The Temple of Nature; or, the Origin of Society Part 3

[Footnote: _The age-worn fibres_, l. 3. Why the same kinds of food, which enlarge and invigorate the body from infancy to the meridian of life, and then nourish it for some years unimpaired, should at length gradually cease to do so, and the debility of age and death supervene, would be liable to surprise us if we were not in the daily habit of observing it; and is a circ.u.mstance which has not yet been well understood.

Before mankind introduced civil society, old age did not exist in the world, nor other lingering diseases; as all living creatures, as soon as they became too feeble to defend themselves, were slain and eaten by others, except the young broods, who were defended by their mother; and hence the animal world existed uniformly in its greatest strength and perfection; see Additional Note VII.]

"But REPRODUCTION with ethereal fires New Life rekindles, ere the first expires; Calls up renascent Youth, ere tottering age Quits the dull scene, and gives him to the stage; Bids on his cheek the rose of beauty blow, And binds the wreaths of pleasure round his brow; With finer links the vital chain extends, And the long line of Being never ends. 20

[Footnote: _But Reproduction_, l. 13. See Additional Note VIII.]

"Self-moving Engines by unbending springs May walk on earth, or flap their mimic wings; In tubes of gla.s.s mercurial columns rise, Or sink, obedient to the inc.u.mbent skies; Or, as they touch the figured scale, repeat The nice gradations of circ.u.mfluent heat.

But REPRODUCTION, when the perfect Elf Forms from fine glands another like itself, Gives the true character of life and sense, And parts the organic from the chemic Ens.-- 30 Where milder skies protect the nascent brood, And earth's warm bosom yields salubrious food; Each new Descendant with superior powers Of sense and motion speeds the transient hours; Braves every season, tenants every clime, And Nature rises on the wings of Time.

[Footnote: _Unbending springs_, l. 21. See Additional Note I.

4.]

"As LIFE discordant elements arrests, Rejects the noxious, and the pure digests; Combines with Heat the fluctuating ma.s.s, And gives a while solidity to gas; 40 Organic forms with chemic changes strive, Live but to die, and die but to revive!

Immortal matter braves the transient storm, Mounts from the wreck, unchanging but in form.--

[Footnote: _Combines with Heat_, l. 39. It was shown in note on line 248 of the first Canto, that much of the aerial and liquid parts of the terraqueous globe was converted by the powers of life into solid matter; and that this was effected by the combination of the fluid, heat, with other elementary bodies by the appetencies and propensities of the parts of living matter to unite with each other. But when these appetencies and propensities of the parts of organic matter to unite with each other cease, the chemical affinities of attraction and the apt.i.tude to be attracted, and of repulsion and the apt.i.tude to be repelled, succeed, and reduce much of the solid matters back to the condition of elements; which seems to be effected by the matter of heat being again set at liberty, which was combined with other matters by the powers of life; and thus by its diffusion the solid bodies return into liquid ones or into ga.s.ses, as occurs in the processes of fermentation, putrefaction, sublimation, and calcination.

Whence solidity appears to be produced in consequence of the diminution of heat, as the condensation of steam into water, and the consolidation of water into ice, or by the combination of heat with bodies, as with the materials of gunpowder before its explosion.]

[Footnote: _Immortal matter_, l. 43. The perpetual mutability of the forms of matter seems to have struck the philosophers of great antiquity; the system of transmigration taught by Pythagoras, in which the souls of men were supposed after death to animate the bodies of a variety of animals, appears to have arisen from this source. He had observed the perpetual changes of organic matter from one creature to another, and concluded, that the vivifying spirit must attend it.]

"So, as the sages of the East record In sacred symbol, or unletter'd word; Emblem of Life, to change eternal doom'd, The beauteous form of fair ADONIS bloom'd.-- On Syrian hills the graceful Hunter slain Dyed with his gushing blood the shuddering plain; 50 And, slow-descending to the Elysian shade, A while with PROSERPINE reluctant stray'd; Soon from the yawning grave the bursting clay Restor'd the Beauty to delighted day; Array'd in youth's resuscitated charms, And young DIONE woo'd him to her arms.-- Pleased for a while the a.s.surgent youth above Relights the golden lamp of life and love; Ah, soon again to leave the cheerful light, And sink alternate to the realms of night. 60

[Footnote: _Emblem of Life_, l. 47. The Egyptian figure of Venus rising from the sea seems to have represented the Beauty of organic Nature; which the philosophers of that country, the magi, appear to have discovered to have been elevated by earthquakes from the primeval ocean. But the hieroglyphic figure of Adonis seems to have signified the spirit of animation or life, which was perpetually wooed or courted by organic matter, and which perished and revived alternately. Afterwards the fable of Adonis seems to have given origin to the first religion promising a resurrection from the dead; whence his funeral and return to life were celebrated for many ages in Egypt and Syria, the ceremonies of which Ezekiel complains as idolatrous, accusing the women of Israel of lamenting over Thammus; which St. Cyril interprets to be Adonis, in his Commentaries on Isaiah; Danet's Diction.]

II. "HENCE ere Vitality, as time revolves, Leaves the cold organ, and the ma.s.s dissolves; The Reproductions of the living Ens From sires to sons, unknown to s.e.x, commence.

New buds and bulbs the living fibre shoots On lengthening branches, and protruding roots; Or on the father's side from bursting glands The adhering young its nascent form expands; In branching lines the parent-trunk adorns, And parts ere long like plumage, hairs, or horns. 70

"So the lone Truffle, lodged beneath the earth, Shoots from paternal roots the tuberous birth; No stamen-males ascend, and breathe above, No seed-born offspring lives by female love.

From each young tree, for future buds design'd Organic drops exsude beneath the rind; While these with appetencies nice invite, And those with apt propensities unite; New embryon fibrils round the trunk combine With quick embrace, and form the living line: 80 Whose plume and rootlet at their early birth Seek the dry air, or pierce the humid earth.

[Footnote: _So the lone Truffle_, l. 71. Lycoperdon tuber.

This plant never rises above the earth, is propagated without seed by its roots only, and seems to require no light.

Perhaps many other fungi are generated without seed by their roots only, and without light, and approach on the last account to animal nature.]

[Footnote: _While these with appetencies_, l. 77. See Additional Note VIII.]

"So safe in waves prolific Volvox dwells, And five descendants crowd his lucid cells; So the male Polypus parental swims, And branching infants bristle all his limbs; So the lone Taenia, as he grows, prolongs His flatten'd form with young adherent throngs; Unknown to s.e.x the pregnant oyster swells, And coral-insects build their radiate sh.e.l.ls; 90 Parturient Sires caress their infant train, And heaven-born STORGE weaves the social chain; Successive births her tender cares combine, And soft affections live along the line.

[Footnote: _Prolific Volvox_, l. 83. The volvox globator dwells in the lakes of Europe, is transparent, and bears within it children and grandchildren to the fifth generation; Syst. Nat.]

[Footnote: _The male polypus_, l. 85. The Hydra viridis and fusca of Linneus dwell in our ditches and rivers under aquatic plants; these animals have been shown by ingenious observers to revive after having been dried, to be restored when mutilated, to be multiplied by dividing them, and propagated from portions of them, parts of different ones to unite, to be turned inside outwards and yet live, and to be propagated by seeds, to produce bulbs, and vegetate by branches. Syst. Nat.]

[Footnote: _The lone Taenia_, l. 87. The tape-worm dwells in the intestines of animals, and grows old at one extremity, producing an infinite series of young ones at the other; the separate joints have been called Gourd-worms, each of which possesses a mouth of its own, and organs of digestion. Syst.

Nat.]

[Footnote: _The pregnant oyster_, l. 89. Ostrea edulis dwells in the European oceans, frequent at the tables of the luxurious, a living repast! New-born oysters swim swiftly by an undulating movement of fins thrust out a little way from their sh.e.l.ls. Syst. Nat. But they do not afterwards change their place during their whole lives, and are capable of no other movement but that of opening the sh.e.l.l a little way: whence Professor Beckman observes, that their offspring is probably produced without maternal organs; and that those, who speak of male and female oysters, must be mistaken: Phil.

Magaz. March 1800. It is also observed by H. I. le Beck, that on nice inspection of the Pearl oysters in the gulf of Manar, he could observe no distinction of s.e.xes. Nicholson's Journal. April 1800.]

[Footnote: _And coral insects_, l. 90. The coral habitation of the Madrepora of Linneus consists of one or more star-like cells; a congeries of which form rocks beneath the sea; the animal which constructs it is termed Medusa; and as it adheres to its calcareous cavity, and thence cannot travel to its neighbours, is probably without s.e.x. I observed great ma.s.ses of the limestone in Shropshire, which is brought to Newport, to consist of the cells of these animals.]

[Footnote: _And heaven-born Storge_, l. 92. See Additional Note IX.]

"On angel-wings the G.o.dDESS FORM descends, Round her fond broods her silver arms she bends; White streams of milk her tumid bosom swell, And on her lips ambrosial kisses dwell.

Light joys on twinkling feet before her dance With playful nod, and momentary glance; 100 Behind, attendant on the pansied plain, Young PSYCHE treads with CUPID in her train.

III. "IN these lone births no tender mothers blend Their genial powers to nourish or defend; No nutrient streams from Beauty's...o...b.. improve These orphan babes of solitary love; Birth after birth the line unchanging runs, And fathers live transmitted in their sons; Each pa.s.sing year beholds the unvarying kinds, The same their manners, and the same their minds. 110 Till, as erelong successive buds decay, And insect-shoals successive pa.s.s away, Increasing wants the pregnant parents vex With the fond wish to form a softer s.e.x; Whose milky rills with pure ambrosial food Might charm and cherish their expected brood.

The potent wish in the productive hour Calls to its aid Imagination's power, O'er embryon throngs with mystic charm presides, And s.e.x from s.e.x the nascent world divides, 120 With soft affections warms the callow trains, And gives to laughing Love his nymphs and swains; Whose mingling virtues interweave at length The mother's beauty with the father's strength.

[Footnote: _A softer s.e.x_, l. 114. The first buds of trees raised from seed die annually, and are succeeded by new buds by solitary reproduction; which are larger or more perfect for several successive years, and then they produce s.e.xual flowers, which are succeeded by seminal reproduction. The same occurs in bulbous rooted plants raised from seed; they die annually, and produce others rather more perfect than the parent for several years, and then produce s.e.xual flowers.

The Aphis is in a similar manner hatched from an egg in the vernal months, and produces a viviparous offspring without s.e.xual intercourse for nine or ten successive generations; and then the progeny is both male and female, which cohabit, and from these new females are produced eggs, which endure the winter; the same process probably occurs in many other insects.]

[Footnote: _Imagination's power_, l. 118. The manner in which the similarity of the progeny to the parent, and the s.e.x of it, are produced by the power of imagination, is treated of in Zoonomia. Sect. 39. 6. 3. It is not to be understood, that the first living fibres, which are to form an animal, are produced by imagination, with any similarity of form to the future animal; but with appetencies or propensities, which shall produce by accretion of parts the similarity of form and feature, or of s.e.x, corresponding with the imagination of the father.]

[Footnote: _His nymphs and swains_, l. 122. The arguments which have been adduced to show, that mankind and quadrupeds were formerly in an hermaphrodite state, are first deduced from the present existence of b.r.e.a.s.t.s and nipples in all the males; which latter swell on t.i.tillation like those of the females, and which are said to contain a milky fluid at their birth; and it is affirmed, that some men have given milk to their children in desert countries, where the mother has perished; as the male pigeon is said to give a kind of milk from his stomach along with the regurgitated food, to the young doves, as mentioned in Additional Note IX. on Storge.

Secondly, from the apparent progress of many animals to greater perfection, as in some insects, as the flies with two wings, termed Diptera; which have rudiments of two other wings, called halteres, or poisers; and in many flowers which have rudiments of new stamina, or filaments without anthers on them. See Botanic Garden, Vol. II. Curc.u.ma, Note, and the Note on l. 204 of Canto I. of this work. It has been supposed by some, that mankind were formerly quadrupeds as well as hermaphrodites; and that some parts of the body are not yet so convenient to an erect att.i.tude as to a horizontal one; as the fundus of the bladder in an erect posture is not exactly over the insertion of the urethra; whence it is seldom completely evacuated, and thus renders mankind more subject to the stone, than if he had preserved his horizontality: these philosophers, with Buffon and Helvetius, seem to imagine, that mankind arose from one family of monkeys on the banks of the Mediterranean; who accidentally had learned to use the adductor pollicis, or that strong muscle which const.i.tutes the ball of the thumb, and draws the point of it to meet the points of the fingers; which common monkeys do not; and that this muscle gradually increased in size, strength, and activity, in successive generations; and by this improved use of the sense of touch, that monkeys acquired clear ideas, and gradually became men.

Perhaps all the productions of nature are in their progress to greater perfection! an idea countenanced by modern discoveries and deductions concerning the progressive formation of the solid parts of the terraqueous globe, and consonant to the dignity of the Creator of all things.]

"So tulip-bulbs emerging from the seed, Year after year unknown to s.e.x proceed; Erewhile the stamens and the styles display Their petal-curtains, and adorn the day; The beaux and beauties in each blossom glow With wedded joy, or amatorial woe. 130 Unmarried Aphides prolific prove For nine successions uninform'd of love; New s.e.xes next with softer pa.s.sions spring, Breathe the fond vow, and woo with quivering wing.

"So erst in Paradise creation's LORD, As the first leaves of holy writ record, From Adam's rib, who press'd the flowery grove, And dreamt delighted of untasted love, To cheer and charm his solitary mind, Form'd a new s.e.x, the MOTHER OF MANKIND. 140 --Buoy'd on light step the Beauty seem'd to swim, And stretch'd alternate every pliant limb; Pleased on Euphrates' velvet margin stood, And view'd her playful image in the flood; Own'd the fine flame of love, as life began, And smiled enchantment on adoring Man.

Down her white neck and o'er her bosom roll'd, Flow'd in sweet negligence her locks of gold; Round her fine form the dim transparence play'd, And show'd the beauties, that it seem'd to shade. 150 --Enamour'd ADAM gaz'd with fond surprise, And drank delicious pa.s.sion from her eyes; Felt the new thrill of young Desire, and press'd The graceful Virgin to his glowing breast.-- The conscious Fair betrays her soft alarms, Sinks with warm blush into his closing arms, Yields to his fond caress with wanton play, And sweet, reluctant, amorous, delay.

[Footnote: _The mother of mankind_, l. 140. See Additional Note X.]

IV. "WHERE no new s.e.x with glands nutritious feeds, Nurs'd in her womb, the solitary breeds; 160 No Mother's care their early steps directs, Warms in her bosom, with her wings protects; The clime unkind, or noxious food instills To embryon nerves hereditary ills; The feeble births acquired diseases chase, Till Death extinguish the degenerate race.

[Footnote: _Acquired diseases_, l. 165. See Additional Note XI.]

"So grafted trees with shadowy summits rise, Spread their fair blossoms, and perfume the skies; Till canker taints the vegetable blood, Mines round the bark, and feeds upon the wood. 170 So, years successive, from perennial roots The wire or bulb with lessen'd vigour shoots; Till curled leaves, or barren flowers, betray A waning lineage, verging to decay; Or till, amended by connubial powers, Rise seedling progenies from s.e.xual flowers.

[Footnote: _So grafted trees_, l. 167. Mr. Knight first observed that those apple and pear trees, which had been propagated for above a century by ingraftment were now so unhealthy, as not to be worth cultivation. I have suspected the diseases of potatoes attended with the curled leaf, and of strawberry plants attended with barren flowers, to be owing to their having been too long raised from roots, or by solitary reproduction, and not from seeds, or s.e.xual reproduction, and to have thence acquired those hereditary diseases.]

"E'en where unmix'd the breed, in s.e.xual tribes Parental taints the nascent babe imbibes; Eternal war the Gout and Mania wage With fierce uncheck'd hereditary rage; 180 Sad Beauty's form foul Scrofula surrounds With bones distorted, and putrescent wounds; And, fell Consumption! thy unerring dart Wets its broad wing in Youth's reluctant heart.

[Footnote: _And, fell Consumption_, l. 183.

... Haeret lateri lethalis arundo.

VIRGIL.]

"With pausing step, at night's refulgent noon, Beneath the sparkling stars, and lucid moon, Plung'd in the shade of some religious tower, The slow bell counting the departed hour, O'er gaping tombs where shed umbrageous Yews On mouldering bones their cold unwholesome dews; 190 While low aerial voices whisper round, And moondrawn spectres dance upon the ground; Poetic MELANCHOLY loves to tread, And bend in silence o'er the countless Dead; Marks with loud sobs infantine Sorrows rave, And wring their pale hands o'er their Mother's grave; Hears on the new-turn'd sod with gestures wild The kneeling Beauty call her buried child; Upbraid with timorous accents Heaven's decrees, And with sad sighs augment the pa.s.sing breeze. 200 'Stern Time,' She cries, 'receives from Nature's womb Her beauteous births, and bears them to the tomb; Calls all her sons from earth's remotest bourn, And from the closing portals none return!'

V. URANIA paused,--upturn'd her streaming eyes, And her white bosom heaved with silent sighs; With her the MUSE laments the sum of things, And hides her sorrows with her meeting wings; Long o'er the wrecks of lovely Life they weep, Then pleased reflect, "to die is but to sleep;" 210 From Nature's coffins to her cradles turn, Smile with young joy, with new affection burn.

And now the Muse, with mortal woes impress'd, Thus the fair Hierophant again address'd.

--"Ah me! celestial Guide, thy words impart Ills undeserved, that rend the nascent heart!