this period the temperature of the ocean seems to have been not much +higher than it is at present, and the changes produced by occasional +eruptions of it have left no consolidated rocks. Yet one of these +eruptions appears to have been of great extent and some duration, and +seems to have been the cause of those immense quantities of water-worn +stones, gravel and sand, which are usually called diluvian remains; +and it is probable that this effect was connected with the elevation +of a new continent in the southern hemisphere by volcanic fire. +When the system of things became so permanent that the tremendous revolutions +depending upon the destruction of the equilibrium between the heating +and cooling agencies were no longer to be dreaded, the creation of man +took place; and since that period there has been little alteration in +the physical circumstances of our globe. Volcanoes sometimes occasion +the rise of <!-- page 101--><a name="page101"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 101</span>new +islands, portions of the old continent are constantly washed by rivers +into the sea; but these changes are too insignificant to affect the +destinies of man, or the nature of the physical circumstances of things. +On the hypothesis that I have adopted, however, it must be remembered +that the present surface of the globe is merely a thin crust surrounding +a nucleus of fluid ignited matter, and consequently we can hardly be +considered as actually safe from the danger of a catastrophe by fire.</p> +<p>Onuphrio said: “From the view you have taken, I conclude that +you consider volcanic eruptions as owing to the central fire; indeed, +their existence offers, I think, an argument for believing that the +interior of the globe is fluid.” The stranger answered: +“I beg you to consider the views I have been developing as merely +hypothetical, one of the many resting places that may be taken by the +imagination in considering this subject. There are, however, distinct +facts in favour of the idea that the interior of the globe has a higher +temperature than the surface; the heat increasing in mines the deeper +we penetrate, and the number of warm sources which rise from great depths +in almost all countries, are certainly favourable to the idea. +The opinion that volcanoes are owing to this general and simple cause +is, I think, likewise more agreeable to the analogies of things than +to suppose them dependent upon partial chemical changes, such as the +action of air and water upon the combustible bases of the earths and +alkalies, though it is extremely probable that these substances may +exist beneath the surface, and may occasion some results of volcanic +fire; and on this subject my notion may, perhaps, be more trusted, as +<!-- page 102--><a name="page102"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 102</span>for +a long while I thought volcanic eruptions were owing to chemical agencies +of the newly discovered metals of the earths and alkalies, and I made +many, and some dangerous, experiments in the hope of confirming this +notion, but in vain.”</p> +<p><i>Amb</i>.—We are very much obliged to you for your geological +illustrations; but they remind me a little of some of the ideas of our +friend Philalethes in his remarkable vision, and with which we may at +some time amuse you in return for your geology should we be honoured +with more of your company. You are obliged to have recourse to +creations for all the living beings in your philosophical romance. +I do not see why you should not suppose creations or arrangements of +dead matter by the same laws of infinite wisdom, and why our globe should +not rise at once a divine work fitted for all the objects of living +and intelligent natures.</p> +<p>The stranger replied: “I have merely attempted a philosophical +history founded upon the facts known respecting rocks and strata and +the remains they contain. I begin with what may be considered +a creation, a fluid globe supplied with an immense atmosphere, and the +series of phenomena which I imagine consequent to the creation, I supposed +produced by powers impressed upon matter by Omnipotence.”</p> +<p>Ambrosio said: “There is this verisimility in your history, +that it is not contradictory to the little we are informed by Revelation +as to the origin of the globe, the order produced in the chaotic state, +and the succession of living forms generated in the days of creation, +which may be what philosophers call the ‘epochas of nature,’ +for a day with Omnipotence is as a thousand years, and a thousand years +as one day.”</p> +<p><!-- page 103--><a name="page103"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 103</span>“I +must object,” Onuphrio said, “to your interpretation of +the scientific view of our new acquaintance, and to your disposition +to blend them with the cosmogony of Moses. Allowing the divine +origin of the Book of Genesis, you must admit that it was not intended +to teach the Jews systems of philosophy, but the laws of life and morals; +and a great man and an exalted Christian raised his voice two centuries +ago against this mode of applying and of often wresting the sense of +the Scriptures to make them conformable to human fancies; ‘from +which,’ says Lord Bacon, ‘arise not only false and fantastical +philosophies, but likewise heretical religions.’ If the +Scriptures are to be literally interpreted and systems of science found +in them, Gallileo Gallilei merited his persecution, and we ought still +to believe that the sun turns round the earth.”</p> +<p><i>Amb</i>.—You mistake my view, Onuphrio, if you imagine I +am desirous of raising a system of geology on the Book of Genesis. +It cannot be doubted that the first man was created with a great variety +of instinctive or inspired knowledge, which must have been likewise +enjoyed by his descendants; and some of this knowledge could hardly +fail to have related to the globe which he inhabited, and to the objects +which surrounded him. It would have been impossible for the human +mind to have embraced the mysteries of creation, or to have followed +the history of the moving atoms from their chaotic disorder into their +arrangement in the visible universe, to have seen dead matter assuming +the forms of life and animation, and light and power arising out of +death and sleep. The ideas therefore transmitted to or presented +by Moses <!-- page 104--><a name="page104"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 104</span>respecting +the origin of the world and of man were of the most simple kind, and +such as suited the early state of society; but, though general and simple +truths, they were divine truths, yet clothed in a language and suited +to the ideas of a rude and uninstructed people. And, when I state +my satisfaction in finding that they are not contradicted by the refined +researches of modern geologists, I do not mean to deduce from them a +system of science. I believe that light was the creation of an +act of the Divine will; but I do not mean to say that the words, “Let +there be light, and there was light,” were orally spoken by the +Deity, nor do I mean to imply that the modern discoveries respecting +light are at all connected with this sublime and magnificent passage.</p> +<p><i>Onu</i>.—Having resided for a long time in Edinburgh, and +having heard a number of discussions on the theory of Dr. Hutton, or +the plutonic theory of geology, and having been exceedingly struck both +by its simplicity and beauty, its harmony with existing facts, and the +proofs afforded to it by some beautiful chemical experiments, I do not +feel disposed immediately to renounce it for the views which I have +just heard explained; for the principal facts which our new acquaintance +has stated are, I think, not inconsistent with the refined philosophical +systems of Professor Playfair and Sir James Hall.</p> +<p><i>The Unknown</i>.—I have no objection to the refined plutonic +view, as capable of explaining many existing phenomena; indeed, you +must be aware that I have myself had recourse to it. What I contend +against is, its application to explain the formations of the secondary +rocks, which I think clearly belong to an <!-- page 105--><a name="page105"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 105</span>order +of facts not at all embraced by it. In the plutonic system there +is one simple and constant order assumed, which may be supposed eternal. +The surface is constantly imagined to be disintegrated, destroyed, degraded, +and washed into the bosom of the ocean by water, and as constantly consolidated, +elevated, and regenerated by fire, and the ruins of the old form the +foundations of the new world. It is supposed that there are always +the same types, both of dead and living matter; that the remains of +rocks, of vegetables, and animals of one age are found embedded in rocks +raised from the bottom of the ocean in another. Now, to support +this view, not only the remains of living beings which at present people +the globe might be expected to be found in the oldest secondary strata, +but even those of the arts of man, the most powerful and populous of +its inhabitants, which is well known not to be the case. On the +contrary, each stratum of the secondary rocks contains remains of peculiar +and mostly now unknown species of vegetables and animals. In those +strata which are deepest, and which must consequently be supposed to +be the earliest deposited, forms even of vegetable life are rare; shells +and vegetable remains are found in the next order; the bones of fishes +and oviparous reptiles exist in the following class; the remains of +birds, with those of the same genera mentioned before, in the next order; +those of quadrupeds of extinct species, in a still more recent class; +and it is only in the loose and slightly consolidated strata of gravel +and sand, and which are usually called diluvian formations, that the +remains of animals such as now people the globe are found, with others +belonging to extinct species. But in none of <!-- page 106--><a name="page106"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 106</span>these +formations, whether called secondary, tertiary, or diluvial, have the +remains of man or any of his works been discovered. It is, I think, +impossible to consider the organic remains found in any of the earlier +secondary strata, the lias-limestone and its congenerous formations +for instance, without being convinced that the beings, whose organs +they formed, belonged to an order of things entirely different from +the present. Gigantic vegetables, more nearly allied to the palms +of the equatorial countries than to any other plants, can only be imagined +to have lived in a very high temperature; and the immense reptiles, +the megalosauri with paddles instead of legs and clothed in mail, in +size equal or even superior to the whale; and the great amphibia, plethiosauri, +with bodies like turtles, but furnished with necks longer than their +bodies, probably to enable them to feed on vegetables growing in the +shallows of the primitive ocean, seem to show a state in which low lands +or extensive shores rose above an immense calm sea, and when there were +no great mountain, chains to produce inequalities of temperature, tempests, +or storms. Were the surface of the earth now to be carried down +into the depths of the ocean, or were some great revolution of the waters +to cover the existing land, and it was again to be elevated by fire, +covered with consolidated depositions of sand or mud, how entirely different +would it be in its characters from any of the secondary strata. +Its great features would undoubtedly be the works of man—hewn +stones, and statues of bronze and marble, and tools of iron—and +human remains would be more common than those of animals on the greatest +part of the surface; the columns of Pæstum or of Agrigentum, or +the immense <!-- page 107--><a name="page107"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 107</span>iron +and granite bridges of the Thames, would offer a striking contrast to +the bones of the crocodiles or sauri in the older rocks, or even to +those of the mammoth or elephas primogenius in the diluvial strata. +And whoever dwells upon this subject must be convinced that the present +order of things, and the comparatively recent existence of man as the +master of the globe, is as certain as the destruction of a former and +a different order and the extinction of a number of living forms which +have now no types in being, and which have left their remains wonderful +monuments of the revolutions of Nature.</p> +<p><i>Onu</i>.—I am not quite convinced by your arguments. +Supposing the lands of New Holland were to be washed into the depths +of the ocean, and to be raised according to the Huttonian view, as a +secondary stratum, by subterraneous fire, they would contain the remains +of both vegetables and animals entirely different from any found in +the strata of the old continents; and may not those peculiar formations +to which you have referred be, as it were, accidents of Nature belonging +to peculiar parts of the globe? And you speak of a diluvian formation, +which I conclude you would identify with that belonging to the catastrophe +described in the sacred writings, in which no human remains are found. +Now, you surely will not deny that man existed at the time of this catastrophe, +and he consequently may have existed at the period of the other revolutions, +which are supposed to be produced in the Huttonian views by subterraneous +fire.</p> +<p><i>The Unknown</i>.—I have made use of the term “diluvian,” +because it has been adopted by geologists, but without meaning to identify +the cause of the formations with <!-- page 108--><a name="page108"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 108</span>the +deluge described in the sacred writings. I apply the term merely +to signify loose and water-worn strata not at all consolidated, and +deposited by an inundation of water, and in these countries which they +have covered man certainly did not exist. With respect to your +argument derived from New Holland, it appears to me to be without weight. +In a variety of climates, and in very distant parts of the globe, secondary +strata of the same order are found, and they contain always the same +kind of organic remains, which are entirely different from any of those +now afforded by beings belonging to the existing order of things. +The catastrophes which produced the secondary strata and diluvian depositions +could not have been local and partial phenomena, but must have extended +over the whole, or a great part of the surface, of the globe. +The remains of similar shell-fishes are found in the limestones of the +old and new continents; the teeth of the mammoth are not uncommon in +various parts of Europe; entire skeletons have been found in America, +and even the skin covered with hair and the entire body of one of these +enormous extinct animals has been discovered in Siberia preserved in +a mass of ice. In the oldest secondary strata there are no remains +of such animals as now belong to the surface; and in the rocks which +may be regarded as more recently deposited, these remains occur but +rarely, and with abundance of extinct species. There seems, as +it were, a gradual approach to the present system of things, and a succession +of destructions and creations preparatory to the existence of man. +It will be useless to push these arguments farther. You must allow +that it is impossible to defend the proposition, that the present order +of things <!-- page 109--><a name="page109"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 109</span>is +the ancient and constant order of Nature, only modified by existing +laws, and, consequently, the view which you have supported must be abandoned. +The monuments of extinct generations of animals are as perfect as those +of extinct nations; and it would be more reasonable to suppose that +the pillars and temples of Palmyra were raised by the wandering Arabs +of the desert, than to imagine that the vestiges of peculiar animated +forms in the strata beneath the surface belonged to the early and infant +families of the beings that at present inhabit it.</p> +<p><i>Onu</i>.—I am convinced. I shall push my arguments +no further, for I will not support the sophisms of that school which +supposes that living nature has undergone gradual changes by the effects +of its irritabilities and appetencies; that the fish has in millions +of generations ripened into the quadruped, and the quadruped into the +man; and that the system of life by its own inherent powers has fitted +itself to the physical changes in the system of the universe. +To this absurd, vague, atheistical doctrine, I prefer even the dream +of plastic powers, or that other more modern dream, that the secondary +strata were created, filled with remains, as it were, of animal life, +to confound the speculations of our geological reasoners.</p> +<p><i>The Unknown</i>.—I am glad you have not retreated into the +desert and defenceless wilderness of scepticism, or of false and feeble +philosophy. I should not have thought it worth my while to have +followed you there; I should as soon think of arguing with the peasant +who informs me that the basaltic columns of Antrim or of Staffa were +the works of human art and raised by the giant Finmacoul.</p> +<p><!-- page 110--><a name="page110"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 110</span>At +this moment, one of our servants came to inform me that a dinner which +had been preparing for us at the farmhouse was ready; we asked the stranger +to do us the honour to partake of our repast; he assented, and the following +conversation took place at table.</p> +<p><i>Phil</i>.—In reflecting upon our discussions this morning, +I cannot help being a little surprised at their nature; we have been +talking only of geological systems, when a more natural subject for +our conversation would have been these magnificent temples, and an inquiry +into the race by whom they were raised and the gods to whom they wore +dedicated. We are now treading on a spot which contains the bones +of a highly civilised and powerful people; yet we are almost ignorant +of the names they bore, and the period of their greatness is lost in +the obscurity of time.</p> +<p><i>Amb</i>.—There can be no doubt that the early inhabitants +of this city were Grecians and a maritime and commercial people; they +have been supposed to belong to the Sybarite race, and the roses producing +flowers twice a year in the spring and autumn in ancient times here, +might sanction the idea that this balmy spot was chosen by a colony +who carried luxury and refinement to the highest pitch.</p> +<p><i>Onu</i>.—To attempt to form any opinion with respect to +the people that anciently inhabited these now deserted plains is useless +and a vain labour. In the geological conversation which took place +before dinner, some series of interesting facts were presented to us; +and the monuments of Nature, though they do not speak a distinct language, +yet speak an intelligible one; but with respect to Pæstum, there +is neither history nor tradition to guide us; and we shall do wisely +to resume <!-- page 111--><a name="page111"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 111</span>our +philosophical inquiries, if we have not already exhausted the patience +of our new guest by doubts or objections to his views.</p> +<p><i>The Stranger</i>.—One of you referred in our conversation +this morning to a vision, which had some relation to the subject of +our discussion, and I was promised some information on this matter.</p> +<p>I immediately gave a sketch of my vision, and of the opinions which +had been expressed by Ambrosio on the early history of man, and the +termination of our discussions on religion.</p> +<p><i>The Stranger</i>.—I agree with Ambrosio in opinion on the +subjects you have just mentioned. In my youth, I was a sceptic; +and this I believe is usually the case with young persons given to general +and discursive reading, and accustomed to adopt something like a mathematical +form in their reasonings; and it was in considering the nature of the +intellectual faculties of brutes, as compared with those of man, and +in examining the nature of instinctive powers, that I became a believer. +After I had formed the idea that Revelation was to man in the place +of an instinct, my faith constantly became stronger; and it was exalted +by many circumstances I had occasion to witness in a journey that I +made through Egypt and a part of Asia Minor, and by no one more than +by a very remarkable dream which occurred to me in Palestine, and which, +as we are now almost at the hour of the siesta, I will relate to you, +though perhaps you will be asleep before I have finished it. I +was walking along that deserted shore which contains the ruins of Ptolemais, +one of the most ancient ports of Judæa. It was evening; +the sun was sinking in the sea; I seated myself on a rock, <!-- page 112--><a name="page112"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 112</span>lost +in melancholy contemplations on the destinies of a spot once so famous +in the history of man. The calm Mediterranean, bright in the glowing +light of the west, was the only object before me. “These +waves,” I said to myself, “once bore the ships of the monarch +of Jerusalem which were freighted with the riches of the East to adorn +and honour the sanctuary of Jehovah; here are now no remains of greatness +or of commerce; a few red stones and broken bricks only mark what might +have been once a flourishing port, and the citadel above, raised by +the Saracens, is filled with Turkish soldiers.” The janissary, +who was my guide, and my servant, were preparing some food for me in +a tent which had been raised for the purpose, and whilst waiting for +their summons to my repast, I continued my reveries, which must gradually +have ended in slumber. I saw a man approaching towards me, whom, +at first, I took for my janissary, but as he came nearer I found a very +different figure. He was a very old man with a beard as white +as snow; his countenance was dark but paler than that of an Arab, and +his features stern, wild, and with a peculiar savage expression; his +form was gigantic, but his arms were withered and there was a large +scar on the left side of his face which seemed to have deprived him +of an eye. He wore a black turban and black flowing robes, and +there was a large chain round his waist which clanked as he moved. +It occurred to me that he was one of the santons or sacred madmen so +common in the East, and I retired as he approached towards me. +He called out: “Fly not, stranger; fear me not, I will not harm +you. You shall hear my story, it may be useful to you.” +He spoke in Arabic but in a peculiar dialect and to me <!-- page 113--><a name="page113"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 113</span>new, +yet I understood every word. “You see before you,” +he said, “a man who was educated a Christian, but who renounced +the worship of the one supreme God for the superstitions of the pagans. +I became an apostate in the reign of the Emperor Julian, and I was employed +by that Sovereign to superintend the re-erection of the temple of Jerusalem, +by which it was intended to belie the prophecies and give the deathblow +to the holy religion. History has informed you of the result: +my assistants were most of them destroyed in a tremendous storm, I was +blasted by lightning from heaven (he raised his withered hand to his +face and eye), but suffered to live and expiate my crime in the flesh. +My life has been spent in constant and severe penance, and in that suffering +of the spirit produced by guilt, and is to be continued as long as any +part of the temple of Jupiter, in which I renounced my faith, remains +in this place. I have lived through fifteen tedious centuries, +but I trust in the mercies of Omnipotence, and I hope my atonement is +completed. I now stand in the dust of the pagan temple. +You have just thrown the last fragment of it over the rock. My +time is arrived, I come!” As he spake the last words, he +rushed towards the sea, threw himself from the rock and disappeared. +I heard no struggling, and saw nothing but a gleam of light from the +wave that closed above him. I was now roused by the cries of my +servant and of the janissary, who were shaking my arm, and who informed +me that my sleep was so sound that they were alarmed for me. When +I looked on the sea, there was the same light, and I seemed to see the +very spot in the wave where the old man had sunk. I was so struck +by the vision, that I asked if they had <!-- page 114--><a name="page114"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 114</span>not +seen something dash into the wave, and if they had not heard somebody +speaking to me as they arrived. Of course their answers were negative. +In passing through Jerusalem and in coasting the Dead Sea I had been +exceedingly struck by the present state of Judæa and the conformity +of the fate of the Jewish nation to the predictions of our Saviour; +I had likewise been reading Gibbon’s eulogy of Julian, and his +account of the attempts made by that Emperor to rebuild the temple: +so that the dream at such a time and in such a place was not an unnatural +occurrence. Yet it was so vivid, and the image of the subject +of it so peculiar, that it long affected my imagination, and whenever +I recurred to it, strengthened my faith.</p> +<p><i>Onu</i>.—I believe all the narratives of apparitions and +ghost stories are founded upon dreams of the same kind as that which +occurred to you: an ideal representation of events in the local situation, +in which the person is at the moment, and when the imaginary picture +of the place in sleep exactly coincides with its reality in waking.</p> +<p><i>The Stranger</i>.—I agree with you in your opinion. +If my servant had not been with me, and my dream had been a little less +improbable, it would have been difficult to have persuaded me that I +had not been visited by an apparition.</p> +<p>I mentioned the dream of Brutus, and said, “His supposed evil +genius appeared in his tent; had the philosophical hero dreamt that +his genius had appeared to him in Rome, there could have been no delusion.” +I cited the similar vision, recorded of Dion before his death, by Plutarch, +of a gigantic female, one of the fates or furies, who was supposed to +have been seen <!-- page 115--><a name="page115"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 115</span>by +him when reposing in the portico of his palace. I referred likewise +to my own vision of the beautiful female, the guardian angel of my recovery, +who always seemed to me to be present at my bedside.</p> +<p><i>Amb</i>.—In confirmation of this opinion of Onuphrio, I +can mention many instances. I once dreamt that my door had been +forced, that there were robbers in my room, and that one of them was +actually putting his hand before my mouth to ascertain if I was sleeping +naturally. I awoke at this moment, and was some minutes before +I could be sure whether it was a dream or a reality. I felt the +pressure of the bedclothes on my lips, and still in the fear of being +murdered continued to keep my eyes closed and to breathe slowly, till, +hearing nothing and finding no motion, I ventured to open my eyes; but +even then, when I saw nothing, I was not sure that my impression was +a dream till I had risen from my bed and ascertained that the door was +still locked.</p> +<p><i>Onu</i>.—I am the only one of the party unable to record +any dreams of the vivid and peculiar nature you mention from my own +experience; I conclude it is owing to the dulness of my imagination. +I suppose the more intense power of reverie is a symptom of the poetical +temperament; and perhaps, if I possessed more enthusiasm, I should always +have possessed more of the religious instinct. To adopt the idea +of Philalethes of hereditary character, I fear my forefathers have not +been correct in their faith.</p> +<p><i>Amb</i>.—Your glory will be greater in establishing a new +character, and I trust even the conversation of this day has given you +an additional reason to adopt <i>our</i> faith.</p> +<p><!-- page 116--><a name="page116"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 116</span>Ambrosio +spoke these words with an earnestness unusual in him, and with something +of a tone which marked a zeal for proselytism, and at the same time +he cast his eyes on the rosary which was suspended round the neck of +the stranger, and said, “I hope I am not indiscreet in saying +<i>our</i> faith.”</p> +<p><i>The Stranger</i>.—I was educated in the ritual of the church +of England; I belong to the Church of Christ; the rosary which you see +suspended round my neck is a memorial of sympathy and respect for an +illustrious man. I will, if you will allow me, give you the history +of it, which, I think from the circumstances with which it is connected, +you will not find devoid of interest. I was passing through France +in the reign of Napoleon, by the peculiar privilege granted to a sçavan, +on my road into Italy. I had just returned from the Holy Land, +and had in my possession two or three of the rosaries which are sold +to pilgrims at Jerusalem as having been suspended in the Holy Sepulchre. +Pius VII. was then in imprisonment at Fontainebleau. By a special +favour, on the plea of my return from the Holy Land, I obtained permission +to see this venerable and illustrious Pontiff. I carried with +me one of my rosaries. He received me with great kindness. +I tendered my services to execute any commissions, not political ones, +he might think fit to entrust me with in Italy, informing him that I +was an Englishman. He expressed his thanks, but declined troubling +me. I told him I was just returned from the Holy Land, and bowing +with great humility, offered to him my rosary from the Holy Sepulchre. +He received it with a smile, touched it with his lips, <!-- page 117--><a name="page117"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 117</span>gave +his benediction over it, and returned it into my hands, supposing, of +course, that I was a Roman Catholic. I had meant to present it +to his Holiness, but the blessing he had bestowed upon it and the touch +of his lips, made it a precious relic to me and I restored it to my +neck, round which it has ever since been suspended. He asked me +some unimportant questions respecting the state of the Christians at +Jerusalem; and on a sudden, turned the subject, much to my surprise, +to the destruction of the French in Russia, and in an exceedingly low +tone of voice, as if afraid of being overheard, he said, “The +<i>nefas</i> has long been triumphant over the <i>fas</i>, but I do +not doubt that the balance of things is even now restoring; that God +will vindicate his Church, clear his polluted altars, and establish +society upon its permanent basis of justice and faith. We shall +meet again. Adieu!” and he gave me his paternal blessing. +It was eighteen months after this interview, that I went out with almost +the whole population of Rome, to receive and welcome the triumphal entry +of this illustrious father of the Church into his capital. He +was borne on the shoulders of the most distinguished artists, headed +by Canova; and never shall I forget the enthusiasm with which he was +received—it is impossible to describe the shouts of triumph and +of rapture sent up to heaven by every voice. And when he gave +his benediction to the people, there was an universal prostration, a +sobbing and marks of emotions of joy almost like the bursting of the +heart. I heard, everywhere around me, cries of “The holy +Father! The most holy Father! His restoration is the work +of God!” I saw tears streaming from the eyes of almost all +the women <!-- page 118--><a name="page118"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 118</span>about +me, many of them were sobbing hysterically, and old men were weeping +as if they had been children. I pressed my rosary to my breast +on this occasion, and repeatedly touched with my lips that part of it +which had received the kiss of the most venerable Pontiff. I preserve +it with a kind of hallowed feeling, as the memorial of a man whose sanctity, +firmness, meekness and benevolence are an honour to his Church and to +human nature; and it has not only been useful to me, by its influence +upon my own mind, but it has enabled me to give pleasure to others, +and has, I believe, been sometimes beneficial in insuring my personal +safety. I have often gratified the peasants of Apulia and Calabria +by presenting them to kiss a rosary from the Holy Sepulchre which had +been hallowed by the touch of the lips and benediction of the Pope; +and it has been even respected by and procured me a safe passage through +a party of brigands who once stopped me in the passes of the Apennines.</p> +<p><i>Onu</i>.—The use you have made of this relic puts me in +mind of a device of a very ingenious geological philosopher now living. +He was on Etna and busily employed in making a collection of the lavas +formed from the igneous currents of that mountain; the peasants were +often troublesome to him, suspecting that he was searching for treasures. +It occurred to him to make the following speech to them: “I have +been a great sinner in my youth and, as a penance, I have made a vow +to carry away with me pieces of every kind of stone found upon the mountain; +permit me quietly to perform my pious duty, that I may receive absolution +for my sins.” The speech produced the <!-- page 119--><a name="page119"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 119</span>desired +effect; the peasants shouted, “The holy man! The saint!” +and gave him every assistance in their power to enable him to carry +off his burthen, and he made his ample collections with the utmost security +and in the most agreeable manner.</p> +<p><i>The Stranger</i>.—I do not approve of pious frauds even +for philosophical purposes; my rosary excited in others the same kind +of feeling which it excited in my own bosom, and which I hold to be +perfectly justifiable, and of which I shall never be ashamed.</p> +<p><i>Amb</i>.—You must have travelled in Italy in very dangerous +times; have you always been secure?</p> +<p><i>The Stranger</i>.—Always; I have owed my security, partly, +as I have said, to my rosary, but more to my dress and my acquaintance +with the dialect of the natives. I have always carried with me +a peasant as a guide, who has been intrusted with the small sums of +money I wanted for my immediate purposes, and my baggage has been little +more than a Cynic philosopher would have carried with him; and when +I have been unable to walk, I have trusted myself to the conduct of +a vetturino, a native of the province, with his single mule and caratella.</p> +<p>The sun was now setting and the temple of Neptune was glowing with +its last purple rays. We were informed that our horses were waiting, +and that it was time for us to depart to our lodgings at Eboli. +I asked the stranger to be our companion and to do us the honour to +accept of a seat in our carriage. He declined the invitation, +and said: “My bed is prepared in the casina here for this night, +and to-morrow I proceed on a journey connected with scientific objects +in the parts of Calabria the scene of the terrible earthquakes of <!-- page 120--><a name="page120"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 120</span>1783.” +I held out my hand to him in parting; he gave it a strong and warm pressure, +and said, “Adieu! we shall meet again.”</p> +<h2>DIALOGUE THE FOURTH. THE PROTEUS, OR IMMORTALITY.</h2> +<p>The impression made upon my mind by the stranger with whom we became +acquainted at Pæstum was of the strongest and most extraordinary +kind. The memory of his person, his dress, his manners, the accents +of his voice, and the tone of his philosophy, for a long while haunted +my imagination in a most unaccountable manner, and even formed a part +of my dreams. It often occurred to me that this was not the first +time that I had seen him; and I endeavoured, but in vain, to find some +type or image of him in former scenes of my life. I continually +made inquiries respecting him amongst my acquaintance, but I could never +be sure that any of them knew him, or even had seen him. So great +were his peculiarities, that he must have escaped observation altogether; +for, had he entered the world at all, he must have made some noise in +it. I expressed so much interest on this subject, that at last +it became a source of ridicule amongst my acquaintance, who often asked +me if I had not yet obtained news of my spirit-friend or ghost-seer.</p> +<p>After my return from Naples to Rome, I was almost immediately recalled +to England by a melancholy event—the death of a very near and +dear relation—and I left my two friends, Ambrosio and Onuphrio, +to pursue their travels, which were intended to be of some extent and +duration.</p> +<p><!-- page 121--><a name="page121"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 121</span>In +my youth, and through the prime of manhood, I never entered London without +feelings of pleasure and hope. It was to me as the grand theatre +of intellectual activity, the field of every species of enterprise and +exertion, the metropolis of the world of business, thought, and action. +There I was sure to find the friends and companions of my youth, to +hear the voice of encouragement and praise. There, society of +the most refined kind offered daily its banquets to the mind with such +variety that satiety had no place in them, and new objects of interest +and ambition were constantly exciting attention either in politics, +literature, or science.</p> +<p>I now entered this great city in a very different tone of mind—one +of settled melancholy; not merely produced by the mournful event which +recalled me to my country, but owing, likewise, to an entire change +in the condition of my physical, moral, and intellectual being. +My health was gone, my ambition was satisfied, I was no longer excited +by the desire of distinction; what I regarded most tenderly was in the +grave, and, to take a metaphor derived from the change produced by time +in the juice of the grape, my cup of life was no longer sparkling, sweet, +and effervescent;—it had lost its sweetness without losing its +power, and it had become bitter.</p> +<p>After passing a few months in England and enjoying (as much as I +could enjoy anything) the society of the few friends who still remained +alive, the desire of travel again seized me. I had preserved amidst +the wreck of time one feeling strong and unbroken: the love of natural +scenery; and this, in advanced life, formed a principal motive for my +plans of conduct and <!-- page 122--><a name="page122"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 122</span>action. +Of all the climates of Europe, England seems to me most fitted for the +activity of the mind, and the least suited to repose. The alterations +of a climate so various and rapid continually awake new sensations; +and the changes in the sky from dryness to moisture, from the blue ethereal +to cloudiness and fogs, seem to keep the nervous system in a constant +state of disturbance. In the mild climate of Nice, Naples, or +Sicily, where even in winter it is possible to enjoy the warmth of the +sunshine in the open air, beneath palm trees or amidst evergreen groves +of orange trees covered with odorous fruit and sweet-scented leaves, +mere existence is a pleasure, and even the pains of disease are sometimes +forgotten amidst the balmy influence of nature, and a series of agreeable +and uninterrupted sensations invite to repose and oblivion. But +in the changeful and tumultuous atmosphere of England, to be tranquil +is a labour, and employment is necessary to ward off the attacks of +ennui. The English as a nation is pre-eminently active, and the +natives of no other country follow their objects with so much force, +fire, and constancy. And, as human powers are limited, there are +few examples of very distinguished men living in this country to old +age: they usually fail, droop, and die before they have attained the +period naturally marked for the end of human existence. The lives +of our statesmen, warriors, poets, and even philosophers offer abundant +proofs of the truth of this opinion; whatever burns, consumes—ashes +remain. Before the period of youth is passed, grey hairs usually +cover those brows which are adorned with the civic oak or the laurel; +and in the luxurious and exciting life of the man of pleasure, their +tints are not even preserved by <!-- page 123--><a name="page123"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 123</span>the +myrtle wreath or the garland of roses from the premature winter of time.</p> +<p>In selecting the scenes for my new journey I was guided by my former +experience. I know no country more beautiful than that which may +be called the Alpine country of Austria, including the Alps of the southern +Tyrol, those of Illyria, the Noric and the Julian Alps, and the Alps +of Styria and Salzburg. The variety of the scenery, the verdure +of the meadows and trees, the depths of the valleys, the altitude of +the mountains, the clearness and grandeur of the rivers and lakes give +it, I think, a decided superiority over Switzerland; and the people +are far more agreeable. Various in their costumes and manners, +Illyrians, Italians, or Germans, they have all the same simplicity of +character, and are all distinguished by their love of their country, +their devotion to their sovereign, the warmth and purity of their faith, +their honesty, and (with very few exceptions) I may say their great +civility and courtesy to strangers.</p> +<p>In the prime of life I had visited this region in a society which +afforded me the pleasures of intellectual friendship and the delights +of refined affection; later I had left the burning summer of Italy and +the violence of an unhealthy passion, and had found coolness, shade, +repose, and tranquillity there; in a still more advanced period I had +sought for and found consolation, and partly recovered my health after +a dangerous illness, the consequence of labour and mental agitation; +there I had found the spirit of my early vision. I was desirous, +therefore, of again passing some time in these scenes in the hope of +re-establishing a broken constitution; and though this hope was a feeble +one, yet at <!-- page 124--><a name="page124"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 124</span>least +I expected to spend a few of the last days of life more tranquilly and +more agreeably than in the metropolis of my own country. Nature +never deceives us. The rocks, the mountains, the streams always +speak the same language. A shower of snow may hide the verdant +woods in spring, a thunderstorm may render the blue limpid streams foul +and turbulent; but these effects are rare and transient: in a few hours +or at least days all the sources of beauty are renovated. And +Nature affords no continued trains of misfortunes and miseries, such +as depend upon the constitution of humanity; no hopes for ever blighted +in the bud; no beings full of life, beauty, and promise taken from us +in the prime of youth. Her fruits are all balmy, bright, and sweet; +she affords none of those blighted ones so common in the life of man +and so like the fabled apples of the Dead Sea—fresh and beautiful +to the sight, but when tasted full of bitterness and ashes. I +have already mentioned the strong effect produced on my mind by the +stranger whom I had met so accidentally at Pæstum; the hope of +seeing him again was another of my motives for wishing to leave England, +and (why, I know not) I had a decided presentiment that I was more likely +to meet him in the Austrian states than in England, his own country.</p> +<p>For this journey I had one companion, an early friend and medical +adviser. He had lived much in the world, had acquired a considerable +fortune, had given up his profession, was now retired, and sought, like +myself, in this journey repose of mind and the pleasures derived from +natural scenery. He was a man of a very powerful and acute understanding, +but had less of the poetical temperament than any person whom I had +ever <!-- page 125--><a name="page125"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 125</span>known +with similar vivacity of mind. He was a severe thinker, with great +variety of information, an excellent physiologist, and an accomplished +naturalist. In his reasonings he adopted the precision of a geometer, +and was always upon his guard against the influence of imagination. +He had passed the meridian of life, and his health was weak, like my +own, so that we were well suited as travelling companions, moving always +slowly from place to place without hurry or fatigue. I shall call +this friend Eubathes. I will say nothing of the progress of our +journey through France and Germany; I shall dwell only upon that part +of it which has still a strong interest for me, and where events occurred +that I shall never forget. We passed into the Alpine country of +Austria by Lintz, on the Danube, and followed the course of the Traun +to Gmünden, on the Traun See or lake of the Traun, where we halted +for some days. If I were disposed to indulge in minute picturesque +descriptions I might occupy hours with details of the various characters +of the enchanting scenery in this neighbourhood. The vales have +that pastoral beauty and constant verdure which is so familiar to us +in England, with similar enclosures and hedge-rows and fruit and forest +trees. Above are noble hills planted with beeches and oaks. +Mountains bound the view, here covered with pines and larches, there +raising their marble crests capped with eternal snows above the clouds. +The lower part of the Traun See is always, even in the most rainy season, +perfectly pellucid; and the Traun pours out of it over ledges of rocks +a large and magnificent river, beautifully clear and of the purest tint +of the beryl. The fall of the Traun, about ten miles below Gmünden, +was one of our <!-- page 126--><a name="page126"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 126</span>favourite +haunts. It is a cataract which, when the river is full, may be +almost compared to that of Schaffhausen for magnitude, and possesses +the same peculiar characters of grandeur in the precipitous rush of +its awful and overpowering waters, and of beauty in the tints of its +streams and foam, and in the forms of the rocks over which it falls, +and the cliffs and woods by which it is overhung. In this spot +an accident, which had nearly been fatal to me, occasioned the renewal +of my acquaintance in an extraordinary manner with the mysterious unknown +stranger. Eubathes, who was very fond of fly-fishing, was amusing +himself by catching graylings for our dinner in the stream above the +fall. I took one of the boats which are used for descending the +canal or lock artificially cut in the rock by the side of the fall, +on which salt and wood are usually transported from Upper Austria to +the Danube; and I desired two of the peasants to assist my servant in +permitting the boat to descend by a rope to the level of the river below. +My intention was to amuse myself by this rapid species of locomotion +along the descending sluice. For some moments the boat glided +gently along the smooth current, and I enjoyed the beauty of the moving +scene around me, and had my eye fixed upon the bright rainbow seen upon +the spray of the cataract above my head; when I was suddenly roused +by a shout of alarm from my servant, and, looking round, I saw that +the piece of wood to which the rope had been attached had given way, +and the boat was floating down the river at the mercy of the stream. +I was not at first alarmed, for I saw that my assistants were procuring +long poles with which it appeared easy to arrest the boat before it +entered the rapidly descending <!-- page 127--><a name="page127"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 127</span>water +of the sluice, and I called out to them to use their united force to +reach the longest pole across the water that I might be able to catch +the end of it in my hand. And at this moment I felt perfect security; +but a breeze of wind suddenly came down the valley and blew from the +nearest bank, the boat was turned by it out of the side current and +thrown nearer to the middle of the river, and I soon saw that I was +likely to be precipitated over the cataract. My servant and the +boatmen rushed into the water, but it was too deep to enable them to +reach the boat; I was soon in the white water of the descending stream, +and my danger was inevitable. I had presence of mind enough to +consider whether my chance of safety would be greater by throwing myself +out of the boat or by remaining in it, and I preferred the latter expedient. +I looked from the rainbow upon the bright sun above my head, as if taking +leave for ever of that glorious luminary; I raised one pious aspiration +to the divine source of light and life; I was immediately stunned by +the thunder of the fall, and my eyes were closed in darkness. +How long I remained insensible I know not. My first recollections +after this accident were of a bright light shining above me, of warmth +and pressure in different parts of my body, and of the noise of the +rushing cataract sounding in my ears. I seemed awakened by the +light from a sound sleep, and endeavoured to recall my scattered thoughts, +but in vain; I soon fell again into slumber. From this second +sleep I was awakened by a voice which seemed not altogether unknown +to me, and looking upwards I saw the bright eye and noble countenance +of the Unknown Stranger whom I had met at Pæstum. I faintly +articulated: “I <!-- page 128--><a name="page128"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 128</span>am +in another world.” “No,” said the stranger, +“you are safe in this; you are a little bruised by your fall, +but you will soon be well; be tranquil and compose yourself. Your +friend is here, and you will want no other assistance than he can easily +give you.” He then took one of my hands, and I recognised +the same strong and warm pressure which I had felt from his parting +salute at Pæstum. Eubathes, whom I now saw with an expression +of joy and of warmth unusual to him, gave a hearty shake to the other +hand, and they both said, “You must repose a few hours longer.” +After a sound sleep till the evening, I was able to take some refreshment, +and found little inconvenience from the accident except some bruises +on the lower part of the body and a slight swimming in the head. +The next day I was able to return to Gmünden, where I learnt from +the Unknown the history of my escape, which seemed almost miraculous +to me. He said that he was often in the habit of combining pursuits +of natural history with the amusements derived from rural sports and +was fishing the day that my accident happened below the fall of the +Traun for that peculiar species of the large <i>salmo</i> of the Danube +which, fortunately for me, is only to be caught by very strong tackle. +He saw, to his very great astonishment and alarm, the boat and my body +precipitated by the fall, and was so fortunate as to entangle his hooks +in a part of my dress when I had been scarcely more than a minute under +water, and by the assistance of his servant, who was armed with the +gaff or curved hook for landing large fish, I was safely conveyed to +the shore, undressed, put into a warm bed, and by the modes of restoring +suspended animation, which were familiar to him, I <!-- page 129--><a name="page129"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 129</span>soon +recovered my sensibility and consciousness. I was desirous of +reasoning with him and Eubathes upon the state of annihilation of power +and transient death which I had suffered when in the water; but they +both requested me to defer those inquiries, which required too profound +an exertion of thought, till the effects of the shock on my weak constitution +were over and my strength was somewhat re-established: and I was the +more contented to comply with their request as the Unknown said it was +his intention to be our companion for at least some days longer, and +that his objects of pursuit lay in the very country in which we were +making our summer tour. It was some weeks before I was sufficiently +strong to proceed on our journey, for my frame was little fitted to +bear such a trial as that which it had experienced; and, considering +the weak state of my body when I was immerged in the water, I could +hardly avoid regarding my recovery as providential, and the presence +and assistance of the Stranger as in some way connected with the future +destiny and utility of my life. In the middle of August we pursued +our plans of travel. We first visited those romantic lakes, Hallsstadt, +Aussee, and Töplitz See, which collect the melted snows of the +higher mountains of Styria to supply the unfailing sources of the Traun. +We visited that elevated region of the Tyrol which forms the crest of +the Pusterthal, and where the same chains of glaciers send down streams +to the Drave and the Adige, to the Black Sea and to the Adriatic. +We remained for many days in those two magnificent valleys which afford +the sources of the Save, where that glorious and abundant river rises, +as it were, in the very bosom of beauty, leaping from its subterraneous +<!-- page 130--><a name="page130"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 130</span>reservoirs +in the snowy mountains of Terglou and Manhardt in thundering cataracts +amongst cliffs and woods into the pure and deep cerulean lakes of Wochain +and Wurzen, and pursuing its course amidst pastoral meadows so ornamented +with plants and trees as to look the garden of Nature. The subsoil +or strata of this part of Illyria are entirely calcareous and full of +subterranean caverns, so that in every declivity large funnel-shaped +cavities, like the craters of volcanoes, may be seen, in which the waters +that fall from the atmosphere are lost: and almost every lake or rives +has a subterraneous source, and often a subterraneous exit. The +Laibach river rises twice from the limestone rock, and is twice again +swallowed up by the earth before it makes its final appearance and is +lost in the Save. The Zirknitz See or Lake is a mass of water +entirely filled and emptied by subterraneous sources, and its natural +history, though singular, has in it nothing of either prodigy, mystery, +or wonder. The Grotto of the Maddalena at Adelsberg occupied more +of our attention than the Zirknitz See. I shall give the conversation +that took place in that extraordinary cavern entire, as well as I can +remember it, in the words used by my companions.</p> +<p><i>Eub</i>.—We must be many hundred feet below the surface, +yet the temperature of this cavern is fresh and agreeable.</p> +<p><i>The Unknown</i>.—This cavern has the mean temperature of +the atmosphere, which is the case with all subterraneous cavities removed +from the influence of the solar light and heat; and, in so hot a day +in August as this, I know no more agreeable or salutary manner of taking +a cold bath than in descending to a part of <!-- page 131--><a name="page131"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 131</span>the +atmosphere out of the influence of those causes which occasion its elevated +temperature.</p> +<p><i>Eub</i>.—Have you, sir, been in this country before?</p> +<p><i>The Unknown</i>.—This is the third summer that I have made +it the scene of an annual visit. Independently of the natural +beauties found in Illyria, and the various sources of amusement which +a traveller fond of natural history may find in this region, it has +had a peculiar object of interest for me in the extraordinary animals +which are found in the bottom of its subterraneous cavities: I allude +to the Proteus anguinus, a far greater wonder of nature than any of +those which the Baron Valvasa detailed to the Royal Society a century +and half ago as belonging to Carniola, with far too romantic an air +for a philosopher.</p> +<p><i>Phil</i>.—I have seen these animals in passing through this +country before; but I should be very glad to be better acquainted with +their natural history.</p> +<p><i>The Unknown</i>.—We shall soon be in that part of the grotto +where they are found, and I shall willingly communicate the little that +I have been able to learn respecting their natural characters and habits.</p> +<p><i>Eub</i>.—The grotto now becomes really magnificent; I have +seen no subterraneous cavity with so many traits of beauty and of grandeur. +The irregularity of its surface, the magnitude of the masses broken +in pieces which compose its sides, and which seem torn from the bosom +of the mountain by some great convulsion of nature, their dark colours +and deep shades form a singular contrast with the beauty, uniformity, +I may say, order and grace of the white stalactical concretions which +hang from the canopy above, and where the light of our torches reflected +from the brilliant or <!-- page 132--><a name="page132"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 132</span>transparent +calcareous gems create a scene which almost looks like one produced +by enchantment.</p> +<p><i>Phil</i>.—If the awful chasms of dark masses of rock surrounding +us appear like the work of demons who might be imagined to have risen +from the centre of the earth, the beautiful works of Nature above our +heads may be compared to a scenic representation of a temple or banquet +hall for fairies or genii, such as those fabled in the Arabian romances.</p> +<p><i>The Unknown</i>.—A poet might certainly place here the palace +of the King of the Gnomes, and might find marks of his creative power +in the small lake close by on which the flame of the torch is now falling, +for there it is that I expect to find the extraordinary animals which +have been so long the objects of my attention.</p> +<p><i>Eub</i>.—I see three or four creatures, like slender fish, +moving on the mud below the water.</p> +<p><i>The Unknown</i>.—I see them; they are the Protei. +Now I have them in my fishing-net, and now they are safe in the pitcher +of water. At first view you might suppose this animal to be a +lizard, but it has the motions of a fish. Its head and the lower +part of its body and its tail bear a strong resemblance to those of +the eel; but it has no fins, and its curious bronchial organs are not +like the gills of fishes: they form a singular vascular structure, as +you see, almost like a crest, round the throat, which may be removed +without occasioning the death of the animal, which is likewise furnished +with lungs. With this double apparatus for supplying air to the +blood, it can live either below or above the surface of the water. +Its fore-feet resemble hands, but they have only three claws or fingers, +<!-- page 133--><a name="page133"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 133</span>and +are too feeble to be of use in grasping or supporting the weight of +the animal; the hinder feet have only two claws or toes, and in the +larger specimens are found so imperfect as to be almost obliterated. +It has small points in place of eyes, as if to preserve the analogy +of Nature. It is of a fleshy whiteness and transparency in its +natural state; but when exposed to light, its skin gradually becomes +darker, and at last gains an olive tint. Its nasal organs appear +large, and it is abundantly furnished with teeth: from which it may +be concluded that it is an animal of prey; yet in its confined state +it has never been known to eat, and it has been kept alive for many +years by occasionally changing the water in which it was placed.</p> +<p><i>Eub</i>.—Is this the only place in Carniola where these +animals are found?</p> +<p><i>The Unknown</i>.—They were first discovered here by the +late Baron Zöis; but they have since been found, though rarely, +at Sittich, about thirty miles distant, thrown up by water from a subterraneous +cavity; and I have lately heard it reported that some individuals of +the same species have been recognised in the calcareous strata in Sicily.</p> +<p><i>Eub</i>.—This lake in which we have seen these animals is +a very small one. Do you suppose they are bred here?</p> +<p><i>The Unknown</i>.—Certainly not. In dry seasons they +are seldom found here, but after great rains they are often abundant. +I think it cannot be doubted that their natural residence is in an extensile +deep subterranean lake, from which in great floods they sometimes are +forced through the crevices of the rocks into this place where they +are found; and it does not <!-- page 134--><a name="page134"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 134</span>appear +to me impossible, when the peculiar nature of the country in which we +are is considered, that the same great cavity may furnish the individuals +which have been found at Adelsberg and at Sittich.</p> +<p><i>Eub</i>.—This is a very extraordinary view of the subject. +Is it not possible that it may be the larva of some large unknown animal +inhabiting these limestone cavities? Its feet are not in harmony +with the rest of its organisation; and were they removed, it would have +all the characters of a fish.</p> +<p><i>The Unknown</i>.—I cannot suppose that they are larvæ. +There is, I believe, in Nature no instance of a transition by this species +of metamorphosis from a more perfect to a less perfect animal. +The tadpole has a resemblance to a fish before it becomes a frog; the +caterpillar and the maggot gain not only more perfect powers of motion +on the earth in their new state, but acquire organs by which they inhabit +a new element. This animal, I dare say, is much larger than we +now see it when mature in its native place; but its comparative anatomy +is exceedingly hostile to the idea that it is an animal in a state of +transition. It has been found of various sizes, from that of the +thickness of a quill to that of the thumb, but its form of organs has +been always the same. It is surely a perfect animal of a peculiar +species. And it adds one instance more to the number already known +of the wonderful manner in which life is produced and perpetuated in +every part of our globe, even in places which seem the least suited +to organised existences. And the same infinite power and wisdom +which has fitted the camel and the ostrich for the deserts of Africa, +the swallow that secretes its own nest for the caves of Java, the <!-- page 135--><a name="page135"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 135</span>whale +for the Polar seas, and the morse and white bear for the Arctic ice, +has given the proteus to the deep and dark subterraneous lakes of Illyria—an +animal to whom the presence of light is not essential, and who can live +indifferently in air and in water, on the surface of the rock, or in +the depths of the mud.</p> +<p><i>Phil</i>.—It is now ten years since I first visited this +spot. I was exceedingly anxious to see the proteus, and came here +with the guide in the evening of the day I arrived at Adelsberg; but +though we examined the bottom of the cave with the greatest care, we +could find no specimens. We returned the next morning and were +more fortunate, for we discovered five close to the bank on the mud +covering the bottom of the lake; the mud was smooth and perfectly undisturbed, +and the water quite clear. This fact of their appearance during +the night seemed to me so extraordinary, that I could hardly avoid the +fancy that they were new creations. I saw no cavities through +which they could have entered, and the undisturbed state of the lake +seemed to give weight to my notion. My reveries became discursive; +I was carried in imagination back to the primitive state of the globe, +when the great animals of the sauri kind were created under the pressure +of a heavy atmosphere; and my notion on this subject was not destroyed +when I heard from a celebrated anatomist, to whom I sent the specimens +I had collected, that the organisation of the spine of the proteus was +analogous to that of one of the sauri, the remains of which are found +in the older secondary strata. It was said at this time that no +organs of reproduction had been discovered in any of the specimens examined +by physiologists, and this lent a weight to <!-- page 136--><a name="page136"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 136</span>my +opinion of the possibility of their being actually new creations, which +I suppose you will condemn as wholly visionary and unphilosophical.</p> +<p><i>Eub</i>.—From the tone in which you make your statements, +I think you yourself consider them as unworthy of discussion. +On such ground eels might be considered new creations, for their mature +ovaria have not yet been discovered, and they come from the sea into +rivers under circumstances when it is difficult to trace their course.</p> +<p><i>The Unknown</i>.—The problem of the reproduction of the +proteus, like that of the common eel, is not yet solved; but ovaria +have been discovered in animals of both species, and in this instance, +as in all others belonging to the existing order of things, Harvey’s +maxim of “omne vivum ab ovo” will apply.</p> +<p><i>Eub</i>.—You just now said that this animal has been long +an object of attention to you; have you studied it as a comparative +anatomist, in search of the solution of the problem of its reproduction?</p> +<p><i>The Unknown</i>.—No; this inquiry has been pursued by much +abler investigators: by Schreiber and Configliachi; my researches were +made upon its respiration and the changes occasioned in water by its +bronchia.</p> +<p><i>Eub</i>.—I hope they have been satisfactory.</p> +<p><i>The Unknown</i>.—They proved to me, at least, that not merely +the oxygen dissolved in water, but likewise a part of the azote, was +absorbed in the respiration of this animal.</p> +<p><i>Eub</i>.—So that your researches confirm those of the French +savants and Alexander von Humboldt, that in the respiration of animals +which separate air from water, both principles of the atmosphere are +absorbed.</p> +<p><!-- page 137--><a name="page137"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 137</span><i>Phil</i>.—I +have heard so many and such various opinions on the nature of the function +of respiration during my education and since, that I should like to +know what is the modern doctrine on this subject. I can hardly +refer to better authority than yourself, and I have an additional reason +for wishing for some accurate knowledge on this matter, having, as you +well know, been the subject of an experiment in relation to it which, +but for your kind and active assistance, must have terminated fatally.</p> +<p><i>The Unknown</i>.—I shall gladly state what I know, which +is very little. In physics and in chemistry, the science of dead +matter, we possess many facts and a few principles or laws; but whenever +the functions of life are considered, though the facts are numerous, +yet there is, as yet, scarcely any approach to general laws, and we +must usually end where we begin by confessing our entire ignorance.</p> +<p><i>Eub</i>.—I will not allow this ignorance to be entire. +Something, undoubtedly, has been gained by the knowledge of the circulation +of the blood and its aëration in the lungs—these, if not +laws, are at least fundamental principles.</p> +<p><i>The Unknown</i>.—I speak only of the functions in their +connection with life. We are still ignorant of the source of animal +heat, though half a century ago the chemists thought they had proved +it was owing to a sort of combustion of the carbon of the blood.</p> +<p><i>Phil</i>.—As we return to our inn I hope you will both be +so good as give me your views of the nature of this function, so important +to all living things; tell me what you <i>know</i>, or what you <i>believe</i>, +or what others <i>imagine they know</i>.</p> +<p><!-- page 138--><a name="page138"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 138</span><i>The +Unknown</i>.—The powers of the organic system depend upon a continued +state of change. The waste of the body produced in muscular action, +perspiration, and various secretions, is made up for by the constant +supply of nutritive matter to the blood by the absorbents, and by the +action of the heart the blood is preserved in perpetual motion through +every part of the body. In the lungs, or bronchia, the venous +blood is exposed to the influence of air and undergoes a remarkable +change, being converted into arterial blood. The obvious chemical +alteration of the air is sufficiently simple in this process: a certain +quantity of carbon only is added to it, and it receives an addition +of heat or vapour; the volumes of elastic fluid inspired and expired +(making allowance for change of temperature) are the same, and if ponderable +agents only were to be regarded it would appear as if the only use of +respiration were to free the blood from a certain quantity of carbonaceous +matter. But it is probable that this is only a secondary object, +and that the change produced by respiration upon the blood is of a much +more important kind. Oxygen, in its elastic state, has properties +which are very characteristic: it gives out light by compression, which +is not certainly known to be the case with any other elastic fluid except +those with which oxygen has entered without undergoing combustion; and +from the fire it produces in certain processes, and from the manner +in which it is separated by positive electricity in the gaseous state +from its combinations, it is not easy to avoid the supposition that +it contains, besides its ponderable elements, some very subtle matter +which is capable of assuming the form of heat and light. My idea +is that the common <!-- page 139--><a name="page139"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 139</span>air +inspired enters into the venous blood entire, in a state of dissolution, +carrying with it its subtle or ethereal part, which in ordinary cases +of chemical change is given off; that it expels from the blood carbonic +acid gas and azote; and that in the course of the circulation its ethereal +part and its ponderable part undergo changes which belong to laws that +cannot be considered as chemical—the ethereal part probably producing +animal heat and other effects, and the ponderable part contributing +to form carbonic acid and other products. The arterial blood is +necessary to all the functions of life, and it is no less connected +with the irritability of the muscles and the sensibility of the nerves +than with the performance of all the secretions.</p> +<p><i>Eub</i>.—No one can be more convinced than I am of the very +limited extent of our knowledge in chemical physiology, and when I say +that, having been a disciple and friend of Dr. Black, I am still disposed +to prefer his ancient view to your new one, I wish merely to induce +you to pause and to hear my reasons; they may appear insufficient to +you, but I am anxious to explain them. First, then, in all known +chemical changes in which oxygen gas is absorbed and carbonic acid gas +formed, heat is produced. I could mention a thousand instances, +from the combustion of wood or spirits of wine to the fermentation of +fruit or the putrefaction of animal matter. This general fact, +which may be almost called a law, is in favour of the view of Dr. Black. +Another circumstance in favour of it is, that those animals which possess +the highest temperature consume the greatest quantity of air, and, under +different circumstances of action and repose, the heat is in <!-- page 140--><a name="page140"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 140</span>great +measure proportional to the quantity of oxygen consumed. Then +those animals which absorb the smallest quantity of air are cold-blooded. +Another argument in favour of Dr. Black’s opinion is the change +of colour of blood from black to red, which seems to show that it loses +carbon.</p> +<p><i>The Unknown</i>.—With the highest respect for the memory +of Dr. Black, and for the opinion of his disciple, I shall answer the +arguments I have just heard. I will not allow any facts or laws +from the action of dead matter to apply to living structures; the blood +is a living fluid, and of this we are sure that it does not burn in +respiration. The terms warmth and cold, as applied to the blood +of animals, are improper in the sense in which they have been just used; +all animals are, in fact, warm-blooded, and the degrees of their temperature +are fitted to the circumstances under which they live, and those animals, +the life of which is most active, possess most heat, which may be the +result of general actions, and not a particular effect of respiration. +Besides, a distinguished physiologist has rendered it probable that +the animal heat depends more upon the functions of the nerves than upon +any result of respiration. The argument derived from change of +colour is perfectly delusive; it would not follow if carbon were liberated +from the blood that it must necessarily become brighter; sulphur combining +with charcoal becomes a clear fluid, and a black oxide of copper becomes +red in uniting with a substance which abounds in carbon. No change +in sensible qualities can ever indicate with precision the nature of +chemical change. I shall resume my view, which I cannot be said +to <!-- page 141--><a name="page141"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 141</span>have +fully developed. When I stated that carbonic acid was formed in +the venous blood in the processes of life, I meant merely to say that +this blood, in consequence of certain changes, became capable of giving +off carbon and oxygen in union with each other, for the moment inorganic +matter enters into the composition of living organs it obeys new laws. +The action of the gastric juice is chemical, and it will only dissolve +dead matters, and it dissolves them when they are in tubes of metal +as well as in the stomach, but it has no action upon living matter. +Respiration is no more a chemical process than the absorption of chyle; +and the changes that take place in the lungs, though they appear so +simple, may be very complicated; it is as little philosophical to consider +them as a mere combustion of carbon as to consider the formation of +muscle from the arterial blood as crystallisation. There can be +no doubt that all the powers and agencies of matter are employed in +the purposes of organisation, but the phenomena of organisation can +no more be referred to chemistry than those of chemistry to mechanics. +As oxygen stands in that electrical relation to the other elements of +animal matter which has been called electropositive, it may be supposed +that some electrical function is exercised by oxygen in the blood; but +this is a mere hypothesis. An attempt has been made founded on +experiments on the decomposition of bodies by electricity to explain +secretion by weak electrical powers, and to suppose the glands electrical +organs, and even to imagine the action of the nerves dependent upon +electricity; these, like all other notions of the same kind, appear +to me very little refined. If electrical effects be the exhibition +of certain powers belonging to <!-- page 142--><a name="page142"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 142</span>matter, +which is a fair supposition, then no change can take place without their +being more or less concerned; but to imagine the presence of electricity +to solve phenomena the cause of which is unknown is merely to substitute +one undefined word for another. In some animals electrical organs +are found, but then they furnish the artillery of the animal and means +of seizing its prey and of its defence. And speculations of this +kind must be ranked with those belonging to some of the more superficial +followers of the Newtonian philosophy, who explained the properties +of animated nature by mechanical powers, and muscular action by the +expansion and contraction of elastic bladders; man, in this state of +vague philosophical inquiry, was supposed a species of hydraulic machine. +And when the pneumatic chemistry was invented, organic structures were +soon imagined to be laboratories in which combinations and decompositions +produced all the effects of living actions; then muscular contractions +were supposed to depend upon explosions like those of the detonating +compounds, and the formation of blood from chyle was considered as a +pure chemical solution. And, now that the progress of science +has opened new and extraordinary views in electricity, these views are +not unnaturally applied by speculative reasoners to solve some of the +mysterious and recondite phenomena of organised beings. But the +analogy is too remote and incorrect; the sources of life cannot be grasped +by such machinery; to look for them in the powers of electro-chemistry +is seeking the living among the dead: that which touches will not be +felt, that which sees will not be visible, that which commands sensations +will not be their subject.</p> +<p><!-- page 143--><a name="page143"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 143</span><i>Phil</i>.—I +conclude, from what you last said, that though you are inclined to believe +that some unknown subtle matter is added to the organised system by +respiration, yet you would not have us believe that this is electricity, +or that there is any reason to suppose that electricity has a peculiar +and special share in producing the functions of life.</p> +<p><i>The Unknown</i>.—I wish to guard you against the adoption +of any hypothesis on this recondite and abstruse subject. But +however difficult it may be to define the exact nature of respiration, +yet the effect of it and its connexions with the functions of the body +are sufficiently striking. By the action of air on the blood it +is fitted for the purposes of life, and from the moment that animation +is marked by sensation or volition, this function is performed, the +punctum saliens in the ovum seems to receive as it were the breath of +life in the influence of air. In the economy of the reproduction +of the species of animals, one of the most important circumstances is +the aëration of the ovum, and when this is not performed, from +the blood of the mother as in the mammalia by the placenta, there is +a system for aërating as in the oviparous reptiles or fishes, which +enables the air freely to pass through the receptacles in which the +eggs are deposited, or the egg itself is aërated out of the body +through its coats or shell, and when air is excluded, incubation or +artificial heat has no effect. Fishes which deposit their eggs +in water that contains only a limited portion of air, make combinations +which would seem almost the result of scientific knowledge or reason, +though depending upon a more unerring principle, their instinct for +preserving their offspring. Those fishes that spawn in spring +or <!-- page 144--><a name="page144"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 144</span>the +beginning of summer and winch inhabit deep and still waters, as the +carp, bream, pike, tench, &c., deposit their eggs upon aquatic vegetables, +which by the influence of the solar light constantly preserve the water +in a state of aëration. The trout, salmon, hucho, and others +of the Salmo genus, which spawn in the beginning or end of winter, and +which inhabit rivers fed by cold and rapid streams which descend from +the mountains, deposit their eggs in shallows on heaps of gravel, as +near as possible to the source of the stream where the water is fully +combined with air; and to accomplish this purpose they travel for hundreds +of miles against the current, and leap over cataracts and dams: thus +the Salmo salar ascends by the Rhone and the Aar to the glaciers of +Switzerland, the hucho by the Danube, the Isar, and the Save, passing +through the lakes of the Tyrol and Styria to the highest torrents of +the Noric and Julian Alps.</p> +<p><i>Phil</i>.—My own experience proves in the strongest manner +the immediate connection of sensibility with respiration; all that I +can remember in my accident was a certain violent and painful sensation +of oppression in the chest, which must have been immediately succeeded +by loss of sense.</p> +<p><i>Eub</i>.—I have no doubt that all your suffering was over +at the moment you describe; as far as sensibility is concerned, you +were inanimate when your friend raised you from the bottom. This +distinct connection of sensibility with the absorption of air by the +blood is, I think, in favour of the idea advanced by our friend, that +some subtle and ethereal matter is supplied to the system in the elastic +air which may be the cause of vitality.</p> +<p><!-- page 145--><a name="page145"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 145</span><i>The +Unknown</i>.—Softly, if you please; I must not allow you to mistake +my view. I think it probable that some subtle matter is derived +from the atmosphere connected with the functions of life; but nothing +can be more remote from my opinion than to suppose it the cause of vitality.</p> +<p><i>Phil</i>.—This might have been fully inferred from the whole +tenor of your conversation, and particularly from that expression, “that +which commands sensation will not be their subject.” I think +I shall not mistake your views when I say that you do not consider vitality +dependent upon any material cause or principle.</p> +<p><i>The Unknown</i>.—You do not. We are entirely ignorant +on this subject, and I confess in the utmost humility my ignorance. +I know there have been distinguished physiologists who have imagined +that by organisation powers not naturally possessed by matter were developed, +and that sensibility was a property belonging to some unknown combination +of unknown ethereal elements. But such notions appear to me unphilosophical, +and the mere substitution of unknown words for unknown things. +I can never believe that any division, or refinement, or subtilisation, +or juxtaposition, or arrangement of the particles of matter, can give +to them sensibility; or that intelligence can result from combinations +of insensate and brute atoms. I can as easily imagine that the +planets are moving by their will or design round the sun, or that a +cannon ball is reasoning in making its parabolic curve. The materialists +have quoted a passage of Locke in favour of their doctrine, who seemed +to doubt “whether it might not have pleased God to bestow a power +of thinking on matter.” But with the highest veneration +for this <!-- page 146--><a name="page146"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 146</span>great +reasoner, the founder of modern philosophical logic, I think there is +little of his usual strength of mind in this doubt. It appears +to me that he might as well have asked whether it might not have pleased +God to make a house its own tenant.</p> +<p><i>Eub</i>.—I am not a professed materialist; but I think you +treat rather too lightly the modest doubts of Locke on this subject. +And without considering me as a partisan, you will, I hope, allow me +to state some of the reasons which I have heard good physiologists advance +in favour of that opinion to which you are so hostile. In the +first accretion of the parts of animated beings they appear almost like +the crystallised matter, with the simplest kind of life, scarcely sensitive. +The gradual operations by which they acquire new organs and new powers, +corresponding to these organs, till they arrive at full maturity, forcibly +strikes the mind with the idea that the powers of life reside in the +arrangement by which the organs are produced. Then, as there is +a gradual increase of power corresponding to the increase of perfection +of the organisation, so there is a gradual diminution of it connected +with the decay of the body. As the imbecility of infancy corresponds +to the weakness of organisation, so the energy of youth and the power +of manhood are marked by its strength; and the feebleness and dotage +of old age are in the direct ratio of the decline of the perfection +of the organisation, and the mental powers in extreme old age seem destroyed +at the same time with the corporeal ones, till the ultimate dissolution +of the frame, when the elements are again restored to that dead nature +from which they were originally derived. Then, there was a period +when the greatest philosopher, <!-- page 147--><a name="page147"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 147</span>statesman, +or hero, that ever existed was a mere living atom, an organised form +with the sole power of perception; and the combinations that a Newton +formed before birth or immediately after cannot be imagined to have +possessed the slightest intellectual character. If a peculiar +principle be supposed necessary to intelligence, it must exist throughout +animated nature. The elephant approaches nearer to man in intellectual +power than the oyster does to the elephant; and a link of sensitive +nature may be traced from the polypus to the philosopher. Now, +in the polypus the sentient principle is divisible, and from one polypus +or one earthworm may be formed two or three, all of which become perfect +animals, and have perception and volition; therefore, at least, the +sentient principle has this property in common with matter, that it +is divisible. Then to these difficulties add the dependence of +all the higher faculties of the mind upon the state of the brain; remember +that not only all the intellectual powers, but even sensibility is destroyed +by the pressure of a little blood upon the cerebellum, and the difficulties +increase. Call to mind likewise the suspension of animation in +cases similar to that of our friend, when there are no signs of life +and when animation returns only with the return of organic action. +Surely in all these instances everything which you consider as belonging +to spirit appears in intimate dependence upon the arrangements and properties +of matter.</p> +<p><i>The Unknown</i>.—The arguments you have used are those which +are generally employed by physiologists. They have weight in appearance, +but not in reality. They prove that a certain perfection of the +machinery of the body is essential to the exercise of the powers of +<!-- page 148--><a name="page148"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 148</span>the +mind, but they do not prove that the machine is the mind. Without +the eye there can be no sensations of vision, and without the brain +there could be no recollected visible ideas; but neither the optic nerve +nor the brain can be considered as the percipient principle—they +are but the instruments of a power which has nothing in common with +them. What may be said of the nervous system may be applied to +a different part of the frame; stop the motion of the heart, and sensibility +and life cease, yet the living principle is not in the heart, nor in +the arterial blood which it sends to every part of the system. +A savage who saw the operation of a number of power-looms weaving stockings +cease at once on the stopping of the motion of a wheel, might well imagine +that the motive force was in the wheel; he could not divine that it +more immediately depended upon the steam, and ultimately upon a fire +below a concealed boiler. The philosopher sees the fire which +is the cause of the motion of this complicated machinery, so unintelligible +to the savage; but both are equally ignorant of the divine fire which +is the cause of the mechanism of organised structures. Profoundly +ignorant on this subject, all that we can do is to give a history of +our own minds. The external world or matter is to us in fact nothing +but a heap or cluster of sensations; and, in looking back to the memory +of our own being, we find one principle, which may be called the <i>monad</i>, +or <i>self</i>, constantly present, intimately associated with a particular +class of sensations, which we call our own body or organs. These +organs are connected with other sensations, and move, as it were, with +them in circles of existence, quitting for a time some trains of sensation +to return <!-- page 149--><a name="page149"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 149</span>to +others; but the monad is always present. We can fix no beginning +to its operations; we can place no limit to them. We sometimes, +in sleep, lose the beginning and end of a dream, and recollect the middle +of it, and one dream has no connection with another; and yet we are +conscious of an infinite variety of dreams, and there is a strong analogy +for believing in an infinity of past existences, which must have had +connection; and human life may be regarded as a type of infinite and +immortal life, and its succession of sleep and dreams as a type of the +changes of death and birth to which from its nature it is liable. +That the ideas belonging to the mind were originally gained from those +classes of sensations called organs it is impossible to deny, as it +is impossible to deny that mathematical truths depend upon the signs +which express them; but these signs are not themselves the truths, nor +are the organs the mind. The whole history of intellect is a history +of change according to a certain law; and we retain the memory only +of those changes which may be useful to us—the child forgets what +happened to it in the womb; the recollections of the infant likewise +before two years are soon lost, yet many of the habits acquired in that +age are retained through life. The sentient principle gains thoughts +by material instruments, and its sensations change as those instruments +change; and, in old age, the mind, as it were, falls asleep to awake +to a new existence. With its present organisation, the intellect +of man is naturally limited and imperfect, but this depends upon its +material machinery; and in a higher organised form, it may be imagined +to possess infinitely higher powers. Were man to be immortal <!-- page 150--><a name="page150"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 150</span>with +his present corporeal frame, this immortality would only belong to the +machinery; and with respect to acquisitions of mind, he would virtually +die every two or three hundred years—that is to say, a certain +quantity of ideas only could be remembered, and the supposed immortal +being would be, with respect to what had happened a thousand years ago, +as the adult now is with respect to what happened in the first year +of his life. To attempt to reason upon the manner in which the +organs are connected with sensation would be useless; the nerves and +brain have some immediate relation to these vital functions, but how +they act it is impossible to say. From the rapidity and infinite +variety of the phenomena of perception, it seems extremely probable +that there must be in the brain and nerves matter of a nature far more +subtle and refined than anything discovered in them by observation and +experiment, and that the immediate connection between the sentient principle +and the body may be established by kinds of ethereal matter, which can +never be evident to the senses, and which may bear the same relations +to heat, light, and electricity that these refined forms or modes of +existence of matter bear to the gases. Motion is most easily produced +by the lighter species of matter; and yet imponderable agents, such +as electricity, possess force sufficient to overturn the weightiest +structures. Nothing can be farther from my meaning than to attempt +any definition on this subject, nor would I ever embrace or give authority +to that idea of Newton, who supposes that the immediate cause of sensation +may be in undulations of an ethereal medium. It does not, however, +appear improbable to me that some of the more refined machinery of thought +may <!-- page 151--><a name="page151"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 151</span>adhere, +even in another state, to the sentient principle; for, though the organs +of gross sensation—the nerves and brain—are destroyed by +death, yet something of the more ethereal nature, which I have supposed, +may be less destructible. And I sometimes imagine that many of +those powers, which have been called instinctive, belong to the more +refined clothing of the spirit; conscience, indeed, seems to have some +undefined source, and may bear relation to a former state of being.</p> +<p><i>Eub</i>.—All your notions are merely ingenious speculations. +Revelation gives no authority to your ideas of spiritual nature; the +Christian immortality is founded upon the resurrection of the body.</p> +<p><i>The Unknown</i>.—This I will not allow. Even in the +Mosaic history of the creation of man his frame is made in the image +of God—that is, capable of intelligence; and the Creator breathes +into it the breath of life, His own essence. Then our Saviour +has said, “of the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob.” +“He is not the God of the dead, but of the living.” +St. Paul has described the clothing of the spirit in a new and glorious +body, taking the analogy from the living germ in the seed of the plant, +which is not quickened till after apparent death; and the catastrophe +of our planet, which, it is revealed, is to be destroyed and purified +by fire before it is fitted for the habitation of the blest, is in perfect +harmony with the view I have ventured to suggest.</p> +<p><i>Eub</i>.—I cannot make your notions coincide with what I +have been accustomed to consider the meaning of Holy Writ. You +allow everything belonging to the material life to be dependent upon +the organisation <!-- page 152--><a name="page152"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 152</span>of +the body, and yet you imagine the spirit after death clothed with a +new body; and, in the system of rewards and punishments, this body is +rendered happy or miserable for actions committed by another and extinct +frame. A particular organisation may impel to improper and immoral +gratification; it does not appear to me, according to the principles +of eternal justice, that the body of the resurrection should be punished +for crimes dependent upon a conformation now dissolved and destroyed.</p> +<p><i>The Unknown</i>.—Nothing is more absurd, I may say more +impious, than for man, with a ken surrounded by the dense mists of sense, +to reason respecting the decrees of eternal justice. You adopt +here the same limited view that you embraced in reasoning against the +indestructibility of the sentient principle in man from the apparent +division of the living principle in the polypus, not recollecting that +to prove a quality can be increased or exalted does not prove that it +can be annihilated. If there be, which I think cannot be doubted, +a consciousness of good and evil constantly belonging to the sentient +principle in man, then rewards and punishments naturally belong to acts +of this consciousness, to obedience, or disobedience; and the indestructibility +of the sentient being is necessary to the decrees of eternal justice. +On your view, even in this life, just punishments for crimes would be +almost impossible; for the materials of which human beings are composed +change rapidly, and in a few years probably not an atom of the primitive +structure remains yet even the materialist is obliged in old age to +do penance for the sins of his youth, and does not complain of the injustice +of his decrepit body, entirely changed <!-- page 153--><a name="page153"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 153</span>and +made stiff by time, suffering for the intemperance of his youthful flexible +frame. On my idea, conscience is the frame of the mind, fitted +for its probation in mortality. And this is in exact accordance +with the foundations of our religion, the Divine origin of which is +marked no less by its history than its harmony with the principles of +our nature. Obedience to its precepts not only prepares for a +better state of existence in another world, but is likewise calculated +to make us happy here. We are constantly taught to renounce sensual +pleasure and selfish gratifications, to forget our body and sensible +organs, to associate our pleasures with mind, to fix our affections +upon the great ideal generalisation of intelligence in the one Supreme +Being. And that we are capable of forming to ourselves an imperfect +idea even of the infinite mind is, I think, a strong presumption of +our own immortality, and of the distinct relation which our finite knowledge +bears to eternal wisdom.</p> +<p><i>Phil</i>.—I am pleased with your views; they coincide with +those I had formed at the time my imagination was employed upon the +vision of the Colosæum, which I repeated to you, and are not in +opposition with the opinions that the cool judgment and sound and humble +faith of Ambrosio have led me since to embrace. The doctrine of +the materialists was always, even in my youth, a cold, heavy, dull, +and insupportable doctrine to me, and necessarily tending to Atheism. +When I had heard, with disgust, in the dissecting-rooms the plan of +the physiologist of the gradual accretion of matter, and its becoming +endowed with irritability, ripening into sensibility and acquiring such +organs as were necessary, by its own inherent forces, and at last <!-- page 154--><a name="page154"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 154</span>rising +into intellectual existence, a walk into the green fields or woods by +the banks of rivers brought back my feelings from nature to God; I saw +in all the powers of matter the instruments of the Deity; the sunbeams, +the breath of the zephyr, awakened animation in forms prepared by Divine +intelligence to receive it; the insensate seed, the slumbering egg, +which were to be vivified, appeared like the new-born animal, works +of a Divine mind; I saw love as the creative principle in the material +world, and this love only as a Divine attribute. Then, my own +mind, I felt connected with new sensations and indefinite hopes, a thirst +for immortality; the great names of other ages and of distant nations +appeared to me to be still living around me; and, even in the funeral +monuments of the heroic and the great, I saw, as it were, the decree +of the indestructibility of mind. These feelings, though generally +considered as poetical, yet, I think, offer a sound philosophical argument +in favour of the immortality of the soul. In all the habits and +instincts of young animals their feelings or movements may be traced +in intimate relation to their improved perfect state; their sports have +always affinities to their modes of hunting or catching their food, +and young birds, even in the nest, show marks of fondness which, when +their frames are developed, become signs of actions necessary to the +reproduction and preservation of the species. The desire of glory, +of honour, of immortal fame, and of constant knowledge, so usual in +young persons of well-constituted minds, cannot, I think, be other than +symptoms of the infinite and progressive nature of intellect—hopes +which, as they cannot be gratified here, belong to a frame of mind suited +to a nobler state of existence.</p> +<p><!-- page 155--><a name="page155"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 155</span><i>The +Unknown</i>.—Religion, whether natural or revealed, has always +the same beneficial influence on the mind. In youth, in health, +and prosperity, it awakens feelings of gratitude and sublime love, and +purifies at the same time that it exalts; but it is in misfortune, in +sickness, in age, that its effects are most truly and beneficially felt; +when submission in faith and humble trust in the Divine will, from duties +become pleasures, undecaying sources of consolation; then it creates +powers which were believed to be extinct, and gives a freshness to the +mind which was supposed to have passed away for ever, but which is now +renovated as an immortal hope; then it is the Pharos, guiding the wave-tost +mariner to his home, as the calm and beautiful still basins or fiords, +surrounded by tranquil groves and pastoral meadows, to the Norwegian +pilot escaping from a heavy storm in the north sea, or as the green +and dewy spot gushing with fountains to the exhausted and thirsty traveller +in the midst of the desert. Its influence outlives all earthly +enjoyments, and becomes stronger as the organs decay and the frame dissolves; +it appears as that evening star of light in the horizon of life, which, +we are sure, is to become in another season a morning star, and it throws +its radiance through the gloom and shadow of death.</p> +<h2>DIALOGUE THE FIFTH. THE CHEMICAL PHILOSOPHER.</h2> +<p>I had been made religious by the conversations of Ambrosio in Italy; +my faith was strengthened and exalted by the opinions of the Unknown, +for whom I <!-- page 156--><a name="page156"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 156</span>had +not merely that veneration awakened by exalted talents, but a strong +affection founded upon the essential benefit of the preservation of +my life owing to him. I ventured, the evening after our visit +to the cave of Adelsberg, to ask him some questions relating to his +history and adventures. He said, “To attempt to give you +any idea of the formation of my character would lead me into the history +of my youth, which almost approaches to a tale of romance. The +source of the little information and intelligence I possess I must refer +to a restless activity of spirit, a love of glory which ever belonged +to my infancy, and a sensibility easily excited and not easily conquered. +My parentage was humble, yet I can believe a traditional history of +my paternal grandmother, that the origin of our family was from an old +Norman stock; I found this belief upon certain feelings which I can +only refer to an hereditary source, a pride of decorum, a tact and refinement +even in boyhood, and which are contradictory to the idea of an origin +from a race of peasants. Accident opened to me in early youth +a philosophical career, which I pursued with success. In manhood +fortune smiled upon me and made me independent; I then really became +a philosopher, and pursued my travels with the object of instructing +myself and of benefiting mankind. I have seen most parts of Europe, +and conversed, I believe, with all the illustrious men of science belonging +to them. My life has not been unlike that of the ancient Greek +sages. I have added some little to the quantity of human knowledge, +and I have endeavoured to add something to the quantity of human happiness. +In my early life I was a sceptic; I have informed you how I became a +believer, and I <!-- page 157--><a name="page157"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 157</span>constantly +bless the Supreme Intelligence for the favour of some gleams of Divine +light which have been vouchsafed to me in this our state of darkness +and doubt.”</p> +<p><i>Phil</i>.—I am surprised that with your powers you did not +enter into a professional career either of law or politics; you would +have gained the highest honours and distinctions.</p> +<p><i>The Unknown</i>.—To me there never has been a higher source +of honour or distinction than that connected with advances in science. +I have not possessed enough of the eagle in my character to make a direct +flight to the loftiest altitudes in the social world, and I certainly +never endeavoured to reach those heights by using the creeping powers +of the reptile who, in ascending, generally chooses the dirtiest path, +because it is the easiest.</p> +<p><i>Eub</i>.—I have often wondered that men of fortune and of +rank do not apply themselves more to philosophical pursuits; they offer +a delightful and enviable road to distinction, one founded upon the +blessings and benefits conferred on our fellow-creatures; they do not +supply the same sources of temporary popularity as successes in the +senate or at the bar, but the glory resulting from them is permanent +and independent of vulgar taste or caprice. In looking back to +the history of the last five reigns in England, we find Boyles, Cavendishes, +and Howards, who rendered those great names more illustrious by their +scientific honours; but we may in vain search the aristocracy now for +philosophers, and there are very few persons who pursue science with +true dignity; it is followed more as connected with objects of profit +than those of fame, and <!-- page 158--><a name="page158"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 158</span>there +are fifty persons who take out patents for supposed inventions for one +who makes a real discovery.</p> +<p><i>Phil</i>.—The information we have already received from +you proves to me that chemistry has been your favourite pursuit. +I am surprised at this. The higher-mathematics and pure physics +appear to me to offer much more noble objects of contemplation and fields +of discovery, and, practically considered, the results of the chemist +are much more humble, belonging principally to the apothecary’s +shop and the kitchen.</p> +<p><i>Eub</i>.—I feel disposed to join you in attacking this favourite +study of our friend, but merely to provoke him to defend it. I +wish our attack would induce him to vindicate his science, and that +we might enjoy a little of the sport of literary gladiators, at least, +in order to call forth his skill and awaken his eloquence.</p> +<p><i>The Unknown</i>.—I have no objection. Let there be +a fair discussion; remember we fight only with foils, and the point +of mine shall be covered with velvet. In your attack upon chemistry, +Philalethes, you limited the use of it to the apothecary’s shop +and the kitchen. The first is an equivocal use; by introducing +it into the kitchen you make it an art fundamental to all others. +But if what you had stated had really meant to be serious, it would +not have deserved a reply; as it is in mere playfulness, it shall not +be thrown away. I want eloquence, however, to adorn my subject, +yet it is sufficiently exciting even to awaken feeling. Persons +in general look at the magnificent fabric of civilized society as the +result of the accumulated labour, ingenuity, and enterprise of man through +a long course of ages, without attempting to define <!-- page 159--><a name="page159"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 159</span>what +has been owing to the different branches of human industry and science; +and usually attribute to politicians, statesmen, and warriors a much +greater share than really belongs to them in the work: what they have +done is in reality little. The beginning of civilization is the +discovery of some useful arts by which men acquire property, comforts, +or luxuries. The necessity or desire of preserving them leads +to laws and social institutions. The discovery of peculiar arts +gives superiority to particular nations; and the love of power induces +them to employ this superiority to subjugate other nations, who learn +their arts, and ultimately adopt their manners; so that in reality the +origin, as well as the progress and improvement, of civil society is +founded in mechanical and chemical inventions. No people have +ever arrived at any degree of perfection in their institutions who have +not possessed in a high degree the useful and refined arts. The +comparison of savage and civilized man, in fact, demonstrates the triumph +of chemical and mechanical philosophy as the causes not only of the +physical, but ultimately even of moral improvement. Look at the +condition of man in the lowest state in which we are acquainted with +him. Take the native of New Holland, advanced only a few steps +above the animal creation, and that principally by the use of fire; +naked, defending himself against wild beasts or killing them for food +only by weapons made of wood hardened in the fire, or pointed with stones +or fish bones; living only in holes dug out of the earth, or in huts +rudely constructed of a few branches of trees covered with grass; having +no approach to the enjoyment of luxuries or even comforts; unable to +provide for his <!-- page 160--><a name="page160"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 160</span>most +pressing wants; having a language scarcely articulate, relating only +to the great objects of nature, or to his most pressing necessities +or desires, and living solitary or in single families, unacquainted +with religion, government, or laws, submitted to the mercy of nature +or the elements. How different is man in his highest state of +cultivation; every part of his body covered with the products of different +chemical and mechanical arts made not only useful in protecting him +from the inclemency of the seasons but combined in forms of beauty and +variety; creating out of the dust of the earth from the clay under his +feet instruments of use and ornament; extracting metals from the rude +ore and giving to them a hundred different shapes for a thousand different +purposes; selecting and improving the vegetable productions with which +he covers the earth; not only subduing but taming and domesticating +the wildest, the fleetest, and the strongest inhabitants of the wood, +the mountain, and the air; making the winds carry him on every part +of the immense ocean; and compelling the elements of air, water, and +even fire as it were to labour for him; concentrating in small space +materials which act as the thunderbolt, and directing their energies +so as to destroy at immense distances; blasting the rock, removing the +mountain, carrying water from the valley to the hill; perpetuating thought +in imperishable words, rendering immortal the exertion of genius, and +presenting them as common property to all awakening minds, becoming +as it were the true image of divine intelligence receiving and bestowing +the breath of life in the influence of civilization.</p> +<p><i>Eub</i>.—Really you are in the poetical, not the chemical +<!-- page 161--><a name="page161"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 161</span>chair, +or rather on the tripod. We claim from you some accuracy of detail, +some minute information, some proofs of what you assert. What +you attribute to the chemical and mechanical arts, we might with the +same propriety attribute to the fine arts, to letters, to political +improvement, and to those inventions of which Minerva and Apollo and +not Vulcan are the patrons.</p> +<p><i>The Unknown</i>.—I will be more minute. You will allow +that the rendering skins insoluble in water by combining with them the +astringent principle of certain vegetables is a chemical invention, +and that without leather, our shoes, our carriages, our equipages would +be very ill made; you will permit me to say, that the bleaching and +dying of wool and silk, cotton, and flax, are chemical processes, and +that the conversion of them into different clothes is a mechanical invention; +that the working of iron, copper, tin, and lead, and the other metals, +and the combining them in different alloys by which almost all the instruments +necessary for the turner, the joiner, the stone-mason, the ship-builder, +and the smith are made, are chemical inventions; even the press, to +the influence of which I am disposed to attribute as much as you can +do, could not have existed in any state of perfection without a metallic +alloy; the combining of alkali and sand, and certain clays and flints +together to form glass and porcelain is a chemical process; the colours +which the artist employs to frame resemblances of natural objects, or +to create combinations more beautiful than ever existed in Nature, are +derived from chemistry; in short, in every branch of the common and +fine arts, in every department of human industry, <!-- page 162--><a name="page162"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 162</span>the +influence of this science is felt, and we may find in the fable of Prometheus +taking the flame from heaven to animate his man of clay an emblem of +the effects of fire in its application to chemical purposes in creating +the activity and almost the life of civil society.</p> +<p><i>Phil</i>.—It appears to me that you attribute to science +what in many cases has been the result of accident. The processes +of most of the useful arts, which you call chemical, have been invented +and improved without any refined views, without any general system of +knowledge. Lucretius attributes to accident the discovery of the +fusion of the metals; a person in touching a shell-fish observes that +it emits a purple liquid as a dye, hence the Tyrian purple; clay is +observed to harden in the fire, and hence the invention of bricks, which +could hardly fail ultimately to lead to the discovery of porcelain; +oven glass, the most perfect and beautiful of those manufactures you +call chemical, is said to have been discovered by accident; Theophrastus +states that some merchants who were cooking on lumps of soda or natron, +near the mouth of the river Belus, observed that a hard and vitreous +substance was formed where the fused natron ran into the sand.</p> +<p><i>The Unknown</i>.—I will readily allow that accident has +had much to do with the origin of the arts as with the progress of the +sciences. But it has been by scientific processes and experiments +that these accidental results have been rendered really applicable to +the purposes of common life. Besides, it requires a certain degree +of knowledge and scientific combination to understand and seize upon +the facts which have originated in accident. It is certain that +in all fires <!-- page 163--><a name="page163"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 163</span>alkaline +substances and sand are fused together, and clay hardened; yet for ages +after this discovery of fire, glass and porcelain were unknown till +some men of genius profited by scientific combination often observed +but never applied. It suits the indolence of those minds which +never attempt anything, and which probably if they did attempt anything +would not succeed, to refer to accident that which belongs to genius. +It is sometimes said by such persons, that the discovery of the law +of gravitation was owing to accident: and a ridiculous story is told +of the falling of an apple as the cause of this discovery. As +well might the invention of fluxions or the architectural wonders of +the dome of St. Peter’s, or the miracles of art the St. John of +Raphael or the Apollo Belvidere, be supposed to be owing to accidental +combinations. In the progress of an art, from its rudest to its +more perfect state, the whole process depends upon experiments. +Science is in fact nothing more than the refinement of common sense +making use of facts already known to acquire new facts. Clays +which are yellow are known to burn red; calcareous earth renders flint +fusible—the persons who have improved earthenware made their selections +accordingly. Iron was discovered at least one thousand years before +it was rendered malleable; and from what Herodotus says of this discovery, +there can be little doubt that it was developed by a scientific worker +in metals. Vitruvius tells us that the ceruleum, a colour made +of copper, which exists in perfection in all the old paintings of the +Greeks and Romans and on the mummies of the Egyptians, was discovered +by an Egyptian king; there is therefore every reason to believe that +it was not the <!-- page 164--><a name="page164"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 164</span>result +of accidental combination, but of experiments made for producing or +improving colours. Amongst the ancient philosophers, many discoveries +are attributed to Democritus and Anaxagoras; and, connected with chemical +arts, the narrative of the inventions of Archimedes alone, by Plutarch, +would seem to show how great is the effect of science in creating power. +In modern times, the refining of sugar, the preparation of nitre, the +manufacturing of acids, salts, &c., are all results of pure chemistry. +Take gunpowder as a specimen; no person but a man infinitely diversifying +his processes and guided by analogy could have made such a discovery. +Look into the books of the alchemists, and some idea may be formed of +the effects of experiments. It is true, these persons were guided +by false views, yet they made most useful researches; and Lord Bacon +has justly compared them to the husbandman who, searching for an imaginary +treasure, fertilised the soil. They might likewise be compared +to persons who, looking for gold, discover the fragments of beautiful +statues, which separately are of no value, and which appear of little +value to the persons who found them; but which, when selected and put +together by artists and their defective parts supplied, are found to +be wonderfully perfect and worthy of conservation. Look to the +progress of the arts since they have been enlightened by a system of +science, and observe with what rapidity they have advanced. Again, +the steam-engine in its rudest form was the result of a chemical experiment; +in its refined state it required the combinations of all the most recondite +principles of chemistry and mechanics, and that excellent philosopher +who has given this wonderful <!-- page 165--><a name="page165"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 165</span>instrument +of power to civil society was led to the great improvements he made +by the discoveries of a kindred genius on the heat absorbed when water +becomes steam, and of the heat evolved when steam becomes water. +Even the most superficial observer must allow in this case a triumph +of science, for what a wonderful impulse has this invention given to +the progress of the arts and manufactories in our country, how much +has it diminished labour, how much has it increased the real strength +of the country! Acting as it were with a thousand hands, it has +multiplied our active population; and receiving its elements of activity +from the bowels of the earth, it performs operations which formerly +were painful, oppressive, and unhealthy to the labourers, with regularity +and constancy, and gives security and precision to the efforts of the +manufacturer. And the inventions connected with the steam-engine, +at the same time that they have greatly diminished labour of body, have +tended to increase power of mind and intellectual resources. Adam +Smith well observes that manufacturers are always more ingenious than +husbandmen; and manufacturers who use machinery will probably always +be found more ingenious than handicraft manufacturers. You spoke +of porcelain as a result of accident; the improvements invented in this +country, as well as those made in Germany and France, have been entirely +the result of chemical experiments; the Dresden and the Sevres manufactories +have been the work of men of science, and it was by multiplying his +chemical researches that Wedgewood was enabled to produce at so cheap +a rate those beautiful imitations which while they surpass the ancient +vases in solidity <!-- page 166--><a name="page166"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 166</span>and +perfection of material, equal them in elegance, variety, and tasteful +arrangement of their forms. In another department, the use of +the electrical conductor was a pure scientific combination, and the +sublimity of the discovery of the American philosopher was only equalled +by the happy application he immediately made of it. In our own +times it would be easy to point out numerous instances in which great +improvements and beneficial results connected with the comforts, the +happiness, and even life of our fellow creatures have been the results +of scientific combinations; but I cannot do this without constituting +myself a judge of the works of philosophers who are still alive, whose +researches are known, whose labours are respected, and who will receive +from posterity praises that their contemporaries hardly dare to bestow +upon them.</p> +<p><i>Eub</i>.—We will allow that you have shown in many cases +the utility of scientific investigation as connected with the progress +of the useful arts. But, in general, both the principles of chemistry +are followed, and series of experiments performed without any view to +utility; and a great noise is made if a new metal or a new substance +is discovered, or if some abstracted law is made known relating to the +phenomena of nature; yet, amongst the variety of new substances, few +have been applied to any trifling use even, and the greater number have +had no application at all. And with respect to the general views +of the science, it would be difficult to show that any real good had +resulted from the discovery or extension of them. It does not +add much to the dignity of a pursuit that those persons who have followed +it for profit have really been most useful, and that the mere artisan +or chemical <!-- page 167--><a name="page167"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 167</span>manufacturer +has done more for society than the chemical philosopher. Besides, +it has always appeared to me that it is in the nature of this science +to encourage mediocrity and to attach importance to insignificant things; +very slight chemical labours seem to give persons a claim to the title +of philosopher—to have dissolved a few grains of chalk in an acid, +to have shown that a very useless stone contains certain known ingredients, +or that the colouring matter of a flower is soluble in acid and not +in alkali, is thought by some a foundation for chemical celebrity. +I once began to attend a course of chemical lectures and to read the +journals containing the ephemeral productions of this science; I was +dissatisfied with the nature of the evidence which the professor adopted +in his demonstrations, and disgusted with the series of observations +and experiments which were brought forward one month to be overturned +the next. In November there was a Zingeberic acid, which in January +was shown to have no existence; one year there was a vegetable acid, +which the next was shown to be the same as an acid known thirty years +ago; to-day a man was celebrated for having discovered a new metal or +a new alkali, and they flourished like the scenes in a new pantomime +only to disappear. Then, the great object of the hundred triflers +in the science appeared to be to destroy the reputation of the three +or four great men whose labours were really useful, and had in them +something of dignity. And, there not being enough of trifling +results or false experiments to fill up the pages of the monthly journals, +the deficiency was supplied by some crude theories or speculations of +unknown persons, or by some ill-judged censure or partial praise of +the editor.</p> +<p><!-- page 168--><a name="page168"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 168</span><i>The +Unknown</i>.—I deny <i>in toto</i> the accuracy of what you are +advancing. I have already shown that real philosophers, not labouring +for profit, have done much by their own inventions for the useful arts; +and, amongst the new substances discovered, many have had immediate +and very important applications. The chlorine, or oxymuriatic +gas of Scheele, was scarcely known before it was applied by Berthollet +to bleaching; scarcely was muriatic acid gas discovered by Priestley, +when Guyton de Morveau used it for destroying contagion. Consider +the varied and diversified applications of platinum, which has owed +its existence as a useful metal entirely to the labours of an illustrious +chemical philosopher; look at the beautiful yellow afforded by one of +the new metals, chrome; consider the medical effects of iodine in some +of the most painful and disgusting maladies belonging to human nature, +and remember how short a time investigations have been made for applying +the new substances. Besides, the mechanical or chemical manufacturer +has rarely discovered anything; he has merely applied what the philosopher +has made known, he has merely worked upon the materials furnished to +him. We have no history of the manner in which iron was rendered +malleable; but we know that platinum could only have been worked by +a person of the most refined chemical resources, who made multiplied +experiments upon it after the most ingenious and profound views. +But, waiving all common utility, all vulgar applications, there is something +in knowing and understanding the operation of Nature, some pleasure +in contemplating the order and harmony of the arrangements belonging +to the terrestrial system of things. There <!-- page 169--><a name="page169"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 169</span>is +no absolute utility in poetry, but it gives pleasure, refines and exalts +the mind. Philosophic pursuits have likewise a noble and independent +use of this kind, and there is a double reason offered for pursuing +them, for whilst in their sublime speculations they reach to the heavens, +in their application they belong to the earth; whilst they exalt the +intellect, they provide food for our common wants, and likewise minister +to the noblest appetites and most exalted views belonging to our nature. +The results of this science are not like the temples of the ancients, +in which statues of the gods were placed, where incense was offered +and sacrifices were performed, and which were presented to the adoration +of the multitude founded upon superstitious feelings; but they are rather +like the palaces of the moderns, to be admired and used, and where the +statues, which in the ancients raised feelings of adoration and awe, +now produce only feelings of pleasure, and gratify a refined taste. +It is surely a pure delight to know how and by what processes this earth +is clothed with verdure and life, how the clouds, mists, and rain are +formed, what causes all the changes of this terrestrial system of things, +and by what divine laws order is preserved amidst apparent confusion. +It is a sublime occupation to investigate the cause of the tempest and +the volcano, and to point out their use in the economy of things, to +bring the lightning from the clouds and make it subservient to our experiments, +to produce, as it were, a microcosm in the laboratory of art, and to +measure and weigh those invisible atoms which, by their motions and +changes according to laws impressed upon them by the Divine Intelligence, +constitute the universe of things. The true chemical <!-- page 170--><a name="page170"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 170</span>philosopher +sees good in all the diversified forms of the external world. +Whilst he investigates the operations of infinite power guided by infinite +wisdom, all low prejudices, all mean superstitions, disappear from his +mind. He sees man an atom amidst atoms fixed upon a point in space, +and yet modifying the laws that are around him by understanding them, +and gaining, as it were, a kind of dominion over time and an empire +in material space, and exerting on a scale infinitely small a power +seeming a sort of shadow or reflection of a creative energy, and which +entitles him to the distinction of being made in the image of God and +animated by a spark of the Divine Mind. Whilst chemical pursuits +exalt the understanding, they do not depress the imagination or weaken +genuine feeling; whilst they give the mind habits of accuracy by obliging +it to attend to facts, they likewise extend its analogies, and though +conversant with the minute forms of things, they have for their ultimate +end the great and magnificent objects of Nature. They regard the +formation of a crystal, the structure of a pebble, the nature of a clay +or earth; and they apply to the causes of the diversity of our mountain +chains, the appearances of the winds, thunderstorms, meteors, the earthquake, +the volcano, and all those phenomena which offer the most striking images +to the poet and the painter. They keep alive that inextinguishable +thirst after knowledge which is one of the greatest characteristics +of our nature, for every discovery opens a new field for investigation +of facts, shows us the imperfection of our theories. It has justly +been said that the greater the circle of light, the greater the boundary +of darkness by which it is surrounded. This strictly <!-- page 171--><a name="page171"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 171</span>applies +to chemical inquiries, and hence they are wonderfully suited to the +progressive nature of the human intellect, which by its increasing efforts +to acquire a higher kind of wisdom, and a state in which truth is fully +and brightly revealed, seems, as it were, to demonstrate its birthright +to immortality.</p> +<p><i>Eub</i>.—I am glad that our opposition has led you to so +complete a vindication of your favourite science. I want no further +proof of its utility. I regret that I have not before made it +a particular object of study.</p> +<p><i>Phil</i>.—As our friend has so fully convinced us of the +importance of chemistry, I hope he will descend to some particulars +as to its real nature, its objects, its instruments. I would willingly +have a definition of chemistry and some idea of the qualifications necessary +to become a chemist, and of the apparatus essential for understanding +what has been already done in the science, and for pursuing new inquiries.</p> +<p><i>The Unknown</i>.—There is nothing more difficult than a +good definition, for it is scarcely possible to express in a few words +the abstracted view of an infinite variety of facts. Dr. Black +has defined chemistry to be that science which treats of the changes +produced in bodies by motions of their ultimate particles or atoms, +but this definition is hypothetical, for the ultimate particles or atoms +are mere creations of the imagination. I will give you a definition, +which will have the merit of novelty and which is probably general in +its application. Chemistry relates to those operations by which +the intimate nature of bodies is changed, or by which they acquire new +properties. This definition will not only apply to the effects +of mixture, but to the phenomena of electricity, and, in short, to all +the <!-- page 172--><a name="page172"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 172</span>changes +which do not merely depend upon the motion or division of masses of +matter. However difficult it may have been to have given you a +definition of chemistry, it is still more difficult to give you a detail +of all the qualities necessary for a chemical philosopher. I will +not name as many as Athenæus has named for a cook, who, he says, +ought to be a mathematician, a theoretical musician, a natural philosopher, +a natural historian, &c., though you had a disposition just now +to make chemistry merely subservient to the uses of the kitchen. +But I will seriously mention some of the studies fundamental to the +higher departments of this science; a man may be a good practical chemist +perhaps without possessing them, but he never can become a great chemical +philosopher. The person who wishes to understand the higher departments +of chemistry, or to pursue them in their most interesting relations +to the economy of Nature, ought to be well-grounded in elementary mathematics; +he will oftener have to refer to arithmetic than algebra, and to algebra +than to geometry. But all these sciences lend their aid to chemistry; +arithmetic, in determining the proportions of analytical results and +the relative weights of the elements of bodies; algebra, in ascertaining +the laws of the pressure of elastic fluids, the force of vapour as dependent +upon temperature, and the effects of masses and surfaces on the communication +and radiation of heat; the applications of geometry are principally +limited to the determination of the crystalline forms of bodies, which +constitute the most important type of their nature, and often offer +useful hints for analytical researches respecting their composition. +The first principles of natural philosophy or general physics <!-- page 173--><a name="page173"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 173</span>ought +not to be entirely unknown to the chemist. As the most active +agents are fluids, elastic fluids, heat, light, and electricity, he +ought to have a general knowledge of mechanics, hydrodynamics, pneumatics, +optics, and electricity. Latin and Greek among the dead and French +among the modern languages are necessary, and, as the most important +after French, German and Italian. In natural history and in literature +what belongs to a liberal education, such as that of our universities, +is all that is required; indeed, a young man who has performed the ordinary +course of college studies which are supposed fitted for common life +and for refined society, has all the preliminary knowledge necessary +to commence the study of chemistry. The apparatus essential to +the modern chemical philosopher is much less bulky and expensive than +that used by the ancients. An air pump, an electrical machine, +a voltaic battery (all of which may be upon a small scale), a blow-pipe +apparatus, a bellows and forge, a mercurial and water-gas apparatus, +cups and basins of platinum and glass, and the common reagents of chemistry, +are what are required. All the implements absolutely necessary +may be carried in a small trunk, and some of the best and most refined +researches of modern chemists have been made by means of an apparatus +which might with ease be contained in a small travelling carriage, and +the expense of which is only a few pounds. The facility with which +chemical inquiries are carried on, and the simplicity of the apparatus, +offer additional reasons, to those I have already given, for the pursuit +of this science. It is not injurious to the health; the modern +chemist is not like the ancient one, who passed the greater part of +his time exposed to <!-- page 174--><a name="page174"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 174</span>the +heat and smoke of a furnace and the unwholesome vapours of acids and +alkalies and other menstrua, of which, for a single experiment, he consumed +several pounds. His processes may be carried on in the drawing-room, +and some of them are no less beautiful in appearance than satisfactory +in their results. It was said, by an author belonging to the last +century, of alchemy, “that its beginning was deceit, its progress +labour, and its end beggary.” It may be said of modern chemistry, +that its beginning is pleasure, its progress knowledge, and its objects +truth and utility. I have spoken of the scientific attainments +necessary for the chemical philosopher; I will say a few words of the +intellectual qualities necessary for discovery or for the advancement +of the science. Amongst them patience, industry, and neatness +in manipulation, and accuracy and minuteness in observing and registering +the phenomena which occur, are essential. A steady hand and a +quick eye are most useful auxiliaries; but there have been very few +great chemists who have preserved these advantages through life; for +the business of the laboratory is often a service of danger, and the +elements, like the refractory spirits of romance, though the obedient +slave of the magician, yet sometimes escape the influence of his talisman +and endanger his person. Both the hands and eyes of others, however, +may be sometimes advantageously made use of. By often repeating +a process or an observation, the errors connected with hasty operations +or imperfect views are annihilated; and, provided the assistant has +no preconceived notions of his own, and is ignorant of the object of +his employer in making the experiment, his simple and bare detail of +facts will often be the best <!-- page 175--><a name="page175"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 175</span>foundation +for an opinion. With respect to the higher qualities of intellect +necessary for understanding and developing the general laws of the science, +the same talents I believe are required as for making advancement in +every other department of human knowledge; I need not be very minute. +The imagination must be active and brilliant in seeking analogies; yet +entirely under the influence of the judgment in applying them. +The memory must be extensive and profound; rather, however, calling +up general views of things than minute trains of thought. The +mind must not be, like an encyclopedia, a burthen of knowledge, but +rather a critical dictionary which abounds in generalities, and points +out where more minute information may be obtained. In detailing +the results of experiments and in giving them to the world, the chemical +philosopher should adopt the simplest style and manner; he will avoid +all ornaments as something injurious to his subject, and should bear +in mind the saying of the first king of Great Britain respecting a sermon +which was excellent in doctrine but overcharged with poetical allusions +and figurative language, “that the tropes and metaphors of the +speaker were like the brilliant wild flowers in a field of corn—very +pretty, but which did very much hurt the corn.” In announcing +even the greatest and most important discoveries, the true philosopher +will communicate his details with modesty and reserve; he will rather +be a useful servant of the public, bringing forth a light from under +his cloak when it is needed in darkness, than a charlatan exhibiting +fireworks and having a trumpeter to announce their magnificence. +I see you are smiling, and think what I am saying in bad taste; yet, +notwithstanding, I will provoke your smiles <!-- page 176--><a name="page176"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 176</span>still +further by saying a word or two on his other moral qualities. +That he should be humble-minded, you will readily allow, and a diligent +searcher after truth, and neither diverted from this great object by +the love of transient glory or temporary popularity, looking rather +to the opinion of ages than to that of a day, and seeking to be remembered +and named rather in the epochas of historians than in the columns of +newspaper writers or journalists. He should resemble the modern +geometricians in the greatness of his views and the profoundness of +his researches, and the ancient alchemists in industry and piety. +I do not mean that he should affix written prayers and inscriptions +of recommendations of his processes to Providence, as was the custom +of Peter Wolfe, and who was alive in my early days, but his mind should +always be awake to devotional feeling, and in contemplating the variety +and the beauty of the external world, and developing its scientific +wonders, he will always refer to that infinite wisdom through whose +beneficence he is permitted to enjoy knowledge; and, in becoming wiser, +he will become better, he will rise at once in the scale of intellectual +and moral existence, his increased sagacity will be subservient to a +more exalted faith, and in proportion as the veil becomes thinner through +which he sees the causes of things he will admire more the brightness +of the divine light by which they are rendered visible.</p> +<h2><!-- page 177--><a name="page177"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 177</span>DIALOGUE +THE SIXTH. POLA, OR TIME.</h2> +<p>During our stay in Illyria, I made an excursion by water with the +Unknown, my preserver, now become my friend, and Eubathes, to Pola, +in Istria. We entered the harbour of Pola in a felucca when the +sun was setting; and I know no scene more splendid than the amphitheatre +seen from the sea in this light. It appears not as a building +in ruins, but like a newly erected work, and the reflection of the colours +of its brilliant marble and beautiful forms seen upon the calm surface +of the waters gave to it a double effect—that of a glorious production +of art and of a magnificent picture. We examined with pleasure +the remains of the arch of Augustus and the temple, very perfect monuments +of imperial grandeur. But the splendid exterior of the amphitheatre +was not in harmony with the bare and naked walls of the interior; there +were none of those durable and grand seats of marble, such as adorn +the amphitheatre of Verona, from which it is probable that the whole +of the arena and conveniences for the spectators had been constructed +of wood. Their total disappearance led us to reflect upon the +causes of the destruction of so many of the works of the older nations. +I said, in our metaphysical abstractions, we refer the changes, the +destruction of material forms, to time, but there must be physical laws +in Nature by which they are produced; and I begged our new friend to +give us some ideas on this subject in his character of chemical philosopher. +If human science, I said, has discovered <!-- page 178--><a name="page178"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 178</span>the +principle of the decay of things, it is possible that human art may +supply means of conservation, and bestow immortality on some of the +works which appear destined by their perfection for future ages.</p> +<p><i>The Unknown</i>.—I shall willingly communicate to you my +views of the operation of time, philosophically considered. A +great philosopher has said, man can in no other way command Nature but +in obeying her laws; and, in these laws, the principle of change is +a principle of life; without decay, there can be no reproduction; and +everything belonging to the earth, whether in its primitive state, or +modified by human hands, is submitted to certain and immutable laws +of destruction, as permanent and universal as those which produce the +planetary motions. The property which, as far as our experience +extends, universally belongs to matter, gravitation, is the first and +most general cause of change in our terrestrial system; and, whilst +it preserves the great mass of the globe in a uniform state, its influence +is continually producing alterations upon the surface. The water, +raised in vapour by the solar heat, is precipitated by the cool air +in the atmosphere; it is carried down by gravitation to the surface, +and gains its mechanical force from this law. Whatever is elevated +above the superfices by the powers of vegetation or animal life, or +by the efforts of man, by gravitation constantly tends to the common +centre of attraction; and the great reason of the duration of the pyramid +above all other forms is, that it is most fitted to resist the force +of gravitation. The arch, the pillar, and all perpendicular constructions, +are liable to fall when a degradation from chemical or mechanical causes +takes place in their inferior parts. The forms upon <!-- page 179--><a name="page179"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 179</span>the +surface of the globe are preserved from the influence of gravitation +by the attraction of cohesion, or by chemical attraction; but if their +parts had freedom of motion, they would all be levelled by this power, +gravitation, and the globe would appear as a plane and smooth oblate +spheroid, flattened at the poles. The attraction of cohesion or +chemical attraction, in its most energetic state, is not liable to be +destroyed by gravitation; this power only assists the agencies of other +causes of degradation. Attraction, of whatever kind, tends, as +it were, to produce rest—a sort of eternal sleep in Nature. +The great antagonist power is heat. By the influence of the sun +the globe is exposed to great varieties of temperature; an addition +of heat expands bodies, and an abstraction of heat causes them to contract; +by variation of heat, certain kinds of matter are rendered fluid, or +elastic, and changes from fluids into solids, or from solids or fluids +into elastic substances, and <i>vice versâ</i>, are produced; +and all these phenomena are connected with alterations tending to the +decay or destruction of bodies. It is not probable that the mere +contraction or expansion of a solid, from the subtraction or addition +of heat, tends to loosen its parts; but if water exists in these parts, +then its expansion, either in becoming vapour or ice, tends not only +to diminish their cohesion, but to break them into fragments. +There is, you know, a very remarkable property of water—its expansion +by cooling, and at the time of becoming ice—and this is a great +cause of destruction in the northern climates; for where ice forms in +the crevices or cavities of stones, or when water which has penetrated +into cement freezes, its expansion acts with the force of the lever +or the <!-- page 180--><a name="page180"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 180</span>screw +in destroying or separating the parts of bodies. The mechanical +powers of water, as rain, hail, or snow, in descending from the atmosphere, +are not entirely without effect; for in acting upon the projections +of solids, drops of water or particles of snow, and still more of hail, +have a power of abrasion, and a very soft substance, from its mass assisting +gravitation, may break a much harder one. The glacier, by its +motion, grinds into powder the surface of the granite rock; and the +Alpine torrents, that have their origin under glaciers, are always turbid, +from the destruction of the rocks on which the glacier is formed. +The effect of a torrent in deepening its bed will explain the mechanical +agency of fluid-water, though this effect is infinitely increased, and +sometimes almost entirely dependent, upon the solid matters which are +carried down by it. An angular fragment of stone in the course +of ages moved in the cavity of a rock makes a deep round excavation, +and is worn itself into a spherical form. A torrent of rain flowing +down the side of a building carries with it the silicious dust, or sand, +or matter which the wind has deposited there, and acts upon a scale +infinitely more minute, but according to the same law. The buildings +of ancient Rome have not only been liable to the constant operation +of the rain-courses, or minute torrents produced by rains, but even +the Tiber, swollen with floods of the Sabine mountains and the Apennines, +has often entered into the city, and a winter seldom passes away in +which the area of the Pantheon has not been filled with water, and the +reflection of the cupola seen in a smooth lake below. The monuments +of Egypt are perhaps the most ancient and permanent of those <!-- page 181--><a name="page181"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 181</span>belonging +to the earth, and in that country rain is almost unknown. And +all the causes of degradation connected with the agency of water act +more in the temperate climates than in the hot ones, and most of all +in those countries where the inequalities of temperature are greatest. +The mechanical effects of air are principally in the action of winds +in assisting the operation of gravitation, and in abrading by dust, +sand, stones, and atmospheric water. These effects, unless it +be in the case of a building blown down by a tempest, are imperceptible +in days, or even years; yet a gentle current of air carrying the silicious +sand of the desert, or the dust of a road for ages against the face +of a structure, must ultimately tend to injure it, for with infinite +or unlimited duration, an extremely small cause will produce a very +great effect. The mechanical agency of electricity is very limited; +the effects of lightning have, however, been witnessed, even in some +of the great monuments of antiquity, the Colosæum at Rome, for +instance; and only last year, in a violent thunderstorm, some of the +marble, I have been informed, was struck from the top of one of the +arches in this building, and a perpendicular rent made, of some feet +in diameter. But the chemical effects of electricity, though excessively +slow and gradual, yet are much more efficient in the great work of destruction. +It is to the general chemical doctrines of the changes produced by this +powerful agent that I must now direct your especial attention.</p> +<p><i>Eub</i>.—Would not the consideration of the subject have +been more distinct, and your explanations of the phenomena more simple, +had you commenced by dividing the causes of change into mechanical and +chemical; <!-- page 182--><a name="page182"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 182</span>if +you had first considered them separately, and then their joint effects?</p> +<p><i>The Unknown</i>.—The order I have adopted is not very remote +from this. But I was perhaps wrong in treating first of the agency +of gravitation, which owes almost all its powers to the operation of +other causes. In consequence of your hint, I shall alter my plan +a little, and consider first the chemical agency of water, then that +of air, and lastly that of electricity. In every species of chemical +change, temperature is concerned. But unless the results of volcanoes +and earthquakes be directly referred to this power, it has no chemical +effect in relation to the changes ascribed to time simply considered +as heat, but its operations, which are the most important belonging +to the terrestrial cycle of changes, are blended with, or bring into +activity, those of other agents. One of the most distinct and +destructive agencies of water depends upon its solvent powers, which +are usually greatest when its temperature is highest. Water is +capable of dissolving, in larger or smaller proportions, most compound +bodies, and the calcareous and alkaline elements of stones are particularly +liable to this kind of operation. When water holds in solution +carbonic acid, which is always the case when it is precipitated from +the atmosphere, its power of dissolving carbonate of lime is very much +increased, and in the neighbourhood of great cities, where the atmosphere +contains a large proportion of this principle, the solvent powers of +rain upon the marble exposed to it must be greatest. Whoever examines +the marble statues in the British Museum, which have been removed from +the exterior of the Parthenon, will be convinced that they have suffered +from <!-- page 183--><a name="page183"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 183</span>this +agency; and an effect distinct in the pure atmosphere and temperate +climate of Athens, must be upon a higher scale in the vicinity of other +great European cities, where the consumption of fuel produces carbonic +acid in large quantities. Metallic substances, such as iron, copper, +bronze, brass, tin, and lead, whether they exist in stones, or are used +for support or connection in buildings, are liable to be corroded by +water holding in solution the principles of the atmosphere; and the +rust and corrosion, which are made, poetically, qualities of time, depend +upon the oxidating powers of water, which by supplying oxygen in a dissolved +or condensed state enables the metals to form new combinations. +All the vegetable substances, exposed to water and air, are liable to +decay, and even the vapour in the air, attracted by wood, gradually +reacts upon its fibres and assists decomposition, or enables its elements +to take new arrangements. Hence it is that none of the roofs of +ancient buildings more than a thousand years old remain, unless it be +such as are constructed of stone, as those of the Pantheon of Rome and +the tomb of Theodoric at Ravenna, the cupola of which is composed of +a single block of marble. The pictures of the Greek masters, which +were painted on the wood of the abies, or pine of the Mediterranean, +likewise, as we are informed by Pliny, owed their destruction not to +a change in the colours, not to the alteration of the calcareous ground +on which they were painted, but to the decay of the tablets of wood +on which the intonaco or stucco was laid. Amongst the substances +employed in building, wood, iron, tin, and lead, are most liable to +decay from the operation of water, then marble, when exposed to its +influence in the fluid form; brass, <!-- page 184--><a name="page184"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 184</span>copper, +granite, sienite, and porphyry are more durable. But in stones, +much depends upon the peculiar nature of their constituent parts; when +the feldspar of the granite rocks contains little alkali or calcareous +earth, it is a very permanent stone; but, when in granite, porphyry, +or sienite, either the feldspar contains much alkaline matter, or the +mica, schorl, or hornblende much protoxide of iron, the action of water +containing oxygen and carbonic acid on the ferruginous elements tends +to produce the disintegration of the stone. The red granite, black +sienite, and red porphyry of Egypt, which are seen at Rome in obelisks, +columns, and sarcophagi, are amongst the most durable compound stones; +but the grey granites of Corsica and Elba are extremely liable to undergo +alteration: the feldspar contains much alkaline matter; and the mica +and schorl, much protoxide of iron. A remarkable instance of the +decay of granite may be seen in the Hanging Tower of Pisa; whilst the +marble pillars in the basement remain scarcely altered, the granite +ones have lost a considerable portion of their surface, which falls +off continually in scales, and exhibits everywhere stains from the formation +of peroxide of iron. The kaolin, or clay, used in most countries +for the manufacture of fine porcelain or china, is generally produced +from the feldspar of decomposing granite, in which the cause of decay +is the dissolution and separation of the alkaline ingredients.</p> +<p><i>Eub</i>.—I have seen serpentines, basalts, and lavas which +internally were dark, and which from their weight, I should suppose, +must contain oxide of iron, superficially brown or red, and decomposing. +Undoubtedly this was from the action of water impregnated with air upon +their ferruginous elements.</p> +<p><!-- page 185--><a name="page185"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 185</span><i>The +Unknown</i>.—You are perfectly right. There are few compound +stones, possessing a considerable specific gravity, which are not liable +to change from this cause; and oxide of iron amongst the metallic substances +anciently known, is the most generally diffused in nature, and most +concerned in the changes which take place on the surface of the globe. +The chemical action of carbonic acid is so much connected with that +of water, that it is scarcely possible to speak of them separately, +as must be evident from what I have before said; but the same action +which is exerted by the acid dissolved in water is likewise exerted +by it in its elastic state, and in this case the facility with which +the quantity is changed makes up for the difference of the degree of +condensation. There is no reason to believe that the azote of +the atmosphere has any considerable action in producing changes of the +nature we are studying on the surface; the aqueous vapour, the oxygen +and the carbonic acid gas, are, however, constantly in combined activity, +and above all the oxygen. And, whilst water, uniting its effects +with those of carbonic acid, tends to disintegrate the parts of stones, +the oxygen acts upon vegetable matter. And this great chemical +agent is at once necessary, in all the processes of life and in all +those of decay, in which Nature, as it were, takes again to herself +those instruments, organs, and powers, which had for a while been borrowed +and employed for the purpose or the wants of the living principle. +Almost everything effected by rapid combinations in combustion may also +be effected gradually by the slow absorption of oxygen; and though the +productions of the animal and vegetable kingdom are much more submitted +to the power of <!-- page 186--><a name="page186"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 186</span>atmospheric +agents than those of the mineral kingdom, yet, as in the instances which +have just been mentioned, oxygen gradually destroys the equilibrium +of the elements of stones, and tends to reduce into powder, to render +fit for soils, even the hardest aggregates belonging to our globe. +Electricity, as a chemical agent, may be considered not only as directly +producing an infinite variety of changes, but likewise as influencing +almost all which take place. There are not two substances on the +surface of the globe that are not in different electrical relations +to each other; and chemical attraction itself seems to be a peculiar +form of the exhibition of electrical attraction; and wherever the atmosphere, +or water, or any part of the surface of the earth gains accumulated +electricity of a different kind from the contiguous surfaces, the tendency +of this electricity is to produce new arrangements of the parts of these +surfaces; thus a positively electrified cloud, acting even at a great +distance on a moistened stone, tends to attract its oxygenous, or acidiform +or acid, ingredients, and a negatively electrified cloud has the same +effect upon its earthy, alkaline, or metallic matter. And the +silent and slow operation of electricity is much more important in the +economy of Nature than its grand and impressive operation in lightning +and thunder. The chemical agencies of water and air are assisted +by those of electricity; and their joint effects combined with those +of gravitation and the mechanical ones I first described are sufficient +to account for the results of time. But the physical powers of +Nature in producing decay are assisted likewise by certain agencies +or energies of organised beings. A polished surface of a building +or a statue is no sooner made rough from the <!-- page 187--><a name="page187"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 187</span>causes +that have been mentioned than the seeds of lichens and mosses, which +are constantly floating in our atmosphere, make it a place of repose, +grow, and increase, and from their death, their decay, and decomposition +carbonaceous matter is produced, and at length a soil is formed, in +which grass can fix its roots. In the crevices of walls, where +this soil is washed down, even the seeds of trees grow, and, gradually +as a building becomes more ruined, ivy and other parasitical plants +cover it. Even the animal creation lends its aid in the process +of destruction when man no longer labours for the conservation of his +works. The fox burrows amongst ruins, bats and birds nestle in +the cavities in walls, the snake and the lizard likewise make them their +habitation. Insects act upon a smaller scale, but by their united +energies sometimes produce great effect; the ant, by establishing her +colony and forming her magazines, often saps the foundations of the +strongest buildings, and the most insignificant creatures triumph, as +it were, over the grandest works of man. Add to these sure and +slow operations the devastations of war, the effects of the destructive +zeal of bigotry, the predatory fury of barbarians seeking for concealed +wealth under the foundations of buildings, and tearing from them every +metallic substance, and it is rather to be wondered that any of the +works of the great nations of antiquity are still in existence.</p> +<p><i>Phil</i>.—Your view of the causes of devastation really +is a melancholy one. Nor<span class="smcap"> </span>do I see any +remedy; the most important causes will always operate. Yet, supposing +the constant existence of a highly civilised people, the ravages of +time might be repaired, and by defending the finest works of art from +the external <!-- page 188--><a name="page188"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 188</span>atmosphere, +their changes would be scarcely perceptible.</p> +<p><i>Eub</i>.—I doubt much whether it is for the interests of +a people that its public works should be of a durable kind. One +of the great causes of the decline of the Roman Empire was that the +people of the Republic and of the first empire left nothing for their +posterity to do; aqueducts, temples, forums, everything was supplied, +and there were no objects to awaken activity, no necessity to stimulate +their inventive faculties, and hardly any wants to call forth their +industry.</p> +<p><i>The Unknown</i>.—At least, you must allow the importance +of preserving objects of the fine arts. Almost everything we have +worthy of admiration is owing to what has been preserved from the Greek +school, and the nations who have not possessed these works or models +have made little or no progress towards perfection. Nor does it +seem that a mere imitation of Nature is sufficient to produce the beautiful +or perfect; but the climate, the manners, customs, and dress of the +people, its genius and taste, all co-operate. Such principles +of conservation as Philalethes has referred to are obvious. No +works of excellence ought to be exposed to the atmosphere, and it is +a great object to preserve them in apartments of equable temperature +and extremely dry. The roofs of magnificent buildings should be +of materials not likely to be dissolved by water or changed by air. +Many electrical conductors should be placed so as to prevent the slow +or the rapid effects of atmospheric electricity. In painting, +lapis lazuli or coloured hard glasses, in which the oxides are not liable +to change, should be used, and should be laid on marble or stucco encased +in stone, and no animal or <!-- page 189--><a name="page189"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 189</span>vegetable +substances, except pure carbonaceous matter, should be used in the pigments, +and none should be mixed with the varnishes.</p> +<p><i>Eub</i>.—Yet, when all is done that can be done in the work +of conservation, it is only producing a difference in the degree of +duration. And from the statements that our friend has made it +is evident that none of the works of a mortal being can be eternal, +as none of the combinations of a limited intellect can be infinite. +The operations of Nature, when slow, are no less sure; however man may +for a time usurp dominion over her, she is certain of recovering her +empire. He converts her rocks, her stones, her trees, into forms +of palaces, houses, and ships; he employs the metals found in the bosom +of the earth as instruments of power, and the sands and clays which +constitute its surface as ornaments and resources of luxury; he imprisons +air by water, and tortures water by fire to change or modify or destroy +the natural forms of things. But, in some lustrums his works begin +to change, and in a few centuries they decay and are in ruins; and his +mighty temples, framed as it were for immortal and divine purposes, +and his bridges formed of granite and ribbed with iron, and his walls +for defence, and the splendid monuments by which he has endeavoured +to give eternity even to his perishable remains, are gradually destroyed; +and these structures, which have resisted the waves of the ocean, the +tempests of the sky, and the stroke of the lightning, shall yield to +the operation of the dews of heaven, of frost, rain, vapour, and imperceptible +atmospheric influences; and, as the worm devours the lineaments of his +mortal beauty, so the lichens and the moss and the most insignificant +plants <!-- page 190--><a name="page190"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 190</span>shall +feed upon his columns and his pyramids, and the most humble and insignificant +insects shall undermine and sap the foundations of his colossal works, +and make their habitations amongst the ruins of his palaces and the +falling seats of his earthly glory.</p> +<p><i>Phil</i>.—Your history of the laws of the inevitable destruction +of material forms recalls to my memory our discussion at Adelsberg. +The changes of the material universe are in harmony with those which +belong to the human body, and which you suppose to be the frame or machinery +of the sentient principle. May we not venture to imagine that +the visible and tangible world, with which we are acquainted by our +sensations, bears the same relation to the Divine and Infinite Intelligence +that our organs bear to our mind, with this only difference, that in +the changes of the divine system there is no decay, there being in the +order of things a perfect unity, and all the powers springing from one +will and being a consequence of that will, are perfectly and unalterably +balanced. Newton seemed to apprehend, that in the laws of the +planetary motions there was a principle which would ultimately be the +cause of the destruction of the system. Laplace, by pursuing and +refining the principles of our great philosopher, has proved that what +appeared sources of disorder are, in fact, the perfecting machinery +of the system, and that the principle of conservation is as eternal +as that of motion.</p> +<p><i>The Unknown</i>.—I dare not offer any speculations on this +grand and awful subject. We can hardly comprehend the cause of +a simple atmospheric phenomenon, such as the fall of a heavy body from +a meteor; we cannot even embrace in one view the millionth part of <!-- page 191--><a name="page191"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 191</span>the +objects surrounding us, and yet we have the presumption to reason upon +the infinite universe and the eternal mind by which it was created and +is governed. On these subjects I have no confidence in reason, +I trust only to faith; and, as far as we ought to inquire, we have no +other guide but revelation.</p> +<p><i>Phil</i>.—I agree with you that whenever we attempt metaphysical +speculations, we must begin with a foundation of faith. And being +sure from revelation that God is omnipotent and omnipresent, it appears +to me no improper use of our faculties to trace even in the natural +universe the acts of His power and the results of His wisdom, and to +draw parallels from the infinite to the finite mind. Remember, +we are taught that man was created in the image of God, and, I think, +it cannot be doubted that in the progress of society man has been made +a great instrument by his energies and labours for improving the moral +universe. Compare the Greeks and Romans with the Assyrians and +Babylonians, and the ancient Greeks and Romans with the nations of modern +Christendom, and it cannot, I think, be questioned that there has been +a great superiority in the latter nations, and that their improvements +have been subservient to a more exalted state of intellectual and religious +existence. If this little globe has been so modified by its powerful +and active inhabitants, I cannot help thinking that in other systems +beings of a superior nature, under the influence of a divine will, may +act nobler parts. We know from the sacred writings that there +are intelligences of a higher nature than man, and I cannot help sometimes +referring to my vision in the Colosæum, and in supposing some +acts of power of those genii or seraphs similar to those <!-- page 192--><a name="page192"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 192</span>which +I have imagined in the higher planetary systems. There is much +reason to infer from astronomical observations that great changes take +place in the system of the fixed stars: Sir William Herschel, indeed, +seems to have believed that he saw nebulous or luminous matter in the +process of forming suns, and there are some astronomers who believe +that stars have been extinct; but it is more probable that they have +disappeared from peculiar motions. It is, perhaps, rather a poetical +than a philosophical idea, yet I cannot help forming the opinion that +genii or seraphic intelligences may inhabit these systems and may be +the ministers of the eternal mind in producing changes in them similar +to those which have taken place on the earth. Time is almost a +human word and change entirely a human idea; in the system of Nature +we should rather say progress than change. The sun appears to +sink in the ocean in darkness, but it rises in another hemisphere; the +ruins of a city fall, but they are often used to form more magnificent +structures as at Rome; but, even when they are destroyed, so as to produce +only dust, Nature asserts her empire over them, and the vegetable world +rises in constant youth, and—in a period of annual successions, +by the labours of man providing food—vitality, and beauty upon +the wrecks of monuments, which were once raised for purposes of glory, +but which are now applied to objects of utility.</p> +<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CONSOLATIONS IN TRAVEL***</p> +<pre> + + +***** This file should be named 17882-h.htm or 17882-h.zip****** + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/7/8/8/17882 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: Consolations in Travel + or, the Last Days of a Philosopher + + +Author: Humphrey Davy + +Editor: Henry Morley + +Release Date: February 28, 2006 [eBook #17882] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CONSOLATIONS IN TRAVEL*** + + + + + + +Transcribed from the 1889 Cassell & Company edition by David Price, email +ccx074@coventry.ac.uk + + + + + +CONSOLATIONS IN TRAVEL; +OR, THE LAST DAYS OF A PHILOSOPHER. + + +BY SIR HUMPHRY DAVY, BART., +_Late President of the Royal Society_. + +CASSELL & COMPANY, LIMITED: +_LONDON, PARIS, NEW YORK & MELBOURNE_. 1889 + + + + +INTRODUCTION. + + +Humphry Davy was born at Penzance, in Cornwall, on the 17th of December, +1778, and died at Geneva on the 29th of May, 1829, at the age of fifty. +He was a philosopher who turned knowledge to wisdom; he was one of the +foremost of our English men of science; and this book, written when he +was dying, which makes Reason the companion of Faith, shows how he passed +through the light of earth into the light of heaven. + +His father had a small patrimony at Varfell, in Ludgvan. His mother had +lost in early childhood both her parents within a few hours of each +other, and had been adopted by John Tonkin, an eminent surgeon in +Penzance, to whom, therefore, so to speak, Humphry Davy became grandson +by adoption. There were five such grandchildren--Humphry, the elder of +two boys, the other boy being named John, and three girls. + +At a preparatory school and at the Penzance Grammar School Humphry Davy +was a noticeable boy. He read eagerly and showed great quickness of +imagination, delighted in legends, when eight years old told stories to +his companions, and as a boy wrote verse. There was a Quaker saddler who +made for himself an electrical machine and mechanical models, in which +young Davy took keen interest, and from that saddler, Robert Dunkin, came +the first impulse towards experiments in science. At fifteen Davy was +placed for further education at a school in Truro. A year later his +father died, and John Tonkin apprenticed him, on the 10th of February, +1795, to Dr. Borlase, a surgeon in large practice at Penzance. Medical +practitioners in those days dispensed their own medicines, and the +inquiring mind of this young apprentice being let loose upon a store-room +of chemicals, experimental chemistry became his favourite pursuit. His +grandfather, by adoption, allowed him to fit up a garret as a laboratory, +notwithstanding the fears of the household that "This boy, Humphry, will +blow us all into the air." + +Activity and originality of mind, with a persistent habit of inquiry and +experiment, brought Davy friends who could appreciate and help him. When +Dr. Beddoes, of Bristol, was examining the Cornish coast, in 1798, he +came upon young Humphry Davy, was told of researches made by him, and +urged to engage him as laboratory assistant in a Pneumatic Institution +that he was then establishing in Bristol. Davy went in October, 1798, +then in his twentieth year; but his good friend, and grandfather by +adoption, had set his heart upon Humphry's becoming an eminent burgeon, +and even altered his will when his boy yielded to the temptation of a +laboratory for research. Men also know something of the trouble of the +hen who has a chance duckling in her brood, and sees that contumacious +chicken run into the water deaf to all the warnings of her love. + +At Bristol Humphry Davy came into companionship with Coleridge and +Southey, who were then also at the outset of their career, and there are +poems of his in the Poetical Anthology then published by Southey. But at +the same time Davy contributed papers on "Heat, Light, and the +Combinations of Light," on "Phos-Oxygen and its Combinations," and on +"The Theory of Respiration," to a volume of West Country Collections, +that filled more than half the volume. He was experimenting then on +gases and on galvanism, and one day by experiment upon himself, in the +breathing of carburetted hydrogen, he almost put an end to his life. + +In 1799 Count Rumford was founding the Royal Institution, and its home in +Albemarle Street was then bought for it. The first lecturer appointed +was in bad health, and in 1801 he was obliged to resign. Young Davy was +now known to men of science for the number and freshness of his +experiments, and for the substantial value of his chemical discoveries. +It was resolved by the managers, in July, 1801, that Humphry Davy be +appointed Assistant-Lecturer in Chemistry, Director of the Chemical +Laboratory, and assistant-editor of the journals of the Royal +Institution. His first remuneration was a room in the house, coals and +candles, and 100 pounds a year. Count Rumford held out the prospect of a +professorship with 300 pounds a year, and the certainty of full support +in the use of the laboratory for his own private research. His age then +was twenty-three. He at once satisfied men of science and amused people +of fashion. His energy was unbounded; there was a fascination in his +personal character and manner. He was a genial and delightful lecturer, +and his inventive genius was continually finding something new. A first +suggestion of the process of photography was dropped incidentally among +the records of researches that attracted more attention. Davy had been +little more than a year at the Royal Institution when he was made its +Professor of Chemistry. After another year he was made a Fellow. Dr. +Paris, his biographer, says that "the enthusiastic admiration which his +lectures obtained is at this period scarcely to be imagined. Men of the +first rank and talent--the literary and the scientific, the practical, +the theoretical--blue-stockings and women of fashion, the old and the +young, all crowded--eagerly crowded--the lecture-room." At the beginning +of the year 1805 his salary was raised to 400 pounds a year. In May of +that year the Royal Society awarded to him the Copley Medal. Within the +next two years he was elected Secretary of the Royal Society. Since 1800 +he had been advancing knowledge by experiments with galvanism. The Royal +Institution raised a special fund to place at his disposal a more +powerful galvanic battery than any that had been constructed. The fame +of his discoveries spread over Europe. + +The Institute of France gave Davy the Napoleon Prize of three thousand +francs for the best experiments in galvanism. Dublin, in 1810, paid Davy +four hundred guineas for some lectures upon his discoveries. The Farming +Society of Ireland gave him 750 pounds for six lectures on chemistry +applied to agriculture. In the following year he received more than a +thousand pounds for two courses of lectures at Dublin, and was sent home +with the honorary degree of LL.D. In April, 1812, he was knighted, +resigned his professorship at the Royal Institution, and "in order more +strongly to mark the high sense of his merits" he was elected Honorary +Professor of Chemistry. In the same month Davy married a young and rich +widow, who had charmed all Edinburgh by her beauty and her wit. Two +months after marriage Sir Humphry Davy dedicated to his wife his +"Elements of Chemical Philosophy." In March, 1813, he published his +"Elements of Agricultural Chemistry." He travelled abroad, and was +received with honour by the chief men of science in all places that he +visited. When, at Pavia, he first met Volta: he found that Volta had put +on full-dress to receive him. + +In August, 1815, Davy's attention was drawn to the loss of life by +explosions of fire-damp, and by the end of the year he had devised his +safety-lamp. The coal owners subscribed 1,500 pounds for a testimonial, +gave him also a dinner and a service of plate. In October, 1818, he was +made a baronet. In November, 1820, he was elected President of the Royal +Society. + +His next researches were chiefly on electro-magnetism and the protection +of the copper sheathing on ships' bottoms. At the end of 1826 his health +failed seriously. He went to Italy; resigned, in July, 1827, the +Presidency of the Royal Society; came back to England, longing for "the +fresh air of the mountains;" wrote and published his "Salmonia, or Days +of Fly-fishing." In the spring of 1828 he left England again. He was at +Rome in the winter of 1829, still engaged in quiet research, and it was +then that he wrote his "Consolations in Travel; or, the Last Days of a +Philosopher." His wife, who shone in London society, did not go with him +upon this last journey, but travelled day and night to reach him when +word came to her and to his brother John, who was a physician, that he +had again been struck with palsy and was dying. That stroke of palsy +followed immediately upon the finishing of the book now in the reader's +hand. Davy lived to see again his wife and brother, rallied enough to +leave Rome with them, and had got as far as Geneva on the 28th of May, +1829. He died in the next night. + +H. M. + + + + +A NOTE, + + +_Prefixed to the First Edition, by Sir Humphry Davy's Brother_. + +As is stated in the Preface which follows, this work was composed during +a period of bodily indisposition;--it was concluded at the very moment of +the invasion of the Author's last illness. Had his life been prolonged, +it is probable that some additions and some changes would have been made. +The editor does not consider himself warranted to do more than give to +the world a faithful copy, making only a few omissions and a few verbal +alterations. The characters of the persons of the dialogue were intended +to be ideal, at least in great part such they should be considered by the +reader; and, it is to be hoped, that the incidents introduced, as well as +the persons, will be viewed only as subordinate and subservient to the +sentiments and doctrines. The dedication, it may be specially noticed, +is the author's own, and in the very words dictated by him, at a time +when he had lost the power of writing except with extreme difficulty, +owing to the paralytic attack, although he retained in a very remarkable +manner all his mental faculties unimpaired and unclouded. + +JOHN DAVY. +_London_, +_January 6th_, 1830. + +TO THOMAS POOLE, ESQ. OF NETHER STOWEY +IN REMEMBRANCE OF +THIRTY YEARS OF CONTINUED AND FAITHFUL +FRIENDSHIP. + + + + +AUTHOR'S PREFACE. + + +Salmonia was written during the time of a partial recovery from a long +and dangerous illness. The present work was composed immediately after, +under the same unfavourable and painful circumstances, and at a period +when the constitution of the Author suffered from new attacks. He has +derived some pleasure and some consolation, when most other sources of +consolation and pleasure were closed to him, from this exercise of his +mind; and he ventures to hope that these hours of sickness may be not +altogether unprofitable to persons in perfect health. + +_Rome_, +_February_ 21, 1829. + + + + +DIALOGUE THE FIRST. THE VISION. + + +I passed the autumn and the early winter of the years 18-- and 18-- at +Rome. The society was, as is usual in that metropolis of the old +Christian world, numerous and diversified. In it there were found many +intellectual foreigners and amongst them some distinguished Britons, who +had a higher object in making this city their residence than mere +idleness or vague curiosity. Amongst these my countrymen, there were two +gentlemen with whom I formed a particular intimacy and who were my +frequent companions in the visits which I made to the monuments of the +grandeur of the old Romans and to the masterpieces of ancient and modern +art. One of them I shall call Ambrosio: he was a man of highly +cultivated taste, great classical erudition, and minute historical +knowledge. In religion he was of the Roman Catholic persuasion; but a +Catholic of the most liberal school, who in another age might have been +secretary to Ganganelli. His views upon the subjects of politics and +religion were enlarged; but his leaning was rather to the power of a +single magistrate than to the authority of a democracy or even of an +oligarchy. The other friend, whom I shall call Onuphrio, was a man of a +very different character. Belonging to the English aristocracy, he had +some of the prejudices usually attached to birth and rank; but his +manners were gentle, his temper good, and his disposition amiable. Having +been partly educated at a northern university in Britain, he had adopted +views in religion which went even beyond toleration and which might be +regarded as entering the verge of scepticism. For a patrician he was +very liberal in his political views. His imagination was poetical and +discursive, his taste good and his tact extremely fine, so exquisite, +indeed, that it sometimes approached to morbid sensibility, and disgusted +him with slight defects and made him keenly sensible of small perfections +to which common minds would have been indifferent. + +In the beginning of October on a very fine afternoon I drove with these +two friends to the Colosaeum, a monument which, for the hundredth time +even, I had viewed with a new admiration; my friends partook of my +sentiments. I shall give the conversation which occurred there in their +own words. Onuphrio said, "How impressive are those ruins!--what a +character do they give us of the ancient Romans, what magnificence of +design, what grandeur of execution! Had we not historical documents to +inform us of the period when this structure was raised and of the +purposes for which it was designed, it might be imagined the work of a +race of giants, a Council Chamber for those Titans fabled to have warred +against the gods of the pagan mythology. The size of the masses of +travertine of which it is composed is in harmony with the immense +magnitude of the building. It is hardly to be wondered at that a people +which constructed such works for their daily sports, for their usual +amusements, should have possessed strength, enduring energy, and +perseverance sufficient to enable them to conquer the world. They appear +always to have formed their plans and made their combinations as if their +power were beyond the reach of chance, independent of the influence of +time, and founded for unlimited duration--for eternity!" + +Ambrosio took up the discourse of Onuphrio, and said, "The aspect of this +wonderful heap of ruins is so picturesque that it is impossible to regret +its decay; and at this season of the year the colours of the vegetation +are in harmony with those of the falling ruins, and how perfectly the +whole landscape is in tone! The remains of the palace of the Caesars and +of the golden halls of Nero appear in the distance, their gray and +tottering turrets and their moss-stained arches reposing, as it were, +upon the decaying vegetation: and there is nothing that marks the +existence of life except the few pious devotees, who wander from station +to station in the arena below, kneeling before the cross, and +demonstrating the triumph of a religion, which received in this very spot +in the early period of its existence one of its most severe persecutions, +and which, nevertheless, has preserved what remains of that building, +where attempts were made to stifle it almost at its birth; for, without +the influence of Christianity, these majestic ruins would have been +dispersed or levelled to the dust. Plundered of their lead and iron by +the barbarians, Goths, and Vandals, and robbed even of their stones by +Roman princes, the Barberini, they owe what remains of their relics to +the sanctifying influence of that faith which has preserved for the world +all that was worth preserving, not merely arts and literature but +likewise that which constitutes the progressive nature of intellect and +the institutions which afford to us happiness in this world and hopes of +a blessed immortality in the next. And, being of the faith of Rome, I +may say, that the preservation of this pile by the sanctifying effect of +a few crosses planted round it, is almost a miraculous event. And what a +contrast the present application of this building, connected with holy +feelings and exalted hopes, is to that of the ancient one, when it was +used for exhibiting to the Roman people the destruction of men by wild +beasts, or of men, more savage than wild beasts, by each other, to +gratify a horrible appetite for cruelty, founded upon a still more +detestable lust, that of universal domination! And who would have +supposed, in the time of Titus, that a faith, despised in its +insignificant origin, and persecuted from the supposed obscurity of its +founder and its principles, should have reared a dome to the memory of +one of its humblest teachers, more glorious than was ever framed for +Jupiter or Apollo in the ancient world, and have preserved even the ruins +of the temples of the pagan deities, and have burst forth in splendour +and majesty, consecrating truth amidst the shrines of error, employing +the idols of the Roman superstition for the most holy purposes and rising +a bright and constant light amidst the dark and starless night which +followed the destruction of the Roman empire!" + +Onuphrio now resumed the discourse. He said, "I have not the same +exalted views on the subject which our friend Ambrosio has so eloquently +expressed. Some little of the perfect state in which these ruins exist +may have been owing to causes which he has described; but these causes +have only lately begun to operate, and the mischief was done before +Christianity was established at Rome. Feeling differently on these +subjects, I admire this venerable ruin rather as a record of the +destruction of the power of the greatest people that ever existed, than +as a proof of the triumph of Christianity; and I am carried forward in +melancholy anticipation to the period when even the magnificent dome of +St. Peter's will be in a similar state to that in which the Colosaeum now +is, and when its ruins may be preserved by the sanctifying influence of +some new and unknown faith; when, perhaps, the statue of Jupiter, which +at present receives the kiss of the devotee, as the image of St. Peter, +may be employed for another holy use, as the personification of a future +saint or divinity; and when the monuments of the papal magnificence shall +be mixed with the same dust as that which now covers the tombs of the +Caesars. Such, I am sorry to say, is the general history of all the +works and institutions belonging to humanity. They rise, flourish, and +then decay and fall; and the period of their decline is generally +proportional to that of their elevation. In ancient Thebes or Memphis +the peculiar genius of the people has left us monuments from which we can +judge of their arts, though we cannot understand the nature of their +superstitions. Of Babylon and of Troy the remains are almost extinct; +and what we know of these famous cities is almost entirely derived from +literary records. Ancient Greece and Rome we view in the few remains of +their monuments; and the time will arrive when modern Rome shall be what +ancient Rome now is; and ancient Rome and Athens will be what Tyre or +Carthage now are, known only by coloured dust in the desert, or coloured +sand, containing the fragments of bricks or glass, washed up by the wave +of a stormy sea. I might pursue these thoughts still further, and show +that the wood of the cross, or the bronze of the statue, decay as quickly +as if they had not been sanctified; and I think I could show that their +influence is owing to the imagination, which, when infinite time is +considered, or the course of ages even, is null and its effect +imperceptible; and similar results occur, whether the faith be that of +Osiris, of Jupiter, of Jehovah, or of Jesus." + +To this Ambrosio replied, his countenance and the tones of his voice +expressing some emotion: "I do not think, Onuphrio, that you consider +this question with your usual sagacity or acuteness; indeed, I never hear +you on the subject of religion without pain and without a feeling of +regret that you have not applied your powerful understanding to a more +minute and correct examination of the evidences of revealed religion. You +would then, I think, have seen, in the origin, progress, elevation, +decline and fall of the empires of antiquity, proofs that they were +intended for a definite end in the scheme of human redemption; you would +have found prophecies which have been amply verified; and the foundation +or the ruin of a kingdom, which appears in civil history so great an +event, in the history of man, in his religious institutions, as +comparatively of small moment; you would have found the establishment of +the worship of one God amongst a despised and contemned people as the +most important circumstance in the history of the early world; you would +have found the Christian dispensation naturally arising out of the +Jewish, and the doctrines of the pagan nations all preparatory to the +triumph and final establishment of a creed fitted for the most +enlightened state of the human mind and equally adapted to every climate +and every people." + +To this animated appeal of Ambrosio, Onuphrio replied in the most +tranquil manner and with the air of an unmoved philosopher:--"You mistake +me, Ambrosio, if you consider me as hostile to Christianity. I am not of +the school of the French Encyclopaedists, or of the English infidels. I +consider religion as essential to man, and belonging to the human mind in +the same manner as instincts belong to the brute creation, a light, if +you please of revelation to guide him through the darkness of this life, +and to keep alive his undying hope of immortality: but pardon me if I +consider this instinct as equally useful in all its different forms, and +still a divine light through whatever medium or cloud of human passion or +prejudice it passes. I reverence it in the followers of Brahmah, in the +disciple of Mahomet, and I wonder at in all the variety of forms it +adopts in the Christian world. You must not be angry with me that I do +not allow infallibility to your Church, having been myself brought up by +Protestant parents, who were rigidly attached to the doctrines of +Calvin." + +I saw Ambrosio's countenance kindle at Onuphrio's explanation of his +opinions, and he appeared to be meditating an angry reply. I endeavoured +to change the conversation to the state of the Colosaeum, with which it +had begun. "These ruins," I said, "as you have both observed, are highly +impressive; yet when I saw them six years ago they had a stronger effect +on my imagination; whether it was the charm of novelty, or that my mind +was fresher, or that the circumstances under which I saw them were +peculiar, I know not, but probably all these causes operated in affecting +my mind. It was a still and beautiful evening in the end of May; the +last sunbeams were dying away in the western sky and the first moonbeams +shining in the eastern; the bright orange tints lighted up the ruins and +as it were kindled the snows that still remained on the distant +Apennines, which were visible from the highest accessible part of the +amphitheatre. In this glow of colouring, the green of advanced spring +softened the grey and yellow tints of the decaying stones, and as the +lights gradually became fainter, the masses appeared grander and more +gigantic; and when the twilight had entirely disappeared, the contrast of +light and shade in the beams of the full moon and beneath a sky of the +brightest sapphire, but so highly illuminated that only Jupiter and a few +stars of the first magnitude were visible, gave a solemnity and +magnificence to the scene which awakened the highest degree of that +emotion which is so properly termed the sublime. The beauty and the +permanency of the heavens and the principle of conservation belonging to +the system of the universe, the works of the Eternal and Divine +Architect, were finely opposed to the perishing and degraded works of man +in his most active and powerful state. And at this moment so humble +appeared to me the condition of the most exalted beings belonging to the +earth, so feeble their combinations, so minute the point of space, and so +limited the period of time in which they act, that I could hardly avoid +comparing the generations of man, and the effects of his genius and +power, to the swarms of luceoli or fire-flies which were dancing around +me and that appeared flitting and sparkling amidst the gloom and darkness +of the ruins, but which were no longer visible when they rose above the +horizon, their feeble light being lost and utterly obscured in the +brightness of the moonbeams in the heavens." + +Onuphrio said: "I am not sorry that you have changed the conversation. +You have given us the history of a most interesting recollection and well +expressed a solemn though humiliating feeling. In such moments and among +such scenes it is impossible not to be struck with the nothingness of +human glory and the transiency of human works. This, one of the greatest +monuments on the face of the earth, was raised by a people, then its +masters, only seventeen centuries ago; in a few ages more it will be but +as dust, and of all the testimonials of the vanity or power of man, +whether raised to immortalise his name, or to contain his decaying bones +without a name, no one is known to have a duration beyond what is +measured by the existence of a hundred generations; and it is only to +multiply centuple for instance the period of time, and the memorials of a +village and the monuments of a country churchyard may be compared with +those of an empire and the remains of the world." + +Ambrosio, to whom the conversation seemed disagreeable, put us in mind of +an engagement we had made to spend the evening at the conversazione of a +celebrated lady, and proposed to call the carriage. The reflections +which the conversation and the scene had left in my mind little disposed +me for general society. I requested them to keep their engagement, and +said I was resolved to spend an hour amidst the solitude of the ruins, +and desired them to send back the carriage for me. They left me, +expressing a hope that my poetical or melancholy fancy might not be the +occasion of a cold, and wished me the company of some of the spectres of +the ancient Romans. + +When I was left alone, I seated myself in the moonshine, on one of the +steps leading to the seats supposed to have been occupied by the +patricians in the Colosaeum at the time of the public games. The train +of ideas in which I had indulged before my friends left me continued to +flow with a vividness and force increased by the stillness and solitude +of the scene; and the full moon has always a peculiar effect on these +moods of feeling in my mind, giving to them a wildness and a kind of +indefinite sensation, such as I suppose belong at all times to the true +poetical temperament. It must be so, I thought to myself; no new city +will rise again out of the double ruins of this; no new empire will be +founded upon these colossal remains of that of the old Romans. The +world, like the individual, flourishes in youth, rises to strength in +manhood, falls into decay in age; and the ruins of an empire are like the +decrepit frame of an individual, except that they have some tints of +beauty which nature bestows upon them. The sun of civilisation arose in +the East, advanced towards the West, and is now at its meridian; in a few +centuries more it will probably be seen sinking below the horizon even in +the new world, and there will be left darkness only where there is a +bright light, deserts of sand where there were populous cities, and +stagnant morasses where the green meadow or the bright cornfield once +appeared. I called up images of this kind in my imagination. "Time," I +said, "which purifies, and as it were sanctifies the mind, destroys and +brings into utter decay the body; and, even in nature, its influence +seems always degrading. She is represented by the poets as eternal in +her youth, but amongst these ruins she appears to me eternal in her age, +and here no traces of renovation appear in the ancient of days." I had +scarcely concluded this ideal sentence when my reverie became deeper, the +ruins surrounding me appeared to vanish from my sight, the light of the +moon became more intense, and the orb itself seemed to expand in a flood +of splendour. At the same time that my visual organs appeared so +singularly affected, the most melodious sounds filled my ear, softer yet +at the same time deeper and fuller than I had ever heard in the most +harmonious and perfect concert. It appeared to me that I had entered a +new state of existence, and I was so perfectly lost in the new kind of +sensation which I experienced that I had no recollections and no +perceptions of identity. On a sudden the music ceased, but the brilliant +light still continued to surround me, and I heard a low but extremely +distinct and sweet voice, which appeared to issue from the centre of it. +The sounds were at first musical like those of a harp, but they soon +became articulate, as if a prelude to some piece of sublime poetical +composition. "You, like all your brethren," said the voice, "are +entirely ignorant of every thing belonging to yourselves, the world you +inhabit, your future destinies, and the scheme of the universe; and yet +you have the folly to believe you are acquainted with the past, the +present, and the future. I am an intelligence somewhat superior to you, +though there are millions of beings as much above me in power and in +intellect as man is above the meanest and weakest reptile that crawls +beneath his feet; yet something I can teach you: yield your mind wholly +to the influence which I shall exert upon it, and you shall be undeceived +in your views of the history of the world, and of the system you +inhabit." At this moment the bright light disappeared, the sweet and +harmonious voice, which was the only proof of the presence of a superior +intelligence, ceased; I was in utter darkness and silence, and seemed to +myself to be carried rapidly upon a stream of air, without any other +sensation than that of moving quickly through space. Whilst I was still +in motion, a dim and hazy light, which seemed like that of twilight in a +rainy morning, broke upon my sight, and gradually a country displayed +itself to my view covered with forests and marshes. I saw wild animals +grazing in large savannahs, and carnivorous beasts, such as lions and +tigers, occasionally disturbing and destroying them; I saw naked savages +feeding upon wild fruits, or devouring shell-fish, or fighting with clubs +for the remains of a whale which had been thrown upon the shore. I +observed that they had no habitations, that they concealed themselves in +caves, or under the shelter of palm trees, and that the only delicious +food which nature seemed to have given to them was the date and the cocoa- +nut, and these were in very small quantities and the object of +contention. I saw that some few of these wretched human beings that +inhabited the wide waste before my eyes, had weapons pointed with flint +or fish-bone, which they made use of for destroying birds, quadrupeds, or +fishes, that they fed upon raw; but their greatest delicacy appeared to +be a maggot or worm, which they sought for with great perseverance in the +buds of the palm. When I had cast my eyes on the varied features of this +melancholy scene, which was now lighted by a rising sun, I heard again +the same voice which had astonished me in the Colosaeum, and which +said,--"See the birth of Time! Look at man in his newly created state, +full of youth and vigour. Do you see aught in this state to admire or +envy?" As the last words fell on my ear, I was again, as before, rapidly +put in motion, and I seemed again resistless to be hurried upon a stream +of air, and again in perfect darkness. In a moment, an indistinct light +again appeared before my eyes and a country opened upon my view which +appeared partly wild and partly cultivated; there were fewer woods and +morasses than in the scene which I had just before seen; I beheld men who +were covered with the skins of animals, and who were driving cattle to +enclosed pastures; I saw others who were reaping and collecting corn, +others who were making it into bread; I saw cottages furnished with many +of the conveniences of life, and a people in that state of agricultural +and pastoral improvement which has been imagined by the poets as +belonging to the golden age. The same voice, which I shall call that of +the Genius, said, "Look at these groups of men who are escaped from the +state of infancy: they owe their improvement to a few superior minds +still amongst them. That aged man whom you see with a crowd around him +taught them to build cottages; from that other they learnt to domesticate +cattle; from others to collect and sow corn and seeds of fruit. And +these arts will never be lost; another generation will see them more +perfect; the houses, in a century more, will be larger and more +convenient; the flocks of cattle more numerous; the corn-fields more +extensive; the morasses will be drained, the number of fruit-trees +increased. You shall be shown other visions of the passages of time, but +as you are carried along the stream which flows from the period of +creation to the present moment, I shall only arrest your transit to make +you observe some circumstances which will demonstrate the truths I wish +you to know, and which will explain to you the little it is permitted me +to understand of the scheme of the universe." I again found myself in +darkness and in motion, and I was again arrested by the opening of a new +scene upon my eyes. I shall describe this scene and the others in the +succession in which they appeared before me, and the observations by +which they were accompanied in the voice of the wonderful being who +appeared as my intellectual guide. In the scene which followed that of +the agricultural or pastoral people, I saw a great extent of cultivated +plains, large cities on the sea-shore, palaces--forums and temples +ornamenting them; men associated in groups, mounted on horses, and +performing military exercises; galleys moved by oars on the ocean; roads +intersecting the country covered with travellers and containing carriages +moved by men or horses. The Genius now said, "You see the early state of +civilisation of man; the cottages of the last race you beheld have become +improved into stately dwellings, palaces, and temples, in which use is +combined with ornament. The few men to whom, as I said before, the +foundations of these improvements were owing, have had divine honours +paid to their memory. But look at the instruments belonging to this +generation, and you will find that they are only of brass. You see men +who are talking to crowds around them, and others who are apparently +amusing listening groups by a kind of song or recitation; these are the +earliest bards and orators; but all their signs of thought are oral, for +written language does not yet exist." The next scene which appeared was +one of varied business and imagery. I saw a man, who bore in his hands +the same instruments as our modern smiths, presenting a vase, which +appeared to be made of iron, amidst the acclamations of an assembled +multitude engaged in triumphal procession before the altars dignified by +the name of Apollo at Delphi; and I saw in the same place men who carried +rolls of papyrus in their hands and wrote upon them with reeds containing +ink made from the soot of wood mixed with a solution of glue. "See," the +Genius said, "an immense change produced in the condition of society by +the two arts of which you here see the origin; the one, that of rendering +iron malleable, which is owing to a single individual, an obscure Greek; +the other, that of making thought permanent in written characters, an art +which has gradually arisen from the hieroglyphics which you may observe +on yonder pyramids. You will now see human life more replete with power +and activity." Again, another scene broke upon my vision. I saw the +bronze instruments, which had belonged to the former state of society, +thrown away; malleable iron converted into hard steel, this steel applied +to a thousand purposes of civilised life; I saw bands of men who made use +of it for defensive armour and for offensive weapons; I saw these iron- +clad men, in small numbers subduing thousands of savages, and +establishing amongst them their arts and institutions; I saw a few men on +the eastern shores of Europe, resisting, with the same materials, the +united forces of Asia; I saw a chosen band die in defence of their +country, destroyed by an army a thousand times as numerous; and I saw +this same army, in its turn, caused to disappear, and destroyed or driven +from the shores of Europe by the brethren of that band of martyred +patriots; I saw bodies of these men traversing the sea, founding +colonies, building cities, and wherever they established themselves, +carrying with them their peculiar arts. Towns and temples arose +containing schools, and libraries filled with the rolls of the papyrus. +The same steel, such a tremendous instrument of power in the hands of the +warrior, I saw applied, by the genius of the artist, to strike forms even +more perfect than those of life out of the rude marble; and I saw the +walls of the palaces and temples covered with pictures, in which +historical events were portrayed with the truth of nature and the poetry +of mind. The voice now awakened my attention by saying, "You have now +before you the vision of that state of society which is an object of +admiration to the youth of modern times, and the recollections of which, +and the precepts founded on these recollections, constitute an important +part of your education. Your maxims of war and policy, your taste in +letters and the arts, are derived from models left by that people, or by +their immediate imitators, whom you shall now see." I opened my eyes, +and recognised the very spot in which I was sitting when the vision +commenced. I was on the top of an arcade under a silken canopy, looking +down upon the tens of thousands of people who were crowded in the seats +of the Colosaeum, ornamented with all the spoils that the wealth of a +world can give; I saw in the arena below animals of the most +extraordinary kind, and which have rarely been seen living in modern +Europe--the giraffe, the zebra, the rhinoceros, and the ostrich from the +deserts of Africa beyond the Niger, the hippopotamus from the Upper Nile, +and the royal tiger and the gnu from the banks of the Ganges. Looking +over Rome, which, in its majesty of palaces and temples, and in its +colossal aqueducts bringing water even from the snows of the distant +Apennines, seemed more like the creation of a supernatural power than the +work of human hands; looking over Rome to the distant landscape, I saw +the whole face, as it were, of the ancient world adorned with miniature +images of this splendid metropolis. Where the Roman conquered, there he +civilised; where he carried his arms, there he fixed likewise his +household gods; and from the deserts of Arabia to the mountains of +Caledonia there appeared but one people, having the same arts, language, +and letters--all of Grecian origin. I looked again, and saw an entire +change in the brilliant aspect of this Roman world--the people of +conquerors and heroes was no longer visible; the cities were filled with +an idle and luxurious population; those farms which had been cultivated +by warriors, who left the plough to take the command of armies, were now +in the hands of slaves; and the militia of freemen were supplanted by +bands of mercenaries, who sold the empire to the highest bidder. I saw +immense masses of warriors collecting in the north and east, carrying +with them no other proofs of cultivation but their horses and steel arms; +I saw these savages everywhere attacking this mighty empire, plundering +cities, destroying the monuments of arts and literature, and, like wild +beasts devouring a noble animal, tearing into pieces and destroying the +Roman power. Ruin, desolation, and darkness were before me, and I closed +my eyes to avoid the melancholy scene. "See," said the Genius, "the +melancholy termination of a power believed by its founders invincible, +and intended to be eternal. But you will find, though the glory and +greatness belonging to its military genius have passed away, yet those +belonging to the arts and institutions, by which it adorned and dignified +life, will again arise in another state of society." I opened my eyes +again, and I saw Italy recovering from her desolation--towns arising with +governments almost upon the model of ancient Athens and Rome, and these +different small states rivals in arts and arms; I saw the remains of +libraries, which had been preserved in monasteries and churches by a holy +influence which even the Goth and Vandal respected, again opened to the +people; I saw Rome rising from her ashes, the fragments of statues found +amidst the ruins of her palaces and imperial villas becoming the models +for the regeneration of art; I saw magnificent temples raised in this +city become the metropolis of a new and Christian world, and ornamented +with the most brilliant masterpieces of the arts of design; I saw a +Tuscan city, as it were, contending with Rome for pre-eminence in the +productions of genius, and the spirit awakened in Italy spreading its +influence from the South to the North. "Now," the Genius said, "society +has taken its modern and permanent aspect. Consider for a moment its +relations to letters and to arms as contrasted with those of the ancient +world." I looked, and saw, that in the place of the rolls of papyrus, +libraries were now filled with books. "Behold," the Genius said, "the +printing-press; by the invention of Faust the productions of genius are, +as it were, made imperishable, capable of indefinite multiplication, and +rendered an unalienable heritage of the human mind. By this art, +apparently so humble, the progress of society is secured, and man is +spared the humiliation of witnessing again scenes like those which +followed the destruction of the Roman Empire. Now look to the warriors +of modern times; you see the spear, the javelin, the shield, and the +cuirass are changed for the musket and the light artillery. The German +monk who discovered gunpowder did not meanly affect the destinies of +mankind; wars are become less bloody by becoming less personal; mere +brutal strength is rendered of comparatively little avail; all the +resources of civilisation are required to maintain and move a large army; +wealth, ingenuity, and perseverance become the principal elements of +success; civilised man is rendered in consequence infinitely superior to +the savage, and gunpowder gives permanence to his triumph, and secures +the cultivated nations from ever being again overrun by the inroads of +millions of barbarians. There is so much identity of feature in the +character of the two or three centuries that are just passed, that I wish +you only to take a very transient view of the political and military +events belonging to them. You will find attempts made by the chiefs of +certain great nations to acquire predominance and empire; you will see +those attempts, after being partially successful, resisted by other +nations, and the balance of power, apparently for a moment broken, again +restored. Amongst the rival nations that may be considered as forming +the republic of modern Europe, you will see one pre-eminent for her +maritime strength and colonial and commercial enterprise, and you will +find she retains her superiority only because it is favourable to the +liberty of mankind. But you must not yet suffer the vision of modern +Europe to pass from your eyes without viewing some other results of the +efforts of men of genius, which, like those of gunpowder and the press, +illustrate the times to which they belong, and form brilliant epochs in +the history of the world. If you look back into the schools of +regenerated Italy, you will see in them the works of the Greek masters of +philosophy; and if you attend to the science taught in them, you will +find it vague, obscure, and full of erroneous notions. You will find in +this early period of improvement branches of philosophy even applied to +purposes of delusion; the most sublime of the departments of human +knowledge--astronomy--abused by impostors, who from the aspect of the +planetary world pretended to predict the fortunes and destinies of +individuals. You will see in the laboratories alchemists searching for a +universal medicine, an elixir of life, and for the philosopher's stone, +or a method of converting all metals into gold; but unexpected and useful +discoveries you will find, even in this age, arise amidst the clouds of +deception and the smoke of the furnace. Delusion and error vanish and +pass away, and truths seized upon by a few superior men become permanent, +and the property of an enlightening world. Amongst the personages who +belong to this early period, there are two whom I must request you to +notice--one an Englishman, who pointed out the paths to the discovery of +scientific truths, and the other a Tuscan, who afforded the happiest +experimental illustrations of the speculative views of his brother in +science. You will see academies formed a century later in Italy, France, +and Britain, in which the sciences are enlarged by new and varied +experiments, and the true system of the universe developed by an +illustrious Englishman taught and explained. The practical results of +the progress of physics, chemistry, and mechanics, are of the most +marvellous kind, and to make them all distinct would require a comparison +of ancient and modern states: ships that were moved by human labour in +the ancient world are transported by the winds; and a piece of steel, +touched by the magnet, points to the mariner his unerring course from the +old to the new world; and by the exertions of one man of genius, aided by +the resources of chemistry, a power, which by the old philosophers could +hardly have been imagined, has been generated and applied to almost all +the machinery of active life; the steam-engine performs not only the +labour of horses, but of man, by combinations which appear almost +possessed of intelligence; waggons are moved by it, constructions made, +vessels caused to perform voyages in opposition to wind and tide, and a +power placed in human hands which seems almost unlimited. To these novel +and still extending improvements may be added others, whish, though of a +secondary kind, yet materially affect the comforts of life, the +collecting from fossil materials the elements of combustion, and applying +them so as to illuminate, by a single operation, houses, streets, and +even cities. If you look to the results of chemical arts you will find +new substances of the most extraordinary nature applied to various novel +purposes; you will find a few experiments in electricity leading to the +marvellous result of disarming the thunder-cloud of its terrors, and you +will see new instruments created by human ingenuity, possessing the same +powers as the electrical organs of living animals. To whatever part of +the vision of modern times you cast your eyes you will find marks of +superiority and improvement, and I wish to impress upon you the +conviction that the results of intellectual labour or of scientific +genius are permanent and incapable of being lost. Monarchs change their +plans, governments their objects, a fleet or an army effect their purpose +and then pass away; but a piece of steel toached by the magnet preserves +its character for ever, and secures to man the dominion of the trackless +ocean. A new period of society may send armies from the shores of the +Baltic to those of the Euxine, and the empire of the followers of Mahomet +may be broken in pieces by a northern people, and the dominion of the +Britons in Asia may share the fate of that of Tamerlane or Zengiskhan; +but the steam-boat which ascends the Delaware or the St. Lawrence will be +continued to be used, and will carry the civilisation of an improved +people into the deserts of North America and into the wilds of Canada. In +the common history of the world, as compiled by authors in general, +almost all the great changes of nations are confounded with changes in +their dynasties, and events are usually referred either to sovereigns, +chiefs, heroes, or their armies, which do, in fact, originate from +entirely different causes, either of an intellectual or moral nature. +Governments depend far more than is generally supposed upon the opinion +of the people and the spirit of the age and nation. It sometimes happens +that a gigantic mind possesses supreme power and rises superior to the +age in which he is born, such was Alfred in England and Peter in Russia, +but such instances are very rare; and, in general, it is neither amongst +sovereigns nor the higher classes of society that the great improvers or +benefactors of mankind are to be found. The works of the most +illustrious names were little valued at the times when they were +produced, and their authors either despised or neglected; and great, +indeed, must have been the pure and abstract pleasure resulting from the +exertion of intellectual superiority and the discovery of truth and the +bestowing benefits and blessings upon society, which induced men to +sacrifice all their common enjoyments and all their privileges as +citizens to these exertions. Anaxagoras, Archimedes, Roger Bacon, +Galileo Galilei, in their deaths or their imprisonments, offer instances +of this kind, and nothing can be more striking than what appears to have +been the ingratitude of men towards their greatest benefactors; but +hereafter, when you understand more of the scheme of the universe, you +will see the cause and the effect of this, and you will find the whole +system governed by principles of immutable justice. I have said that in +the progress of society all great and real improvements are perpetuated; +the same corn which four thousand years ago was raised from an improved +grass by an inventor worshipped for two thousand years in the ancient +world under the name of Ceres, still forms the principal food of mankind; +and the potato, perhaps the greatest benefit that the Old has derived +from the New World, is spreading over Europe, and will continue to +nourish an extensive population when the name of the race by whom it was +first cultivated in South America is forgotten. + +"I will now call your attention to some remarkable laws belonging to the +history of society, and from the consideration of which you will be able +gradually to develop the higher and more exalted principles of being. +There appears nothing more accidental than the sex of an infant, yet take +any great city or any province and you will find that the relations of +males and females are unalterable. Again, a part of the pure air of the +atmosphere is continually consumed in combustion and respiration; living +vegetables emit this principle during their growth; nothing appears more +accidental than the proportion of vegetable to animal life on the surface +of the earth, yet they are perfectly equivalent, and the balance of the +sexes, like the constitution of the atmosphere, depends upon the +principles of an unerring intelligence. You saw in the decline of the +Roman empire a people enfeebled by luxury, worn out by excess, overrun by +rude warriors; you saw the giants of the North and East mixing with the +pigmies of the South and West. An empire was destroyed, but the seeds of +moral and physical improvement in the new race were sown; the new +population resulting from the alliances of the men of the North with the +women, of the South was more vigorous, more full of physical power, and +more capable of intellectual exertion than their apparently ill-suited +progenitors; and the moral effects or final causes of the migration of +races, the plans of conquest and ambition which have led to revolutions +and changes of kingdoms designed by man for such different objects have +been the same in their ultimate results--that of improving by mixture the +different families of men. An Alaric or an Attila, who marches with +legions of barbarians for some gross view of plunder or ambition, is an +instrument of divine power to effect a purpose of which he is wholly +unconscious--he is carrying a strong race to improve a weak one, and +giving energy to a debilitated population; and the deserts he makes in +his passage will become in another age cultivated fields, and the +solitude he produces will be succeeded by a powerful and healthy +population. The results of these events in the moral and political world +may be compared to those produced in the vegetable kingdom by the storms +and heavy gales so usual at the vernal equinox, the time of the formation +of the seed; the pollen or farina of one flower is thrown upon the pistil +of another, and the crossing of varieties of plants so essential to the +perfection of the vegetable world produced. In man moral causes and +physical ones modify each other; the transmission of hereditary qualities +to offspring is distinct in the animal world, and in the case of +disposition to disease it is sufficiently obvious in the human being. But +it is likewise a general principle that powers or habits acquired by +cultivation are transmitted to the next generation and exalted or +perpetuated; the history of particular races of men affords distinct +proofs of this. The Caucasian stock has always preserved its +superiority, whilst the negro or flat-nosed race has always been marked +for want of intellectual power and capacity for the arts of life. This +last race, in fact, has never been cultivated, and a hundred generations, +successively improved, would be required to bring it to the state in +which the Caucasian race was at the time of the formation of the Greek +republics. The principle of the improvement of the character of races by +the transmission of hereditary qualities has not escaped the observations +of the legislators of the ancient people. By the divine law of Moses the +Israelites were enjoined to preserve the purity of their blood, and there +was no higher crime than that of forming alliances with the idolatrous +nations surrounding them. The Brahmins of Hindostan have established +upon the same principle the law of caste, by which certain professions +were made hereditary. In this warm climate, where labour is so +oppressive, to secure perfection in any series of operations it seems +essential to strengthen the powers by the forces acquired from this +principle of hereditary descent. It will at first perhaps strike your +mind that the mixing or blending of races is in direct opposition to this +principle of perfection; but here I must require you to pause and +consider the nature of the qualities belonging to the human being. Excess +of a particular power, which in itself is a perfection, becomes a defect; +the organs of touch may be so refined as to show a diseased sensibility; +the ear may become so exquisitely sensitive as to be more susceptible to +the uneasiness produced by discords than to the pleasures of harmony. In +the nations which have been long civilised the defects are generally +those dependent on excess of sensibility--defects which are cured in the +next generation by the strength and power belonging to a ruder tribe. In +looking back upon the vision of ancient history, you will find that there +never has been an instance of a migration to any extent of any race but +the Caucasian, and they have usually passed from the North to the South. +The negro race has always been driven before these conquerors of the +world; and the red men, the aborigines of America, are constantly +diminishing in number, and it is probable that in a few centuries more +their pure blood will be entirely extinct. In the population of the +world, the great object is evidently to produce organised frames most +capable of the happy and intellectual enjoyment of life--to raise man +above the mere animal state. To perpetuate the advantages of +civilisation, the races most capable of these advantages are preserved +and extended, and no considerable improvement made by an individual is +ever lost to society. You see living forms perpetuated in the series of +ages, and apparently the quantity of life increased. In comparing the +population of the globe as it now is with what it was centuries ago, you +would find it considerably greater; and if the quantity of life is +increased, the quantity of happiness, particularly that resulting from +the exercise of intellectual power, is increased in a still higher ratio. +Now, you will say, 'Is mind generated, is spiritual power created; or are +those results dependent upon the organisation of matter, upon new +perfections given to the machinery upon which thought and motion depend?' +I proclaim to you," said the Genius, raising his voice from its low and +sweet tone to one of ineffable majesty, "neither of these opinions is +true. Listen, whilst I reveal to you the mysteries of spiritual natures, +but I almost fear that with the mortal veil of your senses surrounding +you, these mysteries can never be made perfectly intelligible to your +mind. Spiritual natures are eternal and indivisible, but their modes of +being are as infinitely varied as the forms of matter. They have no +relation to space, and, in their transitions, no dependence upon time, so +that they can pass from one part of the universe to another by laws +entirely independent of their motion. The quantity, or the number of +spiritual essences, like the quantity or number of the atoms of the +material world, are always the same; but their arrangements, like those +of the materials which they are destined to guide or govern, are +infinitely diversified; they are, in fact, parts more or less inferior of +the infinite mind, and in the planetary systems, to one of which this +globe you inhabit belongs, are in a state of probation, continually +aiming at, and generally rising to a higher state of existence. Were it +permitted me to extend your vision to the fates of individual existences, +I could show you the same spirit, which in the form of Socrates developed +the foundations of moral and social virtue, in the Czar Peter possessed +of supreme power and enjoying exalted felicity in improving a rude +people. I could show you the monad or spirit, which with the organs of +Newton displayed an intelligence almost above humanity, now in a higher +and better state of planetary existence drinking intellectual light from +a purer source and approaching nearer to the infinite and divine Mind. +But prepare your mind, and you shall at least catch a glimpse of those +states which the highest intellectual beings that have belonged to the +earth enjoy after death in their transition to now and more exalted +natures." The voice ceased, and I appeared in a dark, deep, and cold +cave, of which the walls of the Colosaeum formed the boundary. From +above a bright and rosy light broke into this cave, so that whilst below +all was dark, above all was bright and illuminated with glory. I seemed +possessed at this moment of a new sense, and felt that the light brought +with it a genial warmth; odours like those of the most balmy flowers +appeared to fill the air, and the sweetest sounds of music absorbed my +sense of hearing; my limbs had a new lightness given to them, so that I +seemed to rise from the earth, and gradually mounted into the bright +luminous air, leaving behind me the dark and cold cavern, and the ruins +with which it was strewed. Language is inadequate to describe what I +felt in rising continually upwards through this bright and luminous +atmosphere. I had not, as is generally the case with persons in dreams +of this kind, imagined to myself wings; but I rose gradually and securely +as if I were myself a part of the ascending column of light. By degrees +this luminous atmosphere, which was diffused over the whole of space, +became more circumscribed, and extended only to a limited spot around me. +I saw through it the bright blue sky, the moon and stars, and I passed by +them as if it were in my power to touch them with my hand. I beheld +Jupiter and Saturn as they appear through our best telescopes, but still +more magnified, all the moons and belts of Jupiter being perfectly +distinct, and the double ring of Saturn appearing in that state in which +I have heard Herschel often express a wish he could see it. It seemed as +if I was on the verge of the solar system, and my moving sphere of light +now appeared to pause. I again heard the low and sweet voice of the +Genius, which said, "You are now on the verge of your own system: will +you go further, or return to the earth?" I replied, "I have left an +abode which is damp, dreary, dark and cold; I am now in a place where all +is life, light, and enjoyment; show me, at least before I return, the +glimpse which you promised me of those superior intellectual natures and +the modes of their being and their enjoyments." "There are creatures far +superior," said the Genius, "to any idea your imagination can form in +that part of the system now before you, comprehending Saturn, his moons +and rings. I will carry you to the verge of the immense atmosphere of +this planet. In that space you will see sufficient to wonder at, and far +more than with your present organisation it would be possible for me to +make you understand." I was again in motion, and again almost as +suddenly at rest. I saw below me a surface infinitely diversified, +something like that of an immense glacier covered with large columnar +masses, which appeared as if formed of glass, and from which were +suspended rounded forms of various sizes, which, if they had not been +transparent, I might have supposed to be fruit. From what appeared to me +to be analogous to masses of bright blue ice, streams of the richest tint +of rose-colour or purple burst forth and flowed into basins, forming +lakes or seas of the same colour. Looking through the atmosphere towards +the heavens, I saw brilliant opaque clouds of an azure colour that +reflected the light of the sun, which had to my eyes an entirely new +aspect, and appeared smaller, as if seen through a dense blue mist. I +saw moving on the surface below me immense masses, the forms of which I +find it impossible to describe; they had systems for locomotion similar +to those of the morse or sea-horse, but I saw with great surprise that +they moved from place to place by six extremely thin membranes, which +they used as wings. Their colours were varied and beautiful, but +principally azure and rose-colour. I saw numerous convolutions of tubes, +more analogous to the trunk of the elephant than to anything else I can +imagine, occupying what I supposed to be the upper parts of the body, and +my feeling of astonishment almost became one of disgust, from the +peculiar character of the organs of these singular beings; and it was +with a species of terror that I saw one of them mounting upwards, +apparently flying towards those opaque clouds which I have before +mentioned. "I know what your feelings are," said the Genius; "you want +analogies and all the elements of knowledge to comprehend the scene +before you. You are in the same state in which a fly would be whose +microscopic eye was changed for one similar to that of man; and you are +wholly unable to associate what you now see with your former knowledge. +But those beings who are before you, and who appear to you almost as +imperfect in their functions as the zoophytes of the Polar Sea, to which +they are not unlike in their apparent organisation to your eyes, have a +sphere of sensibility and intellectual enjoyment far superior to that of +the inhabitants of your earth. Each of those tubes which appears like +the trunk of an elephant is an organ of peculiar motion or sensation. +They have many modes of perception of which you are wholly ignorant, at +the same time that their sphere of vision is infinitely more extended +than yours, and their organs of touch far more perfect and exquisite. It +would be useless for me to attempt to explain their organisation, which +you could never understand; but of their intellectual objects of pursuit +I may perhaps give you some notion. They have used, modified, and +applied the material world in a manner analogous to man; but with far +superior powers they have gained superior results. Their atmosphere +being much denser than yours and the specific gravity of their planet +less, they have been enabled to determine the laws belonging to the solar +system with far more accuracy than you can possibly conceive, and any one +of those beings could show you what is now the situation and appearance +of your moon with a precision that would induce you to believe that he +saw it, though his knowledge is merely the result of calculation. Their +sources of pleasure are of the highest intellectual nature; with the +magnificent spectacle of their own rings and moons revolving round them, +with the various combinations required to understand and predict the +relations of these wonderful phenomena their minds are in unceasing +activity and this activity is a perpetual source of enjoyment. Your view +of the solar system is bounded by Uranus, and the laws of this planet +form the ultimatum of your mathematical results; but these beings catch a +sight of planets belonging to another system and even reason on the +phenomena presented by another sun. Those comets, of which your +astronomical history is so imperfect, are to them perfectly familiar, and +in their ephemerides their places are shown with as much accurateness as +those of Jupiter or Venus in your almanacks; the parallax of the fixed +stars nearest them is as well understood as that of their own sun, and +they possess a magnificent history of the changes taking place in the +heavens and which are governed by laws that it would be vain for me to +attempt to give you an idea of. They are acquainted with the revolutions +and uses of comets; they understand the system of those meteoric +formations of stones which have so much astonished you on earth; and they +have histories in which the gradual changes of nebulas in their progress +towards systems have been registered, so that they can predict their +future changes. And their astronomical records are not like yours which +go back only twenty centuries to the time of Hipparchus; they embrace a +period a hundred times as long, and their civil history for the same time +is as correct as their astronomical one. As I cannot describe to you the +organs of these wonderful beings, so neither can I show to you their +modes of life; but as their highest pleasures depend upon intellectual +pursuits, so you may conclude that those modes of life bear the strictest +analogy to that which on the earth you would call exalted virtue. I will +tell you however that they have no wars, and that the objects of their +ambition are entirely those of intellectual greatness, and that the only +passion that they feel in which comparisons with each other can be +instituted are those dependent upon a love of glory of the purest kind. +If I were to show you the different parts of the surface of this planet, +you would see marvellous results of the powers possessed by these highly +intellectual beings and of the wonderful manner in which they have +applied and modified matter. Those columnar masses, which seem to you as +if arising out of a mass of ice below, are results of art, and processes +are going on in them connected with the formation and perfection of their +food. The brilliant coloured fluids are the results of such operations +as on the earth would be performed in your laboratories, or more properly +in your refined culinary apparatus, for they are connected with their +system of nourishment. Those opaque azure clouds, to which you saw a few +minutes ago one of those beings directing his course, are works of art +and places in which they move through different regions of their +atmosphere and command the temperature and the quantity of light most +fitted for their philosophical researches, or most convenient for the +purposes of life. On the verge of the visible horizon which we perceive +around us, you may see in the east a very dark spot or shadow, in which +the light of the sun seems entirely absorbed; this is the border of an +immense mass of liquid analogous to your ocean, but unlike your sea it is +inhabited by a race of intellectual beings inferior indeed to those +belonging to the atmosphere of Saturn, but yet possessed of an extensive +range of sensations and endowed with extraordinary power and +intelligence. I could transport you to the different planets and show +you in each peculiar intellectual beings bearing analogies to each other, +but yet all different in power and essence. In Jupiter you would see +creatures similar to those in Saturn, but with different powers of +locomotion; in Mars and Venus you would find races of created forms more +analogous to those belonging to the earth; but in every part of the +planetary system you would find one character peculiar to all intelligent +natures, a sense of receiving impressions from light by various organs of +vision, and towards this result you cannot but perceive that all the +arrangements and motions of the planetary bodies, their satellites and +atmospheres are subservient. The spiritual natures therefore that pass +from system to system in progression towards power and knowledge preserve +at least this one invariable character, and their intellectual life may +be said to depend more or less upon the influence of light. As far as my +knowledge extends, even in other parts of the universe the more perfect +organised systems still possess this source of sensation and enjoyment; +but with higher natures, finer and more ethereal kinds of matter are +employed in organisation, substances that bear the same analogy to common +matter that the refined or most subtle gases do to common solids and +fluids. The universe is everywhere full of life, but the modes of this +life are infinitely diversified, and yet every form of it must be enjoyed +and known by every spiritual nature before the consummation of all +things. You have seen the comet moving with its immense train of light +through the sky; this likewise has a system supplied with living beings +and their existence derives its enjoyment from the diversity of +circumstances to which they are exposed; passing as it were through the +infinity of space they are continually gratified by the sight of new +systems and worlds, and you can imagine the unbounded nature of the +circle of their knowledge. My power extends so far as to afford you a +glimpse of the nature of a cometary world." I was again in rapid motion, +again passing with the utmost velocity through the bright blue sky, and I +saw Jupiter and his satellites and Saturn and his ring behind me, and +before me the sun, no longer appearing as through a blue mist but in +bright and unsupportable splendour, towards which I seemed moving with +the utmost velocity; in a limited sphere of vision, in a kind of red hazy +light similar to that which first broke in upon me in the Colosaeum, I +saw moving round me globes which appeared composed of different kinds of +flame and of different colours. In some of these globes I recognised +figures which put me in mind of the human countenance, but the +resemblance was so awful and unnatural that I endeavoured to withdraw my +view from them. "You are now," said the Genius, "in a cometary system; +those globes of light surrounding you are material forms, such as in one +of your systems of religious faith have been attributed to seraphs; they +live in that element which to you would be destruction; they communicate +by powers which would convert your organised frame into ashes; they are +now in the height of their enjoyment, being about to enter into the blaze +of the solar atmosphere. These beings so grand, so glorious, with +functions to you incomprehensible, once belonged to the earth; their +spiritual natures have risen through different stages of planetary life, +leaving their dust behind them, carrying with them only their +intellectual power. You ask me if they have any knowledge or +reminiscence of their transitions; tell me of your own recollections in +the womb of your mother and I will answer you. It is the law of divine +wisdom that no spirit carries with it into another state and being any +habit or mental qualities except those which may be connected with its +new wants or enjoyments; and knowledge relating to the earth would be no +more useful to these glorified beings than their earthly system of +organised dust, which would be instantly resolved into its ultimate atoms +at such a temperature; even on the earth the butterfly does not transport +with it into the air the organs or the appetites of the crawling worm +from which it sprung. There is, however, one sentiment or passion which +the monad or spiritual essence carries with it into all its stages of +being, and which in these happy and elevated creatures is continually +exalted; the love of knowledge or of intellectual power, which is, in +fact, in its ultimate and most perfect development the love of infinite +wisdom and unbounded power, or the love of God. Even in the imperfect +life that belongs to the earth this passion exists in a considerable +degree, increases even with age, outlives the perfection of the corporeal +faculties, and at the moment of death is felt by the conscious being, and +its future destinies depend upon the manner in which it has been +exercised and exalted. When it has been misapplied and assumed the forms +of vague curiosity, restless ambition, vain glory, pride or oppression, +the being is degraded, it sinks in the scale of existence and still +belongs to the earth or an inferior system, till its errors are corrected +by painful discipline. When, on the contrary, the love of intellectual +power has been exercised on its noblest objects, in discovering and in +contemplating the properties of created forms and in applying them to +useful and benevolent purposes, in developing and admiring the laws of +the eternal Intelligence, the destinies of the sentient principle are of +a nobler kind, it rises to a higher planetary world. From the height to +which you have been lifted I could carry you downwards and show you +intellectual natures even inferior to those belonging to the earth, in +your own moon and in the lower planets, and I could demonstrate to you +the effects of pain or moral evil in assisting in the great plan of the +exaltation of spiritual natures; but I will not destroy the brightness of +your present idea of the scheme of the universe by degrading pictures of +the effects of bad passions and of the manner in which evil is corrected +and destroyed. Your vision must end with the glorious view of the +inhabitants of the cometary worlds; I cannot show you the beings of the +system to which I, myself, belong, that of the sun; your organs would +perish before our brightness, and I am only permitted to be present to +you as a sound or intellectual voice. _We_ are likewise in progression, +but we see and know something of the plans of infinite wisdom; we feel +the personal presence of that supreme Deity which you only imagine; to +you belongs faith, to us knowledge; and our greatest delight results from +the conviction that we are lights kindled by His light and that we belong +to His substance. To obey, to love, to wonder and adore, form our +relations to the infinite Intelligence. We feel His laws are those of +eternal justice and that they govern all things from the most glorious +intellectual natures belonging to the sun and fixed stars to the meanest +spark of life animating an atom crawling in the dust of your earth. We +know all things begin from and end in His everlasting essence, the cause +of causes, the power of powers." + +The low and sweet voice ceased; it appeared as if I had fallen suddenly +upon the earth, but there was a bright light before me and I heard my +name loudly called; the voice was not of my intellectual guide--the +genius before me was my servant bearing a flambeau in his hand. He told +me he had been searching me in vain amongst the ruins, that the carriage +had been waiting for me above an hour, and that he had left a large party +of my friends assembled in the Palazzo F---. + + + + +DIALOGUE THE SECOND. DISCUSSIONS CONNECTED WITH THE VISION IN THE +COLOSAEUM. + + +The same friends, Ambrosio and Onuphrio, who were my companions at Rome +in the winter, accompanied me in the spring to Naples. Many +conversations occurred in the course of our journey which were often to +me peculiarly instructive, and from the difference of their opinions +generally animated and often entertaining. I shall detail one of these +conversations, which took place in the evening on the summit of Vesuvius, +and the remembrance of which from its connection with my vision in the +Colosaeum has always a peculiar interest for me. We had reached with +some labour the edge of the crater and were admiring the wonderful scene +around us. I shall give the conversation in the words of the persons of +the drama. + +_Philalethes_.--It is difficult to say whether there is more of sublimity +or beauty in the scene around us. Nature appears at once smiling and +frowning, in activity and repose. How tremendous is the volcano, how +magnificent this great laboratory of Nature in its unceasing fire, its +subterraneous lightnings and thunder, its volumes of smoke, its showers +of stones and its rivers of ignited lava! How contrasted the darkness of +the scoriae, the ruins and the desolation round the crater with the scene +below! There we see the rich field covered with flax, or maize, or +millet, and intersected by rows of trees which support the green and +graceful festoons of the vine; the orange and lemon tree covered with +golden fruit appear in the sheltered glens; the olive trees cover the +lower hills; islands purple in the beams of the setting sun are scattered +over the sea in the west, and the sky is tinted with red softening into +the brightest and purest azure; the distant mountains still retain a part +of the snows of winter, but they are rapidly melting and they absolutely +seem to melt reflecting the beams of the setting sun, glowing as if on +fire. And man appears emulous of Nature, for the city below is full of +activity; the nearest part of the bay is covered with boats, busy +multitudes crowd the strand, and at the same time may be seen a number of +the arts belonging to civilised society in operation--house-building, +ship-building, rope-making, the manipulations of the smith and of the +agriculturist, and not only the useful arts, but even the amusements and +luxuries of a great metropolis may be witnessed from the spot in which we +stand; that motley crowd is collected round a policinello, and those +smaller groups that surround the stalls are employed in enjoying the +favourite food and drink of the lazzaroni. + +_Ambrosio_.--We see not only the power and activity of man, as existing +at present, and of which the highest example may be represented by the +steam-boat which is now departing for Palermo, but we may likewise view +scenes which carry us into the very bosom of antiquity, and, as it were, +make us live with the generations of past ages. Those small square +buildings, scarcely visible in the distance, are the tombs of +distinguished men amongst the early Greek colonists of the country; and +those rows of houses, without roofs, which appear as if newly erecting, +constitute a Roman town restored from its ashes, that remained for +centuries as if it had been swept from the face of the earth. When you +study it in detail you will hardly avoid the illusion that it is a rising +city; you will almost be tempted to ask where are the workmen, so perfect +art the walls of the houses, so bright and uninjured the painting upon +them. Hardly anything is wanting to make this scene a magnificent +epitome of all that is most worthy of admiration in Nature and art; had +there been in addition to the other objects a fine river and a waterfall +the epitome would, I think, have been absolutely perfect. + +_Phil_.--You are most unreasonable in imagining additions to a scene +which it is impossible to embrace in one view, and which presents so many +objects to the senses, the memory, and to the imagination; yet there is a +river in the valley between Naples and Castel del Mare; you may see its +silver thread and the white foam of its torrents in the distance, and if +you were geologists you would find a number of sources of interest, which +have not been mentioned, in the scenery surrounding us. Somma which is +before us, for instance, affords a wonderful example of a mountain formed +of marine deposits, and which has been raised by subterraneous fire, and +those large and singular veins which you see at the base and rising +through the substance of the strata are composed of volcanic porphyry, +and offer a most striking and beautiful example of the generation and +structure of rocks and mineral formations. + +_Onuphrio_.--As we passed through Portici, on the road to the base of +Vesuvius, it appeared to me that I saw a stone which had an ancient Roman +inscription upon it, and which occupied the place of a portal in the +modern palace of the Barberini. + +_Phil_.--This is not an uncommon circumstance: Most of the stones used in +the palaces of Portici had been employed more than two thousand years +before in structures raised by the ancient Romans or Greek colonists; and +it is not a little remarkable that the buildings of Herculaneum, a town +covered with ashes, tufa, and lava, from the first recorded eruption of +Vesuvius more than seventeen hundred years ago, should have been +constructed of volcanic materials produced by some antecedent igneous +action of the mountain in times beyond the reach of history; and it is +still more remarkable that men should have gone on for so many ages +making erections in spots where their works have been so often destroyed, +inattentive to the voice of time or the warnings of nature. + +_Onu_.--This last fact recalls to my recollection an idea which +Philalethes started in the remarkable dream which he would have us +believe occurred to him in the Colosaeum, namely--that no important facts +which can be useful to society are ever lost; and that, like these +stones, which though covered with ashes or hidden amongst ruins, they are +sure to be brought forward again and made use of in some new form. + +_Amb_.--I do not see the justness of the analogy to which Onuphrio +refers; but there are many parts of that vision on which I should wish to +hear the explanations of Philalethes. I consider it in fact as a sort of +poetical epitome of his philosophical opinions, and I regard this vision +or dream as a mere web of his imagination in which he intended to catch +us, his summer-flies and travelling companions. + +_Phil_.--There, Ambrosio, you do me wrong. I will acknowledge, if you +please, that the vision in the Colosaeum is a fiction; but the most +important parts of it really occurred to me in sleep, particularly that +in which I seemed to leave the earth and launch into the infinity of +space under the guidance of a tutelary genius. And the origin and +progress of civil society form likewise parts of another dream which I +had many years ago, and it was in the reverie which happened when you +quitted me in the Colosaeum that I wove all these thoughts together, and +gave them the form in which I narrated them to you. + +_Amb_.--Of course we may consider them as an accurate representation of +your waking thoughts. + +_Phil_.--I do not say that they strictly are so, for I am not quite +convinced that dreams are always representations of the state of the mind +modified by organic diseases or by associations. There are certainly no +absolutely new ideas produced in sleep, yet I have had more than one +instance, in the course of my life, of most extraordinary combinations +occurring in this state, which have had considerable influence on my +feelings, my imagination, and my health. + +_Onu_.--Why Philalethes, you are becoming a visionary, a dreamer of +dreams. We shall perhaps set you down by the side of Jacob Behmen or of +Emanuel Swedenbourg, and in an earlier age you might have been a prophet, +and have ranked perhaps with Mahomet. But pray give us one of these +instances in which such a marvellous influence was produced on your +imagination and your health by a dream that we may form some judgment of +the nature of your second sight or inspirations; and whether they have +any foundation, or whether they are not, as I believe, really unfounded, +inventions of the fancy, dreams respecting dreams. + +_Phil_.--I anticipate unbelief, and I expose myself to your ridicule in +the statement I am about to make, yet I shall mention nothing but a +simple fact. Almost a quarter of a century ago, as you know, I +contracted that terrible form of typhus-fever known by the name of gaol- +fever, I may say, not from any imprudence of my own, but whilst engaged +in putting in execution a plan for ventilating one of the great prisons +of the metropolis. My illness was severe and dangerous. As long as the +fever continued, my dreams or delirium were most painful and oppressive; +but when the weakness consequent to exhaustion came on, and when the +probability of death seemed to my physicians greater than that of life, +there was an entire change in all my ideal combinations. I remained in +an apparently senseless or lethargic state, but in fact my mind was +peculiarly active; there was always before me the form of a beautiful +woman, with whom I was engaged in the most interesting and intellectual +conversation. + +_Amb_.--The figure of a lady with whom you were in love. + +_Phil_.--No such thing; I was passionately in love at the time, but the +object of my admiration was a lady with black hair, dark eyes, and pale +complexion; this spirit of my vision, on the contrary, had brown hair, +blue eyes, and a bright rosy complexion, and was, as far as I can +recollect, unlike any of the amatory forms which in early youth had so +often haunted my imagination. Her figure for many days was so distinct +in my mind, as to form almost a visual image. As I gained strength, the +visits of my good angel (for so I called it) became less frequent, and +when I was restored to health they were altogether discontinued. + +_Onu_.--I see nothing very strange in this--a mere reaction of the mind +after severe pain--and, to a young man of twenty-five, there are few more +pleasurable images than that of a beautiful maiden with blue eyes, +blooming cheeks, and long nut-brown hair. + +_Phil_.--But all my feelings and all my conversations with this visionary +maiden were of an intellectual and refined nature. + +_Onu_.--Yes, I suppose, as long as you were ill. + +_Phil_.--I will not allow you to treat me with ridicule on this point +till you have heard the second part of my tale. Ten years after I had +recovered from the fever, and when I had almost lost the recollection of +the vision, it was recalled to my memory by a very blooming and graceful +maiden, fourteen or fifteen years old, that I accidentally met during my +travels in Illyria; but I cannot say that the impression made upon my +mind by this female was very strong. Now comes the extraordinary part of +the narrative. Ten years after, twenty years after my first illness, at +a time when I was exceedingly weak from a severe and dangerous malady, +which for many weeks threatened my life, and when my mind was almost in a +desponding state, being in a course of travels ordered by my medical +advisers, I again met the person who was the representative of my +visionary female, and to her kindness and care I believe I owe what +remains to me of existence. My despondency gradually disappeared, and +though my health still continued weak, life began to possess charms for +me which I had thought were for ever gone; and I could not help +identifying the living angel with the vision which appeared as my +guardian genius during the illness of my youth. + +_Onu_.--I really see nothing at all in this fact, whether the first or +the second part of the narrative be considered, beyond the influence of +an imagination excited by disease. From youth, even to age, women are +our guardian angels, our comforters; and I dare say any other handsome +young female, who had been your nurse in your last illness, would have +coincided with your remembrance of the vision, even though her eyes had +been hazel and her hair flaxen. Nothing can be more loose than the +images represented in dreams following a fever, and with the nervous +susceptibility produced by your last illness, almost any agreeable form +would have become the representative of your imaginary guardian genius. +Thus it is, that by the power of fancy, material forms are clothed in +supernatural attributes; and in the same manner imaginary divinities have +all the forms of mortality bestowed upon them. The gods of the pagan +mythology were in all their characters and attributes exalted human +beings; the demon of the coward, and the angelic form that appears in the +dream of some maid smitten by devotion, and who, having lost her earthly +lover, fixes her thoughts on heaven, are clothed in the character and +vestments of humanity changed by the dreaminess of passion. + +_Amb_.--With such a tendency, Philalethes, as you have shown to believe +in something like a supernatural or divine influence on the human mind, I +am astonished there should be so much scepticism belonging to your vision +in the Colosaeum. And your view of the early state of man, after his +first creation, is not only incompatible with revelation, but likewise +with reason and everything that we know respecting the history or +traditions of the early nations of antiquity. + +_Phil_.--Be more distinct and detailed in your statements, Ambrosio, that +I may be able to reply to them; and whilst we are waiting for the sunrise +we may discuss the subject, and for this, let us seat ourselves on these +stones, where we shall be warmed by the vicinity of the current of lava. + +_Amb_.--You consider man, in his early or first created state, a savage, +like those who now inhabit New Holland or New Zealand, acquiring by the +little use that they make of a feeble reason the power of supporting and +extending life. Now, I contend, that if man had been so created, he must +inevitably have been destroyed by the elements or devoured by savage +beasts, so infinitely his superiors in physical force. He must, +therefore, have been formed with various instinctive faculties and +propensities, with a perfection of form and use of organs fitting him to +become the master of the earth; and, it appears to me, that the account +given in Genesis of the first parents of mankind having been placed in a +garden fitted with everything necessary to their existence and enjoyment, +and ordered to increase and multiply there, is strictly in harmony with +reason, and accordant with all just metaphysical views of the human mind. +Man as he now exists can only be raised with great care and difficulty +from the infant to the mature state; all his motions are at first +automatic, and become voluntary by association; he has to learn +everything by slow and difficult processes, many months elapse before he +is able to stand, and many years before he is able to provide for the +common wants of life. Without the mother or the nurse in his infant +state, he would die in a few hours; and without the laborious discipline +of instruction and example, he would remain idiotic and inferior to most +other animals. His reason is only acquired gradually, and when in its +highest perfection is often uncertain in its results. He must, +therefore, have been created with instincts that for a long while +supplied the want of reason, and which enabled him from the first moment +of his existence to provide for his wants, to gratify his desires, and +enjoy the power and the activity of life. + +_Phil_.--I acknowledge that your objection has some weight, but not so +much as you would attribute to it. I will suppose that the first created +man or men had certain powers or instincts, such as now belong to the +rudest savages of the southern hemisphere; I will suppose them created +with the use of their organs for defence and offence and with passions +and propensities enabling them to supply their own wants. And I oppose +the fact of races who are now actually in this state to your vague +historical or traditionary records; and their gradual progress or +improvement from this early state of society to that of the highest state +of civilisation or refinement may, I think, be easily deduced from the +exertions of reason assisted by the influence of the moral powers and of +physical circumstances. Accident, I conceive, must have had some +influence in laying the foundations of certain arts; and a climate in +which labour was not too oppressive, and in which the exertion of +industry was required to provide for the wants of life must have fixed +the character of the activity of the early improving people; where nature +is too kind a mother, man is generally a spoiled child; where she is +severe, and a stepmother, his powers are usually withered and destroyed. +The people of the south and the north and those between the tropics +offer, even at this day, proof of the truth of this principle; and it is +even possible now to find on the surface of the earth, all the different +gradations of the states of society, from that in which man is scarcely +removed above the brute, to that in which he appears approaching in his +nature to a divine intelligence. Besides, reason being the noblest gift +of God to man, I can hardly suppose that an infinitely powerful and all- +wise Creator would bestow upon the early inhabitants of the globe a +greater proportion of instinct than was at first necessary to preserve +their existence, and that he would not leave the great progress of their +improvement to the development and exaltation of their reasoning powers. + +_Amb_.--You appear to me in your argument to have forgotten the influence +that any civilised race must possess over savages; and many of the +nations which you consider as in their original state, may have descended +from nations formerly civilised; and, it is quite as easy to trace the +retrograde steps of a people as their advances; the savage hordes who now +inhabit the northern coast of Africa are probably descended from the +opulent, commercial, and ingenious Carthaginians who once contended with +Rome for the empire of the world; and even nearer home, we might find in +Southern Italy and her islands, proofs of a degradation not much +inferior. What I contend for is the civilisation of the first +patriarchal races who peopled the East, and who passed into Europe from +Armenia, in which paradise is supposed to have been placed. The early +civilisation of this race could only have been in consequence of their +powers and instincts having been of a higher character than those of +savages. They appear to have been small families--a state not at all +fitted for the discovery of arts by the exercise of the mind; and they +professed the most sublime form of religion, the worship of one Supreme +Intelligence--a truth which, after a thousand years of civilisation, was +with difficulty attained by the most powerful efforts of reasoning by the +Greek sages. It appears to me, that in the history of the Jews, nothing +can be more in conformity to our ideas of just analogy than this series +of events. Our first parents were created with everything necessary for +their wants and their happiness; they had only one duty to perform, by +their obedience to prove their love and devotion to their Creator. In +this they failed, and death--or the fear of death--became a curse upon +their race; but the father of mankind repented, and his instinctive or +intellectual powers given by revelation were transmitted to his offspring +more or less modified by their reason, which they had gained as the fruit +of their disobedience. One branch of his offspring, however, in whom +faith shone forth above reason, retained their peculiar powers and +institutions and preserved the worship of Jehovah pure, whilst many of +the races sprung from their brethren became idolatrous, and the clear +light of heaven was lost through the mist of the senses; and that Being, +worshipped by the Israelites only as a mysterious word, was forgotten by +many of the nations who lived in the neighbouring countries, and men, +beasts, the parts of the visible universe, and even stocks and stones, +were set up as objects of adoration. The difficulty which the divine +legislators of the Jewish people had to preserve the purity of their +religion amongst the idolatrous nations by whom they were surrounded, +proves the natural evil tendency of the human mind after the fall of man. +And, whoever will consider the nature of the Mosaical or ceremonial law +and the manner in which it was suspended before the end of the Roman +Empire, the expiatory sacrifice of the Messiah, the fear of death +destroyed by the blessed hopes of immortality established by the +resurrection of Jesus Christ, the destruction of Jerusalem by Titus, and +the triumphs of Christianity over paganism in the time of Constantine, +can I think, hardly fail to acknowledge the reasonableness of the truth +of revealed religion as founded upon the early history of man; and +whoever acknowledges this reasonableness and this truth, must I think be +dissatisfied with the view which Philalethes or his genius has given of +the progress of society, and will find in it one instance, amongst many +others that might be discovered, of the vague and erring results of his +so much boasted human reason. + +_Onu_.--I fear I shall shock Ambrosio, but I cannot help vindicating a +little the philosophical results of human reason, which it must be +allowed are entirely hostile to his ideas. I agree with Philalethes that +it is the noblest gift of God to man; and I cannot think that Ambrosio's +view of the paradisaical condition and the fall of man and the progress +of society is at all in conformity with the ideas we ought to form of the +institutions of an infinitely wise and powerful Being. Besides, Ambrosio +speaks of the reasonableness of his own opinions; of course his notions +of reason must be different from mine, or we have adopted different forms +of logic. I do not find in the biblical history any idea of the supreme +Intelligence conformable to those of the Greek philosophers; on the +contrary, I find Jehovah everywhere described as a powerful material +being, endowed with organs, feelings, and passions similar to those of a +great and exalted human agent. He is described as making man in His own +image, as walking in the garden in the cool of the evening, as being +pleased with sacrificial offerings, as angry with Adam and Eve, as +personally cursing Cain for his crime of fratricide, and even as +providing our first parents with garments to hide their nakedness; then +He appears a material form in the midst of flames, thunder and lightning, +and was regarded by the Levites as having a fixed residence in the Ark. +He is contrasted throughout the whole of the Old Testament with the gods +of the heathens, only as being more powerful; and in the strange scene +which took place in Pharaoh's court He seemed to have measured His +abilities with those of certain seers or magicians, and to have proved +His superiority only by producing greater and more tremendous plagues. In +all the early history of the Jewish nation there is no conception +approaching to the sublimity of that of Anaxagoras, who called God the +Intelligence or [Greek text]. He appears always, on the contrary, like +the genii of Arabian romance, living in clouds, descending on mountains, +urging His chosen people to commit the most atrocious crimes, to destroy +all the races not professing the same worship, and to exterminate even +the child and the unborn infant. Then, I find in the Old Testament no +promise of a spiritual Messiah, but only of a temporal king, who, as the +Jews believe, is yet to come. The serpent in Genesis has no connection +with the spirit of evil, but is described only as the most subtle beast +of the field, and, having injured man, there was to be a perpetual enmity +between their races--the serpent when able was to bite the heel of the +man, and the man when an opportunity occurred was to bruise the head of +the serpent. I will allow, if you please, that an instinct of religion +or superstition belongs to the human mind, and that the different forms +which this instinct assumes depend upon various circumstances and +accidents of history and climate; but I am not sure that the religion of +the Jews was superior to that of the Sabaeans who worshipped the stars, +or the ancient Persians who adored the sun as the visible symbol of +divine power, or the eastern nations who in the various forms of the +visible universe worshipped the powers and energies of the Divinity. I +feel like the ancient Romans with respect to toleration; I would give a +place to all the gods in my Pantheon, but I would not allow the followers +of Brahmah or of Christ to quarrel about the modes of incarnation or the +superiority of the attributes of their trien God. + +_Amb_.--You have mistaken me, Onuphrio, if you think I am shocked by your +opinions; I have seen too much of the wanderings of human reason ever to +be surprised by them, and the views you have adopted are not uncommon +amongst young men of very superior talents, who have only slightly +examined the evidences of revealed religion. But I am glad to find that +you have not adopted the code of infidelity of many of the French +revolutionists and of an English school of sceptics, who find in the +ancient astronomy all the germs of the worship of the Hebrews, who +identify the labours of Hercules with those of the Jewish heroes, and who +find the life, death and resurrection of the Messiah in the history of +the solar day. You, at least, allow the existence of a peculiar +religious instinct, or, as you are pleased to call it, superstition, +belonging to the human mind, and I have hopes that upon this foundation +you will ultimately build up a system of faith not unworthy a philosopher +and a Christian. Man, with whatever religious instincts he was created, +was intended to communicate with the visible universe by sensations and +act upon it by his organs, and in the earliest state of society he was +more particularly influenced by his gross senses. Allowing the existence +of a supreme Intelligence and His beneficent intentions towards man, the +ideas of His presence which He might think fit to impress upon the mind, +either for the purpose of veneration, or of love, of hope or fear, must +have been in harmony with the general train of His sensations--I am not +sure that I make myself intelligible. The same infinite power which in +an instant could create a universe, could of course so modify the ideas +of an intellectual being as to give them that form and character most +fitted for his existence; and I suppose in the early state of created man +he imagined that he enjoyed the actual presence of the Divinity and heard +His voice. I take this to be the first and simplest result of religious +instinct. In early times amongst the patriarchs I suppose these ideas +were so vivid as to be confounded with impressions; but as religious +instinct probably became feebler in their posterity, the vividness of the +impressions diminished, and they then became visions or dreams, which +with the prophets seem to have constituted inspiration. I do not suppose +that the Supreme Being ever made Himself known to man by a real change in +the order of Nature, but that the sensations of men were so modified by +their instincts as to induce the belief in His presence. That there was +a divine intelligence continually acting upon the race of Seth as his +chosen people, is, I think, clearly proved by the events of their +history, and also that the early opinions of a small tribe in Judaea were +designed for the foundation of the religion of the most active and +civilised and powerful nations of the world, and that after a lapse of +three thousand years. The manner in which Christianity spread over the +world with a few obscure mechanics or fishermen for its promulgators; the +mode in which it triumphed over paganism even when professed and +supported by the power and philosophy of a Julian; the martyrs who +subscribed to the truth of Christianity by shedding their blood for the +faith; the exalted nature of those intellectual men by whom it has been +professed who had examined all the depths of nature and exercised the +profoundest faculties of thought, such as Newton, Locke, and Hartley, all +appear to me strong arguments in favour of revealed religion. I prefer +rather founding my creed upon the fitness of its doctrines than upon +historical evidences or the nature of its miracles. The Divine +Intelligence chooses that men should be convinced according to the +ordinary train of their sensations, and on all occasions it appears to me +more natural that a change should take place in the human mind than in +the order of nature. The popular opinion of the people of Judaea was +that certain diseases were occasioned by devils taking possession of a +human being; the disease was cured by our Saviour, and this in the Gospel +is expressed by his casting out devils. But without entering into +explanations respecting the historical miracles belonging to +Christianity, it is sufficient to say that its truth is attested by a +constantly existing miracle, the present state of the Jews, which was +predicted by Jesus; their temple and city were destroyed, and all +attempts made to rebuild it have been vain, and they remain the despised +and outcasts of the world. + +_Onu_.--But you have not answered my objections with respect to the +cruelties exercised by the Jews under the command of Jehovah, which +appear to me in opposition to all our views of divine justice. + +_Amb_.--I think even Philalethes will allow that physical and moral +diseases are hereditary, and that to destroy a pernicious unbelief or +demoniacal worship it was necessary to destroy the whole race root and +branch. As an example, I will imagine a certain contagions disease which +is transmitted by parents to children, and which, like the plague, is +communicated to sound persons by contact; to destroy a family of men who +would spread this disease over the whole earth would unquestionably be a +mercy. Besides, I believe in the immortality of the sentient principle +in man; destruction of life is only a change of existence, and supposing +the new existence a superior one it is a gain. To the Supreme +Intelligence the death of a million of human beings is the mere +circumstance of so many spiritual essences changing their habitations, +and is analogous to the myriad millions of larvae that leave their coats +and shells behind them and rise into the atmosphere, as flies in a summer +day. When man measures the works of the Divine Mind by his own feeble +combinations, he must wander in gross error; the infinite can never be +understood by the finite. + +_Onu_.--As far as I can comprehend your reasoning, the priests of +Juggernaut might make the same defence for their idol, and find in such +views a fair apology for the destruction of thousands of voluntary +victims crushed to pieces by the feet of the sacred elephant. + +_Amb_.--Undoubtedly they might, and I should allow the justness of their +defence if I saw in their religion any germs of a divine institution +fitted to become, like the religion of Jehovah, the faith of the whole +civilised world, embracing the most perfect form of theism and the most +refined and exalted morality. I consider the early acts of the Jewish +nation as the lowest and rudest steps of a temple raised by the Supreme +Being to contain the altar of sacrifice to His glory. In the early +periods of society rude and uncultivated men could only be acted upon by +gross and temporal rewards and punishments; severe rites and heavy +discipline were required to keep the mind in order, and the punishment of +the idolatrous nation served as an example for the Jews. When +Christianity took the place of Judaism the ideas of the Supreme Being +became more pure and abstracted, and the visible attributes of Jehovah +and His angels appear to have been less frequently presented to the mind; +yet even for many ages it seemed as if the grossness of our material +senses required some assistance from the eye in fixing or perpetuating +the character of religious instinct, and the Church to which I belong, +and I may say the whole Christian Church in early times, allowed visible +images, pictures, statues, and relics as the means of awakening the +stronger devotional feelings. We have been accused of worshipping merely +inanimate objects, but this is a very false notion of the nature of our +faith; we regard them merely as vivid characters representing spiritual +existences and we no more worship them than the Protestant does his Bible +when he kisses it under a solemn religious adjuration. The past, the +present, and the future being the same to the infinite and divine +Intelligence, and man being created in love for the purposes of +happiness, the moral and religious discipline to which he was submitted +was in strict conformity to his progressive faculties and to the primary +laws of his nature. It is but a rude analogy, yet it is the only one I +can find, that of comparing the Supreme Being to a wise and good father +who, to secure the well-being of his offspring, is obliged to adopt a +system of rewards and punishments in which the senses at first and +afterwards the imagination and reason are concerned; he terrifies them by +the example of others, awakens their love of glory by pointing out the +distinction and the happiness gained by superior men by adopting a +particular line of conduct; he uses at first the rod, and gradually +substitutes for it the fear of immediate shame; and having awakened the +fear of shame and the love of praise or honour with respect to temporary +and immediate actions he extends them to the conduct of the whole of +life, and makes what was a momentary feeling a permanent and immutable +principle. And obedience in the child to the will of such a parent may +be compared to faith in and obedience to the will of the Supreme Being; +and a wayward and disobedient child who reasons upon and doubts the +utility of the discipline of such a father is much in the same state in +which the adult man is who doubts if there be good in the decrees of +Providence and who questions the harmony of the plan of the moral +universe. + +_Onu_.--Allowing the perfection of your moral scheme of religion and its +fitness for the nature of man, I find it impossible to believe the +primary doctrines on which this scheme is founded. You make the Divine +Mind, the creator of infinite worlds, enter into the form of a man born +of a virgin, you make the eternal and immortal God the victim of shameful +punishment and suffering death on the cross, recovering His life after +three days, and carrying His maimed and lacerated body into the heaven of +heavens. + +_Amb_.--You, like all other sceptics, make your own interpretations of +the Scriptures and set up a standard for divine power in human reason. +The infinite and eternal mind, as I said before, fits the doctrines of +religion to the minds by which they are to be embraced. I see no +improbability in the idea that an integrant part of His essence may have +animated a human form; there can be no doubt that this belief has existed +in the human mind, and the belief constitutes the vital part of the +religion. We know nothing of the generation of the human being in the +ordinary course of nature; how absurd then to attempt to reason upon the +acts of the Divine Mind! nor is there more difficulty in imagining the +event of a divine conception than of a divine creation. To God the +infinite, little and great, as measured by human powers, are equal; a +creature of this earth, however humble and insignificant, may have the +same weight with millions of superior beings inhabiting higher systems. +But I consider all the miraculous parts of our religion as effected by +changes in the sensations or ideas of the human mind, and not by physical +changes in the order of nature; a man who has to repair a piece of +machinery, as a clock, must take it to pieces, and, in fact, re-make it, +but to infinite wisdom and power a change in the intellectual state of +the human being may be the result of a momentary will, and the mere act +of faith may produce the change. How great the powers of imagination +are, even in ordinary life, is shown by many striking facts, and nothing +seems impossible to this imagination when acted upon by divine influence. +To attempt to answer all the objections which may be derived from the +want of conformity in the doctrines of Christianity to the usual order of +events would be an interminable labour. My first principle is, that +religion has nothing to do with the common order of events; it is a pure +and divine instinct intended to give results to man which he cannot +obtain by the common use of his reason, and which at first view often +appear contradictory to it, but which when examined by the most refined +tests, and considered in the most extensive and profound relations, are, +in fact, in conformity with the most exalted intellectual knowledge, so +that, indeed, the results of pure reason ultimately become the same with +those of faith--the tree of knowledge is grafted upon the tree of life, +and that fruit which brought the fear of death into the world, budding on +an immortal stock, becomes the fruit of the promise of immortality. + +_Onu_.--You derive Christianity from Judaism; I cannot see their +connection, and it appears to me that the religion of Mahomet is more +naturally a scion from the stock of Moses. Christ was a Jew, and was +circumcised; this rite was continued by Mahomet, and is to this day +adopted by his disciples, though rejected by the Christians; and the +doctrines of Mahomet appear to me to have a higher claim to divine origin +than those of Jesus; his morality is as pure, his theism purer, and his +system of rewards and punishments after death as much in conformity with +our ideas of eternal justice. + +_Amb_.--I will willingly make the decision of the general question +dependent upon the decision of this particular one. No attempts have +been made by the Mahometans to find any predictions respecting their +founder in the Old Testament, and they have never pretended even that he +was the Messiah; therefore, as far as prophecy is concerned, there is no +ground for admitting the truth of the religion of Mahomet. It has been +the fashion with a particular sect of infidels to praise the morality of +the Mahometans, but I think unjustly; they are said to be honest in their +dealings and charitable to those of their own persuasion; but they allow +polygamy and a plurality of women, and are despisers and persecutors of +the nations professing a different faith. And what a contrast does this +morality present to that of the Gospel which inculcates charity to all +mankind, and orders benevolent actions to be performed even to enemies! +and the purity and simplicity of the infant is held up by Christ as the +model of imitation for His followers. Then, in the rewards and +punishments of the future state of the Mahometans, how gross are all the +ideas, how unlike the promises of a divine and spiritual being; their +paradise is a mere earthly garden of sensual pleasure, and their Houris +represent the ladies of their own harems rather than glorified angelic +natures. How different is the Christian heaven, how sublime in its idea, +indefinite, yet well suited to a being of intellectual and progressive +faculties; "Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, nor hath it entered into +the heart of man to conceive the joys that He hath prepared for those who +love Him." + +_Onu_.--I confess your answer to my last argument is a triumphant one; +but I cannot allow a question of such extent and of such a variety of +bearings to be decided by so slight an advantage as that which you have +gained by this answer. I will now offer another difficulty to you. The +law of the Jews, you will allow, was established by God Himself and +delivered to Moses from the seat of His glory amongst storms, thunder, +and lightnings, on Mount Sinai; why should this law, if pure and divine, +have been overturned by the same Being who established it? And all the +ceremonies of the Hebrews have been abolished by the first Christians. + +_Amb_.--I deny that the divine law of Moses was abolished by Christ, who +Himself says, "I came to confirm the law, not to destroy it." And the +Ten Commandments form the vital parts of the foundation of the creed of +the true Christian. It appears that the religion of Christ was the same +pure theism with that of the patriarchs; and the rites and ceremonies +established by Moses seem to have been only adjuncts to the spiritual +religion intended to suit a particular climate and a particular state of +the Jewish nation, rather a dress or clothing of the religion than +forming a constituent part of it, a system of discipline of life and +manners rather than an essential part of doctrine. The rites of +circumcision and ablution were necessary to the health and perhaps even +to the existence of a people living on the hottest part of the shores of +the Mediterranean. And in the sacrifices made of the first fruits and of +the chosen of the flock, we may see a design not merely connected with +the religious faith of the people but even with their political economy. +To offer their choicest and best property as a proof of their gratitude +to the Supreme Being was a kind of test of devotedness and obedience to +the theocracy; and these sacrifices by obliging them to raise more +produce and provide more cattle than were essential to their ordinary +support, preserved them from the danger of famine, as in case of a dearth +it was easy for the priests under the divine permission to apply those +offerings to the necessities of the people. All the pure parts of the +faith which had descended from Abraham to David were preserved by Jesus +Christ; but the ceremonial religion was fitted only for a particular +nation and a particular country; Christianity, on the contrary, was to be +the religion of the world and of a civilised and improving world. And it +appears to me to be an additional proof of its divine nature and origin, +that it is exactly in conformity to the principles of the improvement and +perfection of the human mind. When given to a particular race fixed in a +peculiar climate, its objects were sensible, its discipline was severe, +and its rites and ceremonies numerous and imposing, fitted to act upon +weak, ignorant, and consequently obstinate men. In its gradual +development it threw off its local character and its particular forms, +and adopted ceremonies more fitted for mankind in general; and in its +ultimate views, it preserves only pure, spiritual, and I may say +philosophical doctrines, the unity of the divine nature and a future +state, embracing a system of rewards and punishments suited to an +accountable and immortal being. + +_Phil_.--I have been attentively listening to your discussion. The views +which Ambrosio has taken of Christianity certainly throw a light over it +perfectly new to me; and, I must say in candour, that I am disposed to +adopt his notion of the early state of society rather than that of my +Genius. I have always been accustomed to consider religious feeling as +instinctive; but Ambrosio's arguments have given me something approaching +to a definite faith for an obscure and indefinite notion. I am willing +to allow that man was created, not a savage, as he is represented in my +vision, but perfect in his faculties and with a variety of instinctive +powers and knowledge; that he transmitted these powers and knowledge to +his offspring; but that by an improper use of reason in disobedience to +the divine will, the instinctive faculties of most of his descendants +became deteriorated and at last lost, but that these faculties were +preserved in the race of Abraham and David, and the full power again +bestowed upon or recovered by Christ. I am ready to allow the importance +of religion in cultivating and improving the world; and Ambrosio's view +appears to me capable of being referred to a general law of our nature; +and revelation may be regarded not as a partial interference but as a +constant principle belonging to the mind of man, and the belief in +supernatural forms and agency, the results of prophecies and the +miracles, as one only of the necessary consequences of it. Man, as a +reasoning animal, must always have doubted of his immortality and plan of +conduct; in all the results of faith, there is immediate submission to a +divine will, which we are sure is good. We may compare the destiny of +man in this respect to that of a migratory bird; if a slow flying bird, +as a landrail in the Orkneys in autumn, had reason and could use it as to +the probability of his finding his way over deserts, across seas, and of +securing his food in passing to a warm climate 3,000 miles off, he would +undoubtedly starve in Europe; under the direction of his instinct he +securely arrives there in good condition. I have allowed the force of +your objections to that part of my vision relating to the origin of +society, but I hope you will admit that the conclusion of it is not +inconsistent with the ideas derived from revelation respecting the future +state of the human being. + +_Amb_.--Revelation has not disclosed to us the nature of this state, but +only fixed its certainty. We are sure from geological facts, as well as +from sacred history, that man is a recent animal on the globe, and that +this globe has undergone one considerable revolution, since the creation, +by water; and we are taught that it is to undergo another, by fire, +preparatory to a new and glorified state of existence of man; but this is +all we are permitted to know, and as this state is to be entirely +different from the present one of misery and probation, any knowledge +respecting it would be useless and indeed almost impossible. + +_Phil_.--My Genius has placed the more exalted spiritual natures in +cometary worlds, and this last fiery revolution may be produced by the +appulse of a comet. + +_Amb_.--Human fancy may imagine a thousand manners in which it may be +produced, but upon such notions it is absurd to dwell. I will not allow +your Genius the slightest approach to inspiration, and I can admit no +verisimility in a reverie which is fixed on a foundation you now allow to +be so weak. But see, the twilight is beginning to appear in the orient +sky, and there are some dark clouds on the horizon opposite to the crater +of Vesuvius, the lower edges of which transmit a bright light, showing +the sun is already risen in the country beneath them. I would say that +they may serve as an image of the hopes of immortality derived from +revelation; for we are sure from the light reflected in those clouds that +the lands below us are in the brightest sunshine, but we are entirely +ignorant of the surface and the scenery; so, by revelation, the light of +an imperishable and glorious world is disclosed to us; but it is in +eternity, and its objects cannot be seen by mortal eye or imaged by +mortal imagination. + +_Phil_.--I am not so well read in the Scriptures as I hope I shall be at +no very distant time; but I believe the pleasures of heaven are mentioned +more distinctly than you allow in the sacred writings. I think I +remember that the saints are said to be crowned with palms and amaranths, +and that they are described as perpetually hymning and praising God. + +_Amb_.--This is evidently only metaphorical; music is the sensual +pleasure which approaches nearest to an intellectual one, and probably +may represent the delight resulting from the perception of the harmony of +things and of truth seen in God. The palm as an evergreen tree and the +amaranth a perdurable flower are emblems of immortality. If I am allowed +to give a metaphorical allusion to the future state of the blest, I +should image it by the orange grove in that sheltered glen, on which the +sun is now beginning to shine, and of which the trees are at the same +time loaded with sweet golden fruit and balmy silver flowers. Such +objects may well portray a state in which hope and fruition become one +eternal feeling. + +_Onu_.--This glorious sunrise seems to have made you both poetical. +Though with the darkest and most gloomy mind of the party I cannot help +feeling its influence, I cannot help believing with you that the night of +death will be succeeded by a bright morning; but, as in the scene below +us, the objects are nearly the same as they were last evening, with more +of brightness and brilliancy, with a fairer prospect in the east and more +mist in the west, so I cannot help believing that our new state of +existence must bear an analogy to the present one, and that the order of +events will not be entirely different. + +_Amb_.--Your view is not an unnatural one; but I am rejoiced to find some +symptoms of a change in your opinions. + +_Onu_.--I wish with all my heart they were stronger; I begin to feel my +reason a weight and my scepticism a very heavy load. Your discussions +have made me a Philo-Christian, but I cannot understand nor embrace all +the views you have developed, though I really wish to do so. + +_Amb_.--Your wish, if sincere, I doubt not will be gratified. Fix your +powerful mind upon the harmony of the moral world, as you have been long +accustomed to do upon the order of the physical universe, and you will +see the scheme of the eternal intelligence developing itself alike in +both. Think of the goodness and mercy of omnipotence, and aid your +contemplation by devotional feelings and mental prayer and aspirations to +the source of all knowledge, and wait with humility for the light which I +doubt not will be so produced in your mind. + +_Onu_.--You again perplex me; I cannot believe that the adorations or +offerings of so feeble a creature can influence the decrees of +omnipotence. + +_Amb_.--You mistake me: as to their influencing or affecting the supreme +mind it is out of the question, but they affect your own mind, they +perpetuate a habit of gratitude and of obedience which may gradually end +in perfect faith, they discipline the affections and keep the heart in a +state of preparation to receive and preserve all good and pious feelings. +Whoever passes from utter darkness into bright sunshine finds that he +cannot at first distinguish objects better in one than in the other, but +in a feeble light he acquires gradually the power of bearing a brighter +one, and gains at last the habit not only of supporting it, but of +receiving delight as well as instruction from it. In the pious +contemplations that I recommend to you there is the twilight or sober +dawn of faith which will ultimately enable you to support the brightness +of its meridian sun. + +_Onu_.--I understand you, but your metaphor is more poetical than just; +your discipline, however, I have no doubt, is better fitted to enable me +to bear the light than to contemplate it through the smoked or coloured +glasses of scepticism. + +_Amb_.--Yes, for they not only diminish its brightness but alter its +nature. + + + + +DIALOGUE THE THIRD. THE UNKNOWN. + + +The same persons accompanied me in many journeys by land and water to +different parts of the Phlegraean fields, and we enjoyed in a most +delightful season, the beginning of May, the beauties of the glorious +country which encloses the Bay of Naples, so rich, so ornamented with the +gifts of nature, so interesting from the monuments it contains and the +recollections it awakens. One excursion, the last we made in southern +Italy, the most important both from the extraordinary personage with whom +it made me acquainted and his influence upon my future life, merits a +particular detail which I shall now deliver to paper. + +It was on the 16th of May, 18-- that we left Naples at three in the +morning for the purpose of visiting the remains of the temples of Paestum, +and having provided relays of horses we found ourselves at about half- +past one o'clock descending the hill of Eboli towards the plain which +contains these stupendous monuments of antiquity. Were my existence to +be prolonged through ten centuries, I think I could never forget the +pleasure I received on that delicious spot. We alighted from our +carriage to take some refreshment, and we reposed upon the herbage under +the shade of a magnificent pine contemplating the view around and below +us. On the right were the green hills covered with trees stretching +towards Salerno; beyond them were the marble cliffs which form the +southern extremity of the Bay of Sorento; immediately below our feet was +a rich and cultivated country filled with vineyards and abounding in +villas, in the gardens of which were seen the olive and the cypress tree +connected as if to memorialise how near to each other are life and death, +joy and sorrow; the distant mountains stretching beyond the plain of +Paestum were in the full luxuriance of vernal vegetation; and in the +extreme distance, as if in the midst of a desert, we saw the white +temples glittering in the sunshine. The blue Tyrrhene sea filled up the +outline of this scene, which, though so beautiful, was not calm; there +was a heavy breeze which blew full from the southwest; it was literally a +zephyr, and its freshness and strength in the middle of the day were +peculiarly balmy and delightful; it seemed a breath stolen by the spring +from the summer. I never saw a deeper, brighter azure than that of the +waves which rolled towards the shore, and which was rendered more +striking by the pure whiteness of their foam. The agitation of nature +seemed to be one of breathing and awakening life; the noise made by the +waving of the branches of the pine above our heads and by the rattling of +its cones was overpowered by the music of a multitude of birds which sung +everywhere in the trees that surrounded us, and the cooing of the turtle- +doves was heard even more distinctly than the murmuring of the waves or +the whistling of the winds, so that in the strife of nature the voice of +love was predominant. With our hearts touched by this extraordinary +scene we descended to the ruins, and having taken at a farmhouse a person +who acted as guide or cicerone, we began to examine those wonderful +remains which have outlived even the name of the people by whom they were +raised, and which continue almost perfect whilst a Roman and a Saracen +city since raised have been destroyed. We had been walking for half an +hour round the temples in the sunshine when our guide represented to us +the danger that there was of suffering from the effects of malaria, for +which, as is well known, this place is notorious, and advised us to +retire into the interior of the temple of Neptune. We followed his +advice, and my companions began to employ themselves in measuring the +circumference of one of the Doric columns, when they suddenly called my +attention to a stranger who was sitting on a camp-stool behind it. The +appearance of any person in this place at this time was sufficiently +remarkable, but the man who was before us from his dress and appearance +would have been remarkable anywhere. He was employed in writing in a +memorandum book when we first saw him, but he immediately rose and +saluted us by bending the head slightly though gracefully; and this +enabled me to see distinctly his person and dress. He was rather above +the middle stature, slender, but with well-turned limbs; his countenance +was remarkably intelligent, his eye hazel but full and strong, his front +was smooth and unwrinkled, and but for some grey hairs, which appeared +silvering his brown and curly locks, he might have been supposed to have +hardly reached the middle age; his nose was aquiline, the expression of +the lower part of his countenance remarkably sweet, and when he spoke to +our guide, which he did with uncommon fluency in the Neapolitan dialect, +I thought I had never heard a more agreeable voice, sonorous yet gentle +and silver-sounded. His dress was very peculiar, almost like that of an +ecclesiastic, but coarse and light; and there was a large soiled white +hat on the ground beside him, on which was fastened a pilgrim's cockle +shell, and there was suspended round his neck a long antique blue +enamelled phial, like those found in the Greek tombs, and it was attached +to a rosary of coarse beads. He took up his hat, and appeared to be +retiring to another part of the building, when I apologised for the +interruption we had given to his studies, begged him to resume them, and +assured him that our stay in the building would be only momentary, for I +saw that there was a cloud over the sun, the brightness of which was the +cause of our retiring. I spoke in Italian; he replied in English, +observing that he supposed the fear of contracting the malaria fever had +induced us to seek the shelter of the shade: but it is too early in the +season to have much reasonable fear of this insidious enemy; yet, he +added, this bottle which you may have observed here at my breast, I carry +about with me, as a supposed preventive of the effects of malaria, and as +far as my experience, a very limited one, however, has gone, it is +effectual. I ventured to ask him what the bottle might contain, as such +a benefit ought to be made known to the world. He replied, "It is a +mixture which slowly produces the substance called by chemists chlorine, +which is well known to be generally destructive to contagious matters; +and a friend of mine who has lived for many years in Italy, and who has +made a number of experiments with it, by exposing himself to the danger +of fever in the worst seasons and in the worst places, believes that it +is a secure preventive. I am not convinced of this; but it can do no +harm; and in waiting for more evidence of its utility, I employ it +without putting the least confidence in its power; nor do I expose myself +to the same danger as my friend has done for the sake of an experiment." +I said, "I believe several scientific persons--Brocchi amongst +others--have doubted the existence of any specific matter in the +atmosphere producing intermittent fevers in marshy countries and hot +climates; and have been more disposed to attribute the disease to +physical causes, dependent upon the great differences of temperature +between day and night and to the refrigerating effects of the dense fogs +common in such situations in the evening and morning; and, on this +hypothesis, they have recommended warm woollen clothing and fires at +night as the best preventives against these destructive diseases, so +fatal to the peasants who remain in the summer and autumn in the +neighbourhood of the maremme of Rome, Tuscany, or Naples." The stranger +said, "I am acquainted with the opinions of the gentlemen, and they +undoubtedly have weight; but that a specific matter of contagion has not +been detected by chemical means in the atmosphere of marshes does not +prove its non-existence. We know so little of those agents that affect +the human constitution, that it is of no use to reason on this subject. +There can be no doubt that the line of malaria above the Pontine marshes +is marked by a dense fog morning and evening, and most of the old Roman +towns were placed upon eminences out of the reach of this fog. I have +myself experienced a peculiar effect upon the organs of smell in the +neighbourhood of marshes in the evening after a very hot day; and the +instances in which people have been seized with intermittents by a single +exposure in a place infested by malaria in the season of fevers gives, I +think, a strong support to something like a poisonous material existing +in the atmosphere in such spots; but I merely offer doubts. I hope the +progress of physiology and of chemistry will at no very distant time +solve this important problem." Ambrosio now came forward, and bowing to +the stranger, said he took the liberty, as he saw from his familiarity +with the cicerone that he was well acquainted with Paestum, of asking him +whether the masses of travertine, of which the Cyclopean walls and the +temples were formed, were really produced by aqueous deposition from the +River Silaro, as he had often heard reported. The stranger replied, +"that they were certainly produced by deposition from water; and such +deposits are made by the Silaro. But I rather believe," he said, "that a +lake in the immediate neighbourhood of the city furnished the quarry from +which these stones were excavated; and, in half an hour, if you like, +after you have finished your examinations of the temples with your guide, +I will accompany you to the spot from which it is evident that large +masses of the travertine, marmor tiburtinum, or calcareous tufa, have +been raised." We thanked him for his attention, accepted his invitation, +took the usual walk round the temples, and returned to our new +acquaintance, who led the way through the gate of the city to the banks +of a pool or lake a short distance off. We walked to the borders on a +mass of calcareous tufa, and we saw that this substance had even +encrusted the reeds on the shore. There was something peculiarly +melancholy in the character of this water; all the herbs around it were +grey, as if encrusted with marble; a few buffaloes were slaking their +thirst in it, which ran wildly away on our approach, and appeared to +retire into a rocky excavation or quarry at the end of the lake; there +were a number of birds, which, on examination, I found were sea swallows, +flitting on the surface and busily employed with the libella or dragon- +fly in destroying the myriads of gnats which rose from the bottom and +were beginning to be very troublesome by their bites to us. "There," +said the stranger, "is what I believe to be the source of those large and +durable stones which you see in the plain before you. This water rapidly +deposits calcareous matter, and even if you throw a stick into it, a few +hours is sufficient to give it a coating of this substance. Whichever +way you turn your eyes you see masses of this recently-produced marble, +the consequence of the overflowing of the lake during the winter floods, +and in that large excavation where you saw the buffaloes disappear you +may observe that immense masses have been removed, as if by the hand of +art and in remote times. The marble that remains in the quarry is of the +same texture and character as that which you see in the ruins of Paestum, +and I think it is scarcely possible to doubt that the builders of those +extraordinary structures derived a part of their materials from this +spot." Ambrosio gave his assent to this opinion of the stranger; and I +took the liberty of asking him as to the quantity of calcareous matter +contained in solution in the lake, saying that it appeared to me, for so +rapid and considerable an effect of deposition, there must be an unusual +quantity of solid matter dissolved by the water or some peculiar +circumstance of solution. The stranger replied, "This water is like +many, I may say most of the sources which rise at the foot of the +Apennines: it holds carbonic acid in solution which has dissolved a +portion of the calcareous matter of the rock through which it has passed. +This carbonic acid is dissipated in the atmosphere, and the marble, +slowly thrown down, assumes a crystalline form and produces coherent +stones. The lake before us is not particularly rich in the quantity of +calcareous matter that it contains, for, as I have found by experience, a +pint of it does not afford more than five or six grains; but the quantity +of fluid and the length of time are sufficient to account for the immense +quantities of tufa and rock which in the course of ages have accumulated +in this situation." Onuphrio's curiosity was excited by this statement +of the stranger, and he said, "May I take the liberty of asking if you +have any idea as to the cause of the large quantity of carbonic acid +which you have been so good as to inform us exists in most of the waters +in this country?" The stranger replied, "I certainly have formed an +opinion on this subject, which I willingly state to you. It can, I +think, be scarcely doubted that there is a source of volcanic fire at no +great distance from the surface in the whole of southern Italy; and, this +fire acting upon the calcareous rocks of which the Apennines are +composed, must constantly detach from them carbonic acid, which rising to +the sources of the springs, deposited from the waters of the atmosphere, +must give them their impregnation and enable them to dissolve calcareous +matter. I need not dwell upon Etna, Vesuvius, or the Lipari Islands to +prove that volcanic fires are still in existence; and there can be no +doubt that in earlier periods almost the whole of Italy was ravaged by +them; oven Rome itself, the eternal city, rests upon the craters of +extinct volcanoes; and I imagine that the traditional and fabulous record +of the destruction made by the conflagration of Phaeton in the chariot of +the sun and his falling into the Po had reference to a great and +tremendous igneous volcanic eruption, which extended over Italy and +ceased only near the Po at the foot of the Alps. Be this as it may, the +sources of carbonic acid are numerous, not merely in the Neapolitan, but +likewise in the Roman and Tuscan states. The most magnificent waterfall +in Europe, that of the Velino, near Terni, is partly fed by a stream +containing calcareous matter dissolved by carbonic acid, and it deposits +marble, which crystallises even in the midst of its thundering descent +and foam in the bed in which it falls. The Anio or Teverone, which +almost approaches in beauty to the Velino in the number and variety of +its falls and cascatelle, is likewise a calcareous water; and there is +still a more remarkable one which empties itself into this river below +Tivoli, and which you have probably seen in your excursions in the +campagna of Rome, called the lacus Albula or the lake of the Solfatara." +Ambrosio said, "We remember it well, we saw it this very spring; we were +carried there to examine some ancient Roman baths, and we were struck by +the blue milkiness of the water, by the magnitude of the source, and by +the disagreeable smell of sulphuretted hydrogen which everywhere +surrounded the lake." The stranger said, "When you return to Latium I +advise you to pay another visit to a spot which is interesting from a +number of causes, some of which I will take the liberty of mentioning to +you. You have only seen one lake, that where the ancient Romans erected +their baths, but there is another a few yards above it, surrounded by +very high rushes, and almost hidden by them from the sight. This lake +sends down a considerable stream of tepid water to the larger lake, but +this water is less strongly impregnated with carbonic acid; the largest +lake is actually a saturated solution of this gas, which escapes from it +in such quantities in some parts of its surface that it has the +appearance of being actually in ebullition. I have found by experiment +that the water taken from the most tranquil part of the lake, even after +being agitated and exposed to the air, contained in solution more than +its own volume of carbonic acid gas with a very small quantity of +sulphuretted hydrogen, to the presence of which, I conclude, its ancient +use in curing cutaneous disorders may be referred. Its temperature, I +ascertained, was in the winter in the warmest parts above 80 degrees of +Fahrenheit, and it appears to be pretty constant, for I have found it +differ a few degrees only, in the ascending source, in January, March, +May, and the beginning of June; it is therefore supplied with heat from a +subterraneous source, being nearly twenty degrees above the mean +temperature of the atmosphere. Kircher has detailed in his "Mundus +Subterraneus" various wonders respecting this lake, most of which are +unfounded, such as that it is unfathomable, that it has at the bottom the +heat of boiling water, and that floating islands rise from the gulf which +emits it. It must certainly be very difficult, or even impossible, to +fathom a source which rises with so much violence from a subterraneous +excavation, and, at a time when chemistry had made small progress, it was +easy to mistake the disengagement of carbonic acid for an actual +ebullition. The floating islands are real, but neither the Jesuit nor +any of the writers who have since described this lake had a correct idea +of their origin, which is exceedingly curious. The high temperature of +this water, and the quantity of carbonic acid that it contains, render it +peculiarly fitted to afford a pabulum or nourishment to vegetable life. +The banks of travertine are everywhere covered with reeds, lichens, +confervae, and various kinds of aquatic vegetables, and, at the same time +that the process of vegetable life is going on, the crystallisations of +the calcareous matter, which is everywhere deposited in consequence of +the escape of carbonic acid, likewise proceed, giving a constant +milkiness to what, from its tint, would otherwise be a blue fluid. So +rapid is the vegetation, owing to the decomposition of the carbonic acid, +that, even in winter, masses of confervae and lichens, mixed with +deposited travertine, are constantly detached by the currents of water +from the bank and float down the stream, which being a considerable river +is never without many of these small islands on its surface; they are +sometimes only a few inches in size, and composed merely of dark-green +confervae or purple or yellow lichens, but they are sometimes even of +some feet in diameter, and contain seeds and various species of common +water-plants, which are usually more or less encrusted with marble. There +is, I believe, no place in the world where there is a more striking +example of the opposition or contrast of the laws of animate and +inanimate Nature, of the forces of inorganic chemical affinity and those +of the powers of life. Vegetables in such a temperature, and everywhere +surrounded by food, are produced with a wonderful rapidity, but the +crystallisations are formed with equal quickness, and they are no sooner +produced than they are destroyed together. Notwithstanding the +sulphureous exhalations from the lake, the quantity of vegetable matter +generated there and its heat make it the resort of an infinite variety of +insect tribes, and even in the coldest days in winter numbers of flies +may be observed on the vegetables surrounding its banks or on its +floating island's, and a quantity of their larvae may be seen there +sometimes encrusted and entirely destroyed by calcareous matter, which is +likewise often the fate of the insects themselves, as well as of various +species of shell-fish that are found amongst the vegetables, which grow +and are destroyed in the travertine on its banks. Snipes, ducks, and +various water-birds, often visit those lakes, probably attracted by the +temperature and the quantity of food in which they abound; but they +usually confine themselves to the banks, as the carbonic acid disengaged +from the surface would be fatal to them if they ventured to swim upon it +when tranquil. In May, 18--, I fixed a stick on a mass of travertine +covered by the water, and I examined it in the beginning of the April +following for the purpose of determining the nature of the depositions. +The water was lower at this time, yet I had some difficulty, by means of +a sharp-pointed hammer, in breaking the mass which adhered to the bottom +of the stick; it was several inches in thickness. The upper part was a +mixture of light tufa and the leaves of confervae; below this was a +darker and more solid travertine, containing black and decomposed masses +of confervae; in the inferior part the travertine was more solid and of a +grey colour, but with cavities which I have no doubt were produced by the +decomposition of vegetable matter. I have passed many hours, I may say +many days, in studying the phenomena of this wonderful lake; it has +brought many trains of thought into my mind connected with the early +changes of our globe, and I have sometimes reasoned from the forms of +plants and animals preserved in marble in this warm source to the grander +depositions in the secondary rocks, where the zoophytes or coral insects +have worked upon a grand scale, and where palms, and vegetables now +unknown are preserved with the remains of crocodiles, turtles, and +gigantic extinct animals of the _sauri genus_, and which appear to have +belonged to a period when the whole globe possessed a much higher +temperature. I have, likewise, often been led, from the remarkable +phenomena surrounding me in that spot, to compare the works of man with +those of Nature. The baths, erected there nearly twenty centuries ago, +present only heaps of ruins, and even the bricks of which they were +built, though hardened by fire, are crumbled into dust, whilst the masses +of travertine around it, though formed by a variable source from the most +perishable materials, have hardened by time, and the most perfect remains +of the greatest ruins in the eternal city, such as the triumphal arches +and the Colosaeum, owe their duration to this source. Then, from all we +know, this lake, except in some change in its dimensions, continues +nearly in the same state in which it was described 1,700 years ago by +Pliny, and I have no doubt contains the same kinds of floating islands, +the same plants, and the same insects. During the fifteen years that I +have known it it has appeared precisely identical in these respects, and +yet it has the character of an accidental phenomenon depending upon +subterraneous fire. How marvellous then are those laws by which even the +humblest types of organic existence are preserved though born amidst the +sources of their destruction, and by which a species of immortality is +given to generations floating, as it were, like evanescent bubbles, on a +stream raised from the deepest caverns of the earth, and instantly losing +what may be called its spirit in the atmosphere." These last +observations of the stranger recalled to my recollection some phenomena +which I had observed many years ago, and of which I could then give no +satisfactory explanation. I was shooting in the marshes which surround +the ruins of Gabia, and where there are still remains supposed to be of +the Alexandrine aqueduct; I observed a small insulated hill, apparently +entirely composed of travertine, and from its summit there were +formations of tufa which had evidently been produced by running water, +but the whole mass was now perfectly dry and encrusted by vegetables. At +first I suspected that this little mountain had been formed by a jet of +calcareous water, a kind of small fountain analogous to the Geiser, which +had deposited travertine and continued to rise through the basin flowing +from a higher level; but the irregular form of the eminence did not +correspond to this idea, and I remained perplexed with the fact and +unable to satisfy myself as to its cause. The views of the stranger +appeared to me now to make it probable that the calcareous water had +issued from ancient leaks in the aqueduct and formed a hillock that had +encased the bricks of the erection, which in other parts, where not +encrusted by travertine, had become entirely decayed, degraded, and +removed from the soil. I mentioned the circumstance and my suspicion of +its nature. The stranger said: "You are perfectly correct in your idea. +I know the spot well, and if you had not mentioned it I should probably +have quoted it as an instance in which the works of art are preserved, as +it were, by the accidents of Nature. I was so struck by this appearance +last year that I had the travertine partially removed by some workmen, +and I found beneath it the canal of the aqueduct in a perfect state, and +the bricks of the arches as uninjured as if freshly laid." The stranger +had hardly concluded this sentence when he was interrupted by Onuphrio, +who said, "I have always supposed that in every geological system water +is considered as the cause of the destruction or degradation of the +surface, but in all the instances that you have mentioned it appears +rather as a conservative power, not destroying but rather producing." "It +is the general vice of philosophical systems," replied the stranger, +"that they are usually founded upon a few facts, which they well explain, +and are extended by the human fancy to all the phenomena of Nature, to +many of which they must be contradictory. The human intellectual powers +are so feeble that they can with difficulty embrace a single series of +phenomena, and they consequently must fail when extended to the whole of +Nature. Water by its common operation, as poured down from the +atmosphere in rain and torrents, tends to level and degrade the surface, +and carries the material of the land into the bosom of the ocean. Fire, +on the contrary, in volcanic eruptions usually raises mountains, exalts +the surface, and creates islands even in the midst of the sea. But these +laws are not invariable, as the instances to which we have just referred +prove, and parts of the surface of the globe are sometimes destroyed even +by fire, of which examples may be seen in the Phlegraean fields, and +islands raised by one volcanic eruption have been immerged in the sea by +another. There are, in fact, no accidents in Nature; what we call +accidents are the results of general laws in particular operation, but we +cannot deduce these laws from the particular operation or the general +order from the partial result." Ambrosio said to the stranger: "You +appear, sir, to have paid so much attention to physical phenomena that +few things would give us more pleasure than to know your opinion +respecting the early changes and physical history of the globe, for I +perceive you do not belong to the modern geological schools." The +stranger said, "I have certainly formed opinions or rather speculations +on these subjects, but I fear they are hardly worth communicating; they +have sometimes amused me in hours of idleness, but I doubt if they will +amuse others." I said, "The observations which you have already been so +kind as to communicate to us, on the formation of the travertine, lead us +not only to expect amusement but likewise instruction." + +_The Stranger_.--On these matters I had facts to communicate; on the +geological scheme of the early history of the globe there are only +analogies to guide us, which different minds may apply and interpret in +different ways; but I will not trifle with a long preliminary discourse. +Astronomical deductions and actual measures by triangulation prove that +the globe is an oblate spheroid flattened at the poles, and this form we +know, by strict mathematical demonstrations, is precisely the one which a +fluid body revolving round its axis, and become solid at its surface by +the slow dissipation of its heat or other causes, would assume. I +suppose, therefore, that the globe, in the first state in which the +imagination can venture to consider it, was a fluid mass with an immense +atmosphere revolving in space round the sun, and that by its cooling a +portion of its atmosphere was condensed in water which occupied a part of +the surface. In this state no forms of life such as now belong to our +system could have inhabited it; and, I suppose, the crystalline rocks +(or, as they are called by geologists, the primary rocks), which contain +no vestiges of a former order of things, were the results of the first +consolidation on its surface. Upon the further cooling the water which +more or less had covered it contracted, depositions took place, shell- +fish and coral insects of the first creation began their labours, and +islands appeared in the midst of the ocean raised from the deep by the +productive energies of millions of zoophytes. Those islands became +covered with vegetables fitted to bear a high temperature, such as palms +and various species of plants similar to those which now exist in the +hottest parts of the world; and the submarine rocks or shores of these +new formations of land became covered with aquatic vegetables, on which +various species of shell-fish and common fishes found their nourishment. +The fluids of the globe in cooling deposited a large quantity of the +materials they held in solution, and these deposits agglutinating +together the sand, the immense masses of coral rocks, and some of the +remains of the shells and fishes found round the shores of the primitive +lands, produced the first order of secondary rocks. As the temperature +of the globe became lower, species of the oviparous reptiles were created +to inhabit it; and the turtle, crocodile, and various gigantic animals of +the sauri kind, seem to have haunted the bays and waters of the primitive +lands. But in this state of things there was no order of events similar +to the present; the crust of the globe was exceedingly slender, and the +source of fire a small distance from the surface. In consequence of +contraction in one part of the mass, cavities were opened, which caused +the entrance of water, and immense volcanic explosions took place, +raising one part of the surface, depressing another, producing mountains, +and causing new and extensive depositions from the primitive ocean. +Changes of this kind must have been extremely frequent in the early +epochas of nature, and the only living forms of which the remains are +found in the strata that are the monuments of these changes, are those of +plants, fishes, birds, and oviparous reptiles, which seem most fitted to +exist in such a war of the elements. When these revolutions became less +frequent, and the globe became still more cooled, and the inequalities of +its temperature preserved by the mountain chains, more perfect animals +became its inhabitants, many of which, such as the mammoth, megalonix, +megatherium, and gigantic hyena, are now extinct. At this period the +temperature of the ocean seems to have been not much higher than it is at +present, and the changes produced by occasional eruptions of it have left +no consolidated rocks. Yet one of these eruptions appears to have been +of great extent and some duration, and seems to have been the cause of +those immense quantities of water-worn stones, gravel and sand, which are +usually called diluvian remains; and it is probable that this effect was +connected with the elevation of a new continent in the southern +hemisphere by volcanic fire. When the system of things became so +permanent that the tremendous revolutions depending upon the destruction +of the equilibrium between the heating and cooling agencies were no +longer to be dreaded, the creation of man took place; and since that +period there has been little alteration in the physical circumstances of +our globe. Volcanoes sometimes occasion the rise of new islands, +portions of the old continent are constantly washed by rivers into the +sea; but these changes are too insignificant to affect the destinies of +man, or the nature of the physical circumstances of things. On the +hypothesis that I have adopted, however, it must be remembered that the +present surface of the globe is merely a thin crust surrounding a nucleus +of fluid ignited matter, and consequently we can hardly be considered as +actually safe from the danger of a catastrophe by fire. + +Onuphrio said: "From the view you have taken, I conclude that you +consider volcanic eruptions as owing to the central fire; indeed, their +existence offers, I think, an argument for believing that the interior of +the globe is fluid." The stranger answered: "I beg you to consider the +views I have been developing as merely hypothetical, one of the many +resting places that may be taken by the imagination in considering this +subject. There are, however, distinct facts in favour of the idea that +the interior of the globe has a higher temperature than the surface; the +heat increasing in mines the deeper we penetrate, and the number of warm +sources which rise from great depths in almost all countries, are +certainly favourable to the idea. The opinion that volcanoes are owing +to this general and simple cause is, I think, likewise more agreeable to +the analogies of things than to suppose them dependent upon partial +chemical changes, such as the action of air and water upon the +combustible bases of the earths and alkalies, though it is extremely +probable that these substances may exist beneath the surface, and may +occasion some results of volcanic fire; and on this subject my notion +may, perhaps, be more trusted, as for a long while I thought volcanic +eruptions were owing to chemical agencies of the newly discovered metals +of the earths and alkalies, and I made many, and some dangerous, +experiments in the hope of confirming this notion, but in vain." + +_Amb_.--We are very much obliged to you for your geological +illustrations; but they remind me a little of some of the ideas of our +friend Philalethes in his remarkable vision, and with which we may at +some time amuse you in return for your geology should we be honoured with +more of your company. You are obliged to have recourse to creations for +all the living beings in your philosophical romance. I do not see why +you should not suppose creations or arrangements of dead matter by the +same laws of infinite wisdom, and why our globe should not rise at once a +divine work fitted for all the objects of living and intelligent natures. + +The stranger replied: "I have merely attempted a philosophical history +founded upon the facts known respecting rocks and strata and the remains +they contain. I begin with what may be considered a creation, a fluid +globe supplied with an immense atmosphere, and the series of phenomena +which I imagine consequent to the creation, I supposed produced by powers +impressed upon matter by Omnipotence." + +Ambrosio said: "There is this verisimility in your history, that it is +not contradictory to the little we are informed by Revelation as to the +origin of the globe, the order produced in the chaotic state, and the +succession of living forms generated in the days of creation, which may +be what philosophers call the 'epochas of nature,' for a day with +Omnipotence is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day." + +"I must object," Onuphrio said, "to your interpretation of the scientific +view of our new acquaintance, and to your disposition to blend them with +the cosmogony of Moses. Allowing the divine origin of the Book of +Genesis, you must admit that it was not intended to teach the Jews +systems of philosophy, but the laws of life and morals; and a great man +and an exalted Christian raised his voice two centuries ago against this +mode of applying and of often wresting the sense of the Scriptures to +make them conformable to human fancies; 'from which,' says Lord Bacon, +'arise not only false and fantastical philosophies, but likewise +heretical religions.' If the Scriptures are to be literally interpreted +and systems of science found in them, Gallileo Gallilei merited his +persecution, and we ought still to believe that the sun turns round the +earth." + +_Amb_.--You mistake my view, Onuphrio, if you imagine I am desirous of +raising a system of geology on the Book of Genesis. It cannot be doubted +that the first man was created with a great variety of instinctive or +inspired knowledge, which must have been likewise enjoyed by his +descendants; and some of this knowledge could hardly fail to have related +to the globe which he inhabited, and to the objects which surrounded him. +It would have been impossible for the human mind to have embraced the +mysteries of creation, or to have followed the history of the moving +atoms from their chaotic disorder into their arrangement in the visible +universe, to have seen dead matter assuming the forms of life and +animation, and light and power arising out of death and sleep. The ideas +therefore transmitted to or presented by Moses respecting the origin of +the world and of man were of the most simple kind, and such as suited the +early state of society; but, though general and simple truths, they were +divine truths, yet clothed in a language and suited to the ideas of a +rude and uninstructed people. And, when I state my satisfaction in +finding that they are not contradicted by the refined researches of +modern geologists, I do not mean to deduce from them a system of science. +I believe that light was the creation of an act of the Divine will; but I +do not mean to say that the words, "Let there be light, and there was +light," were orally spoken by the Deity, nor do I mean to imply that the +modern discoveries respecting light are at all connected with this +sublime and magnificent passage. + +_Onu_.--Having resided for a long time in Edinburgh, and having heard a +number of discussions on the theory of Dr. Hutton, or the plutonic theory +of geology, and having been exceedingly struck both by its simplicity and +beauty, its harmony with existing facts, and the proofs afforded to it by +some beautiful chemical experiments, I do not feel disposed immediately +to renounce it for the views which I have just heard explained; for the +principal facts which our new acquaintance has stated are, I think, not +inconsistent with the refined philosophical systems of Professor Playfair +and Sir James Hall. + +_The Unknown_.--I have no objection to the refined plutonic view, as +capable of explaining many existing phenomena; indeed, you must be aware +that I have myself had recourse to it. What I contend against is, its +application to explain the formations of the secondary rocks, which I +think clearly belong to an order of facts not at all embraced by it. In +the plutonic system there is one simple and constant order assumed, which +may be supposed eternal. The surface is constantly imagined to be +disintegrated, destroyed, degraded, and washed into the bosom of the +ocean by water, and as constantly consolidated, elevated, and regenerated +by fire, and the ruins of the old form the foundations of the new world. +It is supposed that there are always the same types, both of dead and +living matter; that the remains of rocks, of vegetables, and animals of +one age are found embedded in rocks raised from the bottom of the ocean +in another. Now, to support this view, not only the remains of living +beings which at present people the globe might be expected to be found in +the oldest secondary strata, but even those of the arts of man, the most +powerful and populous of its inhabitants, which is well known not to be +the case. On the contrary, each stratum of the secondary rocks contains +remains of peculiar and mostly now unknown species of vegetables and +animals. In those strata which are deepest, and which must consequently +be supposed to be the earliest deposited, forms even of vegetable life +are rare; shells and vegetable remains are found in the next order; the +bones of fishes and oviparous reptiles exist in the following class; the +remains of birds, with those of the same genera mentioned before, in the +next order; those of quadrupeds of extinct species, in a still more +recent class; and it is only in the loose and slightly consolidated +strata of gravel and sand, and which are usually called diluvian +formations, that the remains of animals such as now people the globe are +found, with others belonging to extinct species. But in none of these +formations, whether called secondary, tertiary, or diluvial, have the +remains of man or any of his works been discovered. It is, I think, +impossible to consider the organic remains found in any of the earlier +secondary strata, the lias-limestone and its congenerous formations for +instance, without being convinced that the beings, whose organs they +formed, belonged to an order of things entirely different from the +present. Gigantic vegetables, more nearly allied to the palms of the +equatorial countries than to any other plants, can only be imagined to +have lived in a very high temperature; and the immense reptiles, the +megalosauri with paddles instead of legs and clothed in mail, in size +equal or even superior to the whale; and the great amphibia, +plethiosauri, with bodies like turtles, but furnished with necks longer +than their bodies, probably to enable them to feed on vegetables growing +in the shallows of the primitive ocean, seem to show a state in which low +lands or extensive shores rose above an immense calm sea, and when there +were no great mountain, chains to produce inequalities of temperature, +tempests, or storms. Were the surface of the earth now to be carried +down into the depths of the ocean, or were some great revolution of the +waters to cover the existing land, and it was again to be elevated by +fire, covered with consolidated depositions of sand or mud, how entirely +different would it be in its characters from any of the secondary strata. +Its great features would undoubtedly be the works of man--hewn stones, +and statues of bronze and marble, and tools of iron--and human remains +would be more common than those of animals on the greatest part of the +surface; the columns of Paestum or of Agrigentum, or the immense iron and +granite bridges of the Thames, would offer a striking contrast to the +bones of the crocodiles or sauri in the older rocks, or even to those of +the mammoth or elephas primogenius in the diluvial strata. And whoever +dwells upon this subject must be convinced that the present order of +things, and the comparatively recent existence of man as the master of +the globe, is as certain as the destruction of a former and a different +order and the extinction of a number of living forms which have now no +types in being, and which have left their remains wonderful monuments of +the revolutions of Nature. + +_Onu_.--I am not quite convinced by your arguments. Supposing the lands +of New Holland were to be washed into the depths of the ocean, and to be +raised according to the Huttonian view, as a secondary stratum, by +subterraneous fire, they would contain the remains of both vegetables and +animals entirely different from any found in the strata of the old +continents; and may not those peculiar formations to which you have +referred be, as it were, accidents of Nature belonging to peculiar parts +of the globe? And you speak of a diluvian formation, which I conclude +you would identify with that belonging to the catastrophe described in +the sacred writings, in which no human remains are found. Now, you +surely will not deny that man existed at the time of this catastrophe, +and he consequently may have existed at the period of the other +revolutions, which are supposed to be produced in the Huttonian views by +subterraneous fire. + +_The Unknown_.--I have made use of the term "diluvian," because it has +been adopted by geologists, but without meaning to identify the cause of +the formations with the deluge described in the sacred writings. I apply +the term merely to signify loose and water-worn strata not at all +consolidated, and deposited by an inundation of water, and in these +countries which they have covered man certainly did not exist. With +respect to your argument derived from New Holland, it appears to me to be +without weight. In a variety of climates, and in very distant parts of +the globe, secondary strata of the same order are found, and they contain +always the same kind of organic remains, which are entirely different +from any of those now afforded by beings belonging to the existing order +of things. The catastrophes which produced the secondary strata and +diluvian depositions could not have been local and partial phenomena, but +must have extended over the whole, or a great part of the surface, of the +globe. The remains of similar shell-fishes are found in the limestones +of the old and new continents; the teeth of the mammoth are not uncommon +in various parts of Europe; entire skeletons have been found in America, +and even the skin covered with hair and the entire body of one of these +enormous extinct animals has been discovered in Siberia preserved in a +mass of ice. In the oldest secondary strata there are no remains of such +animals as now belong to the surface; and in the rocks which may be +regarded as more recently deposited, these remains occur but rarely, and +with abundance of extinct species. There seems, as it were, a gradual +approach to the present system of things, and a succession of +destructions and creations preparatory to the existence of man. It will +be useless to push these arguments farther. You must allow that it is +impossible to defend the proposition, that the present order of things is +the ancient and constant order of Nature, only modified by existing laws, +and, consequently, the view which you have supported must be abandoned. +The monuments of extinct generations of animals are as perfect as those +of extinct nations; and it would be more reasonable to suppose that the +pillars and temples of Palmyra were raised by the wandering Arabs of the +desert, than to imagine that the vestiges of peculiar animated forms in +the strata beneath the surface belonged to the early and infant families +of the beings that at present inhabit it. + +_Onu_.--I am convinced. I shall push my arguments no further, for I will +not support the sophisms of that school which supposes that living nature +has undergone gradual changes by the effects of its irritabilities and +appetencies; that the fish has in millions of generations ripened into +the quadruped, and the quadruped into the man; and that the system of +life by its own inherent powers has fitted itself to the physical changes +in the system of the universe. To this absurd, vague, atheistical +doctrine, I prefer even the dream of plastic powers, or that other more +modern dream, that the secondary strata were created, filled with +remains, as it were, of animal life, to confound the speculations of our +geological reasoners. + +_The Unknown_.--I am glad you have not retreated into the desert and +defenceless wilderness of scepticism, or of false and feeble philosophy. +I should not have thought it worth my while to have followed you there; I +should as soon think of arguing with the peasant who informs me that the +basaltic columns of Antrim or of Staffa were the works of human art and +raised by the giant Finmacoul. + +At this moment, one of our servants came to inform me that a dinner which +had been preparing for us at the farmhouse was ready; we asked the +stranger to do us the honour to partake of our repast; he assented, and +the following conversation took place at table. + +_Phil_.--In reflecting upon our discussions this morning, I cannot help +being a little surprised at their nature; we have been talking only of +geological systems, when a more natural subject for our conversation +would have been these magnificent temples, and an inquiry into the race +by whom they were raised and the gods to whom they wore dedicated. We +are now treading on a spot which contains the bones of a highly civilised +and powerful people; yet we are almost ignorant of the names they bore, +and the period of their greatness is lost in the obscurity of time. + +_Amb_.--There can be no doubt that the early inhabitants of this city +were Grecians and a maritime and commercial people; they have been +supposed to belong to the Sybarite race, and the roses producing flowers +twice a year in the spring and autumn in ancient times here, might +sanction the idea that this balmy spot was chosen by a colony who carried +luxury and refinement to the highest pitch. + +_Onu_.--To attempt to form any opinion with respect to the people that +anciently inhabited these now deserted plains is useless and a vain +labour. In the geological conversation which took place before dinner, +some series of interesting facts were presented to us; and the monuments +of Nature, though they do not speak a distinct language, yet speak an +intelligible one; but with respect to Paestum, there is neither history +nor tradition to guide us; and we shall do wisely to resume our +philosophical inquiries, if we have not already exhausted the patience of +our new guest by doubts or objections to his views. + +_The Stranger_.--One of you referred in our conversation this morning to +a vision, which had some relation to the subject of our discussion, and I +was promised some information on this matter. + +I immediately gave a sketch of my vision, and of the opinions which had +been expressed by Ambrosio on the early history of man, and the +termination of our discussions on religion. + +_The Stranger_.--I agree with Ambrosio in opinion on the subjects you +have just mentioned. In my youth, I was a sceptic; and this I believe is +usually the case with young persons given to general and discursive +reading, and accustomed to adopt something like a mathematical form in +their reasonings; and it was in considering the nature of the +intellectual faculties of brutes, as compared with those of man, and in +examining the nature of instinctive powers, that I became a believer. +After I had formed the idea that Revelation was to man in the place of an +instinct, my faith constantly became stronger; and it was exalted by many +circumstances I had occasion to witness in a journey that I made through +Egypt and a part of Asia Minor, and by no one more than by a very +remarkable dream which occurred to me in Palestine, and which, as we are +now almost at the hour of the siesta, I will relate to you, though +perhaps you will be asleep before I have finished it. I was walking +along that deserted shore which contains the ruins of Ptolemais, one of +the most ancient ports of Judaea. It was evening; the sun was sinking in +the sea; I seated myself on a rock, lost in melancholy contemplations on +the destinies of a spot once so famous in the history of man. The calm +Mediterranean, bright in the glowing light of the west, was the only +object before me. "These waves," I said to myself, "once bore the ships +of the monarch of Jerusalem which were freighted with the riches of the +East to adorn and honour the sanctuary of Jehovah; here are now no +remains of greatness or of commerce; a few red stones and broken bricks +only mark what might have been once a flourishing port, and the citadel +above, raised by the Saracens, is filled with Turkish soldiers." The +janissary, who was my guide, and my servant, were preparing some food for +me in a tent which had been raised for the purpose, and whilst waiting +for their summons to my repast, I continued my reveries, which must +gradually have ended in slumber. I saw a man approaching towards me, +whom, at first, I took for my janissary, but as he came nearer I found a +very different figure. He was a very old man with a beard as white as +snow; his countenance was dark but paler than that of an Arab, and his +features stern, wild, and with a peculiar savage expression; his form was +gigantic, but his arms were withered and there was a large scar on the +left side of his face which seemed to have deprived him of an eye. He +wore a black turban and black flowing robes, and there was a large chain +round his waist which clanked as he moved. It occurred to me that he was +one of the santons or sacred madmen so common in the East, and I retired +as he approached towards me. He called out: "Fly not, stranger; fear me +not, I will not harm you. You shall hear my story, it may be useful to +you." He spoke in Arabic but in a peculiar dialect and to me new, yet I +understood every word. "You see before you," he said, "a man who was +educated a Christian, but who renounced the worship of the one supreme +God for the superstitions of the pagans. I became an apostate in the +reign of the Emperor Julian, and I was employed by that Sovereign to +superintend the re-erection of the temple of Jerusalem, by which it was +intended to belie the prophecies and give the deathblow to the holy +religion. History has informed you of the result: my assistants were +most of them destroyed in a tremendous storm, I was blasted by lightning +from heaven (he raised his withered hand to his face and eye), but +suffered to live and expiate my crime in the flesh. My life has been +spent in constant and severe penance, and in that suffering of the spirit +produced by guilt, and is to be continued as long as any part of the +temple of Jupiter, in which I renounced my faith, remains in this place. +I have lived through fifteen tedious centuries, but I trust in the +mercies of Omnipotence, and I hope my atonement is completed. I now +stand in the dust of the pagan temple. You have just thrown the last +fragment of it over the rock. My time is arrived, I come!" As he spake +the last words, he rushed towards the sea, threw himself from the rock +and disappeared. I heard no struggling, and saw nothing but a gleam of +light from the wave that closed above him. I was now roused by the cries +of my servant and of the janissary, who were shaking my arm, and who +informed me that my sleep was so sound that they were alarmed for me. +When I looked on the sea, there was the same light, and I seemed to see +the very spot in the wave where the old man had sunk. I was so struck by +the vision, that I asked if they had not seen something dash into the +wave, and if they had not heard somebody speaking to me as they arrived. +Of course their answers were negative. In passing through Jerusalem and +in coasting the Dead Sea I had been exceedingly struck by the present +state of Judaea and the conformity of the fate of the Jewish nation to +the predictions of our Saviour; I had likewise been reading Gibbon's +eulogy of Julian, and his account of the attempts made by that Emperor to +rebuild the temple: so that the dream at such a time and in such a place +was not an unnatural occurrence. Yet it was so vivid, and the image of +the subject of it so peculiar, that it long affected my imagination, and +whenever I recurred to it, strengthened my faith. + +_Onu_.--I believe all the narratives of apparitions and ghost stories are +founded upon dreams of the same kind as that which occurred to you: an +ideal representation of events in the local situation, in which the +person is at the moment, and when the imaginary picture of the place in +sleep exactly coincides with its reality in waking. + +_The Stranger_.--I agree with you in your opinion. If my servant had not +been with me, and my dream had been a little less improbable, it would +have been difficult to have persuaded me that I had not been visited by +an apparition. + +I mentioned the dream of Brutus, and said, "His supposed evil genius +appeared in his tent; had the philosophical hero dreamt that his genius +had appeared to him in Rome, there could have been no delusion." I cited +the similar vision, recorded of Dion before his death, by Plutarch, of a +gigantic female, one of the fates or furies, who was supposed to have +been seen by him when reposing in the portico of his palace. I referred +likewise to my own vision of the beautiful female, the guardian angel of +my recovery, who always seemed to me to be present at my bedside. + +_Amb_.--In confirmation of this opinion of Onuphrio, I can mention many +instances. I once dreamt that my door had been forced, that there were +robbers in my room, and that one of them was actually putting his hand +before my mouth to ascertain if I was sleeping naturally. I awoke at +this moment, and was some minutes before I could be sure whether it was a +dream or a reality. I felt the pressure of the bedclothes on my lips, +and still in the fear of being murdered continued to keep my eyes closed +and to breathe slowly, till, hearing nothing and finding no motion, I +ventured to open my eyes; but even then, when I saw nothing, I was not +sure that my impression was a dream till I had risen from my bed and +ascertained that the door was still locked. + +_Onu_.--I am the only one of the party unable to record any dreams of the +vivid and peculiar nature you mention from my own experience; I conclude +it is owing to the dulness of my imagination. I suppose the more intense +power of reverie is a symptom of the poetical temperament; and perhaps, +if I possessed more enthusiasm, I should always have possessed more of +the religious instinct. To adopt the idea of Philalethes of hereditary +character, I fear my forefathers have not been correct in their faith. + +_Amb_.--Your glory will be greater in establishing a new character, and I +trust even the conversation of this day has given you an additional +reason to adopt _our_ faith. + +Ambrosio spoke these words with an earnestness unusual in him, and with +something of a tone which marked a zeal for proselytism, and at the same +time he cast his eyes on the rosary which was suspended round the neck of +the stranger, and said, "I hope I am not indiscreet in saying _our_ +faith." + +_The Stranger_.--I was educated in the ritual of the church of England; I +belong to the Church of Christ; the rosary which you see suspended round +my neck is a memorial of sympathy and respect for an illustrious man. I +will, if you will allow me, give you the history of it, which, I think +from the circumstances with which it is connected, you will not find +devoid of interest. I was passing through France in the reign of +Napoleon, by the peculiar privilege granted to a scavan, on my road into +Italy. I had just returned from the Holy Land, and had in my possession +two or three of the rosaries which are sold to pilgrims at Jerusalem as +having been suspended in the Holy Sepulchre. Pius VII. was then in +imprisonment at Fontainebleau. By a special favour, on the plea of my +return from the Holy Land, I obtained permission to see this venerable +and illustrious Pontiff. I carried with me one of my rosaries. He +received me with great kindness. I tendered my services to execute any +commissions, not political ones, he might think fit to entrust me with in +Italy, informing him that I was an Englishman. He expressed his thanks, +but declined troubling me. I told him I was just returned from the Holy +Land, and bowing with great humility, offered to him my rosary from the +Holy Sepulchre. He received it with a smile, touched it with his lips, +gave his benediction over it, and returned it into my hands, supposing, +of course, that I was a Roman Catholic. I had meant to present it to his +Holiness, but the blessing he had bestowed upon it and the touch of his +lips, made it a precious relic to me and I restored it to my neck, round +which it has ever since been suspended. He asked me some unimportant +questions respecting the state of the Christians at Jerusalem; and on a +sudden, turned the subject, much to my surprise, to the destruction of +the French in Russia, and in an exceedingly low tone of voice, as if +afraid of being overheard, he said, "The _nefas_ has long been triumphant +over the _fas_, but I do not doubt that the balance of things is even now +restoring; that God will vindicate his Church, clear his polluted altars, +and establish society upon its permanent basis of justice and faith. We +shall meet again. Adieu!" and he gave me his paternal blessing. It was +eighteen months after this interview, that I went out with almost the +whole population of Rome, to receive and welcome the triumphal entry of +this illustrious father of the Church into his capital. He was borne on +the shoulders of the most distinguished artists, headed by Canova; and +never shall I forget the enthusiasm with which he was received--it is +impossible to describe the shouts of triumph and of rapture sent up to +heaven by every voice. And when he gave his benediction to the people, +there was an universal prostration, a sobbing and marks of emotions of +joy almost like the bursting of the heart. I heard, everywhere around +me, cries of "The holy Father! The most holy Father! His restoration is +the work of God!" I saw tears streaming from the eyes of almost all the +women about me, many of them were sobbing hysterically, and old men were +weeping as if they had been children. I pressed my rosary to my breast +on this occasion, and repeatedly touched with my lips that part of it +which had received the kiss of the most venerable Pontiff. I preserve it +with a kind of hallowed feeling, as the memorial of a man whose sanctity, +firmness, meekness and benevolence are an honour to his Church and to +human nature; and it has not only been useful to me, by its influence +upon my own mind, but it has enabled me to give pleasure to others, and +has, I believe, been sometimes beneficial in insuring my personal safety. +I have often gratified the peasants of Apulia and Calabria by presenting +them to kiss a rosary from the Holy Sepulchre which had been hallowed by +the touch of the lips and benediction of the Pope; and it has been even +respected by and procured me a safe passage through a party of brigands +who once stopped me in the passes of the Apennines. + +_Onu_.--The use you have made of this relic puts me in mind of a device +of a very ingenious geological philosopher now living. He was on Etna +and busily employed in making a collection of the lavas formed from the +igneous currents of that mountain; the peasants were often troublesome to +him, suspecting that he was searching for treasures. It occurred to him +to make the following speech to them: "I have been a great sinner in my +youth and, as a penance, I have made a vow to carry away with me pieces +of every kind of stone found upon the mountain; permit me quietly to +perform my pious duty, that I may receive absolution for my sins." The +speech produced the desired effect; the peasants shouted, "The holy man! +The saint!" and gave him every assistance in their power to enable him to +carry off his burthen, and he made his ample collections with the utmost +security and in the most agreeable manner. + +_The Stranger_.--I do not approve of pious frauds even for philosophical +purposes; my rosary excited in others the same kind of feeling which it +excited in my own bosom, and which I hold to be perfectly justifiable, +and of which I shall never be ashamed. + +_Amb_.--You must have travelled in Italy in very dangerous times; have +you always been secure? + +_The Stranger_.--Always; I have owed my security, partly, as I have said, +to my rosary, but more to my dress and my acquaintance with the dialect +of the natives. I have always carried with me a peasant as a guide, who +has been intrusted with the small sums of money I wanted for my immediate +purposes, and my baggage has been little more than a Cynic philosopher +would have carried with him; and when I have been unable to walk, I have +trusted myself to the conduct of a vetturino, a native of the province, +with his single mule and caratella. + +The sun was now setting and the temple of Neptune was glowing with its +last purple rays. We were informed that our horses were waiting, and +that it was time for us to depart to our lodgings at Eboli. I asked the +stranger to be our companion and to do us the honour to accept of a seat +in our carriage. He declined the invitation, and said: "My bed is +prepared in the casina here for this night, and to-morrow I proceed on a +journey connected with scientific objects in the parts of Calabria the +scene of the terrible earthquakes of 1783." I held out my hand to him in +parting; he gave it a strong and warm pressure, and said, "Adieu! we +shall meet again." + + + + +DIALOGUE THE FOURTH. THE PROTEUS, OR IMMORTALITY. + + +The impression made upon my mind by the stranger with whom we became +acquainted at Paestum was of the strongest and most extraordinary kind. +The memory of his person, his dress, his manners, the accents of his +voice, and the tone of his philosophy, for a long while haunted my +imagination in a most unaccountable manner, and even formed a part of my +dreams. It often occurred to me that this was not the first time that I +had seen him; and I endeavoured, but in vain, to find some type or image +of him in former scenes of my life. I continually made inquiries +respecting him amongst my acquaintance, but I could never be sure that +any of them knew him, or even had seen him. So great were his +peculiarities, that he must have escaped observation altogether; for, had +he entered the world at all, he must have made some noise in it. I +expressed so much interest on this subject, that at last it became a +source of ridicule amongst my acquaintance, who often asked me if I had +not yet obtained news of my spirit-friend or ghost-seer. + +After my return from Naples to Rome, I was almost immediately recalled to +England by a melancholy event--the death of a very near and dear +relation--and I left my two friends, Ambrosio and Onuphrio, to pursue +their travels, which were intended to be of some extent and duration. + +In my youth, and through the prime of manhood, I never entered London +without feelings of pleasure and hope. It was to me as the grand theatre +of intellectual activity, the field of every species of enterprise and +exertion, the metropolis of the world of business, thought, and action. +There I was sure to find the friends and companions of my youth, to hear +the voice of encouragement and praise. There, society of the most +refined kind offered daily its banquets to the mind with such variety +that satiety had no place in them, and new objects of interest and +ambition were constantly exciting attention either in politics, +literature, or science. + +I now entered this great city in a very different tone of mind--one of +settled melancholy; not merely produced by the mournful event which +recalled me to my country, but owing, likewise, to an entire change in +the condition of my physical, moral, and intellectual being. My health +was gone, my ambition was satisfied, I was no longer excited by the +desire of distinction; what I regarded most tenderly was in the grave, +and, to take a metaphor derived from the change produced by time in the +juice of the grape, my cup of life was no longer sparkling, sweet, and +effervescent;--it had lost its sweetness without losing its power, and it +had become bitter. + +After passing a few months in England and enjoying (as much as I could +enjoy anything) the society of the few friends who still remained alive, +the desire of travel again seized me. I had preserved amidst the wreck +of time one feeling strong and unbroken: the love of natural scenery; and +this, in advanced life, formed a principal motive for my plans of conduct +and action. Of all the climates of Europe, England seems to me most +fitted for the activity of the mind, and the least suited to repose. The +alterations of a climate so various and rapid continually awake new +sensations; and the changes in the sky from dryness to moisture, from the +blue ethereal to cloudiness and fogs, seem to keep the nervous system in +a constant state of disturbance. In the mild climate of Nice, Naples, or +Sicily, where even in winter it is possible to enjoy the warmth of the +sunshine in the open air, beneath palm trees or amidst evergreen groves +of orange trees covered with odorous fruit and sweet-scented leaves, mere +existence is a pleasure, and even the pains of disease are sometimes +forgotten amidst the balmy influence of nature, and a series of agreeable +and uninterrupted sensations invite to repose and oblivion. But in the +changeful and tumultuous atmosphere of England, to be tranquil is a +labour, and employment is necessary to ward off the attacks of ennui. The +English as a nation is pre-eminently active, and the natives of no other +country follow their objects with so much force, fire, and constancy. +And, as human powers are limited, there are few examples of very +distinguished men living in this country to old age: they usually fail, +droop, and die before they have attained the period naturally marked for +the end of human existence. The lives of our statesmen, warriors, poets, +and even philosophers offer abundant proofs of the truth of this opinion; +whatever burns, consumes--ashes remain. Before the period of youth is +passed, grey hairs usually cover those brows which are adorned with the +civic oak or the laurel; and in the luxurious and exciting life of the +man of pleasure, their tints are not even preserved by the myrtle wreath +or the garland of roses from the premature winter of time. + +In selecting the scenes for my new journey I was guided by my former +experience. I know no country more beautiful than that which may be +called the Alpine country of Austria, including the Alps of the southern +Tyrol, those of Illyria, the Noric and the Julian Alps, and the Alps of +Styria and Salzburg. The variety of the scenery, the verdure of the +meadows and trees, the depths of the valleys, the altitude of the +mountains, the clearness and grandeur of the rivers and lakes give it, I +think, a decided superiority over Switzerland; and the people are far +more agreeable. Various in their costumes and manners, Illyrians, +Italians, or Germans, they have all the same simplicity of character, and +are all distinguished by their love of their country, their devotion to +their sovereign, the warmth and purity of their faith, their honesty, and +(with very few exceptions) I may say their great civility and courtesy to +strangers. + +In the prime of life I had visited this region in a society which +afforded me the pleasures of intellectual friendship and the delights of +refined affection; later I had left the burning summer of Italy and the +violence of an unhealthy passion, and had found coolness, shade, repose, +and tranquillity there; in a still more advanced period I had sought for +and found consolation, and partly recovered my health after a dangerous +illness, the consequence of labour and mental agitation; there I had +found the spirit of my early vision. I was desirous, therefore, of again +passing some time in these scenes in the hope of re-establishing a broken +constitution; and though this hope was a feeble one, yet at least I +expected to spend a few of the last days of life more tranquilly and more +agreeably than in the metropolis of my own country. Nature never +deceives us. The rocks, the mountains, the streams always speak the same +language. A shower of snow may hide the verdant woods in spring, a +thunderstorm may render the blue limpid streams foul and turbulent; but +these effects are rare and transient: in a few hours or at least days all +the sources of beauty are renovated. And Nature affords no continued +trains of misfortunes and miseries, such as depend upon the constitution +of humanity; no hopes for ever blighted in the bud; no beings full of +life, beauty, and promise taken from us in the prime of youth. Her +fruits are all balmy, bright, and sweet; she affords none of those +blighted ones so common in the life of man and so like the fabled apples +of the Dead Sea--fresh and beautiful to the sight, but when tasted full +of bitterness and ashes. I have already mentioned the strong effect +produced on my mind by the stranger whom I had met so accidentally at +Paestum; the hope of seeing him again was another of my motives for +wishing to leave England, and (why, I know not) I had a decided +presentiment that I was more likely to meet him in the Austrian states +than in England, his own country. + +For this journey I had one companion, an early friend and medical +adviser. He had lived much in the world, had acquired a considerable +fortune, had given up his profession, was now retired, and sought, like +myself, in this journey repose of mind and the pleasures derived from +natural scenery. He was a man of a very powerful and acute +understanding, but had less of the poetical temperament than any person +whom I had ever known with similar vivacity of mind. He was a severe +thinker, with great variety of information, an excellent physiologist, +and an accomplished naturalist. In his reasonings he adopted the +precision of a geometer, and was always upon his guard against the +influence of imagination. He had passed the meridian of life, and his +health was weak, like my own, so that we were well suited as travelling +companions, moving always slowly from place to place without hurry or +fatigue. I shall call this friend Eubathes. I will say nothing of the +progress of our journey through France and Germany; I shall dwell only +upon that part of it which has still a strong interest for me, and where +events occurred that I shall never forget. We passed into the Alpine +country of Austria by Lintz, on the Danube, and followed the course of +the Traun to Gmunden, on the Traun See or lake of the Traun, where we +halted for some days. If I were disposed to indulge in minute +picturesque descriptions I might occupy hours with details of the various +characters of the enchanting scenery in this neighbourhood. The vales +have that pastoral beauty and constant verdure which is so familiar to us +in England, with similar enclosures and hedge-rows and fruit and forest +trees. Above are noble hills planted with beeches and oaks. Mountains +bound the view, here covered with pines and larches, there raising their +marble crests capped with eternal snows above the clouds. The lower part +of the Traun See is always, even in the most rainy season, perfectly +pellucid; and the Traun pours out of it over ledges of rocks a large and +magnificent river, beautifully clear and of the purest tint of the beryl. +The fall of the Traun, about ten miles below Gmunden, was one of our +favourite haunts. It is a cataract which, when the river is full, may be +almost compared to that of Schaffhausen for magnitude, and possesses the +same peculiar characters of grandeur in the precipitous rush of its awful +and overpowering waters, and of beauty in the tints of its streams and +foam, and in the forms of the rocks over which it falls, and the cliffs +and woods by which it is overhung. In this spot an accident, which had +nearly been fatal to me, occasioned the renewal of my acquaintance in an +extraordinary manner with the mysterious unknown stranger. Eubathes, who +was very fond of fly-fishing, was amusing himself by catching graylings +for our dinner in the stream above the fall. I took one of the boats +which are used for descending the canal or lock artificially cut in the +rock by the side of the fall, on which salt and wood are usually +transported from Upper Austria to the Danube; and I desired two of the +peasants to assist my servant in permitting the boat to descend by a rope +to the level of the river below. My intention was to amuse myself by +this rapid species of locomotion along the descending sluice. For some +moments the boat glided gently along the smooth current, and I enjoyed +the beauty of the moving scene around me, and had my eye fixed upon the +bright rainbow seen upon the spray of the cataract above my head; when I +was suddenly roused by a shout of alarm from my servant, and, looking +round, I saw that the piece of wood to which the rope had been attached +had given way, and the boat was floating down the river at the mercy of +the stream. I was not at first alarmed, for I saw that my assistants +were procuring long poles with which it appeared easy to arrest the boat +before it entered the rapidly descending water of the sluice, and I +called out to them to use their united force to reach the longest pole +across the water that I might be able to catch the end of it in my hand. +And at this moment I felt perfect security; but a breeze of wind suddenly +came down the valley and blew from the nearest bank, the boat was turned +by it out of the side current and thrown nearer to the middle of the +river, and I soon saw that I was likely to be precipitated over the +cataract. My servant and the boatmen rushed into the water, but it was +too deep to enable them to reach the boat; I was soon in the white water +of the descending stream, and my danger was inevitable. I had presence +of mind enough to consider whether my chance of safety would be greater +by throwing myself out of the boat or by remaining in it, and I preferred +the latter expedient. I looked from the rainbow upon the bright sun +above my head, as if taking leave for ever of that glorious luminary; I +raised one pious aspiration to the divine source of light and life; I was +immediately stunned by the thunder of the fall, and my eyes were closed +in darkness. How long I remained insensible I know not. My first +recollections after this accident were of a bright light shining above +me, of warmth and pressure in different parts of my body, and of the +noise of the rushing cataract sounding in my ears. I seemed awakened by +the light from a sound sleep, and endeavoured to recall my scattered +thoughts, but in vain; I soon fell again into slumber. From this second +sleep I was awakened by a voice which seemed not altogether unknown to +me, and looking upwards I saw the bright eye and noble countenance of the +Unknown Stranger whom I had met at Paestum. I faintly articulated: "I am +in another world." "No," said the stranger, "you are safe in this; you +are a little bruised by your fall, but you will soon be well; be tranquil +and compose yourself. Your friend is here, and you will want no other +assistance than he can easily give you." He then took one of my hands, +and I recognised the same strong and warm pressure which I had felt from +his parting salute at Paestum. Eubathes, whom I now saw with an +expression of joy and of warmth unusual to him, gave a hearty shake to +the other hand, and they both said, "You must repose a few hours longer." +After a sound sleep till the evening, I was able to take some +refreshment, and found little inconvenience from the accident except some +bruises on the lower part of the body and a slight swimming in the head. +The next day I was able to return to Gmunden, where I learnt from the +Unknown the history of my escape, which seemed almost miraculous to me. +He said that he was often in the habit of combining pursuits of natural +history with the amusements derived from rural sports and was fishing the +day that my accident happened below the fall of the Traun for that +peculiar species of the large _salmo_ of the Danube which, fortunately +for me, is only to be caught by very strong tackle. He saw, to his very +great astonishment and alarm, the boat and my body precipitated by the +fall, and was so fortunate as to entangle his hooks in a part of my dress +when I had been scarcely more than a minute under water, and by the +assistance of his servant, who was armed with the gaff or curved hook for +landing large fish, I was safely conveyed to the shore, undressed, put +into a warm bed, and by the modes of restoring suspended animation, which +were familiar to him, I soon recovered my sensibility and consciousness. +I was desirous of reasoning with him and Eubathes upon the state of +annihilation of power and transient death which I had suffered when in +the water; but they both requested me to defer those inquiries, which +required too profound an exertion of thought, till the effects of the +shock on my weak constitution were over and my strength was somewhat re- +established: and I was the more contented to comply with their request as +the Unknown said it was his intention to be our companion for at least +some days longer, and that his objects of pursuit lay in the very country +in which we were making our summer tour. It was some weeks before I was +sufficiently strong to proceed on our journey, for my frame was little +fitted to bear such a trial as that which it had experienced; and, +considering the weak state of my body when I was immerged in the water, I +could hardly avoid regarding my recovery as providential, and the +presence and assistance of the Stranger as in some way connected with the +future destiny and utility of my life. In the middle of August we +pursued our plans of travel. We first visited those romantic lakes, +Hallsstadt, Aussee, and Toplitz See, which collect the melted snows of +the higher mountains of Styria to supply the unfailing sources of the +Traun. We visited that elevated region of the Tyrol which forms the +crest of the Pusterthal, and where the same chains of glaciers send down +streams to the Drave and the Adige, to the Black Sea and to the Adriatic. +We remained for many days in those two magnificent valleys which afford +the sources of the Save, where that glorious and abundant river rises, as +it were, in the very bosom of beauty, leaping from its subterraneous +reservoirs in the snowy mountains of Terglou and Manhardt in thundering +cataracts amongst cliffs and woods into the pure and deep cerulean lakes +of Wochain and Wurzen, and pursuing its course amidst pastoral meadows so +ornamented with plants and trees as to look the garden of Nature. The +subsoil or strata of this part of Illyria are entirely calcareous and +full of subterranean caverns, so that in every declivity large funnel- +shaped cavities, like the craters of volcanoes, may be seen, in which the +waters that fall from the atmosphere are lost: and almost every lake or +rives has a subterraneous source, and often a subterraneous exit. The +Laibach river rises twice from the limestone rock, and is twice again +swallowed up by the earth before it makes its final appearance and is +lost in the Save. The Zirknitz See or Lake is a mass of water entirely +filled and emptied by subterraneous sources, and its natural history, +though singular, has in it nothing of either prodigy, mystery, or wonder. +The Grotto of the Maddalena at Adelsberg occupied more of our attention +than the Zirknitz See. I shall give the conversation that took place in +that extraordinary cavern entire, as well as I can remember it, in the +words used by my companions. + +_Eub_.--We must be many hundred feet below the surface, yet the +temperature of this cavern is fresh and agreeable. + +_The Unknown_.--This cavern has the mean temperature of the atmosphere, +which is the case with all subterraneous cavities removed from the +influence of the solar light and heat; and, in so hot a day in August as +this, I know no more agreeable or salutary manner of taking a cold bath +than in descending to a part of the atmosphere out of the influence of +those causes which occasion its elevated temperature. + +_Eub_.--Have you, sir, been in this country before? + +_The Unknown_.--This is the third summer that I have made it the scene of +an annual visit. Independently of the natural beauties found in Illyria, +and the various sources of amusement which a traveller fond of natural +history may find in this region, it has had a peculiar object of interest +for me in the extraordinary animals which are found in the bottom of its +subterraneous cavities: I allude to the Proteus anguinus, a far greater +wonder of nature than any of those which the Baron Valvasa detailed to +the Royal Society a century and half ago as belonging to Carniola, with +far too romantic an air for a philosopher. + +_Phil_.--I have seen these animals in passing through this country +before; but I should be very glad to be better acquainted with their +natural history. + +_The Unknown_.--We shall soon be in that part of the grotto where they +are found, and I shall willingly communicate the little that I have been +able to learn respecting their natural characters and habits. + +_Eub_.--The grotto now becomes really magnificent; I have seen no +subterraneous cavity with so many traits of beauty and of grandeur. The +irregularity of its surface, the magnitude of the masses broken in pieces +which compose its sides, and which seem torn from the bosom of the +mountain by some great convulsion of nature, their dark colours and deep +shades form a singular contrast with the beauty, uniformity, I may say, +order and grace of the white stalactical concretions which hang from the +canopy above, and where the light of our torches reflected from the +brilliant or transparent calcareous gems create a scene which almost +looks like one produced by enchantment. + +_Phil_.--If the awful chasms of dark masses of rock surrounding us appear +like the work of demons who might be imagined to have risen from the +centre of the earth, the beautiful works of Nature above our heads may be +compared to a scenic representation of a temple or banquet hall for +fairies or genii, such as those fabled in the Arabian romances. + +_The Unknown_.--A poet might certainly place here the palace of the King +of the Gnomes, and might find marks of his creative power in the small +lake close by on which the flame of the torch is now falling, for there +it is that I expect to find the extraordinary animals which have been so +long the objects of my attention. + +_Eub_.--I see three or four creatures, like slender fish, moving on the +mud below the water. + +_The Unknown_.--I see them; they are the Protei. Now I have them in my +fishing-net, and now they are safe in the pitcher of water. At first +view you might suppose this animal to be a lizard, but it has the motions +of a fish. Its head and the lower part of its body and its tail bear a +strong resemblance to those of the eel; but it has no fins, and its +curious bronchial organs are not like the gills of fishes: they form a +singular vascular structure, as you see, almost like a crest, round the +throat, which may be removed without occasioning the death of the animal, +which is likewise furnished with lungs. With this double apparatus for +supplying air to the blood, it can live either below or above the surface +of the water. Its fore-feet resemble hands, but they have only three +claws or fingers, and are too feeble to be of use in grasping or +supporting the weight of the animal; the hinder feet have only two claws +or toes, and in the larger specimens are found so imperfect as to be +almost obliterated. It has small points in place of eyes, as if to +preserve the analogy of Nature. It is of a fleshy whiteness and +transparency in its natural state; but when exposed to light, its skin +gradually becomes darker, and at last gains an olive tint. Its nasal +organs appear large, and it is abundantly furnished with teeth: from +which it may be concluded that it is an animal of prey; yet in its +confined state it has never been known to eat, and it has been kept alive +for many years by occasionally changing the water in which it was placed. + +_Eub_.--Is this the only place in Carniola where these animals are found? + +_The Unknown_.--They were first discovered here by the late Baron Zois; +but they have since been found, though rarely, at Sittich, about thirty +miles distant, thrown up by water from a subterraneous cavity; and I have +lately heard it reported that some individuals of the same species have +been recognised in the calcareous strata in Sicily. + +_Eub_.--This lake in which we have seen these animals is a very small +one. Do you suppose they are bred here? + +_The Unknown_.--Certainly not. In dry seasons they are seldom found +here, but after great rains they are often abundant. I think it cannot +be doubted that their natural residence is in an extensile deep +subterranean lake, from which in great floods they sometimes are forced +through the crevices of the rocks into this place where they are found; +and it does not appear to me impossible, when the peculiar nature of the +country in which we are is considered, that the same great cavity may +furnish the individuals which have been found at Adelsberg and at +Sittich. + +_Eub_.--This is a very extraordinary view of the subject. Is it not +possible that it may be the larva of some large unknown animal inhabiting +these limestone cavities? Its feet are not in harmony with the rest of +its organisation; and were they removed, it would have all the characters +of a fish. + +_The Unknown_.--I cannot suppose that they are larvae. There is, I +believe, in Nature no instance of a transition by this species of +metamorphosis from a more perfect to a less perfect animal. The tadpole +has a resemblance to a fish before it becomes a frog; the caterpillar and +the maggot gain not only more perfect powers of motion on the earth in +their new state, but acquire organs by which they inhabit a new element. +This animal, I dare say, is much larger than we now see it when mature in +its native place; but its comparative anatomy is exceedingly hostile to +the idea that it is an animal in a state of transition. It has been +found of various sizes, from that of the thickness of a quill to that of +the thumb, but its form of organs has been always the same. It is surely +a perfect animal of a peculiar species. And it adds one instance more to +the number already known of the wonderful manner in which life is +produced and perpetuated in every part of our globe, even in places which +seem the least suited to organised existences. And the same infinite +power and wisdom which has fitted the camel and the ostrich for the +deserts of Africa, the swallow that secretes its own nest for the caves +of Java, the whale for the Polar seas, and the morse and white bear for +the Arctic ice, has given the proteus to the deep and dark subterraneous +lakes of Illyria--an animal to whom the presence of light is not +essential, and who can live indifferently in air and in water, on the +surface of the rock, or in the depths of the mud. + +_Phil_.--It is now ten years since I first visited this spot. I was +exceedingly anxious to see the proteus, and came here with the guide in +the evening of the day I arrived at Adelsberg; but though we examined the +bottom of the cave with the greatest care, we could find no specimens. We +returned the next morning and were more fortunate, for we discovered five +close to the bank on the mud covering the bottom of the lake; the mud was +smooth and perfectly undisturbed, and the water quite clear. This fact +of their appearance during the night seemed to me so extraordinary, that +I could hardly avoid the fancy that they were new creations. I saw no +cavities through which they could have entered, and the undisturbed state +of the lake seemed to give weight to my notion. My reveries became +discursive; I was carried in imagination back to the primitive state of +the globe, when the great animals of the sauri kind were created under +the pressure of a heavy atmosphere; and my notion on this subject was not +destroyed when I heard from a celebrated anatomist, to whom I sent the +specimens I had collected, that the organisation of the spine of the +proteus was analogous to that of one of the sauri, the remains of which +are found in the older secondary strata. It was said at this time that +no organs of reproduction had been discovered in any of the specimens +examined by physiologists, and this lent a weight to my opinion of the +possibility of their being actually new creations, which I suppose you +will condemn as wholly visionary and unphilosophical. + +_Eub_.--From the tone in which you make your statements, I think you +yourself consider them as unworthy of discussion. On such ground eels +might be considered new creations, for their mature ovaria have not yet +been discovered, and they come from the sea into rivers under +circumstances when it is difficult to trace their course. + +_The Unknown_.--The problem of the reproduction of the proteus, like that +of the common eel, is not yet solved; but ovaria have been discovered in +animals of both species, and in this instance, as in all others belonging +to the existing order of things, Harvey's maxim of "omne vivum ab ovo" +will apply. + +_Eub_.--You just now said that this animal has been long an object of +attention to you; have you studied it as a comparative anatomist, in +search of the solution of the problem of its reproduction? + +_The Unknown_.--No; this inquiry has been pursued by much abler +investigators: by Schreiber and Configliachi; my researches were made +upon its respiration and the changes occasioned in water by its bronchia. + +_Eub_.--I hope they have been satisfactory. + +_The Unknown_.--They proved to me, at least, that not merely the oxygen +dissolved in water, but likewise a part of the azote, was absorbed in the +respiration of this animal. + +_Eub_.--So that your researches confirm those of the French savants and +Alexander von Humboldt, that in the respiration of animals which separate +air from water, both principles of the atmosphere are absorbed. + +_Phil_.--I have heard so many and such various opinions on the nature of +the function of respiration during my education and since, that I should +like to know what is the modern doctrine on this subject. I can hardly +refer to better authority than yourself, and I have an additional reason +for wishing for some accurate knowledge on this matter, having, as you +well know, been the subject of an experiment in relation to it which, but +for your kind and active assistance, must have terminated fatally. + +_The Unknown_.--I shall gladly state what I know, which is very little. +In physics and in chemistry, the science of dead matter, we possess many +facts and a few principles or laws; but whenever the functions of life +are considered, though the facts are numerous, yet there is, as yet, +scarcely any approach to general laws, and we must usually end where we +begin by confessing our entire ignorance. + +_Eub_.--I will not allow this ignorance to be entire. Something, +undoubtedly, has been gained by the knowledge of the circulation of the +blood and its aeration in the lungs--these, if not laws, are at least +fundamental principles. + +_The Unknown_.--I speak only of the functions in their connection with +life. We are still ignorant of the source of animal heat, though half a +century ago the chemists thought they had proved it was owing to a sort +of combustion of the carbon of the blood. + +_Phil_.--As we return to our inn I hope you will both be so good as give +me your views of the nature of this function, so important to all living +things; tell me what you _know_, or what you _believe_, or what others +_imagine they know_. + +_The Unknown_.--The powers of the organic system depend upon a continued +state of change. The waste of the body produced in muscular action, +perspiration, and various secretions, is made up for by the constant +supply of nutritive matter to the blood by the absorbents, and by the +action of the heart the blood is preserved in perpetual motion through +every part of the body. In the lungs, or bronchia, the venous blood is +exposed to the influence of air and undergoes a remarkable change, being +converted into arterial blood. The obvious chemical alteration of the +air is sufficiently simple in this process: a certain quantity of carbon +only is added to it, and it receives an addition of heat or vapour; the +volumes of elastic fluid inspired and expired (making allowance for +change of temperature) are the same, and if ponderable agents only were +to be regarded it would appear as if the only use of respiration were to +free the blood from a certain quantity of carbonaceous matter. But it is +probable that this is only a secondary object, and that the change +produced by respiration upon the blood is of a much more important kind. +Oxygen, in its elastic state, has properties which are very +characteristic: it gives out light by compression, which is not certainly +known to be the case with any other elastic fluid except those with which +oxygen has entered without undergoing combustion; and from the fire it +produces in certain processes, and from the manner in which it is +separated by positive electricity in the gaseous state from its +combinations, it is not easy to avoid the supposition that it contains, +besides its ponderable elements, some very subtle matter which is capable +of assuming the form of heat and light. My idea is that the common air +inspired enters into the venous blood entire, in a state of dissolution, +carrying with it its subtle or ethereal part, which in ordinary cases of +chemical change is given off; that it expels from the blood carbonic acid +gas and azote; and that in the course of the circulation its ethereal +part and its ponderable part undergo changes which belong to laws that +cannot be considered as chemical--the ethereal part probably producing +animal heat and other effects, and the ponderable part contributing to +form carbonic acid and other products. The arterial blood is necessary +to all the functions of life, and it is no less connected with the +irritability of the muscles and the sensibility of the nerves than with +the performance of all the secretions. + +_Eub_.--No one can be more convinced than I am of the very limited extent +of our knowledge in chemical physiology, and when I say that, having been +a disciple and friend of Dr. Black, I am still disposed to prefer his +ancient view to your new one, I wish merely to induce you to pause and to +hear my reasons; they may appear insufficient to you, but I am anxious to +explain them. First, then, in all known chemical changes in which oxygen +gas is absorbed and carbonic acid gas formed, heat is produced. I could +mention a thousand instances, from the combustion of wood or spirits of +wine to the fermentation of fruit or the putrefaction of animal matter. +This general fact, which may be almost called a law, is in favour of the +view of Dr. Black. Another circumstance in favour of it is, that those +animals which possess the highest temperature consume the greatest +quantity of air, and, under different circumstances of action and repose, +the heat is in great measure proportional to the quantity of oxygen +consumed. Then those animals which absorb the smallest quantity of air +are cold-blooded. Another argument in favour of Dr. Black's opinion is +the change of colour of blood from black to red, which seems to show that +it loses carbon. + +_The Unknown_.--With the highest respect for the memory of Dr. Black, and +for the opinion of his disciple, I shall answer the arguments I have just +heard. I will not allow any facts or laws from the action of dead matter +to apply to living structures; the blood is a living fluid, and of this +we are sure that it does not burn in respiration. The terms warmth and +cold, as applied to the blood of animals, are improper in the sense in +which they have been just used; all animals are, in fact, warm-blooded, +and the degrees of their temperature are fitted to the circumstances +under which they live, and those animals, the life of which is most +active, possess most heat, which may be the result of general actions, +and not a particular effect of respiration. Besides, a distinguished +physiologist has rendered it probable that the animal heat depends more +upon the functions of the nerves than upon any result of respiration. The +argument derived from change of colour is perfectly delusive; it would +not follow if carbon were liberated from the blood that it must +necessarily become brighter; sulphur combining with charcoal becomes a +clear fluid, and a black oxide of copper becomes red in uniting with a +substance which abounds in carbon. No change in sensible qualities can +ever indicate with precision the nature of chemical change. I shall +resume my view, which I cannot be said to have fully developed. When I +stated that carbonic acid was formed in the venous blood in the processes +of life, I meant merely to say that this blood, in consequence of certain +changes, became capable of giving off carbon and oxygen in union with +each other, for the moment inorganic matter enters into the composition +of living organs it obeys new laws. The action of the gastric juice is +chemical, and it will only dissolve dead matters, and it dissolves them +when they are in tubes of metal as well as in the stomach, but it has no +action upon living matter. Respiration is no more a chemical process +than the absorption of chyle; and the changes that take place in the +lungs, though they appear so simple, may be very complicated; it is as +little philosophical to consider them as a mere combustion of carbon as +to consider the formation of muscle from the arterial blood as +crystallisation. There can be no doubt that all the powers and agencies +of matter are employed in the purposes of organisation, but the phenomena +of organisation can no more be referred to chemistry than those of +chemistry to mechanics. As oxygen stands in that electrical relation to +the other elements of animal matter which has been called +electropositive, it may be supposed that some electrical function is +exercised by oxygen in the blood; but this is a mere hypothesis. An +attempt has been made founded on experiments on the decomposition of +bodies by electricity to explain secretion by weak electrical powers, and +to suppose the glands electrical organs, and even to imagine the action +of the nerves dependent upon electricity; these, like all other notions +of the same kind, appear to me very little refined. If electrical +effects be the exhibition of certain powers belonging to matter, which is +a fair supposition, then no change can take place without their being +more or less concerned; but to imagine the presence of electricity to +solve phenomena the cause of which is unknown is merely to substitute one +undefined word for another. In some animals electrical organs are found, +but then they furnish the artillery of the animal and means of seizing +its prey and of its defence. And speculations of this kind must be +ranked with those belonging to some of the more superficial followers of +the Newtonian philosophy, who explained the properties of animated nature +by mechanical powers, and muscular action by the expansion and +contraction of elastic bladders; man, in this state of vague +philosophical inquiry, was supposed a species of hydraulic machine. And +when the pneumatic chemistry was invented, organic structures were soon +imagined to be laboratories in which combinations and decompositions +produced all the effects of living actions; then muscular contractions +were supposed to depend upon explosions like those of the detonating +compounds, and the formation of blood from chyle was considered as a pure +chemical solution. And, now that the progress of science has opened new +and extraordinary views in electricity, these views are not unnaturally +applied by speculative reasoners to solve some of the mysterious and +recondite phenomena of organised beings. But the analogy is too remote +and incorrect; the sources of life cannot be grasped by such machinery; +to look for them in the powers of electro-chemistry is seeking the living +among the dead: that which touches will not be felt, that which sees will +not be visible, that which commands sensations will not be their subject. + +_Phil_.--I conclude, from what you last said, that though you are +inclined to believe that some unknown subtle matter is added to the +organised system by respiration, yet you would not have us believe that +this is electricity, or that there is any reason to suppose that +electricity has a peculiar and special share in producing the functions +of life. + +_The Unknown_.--I wish to guard you against the adoption of any +hypothesis on this recondite and abstruse subject. But however difficult +it may be to define the exact nature of respiration, yet the effect of it +and its connexions with the functions of the body are sufficiently +striking. By the action of air on the blood it is fitted for the +purposes of life, and from the moment that animation is marked by +sensation or volition, this function is performed, the punctum saliens in +the ovum seems to receive as it were the breath of life in the influence +of air. In the economy of the reproduction of the species of animals, +one of the most important circumstances is the aeration of the ovum, and +when this is not performed, from the blood of the mother as in the +mammalia by the placenta, there is a system for aerating as in the +oviparous reptiles or fishes, which enables the air freely to pass +through the receptacles in which the eggs are deposited, or the egg +itself is aerated out of the body through its coats or shell, and when +air is excluded, incubation or artificial heat has no effect. Fishes +which deposit their eggs in water that contains only a limited portion of +air, make combinations which would seem almost the result of scientific +knowledge or reason, though depending upon a more unerring principle, +their instinct for preserving their offspring. Those fishes that spawn +in spring or the beginning of summer and winch inhabit deep and still +waters, as the carp, bream, pike, tench, &c., deposit their eggs upon +aquatic vegetables, which by the influence of the solar light constantly +preserve the water in a state of aeration. The trout, salmon, hucho, and +others of the Salmo genus, which spawn in the beginning or end of winter, +and which inhabit rivers fed by cold and rapid streams which descend from +the mountains, deposit their eggs in shallows on heaps of gravel, as near +as possible to the source of the stream where the water is fully combined +with air; and to accomplish this purpose they travel for hundreds of +miles against the current, and leap over cataracts and dams: thus the +Salmo salar ascends by the Rhone and the Aar to the glaciers of +Switzerland, the hucho by the Danube, the Isar, and the Save, passing +through the lakes of the Tyrol and Styria to the highest torrents of the +Noric and Julian Alps. + +_Phil_.--My own experience proves in the strongest manner the immediate +connection of sensibility with respiration; all that I can remember in my +accident was a certain violent and painful sensation of oppression in the +chest, which must have been immediately succeeded by loss of sense. + +_Eub_.--I have no doubt that all your suffering was over at the moment +you describe; as far as sensibility is concerned, you were inanimate when +your friend raised you from the bottom. This distinct connection of +sensibility with the absorption of air by the blood is, I think, in +favour of the idea advanced by our friend, that some subtle and ethereal +matter is supplied to the system in the elastic air which may be the +cause of vitality. + +_The Unknown_.--Softly, if you please; I must not allow you to mistake my +view. I think it probable that some subtle matter is derived from the +atmosphere connected with the functions of life; but nothing can be more +remote from my opinion than to suppose it the cause of vitality. + +_Phil_.--This might have been fully inferred from the whole tenor of your +conversation, and particularly from that expression, "that which commands +sensation will not be their subject." I think I shall not mistake your +views when I say that you do not consider vitality dependent upon any +material cause or principle. + +_The Unknown_.--You do not. We are entirely ignorant on this subject, +and I confess in the utmost humility my ignorance. I know there have +been distinguished physiologists who have imagined that by organisation +powers not naturally possessed by matter were developed, and that +sensibility was a property belonging to some unknown combination of +unknown ethereal elements. But such notions appear to me +unphilosophical, and the mere substitution of unknown words for unknown +things. I can never believe that any division, or refinement, or +subtilisation, or juxtaposition, or arrangement of the particles of +matter, can give to them sensibility; or that intelligence can result +from combinations of insensate and brute atoms. I can as easily imagine +that the planets are moving by their will or design round the sun, or +that a cannon ball is reasoning in making its parabolic curve. The +materialists have quoted a passage of Locke in favour of their doctrine, +who seemed to doubt "whether it might not have pleased God to bestow a +power of thinking on matter." But with the highest veneration for this +great reasoner, the founder of modern philosophical logic, I think there +is little of his usual strength of mind in this doubt. It appears to me +that he might as well have asked whether it might not have pleased God to +make a house its own tenant. + +_Eub_.--I am not a professed materialist; but I think you treat rather +too lightly the modest doubts of Locke on this subject. And without +considering me as a partisan, you will, I hope, allow me to state some of +the reasons which I have heard good physiologists advance in favour of +that opinion to which you are so hostile. In the first accretion of the +parts of animated beings they appear almost like the crystallised matter, +with the simplest kind of life, scarcely sensitive. The gradual +operations by which they acquire new organs and new powers, corresponding +to these organs, till they arrive at full maturity, forcibly strikes the +mind with the idea that the powers of life reside in the arrangement by +which the organs are produced. Then, as there is a gradual increase of +power corresponding to the increase of perfection of the organisation, so +there is a gradual diminution of it connected with the decay of the body. +As the imbecility of infancy corresponds to the weakness of organisation, +so the energy of youth and the power of manhood are marked by its +strength; and the feebleness and dotage of old age are in the direct +ratio of the decline of the perfection of the organisation, and the +mental powers in extreme old age seem destroyed at the same time with the +corporeal ones, till the ultimate dissolution of the frame, when the +elements are again restored to that dead nature from which they were +originally derived. Then, there was a period when the greatest +philosopher, statesman, or hero, that ever existed was a mere living +atom, an organised form with the sole power of perception; and the +combinations that a Newton formed before birth or immediately after +cannot be imagined to have possessed the slightest intellectual +character. If a peculiar principle be supposed necessary to +intelligence, it must exist throughout animated nature. The elephant +approaches nearer to man in intellectual power than the oyster does to +the elephant; and a link of sensitive nature may be traced from the +polypus to the philosopher. Now, in the polypus the sentient principle +is divisible, and from one polypus or one earthworm may be formed two or +three, all of which become perfect animals, and have perception and +volition; therefore, at least, the sentient principle has this property +in common with matter, that it is divisible. Then to these difficulties +add the dependence of all the higher faculties of the mind upon the state +of the brain; remember that not only all the intellectual powers, but +even sensibility is destroyed by the pressure of a little blood upon the +cerebellum, and the difficulties increase. Call to mind likewise the +suspension of animation in cases similar to that of our friend, when +there are no signs of life and when animation returns only with the +return of organic action. Surely in all these instances everything which +you consider as belonging to spirit appears in intimate dependence upon +the arrangements and properties of matter. + +_The Unknown_.--The arguments you have used are those which are generally +employed by physiologists. They have weight in appearance, but not in +reality. They prove that a certain perfection of the machinery of the +body is essential to the exercise of the powers of the mind, but they do +not prove that the machine is the mind. Without the eye there can be no +sensations of vision, and without the brain there could be no recollected +visible ideas; but neither the optic nerve nor the brain can be +considered as the percipient principle--they are but the instruments of a +power which has nothing in common with them. What may be said of the +nervous system may be applied to a different part of the frame; stop the +motion of the heart, and sensibility and life cease, yet the living +principle is not in the heart, nor in the arterial blood which it sends +to every part of the system. A savage who saw the operation of a number +of power-looms weaving stockings cease at once on the stopping of the +motion of a wheel, might well imagine that the motive force was in the +wheel; he could not divine that it more immediately depended upon the +steam, and ultimately upon a fire below a concealed boiler. The +philosopher sees the fire which is the cause of the motion of this +complicated machinery, so unintelligible to the savage; but both are +equally ignorant of the divine fire which is the cause of the mechanism +of organised structures. Profoundly ignorant on this subject, all that +we can do is to give a history of our own minds. The external world or +matter is to us in fact nothing but a heap or cluster of sensations; and, +in looking back to the memory of our own being, we find one principle, +which may be called the _monad_, or _self_, constantly present, +intimately associated with a particular class of sensations, which we +call our own body or organs. These organs are connected with other +sensations, and move, as it were, with them in circles of existence, +quitting for a time some trains of sensation to return to others; but the +monad is always present. We can fix no beginning to its operations; we +can place no limit to them. We sometimes, in sleep, lose the beginning +and end of a dream, and recollect the middle of it, and one dream has no +connection with another; and yet we are conscious of an infinite variety +of dreams, and there is a strong analogy for believing in an infinity of +past existences, which must have had connection; and human life may be +regarded as a type of infinite and immortal life, and its succession of +sleep and dreams as a type of the changes of death and birth to which +from its nature it is liable. That the ideas belonging to the mind were +originally gained from those classes of sensations called organs it is +impossible to deny, as it is impossible to deny that mathematical truths +depend upon the signs which express them; but these signs are not +themselves the truths, nor are the organs the mind. The whole history of +intellect is a history of change according to a certain law; and we +retain the memory only of those changes which may be useful to us--the +child forgets what happened to it in the womb; the recollections of the +infant likewise before two years are soon lost, yet many of the habits +acquired in that age are retained through life. The sentient principle +gains thoughts by material instruments, and its sensations change as +those instruments change; and, in old age, the mind, as it were, falls +asleep to awake to a new existence. With its present organisation, the +intellect of man is naturally limited and imperfect, but this depends +upon its material machinery; and in a higher organised form, it may be +imagined to possess infinitely higher powers. Were man to be immortal +with his present corporeal frame, this immortality would only belong to +the machinery; and with respect to acquisitions of mind, he would +virtually die every two or three hundred years--that is to say, a certain +quantity of ideas only could be remembered, and the supposed immortal +being would be, with respect to what had happened a thousand years ago, +as the adult now is with respect to what happened in the first year of +his life. To attempt to reason upon the manner in which the organs are +connected with sensation would be useless; the nerves and brain have some +immediate relation to these vital functions, but how they act it is +impossible to say. From the rapidity and infinite variety of the +phenomena of perception, it seems extremely probable that there must be +in the brain and nerves matter of a nature far more subtle and refined +than anything discovered in them by observation and experiment, and that +the immediate connection between the sentient principle and the body may +be established by kinds of ethereal matter, which can never be evident to +the senses, and which may bear the same relations to heat, light, and +electricity that these refined forms or modes of existence of matter bear +to the gases. Motion is most easily produced by the lighter species of +matter; and yet imponderable agents, such as electricity, possess force +sufficient to overturn the weightiest structures. Nothing can be farther +from my meaning than to attempt any definition on this subject, nor would +I ever embrace or give authority to that idea of Newton, who supposes +that the immediate cause of sensation may be in undulations of an +ethereal medium. It does not, however, appear improbable to me that some +of the more refined machinery of thought may adhere, even in another +state, to the sentient principle; for, though the organs of gross +sensation--the nerves and brain--are destroyed by death, yet something of +the more ethereal nature, which I have supposed, may be less +destructible. And I sometimes imagine that many of those powers, which +have been called instinctive, belong to the more refined clothing of the +spirit; conscience, indeed, seems to have some undefined source, and may +bear relation to a former state of being. + +_Eub_.--All your notions are merely ingenious speculations. Revelation +gives no authority to your ideas of spiritual nature; the Christian +immortality is founded upon the resurrection of the body. + +_The Unknown_.--This I will not allow. Even in the Mosaic history of the +creation of man his frame is made in the image of God--that is, capable +of intelligence; and the Creator breathes into it the breath of life, His +own essence. Then our Saviour has said, "of the God of Abraham, of +Isaac, and of Jacob." "He is not the God of the dead, but of the +living." St. Paul has described the clothing of the spirit in a new and +glorious body, taking the analogy from the living germ in the seed of the +plant, which is not quickened till after apparent death; and the +catastrophe of our planet, which, it is revealed, is to be destroyed and +purified by fire before it is fitted for the habitation of the blest, is +in perfect harmony with the view I have ventured to suggest. + +_Eub_.--I cannot make your notions coincide with what I have been +accustomed to consider the meaning of Holy Writ. You allow everything +belonging to the material life to be dependent upon the organisation of +the body, and yet you imagine the spirit after death clothed with a new +body; and, in the system of rewards and punishments, this body is +rendered happy or miserable for actions committed by another and extinct +frame. A particular organisation may impel to improper and immoral +gratification; it does not appear to me, according to the principles of +eternal justice, that the body of the resurrection should be punished for +crimes dependent upon a conformation now dissolved and destroyed. + +_The Unknown_.--Nothing is more absurd, I may say more impious, than for +man, with a ken surrounded by the dense mists of sense, to reason +respecting the decrees of eternal justice. You adopt here the same +limited view that you embraced in reasoning against the indestructibility +of the sentient principle in man from the apparent division of the living +principle in the polypus, not recollecting that to prove a quality can be +increased or exalted does not prove that it can be annihilated. If there +be, which I think cannot be doubted, a consciousness of good and evil +constantly belonging to the sentient principle in man, then rewards and +punishments naturally belong to acts of this consciousness, to obedience, +or disobedience; and the indestructibility of the sentient being is +necessary to the decrees of eternal justice. On your view, even in this +life, just punishments for crimes would be almost impossible; for the +materials of which human beings are composed change rapidly, and in a few +years probably not an atom of the primitive structure remains yet even +the materialist is obliged in old age to do penance for the sins of his +youth, and does not complain of the injustice of his decrepit body, +entirely changed and made stiff by time, suffering for the intemperance +of his youthful flexible frame. On my idea, conscience is the frame of +the mind, fitted for its probation in mortality. And this is in exact +accordance with the foundations of our religion, the Divine origin of +which is marked no less by its history than its harmony with the +principles of our nature. Obedience to its precepts not only prepares +for a better state of existence in another world, but is likewise +calculated to make us happy here. We are constantly taught to renounce +sensual pleasure and selfish gratifications, to forget our body and +sensible organs, to associate our pleasures with mind, to fix our +affections upon the great ideal generalisation of intelligence in the one +Supreme Being. And that we are capable of forming to ourselves an +imperfect idea even of the infinite mind is, I think, a strong +presumption of our own immortality, and of the distinct relation which +our finite knowledge bears to eternal wisdom. + +_Phil_.--I am pleased with your views; they coincide with those I had +formed at the time my imagination was employed upon the vision of the +Colosaeum, which I repeated to you, and are not in opposition with the +opinions that the cool judgment and sound and humble faith of Ambrosio +have led me since to embrace. The doctrine of the materialists was +always, even in my youth, a cold, heavy, dull, and insupportable doctrine +to me, and necessarily tending to Atheism. When I had heard, with +disgust, in the dissecting-rooms the plan of the physiologist of the +gradual accretion of matter, and its becoming endowed with irritability, +ripening into sensibility and acquiring such organs as were necessary, by +its own inherent forces, and at last rising into intellectual existence, +a walk into the green fields or woods by the banks of rivers brought back +my feelings from nature to God; I saw in all the powers of matter the +instruments of the Deity; the sunbeams, the breath of the zephyr, +awakened animation in forms prepared by Divine intelligence to receive +it; the insensate seed, the slumbering egg, which were to be vivified, +appeared like the new-born animal, works of a Divine mind; I saw love as +the creative principle in the material world, and this love only as a +Divine attribute. Then, my own mind, I felt connected with new +sensations and indefinite hopes, a thirst for immortality; the great +names of other ages and of distant nations appeared to me to be still +living around me; and, even in the funeral monuments of the heroic and +the great, I saw, as it were, the decree of the indestructibility of +mind. These feelings, though generally considered as poetical, yet, I +think, offer a sound philosophical argument in favour of the immortality +of the soul. In all the habits and instincts of young animals their +feelings or movements may be traced in intimate relation to their +improved perfect state; their sports have always affinities to their +modes of hunting or catching their food, and young birds, even in the +nest, show marks of fondness which, when their frames are developed, +become signs of actions necessary to the reproduction and preservation of +the species. The desire of glory, of honour, of immortal fame, and of +constant knowledge, so usual in young persons of well-constituted minds, +cannot, I think, be other than symptoms of the infinite and progressive +nature of intellect--hopes which, as they cannot be gratified here, +belong to a frame of mind suited to a nobler state of existence. + +_The Unknown_.--Religion, whether natural or revealed, has always the +same beneficial influence on the mind. In youth, in health, and +prosperity, it awakens feelings of gratitude and sublime love, and +purifies at the same time that it exalts; but it is in misfortune, in +sickness, in age, that its effects are most truly and beneficially felt; +when submission in faith and humble trust in the Divine will, from duties +become pleasures, undecaying sources of consolation; then it creates +powers which were believed to be extinct, and gives a freshness to the +mind which was supposed to have passed away for ever, but which is now +renovated as an immortal hope; then it is the Pharos, guiding the wave- +tost mariner to his home, as the calm and beautiful still basins or +fiords, surrounded by tranquil groves and pastoral meadows, to the +Norwegian pilot escaping from a heavy storm in the north sea, or as the +green and dewy spot gushing with fountains to the exhausted and thirsty +traveller in the midst of the desert. Its influence outlives all earthly +enjoyments, and becomes stronger as the organs decay and the frame +dissolves; it appears as that evening star of light in the horizon of +life, which, we are sure, is to become in another season a morning star, +and it throws its radiance through the gloom and shadow of death. + + + + +DIALOGUE THE FIFTH. THE CHEMICAL PHILOSOPHER. + + +I had been made religious by the conversations of Ambrosio in Italy; my +faith was strengthened and exalted by the opinions of the Unknown, for +whom I had not merely that veneration awakened by exalted talents, but a +strong affection founded upon the essential benefit of the preservation +of my life owing to him. I ventured, the evening after our visit to the +cave of Adelsberg, to ask him some questions relating to his history and +adventures. He said, "To attempt to give you any idea of the formation +of my character would lead me into the history of my youth, which almost +approaches to a tale of romance. The source of the little information +and intelligence I possess I must refer to a restless activity of spirit, +a love of glory which ever belonged to my infancy, and a sensibility +easily excited and not easily conquered. My parentage was humble, yet I +can believe a traditional history of my paternal grandmother, that the +origin of our family was from an old Norman stock; I found this belief +upon certain feelings which I can only refer to an hereditary source, a +pride of decorum, a tact and refinement even in boyhood, and which are +contradictory to the idea of an origin from a race of peasants. Accident +opened to me in early youth a philosophical career, which I pursued with +success. In manhood fortune smiled upon me and made me independent; I +then really became a philosopher, and pursued my travels with the object +of instructing myself and of benefiting mankind. I have seen most parts +of Europe, and conversed, I believe, with all the illustrious men of +science belonging to them. My life has not been unlike that of the +ancient Greek sages. I have added some little to the quantity of human +knowledge, and I have endeavoured to add something to the quantity of +human happiness. In my early life I was a sceptic; I have informed you +how I became a believer, and I constantly bless the Supreme Intelligence +for the favour of some gleams of Divine light which have been vouchsafed +to me in this our state of darkness and doubt." + +_Phil_.--I am surprised that with your powers you did not enter into a +professional career either of law or politics; you would have gained the +highest honours and distinctions. + +_The Unknown_.--To me there never has been a higher source of honour or +distinction than that connected with advances in science. I have not +possessed enough of the eagle in my character to make a direct flight to +the loftiest altitudes in the social world, and I certainly never +endeavoured to reach those heights by using the creeping powers of the +reptile who, in ascending, generally chooses the dirtiest path, because +it is the easiest. + +_Eub_.--I have often wondered that men of fortune and of rank do not +apply themselves more to philosophical pursuits; they offer a delightful +and enviable road to distinction, one founded upon the blessings and +benefits conferred on our fellow-creatures; they do not supply the same +sources of temporary popularity as successes in the senate or at the bar, +but the glory resulting from them is permanent and independent of vulgar +taste or caprice. In looking back to the history of the last five reigns +in England, we find Boyles, Cavendishes, and Howards, who rendered those +great names more illustrious by their scientific honours; but we may in +vain search the aristocracy now for philosophers, and there are very few +persons who pursue science with true dignity; it is followed more as +connected with objects of profit than those of fame, and there are fifty +persons who take out patents for supposed inventions for one who makes a +real discovery. + +_Phil_.--The information we have already received from you proves to me +that chemistry has been your favourite pursuit. I am surprised at this. +The higher-mathematics and pure physics appear to me to offer much more +noble objects of contemplation and fields of discovery, and, practically +considered, the results of the chemist are much more humble, belonging +principally to the apothecary's shop and the kitchen. + +_Eub_.--I feel disposed to join you in attacking this favourite study of +our friend, but merely to provoke him to defend it. I wish our attack +would induce him to vindicate his science, and that we might enjoy a +little of the sport of literary gladiators, at least, in order to call +forth his skill and awaken his eloquence. + +_The Unknown_.--I have no objection. Let there be a fair discussion; +remember we fight only with foils, and the point of mine shall be covered +with velvet. In your attack upon chemistry, Philalethes, you limited the +use of it to the apothecary's shop and the kitchen. The first is an +equivocal use; by introducing it into the kitchen you make it an art +fundamental to all others. But if what you had stated had really meant +to be serious, it would not have deserved a reply; as it is in mere +playfulness, it shall not be thrown away. I want eloquence, however, to +adorn my subject, yet it is sufficiently exciting even to awaken feeling. +Persons in general look at the magnificent fabric of civilized society as +the result of the accumulated labour, ingenuity, and enterprise of man +through a long course of ages, without attempting to define what has been +owing to the different branches of human industry and science; and +usually attribute to politicians, statesmen, and warriors a much greater +share than really belongs to them in the work: what they have done is in +reality little. The beginning of civilization is the discovery of some +useful arts by which men acquire property, comforts, or luxuries. The +necessity or desire of preserving them leads to laws and social +institutions. The discovery of peculiar arts gives superiority to +particular nations; and the love of power induces them to employ this +superiority to subjugate other nations, who learn their arts, and +ultimately adopt their manners; so that in reality the origin, as well as +the progress and improvement, of civil society is founded in mechanical +and chemical inventions. No people have ever arrived at any degree of +perfection in their institutions who have not possessed in a high degree +the useful and refined arts. The comparison of savage and civilized man, +in fact, demonstrates the triumph of chemical and mechanical philosophy +as the causes not only of the physical, but ultimately even of moral +improvement. Look at the condition of man in the lowest state in which +we are acquainted with him. Take the native of New Holland, advanced +only a few steps above the animal creation, and that principally by the +use of fire; naked, defending himself against wild beasts or killing them +for food only by weapons made of wood hardened in the fire, or pointed +with stones or fish bones; living only in holes dug out of the earth, or +in huts rudely constructed of a few branches of trees covered with grass; +having no approach to the enjoyment of luxuries or even comforts; unable +to provide for his most pressing wants; having a language scarcely +articulate, relating only to the great objects of nature, or to his most +pressing necessities or desires, and living solitary or in single +families, unacquainted with religion, government, or laws, submitted to +the mercy of nature or the elements. How different is man in his highest +state of cultivation; every part of his body covered with the products of +different chemical and mechanical arts made not only useful in protecting +him from the inclemency of the seasons but combined in forms of beauty +and variety; creating out of the dust of the earth from the clay under +his feet instruments of use and ornament; extracting metals from the rude +ore and giving to them a hundred different shapes for a thousand +different purposes; selecting and improving the vegetable productions +with which he covers the earth; not only subduing but taming and +domesticating the wildest, the fleetest, and the strongest inhabitants of +the wood, the mountain, and the air; making the winds carry him on every +part of the immense ocean; and compelling the elements of air, water, and +even fire as it were to labour for him; concentrating in small space +materials which act as the thunderbolt, and directing their energies so +as to destroy at immense distances; blasting the rock, removing the +mountain, carrying water from the valley to the hill; perpetuating +thought in imperishable words, rendering immortal the exertion of genius, +and presenting them as common property to all awakening minds, becoming +as it were the true image of divine intelligence receiving and bestowing +the breath of life in the influence of civilization. + +_Eub_.--Really you are in the poetical, not the chemical chair, or rather +on the tripod. We claim from you some accuracy of detail, some minute +information, some proofs of what you assert. What you attribute to the +chemical and mechanical arts, we might with the same propriety attribute +to the fine arts, to letters, to political improvement, and to those +inventions of which Minerva and Apollo and not Vulcan are the patrons. + +_The Unknown_.--I will be more minute. You will allow that the rendering +skins insoluble in water by combining with them the astringent principle +of certain vegetables is a chemical invention, and that without leather, +our shoes, our carriages, our equipages would be very ill made; you will +permit me to say, that the bleaching and dying of wool and silk, cotton, +and flax, are chemical processes, and that the conversion of them into +different clothes is a mechanical invention; that the working of iron, +copper, tin, and lead, and the other metals, and the combining them in +different alloys by which almost all the instruments necessary for the +turner, the joiner, the stone-mason, the ship-builder, and the smith are +made, are chemical inventions; even the press, to the influence of which +I am disposed to attribute as much as you can do, could not have existed +in any state of perfection without a metallic alloy; the combining of +alkali and sand, and certain clays and flints together to form glass and +porcelain is a chemical process; the colours which the artist employs to +frame resemblances of natural objects, or to create combinations more +beautiful than ever existed in Nature, are derived from chemistry; in +short, in every branch of the common and fine arts, in every department +of human industry, the influence of this science is felt, and we may find +in the fable of Prometheus taking the flame from heaven to animate his +man of clay an emblem of the effects of fire in its application to +chemical purposes in creating the activity and almost the life of civil +society. + +_Phil_.--It appears to me that you attribute to science what in many +cases has been the result of accident. The processes of most of the +useful arts, which you call chemical, have been invented and improved +without any refined views, without any general system of knowledge. +Lucretius attributes to accident the discovery of the fusion of the +metals; a person in touching a shell-fish observes that it emits a purple +liquid as a dye, hence the Tyrian purple; clay is observed to harden in +the fire, and hence the invention of bricks, which could hardly fail +ultimately to lead to the discovery of porcelain; oven glass, the most +perfect and beautiful of those manufactures you call chemical, is said to +have been discovered by accident; Theophrastus states that some merchants +who were cooking on lumps of soda or natron, near the mouth of the river +Belus, observed that a hard and vitreous substance was formed where the +fused natron ran into the sand. + +_The Unknown_.--I will readily allow that accident has had much to do +with the origin of the arts as with the progress of the sciences. But it +has been by scientific processes and experiments that these accidental +results have been rendered really applicable to the purposes of common +life. Besides, it requires a certain degree of knowledge and scientific +combination to understand and seize upon the facts which have originated +in accident. It is certain that in all fires alkaline substances and +sand are fused together, and clay hardened; yet for ages after this +discovery of fire, glass and porcelain were unknown till some men of +genius profited by scientific combination often observed but never +applied. It suits the indolence of those minds which never attempt +anything, and which probably if they did attempt anything would not +succeed, to refer to accident that which belongs to genius. It is +sometimes said by such persons, that the discovery of the law of +gravitation was owing to accident: and a ridiculous story is told of the +falling of an apple as the cause of this discovery. As well might the +invention of fluxions or the architectural wonders of the dome of St. +Peter's, or the miracles of art the St. John of Raphael or the Apollo +Belvidere, be supposed to be owing to accidental combinations. In the +progress of an art, from its rudest to its more perfect state, the whole +process depends upon experiments. Science is in fact nothing more than +the refinement of common sense making use of facts already known to +acquire new facts. Clays which are yellow are known to burn red; +calcareous earth renders flint fusible--the persons who have improved +earthenware made their selections accordingly. Iron was discovered at +least one thousand years before it was rendered malleable; and from what +Herodotus says of this discovery, there can be little doubt that it was +developed by a scientific worker in metals. Vitruvius tells us that the +ceruleum, a colour made of copper, which exists in perfection in all the +old paintings of the Greeks and Romans and on the mummies of the +Egyptians, was discovered by an Egyptian king; there is therefore every +reason to believe that it was not the result of accidental combination, +but of experiments made for producing or improving colours. Amongst the +ancient philosophers, many discoveries are attributed to Democritus and +Anaxagoras; and, connected with chemical arts, the narrative of the +inventions of Archimedes alone, by Plutarch, would seem to show how great +is the effect of science in creating power. In modern times, the +refining of sugar, the preparation of nitre, the manufacturing of acids, +salts, &c., are all results of pure chemistry. Take gunpowder as a +specimen; no person but a man infinitely diversifying his processes and +guided by analogy could have made such a discovery. Look into the books +of the alchemists, and some idea may be formed of the effects of +experiments. It is true, these persons were guided by false views, yet +they made most useful researches; and Lord Bacon has justly compared them +to the husbandman who, searching for an imaginary treasure, fertilised +the soil. They might likewise be compared to persons who, looking for +gold, discover the fragments of beautiful statues, which separately are +of no value, and which appear of little value to the persons who found +them; but which, when selected and put together by artists and their +defective parts supplied, are found to be wonderfully perfect and worthy +of conservation. Look to the progress of the arts since they have been +enlightened by a system of science, and observe with what rapidity they +have advanced. Again, the steam-engine in its rudest form was the result +of a chemical experiment; in its refined state it required the +combinations of all the most recondite principles of chemistry and +mechanics, and that excellent philosopher who has given this wonderful +instrument of power to civil society was led to the great improvements he +made by the discoveries of a kindred genius on the heat absorbed when +water becomes steam, and of the heat evolved when steam becomes water. +Even the most superficial observer must allow in this case a triumph of +science, for what a wonderful impulse has this invention given to the +progress of the arts and manufactories in our country, how much has it +diminished labour, how much has it increased the real strength of the +country! Acting as it were with a thousand hands, it has multiplied our +active population; and receiving its elements of activity from the bowels +of the earth, it performs operations which formerly were painful, +oppressive, and unhealthy to the labourers, with regularity and +constancy, and gives security and precision to the efforts of the +manufacturer. And the inventions connected with the steam-engine, at the +same time that they have greatly diminished labour of body, have tended +to increase power of mind and intellectual resources. Adam Smith well +observes that manufacturers are always more ingenious than husbandmen; +and manufacturers who use machinery will probably always be found more +ingenious than handicraft manufacturers. You spoke of porcelain as a +result of accident; the improvements invented in this country, as well as +those made in Germany and France, have been entirely the result of +chemical experiments; the Dresden and the Sevres manufactories have been +the work of men of science, and it was by multiplying his chemical +researches that Wedgewood was enabled to produce at so cheap a rate those +beautiful imitations which while they surpass the ancient vases in +solidity and perfection of material, equal them in elegance, variety, and +tasteful arrangement of their forms. In another department, the use of +the electrical conductor was a pure scientific combination, and the +sublimity of the discovery of the American philosopher was only equalled +by the happy application he immediately made of it. In our own times it +would be easy to point out numerous instances in which great improvements +and beneficial results connected with the comforts, the happiness, and +even life of our fellow creatures have been the results of scientific +combinations; but I cannot do this without constituting myself a judge of +the works of philosophers who are still alive, whose researches are +known, whose labours are respected, and who will receive from posterity +praises that their contemporaries hardly dare to bestow upon them. + +_Eub_.--We will allow that you have shown in many cases the utility of +scientific investigation as connected with the progress of the useful +arts. But, in general, both the principles of chemistry are followed, +and series of experiments performed without any view to utility; and a +great noise is made if a new metal or a new substance is discovered, or +if some abstracted law is made known relating to the phenomena of nature; +yet, amongst the variety of new substances, few have been applied to any +trifling use even, and the greater number have had no application at all. +And with respect to the general views of the science, it would be +difficult to show that any real good had resulted from the discovery or +extension of them. It does not add much to the dignity of a pursuit that +those persons who have followed it for profit have really been most +useful, and that the mere artisan or chemical manufacturer has done more +for society than the chemical philosopher. Besides, it has always +appeared to me that it is in the nature of this science to encourage +mediocrity and to attach importance to insignificant things; very slight +chemical labours seem to give persons a claim to the title of +philosopher--to have dissolved a few grains of chalk in an acid, to have +shown that a very useless stone contains certain known ingredients, or +that the colouring matter of a flower is soluble in acid and not in +alkali, is thought by some a foundation for chemical celebrity. I once +began to attend a course of chemical lectures and to read the journals +containing the ephemeral productions of this science; I was dissatisfied +with the nature of the evidence which the professor adopted in his +demonstrations, and disgusted with the series of observations and +experiments which were brought forward one month to be overturned the +next. In November there was a Zingeberic acid, which in January was +shown to have no existence; one year there was a vegetable acid, which +the next was shown to be the same as an acid known thirty years ago; to- +day a man was celebrated for having discovered a new metal or a new +alkali, and they flourished like the scenes in a new pantomime only to +disappear. Then, the great object of the hundred triflers in the science +appeared to be to destroy the reputation of the three or four great men +whose labours were really useful, and had in them something of dignity. +And, there not being enough of trifling results or false experiments to +fill up the pages of the monthly journals, the deficiency was supplied by +some crude theories or speculations of unknown persons, or by some ill- +judged censure or partial praise of the editor. + +_The Unknown_.--I deny _in toto_ the accuracy of what you are advancing. +I have already shown that real philosophers, not labouring for profit, +have done much by their own inventions for the useful arts; and, amongst +the new substances discovered, many have had immediate and very important +applications. The chlorine, or oxymuriatic gas of Scheele, was scarcely +known before it was applied by Berthollet to bleaching; scarcely was +muriatic acid gas discovered by Priestley, when Guyton de Morveau used it +for destroying contagion. Consider the varied and diversified +applications of platinum, which has owed its existence as a useful metal +entirely to the labours of an illustrious chemical philosopher; look at +the beautiful yellow afforded by one of the new metals, chrome; consider +the medical effects of iodine in some of the most painful and disgusting +maladies belonging to human nature, and remember how short a time +investigations have been made for applying the new substances. Besides, +the mechanical or chemical manufacturer has rarely discovered anything; +he has merely applied what the philosopher has made known, he has merely +worked upon the materials furnished to him. We have no history of the +manner in which iron was rendered malleable; but we know that platinum +could only have been worked by a person of the most refined chemical +resources, who made multiplied experiments upon it after the most +ingenious and profound views. But, waiving all common utility, all +vulgar applications, there is something in knowing and understanding the +operation of Nature, some pleasure in contemplating the order and harmony +of the arrangements belonging to the terrestrial system of things. There +is no absolute utility in poetry, but it gives pleasure, refines and +exalts the mind. Philosophic pursuits have likewise a noble and +independent use of this kind, and there is a double reason offered for +pursuing them, for whilst in their sublime speculations they reach to the +heavens, in their application they belong to the earth; whilst they exalt +the intellect, they provide food for our common wants, and likewise +minister to the noblest appetites and most exalted views belonging to our +nature. The results of this science are not like the temples of the +ancients, in which statues of the gods were placed, where incense was +offered and sacrifices were performed, and which were presented to the +adoration of the multitude founded upon superstitious feelings; but they +are rather like the palaces of the moderns, to be admired and used, and +where the statues, which in the ancients raised feelings of adoration and +awe, now produce only feelings of pleasure, and gratify a refined taste. +It is surely a pure delight to know how and by what processes this earth +is clothed with verdure and life, how the clouds, mists, and rain are +formed, what causes all the changes of this terrestrial system of things, +and by what divine laws order is preserved amidst apparent confusion. It +is a sublime occupation to investigate the cause of the tempest and the +volcano, and to point out their use in the economy of things, to bring +the lightning from the clouds and make it subservient to our experiments, +to produce, as it were, a microcosm in the laboratory of art, and to +measure and weigh those invisible atoms which, by their motions and +changes according to laws impressed upon them by the Divine Intelligence, +constitute the universe of things. The true chemical philosopher sees +good in all the diversified forms of the external world. Whilst he +investigates the operations of infinite power guided by infinite wisdom, +all low prejudices, all mean superstitions, disappear from his mind. He +sees man an atom amidst atoms fixed upon a point in space, and yet +modifying the laws that are around him by understanding them, and +gaining, as it were, a kind of dominion over time and an empire in +material space, and exerting on a scale infinitely small a power seeming +a sort of shadow or reflection of a creative energy, and which entitles +him to the distinction of being made in the image of God and animated by +a spark of the Divine Mind. Whilst chemical pursuits exalt the +understanding, they do not depress the imagination or weaken genuine +feeling; whilst they give the mind habits of accuracy by obliging it to +attend to facts, they likewise extend its analogies, and though +conversant with the minute forms of things, they have for their ultimate +end the great and magnificent objects of Nature. They regard the +formation of a crystal, the structure of a pebble, the nature of a clay +or earth; and they apply to the causes of the diversity of our mountain +chains, the appearances of the winds, thunderstorms, meteors, the +earthquake, the volcano, and all those phenomena which offer the most +striking images to the poet and the painter. They keep alive that +inextinguishable thirst after knowledge which is one of the greatest +characteristics of our nature, for every discovery opens a new field for +investigation of facts, shows us the imperfection of our theories. It +has justly been said that the greater the circle of light, the greater +the boundary of darkness by which it is surrounded. This strictly +applies to chemical inquiries, and hence they are wonderfully suited to +the progressive nature of the human intellect, which by its increasing +efforts to acquire a higher kind of wisdom, and a state in which truth is +fully and brightly revealed, seems, as it were, to demonstrate its +birthright to immortality. + +_Eub_.--I am glad that our opposition has led you to so complete a +vindication of your favourite science. I want no further proof of its +utility. I regret that I have not before made it a particular object of +study. + +_Phil_.--As our friend has so fully convinced us of the importance of +chemistry, I hope he will descend to some particulars as to its real +nature, its objects, its instruments. I would willingly have a +definition of chemistry and some idea of the qualifications necessary to +become a chemist, and of the apparatus essential for understanding what +has been already done in the science, and for pursuing new inquiries. + +_The Unknown_.--There is nothing more difficult than a good definition, +for it is scarcely possible to express in a few words the abstracted view +of an infinite variety of facts. Dr. Black has defined chemistry to be +that science which treats of the changes produced in bodies by motions of +their ultimate particles or atoms, but this definition is hypothetical, +for the ultimate particles or atoms are mere creations of the +imagination. I will give you a definition, which will have the merit of +novelty and which is probably general in its application. Chemistry +relates to those operations by which the intimate nature of bodies is +changed, or by which they acquire new properties. This definition will +not only apply to the effects of mixture, but to the phenomena of +electricity, and, in short, to all the changes which do not merely depend +upon the motion or division of masses of matter. However difficult it +may have been to have given you a definition of chemistry, it is still +more difficult to give you a detail of all the qualities necessary for a +chemical philosopher. I will not name as many as Athenaeus has named for +a cook, who, he says, ought to be a mathematician, a theoretical +musician, a natural philosopher, a natural historian, &c., though you had +a disposition just now to make chemistry merely subservient to the uses +of the kitchen. But I will seriously mention some of the studies +fundamental to the higher departments of this science; a man may be a +good practical chemist perhaps without possessing them, but he never can +become a great chemical philosopher. The person who wishes to understand +the higher departments of chemistry, or to pursue them in their most +interesting relations to the economy of Nature, ought to be well-grounded +in elementary mathematics; he will oftener have to refer to arithmetic +than algebra, and to algebra than to geometry. But all these sciences +lend their aid to chemistry; arithmetic, in determining the proportions +of analytical results and the relative weights of the elements of bodies; +algebra, in ascertaining the laws of the pressure of elastic fluids, the +force of vapour as dependent upon temperature, and the effects of masses +and surfaces on the communication and radiation of heat; the applications +of geometry are principally limited to the determination of the +crystalline forms of bodies, which constitute the most important type of +their nature, and often offer useful hints for analytical researches +respecting their composition. The first principles of natural philosophy +or general physics ought not to be entirely unknown to the chemist. As +the most active agents are fluids, elastic fluids, heat, light, and +electricity, he ought to have a general knowledge of mechanics, +hydrodynamics, pneumatics, optics, and electricity. Latin and Greek +among the dead and French among the modern languages are necessary, and, +as the most important after French, German and Italian. In natural +history and in literature what belongs to a liberal education, such as +that of our universities, is all that is required; indeed, a young man +who has performed the ordinary course of college studies which are +supposed fitted for common life and for refined society, has all the +preliminary knowledge necessary to commence the study of chemistry. The +apparatus essential to the modern chemical philosopher is much less bulky +and expensive than that used by the ancients. An air pump, an electrical +machine, a voltaic battery (all of which may be upon a small scale), a +blow-pipe apparatus, a bellows and forge, a mercurial and water-gas +apparatus, cups and basins of platinum and glass, and the common reagents +of chemistry, are what are required. All the implements absolutely +necessary may be carried in a small trunk, and some of the best and most +refined researches of modern chemists have been made by means of an +apparatus which might with ease be contained in a small travelling +carriage, and the expense of which is only a few pounds. The facility +with which chemical inquiries are carried on, and the simplicity of the +apparatus, offer additional reasons, to those I have already given, for +the pursuit of this science. It is not injurious to the health; the +modern chemist is not like the ancient one, who passed the greater part +of his time exposed to the heat and smoke of a furnace and the +unwholesome vapours of acids and alkalies and other menstrua, of which, +for a single experiment, he consumed several pounds. His processes may +be carried on in the drawing-room, and some of them are no less beautiful +in appearance than satisfactory in their results. It was said, by an +author belonging to the last century, of alchemy, "that its beginning was +deceit, its progress labour, and its end beggary." It may be said of +modern chemistry, that its beginning is pleasure, its progress knowledge, +and its objects truth and utility. I have spoken of the scientific +attainments necessary for the chemical philosopher; I will say a few +words of the intellectual qualities necessary for discovery or for the +advancement of the science. Amongst them patience, industry, and +neatness in manipulation, and accuracy and minuteness in observing and +registering the phenomena which occur, are essential. A steady hand and +a quick eye are most useful auxiliaries; but there have been very few +great chemists who have preserved these advantages through life; for the +business of the laboratory is often a service of danger, and the +elements, like the refractory spirits of romance, though the obedient +slave of the magician, yet sometimes escape the influence of his talisman +and endanger his person. Both the hands and eyes of others, however, may +be sometimes advantageously made use of. By often repeating a process or +an observation, the errors connected with hasty operations or imperfect +views are annihilated; and, provided the assistant has no preconceived +notions of his own, and is ignorant of the object of his employer in +making the experiment, his simple and bare detail of facts will often be +the best foundation for an opinion. With respect to the higher qualities +of intellect necessary for understanding and developing the general laws +of the science, the same talents I believe are required as for making +advancement in every other department of human knowledge; I need not be +very minute. The imagination must be active and brilliant in seeking +analogies; yet entirely under the influence of the judgment in applying +them. The memory must be extensive and profound; rather, however, +calling up general views of things than minute trains of thought. The +mind must not be, like an encyclopedia, a burthen of knowledge, but +rather a critical dictionary which abounds in generalities, and points +out where more minute information may be obtained. In detailing the +results of experiments and in giving them to the world, the chemical +philosopher should adopt the simplest style and manner; he will avoid all +ornaments as something injurious to his subject, and should bear in mind +the saying of the first king of Great Britain respecting a sermon which +was excellent in doctrine but overcharged with poetical allusions and +figurative language, "that the tropes and metaphors of the speaker were +like the brilliant wild flowers in a field of corn--very pretty, but +which did very much hurt the corn." In announcing even the greatest and +most important discoveries, the true philosopher will communicate his +details with modesty and reserve; he will rather be a useful servant of +the public, bringing forth a light from under his cloak when it is needed +in darkness, than a charlatan exhibiting fireworks and having a trumpeter +to announce their magnificence. I see you are smiling, and think what I +am saying in bad taste; yet, notwithstanding, I will provoke your smiles +still further by saying a word or two on his other moral qualities. That +he should be humble-minded, you will readily allow, and a diligent +searcher after truth, and neither diverted from this great object by the +love of transient glory or temporary popularity, looking rather to the +opinion of ages than to that of a day, and seeking to be remembered and +named rather in the epochas of historians than in the columns of +newspaper writers or journalists. He should resemble the modern +geometricians in the greatness of his views and the profoundness of his +researches, and the ancient alchemists in industry and piety. I do not +mean that he should affix written prayers and inscriptions of +recommendations of his processes to Providence, as was the custom of +Peter Wolfe, and who was alive in my early days, but his mind should +always be awake to devotional feeling, and in contemplating the variety +and the beauty of the external world, and developing its scientific +wonders, he will always refer to that infinite wisdom through whose +beneficence he is permitted to enjoy knowledge; and, in becoming wiser, +he will become better, he will rise at once in the scale of intellectual +and moral existence, his increased sagacity will be subservient to a more +exalted faith, and in proportion as the veil becomes thinner through +which he sees the causes of things he will admire more the brightness of +the divine light by which they are rendered visible. + + + + +DIALOGUE THE SIXTH. POLA, OR TIME. + + +During our stay in Illyria, I made an excursion by water with the +Unknown, my preserver, now become my friend, and Eubathes, to Pola, in +Istria. We entered the harbour of Pola in a felucca when the sun was +setting; and I know no scene more splendid than the amphitheatre seen +from the sea in this light. It appears not as a building in ruins, but +like a newly erected work, and the reflection of the colours of its +brilliant marble and beautiful forms seen upon the calm surface of the +waters gave to it a double effect--that of a glorious production of art +and of a magnificent picture. We examined with pleasure the remains of +the arch of Augustus and the temple, very perfect monuments of imperial +grandeur. But the splendid exterior of the amphitheatre was not in +harmony with the bare and naked walls of the interior; there were none of +those durable and grand seats of marble, such as adorn the amphitheatre +of Verona, from which it is probable that the whole of the arena and +conveniences for the spectators had been constructed of wood. Their +total disappearance led us to reflect upon the causes of the destruction +of so many of the works of the older nations. I said, in our +metaphysical abstractions, we refer the changes, the destruction of +material forms, to time, but there must be physical laws in Nature by +which they are produced; and I begged our new friend to give us some +ideas on this subject in his character of chemical philosopher. If human +science, I said, has discovered the principle of the decay of things, it +is possible that human art may supply means of conservation, and bestow +immortality on some of the works which appear destined by their +perfection for future ages. + +_The Unknown_.--I shall willingly communicate to you my views of the +operation of time, philosophically considered. A great philosopher has +said, man can in no other way command Nature but in obeying her laws; +and, in these laws, the principle of change is a principle of life; +without decay, there can be no reproduction; and everything belonging to +the earth, whether in its primitive state, or modified by human hands, is +submitted to certain and immutable laws of destruction, as permanent and +universal as those which produce the planetary motions. The property +which, as far as our experience extends, universally belongs to matter, +gravitation, is the first and most general cause of change in our +terrestrial system; and, whilst it preserves the great mass of the globe +in a uniform state, its influence is continually producing alterations +upon the surface. The water, raised in vapour by the solar heat, is +precipitated by the cool air in the atmosphere; it is carried down by +gravitation to the surface, and gains its mechanical force from this law. +Whatever is elevated above the superfices by the powers of vegetation or +animal life, or by the efforts of man, by gravitation constantly tends to +the common centre of attraction; and the great reason of the duration of +the pyramid above all other forms is, that it is most fitted to resist +the force of gravitation. The arch, the pillar, and all perpendicular +constructions, are liable to fall when a degradation from chemical or +mechanical causes takes place in their inferior parts. The forms upon +the surface of the globe are preserved from the influence of gravitation +by the attraction of cohesion, or by chemical attraction; but if their +parts had freedom of motion, they would all be levelled by this power, +gravitation, and the globe would appear as a plane and smooth oblate +spheroid, flattened at the poles. The attraction of cohesion or chemical +attraction, in its most energetic state, is not liable to be destroyed by +gravitation; this power only assists the agencies of other causes of +degradation. Attraction, of whatever kind, tends, as it were, to produce +rest--a sort of eternal sleep in Nature. The great antagonist power is +heat. By the influence of the sun the globe is exposed to great +varieties of temperature; an addition of heat expands bodies, and an +abstraction of heat causes them to contract; by variation of heat, +certain kinds of matter are rendered fluid, or elastic, and changes from +fluids into solids, or from solids or fluids into elastic substances, and +_vice versa_, are produced; and all these phenomena are connected with +alterations tending to the decay or destruction of bodies. It is not +probable that the mere contraction or expansion of a solid, from the +subtraction or addition of heat, tends to loosen its parts; but if water +exists in these parts, then its expansion, either in becoming vapour or +ice, tends not only to diminish their cohesion, but to break them into +fragments. There is, you know, a very remarkable property of water--its +expansion by cooling, and at the time of becoming ice--and this is a +great cause of destruction in the northern climates; for where ice forms +in the crevices or cavities of stones, or when water which has penetrated +into cement freezes, its expansion acts with the force of the lever or +the screw in destroying or separating the parts of bodies. The +mechanical powers of water, as rain, hail, or snow, in descending from +the atmosphere, are not entirely without effect; for in acting upon the +projections of solids, drops of water or particles of snow, and still +more of hail, have a power of abrasion, and a very soft substance, from +its mass assisting gravitation, may break a much harder one. The +glacier, by its motion, grinds into powder the surface of the granite +rock; and the Alpine torrents, that have their origin under glaciers, are +always turbid, from the destruction of the rocks on which the glacier is +formed. The effect of a torrent in deepening its bed will explain the +mechanical agency of fluid-water, though this effect is infinitely +increased, and sometimes almost entirely dependent, upon the solid +matters which are carried down by it. An angular fragment of stone in +the course of ages moved in the cavity of a rock makes a deep round +excavation, and is worn itself into a spherical form. A torrent of rain +flowing down the side of a building carries with it the silicious dust, +or sand, or matter which the wind has deposited there, and acts upon a +scale infinitely more minute, but according to the same law. The +buildings of ancient Rome have not only been liable to the constant +operation of the rain-courses, or minute torrents produced by rains, but +even the Tiber, swollen with floods of the Sabine mountains and the +Apennines, has often entered into the city, and a winter seldom passes +away in which the area of the Pantheon has not been filled with water, +and the reflection of the cupola seen in a smooth lake below. The +monuments of Egypt are perhaps the most ancient and permanent of those +belonging to the earth, and in that country rain is almost unknown. And +all the causes of degradation connected with the agency of water act more +in the temperate climates than in the hot ones, and most of all in those +countries where the inequalities of temperature are greatest. The +mechanical effects of air are principally in the action of winds in +assisting the operation of gravitation, and in abrading by dust, sand, +stones, and atmospheric water. These effects, unless it be in the case +of a building blown down by a tempest, are imperceptible in days, or even +years; yet a gentle current of air carrying the silicious sand of the +desert, or the dust of a road for ages against the face of a structure, +must ultimately tend to injure it, for with infinite or unlimited +duration, an extremely small cause will produce a very great effect. The +mechanical agency of electricity is very limited; the effects of +lightning have, however, been witnessed, even in some of the great +monuments of antiquity, the Colosaeum at Rome, for instance; and only +last year, in a violent thunderstorm, some of the marble, I have been +informed, was struck from the top of one of the arches in this building, +and a perpendicular rent made, of some feet in diameter. But the +chemical effects of electricity, though excessively slow and gradual, yet +are much more efficient in the great work of destruction. It is to the +general chemical doctrines of the changes produced by this powerful agent +that I must now direct your especial attention. + +_Eub_.--Would not the consideration of the subject have been more +distinct, and your explanations of the phenomena more simple, had you +commenced by dividing the causes of change into mechanical and chemical; +if you had first considered them separately, and then their joint +effects? + +_The Unknown_.--The order I have adopted is not very remote from this. +But I was perhaps wrong in treating first of the agency of gravitation, +which owes almost all its powers to the operation of other causes. In +consequence of your hint, I shall alter my plan a little, and consider +first the chemical agency of water, then that of air, and lastly that of +electricity. In every species of chemical change, temperature is +concerned. But unless the results of volcanoes and earthquakes be +directly referred to this power, it has no chemical effect in relation to +the changes ascribed to time simply considered as heat, but its +operations, which are the most important belonging to the terrestrial +cycle of changes, are blended with, or bring into activity, those of +other agents. One of the most distinct and destructive agencies of water +depends upon its solvent powers, which are usually greatest when its +temperature is highest. Water is capable of dissolving, in larger or +smaller proportions, most compound bodies, and the calcareous and +alkaline elements of stones are particularly liable to this kind of +operation. When water holds in solution carbonic acid, which is always +the case when it is precipitated from the atmosphere, its power of +dissolving carbonate of lime is very much increased, and in the +neighbourhood of great cities, where the atmosphere contains a large +proportion of this principle, the solvent powers of rain upon the marble +exposed to it must be greatest. Whoever examines the marble statues in +the British Museum, which have been removed from the exterior of the +Parthenon, will be convinced that they have suffered from this agency; +and an effect distinct in the pure atmosphere and temperate climate of +Athens, must be upon a higher scale in the vicinity of other great +European cities, where the consumption of fuel produces carbonic acid in +large quantities. Metallic substances, such as iron, copper, bronze, +brass, tin, and lead, whether they exist in stones, or are used for +support or connection in buildings, are liable to be corroded by water +holding in solution the principles of the atmosphere; and the rust and +corrosion, which are made, poetically, qualities of time, depend upon the +oxidating powers of water, which by supplying oxygen in a dissolved or +condensed state enables the metals to form new combinations. All the +vegetable substances, exposed to water and air, are liable to decay, and +even the vapour in the air, attracted by wood, gradually reacts upon its +fibres and assists decomposition, or enables its elements to take new +arrangements. Hence it is that none of the roofs of ancient buildings +more than a thousand years old remain, unless it be such as are +constructed of stone, as those of the Pantheon of Rome and the tomb of +Theodoric at Ravenna, the cupola of which is composed of a single block +of marble. The pictures of the Greek masters, which were painted on the +wood of the abies, or pine of the Mediterranean, likewise, as we are +informed by Pliny, owed their destruction not to a change in the colours, +not to the alteration of the calcareous ground on which they were +painted, but to the decay of the tablets of wood on which the intonaco or +stucco was laid. Amongst the substances employed in building, wood, +iron, tin, and lead, are most liable to decay from the operation of +water, then marble, when exposed to its influence in the fluid form; +brass, copper, granite, sienite, and porphyry are more durable. But in +stones, much depends upon the peculiar nature of their constituent parts; +when the feldspar of the granite rocks contains little alkali or +calcareous earth, it is a very permanent stone; but, when in granite, +porphyry, or sienite, either the feldspar contains much alkaline matter, +or the mica, schorl, or hornblende much protoxide of iron, the action of +water containing oxygen and carbonic acid on the ferruginous elements +tends to produce the disintegration of the stone. The red granite, black +sienite, and red porphyry of Egypt, which are seen at Rome in obelisks, +columns, and sarcophagi, are amongst the most durable compound stones; +but the grey granites of Corsica and Elba are extremely liable to undergo +alteration: the feldspar contains much alkaline matter; and the mica and +schorl, much protoxide of iron. A remarkable instance of the decay of +granite may be seen in the Hanging Tower of Pisa; whilst the marble +pillars in the basement remain scarcely altered, the granite ones have +lost a considerable portion of their surface, which falls off continually +in scales, and exhibits everywhere stains from the formation of peroxide +of iron. The kaolin, or clay, used in most countries for the manufacture +of fine porcelain or china, is generally produced from the feldspar of +decomposing granite, in which the cause of decay is the dissolution and +separation of the alkaline ingredients. + +_Eub_.--I have seen serpentines, basalts, and lavas which internally were +dark, and which from their weight, I should suppose, must contain oxide +of iron, superficially brown or red, and decomposing. Undoubtedly this +was from the action of water impregnated with air upon their ferruginous +elements. + +_The Unknown_.--You are perfectly right. There are few compound stones, +possessing a considerable specific gravity, which are not liable to +change from this cause; and oxide of iron amongst the metallic substances +anciently known, is the most generally diffused in nature, and most +concerned in the changes which take place on the surface of the globe. +The chemical action of carbonic acid is so much connected with that of +water, that it is scarcely possible to speak of them separately, as must +be evident from what I have before said; but the same action which is +exerted by the acid dissolved in water is likewise exerted by it in its +elastic state, and in this case the facility with which the quantity is +changed makes up for the difference of the degree of condensation. There +is no reason to believe that the azote of the atmosphere has any +considerable action in producing changes of the nature we are studying on +the surface; the aqueous vapour, the oxygen and the carbonic acid gas, +are, however, constantly in combined activity, and above all the oxygen. +And, whilst water, uniting its effects with those of carbonic acid, tends +to disintegrate the parts of stones, the oxygen acts upon vegetable +matter. And this great chemical agent is at once necessary, in all the +processes of life and in all those of decay, in which Nature, as it were, +takes again to herself those instruments, organs, and powers, which had +for a while been borrowed and employed for the purpose or the wants of +the living principle. Almost everything effected by rapid combinations +in combustion may also be effected gradually by the slow absorption of +oxygen; and though the productions of the animal and vegetable kingdom +are much more submitted to the power of atmospheric agents than those of +the mineral kingdom, yet, as in the instances which have just been +mentioned, oxygen gradually destroys the equilibrium of the elements of +stones, and tends to reduce into powder, to render fit for soils, even +the hardest aggregates belonging to our globe. Electricity, as a +chemical agent, may be considered not only as directly producing an +infinite variety of changes, but likewise as influencing almost all which +take place. There are not two substances on the surface of the globe +that are not in different electrical relations to each other; and +chemical attraction itself seems to be a peculiar form of the exhibition +of electrical attraction; and wherever the atmosphere, or water, or any +part of the surface of the earth gains accumulated electricity of a +different kind from the contiguous surfaces, the tendency of this +electricity is to produce new arrangements of the parts of these +surfaces; thus a positively electrified cloud, acting even at a great +distance on a moistened stone, tends to attract its oxygenous, or +acidiform or acid, ingredients, and a negatively electrified cloud has +the same effect upon its earthy, alkaline, or metallic matter. And the +silent and slow operation of electricity is much more important in the +economy of Nature than its grand and impressive operation in lightning +and thunder. The chemical agencies of water and air are assisted by +those of electricity; and their joint effects combined with those of +gravitation and the mechanical ones I first described are sufficient to +account for the results of time. But the physical powers of Nature in +producing decay are assisted likewise by certain agencies or energies of +organised beings. A polished surface of a building or a statue is no +sooner made rough from the causes that have been mentioned than the seeds +of lichens and mosses, which are constantly floating in our atmosphere, +make it a place of repose, grow, and increase, and from their death, +their decay, and decomposition carbonaceous matter is produced, and at +length a soil is formed, in which grass can fix its roots. In the +crevices of walls, where this soil is washed down, even the seeds of +trees grow, and, gradually as a building becomes more ruined, ivy and +other parasitical plants cover it. Even the animal creation lends its +aid in the process of destruction when man no longer labours for the +conservation of his works. The fox burrows amongst ruins, bats and birds +nestle in the cavities in walls, the snake and the lizard likewise make +them their habitation. Insects act upon a smaller scale, but by their +united energies sometimes produce great effect; the ant, by establishing +her colony and forming her magazines, often saps the foundations of the +strongest buildings, and the most insignificant creatures triumph, as it +were, over the grandest works of man. Add to these sure and slow +operations the devastations of war, the effects of the destructive zeal +of bigotry, the predatory fury of barbarians seeking for concealed wealth +under the foundations of buildings, and tearing from them every metallic +substance, and it is rather to be wondered that any of the works of the +great nations of antiquity are still in existence. + +_Phil_.--Your view of the causes of devastation really is a melancholy +one. Nor do I see any remedy; the most important causes will always +operate. Yet, supposing the constant existence of a highly civilised +people, the ravages of time might be repaired, and by defending the +finest works of art from the external atmosphere, their changes would be +scarcely perceptible. + +_Eub_.--I doubt much whether it is for the interests of a people that its +public works should be of a durable kind. One of the great causes of the +decline of the Roman Empire was that the people of the Republic and of +the first empire left nothing for their posterity to do; aqueducts, +temples, forums, everything was supplied, and there were no objects to +awaken activity, no necessity to stimulate their inventive faculties, and +hardly any wants to call forth their industry. + +_The Unknown_.--At least, you must allow the importance of preserving +objects of the fine arts. Almost everything we have worthy of admiration +is owing to what has been preserved from the Greek school, and the +nations who have not possessed these works or models have made little or +no progress towards perfection. Nor does it seem that a mere imitation +of Nature is sufficient to produce the beautiful or perfect; but the +climate, the manners, customs, and dress of the people, its genius and +taste, all co-operate. Such principles of conservation as Philalethes +has referred to are obvious. No works of excellence ought to be exposed +to the atmosphere, and it is a great object to preserve them in +apartments of equable temperature and extremely dry. The roofs of +magnificent buildings should be of materials not likely to be dissolved +by water or changed by air. Many electrical conductors should be placed +so as to prevent the slow or the rapid effects of atmospheric +electricity. In painting, lapis lazuli or coloured hard glasses, in +which the oxides are not liable to change, should be used, and should be +laid on marble or stucco encased in stone, and no animal or vegetable +substances, except pure carbonaceous matter, should be used in the +pigments, and none should be mixed with the varnishes. + +_Eub_.--Yet, when all is done that can be done in the work of +conservation, it is only producing a difference in the degree of +duration. And from the statements that our friend has made it is evident +that none of the works of a mortal being can be eternal, as none of the +combinations of a limited intellect can be infinite. The operations of +Nature, when slow, are no less sure; however man may for a time usurp +dominion over her, she is certain of recovering her empire. He converts +her rocks, her stones, her trees, into forms of palaces, houses, and +ships; he employs the metals found in the bosom of the earth as +instruments of power, and the sands and clays which constitute its +surface as ornaments and resources of luxury; he imprisons air by water, +and tortures water by fire to change or modify or destroy the natural +forms of things. But, in some lustrums his works begin to change, and in +a few centuries they decay and are in ruins; and his mighty temples, +framed as it were for immortal and divine purposes, and his bridges +formed of granite and ribbed with iron, and his walls for defence, and +the splendid monuments by which he has endeavoured to give eternity even +to his perishable remains, are gradually destroyed; and these structures, +which have resisted the waves of the ocean, the tempests of the sky, and +the stroke of the lightning, shall yield to the operation of the dews of +heaven, of frost, rain, vapour, and imperceptible atmospheric influences; +and, as the worm devours the lineaments of his mortal beauty, so the +lichens and the moss and the most insignificant plants shall feed upon +his columns and his pyramids, and the most humble and insignificant +insects shall undermine and sap the foundations of his colossal works, +and make their habitations amongst the ruins of his palaces and the +falling seats of his earthly glory. + +_Phil_.--Your history of the laws of the inevitable destruction of +material forms recalls to my memory our discussion at Adelsberg. The +changes of the material universe are in harmony with those which belong +to the human body, and which you suppose to be the frame or machinery of +the sentient principle. May we not venture to imagine that the visible +and tangible world, with which we are acquainted by our sensations, bears +the same relation to the Divine and Infinite Intelligence that our organs +bear to our mind, with this only difference, that in the changes of the +divine system there is no decay, there being in the order of things a +perfect unity, and all the powers springing from one will and being a +consequence of that will, are perfectly and unalterably balanced. Newton +seemed to apprehend, that in the laws of the planetary motions there was +a principle which would ultimately be the cause of the destruction of the +system. Laplace, by pursuing and refining the principles of our great +philosopher, has proved that what appeared sources of disorder are, in +fact, the perfecting machinery of the system, and that the principle of +conservation is as eternal as that of motion. + +_The Unknown_.--I dare not offer any speculations on this grand and awful +subject. We can hardly comprehend the cause of a simple atmospheric +phenomenon, such as the fall of a heavy body from a meteor; we cannot +even embrace in one view the millionth part of the objects surrounding +us, and yet we have the presumption to reason upon the infinite universe +and the eternal mind by which it was created and is governed. On these +subjects I have no confidence in reason, I trust only to faith; and, as +far as we ought to inquire, we have no other guide but revelation. + +_Phil_.--I agree with you that whenever we attempt metaphysical +speculations, we must begin with a foundation of faith. And being sure +from revelation that God is omnipotent and omnipresent, it appears to me +no improper use of our faculties to trace even in the natural universe +the acts of His power and the results of His wisdom, and to draw +parallels from the infinite to the finite mind. Remember, we are taught +that man was created in the image of God, and, I think, it cannot be +doubted that in the progress of society man has been made a great +instrument by his energies and labours for improving the moral universe. +Compare the Greeks and Romans with the Assyrians and Babylonians, and the +ancient Greeks and Romans with the nations of modern Christendom, and it +cannot, I think, be questioned that there has been a great superiority in +the latter nations, and that their improvements have been subservient to +a more exalted state of intellectual and religious existence. If this +little globe has been so modified by its powerful and active inhabitants, +I cannot help thinking that in other systems beings of a superior nature, +under the influence of a divine will, may act nobler parts. We know from +the sacred writings that there are intelligences of a higher nature than +man, and I cannot help sometimes referring to my vision in the Colosaeum, +and in supposing some acts of power of those genii or seraphs similar to +those which I have imagined in the higher planetary systems. There is +much reason to infer from astronomical observations that great changes +take place in the system of the fixed stars: Sir William Herschel, +indeed, seems to have believed that he saw nebulous or luminous matter in +the process of forming suns, and there are some astronomers who believe +that stars have been extinct; but it is more probable that they have +disappeared from peculiar motions. It is, perhaps, rather a poetical +than a philosophical idea, yet I cannot help forming the opinion that +genii or seraphic intelligences may inhabit these systems and may be the +ministers of the eternal mind in producing changes in them similar to +those which have taken place on the earth. Time is almost a human word +and change entirely a human idea; in the system of Nature we should +rather say progress than change. The sun appears to sink in the ocean in +darkness, but it rises in another hemisphere; the ruins of a city fall, +but they are often used to form more magnificent structures as at Rome; +but, even when they are destroyed, so as to produce only dust, Nature +asserts her empire over them, and the vegetable world rises in constant +youth, and--in a period of annual successions, by the labours of man +providing food--vitality, and beauty upon the wrecks of monuments, which +were once raised for purposes of glory, but which are now applied to +objects of utility. + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CONSOLATIONS IN TRAVEL*** + + +******* This file should be named 17882.txt or 17882.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/7/8/8/17882 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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