John Ayrton Paris

“ We are masters of the earth, but perhaps we are the slaves of some great and unknown beings. The fly that we crush with our finger, or feed with our viands, has no knowledge of man, and no consciousness of his superiority. We suppose that we are acquainted with matter, and with all its elements, and yet we cannot even guess at the cause of electricity, or explain the laws of the formation of the stones which fall from meteors. There may be beings,—thinking beings, near us, surrounding us, which we do not perceive, which we can never imagine. ”

“ And the influence of a lake, in calming and clearing the turbid water, may be compared to the effect of reason in more mature life, when the tranquil, deep, cool, and unimpassioned mind is freed from its fever, its troubles, bubbles, noise, and foam. And, above all, the sources of a river—which may be considered as belonging to the atmosphere—and its termination in the ocean, may be regarded as imaging the divine origin of the human mind, and its being ultimately returned to, and lost in, the infinite and eternal Intelligence from which it originally sprang. ”

“ But if you are thus struck and surprised at the scene when viewed from the cliff above, how much greater will be your wonder if you descend to the surface of the mine. You will then behold a combination of the powers of art with the wild sublimity of Nature which is quite unparalleled; the effects of the whole being not a little heightened by the hollow roar of the raging billows which are perpetually lashing the cliff beneath. ”

“ But the most absurd and preposterous hypothesis that has disgraced the annals of medicine, and bestowed medicinal reputation upon substances of no intrinsic worth, is that of the Doctrine of Signatures, as it has been called, which is no less than a belief that every natural substance which possesses any medicinal virtue, indicates by an obvious and well-marked external character, the disease for which it is a remedy, or the object for which it should be employed! ”

“ Seymour. “The recesses to which you allude are semi-domes; and if a person whispers in the focus of one of them, he will be distinctly heard by another stationed in the focus of the opposite one. Two inanimate busts may be thus made to appear as if holding a conversation, by placing them in the foci of two large concave mirrors constructed of pasteboard, and arranged opposite to each other; when a whisper uttered to the one will seem to proceed from the other by the reflection of sound.” ”

“ I see two Serpents at the cradle of his genius, Dissipation with a perpetual increase of acquaintances, and the constant presence of Inferiors and Devotees, with that too great facility of attaining admiration, which degrades Ambition into Vanity—but the Hercules will strangle both the reptile monsters. I have thought it possible to exert talents with perseverance, and to attain true greatness wholly pure, even from the impulses of ambition; but on this subject Davy and I always differed. ”

“ How delightful in the early spring, after the dull and tedious time of winter, when the frosts disappear and the sunshine warms the earth and waters, to wander forth by some clear stream, to see the leaf bursting from the purple bud, to scent the odours of the bank perfumed by the violet, and enamelled, as it were, with the primrose and the daisy; to wander upon the fresh turf below the shade of trees, whose bright blossoms are filled with the music of the bee ”

“ Surely an unprejudiced judge would prefer the evidence of sight, as furnished by the arsenical tests, to that of smell, as afforded in the last experiment. No one will attempt to deny that it is the duty of the medical practitioner who is called upon to decide so important a question as the presence of arsenic, to prosecute by experiment every point which admits the least doubt; he should also remember that in a criminal case, he has not only to satisfy his own conscience, but that he is bound, as far as he is able, to convince the public mind of the accuracy and truth of his researches ”

“ Tom begged that his father would explain to him how it could possibly be that the earth should not possess any weight.
“Weight, my dear boy, you will readily understand, can be nothing more than an effect arising out of the resisted attraction of a body for the earth: you have just stated, that all bodies have a tendency to fall, in consequence of the attraction of gravitation; but if they be supported, and prevented from approaching the earth, either by the hand, or any other appropriate means, their tendency will be felt, and is called weight.” ”

“ I have this conviction full on my mind, that intellectual beings spring from the same breath of Infinite Intelligence, and return to it again, but by different courses. Like rivers, born amidst the clouds of heaven, and lost in the deep and eternal ocean—some in youth, rapid and short-lived torrents; some in manhood, powerful and copious rivers; and some in age, by a winding and slow course, half lost in their career, and making their exit through many sandy and shallow mouths. ”

“ After all, the great end of biography is not to be found, as some would seem to imagine, in a series of dates, or in a collection of gossiping anecdotes and table-talk, which, instead of lighting up and vivifying the features, hang as a cloud of dust upon the portrait; but it is to be found in an analysis of human genius, and in the developement of those elements of the mind, to whose varied combinations, and nicely adjusted proportions, the mental habits, and intellectual peculiarities of distinguished men may be readily referred. ”

“ There is no sense more under the dominion of imagination, or more liable to be perverted by education, than those of taste and smell; we are also liable to form unjust prejudices from the indications of colour; for particular colours, from the influence of hidden associations, are not unfrequently the exciting cause of agreeable or unpleasant impressions. I have met with a person who regards green food, if it be of an animal nature, with unconquerable aversion and disgust, indeed an idea of unwholesomeness has not unfrequently been attached to this colour, without the least foundation of truth ”

“ Seymour; “and to follow up your illustration, it is only necessary to state, that Nature, like a considerate master, always apportions the number of horses to the burthen that is to be moved, so that her loads, whatever may be their weight, always travel at the same rate; or, to express the fact in philosophical instead of figurative language, gravitation, or the force of the earth’s attraction, always increases as the quantity of matter, and, consequently, that heavy and light bodies, when dropped together from the same altitude, must come to the ground at the same instant of time.” ”

“ How marvellous then are those laws by which even the humblest types of organic existence are preserved, though born amidst the sources of their destruction, and by which a species of immortality is given to generations, floating, as it were, like evanescent bubbles on a stream raised from the deepest caverns of the earth, and instantly losing what may be called its spirit in the atmosphere! ”

“ The most humble means may certainly accomplish the highest ends: the filament of a spider's web has been used to measure the motions of the stars; and a kite, made with two cross sticks and a silk handkerchief, enabled the chemical Prometheus to rob the thunder-cloud of its lightnings; but that a worn-out instrument, such as has been just described, should have furnished him who was born to revolutionize the science of the age, with the only means of enquiry at that time within his reach, affords, it must be admitted, a very whimsical illustration of our maxim. ”

“ The world, like the individual, flourishes in youth, rises to strength in manhood, falls into decay in age; and the ruins of an empire are like the decrepid frame of an individual, except that they have some tints of beauty, which nature bestows upon them. ”

“ It is scarcely possible so to strain the imagination as to conceive the velocity with which light travels. “What mere assertion will make any man believe,” asks Sir W. Herschel, “that in one second of time, in one beat of the pendulum of a clock, a ray of light travels over 192,000 miles, and would therefore perform the tour of the world in about the same time that it requires to wink with our eyelids, and in much less than a swift runner occupies in taking a single stride?” ”

“ Independent in an honourable competence, the product of his genius and industry; resident in the centre of all scientific information and intelligence; every avenue of knowledge, and every mode of observation open to his unwearied intellect, he must have experienced a satisfaction which few philosophers have ever before felt,—the power of pursuing experimental research to any extent, and of commanding the immediate possession of all the means it might require, without the least regard either to cost or labour. ”

“ It is by an elaborate examination only, that the full evidence of their truth can be displayed; there are points which the keen eye of genius will discern, that are invisible to a grosser sense: the coldness of criticism then will only make them glow the brighter; like his own potassium, the contact even of ice, so far from extinguishing, will light them up in splendour. ”

“ Seymour, “can only be set in motion, or, when in motion, be brought to rest, by the impression of some force, it must follow, that it can only move in the direction in which such a force may act; and, moreover, that the degree of motion, or the velocity, must, other things being equal, be in proportion to the degree of force used.”
“Why, truly,” cried the vicar, “my young friends must of necessity admit that fact; for the body, not having any will of its own, as you say, must needs, if it move at all, go the road it is driven.” ”

“ The sun shone with great brilliancy, and illumined their various forms with silver, grey and blue tints of exquisite beauty. As there was scarcely a breath 154 of air stirring below the mountain, this aggregation of clouds, probably occasioned by some electrical agency, remained fixed and stationary, as if identified with the valley. The higher parts of most of the surrounding hills were enveloped in mist, above which the tops of Snowdon and Cader Idris towered distinctly visible, and appeared like small islands rising out of the sea. ”

“ Seymour, taking the ball out of Rosa’s hand, “why this ball falls to the ground, as soon as I withdraw from it the support of my hand?”
“Because every heavy body that is not supported, must of course fall.”
“And every light one also, my dear; but that is no answer to my question; you merely assert the fact, without explaining the reason.”
“Oh! now I understand you; it is owing to the force of gravity; the earth attracts the ball, and the consequence is, that they both come in contact;--is not that right?” ”

“ That circumstances in early life should have directed such energies to a science, which requires for its advancement all the aids of novel and bold, and yet patient and accurate research, is one of those fortunate events which every unprejudiced mind will view with triumph.
It is surely not difficult to understand how it happened that a mind endowed with the genius and sensibilities of Davy, should have been directed to the study of Chemistry and Mineralogy, when we consider the nature and scenery of the country in which accident had placed him. ”

“ We behold a power which, in its effects, seemed to emulate the violence of the volcano and the earthquake, at once restrained by an almost invisible and impalpable barrier of network—we behold, as it were, the dæmon of fire taken captive by Science, and ministering to the convenience of the miner, while harmlessly fluttering in an iron cage. ”

“ Seymour admitted the justice of this remark, and proceeded in his explanation.
“I think,” said he “you will readily allow that matter cannot, in itself, possess any power of changing its condition: it can, therefore, no more destroy, than it can originate its own motion; when it is at rest, it must ever remain so, unless some force be applied that can impart to it activity; and, when once in motion, it must continue to move until some counteracting force stops it. To believe otherwise you must suppose that matter possesses in itself a power to alter its condition, which is perfectly absurd.” ”

“ Whatever may be the vices attributed to Chemistry on such occasions, they have belonged to the philosophers engaged in its pursuit, and are no evidence of the frailty of the science itself; and here it must be admitted, that there exists in one portion of mankind a self-love which cannot patiently submit to a change of opinions of which they are either the authors or defenders, while in another there predominates a timidity which naturally leads them, amidst the storm of controversy, to cling to the wreck of a shattered theory, rather than to trust themselves to a new and untried bark. ”

“ The sensation created by his first course of Lectures at the Institution, and the enthusiastic admiration which they obtained, is at this period scarcely to be imagined. Men of the first rank and talent,—the literary and the scientific, the practical and the theoretical, blue-stockings, and women of fashion, the old and the young, all crowded—eagerly crowded the lecture-room. His youth, his simplicity, his natural eloquence, his chemical knowledge, his happy illustrations and well-conducted experiments, excited universal attention and unbounded applause. ”

“ They will learn from it that there is not any pursuit, however exalted, that may not be assailed by the weapons of ridicule, especially when wielded by those penurious philosophers whose ideas of utility are circumscribed within the narrow limits of direct and immediate profit.”
“It is too true,” cried Mrs. Seymour, “that we are all apt to depreciate those branches of knowledge which do not bear directly upon the comforts or necessities of life; and the applications of geology are, perhaps, so remote as scarcely to be discovered by the mass of mankind.” ”

“ All that I have gained in an active and not unprofitable life. How well I remember that delightful season, when, full of power, I sought for power in others; and power was sympathy, and sympathy power;—when the dead and the unknown, the great of other ages and of distant places were made, by the force of the imagination, my companions and friends;—when every voice seemed one of praise and love;—when every flower had the bloom and 319 odour of the rose ”

“ Let us only interrogate ourselves, and examine what have been our sensations on hearing a majestic or warlike piece of music, or a tender and pathetic air sung or played with expression. Who does not feel that the latter tends as much to melt the soul and dispose it to pleasure, as the former to animate and exalt it? ”

“ The philosopher who, predicating the identity of lightning and electricity, conceived the bold and grand idea of drawing it down from the thunder-cloud, an experiment which in another age would have consigned him to the dungeon for impiety, or to the stake for witchcraft, himself applied this wonderful discovery to the preservation of buildings, by the invention of pointed rods of iron. Of this invention it may be truly said, that he beat Nature with her own weapons, and triumphed over her power by an obedience to her own laws. ”

“ Those who are not acquainted with the operations by which the mind is enabled to arrive at truth, are too apt to attribute to accident that which is the result of great intellectual labour and acuteness. Observation, analogy, and experiment are the three great stepping-stones by which the philosopher is enabled to ascend from darkness to light: it is true that his foot may accidentally be placed upon the first, but his own efforts are required to complete the ascent. ”

“ The world of science—the civilized world, are alike indebted to him who enlarges the boundaries of human knowledge, who increases the scope of intellectual enjoyment, and exhibits the human mind in possession of new and unknown powers, by which it gains, as it were, new dominions in space; acquisitions which are imperishable—not like the boundaries of terrestrial states and kingdoms, or even the great monuments of art, which, however extensive and splendid, must decay—but secured by the grandest forms and objects of nature, and registered amongst her laws. ”

“ I do not believe that the coin was known to Pinkerton when he wrote his Essay.”
“There is, certainly,” said Mr. Seymour, “something very inexplicable in the tastes and enthusiastic feelings of you patrons of antiquity.”
“The antiquary,” observed the vicar, “does not regard a cabinet of medals as a treasure of money, but of knowledge; nor does he fancy any charms in gold, but in the figures that adorn it; it is not the metal, but the erudition, that stamps it with value.” ”

“ You are in the prime of life, in the beginning of your career, and you have powers and acquirements capable of illustrating and extending every branch of physical enquiry; and, in the field of science, how many are the spots not yet cultivated! Where the laws of sensible become connected with those of insensible motions, the mechanical with the chemical phenomena, how little is known! In electricity, magnetism, in the relations of crystallized forms to the weight of the elements of bodies, what a number of curious and important objects of research! ”

“ And the same infinite power and wisdom which has fitted the camel and the ostrich for the deserts of Africa, the swallow that secretes its own nest for the caves of Java, the whale for the Polar seas, and the morse and white bear for the Arctic ice, has given the Proteus to the deep and dark subterraneous lakes of Illyria,—an animal to whom the presence of light is not essential, and who can live indifferently in air and in water, on the surface of the rock, or in the depths of the mud. ”

“ Davies Gilbert, his early friend and patron, has likewise paid to his memory a just and appropriate testimony of respect and admiration, in an address from the chair of the Royal Society.
The inhabitants of Penzance and its neighbourhood, animated by feelings of honourable pride and strong local attachment, will shortly, it is understood, raise a pyramid of massive granite to his memory, on one of those elevated spots of silence and solitude, where he delighted in his boyish days to commune with the elements, and where the Spirit of Nature moulded his genius in one of her wildest moods. ”

“ In speaking of the swallow, Poietes exclaims—"I delight in this living landscape! The swallow is one of my favourite birds, and a rival of the nightingale; for he cheers my sense of seeing as much as the other does my sense of hearing. He is the glad prophet of the year, the harbinger of the best season: 324 he lives a life of enjoyment amongst the loveliest forms of nature: winter is unknown to him; and he leaves the green meadows of England in autumn, for the myrtle and orange groves of Italy, and for the palms of Africa: he has always objects of pursuit, and his success is secure. ”