August 2, 1897.] 



KNOWLEDGE 



183 



originated in the eastern side of the Old World the 

 Mediterranean cat (F. Mtylitirnine</] and the wild cat (7". 

 cat us). When man became dominant he produced the 

 European domestic breed, either directly from the typical 

 Kaffir cat or from its variety the Mediterranean cat. And 

 this original domestic breed soon became crossed with its 

 immediate cousin the wild cat. 



On the other hand, in the East the original Kaffir cat 

 gave rise to the jungle cat (F. chaus), the steppe cat (F. 

 cawlata), and presumably, therefore, that near ally of the 

 latter the Indian desert cat (F. oinata). From the latter 

 are derived the spotted Indian domestic cats, while the 

 fulvous domestic breed of the same country has been 

 produced by a cross with the jungle cat. Both these are 

 now largely crossed with their somewhat remote cousin 

 the striped domestic cat of Europe. 



The Persian cat, as we have seen, may probably be 

 derived from PaUas's cat, which has no sort of connection 

 with the Kaffir cat ; and the cross between the Persian and 

 European " tabby," now so common, is consequently a very 

 mixed breed indeed. Finally, it is probable that the 

 Siamese cat has an ancestry totally distinct from that of 

 aU the rest. 



MILL AND TENNYSON.* 



TO the students of Mill, this carefully selected collection 

 of his earlier essays will be most welcome ; while 

 the general reader, to whom their author is barely 

 more than a great name, will tind in this little 

 volume how wide was the range and how many- 

 sided were the interests that occupied Mill's thoughts. 

 Written for the most part at the outset of his career, these 

 essays breathe throughout the exalted mind combined 

 with a just and genial critical acumen which is so 

 characteristic of Mill in all his work. These were the 

 attributes he brought to bear upon the consideration of 

 the gravest economic problems, as well as to matters with 

 which he was not so closely identified. In his earnest 

 sincerity and thoroughness in all his work will be found 

 the irue secret of his marvellous power of comprehension. 

 This principle of thoroughness is of the utmost importance 

 to latter-day students, who are in danger of being carried 

 away by the absurd notion that it is desirable to make haste 

 to do nothing. 



The book contains the whole of the five papers com- 

 prised in the volume, " Essays on Some Unsettled 

 Questions of Political Economy," which Mill published in 

 184i, and of which the last, " On the Definition of Political 

 Economy, ' is now of most interest; one essay on " Cor- 

 porate and Church Property," which appeared in Tlw 

 Jurist in 1833 ; and the noble eulogy of Carlyle's " French 

 Kevolution " which Mill contributed to the London and 

 Westminster Revifw in 1837, " before," as he tells us 

 himself (Autobiography), " the commonplace critics, all 

 whose rules and modes of judgment it set at defiance," had 

 time to sharpen their tomahawks or opportunity to use 

 them. The editor has also reprinted the masterly essay 

 on Bentham which appeared in the same review in 1838 ; 

 adding as appendices two subsequent articles ("Democracy 

 and Government," and " Remarks on Bentham's Philo- 

 sophy "), together with Mill's dignified vindication of his 

 father's memory, contained in the well-known letter he 

 addressed to the editor of the Edinlmnjli Review. 



It is not by any means the least of our obligations to 

 the author of these essays that he discovered Tennyson 



• '-Early Essays by John Stuart Mill." Selected from the Original 

 Sources by J. W. M. Gibbs. (London : George Bell & Sons.) 3s. 6d. 



for his generation, and the reprint of his original review 

 (now more than sixty years old) of Tennyson's first two 

 volumes of poems will most probably prove to be of more 

 general interest than anything else in the volume. This 

 generous yet critical review of the earlier work of the great 

 poet is indeed interesting reading, and it was a happy 

 inspiration which led Mr. Gibbs to include it in his 

 collection, where it is introduced by two critical papers 

 on " What is Poetry ? " and " The Two Kinds of Poetry." 



In this edifying discussion. Mill travels lightly over 

 the familiar ground, quoting Ebenezer EUiott's well-known 

 definition of poetry, and contrasting the styles of Words- 

 worth and of Shelley, to both of whom he pays the highest 

 tribute. But in the essay on Tennyson the essayist is at 

 his best, whether in the kindly act of defending the young 

 poet against the " egregious critic of the (Quarterly," or in 

 mildly deprecating the " mocking exaggeration" of genial 

 Christopher North. In quoting the whole of the beautiful 

 poem, " New Year's Eve," the sequel of the better known 

 " May Queen," MUl declares it to be " fitted for a more 

 extensive popularity than any other in the two volumes. 

 Simple, genuine pathos, arising out of the situations and 

 feelings common to mankind generally, is, of aU poetic 

 beauty, that which can be most universally appreciated" ; 

 while the more ambitious " Legend of the Lady of 

 Shalott," " in powers of narrative and scene painting 

 combined, must be ranked among the very first of its 

 class." Mill's discernment and prescience have indeed 

 been amply justified. In the young poet who had so 

 grievously offended the "commonplace " critics (how 

 ludicrous their cavillings now) , he could perceive the giant 

 of letters of later years. 



We hope Mr. Gibbs may be encouraged to give us a 

 second volume of these fascinating and informing essays, 

 which have been so well selected and so carefully edited. 



WIND AS AN AID TO FLIGHT. 



By F. W. He.^ley, M.A. 



BIRDS understand wind and all its vagaries, and they 

 turn them all to account. Many problems which 

 men of science are compelled to class among those 

 which they hope to solve some day, or, perhaps, 

 despair of solving, a young bird begins to work 

 out directly he is fledged. I will take some typical cases 

 in which a bird derives help from the wind. It will be 

 found that the wind, if it is to lift a bird, supplementing 

 the work of his wings, or even doing all the lifting, 

 must either move in an upward direction, or, if it does not 

 deviate from the horizontal, it must be of unequal velocity. 

 A wind that is unequal, or not uniform, may either be 

 made up of currents moving at unequal rates, or it may 

 blow now gently, now strongly. A uniform horizontal 

 breeze cannot lift or maintain a heavy body in the air 

 unless that body has momentum of its own. It is no 

 better than still air, since the bird — we must try to put 

 ourselves in his position — becomes part of the moving 

 current. The momentum required he derives either from 

 his own wing-beats or from the inequalities of the wind. 

 When a bird rises with wings outspread and motionless, 

 there must be inequality, supposing that the wind is 

 horizontal. 



A lark, when he is flying upward — always singing in 

 spite of the steepness of the incline, as if to show how 

 easy it Is — invariably faces the wind. When he turns 

 away from it he ceases to rise and generally loses elevation. 

 When he wishes again to rise, he turns his head towards 

 the wind. To take another instance : a cormorant, sated 



