1832.] Pyrolocjy. 663 



young, of dissent from the old, met the remark. But it excited no dis- 

 cussion. Tis a pity that Cuvier would not allow, at least not latterly, 

 these lectures of his to be published. And unless some kind unfaith- 

 ful friend have preserved the import of his papers, they will be lost to 

 the world. 



PYROLOGY. 



THE first sentiment excited in a susceptible mind by the newspaper 

 narrative of a great fire, in which the ravages of the devouring element are 

 depicted in a glowing style peculiarly appropriate to the subject, is 

 undoubtedly one of deep commiseration for the unfortunate sufferers. 

 After a few ejaculations, however, of sympathy and horror, a suspicion 

 arises that the insinuation of the doubt as to the premises being insured, 

 the old bed-ridden lodger in a garret which no ladder was long enough 

 to reach, and the little child that has been missing ever since the calami- 

 tous event, are mere poetical embellishments, some of those purpurei 

 panhi with which all writers delight to adorn the subjects they take in 

 hand. Having thus satisfied the claims of humanity, and perhaps being 

 entitled to take credit for a little superfluous sensibility, one may conscien- 

 tiously indulge an emotion of regret that next arises at not having been 

 present to witness so glorious a conflagration. This feeling, so far from 

 being the result of an unduly large development of the organ of destructive- 

 ness, is usually the concomitant, and, indeed, the token of a sweet and 

 amiable disposition. A susceptible heart is ever most alive to impressions 

 of the sublime and terrible, and the benevolent man is consequently fond 

 of fires by nature. It will occur, moreover, to a reflecting mind, that all 

 corporate bodies, including insurance companies, are proverbially devoid 

 of feeling; and that the onus of a loss, by being divided amongst a great 

 number of persons, becomes scarcely perceptible by any single individual. 

 Pleasure, on the other hand, like useful knowledge, may be indefinitely 

 increased by diffusion ; and when we consider the vast number of little 

 boys who are beatified by the opportunity of scampering after an engine, 

 and screaming out fire ! fire ! the wholesome excitement of some kind or 

 other which is necessary to rescue nervous gentlemen returning home 

 stupified by the miseries of a soiree from the contemplation of suicide, 

 the grandeur of the exhibition, and the delight of the beholders, as the 

 showman says, it will scarcely be doubted that a fine conflagration 

 materially increases the aggregate of human happiness, which is the 

 object of all good government. 



There are some individuals, born under an evil star, who, although 

 sojourning in the midst of a metropolitan constellation of sights, never 

 have the good luck to witness any of considerable magnitude, except 

 indeed those that are fixed and perennial, such as colosseums, cathedrals, 

 and the like, and which obtrude themselves upon the aching vision usque 

 ad nauseam. But a locomotive or incidental lion, a Russian prince or a 

 fire, exhibits itself in vain, so far as these unfortunate people are con- 

 cerned. They hear rumours of the appearance of a hog from Altrive, or a 

 patriot from Poland ; and they forthwith determine to frequent all places 

 of public resort, to take tickets for all public dinners, and to adopt such 

 other measures as appear to afford them a reasonable prospect of behold- 



