Volume 1

The lost senses / By John Kitto.

  • John Kitto
Date:
1845
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The lost senses / By John Kitto. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    ever the eyes were raised from the book I read or from the paper on which T wrote. In all cases even the stillness of a tree has been pleasing to me ; and the life of a tree—the waving of its body in the wind, or the vibration of its leaves and branch- lets in the breeze—has been a positive enjoyment, a gentle excitement, under which I could have rested for hours. This strong feeling has enabled me to understand, better than I otherwise might, the curious and often beautiful superstitions and idola- tries which were associated with trees in the ancient times; and 1 have understood better than yUlian, the class of associations which may have induced the Persian king to present the glorious plane near Sardis with costly gifts, and to deck it with the ornaments of a bride. It is by this keen perception of the seduce- ments of grove-worship, that one is able to under- stand and illustrate the many cautions against it which the Holy Scriptures contain. Under the influ- ence of such impressions, I find it very difficult by any effort of reason to control the regret and indignation with which I regard the destruction of a tree, especially if it be one of which I had any previous knowledge. To destroy that which has seen many generations of men pass by, and is still beautiful and strong, and which might still outlive many more generations, is an awful act. The tree seems to have stood among, and to have witnessed, the ever-chang- ing panorama of human life ; and we know that it has in itself been an object of notice, and has ministered some pleasure in past ages, to eyes long quenched in dust. I confess, that under these views the slaughtering of a tree affects me more sensibly than that of an animal, whose years can be but few at the best.
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