puir Whales?" 316

Very like a Whale! 316

Christopher North on the Whale 316

FOOTNOTES:

[1] There are many anecdotes in this book not included in this list,
which gives however, the principal.

HEADS AND TALES.

MAN.

In this collection, like Linnaeus, we begin with man as undoubtedly an
animal, as opposed to a vegetable or mineral. Like Professor Owen, we
are inclined to fancy he is well entitled to separate rank from even the
Linnaean order, _Primates_, and to have more systematic honour conferred
on him than what Cuvier allowed him. That great French naturalist placed
man in a section separate from his four-handed order, _Quadrumana_, and,
from his two hands and some other qualities, enrolled our race in an
order, _Bimana_. Surely the ancients surpassed many modern naturalists
of the Lamarckian school, who would derive him from an ourang, a
chimpanzee, or a gorilla. One of them has nobly said--

"Os homini sublime dedit, coelumque tueri."

Our own Sir William Hamilton, in a few powerful words has condensed what
will ever be, we are thankful to suppose, the general idea of most men,
be they naturalists or not, that mind and soul have much to distinguish
us from every other animal:--

"What man holds of matter does not make up his personality. Man is not
an organism. He is an intelligence served by organs. _They are_ HIS,
_not_ HE."

As a mere specimen, we subjoin two or three anecdotes, although the
species, _Homo sapiens_, has supplied, and might supply, many volumes of
anecdotes touching on his whims and peculiarities. As a good example of
the Scottish variety, who is there that does not know Dean Ramsay's
"Reminiscences?" Surely each nation requires a similar judicious
selection. Mr Punch, especially when aided by his late admirable artist,
John Leech, shows seemingly that John Bull and his family are as
distinct from the French, as the French are from the Yankees.

THOMAS GAINSBOROUGH THE ARTIST, AND THE TAILOR.

Gainsborough, the painter, was very ready-witted. His biographer[2]
records the following anecdote of him as very likely to be authentic.
The great artist occasionally made sketches from an honest old tailor,
of the name of Fowler, who had a picturesque countenance and silver-gray
locks. On the chimney-piece of his painting-room, among other
curiosities