238 SCIENTIFIC ILLUSTRATIONS [Nas 



we call life from that which we suppose to have no life. The 

 veil of mystery prevents our finding any absolute barrier be- 

 tween the living and the not living. We know nothing of an 

 absolute commencement of life. The veil of mystery hides all 

 the primordial collocations. However much we may wish it, we 

 cannot be present at the genesis of life ; the veil is still there. 

 The gradual transition from the not living to the living is ever 

 hidden from our view by its mysterious folds. B. L. 



Though Undeserved, a Bad Name Adheres. 



Give a man a bad name, and no one credits him with the 

 many good things he does. Give an animal a bad name, and 

 people omit to notice whether it be appropriate and just. The 

 ass is always esteemed as the stupidest of animals, yet if one be 

 shut up in the same enclosure with half-a-dozen horses of the 

 finest blood, and the party escape, it is infallibly the poor 

 donkey that has led the way. It is he alone that penetrates 

 the secret of the bolt and latch, and he may be often seen 

 snuffing over a piece of work to which all other animals are 

 incompetent. p. 



Nastiness its own Defence. 



The skunk, being slow of motion, can be easily overtaken 

 and captured ; but neither man nor dogs care to go near it. It 

 is comparatively safe from them by reason of the filthy and 

 noisome stench which it has the power to discharge at pleasure, 

 a stench which is supposed to be one of the most powerful in 

 nature, and so durable that it will remain for days. It is so 

 horrible as in some cases to produce actual illness. And the 

 creature has the power to eject the irritant fluid which contains 

 it to a distance upwards of five feet. We have seen men and 

 women in society who have deserved punishment for their 

 offences, but who have nevertheless remained safe because, like 

 the skunk, they were too nasty to attack. The ordinary rules 

 for the pursuit and chastisement of wrong-doers did not apply 

 to their case. Had they been cleaner natures they might have 

 been castigated according to their deserts. Constituted as they 



