he had, therefore, long been convinced, that those signs of suf- 

 fering manifested by brute animals were but means to cherish and 

 promote the sympathies of man, and to check his natural tendency 

 to tyrannize and misuse power, whenever it was granted to him. 

 In a word, that he was a sincere disciple and a zealous advocate for 

 the doctrine of Gomez Pereira (which was popularized by Des- 

 cartes), who conceived that all appearances of sensibility manifested 

 by animals are fallacious, and that the brute species are mere ma- 

 chines divested of all feeling.' There is something so amiable in this 

 horror of injustice, that it is impossible not to pardon the incon- 

 sequence of the reasoning." 



It often happens that persons of extraordinary genius differ as 

 much from the generality of mankind, in their habits, as they 

 exceed them in their intellectual powers. A difference in their 

 mode of thinking naturally produces a difference in their mode of 

 acting ; hence the eccentricities which so often furnish subjects 

 of amusement to those whose mind is of normal constitution. Mr. 

 Kirwan was far from being exempt from peculiarities, and these 

 were sometimes sufficiently ludicrous. An anecdote is known of him 

 in his family, which, as it at once illustrates several of his eccen- 

 tricities, is worth relating. 



On a certain occasion, the city coal-yard in Dublin was on fire; 

 it burned for three days, in spite of every effort to extinguish it, and 

 threatened the adjoining houses. As a last effort, the Lord Mayor, 

 accompanied by some gentlemen of note, waited on Mr. Kirwan, 

 whose scientific knowledge they hoped might suggest a remedy. 

 It was on a summer's day, the period at which he was about 

 to take his dinner; and, to secure himself against the intrusion of 

 visitors, the chain was on the hall-door. The Lord Mayor having 

 knocked at the door, jNIr. Kirwan's servant lad, Bernard Pope, 

 opened the door, but anticipated the usual inquiry, by saying in a 

 determined tone, that his master could not then see any one. 

 *' Tell him," replied the civic authority," that the Lord Mayor re- 

 quests to speak with him on a matter of great importance." " If 

 the Lord Lieutenant, or the King himself, required to see him, I 

 dare not admit either," vociferated Pope : " it would be as much as 

 my place is worth." " But," said the Lord Mayor, " the city coal- 



