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September10, 1853.] THE LEADER. 881
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Ktmatntt
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Pritics are not the legislators, but the...
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It will be very acceptable news to our r...
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Is the age of quarterlies reviving ? For...
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" To this group of plants belong the cur...
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Transcript
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
September10, 1853.] The Leader. 881
September 10 , 1853 . ] THE LEADER . 881
Ktmatntt
Ktmatntt
Pritics Are Not The Legislators, But The...
Pritics are not the legislators , but the judges and police of literature . They do not ° xnakelaws—they interpret and try to enfoxcebhem . —Edinburgh JReview .
It Will Be Very Acceptable News To Our R...
It will be very acceptable news to our readers to learn that the illustrations of Thackeray ' s new serial , The Newcomes , which we may expect in Oc ^ tober , are to be furnished by the fancy , grace , and humour of Richard Doyle , who , since his withdrawal from Punch , has been somewhat sparing of his public appearances . We hear that four numbers of the new work are finished in advance . Indeed it has always seemed a great pity that serial writers do not finish the whole before they commence publication—a plan which would not prevent periodical changes and additions .
Is The Age Of Quarterlies Reviving ? For...
Is the age of quarterlies reviving ? For some time it seemed as if only the old Quarterly and Edinburgh could find a pubjic , and even their influence was greatly diminished ; but , of late years , there has been a revival , and we have seen five new first-rate reviews establish themselves—the British Quarterly , the North British , the Westminster , ( we must call the present Westminster a revival , ) the Dublin Review and the Irish Quarterly ; to these we have now to add the first number of a new rival , The London Quarterly .
It is really for the benefit of literature that such works should exist . They are vehicles for grave thoughts and important essays , which would otherwise hardly find a public ; and they prevent many books being written . The very miscellaneousness of their composition enables them , by appealing to many tastes , to secure publicity for articles addressing only a small class . We are led to lay greater stress on this from observing , with regret , that the valuable periodical , Scientific Memoirs , translated from the foreign journals , is forced to be relinquished , because all England cannot
furnish a public large enough to pay the expenses of printing . What a disgrace to our pretended men pf science ! There are thousands who call themselves men of science , who flock , like sheep , ( very like sheep , ) to British Associations and royal societies , yet they cannotj among them , find a small body of men willing to pay three shillings a quarter , for a work containing papers of the very highest importance ! Since that is the case we suggest to editors of reviews the propriety of , in some measure , supplying the place of these Scientific Memoirs . If each number contained one such article it would be all the richer .
To our new candidate , however . The London Quarterly presents no outward distinguishing feature ; it is like a good specimen of any quarterly review , with this internal difference , —viz ., being the accredited organ of the philosophic Wesleyans , it holds the position with respect to Methodism , that the British Quarterly holds with respect to Dissent , and the North British to the Free Kirk . It is well edited ; the articles are varied and able . The all-engrossing subject of Turkey is treated of , in the opening article , instructively and philosophically . This is followed by an article on Wesley and his Critics , peculiarly addressed , of course , to the supporters of the Review , but interesting to all readers . We may borrow from , it an amusing passage of parallel . Speaking of the probable relationship of Wellington and Wesley , the writer adds : —
" in the character and career of the Founder of Methodism we find much that is chiiirtcteristic also of the late famous defender of Europe . For strict habits and gioat hardihood they were both remarkable . Each rose early , employed every waking moment to the- best advantage , and l'otired . at an unvarying hour to rest . < » Iin Wesley , it is said , had sleep at his command ; and on his long journoys of "postolic labour , when it happened that he could neither read nor writo ( as frequentl y ho did on horsoback or in a carriago ) , one thing he could do : ho would Rj nit his eyes , and take needful rest in sleep . Of Wellington we believe tho saino ' » ig may bo said : he , too , could sleep in tho saddle : the habitual vigilanco of 8 nature enabled him to choose a moment of repose , and tho admirable temper > us spirit permitted it to rest at his volition . Again : in tho practical stamp of ui minds
, and especiall y in tho laconic stylo of their writings , the resomblanco i Wc ' these- men is very striking . Tlio Despatches of Wellington and tho o uniuls of Wesley might have been dictated by tho same person , if tho stylo and uniper of the writer only be considered . Their lottors , too , are strongly marked >¦ a very similar innnncr : they have brevity without obscurity , and forco without \ v ] 'li ' '" ' liml l ) urticullu-ly without trilling . Duty , according to the standard ^ " ' recognised , was the law of each : inflexibility tho temper , and common w the active servant , of its performance Even tho features of these personages ll ( '' " ° " H resoinblanco to each other ; and wo seo a , further coincidence in tho ; ij . ** . * length of days with which both they wero honoured . Circumstances ' "Wing , u , ui spiritual convictions absent , wo can imagino Wesley undertaking and wtmm ,, the part of Wellington almost without tho slightest diversity . "
aro considerably fatigued with articles on Ireland , niul havo not read f H \ Olle ll (! lti devoted to it ; but the noxt one , that on Cryptogamic Vege-^(¦¦ t on ^ wc advise no reader to skip . It is clear and popular in the exposit ion of a V ( .,. y (; ur ioi , >) UVt of l , otany . Wo will quote what is said of n ^ "y familiar fuUgus : — \ l . 1 * ornu ' "K * notion of a Mushroom , wo must not confine our idons to those ^ " « mfc Hjiocios which havo such charms for tho modom epicure . Tho eatable i ( , '" . <)(> l u iH » in fact , only tim ( nut-bearing portion of the plant , not tho plant Iiif ) nnv . . il'an il 1 ) lllU ! h of Filberts is the Nut-true , or of ( . 4 rapes , the Vino . mil ' ' ) 1 . U ! U ( n'ity <> f «»«¦»«« . * - " *> veal FunguH is a 'Mycelium ; ' an assemblage ) of tin ) ' t ° mtctl ^ hunents which ramify under the ground , push their way through ur » . " i lliw ! w oi '^ ec «* y »» K wood , or fatten upon tho decomposition of all kinds of « uweU boUwsk Xl »« Jtwwletfg « of ilwt irirvtuiirtuuve exnluuw uiany ftcttf cqiu
nected with their history . Thus the fairy circles seen on our grassy pastures , once thought to be owing to the dances of— ' Demy-puppets that By moonshine do the green-sour ringlets make / have long been , suspected to be occasioned by Mushrooms , which plants were often found growing on the darkened ring . It was / supposed that they commenced at a central point , and , extending ^ themselves in every direction , exhausted the soil of ingredients necessary for their nutrition : hence they ceased to exist at the centre , and confined themselves to the periphery of the ever-enlarging area .
" But the objection was made to this ingenious hypothesis , that the Mushrooms existed in too small numbers , and too far apart , to have formed the unbroken fairyring . The discovery that the true Fungus was a subterranean Mycelium did away with all doubt upon the subject ; so that , substituting Mycelium for ' Mushroom / the above explanation becomes a correct one . The subterranean fibres interlace in such , numbers , as to form an unbroken ring ; bnt it is only here and there that they send up to the surface the reproductive structure to which the name of ' Mushroom' is popularl y applied , and which had attracted the attention of early observers .
" To This Group Of Plants Belong The Cur...
" To this group of plants belong the curious lines of red and white excrescences , which , in wet weather , grow out of old posts and rails ; all the varieties of mould which spoil the good housewife's preserves , and at whose door have been laid those formidable pests to society , —the potato disease , and the dry rot . It would appear , that in the latter cases , after finding a suitable soil for germination , where some weakness indicates incipient decay , the plants become changed from effects to causes , and rapidly promote the destruction which they did not always originate . " A paper on the now exploded Spirit Mappings and Table Blovings follows , and is succeeded by an admirable one on Modern and Mediceval Hygibie . In ancient civilizations Hygiene was regarded as one of the important things Government had to look to : —
" Purity of persons and things is the great aim of hygiene ; pxirity of persons and things was an essential requisite in the religions of the East . Amongst the Greeks , great sanitary reformers received divine honours . The hundred-headed hydra , which Hercules slew , was a pestilential marsh ; the fable of the Augean stable , that he cleansed by flushing , indicates the nature of the work he did . The sites of Etruscan cities , whose foundation is lost in remote antiquity , still exhibit gigantic works of sewerage and drainage . During the culminating point of Roman civilization , public baths were numerous in all the-towns and cities of the Empire , and were accessible at a very low charge , —less than a farthing . In connexion with these baths , there were temples , academies , and gymnasia , or places for athletic exercises ; so fully were the means of hygienic art supplied to the people . With the fall of the Roman Empire , hygiene declined with the other arts and
sciences , and the populous cities of Europe became in consequence the prey of frequently recurring pestilence . There was no system of sewerage , or drainage ; the streets were unpaved , and uncleansed , and so narrow , that ventilation was almost impossible . The houses were also constructed with little regard to health , and the domestic arrangements were of a very imperfect character . Population continually increased , especially within the fortified cities , where life and property were safest , and where the arts , commerce , and manufactures nourished . But tho same circumstances Avlrich protected life from violence , endangered it . The everincreasing crowds , cooped up in a narrow space , added to the danger of epidemical outbreaks in a geometrically increasing ratio , until at last the ' visitation' came , and swept away a fourth , a third , nay , not unfrequently a half , of the population . " After sketching the great -visitations , the writer adds : —
" But , although the great cosmic cause . ? aro now the same as then ( inasmuch as these aro beyond the reach of man ) , and although epidemical fevers havo been , therefore , more than usually prevalent , and deaths more frequent , yet the removable causes being incalculably less intense , the mortality is proportionately smaller . Herein is fully shown what an improved system of hygiene has done for modern society . ' The Cholera of 1848-49 slow 53 , 293 men , women , and children , in the whole of England ; if it had boon as fatal as ' the Black Death , ' at least 4 , 000 , 000 would have perished ! That pestilence- destroyed in tho then London , with its limited population , not fewer than 100 , 000 ; in Norwich , 51 , 100 . In the whole of Europe , twenty-five millions ( lied of it , or about one-fourth of tho population . " The history is appalling . The writer then asks : —
" To what circumstances is due the immunity from ' great plagues' and ' visitations' experienced by the United Kingdom during the last two centuries ? They arc very various . In the first jihice , medical science has been much extended and popularized . An intelligent layman of the nineteenth century is far better acquainted with tho practice of medicine , and the malaria vied / ca , than was tho most learned physician of the fifteenth . This knowledge has bud an imperceptible but most powerful influence on tho health of tho peoplo , by bringing tho daily minute circumstances of life under the control of uu unexpressed but all-pervading hygiene . Secondly . The contagious and infectious class or fevers are hotter understood , and , therefore , treated much more successfully ; while , as to one oftlioin , the small-pox , an efficient mouna of prevention has been discovered in the practice of vaccination . Thirdly , it is of ' essential importance that fresh vegetables . should Constitute a part of the diet of man ; cereals alone , however abundant , are not
sufficient for health ; and when used unmixed with fresh vegetable food , there arises a condition of the system very similar to thai ; of sea-scurvy , if not identical with it ; a condition which strongly pro-disposes tho individual ( o sufler from all kinds of fevers . In tho general uso of the potato , tho people of modern times possess an incalculable advantage ) over their ancestors in protection from epidemic dinousos . Perhaps no circumstance was so generally unknown to 'he public ( luring " tho months succeeding to the destruction of tho potato-crop , as ( ho relation between an imperfect supply of thai , fresh vegetable , and the grently-iiwreased mortality from typhus , noted at that time . Fourthly . Tim development of the textile manufactures , especially of linen and cotton , has placed 1 . 1 m means of personal cleanliness within the reach of clauses to which tlmy wero previously unattainable ; while tho more oquaUdiflusion of wealth , consequent upon tho rapid extension of trade and commerce , has led to tho construction of butter dwelling * for tho people . "
We may here protest against the practice of dragging in theology whenever subjects ure treated iu theological reviews ; Ihis article , otherwise ho admirable , presents a ludicrous specimen oli it . We do not , by our cenaiuc ,
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Sept. 10, 1853, page 17, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_10091853/page/17/
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