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Article NATIONAL CHARACTER. ← Page 2 of 2 Article MR. TASKER'S LETTERS Page 1 of 1
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National Character.
In studying our National character , I have found nothing so prominent as generosity , and I have therefore set it down as our distinguished characteristic—and to the feelings , connected with generosity ,. ! attribute much . of- the failures recorded in our political history ; for the amiable weaknesses are always the prey of the cunning .
Mr. Tasker's Letters
MR . TASKER'S LETTERS
LETTER THE NINTH . PHYSIOLOGY OF THE HEART . SIR , CONTINUED .
Xo-nov KIIJ , tlie strong or vigorous heart . " FROM this description one would almost conclude that Homer had known the true and genuine use of the noblest muscle '; though 1 am pretty confident that he did . not— Praj' , were you present at the dissection of the lion that died in the Tower ? If you were , you may easily conceive my meaning : for when I saw the heart of that
bold animal , I immediately thought on the phrase of Homer , and of Shakspeare ' s " lion-hearted Richard ; " the heart of the king of beasts being large , dense , and strong , in an amazing degree . Some naturalists tell us , that the hearts of timid animals are the largest ¦ : perhaps they mean that the cavities of the heart in deer , hares , & c . are preternaturally distendedby the refluent blood being driven
, into them , through the frequent acts of fear and trembling . And it is remarkable that , in the Iliad , Achilles insults Agamemnon , by ' telling him that he-had the eyes of a clog , and the heart of a deer . . _ Man , the lorcl of the creation ,- has no ri ght , 1 think , to be called a timid animal ; and man has as large an heart , and more brains , in proportion to his size , than any animal in nature . The elephant
that was dissected some time ago is no exception : for though that " half-reasoning brute , " as Pope stiles him , had ten pounds weight of brains , yet , when we consider the immense bulk of the creature , it had not so large a quantity in proportion as one of the human species . Again , a viper has , I believe , the least heart and largest liver of
almost any animal ; from which I conclude that it has less blood and mpre bile than any other ; and I suspect that the apparent quantity of bile contributes in a great measure to form the viperine virus . —¦ An unexpected circumstance obliges me to break oft' abruptly . Yours * , & c .
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
National Character.
In studying our National character , I have found nothing so prominent as generosity , and I have therefore set it down as our distinguished characteristic—and to the feelings , connected with generosity ,. ! attribute much . of- the failures recorded in our political history ; for the amiable weaknesses are always the prey of the cunning .
Mr. Tasker's Letters
MR . TASKER'S LETTERS
LETTER THE NINTH . PHYSIOLOGY OF THE HEART . SIR , CONTINUED .
Xo-nov KIIJ , tlie strong or vigorous heart . " FROM this description one would almost conclude that Homer had known the true and genuine use of the noblest muscle '; though 1 am pretty confident that he did . not— Praj' , were you present at the dissection of the lion that died in the Tower ? If you were , you may easily conceive my meaning : for when I saw the heart of that
bold animal , I immediately thought on the phrase of Homer , and of Shakspeare ' s " lion-hearted Richard ; " the heart of the king of beasts being large , dense , and strong , in an amazing degree . Some naturalists tell us , that the hearts of timid animals are the largest ¦ : perhaps they mean that the cavities of the heart in deer , hares , & c . are preternaturally distendedby the refluent blood being driven
, into them , through the frequent acts of fear and trembling . And it is remarkable that , in the Iliad , Achilles insults Agamemnon , by ' telling him that he-had the eyes of a clog , and the heart of a deer . . _ Man , the lorcl of the creation ,- has no ri ght , 1 think , to be called a timid animal ; and man has as large an heart , and more brains , in proportion to his size , than any animal in nature . The elephant
that was dissected some time ago is no exception : for though that " half-reasoning brute , " as Pope stiles him , had ten pounds weight of brains , yet , when we consider the immense bulk of the creature , it had not so large a quantity in proportion as one of the human species . Again , a viper has , I believe , the least heart and largest liver of
almost any animal ; from which I conclude that it has less blood and mpre bile than any other ; and I suspect that the apparent quantity of bile contributes in a great measure to form the viperine virus . —¦ An unexpected circumstance obliges me to break oft' abruptly . Yours * , & c .