Dec. 4, 1 8 73 J 



NATURE 



H 



supposed to evoke. The work to which we wish to call 

 attention is not intended to be one of these, though 

 its exterior appearance might, at first sight, be thought to 

 warrant the supposition. It is a special work brought 

 out under special circumstances, and, as we are told in the 

 preface, the plates have been engraved for nearly seven 

 years. We refer to it, and shall speak of some of the 

 pictures in detail, as showing the service which Art can 

 render to Science by a faithful representation of Nature. 

 The more scientific Art is, the more successful andthemore 

 impressive she will be ; only by a thoroughly scientific 

 study of his subject and its surroundings can an artist 

 hope to achieve complete success. 



The book derives a special, though a painful inte- 

 rest, from the fact that it contains the last series of illus- 

 trations which will be drawn by a highly-talented German 

 artist — Mr. Wolf — the previous productions of whose penc:l 

 are so well known to all who find pIe.l^ure in the'study 

 of the animal world. The volume is illustrated by 

 twenty plates, beautifully engraved by Messrs. J. W. 

 and E. Whymper, each of which depicts some stirring 

 scene in the life of " our four-footed friends," or puts be- 

 fore us some picture of the life of birds, some of them 

 representing in a terribly graphic manner the struggles 

 which pervade the existence of beasts, and render its 

 tenure so precarious. Witness the subject of plate iii. — 

 one of the most powerful in the whole series — the death- 

 grip of the crocodile's cruel jaws upon the handsome head 

 of the tiger drawn slowly and resistingly beneath the 

 stream where the conqueror will make his banquet. There 

 is no one who would not feel, in gazing at this picture, a 

 strong sympathy with that most splendid of the feline 

 tribe in this his death-agony. We do not select this plate 

 as superior in draughtmanship to its fellows ; they are 

 all of the same high order of merit, though some natu- 

 rally arrest the attention more forcibly than others, in 

 proportion as the feelings which connect man qiui animal 

 with his fellow-animals find fuller expression with regard 

 to the nobler and higher specimens of animal life. 



And here we would say that pictures like these — not mere 

 passive delineations of the outward shapes, but illustra- 

 tions of the habits of wild animals — have an instructive 

 and suggestive value. They are pictures which set one 

 thinking. There is a dramatic reality about them which 

 leads the mind into the by-paths of contemplation 

 as no still outline can — they irresistibly compel us to com- 

 pare with ourselves these denizens of the forest and the 

 prairie, of the river and the sea. We seem at once to be 

 impressed with the consciousness of their irresponsibility, 

 of their independence of ethical restraints, obeying 

 as they do but one law — the law of their kind — which 

 incidentally leads them to the destruction of other kinds 

 inferior to their own. The half-human looking ape does 

 not allow us to predicate the conception of morality of 

 any of its actions ; the care of its young which it evinces is 

 but an exhibition of the instinct of self-preservation which 

 pervades all species of the higher animal forms ; it is 

 difficult to realise that the gap between man and monkey 

 is anything less than a so-caOed difference of kind. Many 

 other reflections are suggested by a sympathetic survey of 

 such animated drawings as these, but we will not weary 

 our readers with subjective digressions, which must neces- 

 sarily vary with the individuals who indulge in these 

 reflections ; we are only eager to impress the superiority 

 in this regard of delineations of active life and habits 

 over mere portraiture, however well executed, of indi- 

 vidual forms of life. 



We are glad to be able to reproduce one of the 

 most pleasing of the plates which adorn Mr. Wolf's 

 work — " The Island Sanctuary." There is a peaceful 

 lonely beauty about this representation of uhe osprey's 

 haunt, which at once arrests the attention and forms 

 a strong contrast with the depictions of the more 

 savage warfare of species against species, of panther 



against doe, of lion against deer, of wolf against boar, 

 which are contained in the same volume vvith it. The 

 siesta of the jaguar (plate ix.) and the bath of the large 

 pachyderms, elephants and hippopotami (plate x.), are two 

 of the most striking drawings in this volume, the former 

 especially we think inimitably excellent. There is an 

 idyllic completeness in the representation of the largest 

 of the American cats taking its ease during the midday 

 heat on the branches which overhang the river. Without 

 going into further detail concerning the separate plates, 

 which require to be seen to be appreciated, we would 

 mention one more. Catching a Tartar (plate xviii.), the 

 most sensational in the series, very forcibly drawn, 

 the dead or dying owl's wings have lost their motive 

 power, but in their outstretched hugeness serve to break 

 the rapidity of the descent and save the weasel, whose 

 " cunning has proved more than a match for the strength 

 of the more powerful" bird. 



We speak in a somewhat popular strain of Mr. Wolf's 

 work, not with any intention of treating it as one of the 

 hastily concocted products of the winter season, which, as 

 we have said, it is not meant to be, but rather from a 

 belief that it will appeal to those who, without a special 

 scientific or zoological training, have yet a genuine love of 

 contemplating the varied phases of life in beast and bird, 

 who believe with Coleridge, that 



" He prayetli well who loveth well 

 Both man and bird and beast," 

 and to such as these we can say that this volume is of no 

 common sort ; the pictures are such as stir the imagina- 

 tion and please the taste, while, as justly remarked by 

 Mr. Whymper in his preface, their value is greatly en- 

 hanced by the " power of delineating specific characters " 

 which is displayed. 



We must not omit to mention, in connection with Mr. 

 Wolf's plates, the letterpress which accompanies them, and 

 which is from the pen of Mr. Daniel G. Elliot, of the United 

 States. It is, of course, in this case subservient to the 

 drawings which it interprets. In his outspoken preface, 

 to which we have already referred, Mr. Whymper tells 

 us that Mr. Elliot has laid aside the scientific treatment 

 of his subject, for which he is fully capable, as bearing in 

 mind that " the book is intended for the general public, 

 and not for a class." Our American cousins are always 

 masters of the art of depicting in animated and pic- 

 turesque fashion all that is of interest in Hfe and action, 

 whether in man or in beast ; and Mr. Elliot has not 

 failed in the task set before him ; he has steered clear of 

 fulsomeness, and cannot be accused of padding ; his 

 writing is instructive with respect to the habits of ani- 

 mals, and is not of that ejaculatory kind which too often 

 accompanies pictures and seeks to impress the character 

 of eloquence by a copious interlarding of interjections. 

 We can give in one quotation a fair example of his por- 

 tion of the work. Speaking of the gorilla he says :— " In 

 the pathless tracts of those ancient woods, distant even 

 from the primitive abodes of hardly less savage men, in 

 company with the fierce inmates of the jungle, the gorilla 

 dwells, surrounded by his family. Peacefully they pass 

 the day, seeking the various fruits that in many a cluster 

 hang from the lofty trees, paying generally but little at- 

 tention to what is passing below them. But if any un- 

 usual sound breaks the stillness of the woods, or a strange 

 form be seen approaching their vicinity, then the females, 

 bearing their young clinging fast to them, flee away into 

 the still deeper recesses of the forest; while the father 

 and protector of the small community, swinging himself 

 rapidly from tree to tree, tearing loose the vines that 

 stretch across his passing form, advances towards the 

 object of their fears, and before imitating the rest in their 

 speedy flight, satisfies himself in regard to its presence, 

 and then with many a hideous grimace, and short hoarse 

 call, demands to know, in impatient tone, Who comes 

 here ?" 



