Diversions of a NaturalistLankester, E. Ray (Edwin Ray), Sir
History
Diversions of a Naturalist
Lankester, E. Ray (Edwin Ray), Sir
Natural history
The most remarkable and impressive result was obtained when Professor
Baldwin Spencer turned on his phonograph records whilst the wild men
danced in the film picture. Then we heard the actual voices of these
survivors of prehistoric days--shouting at us in weird cadences,
imitating the cry of birds, and accompanied by the booming of the
bull-roarer (a piece of wood attached to a string, and swung rapidly
round by the performer). A defect, and at the same time a special
merit, of the cinema show of the present day is the deadly silence of
both the performers and the spectators. Screams and oaths are delivered
in silence; pistols are fired without a sound. One can concentrate
one's observation on the facial expression and movements of the actors
with undivided attention and with no fear of startling detonations.
And very bad they almost invariably are, except in films made by the
great French producers. On the other hand, I was astonished at the
intensity of the impression produced by hearing the actual voices of
those Australian wild men as they danced in rhythm with their songs.
To hear is a greater means of revelation than to see. One feels even
closer to those Australian natives as their strange words and songs
issue from imprisonment in the phonograph, than when one sees them
in the film pictures actually beating time with feet and hands and
imitating the movements of animals. To receive, as one sits in a London
lecture-room, the veritable appeal of these remote and inaccessible
things to both the eye and the ear simultaneously, is indeed the most
thrilling experience I can remember. With a feeling of awe, almost of
terror, we recognize as we gaze at and listen to the records brought
home by Professor Baldwin Spencer that we are intruding into a vast and
primitive Nature-reserve where even humanity itself is still in the
state of childhood--submissive to the great mother, without the desire
to destroy her control or the power to substitute man's handiwork for
hers.
CHAPTER IV
THE GREAT GREY SEAL
IT is always pleasing to find that intelligent care can be brought to
bear on the preservation of the rare and interesting animals which
still inhabit parts of these British Islands, though it is not often
that such care is actually exercised. Mr. Lyell (a nephew of the great
geologist Sir Charles Lyell) in April 1914 introduced a Bill into the
House of Commons which is called the Grey Seals (Protection) Bill. It
came on for consideration before the Standing Committee, was ordered to
be reported to the House without amendment, and has now passed into law.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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