My Web Site Page 089 Ovations 02

Ovations

Sitemaps

In _dry assays_ the metal is almost always separated and weighed as metal; in _wet_ gravimetric assays the metal is more usually weighed in the form of a definite compound of known composition. The general methods of working resemble those of ordinary chemical analysis, and their successful working is greatly helped by a knowledge of, at any rate, those compounds of the metal which enable it to be separated, and of those which are the most convenient forms in which it can be weighed. But the work of the assayer differs from that of the analyst, inasmuch as the bulk of his estimations are made upon material of practically the same kind, varying only in richness; consequently in assaying, it is possible (and necessary) to work on such a definite plan as will involve the least amount of labour in weighing and calculating. The assayer connected with mining has generally two classes of material to deal with: those comparatively rich and those comparatively poor. For example, silver in bullion and in ores; copper precipitates or regulus, and copper ores and slags; and "black tin" and tin ores. He is only occasionally called on to assay the intermediate products. It is indispensable that he should have an approximate knowledge of the substance to be determined. With new ores this information is best got by a qualitative testing. Knowing that only certain bodies are present, it is evident that the number of separations can be reduced, and that simple methods can be devised for arriving at the results sought for. The best method is that which involves the least number of separations. The reactions must be sharp and complete, and yet not be liable to error under varying conditions.

Hints of the idea of Natural Selection have been detected elsewhere. James Watt,[32] for instance, has been reported as one of the anticipators (1851). But we need not prolong the inquiry further, since Darwin did not know of any anticipations until after he had published the immortal work of 1859, and since none of those who got hold of the idea made any use of it. What Darwin did was to follow the clue which Malthus gave him, to realise, first by genius and afterwards by patience, how the complex and subtle struggle for existence works out a natural selection of those organisms which vary in the direction of fitter adaptation to the conditions of their life. So much success attended his application of the Selection-formula that for a time he regarded Natural Selection as almost the sole factor in evolution, variations being pre-supposed; gradually, however, he came to recognise that there was some validity in the factors which had been emphasised by Lamarck and by Buffon, and in his well known summing up in the sixth edition of the _Origin_ he says of the transformation of species: "This has been effected chiefly through the natural selection of numerous successive, slight, favourable variations; aided in an important manner by the inherited effects of the use and disuse of parts; and in an unimportant manner, that is, in relation to adaptive structures, whether past or present, by the direct action of external conditions, and by variations which seem to us in our ignorance to arise spontaneously."

Sometimes, indeed, I have been inclined to think that a mystery is being hinted at more dark than any critic has suspected. I do not happen to possess a copy of the poem, but the writer, if I am not mistaken, says that "few could know when Lucy ceased to be." "Ceased to be" is a suspiciously euphemistic expression, and the words "few could know" are not applicable to the ordinary peaceful death of a domestic servant such as Lucy appears to have been. No matter how obscure the deceased, any number of people commonly can know the day and hour of his or her demise, whereas in this case we are expressly told it would be impossible for them to do so. Wordsworth was nothing if not accurate, and would not have said that few could know, but that few actually did know, unless he was aware of circumstances that precluded all but those implicated in the crime of her death from knowing the precise moment of its occurrence. If Lucy was the kind of person not obscurely pourtrayed in the poem; if Wordsworth had murdered her, either by cutting her throat or smothering her, in concert, perhaps, with his friends Southey and Coleridge; and if he had thus found himself released from an engagement which had become irksome to him, or possibly from the threat of an action for breach of promise, then there is not a syllable in the poem with which he crowns his crime that is not alive with meaning. On any other supposition to the general reader it is unintelligible.

This page is Copyright © Cake Placebo. All Rights Reserved. My Web Site Page 089 is a production of Cake Placebo and may not be reproduced electronically or graphically for commercial uses. Personal reproductions and browser or search engine caching are acceptable.

Ovations provided by My Web Site Page 089 are included only for information. The entertainment value of My Web Site Page 089's ovations may vary on the basis of your personal needs. Cake Placebo and My Web Site Page 089 take no responsibility for the content provided by other Web sites. Links are provided "as is" without liability or warranty.