The Life and Letters of George John Romanes ... |
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
18 Cornwall Terrace able Aldate's Animal Intelligence animals answer asked Athenæum Club Aubrey Moore believe Cambridge causes character Charles Darwin Christ Church course Darwin Dean Church dear death doubt Dunskaith essay experiments fact feel Francis Darwin friends G. J. ROMANES Geanies gemmules GEORGE JOHN ROMANES George Romanes give glad graft hear hope Huxley hybrid intercrossing interesting isolation jelly-fish kind lecture letter light look Medusa Medusæ ment Mental Evolution mind Miss C. E. Romanes natural selection never observed organism origin Oxford Paget Pangenesis paper physiological selection plants polypite Professor published question regards Regent's Park Romanes Lecture Ross-shire Royal Society Sanderson scientific seeds seems self-adaptation sent sexual sincerely sonnet sorry species sterility suppose tell thanks theory thing thought tion tissue to-day variations Weismann write wrote yesterday
Popular passages
Page 86 - ... yet when at times I think, as think at times I must, of the appalling contrast between the hallowed glory of that creed which once was mine, and the lonely mystery of existence as now I find it — at such times I shall ever feel it impossible to avoid the sharpest pang of which my nature is susceptible.
Page 9 - Homer ruled as his demesne; Yet did I never breathe its pure serene Till I heard Chapman speak out loud and bold: Then felt I like some watcher of the skies When a new planet swims into his ken; Or like stout Cortez when with eagle eyes He stared at the Pacific— and all his men Looked at each other with a wild surmise— Silent, upon a peak in Darien.
Page 374 - It is impossible to resist the wish to insert it here : HEBREWS xi. 10 (or ii. 10). ' Arnen, now lettest Thou Thy servant, Lord, Depart in peace, according to Thy Word : Although mine eyes may not have fully seen Thy great salvation, surely there have been Enough of sorrow and enough of sight To show the way from darkness into light ; And Thou hast brought me, through a wilderness of pain, To love the sorest paths if soonest they attain. ' Enough of sorrow for the heart to cry— " Not for myself,...
Page 258 - Dinah, my spaniel, equally embarrassed on the other. She was overlooking half a dozen of her new-born puppies, which had been removed two or three times from her, and her anxiety was excessive, as she tried to find out if they were all present, or if any were still missing. She kept puzzling and running her eyes over them, backwards and forwards, but could not satisfy herself. She evidently had a vague notion of counting, but the figure was too large for her brain. Taking the two as they stood, dog...
Page 256 - Yet they seldom lose oxen : the way in which they discover the loss of one, is not by the number of the herd being diminished, but by the absence of a face they know. When bartering is going on, each sheep must be paid for separately. Thus, suppose two sticks of tobacco to be the rate of exchange for one sheep, it would sorely puzzle a Damara to take two sheep and give him four sticks.
Page 299 - ... contend. The external world appears, in this respect, to be at variance with our moral sense ; and when the antagonism is brought home to the religious mind, it must ever be with a shock of terrified surprise. It has been newly brought home to us by the...
Page 78 - One was that her monkey was very fond of looking through her eyeglass at objects, and moved the glass nearer and further so as to vary the focus. This struck me, as Frank's son, nearly two years old (and we think much of his intellect!!) is very fond of looking through my pocket lens, and I have quite in vain endeavoured to teach him not to put the glass close down on the object, but he always will do so. Therefore I conclude that a child under two years is inferior in intellect to a monkey.
Page 121 - As I have a fair opportunity, I sent a letter to the Times on Vivisection, which is printed to-day. I thought it fair to bear my share of the abuse poured in so atrocious a manner on all physiologists.
Page 115 - If you read it and are struck with it (but I may be wholly mistaken about its value), you would do a public service by analysing and criticising it in ' Nature.' Dr. Roux makes, I think, a gigantic oversight in never considering plants ; these would simplify the problem for him. Fourthly, I do not know whether you will discuss in your book on the ' Mind of Animals ' any of the more complex and wonderful instincts. It is unsatisfactory work, as there can be no fossilised instincts, and the sole guide...
Page 89 - Therefore you have no right to say that you have " demonstrated " that all natural laws necessarily follow from gravity, the persistence of force, and existence of matter. If you say that nebulous matter existed aboriginally and from eternity with all its present complex powers in a potential state, you seem to me to beg the whole question.