Par] AND SYMBOLS. 259 



wolves, manifest the greatest alarm, form into battle array, and 

 are only prevented by excess of terror from taking to flight. 

 This panic-stricken feeling the Indian often turns to his ad- 

 vantage. He clothes himself in the skin of a white wolf, and 

 with bow and arrows in his hands, boldly faces a herd, crawling 

 towards them on his hands and knees ; the affrighted bisons press 

 closely together to receive the supposed foe, who, on arriving at 

 a convenient proximity, suddenly springs to his feet, and utters 

 an unearthly yell. They fall into a frenzy of terror, which 

 enables him to select several victims. D. 



Paradoxes. 



Many persons are accustomed to apply "paradox" as if it 

 were a. term of reproach, and implied absurdity or falsity. But, 

 as Whately has shown, all that is properly implied by the term 

 is that the burden of proof lies with him who maintains the 

 paradox, since men are not to be expected to abandon the pre- 

 vailing belief until some reason is shown. And Dr. Thomas 

 Brown expressly cautions those engaged in philosophical in- 

 vestigations not to be easily terrified by the appearance of a 

 paradox, inasmuch as it may truly be regarded as a necessary 

 consequence that every accurate and original analysis must 

 afford a result which will appear paradoxical. If we say sorrow 

 is joy, death is life, weakness is might, loss is profit, we utter 

 paradoxes, which may appear startling. But in preparing our 

 minds to be unprejudiced before we enter into a consideration 

 of their truth, we may as well observe that Nature herself is 

 full of paradoxes. The water which drowns us as a fluent 

 stream can be walked upon as ice. The bullet which, when 

 fired from a musket, carries death, will be harmless if ground to 

 dust before being fired. The crystallised part of the oil of roses, 

 so grateful in its fragrance a solid at ordinary temperatures, 

 though readily volatile is a compound substance containing 

 exactly the same elements, and in exactly the same proportions, 

 as the gas with which we light our streets. The tea which we 

 daily drink with benefit and pleasure, produces palpitations, 

 nervous tremblings, and even paralysis if taken in excess ; yet 

 the peculiar organic agent called theine, to which tea owes its 



