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Zitttatntt.
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Critics arc not the legislators, but the...
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If there is one thing a decrepit Church ...
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On the continent, Reaction m thc plenitu...
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Tim cordial hatred and profound contempt...
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Althoug h Society is saved, Literature d...
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We cannot close our weekly gossip withou...
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TODD AND BOWMAN'S PHYSIOLOGY. The Physio...
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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.
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Ar01809
Zitttatntt.
_Zitttatntt .
Critics Arc Not The Legislators, But The...
Critics arc not the legislators , but the judges and police of literature . They do not make laws—they interpret and try to enforce them . —Edinburgh Review .
If There Is One Thing A Decrepit Church ...
If there is one thing a decrepit Church should avoid above all others , it is the danger of making the antagonism between it and Science more app arent by frivolous and vexatious formalities . Hence all politic friends of orthodoxy should be anxious to abrogate tests , for these tests awaken strange thoughts in conscientious minds . On the face of it few things can be more absurd than , to demand of a professor of physical science an oath in conformity to a particular Church . It is not the chemist ' s religious orthodoxy , but his chemical orthodoxy that concerns his pupils .
Dr . George Wilson , of Edinburgh , has called public attention to this subject in a pamphlet on the Grievance of University Tests as applied to Professors of Physical Science in Scotland . An eminent lecturer , and an unquestionably orthodox Christian , Dr . Wilson , declines to become candidate for the chair of Chemistry , because , if elected , he could not fill the chair at the expense of his conscience in signing a profession of the faith held by the Church of _fccofland . To put such a test to a professor is preposterous : —
"Is it reasonable that a teacher of physical science should be bound to declare , not only ( as every Christian would willingly do ) tbat he believed that the souls of tbe righteous after death go to heaven , but in addition that they are ' received into the highest heavens V Would you deny his Christianity , because he declined to be positive on a matter so far beyond human inquiry , and felt it to be difficult to reconcile tbe statement of the Confession with the declaration of the Apostle Peter concerning one righteous man , namely , that ' David is not ascended into the heavens ? ' —a passage generally understood as referring only to David ' s body , but which appears plainly to teach that David is in no sense exalted to those highest heavens where ' Christ sitteth at the right hand of God . '
" Once more : Why should a Christian professor of anatomy or physiology be required to declare , that at tbe Itesurrection , ' tbe dead shall be raised up with the self-same bodies , and none other , although with different qualities ? ' The passage is obscure in grammar ; but even if we understand it as signifying , that the body possessed during life by each individual shall be restored to him at his resurrection , ' tbe self-same , and none other , although with different qualities , ' is it not hard that hundreds of persoiis should be reqmred to declare their belief in the resurrection in these questionable terms ?" Dr . Wilson shows how such a test would exclude the greatest names in Chemistry—Boyle , Hooke , Cavendish , Priestley , Black , Wollaston , Davy , Dalton , and Faraday .
" Faraday , who is a member and minister of the body of Christians calling them " selves Sandemanians , of whose genius , great discoveries , high scientific reputation * rare exccllence _^ as _^ a lecturer , conspicuous integrity , religious earnestness and piety , it is needless to write at length , would not be more welcome than Allen or Dalton . He is Christian enough to lecture to her Majesty and Prince Albert ; Christian enough to lecture to peers and peeresses ; Christian enough to lecture to clergymen , to men of letters , to men of science , to young ladies , professional students , und children , within the walls of the Royal Institution , London , and at tho meetings of the British Association ; but be is not Christian enough to be made a professor at St . Andrews , Glasgow , or Aberdeen !"
Not only does the test exclude the greatest teachers of Chemistry- —or coerce them into si lie—it also makes public oath-taking a mockery and a " mere form . " As Theodore Hook said , when asked to sign the Thirty-nine Articles , " Certainly—forty , if y ou like . " But when a Church persists in enforcing these shams , it makes evident the vital antagonism there i . s , and must be , between its vague unsatisfactory dogmas , variously inter preted by various minds , and the precise , satisfactory , immutable dogmas of science , which arc everywhere accepted , and carry conviction with unify .
On The Continent, Reaction M Thc Plenitu...
On the continent , Reaction m thc plenitude of imbecility is fast undermining its own existence b y shortsi ghted cunning . The Minister of Public Instruction in Vienna has actuall y ordered an Edition of the Classics to be prepared , wherein all passages bearing upon Religion , Morals , and Politics are to be accommodated to " correct ideas . " Tbis is to stay the _progress pf the ver rongeur—the corrupting influence of the classics ! One can imagine thc havoc they will make with Tacitus and Seneca , especially when one thinks of Granier deCaksagnac writing an _eulogyouTiherhjs , by way of covertly praising Louis _Nai'Oleon ! In respect of dirt one mig ht wish the ( "lassies altered , but the dirt , be assured , will be religiously preserved ; it is not dirt that is dangerous , but Thought ! Martial , and Aristophanes , Catullus and Pktroni us will form les delic . es of the bieu peasants as heretofore ,
Not onl y is a vigilant eye to keep dangerous sentiments out of the ( "lassies , but also to look more sharply after the Moderns . Hitherto the (" ensor has discovered the " danger" after the book has been extensivel y circulated ; now his post i . s to he Leipsig—the great book-mart—and before a new work enters Austria it must pass through his bands . So that nn intellectual quarantine is established to prevent the entrance of the , pest , of knowledg e ; into Austria . Why not re-establish the Inquisition at once , as the bolder ami more logical p urtizuns openly advise ?
Tim Cordial Hatred And Profound Contempt...
Tim cordial hatred and profound contempt which Englishmen feel foi the Dcccmbrizers of France , will find amp le justification , if justification b < needed , in the circumstantial pages of Victor _Sciuklcueriu bis _llistoiri des Crimes du 2 Dccembrc , published in London , and giving a minute his-
Tim Cordial Hatred And Profound Contempt...
tory of the coup d 6 tat , worth consulting by those who have read th " official" accounts of that infamy ; accounts to which Louis Napoleon referred with characteristic assurance in his ludicrousl y " dignified" renl to the Times . _^
Althoug H Society Is Saved, Literature D...
Althoug h Society is saved , Literature does not seem to flourish . Its main activity lies in reprints ; among these , let us notice two agreeable books , — Caprices et Zigzags , by Theophile Gautier , containing his " impressions de voyage" in Belgium and England ; very amusing pages they are , witty , picturesque , ephemeral . The Nouvelles , by Charles Reybaud , though not so amusing as Jerome Paturdt , have nevertheless some of the gaiety and point of that pen . George Sand has again made a dramatic effort , Le Demon du foyer , and again failed . Her admirers deeply regret to see such genius struggling in a sphere so ill adapted to its forces j but their regrets are idle , Genius is moved from within , and what seems capricious to byestanders , is in reality the most perfect consistency George Sand has an impulse to create a new school of drama . If sbe succeed , the quidnuncs will forget their regrets .
We Cannot Close Our Weekly Gossip Withou...
We cannot close our weekly gossip without calling the attention of all readers to the fact of a new and very cheap edition of Newman ' s grave and searching book , The Soul j its Sorrows and its Aspirations , forming the fourth volume of Chapman ' s Library for the People . It contains a new Introduction , vindicating the claim of human reason to be the arbiter of its own creed , to be the witness to First Principles , and not to be subjugated by Authority . This beautiful book is now within the reach of the humblest purses .
Todd And Bowman's Physiology. The Physio...
TODD AND BOWMAN'S PHYSIOLOGY . The Physiological Anatomy and Physiology of Man . By Robert Bentley Todd , M . D . and William Bowman . In two vols . J . W . Parker and Son . Although the concluding section of this work still remains to be published , we will no longer delay our review of a book which deserves a place in every scientific library . The aim of the writers is to furnish an accurate view of the structure and functions of the human frame , and they have given more anatomical detail in their work than is usual in treatises on physiology . We cannot approve of the arrangement of their work , although it is the one commonly followed . After " general considerations , " there is a chapter on the Constituents of Animal Bodies : and an investigation of the Tissues ; from this a start is made at once to the functions of animal life , locomotion , and sensation .
" Tbe subdivision of the functions of the human organism into the animal and the organic , as already stated , may be adopted as the least objectionable basis for their arrangement . Under the former title we include those functions , which are peculiar to and characteristic of the animal part of the living creation , and to which tbere is nothing similar or analogous in the vegetable kingdom . These are locomotion and innervation . The organic functions are present in both kingdoms , with certain modifications . They are digestion , absorption , circulation , respiration , secretion , and generation . "In examining these various processes , we propose to follow the order in which
they have been enumerated . We find it convenient to take the locomotive function first , because so large a proportion of the mechanical arrangements , or of tho anatomy of the body , is connected with it . The transition from locomotion to innervation is easy and obvious ; for tbe nervous system has a special connexion with the locomotive organs , in order that the influence of the will may be conveyed to them . It may be here staled , tbat in the animal functions thc interference of volition is more frequent than in tbe organic ones ; and that , in all , the nervous system exerts a certain control , and may inlluence to a great degree the _jierfonnanee of tbe functions , although some of them are essentially independent of it . "
These are reasons that will satisfy no philosopher . Strange , indeed , that men should overlook so plain a precept as that of proceeding from the simple to the complex in their study of organization . If animal hto is but a superposition on vegetative life , —if it is not only a later development of organization , but is absolutely dependent on vegetative Hie ior its own continuance , then it is clear that physiologists lose many an advantage in not following the course of nature in their exposition , _» il ( l making the student familiar with the simpler forms beforo proceeding to the complex . The objection we make must be made , however , to all writers on tmH subject . ' They follow eaeh other in unthinking routine . The objections wo are about to make , apply more especially to Messrs . Todd and l _> o \ ymnii _, and we make them that we may be more af ease in our _emph'iii "
commendation of their work . . ' Excellent anatomists and physiologists as they are , they have hilie ' into a ludicrous blunder with respect to muscular heat—a blunder wm < no properly educated physiologist could have fallen into , because to properly educated , a physiologist must have mastered tho preliniiniii j sciences of Physics and Chemistry , whereas , in defiance of tho p hu « i _« _- > facts , Messrs . _Todd and Bowman attribute muscular beat to the friction of lite muscular fibres ! . Read tho passage : ¦ " Two phenomena yet remain to be mentioned , which by admitting ol a n _> factory explanation on thin view of the subject , give strong testimony to its
reofiiess . . " Tbo first is the muscular sound , heard on applying the ear to a muse " action . It resembles , according to the apt simile ' of Dr . Wollaston , the < , 1 _" . " |) ' rumbling of carriage-wheels ; or rather , perhaps , an exceedingly rap id im < ' tremulous yionifion , which , wben well marked , has a metallic tone It is the n < of friction , and appears to be occasioned by those movements of the neign ><)' fibres upon one another , with which tbe part " nil contractions must be atfciu «< their incessant oscillations . . i _j > v " The other phenomenon is one whose existence has been recently _asce _rtaini . . _^ MM . _lleccpiorel and _Breschof , vi / .., that a muscle , during contraction , _^ '" ' temperature . Thoy have found tbis incrciwo to bo uHually more tlmn ono _( < K
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Sept. 11, 1852, page 18, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_11091852/page/18/
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