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

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 sandy or graven,
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.