Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
On The National Manners Of The French And English.
With regard to the real intrinsic comforts of existence , I think they are unknown in every country but our own . We are not ostentatiously splendid ; but what we have is good , and a mere extefJial glare would not , in our opinion , render it more valuable . —In cleanliness , articles of convenience and utility , we certainly surpass every country on earth . Step into the house of foreignerand afterwards
any , into the house of an English gentleman , and this point is immediately determined . The accommodations on cur roads for travellers are likewise , beyond all comparison , superior to those which are to be met with elsewhere . > « . —
On The Influence Of The Seasons On The Mental Powers.
ON THE INFLUENCE OF THE SEASONS ON THE MENTAL POWERS .
FOR THE SCIENTIFIC MAGAZINE . "K "OITH whatever air of triumph a sturdy moralist may exclaim ^* Sapiens dominahitur , astris , and bid defiance to the hand of winter ; yet the man who is composed of elements less hardy , courage less haughtyand limb less heroic ( see Milton ' s Par . Lost' IX . 484 )
, , , and who , with conscious humility , confesses the imbecility of his ' terrestrial mold , ' must acknowledge the influence of season over his body and mind to be very considerable and powerful . It is observed by Naturalists , that , in the gradual ranks . of beings which belong to our system , each class ascending partakes of some propertypeculiar to the class immediately below it . For instance , the herb
which rises next in order above lifeless matter , has in it material substance and vegetating qualities ; the beast has material substance , vegetating qualities , and loco-motion ; man has material-substance , vegetating qualities , loco-motion , and the highest portion of reason assigned to anv inhabitant of this s : lobe : and thus is there a connection which unites the sever . ; ] orders in one system ; and as that
connection proceeds from participation of similar component prin' ciples , it-is unavoidable but th :: t what affects one order , should also , in some measure , afFect all . Amidst the rigorous severity of winter we see the inanimate and irrational parts of creation in a state of torpid languor . The earth is hardened into an iron clod ; the waters are become ' a frozen continent' ( Par . Lost , II . 587 ); the power of
vegetation is checked in every plant ; domestic animals are contracted in their limbs ; and the wilder inhabitants of the woods are subdued into tameness , by intense cold : —rlt is therefore obvious to conclude , that man , in his animal part , must be unable to-resist the force of the atmosphere so entirely , as not to feel it either in a less or greater degree , according to the strength or weakness of his frame . The crepitans dentibiis algus of Lucretius , b . V . 745 , and Spenser ' s , ' Winter clad in frize , chattering his teetli for cold , ' b . VII . c . 7 . st . 31 ,
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
On The National Manners Of The French And English.
With regard to the real intrinsic comforts of existence , I think they are unknown in every country but our own . We are not ostentatiously splendid ; but what we have is good , and a mere extefJial glare would not , in our opinion , render it more valuable . —In cleanliness , articles of convenience and utility , we certainly surpass every country on earth . Step into the house of foreignerand afterwards
any , into the house of an English gentleman , and this point is immediately determined . The accommodations on cur roads for travellers are likewise , beyond all comparison , superior to those which are to be met with elsewhere . > « . —
On The Influence Of The Seasons On The Mental Powers.
ON THE INFLUENCE OF THE SEASONS ON THE MENTAL POWERS .
FOR THE SCIENTIFIC MAGAZINE . "K "OITH whatever air of triumph a sturdy moralist may exclaim ^* Sapiens dominahitur , astris , and bid defiance to the hand of winter ; yet the man who is composed of elements less hardy , courage less haughtyand limb less heroic ( see Milton ' s Par . Lost' IX . 484 )
, , , and who , with conscious humility , confesses the imbecility of his ' terrestrial mold , ' must acknowledge the influence of season over his body and mind to be very considerable and powerful . It is observed by Naturalists , that , in the gradual ranks . of beings which belong to our system , each class ascending partakes of some propertypeculiar to the class immediately below it . For instance , the herb
which rises next in order above lifeless matter , has in it material substance and vegetating qualities ; the beast has material substance , vegetating qualities , and loco-motion ; man has material-substance , vegetating qualities , loco-motion , and the highest portion of reason assigned to anv inhabitant of this s : lobe : and thus is there a connection which unites the sever . ; ] orders in one system ; and as that
connection proceeds from participation of similar component prin' ciples , it-is unavoidable but th :: t what affects one order , should also , in some measure , afFect all . Amidst the rigorous severity of winter we see the inanimate and irrational parts of creation in a state of torpid languor . The earth is hardened into an iron clod ; the waters are become ' a frozen continent' ( Par . Lost , II . 587 ); the power of
vegetation is checked in every plant ; domestic animals are contracted in their limbs ; and the wilder inhabitants of the woods are subdued into tameness , by intense cold : —rlt is therefore obvious to conclude , that man , in his animal part , must be unable to-resist the force of the atmosphere so entirely , as not to feel it either in a less or greater degree , according to the strength or weakness of his frame . The crepitans dentibiis algus of Lucretius , b . V . 745 , and Spenser ' s , ' Winter clad in frize , chattering his teetli for cold , ' b . VII . c . 7 . st . 31 ,