The Press. — London, England, 1854-09-30 00:00:00

928 yittraturr. Scenery, Science, and Art. By Professor D. T. Ansted, M.A., F.R.S., &o. London : Van Voorst. THIS is a volume of diversified nature from the pen of one of the most accomplished of our English men of science. As a geologist and a mining engineer Professor Ansted enjoys a high reputation, and his general knowledge is both various and exact. Ho can take, as is required, either a popular or exactly scientific view of a subject. His present production is of a mixed character. Those portions of it which relate to geology and to mining deserve the attention of men of science, while much light matter is interposed in the volume to make it popular and readable. In most cases we feel that authors would do better if their productions were considerably reduced in quantity; but we could have followed Pro fessor Ansted very pleasantly and profitably through a second volume of matter similar to what he has published here. Within the compass of three hundred octavo pages Professor Ansted has printed his notes of scientific excursions in France, Switzerland, Germany, Spain, Sardinia, Africa (Algiers), and North America. He can describe natural " scenery " so well as to justify its specification in his titlepage ; but he is evidently not learned in " art," though he has a conven tional power of appreciating its triumphs. When " science" is his topic he writes with the firmness of tone and absence of mere parade of knowledge that indicate thorough familiarity with the subjects under discussion. His remarks on Sardinia, Algiers, and certain peculiarities of America, are the best portions of the volume. We perceive, also, that he has appended his three letters on slavery in America as they appeared in the columns of the Times. Our readers may recollect that his remarks on that painful question attracted much attention at the time. We have often thought that peeps behind the scenes of some of our great scientific societies would be very amusing. The sight of philo s ophers, divested of professional robes, conducting themselves like mere ordinary mortals, might be made as comical as Macbeth taking a glass of strong waters before he " goes on" for his dagger.scene, or the gentle Desdemona calling for a bottle of porter after having been smothered by Othello. Professor Ansted thus records, in ludicrous terms, a feast of the French Geological Society at Porrentrny : The dinner was by no means first-rate—indeed, I have the authority of French and German, Russian and Italian, Swiss and American, for calling it, as it really was, execrable. I am almost sorry to put it on record, the thing was done with such hearty good-will ; but the fact is undeniable. I should not forget, however, the giant of the table—a huge trout, nearly three feet long, brought in ou a board because no dish could hold it, and as unfit to eat as it was extra ordinary to look at. After dinner we were regaled with a geological dessert, consisting of sucrifactiona of terebratulte and other shells ; of a model in sugar of the Mont Terrible, or some other Jura mountain ; and tact, not least, of a number of real ammonites and terebratulte, put up in paper, with crackers ; showing a fine example of the con nection of the physical sciences in thus enlarging the mind of the maker of bon-bons, while the philosopher with no less astonishment found a fossil where he had been accus tomed to look for barley-sugar. After dinner and two or three toasts—the dinner having lasted three hours—most part of the company joined the ladies above, where dancing had already commenced. The ladies were—as ladies always must be—charming, and, as there was a pretty sprinkling of Germans and one Pole, there was no lack of variety : but, however difficult, I must neglect them, that a life or two may be devoted to the dresses of the gentlemen. Among our number there were a very few who had come provided for such emergencies ; and one especially, a hand some young exquisite from Paris, was attired in the very pink of fashion, with hair covering four-fifths of his face and gold and jewels about as large a proportion of his waistcoat. Contrasted with these was the dress of the rest of us, which may be thus described :—Coat with or without ways for walking, but not for extraordinary ; trousers all feet covered with thick boots, or being our condition with regard I all kinds, waltzes, gallopades, up notwithstanding with great tails, and adapted in various ways for walking, but not for TIT'IS4A ing; . waistcoat nothing extraordinary ; trousers all , co • . t Islaiik ; and the feet covered with thick boots, or "` • ' . : fng shoes. This being our condition with regard a 4 ._ ~ 4; ~ • „ (Kik, t dances of all kinds, waltzes, gallopades, • 4- % o•l o.frtioe) were kept up notwithstanding with great it; 4 ' . -- L 1 - .:* to P O . li : ''''`. • :" I e , f tr e / f these learned itinerant so- il,. f : . • • , • - rev , much debated, and not always ilk . . r it ,...;L 2 :at ste. We have read outpourings it ~ ••-: , oi ` ' and vulgar declamations against ita• • , 'NV-1 %-.` THE PRESS. the British Association, and the motive of the attacks it is not for us to discuss here. The gravest subjects can be made to assume a ludicrous side ; the noble histories of Rome and of our own England have had their " comic" narrators ; and even Shakspeare has been turned to Joe-Miller purposes by one of our professed humorists. The British. Asso ciation has survived those attacks, though many will still think that it can do little for the " advancement " of science, of which the greatest achievements must be made in the study of the philosopher or the laboratory of the experimentalist. Professor Ansted thus indicates the greatest utility of such collective assemblages of savans. Ho says : Whatever may have been the other benefits accruing to science from this meeting, which did not at the time ap pear to have been so successful as usual, one thing is per fectly clear, namely, the use of such opportunities for those working in different fields of science to meet together on common ground. If only for the sake of the discussions and private conversations of the members, there is great benefit from such assemblies: and I may add, that I parted from the numerous acquaintances I formed at.Por rentrny with feelings of satisfaction at having passed a most agreeable week, and with regret that a long time might elapse before I again fell in with so united and friendly a party. And he again refers thus to the general ques tion of the value of those societies No doubt there was an absence of great discoveries, or brilliant and new views in important questions of philo sophy, nor are such at all necessary for success. What there was, and what is most useful, amounts to no more than pleasant social intercourse between strangers of simi lar pursuits,—an intercommunication of ideas in the case of people following the same profession in distant places, the renewal of old acquaintanceship amongst some who bad long been parted, and the general benefit derived by change of scene and lively society, in the case of men of sedentary lives, or those confined by circumstances to move round constantly in the same track. To which remarks we may add of ourselves, that provincial explorers of science derive great advantage from intercourse with those possessed of collegiate or metropolitan advan tages. From our own observation we can record that " local councils " of the British Association have been productive of great benefit in keeping up a scientific spirit in various districts of the country; and we are glad to have the weight of Professor Ansted's opinion in favour of this class of associations. In saying this, we do not forget that occasionally they have been obnoxious to satire from the indiscretions of the most igno rant and least influential members amongst them. Candour is one of the distinguishing marks of Professor Ansted as a traveller. After de scribing a Spanish bullfight with considerable spirit, he frankly records : Certainly there must be an element of savage nature in the heart of most men to enjoy a scene like that I have just narrated ; and, although I do not believe I am more bloody-minded than my neighbours, I must confess to a feeling of excitement, not unmingled with pleasure, while the scene was being enacted. And he then passes on to record his verdict on the results of such amusements:— But the effect of all this mast be bad. To see a gentle looking creature, all delicacy and kindness at another time, calmly look on on an occasion of this kind, and even laugh, instead of shudder, as some nnfortunate horse is actually disembowelled by a sharp stroke from the horn of the maddened bull—to see the same woman (can we use the term ?) wave a handkerchief, and become wildly excited when the death-blow is given, and the blood pours forth in dark streams upon the ground,regardingthe whole with the cheek flushed and the eye fixed as if she herself would willingly he the butcher—these are scenes which one had rather not witness, but which seem the natural results of this national sport. I would not judge harshly in a case like this, but it is difficult to persuade oneself that other than evil can arise from such an education. And the effect on the Spanish nation is apparently what might be expected. Accustomed to the sight of blood in their amusements, they think little of shedding it in reality. It makes them cruel rather than brave, and more apt to commit murder than to tight. That this is the case, all their history has shown ; and, however for the moment the condition of the people may seem improved, and tend ing towards progress in the arts of civilisation, those who know most of the Spaniards are least hopeful in regard to any permanent alteration in those manners and peculiari ties which stand in the way of real advance. The opinion stated in the last sentence is, we are afraid, justified by facts. We have long ceased to be hopeful about Spanish society ; and yet, owing to some strange fasci nation, whether arising from its noble lan guage or the singularly-unvulgarised character of its romantic inhabitants, we are never tired of Spanish subjects. On the " scenery " of SATURDAY, Spain Professor Ansted writes very fairly ; but he has formidable competitors (not to speak of native authors) in the persons of Southey, Blanco White, " The Young American," Inglis, Washington Irving, and the invaluable and modestly-named " Handbook" of the vivid and accurate Ford. We were much pleased with the author's honest raptures about the Sierra Nevada, but we propose to extract pas sages more representative of the style of composition in which the professor excels. Scientific describers who can record natural phenomena with precision, and can also speculate philosophically on their causes, are much wanted. Our physical philosophers are not often good writers, and we could wish that there were more Humboldts amongst them. Professor Ansted has the faculty of observing closely and describing clearly. For example, let us refer to his interesting remarks on Spanish rivers. We have frequently ourselves been struck, in the perusal of the various records illustrative of the last Peninsular War, with the repeated references to military operations being interrupted by the swollen waters of apparently insignificant streams. In alluding to the drainage of Spain, our author writes : The natural drainage of all parts of Spain, but especially of the east and south, takes place under circumstances al together exceptional when compared with the rest of Ea rope. The total quantity of rain that falls annually is small in amount, and distributed over the year and over the country very unequally. It falls chiefly in the moan tains, and on the Atlantic side of flee Peninsula ; and as the mountains are generally steep and moderately lofty, while the plains are very much above the sea-level, and in steps or terraces almost flat, there is a total absence of those hills turd slopes which in other parts of Europe allow the rain that has fallen to trickle down as it were into the lower country gently and soberly. At the same time, owing to the absence of tree vegetation on the plains and high ground, no check whatever is offered to the immediate running off down the mountain sides and river courses of the whole quantity of rain that falls. So entirely is this the case, that, as I have already had occasion to observe, there is not a river in Spain, with the exception of the Ebro and the Gnadalquiver, that has not occasionally been dry within the last few centuries. Resides the natural causes tending to dry up the rivers, there is another, not unimportant, since most of them are taken even from their sources, and the water is diverted from its channel to irri gate the neighbouring meadows. Thus, almost all the rain that falls on the whole Peninsula either runs off the sur face at once, or is evaporated back again into the air. Without being aware of the military diffi culties alluded to above, the professor then continues Streams of the nature thus described being in fact little beyond mountain-torrents at one season, and hardly visible for the greater part of the year, cannot be expected to take a steady course in making their way to the sea. Guided by the smallest and least important local accident at or near their origin, they sometimes go in one direction and sometimes in another; always, however, carrying down with them enormous quantities of sand and gravel, besides blocks of stone and boulders, varying according to the circumstances of the case. In the course of time, the rain falling over a district thus cuts out for itself, and partly fills up, numerous channels, any one of which would be far more than sufficient, if there were an average stead: current, but which are all barely enough to carry off it: waters when swollen by any unusual circumstance. Thi sand, gravel, boulders, and other material brought down are found in many cases to form a wide irregular channel; or dry bed, through some part of which the stream, if any always flows ; and when, as is often the case, the directice is strictly limited by lofty and almost vertizal walls of rod, the whole intervening space at the bottom of such a go (or barranea) is occupied by alluvial matter, and alto the only passage from one part of the country to anoth not only for the water, but the inhabitants. A river-ch nel of this kind, either permanently dry from the enti removal of the water to another direction or its entire evaporation ; or occasionally dry, and generally capable being traversed as a road, is a true Spanish Rambla :—t fashionable walk in some large cities, as Barcelona, whet the ground has been raised, and the stream permanent,/ directed into another course ; the trne and constant rive. course over many plains; the actual and only road it many mountain tracts ; and the sa nd y or g ra v en, path almost always, fully answering to the Arabic origin d the term. When dry, no road is better marked, and nom more easily traversed on horseback ; when rain hae faller none can bemore treacherous, dangerous, and uncertain A few hours of heavy rain on the mountains will bring down a torrent that carries away trees, houses, and bridges if they stand in the way ; while a few hours of dry weather reverse the scene, and a few weeks clothe the once desert track with rich vegetation. Many of the Rambles, indeed, are more permanent, and trees of many years' growth attest the comparative tranquillity that has reigned; Wall partake of the same general character. There is no phe nomenon of nature in northern European climates that in any way resembles this; and were a change to take place by which these channels became premanently covered with any depth of water, a large proportion of the towns of the south of Spain would be as effectnally cut off from Placed ordi nary means of intercommunication as if they were on a group of detached islands. EimmioNlllMMigA I