From Cope's Tobacco Plant. AMBER. there is the minimum of evidence has | working out the many and complicated been a favourite theme of philosophers. influences which tend to produce convicThere are two modes of this operation, tion respecting matters of character, quite according as the feeling predisposes to apart from the force of evidence, it canbelief in any shape or favours some par- not be surprising that people's judgments ticular variety of conviction. Both of on the ideas and motives of others are these modes may be illustrated in the class often so crude and inexact, and so little of beliefs of which we are now speaking. deserving to be called intuitions. An example of the first is given us in the action of a love of power on our observation of others' characters. A readiness in unravelling the threads of human sentiment and purpose has always been looked on as a ground for self-gratulation and for the admiration of others. A man who thinks himself capable of divining instantaneously another's unspoken thoughts has not only the pleasing consciousness of power which every supposition of knowledge brings with it, but also a gratifying feeling of equality with this second person. That is to say, he thinks himself on a level with this other in respect to the knowledge of any thoughts or impulses which may occur to him. Not only so, but the assumption of this omniscient insight into character will pretty certainly inspire awe, if not dread, in many other minds, so that the man or woman who can make any pretensions to this fine penetration will be able to indulge in the most delicious emotions of power and superiority. A supposition so intensely gratifying as this must be will pretty certainly be secure from that close scrutiny and careful verification which alone would prove its validity. AMBER is formed by the pith (medulla, or marrow) which flows from trees of the pine species, as gum flows from the cherry-trees and resin from pines. It is, first of all, a liquid which bursts forth in abundance; then it is congealed by the cold, or by the heat, or by the sea, when the great tides rise and sweep it from the islands. At all events, it is thrown on the coasts, and it seems to swim with the waves, and not go to the bottom. Our ancestors, thinking that it was the sap (succus) of a tree, called it, on that account, succinum. What proves that amber is the product of a species of pine, is that when rubbed it exhales an odour like that of the pine, and that when set on fire it burns after the fashion, and with the scent, of a resinous torch. It is conveyed by the Germans into Pannonia (Hungary) chiefly; thence the Veneti (Venetians), whom the Greeks called Heneti, who are in the immediate proximity to Pannonia, and who live round the Adriatic Sea, have brought it into vogue. The fable which has connected the Padus with amber has an evident cause. In our own day, the Transpadanian peasant women wear an amber necklace, for the sake of ornament, no doubt, but also as a remedy, forasmuch as amber is deemed good for affections of the tonsils and the fauces, these and the neighbouring parts of the body being subject to maladies produced by the different kinds of waters in the neighbourhood of the Alps. From Carnuntum, in Pannonia, to the coast of Germany, whence amber is brought, there are six hundred miles, a fact not known till recently. Still lives the Roman knight who was sent to procure amber by Julianus, superintendent of the gladiatorial games given by the emperor Nero. This knight travelled over the markets and the shores of the country, and brought back such an immense quantity of amber that the nets intended to protect the podium from the wild beasts were fastened with buttons of The feelings which predispose men to entertain à priori a certain kind of notion respecting the character of others are too numerous to be dwelt on here. It may suffice to mention a few of them. There is the desire for sympathy, which is very strong in most minds, and which prompts a person to anticipate that every new character will respond in a kind of grateful resonance to his individual sentiments. Then there are the impulses of love and admiration which predispose the mind to believe in human goodness and render it optimistic in its conceptions of character. On the other hand, there are the less pleasing sentiments of distrust, hostility, and contempt, which sustain the conception that everybody is mean and ignoble till he has proved himself to be the contrary. These and other feelings always dispose their possessors to form certain opinions respecting any new character long before they have the necessary foundation for such opinions. To any one who will give himself the trouble of beyond the consciousness of possessing an article of luxury. Domitius Nero (the emperor), along with his numerous other absurdities, had given the name of amber to the hair of his wife Poppæa, and he had even celebrated the hair as amber in some verses; for fine names are never lacking for corporeal defects. From that moment amber was a third colour, much in request with the (Roman) ladies. Amber, however, is found to be of some value in medicine; but that is not the reason why women are fond of it. Worn as an amulet by children, amber is advantageous. According to Callistratus, whether taken in a drink or worn as an amulet, amber at all ages is medicinal in cases of madness and dysuria. This writer mentions a fresh variety, which is called chryselectrum, and which is (as the name indicates) of the col amber. Adorned, likewise, with amber, | foolish superfluities there is either the satwere the arms, the biers, and the whole isfaction of vanity or there is real use; but apparatus for a day. The largest piece as regards amber there is nothing to charm the knight brought weighed thirteen pounds. It is certain that amber is also a growth of India. Archelaus, who reigned in Cappadocia, states that from that country (India) amber is brought in the crude state, and still adhering to the pine bark. It is polished by being sodden in the fat of a sucking pig. What proves that the amber first flows as a liquid is, that owing to its transparency different objects may be seen in the interior, such as ants, small flies, lizards. It is manifest that those objects got entangled in the amber when it was still in the liquid state, and that they remained imprisoned when the amber hardened. There are many kinds of amber; the white is that which has the sweetest scent; but neither the white nor the uncoloured is worth much. The deep yellow (fulvus, tawny, fallow) is the most esteemed. Though the trans-our of gold, and in the morning presents parency of the deep yellow amber is a recommendation, intense brilliancy is objectionable. To please there must be present, not fire but the resemblance of fire. The amber most in request is the Falernian, so called because it has the colour of Falernian wine. It is transparent, and has a softened splendour. Certain kinds attract by a tender shade, like the tint of boiled honey, but it ought to be known that any colour can be given to amber that is thought fit. A particular dye can be given to it by means of kid fat, or of the anchusa root; it can even be made to take a purple tinge. Moreover, when, by being rubbed in the hand, amber is enriched with an animating heat, it at tracts straw, dry leaves, bast, just as the loadstone attracts iron. Bits of amber in oil burn with a brighter and more enduring flame than wicks of flax tow. Such is the excessive commercial value of this substance, that a small human effigy in amber is sold for a higher price than living and vigorous men. Verily, one censure (of such folly) is not enough. In the objects called Corinthian, copper mixed with silver and gold pleases; in carved objects the skill and genius of the artist delight. We have shown what recommends murrhines and crystals. Pearls are worn in the ears; gems on the fingers. In short, in all the most charming gradations of hue. For fire it has a signal hunger, and if it is near fire it catches flame and burns with immense celerity. This amber (if we may believe Callistratus) cures fever and other diseases, if it is worn on the neck; cures affections of the ear when ground and mixed with honey and oil of roses; cures dimness of sight, when mixed with Attic honey; cures affections of the stomach, either when taken in a powder alone, or drunk in water along with mastic. Moreover, amber can be efficiently and extensively employed in imitating translucid precious stones, especially amethysts; for, as we have said, it can be tinged of every colour. The pertinacity of certain authors forces us to speak, next of all, of lyncurium; for those who do not maintain that it is a kind of amber, yet, at least, declare that it is a precious stone. They affirm that lyncurium is the product of the urine of the lynx, but blended with a kind of earth, this animal (so these authors say) covering up his urine as if grudging the benefit man might derive from it; that it has the same tint as the fire-coloured amber, and can be carved; that it attracts not only leaves and straws but thin plates of brass and iron, which Theophrastus, giv ing credence to the statements of Diocles, believed. From Macmillan's Magazine. III. reconciling these two kinds of knowledge, of preventing them from interfering with one another, of arranging satisfactory relations between them. In order of time the second kind of knowledge has the precedence, and avails itself of this advantage to delay and impede the arrival of the first kind. Before the stars, the winds, the trees and plants could be grasped scientifically and the laws which govern them studied, they had been grasped, and as it were appropriated, by the human mind experimentally and imaginatively. The latter kind of knowledge was in some respects better than the former. It was more intimate and realized, so that, as far as it was true, it was more available. For practical purposes, accurate scientific knowledge of a thing is seldom sufficient. To obtain complete practical command over it you must take possession of it with the imagination and feelings as well as the reason, and it will often happen that this imaginative knowledge, helped very slightly by scientific knowledge, carries a man practically further than a very perfect scientific knowledge by itself. Witness the instinctive, as we say, and unanalyzable skill sometimes possessed by savages. PUTTING aside then, for the present, supernaturalism and all those views of God which are distinctively Christian, we find a theology in which all men, whether they consider it or not, do actually agree - that which is concerned with God in nature. I do not here raise the question of causes or laws; let it be allowed that nature is merely the collective name of a number of coexistences and sequences, and that God has no meaning different from nature. Let all this be allowed, or let the contrary of this be allowed. Such controversies may be raised about the human as well as about the Divine Being. Some may consider the human body as the habitation of a soul distinct and separable from it; others may refuse to recognize any such distinction: some may maintain that man is merely the collective name for a number of processes: some may consider the human being as possessing a free will and as being independent of circumstances; others may regard him as the necessary result of a long series of physical influences. All these differences may be almost as important as they seem to the disputants who are occupied about them, but after all they do not affect the fact that the human being is there, and they do not prevent us from regarding him with strong feelings. The same is true of the Divine Being. Whatever may be questioned, it is certain that we are in the presence of an Infinite and Eternal Being; except through some of those exceptional perversions of the mind which I described in the last chapter, we cannot help the awe and admiration with which we contemplate Him; we cannot help recognizing that our well-being depends on taking a right view of His na Moreover, this kind of knowledge is more attractive and interesting, and so has a more powerful modifying influence upon its possessor than the other kind, for the simple reason that it takes hold of the most plastic side of his nature. But just because it is so fascinating, and is at the same time not by itself trustworthy, it has certain mischievous consequences when it comes, as it generally does, first. Then it fills the mind with prejudices, hasty misconceptions, which, seizing upon the imagination, are stereotyped in the form of superstitions; and these sometimes exercise by themselves a most pernicious influence, and in any case close the mind against the entrance of the There are two ways in which the mind sounder scientific knowledge. When this apprehends any object, two sorts of knowl-imaginative medley of observation and edge which combine to make complete prejudice has long had possession, science and satisfactory knowledge. The one arrives. Then follows a contest between may be called theoretic or scientific knowl- the two kinds of knowledge, in which the edge; the other practical, familiar, or im- human being suffers much. Truth cannot aginative knowledge. The greatest trial in the long run be resisted, and so, after of human nature lies in the difficulty of whatever defence, the fortress is carried ture. |