A WORLD OF WONDERS.
object of the editor of this World of Wonders is to take a cursory - of various popular prejudices and refute them. The subjects he are numerous enough, for his book contains upwards of fifty -el there is no lack of variety. Natural history and physical elements of many of his topics,—as longevity of animals, involve falsely reported facts of history,—as Pope Joan, 'asses of Archimedes ; some embrace misconceptions Teets, natural but obscure,—as lunar influence; some 'ee efforts of "vain hopes, vain aims, inordinate de-
sires,"—as alchemy and astrology ; a few discuss surerstitions or im- positions,—as ghosts, and fortune-telling; whilst a good many are mis- cellaneous, even involving mete essays,—as Content, and Courtesy or the Art of Pleasing.
A book on errors of any class is not a very easy subject if it be pro- perly done; for it requires a great deal of out-of-the-way learning, a sound judgment, and a pleasing style. There is first of all to trace the origin and progress of the error itself; which must not be taken from any cycloptedic compilation that comes to hand, unless we are to have the errors of the compilers as well as of the opinion repeated, and to miss all chance of discovering its cause and learning the characteristics of the times which received and disseminated it. In cases where the error has been a pursuit of the scientific,—such as alchemy,—special knowledge as well as general reading is required to trace the history of the art itself, to exhibit its real discoveries, to point out its influence upon chemical science, and to notice its most eminent practitioners. When a matt has collected all this knowledge, he has still to reject its grosser parts, and to present its essence in a popular form, at least for the general reader.
There is none of this kind of ability in A World of Wonders. The idea Mr. Albany Poyntz had in his head was probably the works of Burton and Sir Thomas Browne ; but his more immediate model would seem to have been the elder D'Israeli. That prince of compilers, however, had a good deal of reading, a broad way of presenting things, coupled with flashy parts, and an imposing manner. He also recomposed his materials, and was consistent with himself, however he might differ with the truth. Mr. Albany Poyntz has neither the reading nor the rhetoric of his model; nor does he seem to have taken the pains to rewrite his deriva- tions, but often to have lifted wholesale from various authors, who have written anything that struck his fancy, without giving himself the trouble to reconcile differences : so that Aristotle, for example, sometimes appears, as he was, the discriminating, sagacious, and profound philosopher in an age of speculative credulity—at other times he figures as not much better than a mountebank; Mr. Albany Poyntz having, apparently, taken the passages entire from two authors of different minds and different views— for any man capable of forming an independent judgment would have modified one opinion or the other. We have intimated that the composi- tion does not seem of the laborious or original character, which takes the materials as they stand indeed, but takes them from cumbrous or forgot- ten writers and brings the whole together from remote quarters. Several of the chapters of A World of Wonders are evidently drawn from other compilers upon the subject in hand ; the sole test of the editor being, not affinity of matter, but what in his opinion is readable. Hence, though the book is expressly anecdotical, and designed for light reading, it is really tedious for a spell, from deficient plan and incompleteness in the presen- tation of many topics. As a table or railway book—to turn over the leaves, read a bit, and lay down—it is all very well, a revival in another form of the old-fashioned jest-book or ana : it is in fact a jest-book of science.
The best things in the volume are those which relate to exploded errors in chemistry or natural history; perhaps because experiment in these cases is more conclusive, and a more philosophical character of mind has been engaged in the detection. We give a few specimens of the better kind of reading in the World of Wanders.
INCOMBUSTIBLE MEN.
For another case, equally remarkable, we are indebted to Sementini, an eminent professor of chemistry at Naples.
A Sicilian, named Lionetti, came to that city for the purpose of exhibiting feats of incombustibility; and soon excited public astonishment by his power of drawing a red-hot plate of iron over his hair without singeing it, on which he after- wards stamped with his naked feet. He also drew rods of red hot iron through his mouth, swallowed boiling oil, dipped his fingers in molten lead, and dropped some on his tongue. He fearlessly exposed his face to the flames of burning oil; poured sulphuric or muriatie acid upon lighted embers, and imbibed the fumes; ending by allowing a thick gold pin to be thrust deep into his flesh. The Neapolitans were as much enchanted by the feats of Lionetti as the Parisian with those of the incombustible Spaniard. But at Naples, Semenfini, who was on the watch, perceived that, at the moment the fire-proof man applied the heated materials to his skin, there escaped a whitish vapour. Instead of swallowing a glass of boiling oil, according to his announcement, he introduced only a quarter of a spoonful into his mouth, and a few drops of molten lead upon his tongue, which was covered with a white fur, like the secretion perceptible in cases of fever. When he took the hot iron between his teeth, symptoms of sup- pressed pain were perceptible; and the edges of his teeth were evidently charred by previous performances of a similar description. From these appearances rnentini inferred that Lionetti made use of certain preparations which secured him against the influence of heat, by hardening the epidermis; and that his skin having become callous from use, was itself able two resist, to a certain degree, the action of fire. These conclusions, which concur with those made by Dodart in the case of Richardson, were verified by personal observation and careful experi- ment.
After many fruitless attempts to discover the chemical agents used by the Incombustibles, the persevering Semenfini found, that by frequent frictions of sul- phuric acid he was able to inure his flesh to the contact of red-hot iron; and we are bound to admire the patience and courage of those who, for the benefit of scientific discovery, attempt experiments of so powerful and perilous a nature. To have exposed a fallacy in matters of science LS equal to the discovery of a fact; and the extirpation of a single error or false conclusion from the popular mind is an act deserving of gratitude. Sementini found, that by bathing the Tarts thus deprived of their usual sensi- tiveness with a solution of alum, their former sensibility to heat was restored: and one day, happening to smear with soap the parts he had resoftened in this manner with alum, he found, to his great surprise, that they became hardened anew against the action of heat. The experimentalist instantly applied to his tongue a preparation of soap, and found that it enabled him to defy the contact of iron heated to a white heat. To neutralize the faculty thus acquired, he had only to sprinkle his tongue with sugar; a new application of soap serving eitl.anY moment to render it fire-proof.
LONGEVITY OF STAGS.
Hesiod, an ancient Greek poet whose works have only partially reached us, as the first to institute a comparative inquiry into the age of the crow and the st Hesiod assigns eighty-six years as the average span of human life; yet he assijrta that the rook attains eight hundred and sixty-four years, and the crow thri4 as many. Towards the stag he is still more liberal; declaring that these adels have been known to attain their thirty-fifth century. Considering the ag4 we
assign to the world itself when Hesiod flourished in it, no great experience as to the average existence of so sempiternal an animal could have influenced his opinion. According to many ancient writers besides Hesiod, the stag is the longest-lived of animals; and the Egyptians have adopted it as the emblem of longevity. Pliny relates, that one hundred years after the death of Alexander, several stags were taken in the different forests of Macedonia, to whose necks that great monarch bad with his own hand attached collars. • • Aristotle decided the age of the stag, not from the showing of poets and tra- ditions, but from the indications of experiment. Having dissected a considerable number of these animals, he pronounced their ordinary age to be from thirty to thirty-six years. Buffon was of a similar opinion; which has been adopted by most succeeding naturalists. It has been established as a law of comparative physiology, that the life of a mammiferous animal is in proportion to its period of gestation and the duration of its growth. The sheep and goat, who bear their young five months, and whose growth lasts two years, live from eight to ten. The horse, which is borne ten months, and whose growth requires from five to six years, lives from thirty to forty. We are of course speaking of the horse in its natural state, uninjured by premature and excessive labour. When submitted to the hands of man, the noble animal is condemned to premature old age, by the application of spur and thong before it attains sufficient strength for the unnatu- ral speed it is compelled to attempt and the burdens it is forced to bear. Nor, even under these circumstances, is it allowed to attain the span of life assigned by nature; the hand of the knacker being put in request to end its days the moment its services cease to be profitable to its master. The camel, which is borne ten months, and revires four years for its bodily development, usually attains the age of fifty. ile elephant, requiring a year's gestation, attains the climax of its growth at thirty, and lives to a hundred. The gestation of a stag, therefore, being but of eight months, there is no reason to infer a deviation in its favour from the laws governing the nature of all other animals of the same genus.
"The stag," says Buffon, "whose growth requires six years, lives from thirty to forty. The prodigious age originally ascribed to this animal is a groundless in- vention of the poets, of which Aristotle demonstrated the absurdity." The following are good enough stories front the chapter on Ventrilo- quism. "Philippe, a favourite actor of the Thatre des Vari6tes, on his marriage with Mademoiselle Volnais, the actress, proceeded wills her into Lorraine to visit an estate they had purchased; when the tenants having thought proper to favour them with a magnificent reception, in the course of the day, the bridegroom, de- serting his place of honour, strolled out among the revellers. While he appeared to be only conversing in a grave manner with the Mayor of the place, to the dis- may of the simple villagers, strange voices were heard to issue from tuns of wine, reproaching them with their excesses; and from wheelbarrows, reproving them for their idleness. The whole village fancied itself bewitched; while Philippe enjoyed, for the first time of his life, on his own account, a talent he had so often exercised for the amusement of others.'
"Comte, the best ventriloquist now extant, has performed a thousand similar exploits. When on his travels in Belgium, he caused the voice of Margaret of Austria to issue from her tomb in the Church of Bron, addressing a reprimand to the verger. At Rheims, he was nearly the cause of depopulating the quarter of St. Nicholas, by causing voices to issue from a variety of graves in the church- yard; while at Nevers he revived the miracle of Balsam, by enabling an overladen ass to reproach its master with his cruelty."
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