fons may have discovered him; and I should be glad to learn from any of your correfpondents who he is. As I was much gratified with the perufal of this work, I will, with your permiffion, give you fome idea of it. to The title is, "Obfervations and Advices Oeconomical: London, printed for Martyn, printer to the Royal Society, 1669." It contains felect inftructions for perfons who are about commence houfekeeping; and many of them are, I affure you, fhrewd and cogent. He first begins, and not improperly, with the choice of a wife, and recommends, as one most important thing to be confidered, that the be of the fame religion as her husband, for, as he justly obferves," between them that agree not to go to church together, there can hardly be confent in other things." "Let her not," he adds, "be too young, for unripe fruit yields no increase. Not too old, for fruit paft its maturity tendeth to putrefaction, and is noifome. Not too rich in revenue (especially by a referve of a great part in her power), left fhe become too imperious and upbraiding, as giving fubfiftence to her husband. Not too fair, left, like honey, she draw wafps to his houfe; and not too foul, for that is not only unpleafing, but brings fhame with it. To conclude, he cannot ufe too much circumfpection, being to give her an irrecoverable eftate for life in his perfon." Such is his opinion of marriage, and which is, perhaps, a little too faftidious. In the conclufion, however, his remark is extremely juft; and would man but reflect thus within his own bofom, ere in his perfon "he gives an irrecoverable eflate for life," there would not, I apprehend, be found fo many infelicitous unions as at prefent. I fpeak not here with any reference to the facrifices of high life, where fons and daughters are fold to the highest bidder; but in the more humble walks, and where fo much of our terreftrial happiness is inwoven with that of our marriage flate, furely it behoves a man to ufe all his circumfpection before he rafhly performs a deed which nought but death can diffolve. There is, indeed, no time of life when mature confideration is fo powerfully demanded as when a man begins feriously to think of marriage. It is then we ought to call up to our aid all our powers of ratioci nation. It is then that we ought to look into ourfelves, and obferve, with an impartial eye, whether or not we are in any refpect fit to fuftain the various and unexpected cares which then fall upon a man. We fhould weigh confiderately our humours, our paffions, our caprices, our exacerbations, and, laftly, our virtues; and if it be found that the weakneffes of our nature are greatly predominant, furely it is not the part of prudence to yoke them with the ftill greater weakneffes of a woman. Again. We should ask ourselves, Am I prepared to perform all the duties of a father? Can I fupport my offspring? Can I teach them the dictates of virtue and wisdom? Can I beftow a juft and requifite education, and not leave them the mere fport of ignorance and folly ? Can I provide for them at an age of maturity? Thefe and many other queftions fhould a man put to his own bofom before he marries. It cannot, however, be expected that every man should be capable of anfwering fatisfactorily thefe felf-interrogatories. It is not, perhaps, even neceflary in the prefent ftate of fociety. But the confequences which I apprchend would refult from such an examination, purfued with fincerity, would be, that youth, in every respect unfit to cope with the manifold exertions demanded from a huf band and a father, would hence be deterred from hafty and inconfiderate alliances, which may perhaps embitter their future life; and would defer till a more propitious moment or till profpe&ts of greater certainty with a rapid wing the furface of the earth, it tranfports us into the midft of a delightful landfcape, among the fongs of thepherds, repofing on the flowery verdure of fpring; or bids us repofe upon the humble mofs fhaded with thick vines, and fig-trees laden with the mellow ripeneis of autumn! Ye captious and frigid beings, approach not the fanctuary of Genius! ftifle not this facred flame of Vefta! nothing can replace it; for Reafon even is its mortal enemy. Ah! how fhall we define that evanefcent and delicate fentiment which we delight to revel in, but which never affects the heart? The great object of the fine arts is, in my opinion, to affect the heart; a fentiment which the Abbé Dubos eminently felt. What thall I fay of that crowd of poetafters, devoid of all genius, who rhyme without end; who verify riddles, charades, enigmas, or libellous fatires (too often the resource of indigent mediocrity), the difgrace, the plague-fpot of the art, and which ought to be defpifed by every true poet, every legitimate child of Ge "Magna fonaturum.” With the illuftrious Diderot, I do not hesitate to fulminate an anathema against all fuch who can derive amufement from fuch futile fources; from fterile words, and other nothings, which they dignify with the name of wit, but which only fhews the lamentable abufe of it. The antient Greeks, and their Italian colonies, were fo convinced that expreflion is the foul of paint plunged in barbarism with regard to the fine arts, we make it to coufift, as it were, in frigid geometrical proportion. How many of our statues appear in attitudes devoid of grace, or, rather, as if they were fpafmodic! What monotonous and harsh mechanifm fometimes reigns in our poetry! what noify difcord in our concerts!-Nevertheless, let us do juftice to thofe fuperior geniules who have fo nobly overleaped the barriers of mediocrity. What would they not have done, had they been born at a more happy period, and under a more aufpicious climate! Let us then accufe only thofe hyperborean regions which dull the foul: numerous examples have proved, that it is not genius which is wanting in the northern nations, but the patronage of their masters, who ought to fupply that which nature denies. All the varieties of intelligence and of genius depend upon the internal and external phyfiological nature of each individual. Hence we fhould difcover, ftudy, and reprefent it. I know no painter who has better done this, upon the whole, than the immortal Raphael Sanzio being of a melancholy difpofition, he was a better obferver, because he was more tranquil, indefatigable, and unceasing in his labour. If we wish to impart any thing grand, we must feel, ourselves, an ardour; but we fhould reject that weak emotion which rather injures than improves, and which is very common among northern people. PARRHASIUS. [To be concluded in our next.] SIR, ing, that they adopted it long be- To the Editor of the Univerfal Mag. fore they knew the great exactitude of defign: witnefs the plates of the Etrufcan vafes publifhed by Sir William Hamilton. Winkelmann was likewife powerfully convinced of this; but we northern people, yet I HAVE lately met with a curious work, publifhed about the middle of the feventeenth century. Its author is unknown, at least to me, though I think it very probable fome per it may be attained with convenience; From the preceding extracts, you mark: "It was an obfervation of my father's (and perhaps printed in his Foreft), &c."-p. 112. Perhaps the more extenfive knowledge of old and scarce publications of fome of your correfpondents may enable them to discover the author of the prefent work by means of the above remark. Meanwhile, I conclude by fubfcribing myfelf yours, &c. July 1, 1804. CAIUS. P. S. Should this letter be approved, I may, perhaps, take a future opportunity of communicating to your Magazine more extracts from the above work. ON THE PROPAGATION OF LIFE equally excite the curiofity of the cafual obferver and the attention of the philofopher. The care with which the Author of the univerfe has of living beings, and almoft precluded provided for the continued fucceffion the poffibility of the extinction of a fingle fpecies, even by the arts and enmity of man, is unequivocally written in every page of the volume of nature. Among the more perfe&t animals, the ardour of paffion and the gratification annexed to the perceptions of fenfe fufficiently guard againit a diminution or extinction of fpecies. Among the fmaller and lefs fenfible creatures, a fuperabundant fertility anfwers a fimilar purpofe; while the vegetable race, deftitute of the excitements of paffion and the vivid perceptions of fenfe, and expofed at the unceafing depredations of animals, once to the fury of elements and are enabled, nevertheless, to preferve and to multiply their kind, not only in confequence of their incalculable feminal fertility, but because they are endowed individually, as we fhall fee in the fequel, with all the generative powers that have been discovered in the various tribes of animal beings. Yet it is worthy of remark, that, amid these obvious and anxious precautions for enfuring the multiplication of life, a not lefs marked attention is fhewn to preserve, without mixture or confufion, the fpecies to which existence has been given. The powers of life, therefore, are never added to infulated and detached maffes of matter. It is a law of univerfal extent, that whatever poffelles life was originally a part of fome other living To the Editor of the Univerfal Mag. being. For this important truth we SIR, EVERY circumftance which relates to the phenomena and tranfmiffion of LIFE, whether among the beings endowed with higher and more complicated powers, which we call animals, or among the more humble tribes of fimpler organisation, which we denominate vegetables, is fo curious in itself, and fo important in its relative connections, that it must are indebted to the fober investigation 66 quia corpora materiai 46 Lib.2. Thefe reveries of ignorance remained in credit, however, till the latter end of the feventeenth century; when Redi, in the true fpirit of Baconian philofophy, refuted them by experiment.To proceed: That part of an animal body which partakes of its vitality, and which, after a certain procefs, is deftined to be feparated, and become an independent being, has been confidered from early times as confifting, in all inftances, of an ovum or egg; the embryo completing the evolution of its parts within the parent, in what are called viviparous animals, and exterior to the body of the parent in thofe which are called oviparous. The celebrated Dr. Harvey, after manyingenious investigations, adopted the opinion, and affumed as an axiom in phyfiology, omne animal ex 000. 66 When Linnæus difcovered, or rather investigated, the fact (for it was not unknown to antient naturalists*), that a fexual process, very analogous to that which in the animal kingdom is requifite for the multiplication of life occurs alfo in the vegetable world, he was naturally led to extend the analogy, and to confider the feeds of plants as the refult of that procefs correfponding with the ova of animals. He therefore adopted the aphorifm of Harvey and his predeceffors, but extended its application from the animal race to the whole circle of nature, where life is poffeffed. His aphorifm, confequently, excluded alone the unorganized mineral fubftances: vivum ex ovo." (Vide Lin. Philo. fophia Botan.) 66 omne to our knowledge. But it fometimes tends to warp our opinions to the theory we have adopted, and to throw impediments in the way of inveftigation, while it blinds our per ceptions to the truth of facts which may cafually occur. And in fuch a way it feems to have operated, in refpect to vegetable propagation, on the mind of Linnæus. Any philofopher may be fairly excufed for not having anticipated the discoveries of his fucceffors; but the imputation of undifcerning adherence to preconceived theory neceffarily falls on him whofe views of facts that lie open to his observation are uniformly erroneous. Perhaps there are few philofophers, however, to whom this remark is, in general, fo inapplicable as to the juftly admired Linnæus. It has been demonftrated by fubfequent investigations, that this generalization is incorrect, both in refpect to the animal and the vegetable kingdoms; not applicable to the whole of the former, nor to the latter, except in a partial and limited degree. We learn from the experiments of M. Trembley (Mem. pour l'Hift. des Polypes), and others, that in feveral of the lower tribes of animals there appears to be no diftinction of fex, but that each individual has the faculty of dividing itself, or of pushing forth parts of its fubftance, modelled after its own corporeal form, each of which at length becomes an independent being, poffeffed of fimilar powers. Conftituted without a nervous fyftem, or common fenforium, the principle of life feems equally diffufed through every part of their ftructure; and each part, therefore, feems capable, whether in confequence of natural or accidental separation, of becoming an independent individual. This occurs in all the tribe of polypi. Philofophers have always evinced an anxiety to generalize the facts with which they are acquainted, forgetful, apparently, that their know. ledge is, in all probability, partial and imperfect. This fpirit is, how ever, upon the whole, productive The tænia, or tape-worm, proparather of benefit, perhaps, than of gates or rather extends itfelf withdifadvantage, fince it gives perfpi- out ova, in this folitary manner. cuity, arrangement, and connection is, in fact, a congeries, or family of "Arboribus, imo potius omnibus quæ terra gignit, herbifque etiam, utrumque fexum effediligentiflimi naturæ tradunt." Plin. Sec. L. XIII cap. 4. It animals; each joint, as it is commonly termed, being a diftin&t individual, furnished with a mouth, and organs of digeftion. And it increafes its family by pufhing forth individual after individual, till the length of the whole congeries often amounts to feveral feet. All thofe beings which are claffed under the orders Zoophyta and Lithophyta of Linnæus, appear, as far as our knowledge has extended, to be propagated in a fimilar way; fuch are the corals, fpunges, &c. It is now generally believed that they .germinate, as it were, like the poIvpi; and that the hard coverings in which the creatures are concealed are formed by themfelves, in the fame manner as nails and lobiters form their felis, or other animals their internal bones. Thus the aphorifm animal ex ovo" is obviously groundlefs and incorrect; fince feveral tribes of animals' are, ftri&tly fpeaking, viviparous, without the aid of fexual influence. of uterus, or of ovum. In the vegetable world, many facts had been inveftigated long before the promulgation of Linnæus' fyftem; and many more were open to the molt common obfervation, by which that great naturalift might have been convinced of the impropriety of that fweeping aphorifm, which afferts the predominance of fexual procreation, and the ovarial procefs, in every infance of vegetable propagation. But it has been the fate of the greatest philofophers to be mifled by the ignis fatutus of a favourite hypothefis. Linnæus feems to have had no decided opinion with regard to certain vegetable organs, which he has denominated hybernacula, or winterlodges. For, in one part of his "Philofophia Botanica," the hybernaculum is defined, "that part of a plant which inciofes and protects the embryo herb from external injuries;" and, in another, he calls thefe proceffes Herbarum Metamorphofes;" alluding evidently to the transformations of winged infects, in the flate of chryfalis. The firk defi nition is quite inaccurate, fince it does not imply the production as well as the protection of the embryo, and is equally applicable to the feed as to the hybernaculum: and the fecond term is altogether incorrect, fince there is no transformation, but merely a progreffive growth of parts in the inclofed plant. It is unneceffary to mention to thofe who are acquainted with botany, that by the term hybernacula the bulbs and buds of vegetables are defignated. The truth is, that thefe hybernacula are the embryos of plants which are generated by the independent polypus-like powers of the parents, in which the fexual procefs has no influence. Grew feems to have been the first to obferve ("Anatomy of Plants," p. 173.) that the flowers of bulbous rooted plants "are formed, and even perfectly finifhed in all their parts, long before they appear," and that the flowers which bloffom in any given year, are in fact flowers of the preceding year's produce, having lain concealed and protected, during the feverity of the winter, within the bulb where they were produced. By diffecting the coats of the bulb of the tulip in the month of Auguft, he difcovered the flower of the fucceeding fummer in miniature, but its parts very diftinct. In the Colchicum autumnale, or meadow fafron, Sir John Hill found (Hift. of Botany, vol. I.) that the bulb is perennial; and while the flower fprings up on one fide of it, and bloffoms, an embryo for the fucceeding year is formed between the outer coat and the folid fubitance of the bulb on the other fide; and this procefs goes, on in the fame bulb every year, the embryo and the flower occupying the oppofite fides alternately. Thus the root only is perennial, and this polypus like generation is neceffary for the continuance even of the individual plant, which we improperly term perennial. But in many bulbous plants, a rapid increafe is effected by a fimilar generation. Of the tuberous roots, which |