394 On Experiments upon Living Animals. pleased with Porson's well-known version into Greck iambics of the ballad, Three Children sliding on the Ice, &c.: here my sentiments are congenial with his: and I beg him to accept my sincere thanks for producing the very curious passage from a poem entitled De Lacte Nutricum. I cannot close these remarks without observing, that the acuteness which the criticisms of that able scholar, Mr. Dobree, display in the present volume, creates in my mind an earnest wish that the day is fast approaching when his publication of Porson's notes on Aristophanes, joined, I sincerely hope, to his own, shall make its promised appear N. N. ance. Feb. 28, 1816. MR. EDITOR, A CORRESPONDENT in your number for March, p. 101, who subscribes himself C. C. R., has very properly animadverted upon the harsh and unjustifiable terms in which IMMISERICORS (No.24) has spoken of Dr. Johnson.-While I am ready to allow that Johnson was not without his prejudices, and that his manner of enforcing his opinions was not always the most decorous, I can never admit that his name and opinion are of no weight in a disputed question; or that, because he may have been under the influence of prejudice in some par ticulars and on some subjects, he is therefore not deserving of consideration in any. Happily the question in which his name has been introduced, viz. the propriety of instituting experiments on living animals, is one in which we do not require the sanction of his great authority to enable us to decide in the negative. It is one in which all the best feelings of our nature take a part; it is one in which, if I am not mistaken, the verdict which humanity pronounces will be confirmed by the voice of sober rea ΣΟΠ. IMMISERICORS commences with an assertion which appears to me to deter mine the question in a way exactly the reverse of that which he adopts: he says that, however questionable the mora lity of practising experiments upon living animals may be, its utility can be doubted by none but the ignorant" that is, in other words, he defends the practice on the score of utility alone. Its morality he thinks questionable; at least he allows that competent persons may deem it questionable. This concession, I think, cuts the question by the [June 1, roots at once. Can we seriously imagine that the bencficent Author of all, whose tender mercies are over all his works, would have made the practice of cruelty necessary to the attainment of useful knowledge; that he who has enforced the practice of benevolence in every possible way upon us, by the dictates of the heart, the precepts of his law, and, above all, his own example-should notwithstanding have established cases in which the violation of his own law of love becomes not merely allowable, but an absolute act of duty; in one word, that morality, whose author is God, dictates one way, and utility, no less the result of combinations foreseen and appointed by the same God, points out another diametrically opposite? No, Mr. Editor-though I ani no anatomist or physiologist-though I may be of the number of those to whom your correspondent applies the adage, Ne sufor ultra crepidum-I must à priori conclude, that the Creator of all things has not made the tortures of one part of his creation necessarily subservient to the happiness and well-being of another; that the knowledge acquired by dissection of living animals might have been gained in other ways less revolting to humanity; and that of course all experiments of the above description are needless, and therefore abominable acts of cruelty. Your correspondent has brought forward a formidable list of persons as sanctioning by their example the prac tice for which he contends. In reply I must observe, that no authority can sanction a wicked action; that their conduct does not prove the necessity of having recourse to such experiments, since it is still a matter of dispute whether all they learned and imparted to the world might not have been acquired in other ways; lastly, that men wholly given up to the pursuit of abstract truth are ready to take any course that may lead to the attainment of their objectthat "their humanity is ever at their horizon," the end being in all cases sufficient with them to justify the means. The name of Boerhaave, indeed, I am sorry to see upon his list: the "surly moralist" has written a life of him which would have led me to form of him better expectations; and I would still venture to indulge a hope that his name may have been inserted through mistake or misconception. We know that Boerhaave, the firm believer of revealed religion, was once, from some misrepre 1816.] Recipe for the Tooth-ach. sented words, accused of deism or even of atheism: why may not a similar mistake have occurred in this instance also. However, be that as it may, no name, however weighty, can outweigh truth, or annul the distinction between right and wrong. 395 in question. As he has furnished his opponents with a sentence from the Latin, I shall entreat his consideration of one uttered by a person not inferior to the author whom he quotes: "As a madman, who casteth firebrands, arrows, and death, so is the man that deceiveth his neighbour, and saith: Am not I in sport?" (Proverbs, xxvi. 18, 19.) And lastly, I will advise him, when he next takes up the pen, to write with somewhat more civility towards his opponents, and not to suppose that an opinion, which even he must allow deserves no ruder appellation than that of an amiable weakness, should be encountered with the arrogance and harshness in which he has indulged.* MISERICORS. March 12, 1816. P. S. Perhaps some of your readers can furnish the remainder of the following beautiful lines which appeared in the Courier soon after the account of the battle of Trafalgar, and which are all that I remember : When notes of triumph swell the gale, In the hour of victory? MR. EDITOR, IMMISERICORS pursues his subject by detailing, in the person of a surgeon in the navy, three pleasant narratives corroborative (I suppose they are meant to be) of his opinions. With regard to the first we may observe, that necessity justifies the use of any means-I mean the necessity of self-preservation-so that whenever we are precisely in the situation of the six young gentlemen in question and their friend the surgeon, we may perhaps agree with them in opinion as to our mode of proceeding. His next story is that of a malefactor condemned to be broken on the wheel, who preferred having his punishment commuted for that of being bled to death. As the expedient adopted tended to establish an important fact in the animal economy, without doing the sufferer a greater injury than he must otherwise have sustained, the experiment upon a living animal was perhaps in this instance justifiable-except that a conscientious mind would scruple to practise deceit even upon a criminal, and for the attainment of an important purpose. Ilis third narration is one, which no feeling mind can peruse without horror; nor do I speak advisedly when I say many a person has died on a gibbet for a crime which, in point of moral guilt, is not to be compared with that committed by "the celebrated Pitcairn of Edinburgh" and his five associates. I regret to find a writer setting out with the professed intention of justifying experiments on the brute creation while alive, and end- clean white plate, will produce a yellowA sheet of writing-paper, burned in a ing with a narrative which demonstrates ish oil, which oil is to be soaked up by a lis indifference for the life of one of his small piece of clean cotton, and placed own species; and if this indifference be in or on the tooth affected for twelve or the natural consequence of his opinion, fifteen minutes. In the most distressing I am furnished with an additional argucases I have known it give immediate ment against instituting experiments upon relief, one of which happened last week living animals of any description. With who for more than regard to the observation, "that the three months had been almost always good of individuals ought always to give tormented by the pain, when, by applyway to the good of the whole," I will telling the oil of paper, she had immediate IMMISERICORS, on authority greater than that of all the "modern philosophers and philanthropists" put together, that "we are not to do evil that good may cone;" and that no plea of supposed utility can justify the practice of deceit upon a fellow-creature, followed as it was by the fatal catastrophe of the case the certain removal of that truly painful BEING in possession of a recipe for sensation the tooth-ach, and desirous of communicating its value to the public, in order that others may get rid of so trouthe ornaments of the mouth, to the injury blesome a visitor, without parting with of the gums, I solicit you to give it a place in your valuable Magazine. It is as follows:- in a Mrs. F *For the information of our correspondent we think it right to state, that very soon after the appearance of the article on which he animadverts, Death summoned the writer to that bourn which is beyond the reach both of human censure and admonition. EDITOR. 396 Remarks on Sir H. Davy's Wire-Gauze Safe-Lamp. [June 1, relief. I never knew a case where a re- the cylinder, the flame may be easily petition was necessary. Newington, April 22, 1816. MR. EDITOR, J. W. YOUR active benevolence in the cause of the unfortunate prompts me to request that you will have the goodness to insert the following remarks in your next journal, which is very extensively circulated amongst those persons who are materially concerned. The wire-gauze safe-lamp of Sir H. DAVY, of which you have given a detailed description, occupies for the present a share of public notice; I shall therefore offer no apology to your readers for commenting freely and dispassion ately upon that gentleman's lamp and his account of it. As the wire-gauze of this lamp is stated to be so very fine that there are 748 apertures in a square inch, it would be interesting to know how many minutes (I had almost said seconds) the fire-damp would take to burn its way through such a flimsy texture as this wire-gauze ? It would be equally interesting to know what quantity of the fire-damp in a coal-mine may be destroyed by such combustion within a wire-gauze apparatus of this description, before the wire be burnt through and an explosion ensues? As a key to these questions, Sir H. Davy himself states: "that when the wire-gauze safe-lamp is lighted, and introduced into an atmosphere gradually mixed with fire-damp, the first effect of the fire-damp is to increase the length and size of the flame. When the inflammable gas forms as much as one-twelfth of the volume of the air, the cylinder becomes filled with a feeble blue flame; but the flame of the wick appears burning brightly within the blue flame, and the light of the wick continues till the fire-damp increases to one-sixth or onefifth, when it is lost in the flume of the fire-damp, which in this case fills the cylinder with a pretty strong light." This is clear enough; for should the unfortunate pitman, relying upon such an instrument, neglect to attend it for a few minutes, (and the carelessness of pitmen is proverbial,) he would find that whenever the fire-damp is only in the proportion of one-sixth of the atmospheric air, an explosion would follow, as the wiregauze would soon be burnt through; and in this case the following precaution of Sir H. Davy would be rendered nugatory, viz.when the fire-damp is burning in extinguished by putting a cap of metal, or even of woollen or linen, over it." Sir H. Davy states, that "should it ever be necessary for the miner to work for a great length of time in an explosive atmosphere by the wire-gauze lamp, (which by the bye is an impossibility, for the reasons given above,) it may be proper to cool the lamp occasionally by throwing water upon the top," &c. These lamps are directed to be made of iron-wire, and, notwithstanding the exceedingly fine texture of that wire, they are intended to stand a strong heat within, whilst surrounded by a moist atmosphere; of course they must very soon rust; and of this Sir H. Davy ap pears to be well aware, for he finds it needful to remark, that "their safety should be proved before they are used, by plunging them into a jar or barrel containing an explosive mixture of fire. damp." We must also take into consideration that the gauze-lamp may very readily be upset by the smallest touch or motion in the mine, and thereby an aperture would be made in the gauze by the flame;we must reflect that pieces of coal struck off by the pitmen's instrument may break a few meshes of the gauze-lamp, and thereby cause explosion, and also that a fall of stone or other substance from the roof of the mine, which, though it might not perhaps break the lamp, might tear the fine gauze, and admit of explosion by the fire-damp coming down with the fall of the stone. Add to this, the liability of the apertures in the wire-gauze to be choked up by the soot from the oil-lamp, which would of course obstruct the light, and increase the heat and consequent danger. The same circumstances must occur from the coal-dust of the miner, when at work, filling up the aper tures of the wire-gauze. From all these circumstances, it will now be readily acknowledged by every unprejudiced person, that such lamps as those of wiregauze partake more of the nature of a delicate philosophical toy, than of a useful, strong, and safe instrument for giving light, and preventing explosions in coal-mines. At a future period I shall offer some remarks upon coal-mines, and the present methods in use for ventilating and lighting them, which shall be freely discussed for the public good. I am A FRIEND TO RATIONAL IMPROVEMENTS. Newcastle, April 17, 1816. 1816.] MR. EDITOR, On Zotti's Edition of Ganganelli's Letters. IT is with no little regret that on looking over the edition recently published by Mr. ZOTTI of the Lettere di Ganganelli I observe him speaking in his preface with any degree of indecision of the authenticity of these interesting remains of that pontiff. For notwithstanding the unanimous admission of his own countrymen that they are his legitimate productions, and even Mr. Zotti's own exultation in the credit which they reflect on the memory and principles of Ganganelli, still with an inconsistency the more unaccountable he subsequently qualifies his first conviction of their genuineness by his after-hesitation as to their real author! After observing in the first instance, "non ostante però tutto ciò che si possa in contrario opporre queste lettere sustisteranno eternamente e faranno sempre onore al Ganganelli," it is surely not a little surprising to see him absolutely invalidating his own judgment in this strong and honorable testimony by the hesitating indecision that follows: "QUAL SI SIA mai stato lo scrittore di esse."!!! As it were for an antidote to his own scepticism, the learned editor has very judiciously appended the interesting defence of the Marquis Caracciolo" of the authenticity of these letters, in which he so ably repels the malignant insinuation by a French journalist of his attempting to pass off his own fabrications as the actual letters of the celebrated pontiff. Be Mr. Zotti, however, as undecided as he pleases, I am confident that the perusal alone of this interesting document will carry perfect conviction to any liberal or candid mind that the letters in question are, beyond the possibility of dispute, the genuine and indubitable productions of the venerable writer by whose name they are immortalized. Berkshire, April 19th. SCRUTATOR. *See his "Ringraziamento dell'Editore delle Lettere del Pontefice Ganganelli all' Autor dell'Anno Letterario." + It was the liberal and manly spirit which these letters uniformly breathe on all the multifarious subjects of their discussion which was doubtless the source of that acrimonious hostility that led the secret partisans of the discomfited Jesuits to attempt to un dermine the credit of a pope who had the resolution and firmness to exterminate their order. Happy had it been when he signed the instrument of their dissolution that he could but have sealed it with an Esto perpe tuo. 397 OBSERVATIONS ON THE ANCIENT LANGUAGE OF MALTA. BY MR. JOHN DOUGALL. (Continued from page 300.) THE Phoenician dialect, even as it still exists in Malta, bears a very strong affinity to the original Chaldee, and the cognate dialects of the Syrians and the Hebrews. This will be manifest from the following examples. Thus: armla, a widow; deheb, gold; dryh, the arm; keukba, a star; kybrit, sulphur; shemsh, the sun; shytla, a plant; sykkina, the culter of a plough; are at once Maltese and Chaldaic. Again: the Syriac, or Aramaan tongue, varies from the primitive Chaldaic chiefly in the prolongation of certain words; a peculiarity in which the Maltese partakes. Thus: demm, blood; ghain, the eye; id, the hand; ruhh, breath, or spirit; shybt, anise; are both Syriac and Maltese. Many Hebrew terms are also preserved by the people of Malta: such as bnydem, for ben adam, a man, literally a a son of Adam; byrek, he blessed; atbyrek, he is blessed; fyda, he redeemed; fahhma, a coal; ghynba, a grape. The Phoenician tongue flourished in its purity in Malta for many ages: for although both Greeks and Romans had great intercourse, and even were settled there, yet the languages of those nations were so opposite to the Maltese in structure, vocables, and pronunciation, that it would have been extremely difficult to adopt and incorporate any of them in the dialect of the island. The Greeks, besides, were merely merchants and mariners occasionally visiting Malta in the course of their commercial expeditions; and the Romans, even when masters of Malta, never felt it to be of such importance, in a military or financial point of view, as to require the constant residence of any considerable body of troops, the only colonists on whom they set much value. The intercourse between the Carthaginians and the Maltese could only tend more and more to fortify and confirm the attachment of the islanders to their ancient language, laws, and cus 398 Mr. Dougall on the Ancient Language of Malta. racens, a term which in Maltese signifies thieves, or robbers. The language of those invaders, animated at once by the love of dominion and spoil, and by the exterminating zeal of religious fanaticism, that is to say the Arabic, descended from the same origin as the Maltese, so nearly resembled it in many essential particulars that it seems wonderful that the islanders were able to preserve their vernacular tongue in any tolerable purity. That they did so, however, is unques tionable when the two languages are compared together. The deep-rooted antipathy subsisting between the Maltese and the Arabian strangers, on account of their different manners, customs, aud opinions, above all on religious matters, strengthened by the hatred felt by an injured and oppressed people for every thing proceeding from their injurious oppressors; all these causes tended nost powerfully to establish unaltered among the Maltese their ancient language and usages. In the modern Maltese, however, are found a number of terms and manners of expression common to the Arabic in its best days. Part of these may probably have been introduced by the Saracens, whose language a thousand years ago was necessarily much more pure and like the ancient Arabic than any of the heterogeneous dialects now prevalent along the southern shores of the Mediterranean. This may be one reason why the Arabic terms and phrases in the Maltese are confessedly of the best character. Of this the oriental scholar will be enabled to judge from the following specimen. Thus: barud, to file, or polish; bir, a wall; dakhal, to enter, or go in; dár, a house; hajeb, the eye-brow; hama, mud; jarru, a jar, or water-vessel; jenna, a pleasant grove, or garden, paradise, the seat of the blessed; jezzae, tonsure; kharej, he went out; are equally old Arabic and present Maltese. In Malta arc also preserved a number of inflections, phrases, manners of expression, sentences, and proverbs, or maxims, employed by the Arabians. On this account it is that the Maltese make use of certain terms belonging to the ancient Sabæans and Ethiopians, such as zakh, a sack or bag of leather; tyrae, soft moist ground; khassis, an old man, an elder, or presbyter of the church, a priest. From what has been said will be manifest the strong affinity and consanguinity of the Maltese with the primary dialects of the East, especially with those derived from the Chaldaic. Of this in [June 1, stances will be found in these words:viz. bykae, he wept, is at once Maltese, Chaldaic, Hebrew, Syriac, Samaritan, Arabic, and Ethiopian; bynae, he built, is Malt. Chal. Syr. Heb. and Arabic; ghain, the eye, is Mal. Chal. Syr. Heb. Sam. and Ar.; haleb, he drew milk, is Mal, Chal. Syr. Heb. and Ar.; khom, be rose up, is Mal. Chal, Syr. Heb. Sam. Ar. and Eth.; mylae, he filled, he drew water, is Mal. Ch. Sam. and Eth.; myt, he died, is Mal. Cbal. Syr. Heb. and Ar.; rufes, he shattered, he trod upon, is Mal. Cħal, Syr. Ileb. and Ar.; ruh, spirit, breath, the soul, is Mal. Chal. Heb, and Arabic. From these few specimens some judg ment may be formed of the important aid to be drawn from the present Maltese in explaining the most ancient dialects of the East, and of the great facility thereby afforded to the natives of Malta in the acquisition of those languages. It is of consequence to observe, that although the Maltese possess many words bearing a very close resemblance to the Arabic, yet it possesses also a great variety of terms which from their guttural pronunciation are evidently oriental, but which have not the least affinity with the Arabic. This can be explained only by considering that the Maltese is immediately derived from the Phoenician, and its descendant the Punic of Carthage. For this reason many of the most learned men of Europe, particularly those employed in the study and interpretation of the Scriptures in the original tongues, have gladly availed themselves of the few means afforded to the public of obtaining a knowledge of the Maltese dialect. Of the utility of the Maltese in this respect the following are instances: The distribution of the whole human race into two opposite classes of very disproportionate numbers is well known and of high antiquity. The Jew and the Gentile, the Greek and the Barbarian, the Italian and the Tramontane, the Parisian and the Stranger, the Englishman and the Foreigner, are distinctions perpetually recurring in history and in conversation. In this classification it is curious that the Greeks, not contented with the rich and abundant stores of their own language, should have had recourse to the language of those very barbarians whom they affected to despise for a term so expressive and so necessary as that by which every human being but themselves was to be designated. The Greek term barbaros is wholly oriental, but early introduced into Eu |