Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation.[722] London, 1840, 12mo.
This is the first edition of this celebrated work. Its form is a case of
the theory: the book is an undeniable duodecimo, but the size of its paper
gives it the look of not the smallest of octavos. Does not this illustrate
the law of development, the gradation of families, the transference of
species, and so on? If so, I claim the discovery of this esoteric testimony
of the book to its own contents; I defy any one to point out the reviewer
who has mentioned it. The work itself is described by its author as "the
first attempt to connect the natural sciences into a history of creation."
The attempt was commenced, and has been carried on, both with marked
talent, and will be continued. Great advantage will result: at the worst we
are but in the alchemy of some new chemistry, or the astrology of some new
astronomy. Perhaps it would be as well not to be too sure on the matter,
until we have an antidote to possible consequences as exhibited under
another theory, on which {345} it is as reasonable to speculate as on that
of the _Vestiges_. I met long ago with a splendid player on the guitar, who
assured me, and was confirmed by his friends, that he _never practised_,
except in thought, and did not possess an instrument: he kept his fingers
acting in his mind, until they got their habits; and thus he learnt the
most difficult novelties of execution. Now what if this should be a minor
segment of a higher law? What if, by constantly thinking of ourselves as
descended from primeval monkeys, we should--if it be true--actually _get
our tails again_? What if the first man who was detected with such an
appendage should be obliged to confess himself the author of the
_Vestiges_--a person yet unknown--who would naturally get the start of his
species by having had the earliest habit of thinking on the matter? I
confess I never hear a man of note talk fluently about it without a curious
glance at his proportions, to see whether there may be ground to conjecture
that he may have more of "mortal coil" than others, in anaxyridical
concealment. I do not feel sure that even a paternal love for his theory
would induce him, in the case I am supposing, to exhibit himself at the
British Association,
With a hole behind which his tail peeped through.
The first sentence of this book (1840) is a cast of the log, which shows
our rate of progress. "It is familiar knowledge that the earth which we
inhabit is a globe of somewhat less than 8,000 miles in diameter, being one
of a series of eleven which revolve at different distances around the sun."
The _eleven_! Not to mention the Iscariot which Le Verrier and Adams
calculated into existence, there is more than a septuagint of _new_
planetoids.