POPULAR FALLACIES. 



Tastes, like colours, in order to produce agreeable effects, 

 should succeed each other in a certain order. Eating, considered 

 us one of the fine arts in the most refined state of society, is 

 regulated by principles, and nothing can shock the habits and 

 rules of epicureanism more than the violation of certain rules in 

 the succession and combination of dishes. It is maintained that 

 perfection in the art of cookery and the observance of its 

 principles at table is the surest mark of a nation's attainment 

 of the highest state of civilisation. 



Of all the organs of sense, that whose nervous mechanism 

 appears to be most easily deadened by excessive action is that 

 of smelling. The most delightful odours can only be enjoyed 

 occasionally, and for short intervals. The scent of the rose, or 

 still more delicate odour of the magnolia, can be but fleeting 

 pleasures, and are destined only for occasional enjoyment. He 

 who lives in the garden connot smell the rose, and the wood- 

 cutter in the southern forests of America is insensible to the 

 odour of the magnolia. 



Persons who indulge in the use of artificial scents soon cease 

 to be conscious of their presence, and can only stimulate their 

 jaded organs by continually changing the objects of their 

 enjoyment. 



7. One of the most curious and most incomprehensible illusions 

 of the senses is the singularly erroneous estimate which we make 

 of the number of objects of any kind that are presented to us. 

 A striking example of this is presented by the impression made 

 upon the eye by the view of the firmament on a clear starlight 

 night. The number of visible stars is always immensely over- 

 estimated. Although it be true that the stars are, strictly 

 speaking, countless in number, yet the number distinctly seen 

 by the naked eye at any one time, unaided by the telescope, is not 

 great. Any one can satisfy himself of this by examining any 

 good map of the stars ; yet when we look at the firmament on a 

 clear night, these objects appear to be inconceivably numerous. 

 This illusion is dispelled by examining the heavens through the 

 most ordinary telescope, or even by looking through a long tube, 

 which will limit the view at any one moment to a small portion 

 of the firmament. On the entire sphere of the heavens there 

 are not above twenty stars of the first magnitude, and it is 

 seldom that as many as six or eight of these can be seen at once. 

 The number of stars of the second magnitude does not exceed 

 fifty, and of these twenty are seldom seen at any one time. The 

 stars of the third magnitude may amount to about two hundred, 

 half of which only can be at the same time above the horizon. 

 The small stars are much more numerous, but they are dis- 

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