worthy of being placed in company with that eminent naturalist. Every one present will at once perceive that I refer to the late John Templeton, a man devoted, like Linnæus, to every branch of natural history, and whose enthusiastic attachment to it continued to the end of his life. The biography of a retired man of science, like a deceased friend, seldom presents much that is interesting to the world at large, especially when he has not come much forward as an author; but those who have known and respected him will take pleasure in such details as may make them more acquainted with him, or may recall him to their recollection; and, in particular, you, who are engaged in the same pursuit, will be gratified by even an imperfect account of his exertions, of his discoveries, and of the treasures he has left behind him. Whilst, in compliance with your wish, I have undertaken to pay this tribute of respect, I must regret that it was not undertaken by some one who had been longer and more intimately acquainted with him, and who could, therefore, have done more justice to the subject. The readiness, however, with which sources of information have been laid open to me by the family, have, I hope, enabled me to fulfil your desire better than I could have expected; and I have myself derived considerable pleasure in the employment; whilst the character, as well as the talent and information, of our departed friend, has risen greatly in my opinion, as I have become more acquainted with him. Mr. Templeton was born in Belfast, in the year 1766. His father resided there, and at his country house in Malone, near this town, where the family have been settled since the early part of the 17th century, and where he himself constantly lived since his father's death. To this place he gave the name of Crann-more, i. e. the Great tree, in honour of the very fine chestnut trees which are in front of the house, and which were probably planted in the 17th century, though there is no record respecting them. It had been previously called Orange Grove. His very delicate state of health, when a boy, was probably the cause of his attention being early turned to natural history. When unable to partake of active amusements, he took great delight in a book of natural history, containing pictures of birds, fishes, &c.; which pictures he used to copy, and with which, and the descriptions, he used to compare the various birds which his friends, knowing the pleasure it gave him, procured and sent him. That habit of discrimination, which natural history is well calculated to form, was thus early acquired. His earliest education he received at the school of Mr. Manson, a name yet respected in this neighbourhood. As he grew up he became attached to fowling and fishing, but gave up the former on witnessing the sufferings of a wounded bird, and was ever afterwards remarkable for his kind attention to every part of the animal creation. In this he set an excellent example to naturalists, for he always contrived to gratify his curiosity without pain to the subject of it, and would, at any time, have lost the opportunity of acquiring knowledge, rather than be the cause of suffering to a living creature. When circumstances justified the deprivation of life, he considered how it might take place with the least pain. Benevolence to men and brutes was, indeed, a striking feature in his character; and those who, on many subjects, differed from him in opinion, could not but have approved the motive by which he was ever actuated, -a desire to promote the happiness of his fellow-creatures. From various passages in his writings I select one, in proof of my assertion. "It is often," says he, "within the power of man to exercise a portion of benevolence; and while philanthropy confines kindness to our own species, the divine attribute of benevolence extends to every living creature, and calls to us to alleviate their sufferings. While snow covers the earth, and frost binds up the waters, the feeling heart must pity the distress, and strive to give comfort and sustenance to the winged inhabitants of the air, whose lively motions interest, and whose music adds a charm to the rural scene. Many, driven from their native wilds by the inclemency of the season, seek the plains of Ireland, in hopes of finding that comfort which their own country denied them; but scarcely are they arrived, fatigued with the length of their journey, and weak from want of food, ere they experience new calamities. In vain do they seek the silent wood, or trust to generosity for protection; for no pangs are felt by the greedy epicure or thoughtless sportsman, when innocence and beauty die. It is to innocence and beauty they call for protection. Let the youthful hand scatter food, and they will give life and happiness to hundreds; let them guard their rural walks against all destroyers of the feathered tribes, and the consciousness of having done a good action will make the music of the groves awaken ideas which the virtuous alone can enjoy." In another place I find him quoting with approbation the beautiful lines of Cowper, "I would not enter on my list of friends, (Though graced with polished manners and fine sense, Who needlessly sets foot upon a worm. The sum is this:- If man's convenience, health, Are paramount, and must extinguish theirs. - As God was free to form them at the first, Who in his sovereign wisdom made them all." Mr. Templeton began to cultivate flowers about the year 1786, and soon made his flower-garden an object of attention; but it was not till after his father's death, in 1790, that, on recovery from a severe illness, he began to study botany with enthusiasm as a science; having been first directed to it by a desire of extirpating weeds from his farm, to which he then applied himself. Having made himself well acquainted with the Linnean system, he, in 1793, laid out his experimental garden, if I may so call it, which is said to have been suggested by a passage in Rousseau's Heloise. This had been partly an orchard, partly an osier ground; and conducting through it a stream of water, raised on an artificial rock, he rendered it in every way fit for the intended purpose. Here he collected, from various parts of the world, rare and useful plants, which he endeavoured to naturalise in this climate, by placing them in a soil and situation resembling, as nearly as possible, that to which they had been accustomed. By this means there is growing, in his garden, in the open air, a wonderful and curious collection of plants from India, China, North and South America, Siberia, &c. : such as Camellia japónica, Thèa viridis (the tea-plant), Ailanthus præ'cox, and others, which were formerly kept in the hot-house, and then in the greenhouse. Most of the trees at Cranmore (all, I believe, except the chestnuts and oaks) were raised from seed or planted by himself; and so great a variety of the natives of the forest has, perhaps, never been collected in so small a place. In 1794 he paid his first visit to London, where he formed an acquaintance with Professor Martyn, of Cambridge, author of the valuable additions to Miller's Dictionary; Dr. Shaw, the zoologist; Mr. Dickson, of Covent Garden, the celebrated cryptogamist; and Mr. Whitley, an eminent nursery-man, from whom he afterwards purchased many plants, and with whom he corresponded. In 1795 he became acquainted with the late Mr. Arbuckle, collector of Donaghadee; and through him, with the Earl of Clanbrassil. This nobleman, much attached to the study of botany, had Mr. Templeton frequently with him at Bryansford, and near Dundalk; on which occasions he usually accompanied Mr Arbuckle, with whom he carried on a frequent correspondence for some years. These visits were only terminated by the death of Lord Clanbrassil, in 1798. In 1796 Mr. Templeton paid a second visit to London, where he was introduced to Sir Joseph Banks, who took great notice of him; and then, or soon after, made him an offer to go to New Holland, with a salary of 3 or 400l. a year, and a large grant of land; but his attachment to his aunt and sisters, with whom he lived before his marriage, as well as to his native country, made him decline it, though the prospect it held out of · prosecuting his favourite study was very tempting. Mr. Brown, the distinguished author of the Pródromus of the Plants of New Holland, who went to New Holland afterwards, was in the number of Mr. Templeton's friends and correspondents; and expressed his sense of the services rendered by Mr. Templeton to botany, by appropriating the name Templetònia to one of his new genera. He also became acquainted with Doctor, now Sir J. E. Smith, president of the Linnean Society, the Rev. Dr. Goodenough, late Bishop of Carlisle, with Aylmer Bourke Lambert, Esq., author of a splendid and valuable work on the genus Pìnus, Mr. Sowerby, Mr. Curtis, and others, besides renewing his acquaintance with Dr. Shaw and_Mr. Dickson; and with many of these he afterwards corresponded. Lord Clanbrassil was in London at that time, and Mr. Templeton's letters show that he enjoyed his visit much, though glad to return to his domestic occupations. Previously to this visit, he had made some communications to the Linnean Society, which were well received. One of them was on the migration of birds, and another on soils. In the year 1799 he communicated to the Royal Irish Academy, through the Bishop of Clonfert, Dr. Young, with whom he was intimate, a paper on the naturalisation of plants, a subject to which he had devoted much attention. In this he urged the necessity of experiments. "The same Almighty hand," he says, “ that formed the earth, has scattered, in far distant regions, vegetables, which the necessity or luxury of man excites him to endeavour to accumulate about his home. And if we, at the present time, survey the different nations of the earth, we shall find that most of them have received great and important benefits by the introduction of foreign plants; and that there is no country, however numerous its collection of plants, but may yet receive considerable advantages by the naturalisation of others." This paper contains many excellent practical observations which have been referred to in different works published since that time. I shall at present quote only one. "By the appearance of the roots and leaves, we may nearly determine in what kind of soil the plant is most likely to thrive. Robust roots and fleshy or rigid leaves require a dry soil, according to their thickness, stiff clay or sandy loam, as beans, peach trees, and apple trees: robust spongy roots which have a tendency to mat near the surface, with thin leaves, as the alder (Alnus), willows (Salix), require a somewhat stiffer soil with moisture; many of the Salix genus will not grow with their accustomed vigour in light turf or peat mould soil, for want of the necessary resistance to the root, although suitable in respect to moisture. Slender, hard, and wiry roots as those of the pine, cistus, &c., require dry, sandy, or gravelly soils, and extremely fine and hair-like roots, as those of Erica, Kálmia, Rhododendron, &c., must have a soil whose particles will not impede the shooting of their tender fibres, and with a small but regular degree of moisture, that the roots, which by their form cannot resist the slightest drought, may not be destroyed. Plants in a warm climate perspire more than in a cold one; so in a warm one they require much, and in a cold one little moisture. Therefore when transplanted from a warm to a cold climate, they should have a drier soil, and from a colder to a warmer, a moister one than in their native station." (To be continued.) LATHREA Squamària. — I have doubts respecting the identity of Hudson's Lathræ a squamària, with that of English Botany and Flora, &c. Would any of your readers furnish you with a short description of the plant, as it may have occurred to them? Were this done, some light might, I sus pect, be thrown upon the true characters of this plant. G. E. Smith. Sandgate, Aug. 25. 1828. Scientific Work on Insects. - Can you inform me of any introductory work on entomology? I want more information respecting the classification, than is to be gathered from the excellent book of Messrs. Kirby and Spence, or any other I have met with. Messrs. Kirby and Spence allege that such a work would be found dry by readers; but it appears to me as necessary to the student of entomology, as a grammar is to the student of languages. A word or two from you, in the Magazine, might set some competent person upon writing a work of this nature, if, as I suspect, none exists.-T. L. H. August 18. 1928. Rise and Fall of the Barometer. In the Companion to the Almanack, published under the superintendence of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge, it is stated, in describing the barometer, that the cause of the rising and falling of the mercury in the instrument has "long puzzled philosophers; and many erroneous solutions have been given of the problem. By some, the increase of weight has been supposed to proceed from the quantity of water dissolved in the air; this is, however, refuted by the simple fact, that when the mercury stands highest, the air is most dry; and, on the contrary, rain generally occurs when the atmosphere is light." What is meant by the words "most dry;" is it meant that the air is then freest from water, or do they signify, only, that it is then most desiccating? An explanation from some of your readers will oblige — X. Y. ART. VIII. Retrospective Criticism. Too great Humanity to Animals.—Sir, Having, this week, received a curious sort of letter of censure for my too great humanity, I enclose it to you, that you may, if you please, make use of it. It is, perhaps, scarcely deserving of notice; but, as I have understood that you like some discussion upon the various subjects treated in the past Numbers of the Magazine, I thought you might like to insert it; I send it, therefore, with some remarks in answer; but, pray, do not scruple to throw both aside, if you think it better to do so. Madam,- Having read, in the Magazine of Natural History, a communication from you, entitled, 'Considerations on Botany, as a Study for Young People,' wherein you recommended its pursuit over the other collateral branches, inasmuch as it was not fraught with cruelty, and that, in its prosecution, you are without the fear of inflicting pain. Now, as an experimental physiologist, I should beg to give it as my opinion, that the lower class of animals are not susceptible of the sensation of pain. This seems to be dependent upon the tardiness of their circulating systems, and consequent want of nervous energy. First, I should like to state to you, that the common eft can have its tail removed without even being conscious of it. In man, and the vertebratæ, the seat of sensation is chiefly found in the brain; but how different in insects. It is a known fact, that the head of most insects can be removed, and the animal possess the power to perform all the functions, save seeing and eating, and ultimately only dies of inanition. I am not at all an advocate for deliberate cruelty, but it seems to me that, on this subject, there exists an unnecessary and false feeling amongst your enchanting sex. A lady can read the account of a cool and deliberate blood shed of some hundreds of fellow-beings, and call the perpetrator a hero; and yet the man who, from a love of, and earnest wish to improve, science, kills a few insects, is only known by the undeserving epithets of a brute, monster, or cruel wretch! With every wish that you may conquer your present fastidiousness, I have the honour to be, Madam, yours - A Follower of Esculapius. Aug. 8, 1828." In reading this letter, it is very easy to perceive that the writer is one of, what he himself considers, the higher class of animals; and so far, perhaps, we may agree with him, whatever may be the opinion of what we term the lower class, on this subject. The wasp, when it stings us, may choose to believe that we are not susceptible of pain; it might be convenient to him to think so, if he desired to repeat the sting; and I know not that we have any better reason for arrogating all the pain to ourselves, than the insect would have for denying that we felt any. A man may have his nails or his hair cut, without experiencing any pain from the operation, but does it follow thence that he is insensible to pain? Even allowing that the head or tail of an animal may be removed, without depriving it of the powers of motion, &c., can we, therefore, affirm that it is done without pain? Or supposing the seat of sensation, in insects, not to be in the head, can we then say, that it does not exist at all? Even admitting the fact, that the head be removed without pain, is it nothing to deprive the poor insect of sight, and of the means of supporting its life? Is it nothing to leave it to die of hunger? Whatever may be our theories on such subjects, whatever the analogies, or arguments upon which we found them, it is dangerous to act upon opinions that we cannot prove; and surely it is better even to run into a little excess on the humane side of the question, than to run the risk of inflicting unnecessary pain. I agree with the writer that "she who can read the account of a cool and deliberate bloodshed of some hundreds of fellow-creatures, and call the perpetrator a hero," yet calls him a brute, and a monster, who, for useful purposes," kills a few insects," is merely squeamish; and perhaps a little affected; but let us hope that women will ever preserve that" fastidiousness," if fastidiousness it be, which shrinks from inflicting pain on any living creature. If an animal must suffer death, let it be given without torture; and, above all, let us not make the sufferings of any creature, however low its rank in the creation, a source of heartless sport. I suspect this disciple of Esculapius is far from being heartless, and that his quickness to correct me in this matter, proceeds from a tenderness of conscience, awakened to a doubt he does not fully acknowledge to himself. In return for his anxiety for my own improvement, I sincerely hope that he will listen to his feelings as well as to his wishes, and not suffer his convictions to depend upon his will.Yours, &c. E. Kent. Aug. 15, 1828. DINNER in Commemoration of Ray. - Naturalists of every class are deeply indebted to the labours of this great philosopher, rather, perhaps, in the assistance they have afforded to Linnæus, Buffon, Daubenton, and Cuvier, than by the knowledge generally possessed of the originals; and naturalists of every class will, of course, join in celebrating the two hundredth anniversary of the birth of the most distinguished student of nature in general who has yet run his course in this country. The arrangements in progress contemplate such a union as almost certain, and the cooperation of the various Natural History Societies of London is anticipated, by the consent of the secretaries to act as stewards. We look forward, in fact, to a National Natural History Fête. |