SEA-B UTTERFLIES. 3 1 3 



natural right to deprive himself of it, as it is better not to live 

 than to live in pain." Montesquieu, Montaigne, Dr. Donne, and 

 others have advanced similar ideas ; but it is needless to say that 

 their arguments can find support only in the minds of those who 

 believe that " death endeth all." 



The tendency has always been to palliate the act, and the ver- 

 dict, " committed suicide while laboring under temporary aberra- 

 tion of mind," has become a stereotyped phrase. This verdict 

 was frequently rendered in earlier times for the purpose of pre- 

 venting the property of the deceased from reverting to the crown, 

 and it has been kept alive in more recent times by the desire, 

 which is inherent in every human breast, to speak kindly of the. 

 dead. It is evident, however, that such a verdict should only be 

 rendered when the actions of the deceased have been such as tcv 

 point very strongly to insanity, or where the autopsy shows un^ 

 doubted lesions of the brain. Under such conditions no other 

 verdict would be just. But when one becomes " a deserter from 

 the army of humanity," and resorts to suicide as a means of escape 

 from the trials of life, the act is merely a confession of weakness, 

 which, while it may awaken feelings of compassion, certainly does 

 not call for palliation. There are conditions of life, I will admit, 

 to which death might seem far preferable ; but though our mis- 

 fortunes may be such as to make us long for the grave, we must, 

 to slightly change the noble words of Burke, " even in despair live 

 on," remembering that — 



" Our time is fixed, and all our days are numbered ; 

 How long, how short, we know not; this we know, 

 Duty requires we calmly wait the summons, 

 Nor dare to stir till Heaven shall give permission." 



SEA-BUTTERFLIES. 



By Prof. CARL VOGT. 



rpHE little boat lay ready at the dock of Nice ; I had at that time 

 -L to depend upon my own hands. The idea that a permanent 

 station could be established on the sea-coast, with laboratories in 

 which the student could find in one place all the aids he would 

 need in the investigation of sea-animals, had not yet occurred to 

 any one. It was not till I had worked two years in Nice, and 

 had suffered all the inconveniences and loss of time that come 

 from deficiency of means, that I devised plans for building such 

 an establishment, which all came to no result till Herr A. Dohrn, 

 with unexampled energy, founded the zoological station in Na- 

 ples, a model that has been imitated in nearly all coast countries. 



VOL. XXXV. — 20* 



