112 ON THE LUMINOSITY 



only perfectly right, but perfectly consistent, in his observation 

 on the two occasions which the Editor has pitted against each 

 other. In the first instance, the Doctor expresses his contempt 

 of that class of naturalists, who, having the real object daily 

 before them, prefer examining it through the medium of a 

 book, which, in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred, is a crude, 

 ill-digested medley of the writings of others. Instead of fol- 

 lowing in the train, the Doctor prefers employing his own 

 eye-sight. In the second instance, eye-sight is not available — 

 assiduous watching and observation are entirely useless ; had it 

 not been so, I feel confident that the author of the Letters of 

 Rusticus would not have appealed to " common consent." If, 

 at some future day, the Hong, and other merchants. Lords 

 Commissioners of the Woods and Forests of the Celestial 

 Empire, should allow the Doctor free ingress and egress ; and 

 if, after such privilege, we still find him referring us to " com- 

 mon consent'' on the present question, I shall be much asto- 

 nished, and shall most willingly acknowledge his inconsistency. 

 In the mean time, I shall consider it perfectly justifiable to 

 laugh at a fabulous account, attached by common consent to 

 the weasel, and perfectly justifiable to pay respect to a fabulous 

 account attached by common consent to the fire-fly of China. 

 As regards the weasel, '' common consent'' certainly implies, 

 as the Editor has well observed, " that the human mind has 

 never thought about it till roused and freed from bondage 

 by peculiar circumstances ;" but as regards the fire-fly of 

 China, common consent simply implies a belief in the observa- 

 tions of others, until we have an opportunity of making our 

 own. 



It has struck me as not a little remarkable, that the three 

 speakers in favour of the proposed change — 1st. The learned 

 mover ; 2d. the worthy seconder, whom I hope we shall 

 one day see in the chair of the Entomological Society, — 

 a society from which I regret having been compelled to with- 

 draw, by an act which ostensibly emanated from the body ; 

 but which, I have subsequently found, the body not only 

 disavow, but most severely condemn ; — a society which I 

 have laboured, and which I will labour, to serve, to the best 

 of my abilities ; and 3dly, the Editor of the Magazine. — It 

 is a little remarkable, I say, that neither of these three have 

 attended to the recent arguments of Dr. Hancock on the very 



