The Sun.
London, England, 1822-11-30 00:00:00

THE MERMAID.

To the Editor of the Worcester Journal.
Sin—On my arrival in London; I went to see the so
MERMAID. My mind had been made up on the subjeet,'but
• I was determined to have ocular proof of the conclusions Ihna
formed. This compound organic form is the very Pers°flifics.
tion of ugliness. The capitol, that of an Ape, exhibits in ita
craniological structure the full measure of animal proPennitie"
while its frontispiece is singularly void of the organs of in' telli•
gence. The first thing struck me was the utter incongruity of
the piece.—The fish part should have been at least quadrse
the size it is, for such a superstructure—lt is thereon, the
" Discordia rerum non bene junctarum." The history of the
Brute is not very credible.—lt was found cast on shore after*
storm by some Malay fishermen, and was purchased by its Pre'
sent possessor for one thousand two hundred pounds at Bathvia'
The person who watches over it told me, he conceived that
were it artificial, the artist would have endeavoured'tdomite '
the thing more sightly. Now it occurs to me that it is
fectly of a piece with the conduct and character of the inmates
of the " Celestial Kingdom"—they are exceedingly fond.l,.
s.
monstrous shapes. According to Dr. Morrison, dojo
young tOP
dren are frequently kidnapped for the purpose of making
a " Koo-Shoo." Their limbs, trunk and head, arE roclti r,Aia
'ete
into an infinite variety of strange unnatural forms, an
eyes are not unfrequently put out !—So much for the EloP17„
the Celestials, and the character of that mild and harmless
rntriel
4';11.
ligion which some persons even in Christendom (proh Pu
affect to advocate. This might be expected from the
-1"--
to whom all religions are alike contemptible and absurdA of
03,e
from Him whose Pegasus seems winged with the fires of
demonium. But it ill becomes the sublime altitude of th
o;
Christian Philosopher. It appears to me most strange thistio.
Phillips should have so committed himself with respect to
incongruous compound, and equally so that Dr. Reece , 0.•
should have sanctioned the belief of its being a eater* 2,
duction, by his opinion. That the fabric is neatly put to : tbe
must be freely admitted ; but I am confident that I can trene_ce;
curved lines of its junction in a great part of its circumfe4igh •
and this with the naked eye, for a lens is of little use (w,„„e
also employed), seeing the hideous form is encased in
nay more, I egregiously deceive myself, if I did not
two or three of the stiches by -which it was sewed toge'"'"„
The continuation of the vertebral joints under the membran:7o
the Anzio is sufficiently ingenious, and may startle, Ptek
facie • but the cutis seems to have been merely dinorn,►w'rart.
for the introduction beneath it of the vertebra. of the fish
I am afraid that I may be misunderstood in tile outset of Tor
hurried communication (which I fear is scarcely.worthllthe
notice), but it is in perfect accord with the legitimacy o
the
Inductive Philosophy. The temperature of Mod °f
i
manimalia and pisces (properly so called) s utterly irreconcix„
able with such an association, and there is a fearful .alias
„,„A
tween the ape and the fish, not merely in their habits ;Toil
manners, but the: medium of their abode. The row? re.
physical swells into a impossibility when we consider tuciro
searches of Prevost and Dumas on the structure and condi ,
• eon
of the Blood, not merely varying in size but inform, in „ate
formity with the class, order and genera—for instance, ill
the globules are spherical or circular, and in others elipti
tho
Death, for instance, always ensued on transfusion et
ireff
blood of a bird (elliptical) into that of a quadruped (e f olareitA.
It follows therefore that two perfectly distinct .S'ysiente,L
culation should exist—an opinion utterly untenable, niinrirei.
deed we adopt some such idea as that advocated by Rl`
cher on the phienomena of the fall of the leaf. He ontindea
that the leaves are merely soldered to the twig—a verYna the
when applied to the "Mermaid," but in a disco with the
junction of the leaf, as the most careless observer can disconise
continuity of the vessels. The phwnomena of anhotto,...•
are merely amphibious, have nothing to do in this quentt,ould
The late Sir Jos. Banks facetiously observed, that Obi,
not believe in the existence of the Mermaid until he int
with a comb in one hand and a looking glass in the other, to
consign the Mermaid, with the Sphinx, and the Coelnaliat
the creation of a fabulous age,—to the non-entity Whence
they. sprung. " La Nature des tems qui ne sons pasll-;boula
etreint par les memes loix que la nature d' ajourdui.
be sorry to limit the powers and wisdom of the ETED'. but
in the structure of his wondrous and his lovely creatiolliker
there is such a thing as incongruity—a zenith and I
though we may talk of the " concordia discors." t
I have the honour to be, Sir, your most humble 5err....e217,
Worcester, Nov. 27, 1822. J. M

_______ IV*
The wife and brother of. REyNol,tis'aket,
steersman of the Diana, Richmond steam P" gr.
having been drowned last week, the it,,e,v' in
SMITH, of Penzance, and formerly an ale'ar die
his Majesty's Navy, preached a sermon °lll hi;
occasion, at the Adelphi Chapel, in the Adel roar
and so great was the anxiety manifested t°
no lo
him, the inside of the Chapel being full, Pe:,:itp
climbed up and got on the OLltsides of the t'elio
dows. This Rev. Gentleman has formed a
ht'
gious society, called " The IVaterrnen and
Lig
ermen's Society."

COAL-MARKET, Nov. 29. Prim* od
Ships at Market. Ships sold 431
17:1 Newcastle - - 15 - 3"os to od to 449 3,1
15 Sunderland - 144 -38 s