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    quiries , if lie so mingles his own notions of the marvellous with the strictly physical notions of Ueichenbach ; the objections to which are not of a moral kind , but lie entirely in the difficulty of getting the observations direct , being obliged to take them after passing through the mind of an individual not trained to think . The new power which Reichenbach has found he wishes to call od , and Miss Beichel finds that

    his head contains a great deal of od . It is produced from all bodies in nature , apparently , as magnetism is , with various distinctions . It has a source in the sun , this is heliod ; in crystals , crystallod ; in heat , thermod ; in electricity , elod ; in the material ¦ world general , pantod . As by gravity we are related 4 o all things , so are we by od t as it comes into us from pantod ; so it goes from us into all things , for there exists in us the Mod . animals being an abundant source

    of this power . Abstractly there is truth in this , whatever that truth may be ; and , as Dr . Whewell says , whoever produces the first theory to explain known facts , even if it be a wrong theory , does a great service . We cannot enumerate the many experiments made with even copper , zinc , &c , nor the wonders of fire and candle producing cold at a distance in the patients , showing that there was od also in them . It is enough to say that the experiments are in abundance ,

    although the mere production of slight heat and cold seems rather a feeble effect on which to ground much . He then enters , evidently with some fear , into animal magnetism ; but here all is different from our mesmerising books . He finds that Miss No wotny has never been comfortable in any bed except one lying from north to south , that she and others could not remain in church because they were obliged to look from west to east , and she could not even at certain times walk from west to east in the street .

    Mr . Schuk found that he never rested unless he turned himself round in his bed and took a final sleep with his feet where the pillows were . Baron Reichenbach made him turn the bed round , and now , being placed with his head in the north and his feet in the south , he was quite comfortable , and required no turning round in the morning . Miss No wotny

    had got into the magnetic meridian without help , otherwise than from her powerful instincts . If the position were changed , general disquiet and heat ensued , f lushing of the face , determination of blood to the head followed , and the peculiar burning in the eyes , at once reappeared . From which there is drawn the conclusion , that different positions are wanted to effect cures in different latitudes .

    He then finds the fingers to be a great source of this same Od force . He tries the so-called mesmeric passes , and finds most persons sensitive to them . M . Kotschy with his iron constitution , a man who had penetrated twice into the heart of Asia , was sensible of the passes , as decidedly as weaker subjects—young girls . Men ' s fingers were always found to be strong , some more , some less , women ' s fingers much weaker . This force is the same as the force in crystals , it is mechanically attractive on the hands of cataleptic patients , and like the magnetic and crystal light it is

    luminous . " But the luminous phenomena which I have still to enter into , form a brilliant point in this comparative ex amination . As I saw Miss Reichel , for the first time after violent spasms , playing in a sort of half sleep , with closed eyes , with the magnet flame , which always gave her great pleasure , and interposed my outstretched hand , in the darkness , between the magnet and the patient . She immediately began to play in the same manner with the tips of my fingers , and to talk to the bystanders of fine little names , which leaped up and down in the air . All present , one after another , raised their hands , and each desired to know whether fire issued from their fingers . The patient saw it on all men ' s fingers , more or less

    strongly ; but not one single girl ' s finger emitted sufficient light , or at most but a feeble luminosity , and her own shone . When she got well it appeared , as had not been before reported , that not only during sickness but in health she saw the magnet flames , the crystallic light , and the flames on the hand whenever it was dark enough . In fact she had possessed the power from her earliest age j even as a child her mother had often lifted her up , to lot her convince herself that tne imaginary fire which she often cried about , did not really exist in the nails and hooks sticking in the walls . She had two sisters who saw luminous appearances in all places , of which other people could see nothing . "

    We find that on other points ordinary men believed things somewhat analogous to what Reichenbach tells us ; do we believe in this ? Nature is full of ¦ wonders . I know there is a power in me which I nnnot see , and I know there are bodies about me ^ vhieh I cannot see . There is steam coming from all he pores of the body , and we cannot see it ; pestilence

    in the air , and we cannot see it ; light too there is in darkness , which only some animals can see . We know that some bodies in chrystallizing give out light ; do they always give light ? We know they are held together by forces analogous to electricity ; we can dissolve the combination by counter electricity , and we know too that men in sound health and judgment have seen flames or at least a mild light round the head of sick persons . One case is

    described by one of our first physicians ; he knew too that we have inner senses , if we may so call them , much more powerful than our ordinary five senses . Our chemical and vital senses become cognizant of the most minute differences , and we become ill from the infl uence of things quite invisible , whilst we cannot by any sense , perceive the cause . This is the action of our vital powers , which are delicate enough to feel what we have no power to understand . We know also that this sensitiveness increases in bad

    health . So that weakness of some kinds gives an increased power . So far we know Reichenbach tells us the same thing more explicitly . The halo round the head of holy men gives us an idea of virtue going out of them . Reichenbach would say it was the power of Od which came from them . This would be much more easily believed by most people , if it referred only to the light seen in unhealthy decomposition . We all know of this ; how

    dead fish have frightened us out of our wits by shining in a dark closet , when we suddenly opened it ; how the will-o ' -the-wisp has misled us in our rambles , and rotted wood and old trees in decay been taken for spiritual beings , giving out as they really do a mild and pleasing light , such as we might very well imagine to be given out by an inferior kind of spirit such as appear to ordinary people . A similar force to that which is in the dead animal is

    also in the living , and the power of the man seems m a great measure to depend on the decomposition of food in the system ; this gives out force , and as we expend our force so do we want more food . It is entirely philosophical to suppose light , or at least a something analogous to the imponderable agents , to issue along with the heat of the system and the nervous force and the mental power . Hear , first , a ghost story told on the best authority : —

    " An occurrence which took place in Pfeffel ' s garden at Colmar is tolerably well known , and has been spread abroad by many published accounts . I will mention the important points briefly . He had appointed a young evangelical clergyman , Billing , as his amanuensis . The blind German poet was led by the arm by this person when he walked out . This occurring in his garden , which lay at some distance from the town , Pfeffel remarked that every time they came to a particular place , Billing's arm trembled , and he manifested uneasiness . Some conversation about this ensued , and the young man at length unwillingly stated that as often a » he came over

    that spot certain sensations attacked him , which he could not overcome , and which he always experienced at places where human bodies were buried . When he came to such , places at night he usually saw strange sights . With a view to cure the man of his delusion , Pfeffel returned with him to the garden the same night . When they approached this place in the dark Billing at once perceived a weak light , find when near enough the appearance of a form of immaterial flame waving in the air above the spot . He described it as resembling a woman ' s form , one arm laid across the body , the other hanging down ,

    wavering erect or at rest ; the feet elevated about two hands' breadth above the surface of the ground . Pfeffel walked up to it alone , as the young man wouldnot follow him , struck about at random with his stick , and ran across the place , but the spectre did not move or alter j it was as when one passes a stick through flame , the fiery shape always recovered the same form . Many things were done during several months : parties taken thither , but the matter remained always the same , and the ghost seen

    always held to his asseition , consequently to the supposition that some one must lie buried there . At last Pfeffel had the place dug up . At some depth a solid layer of white lime was met with , about as long and as broad as a grave , tolerably thick , and when this was broken through they discovered the skeleton of a human body , The bones were taken out , the hole filled up again , and the surface levelled . When Billing was again taken there the appearance was gone , and the nocturnal spirit had vanished for ever . "

    Reichenbach takes great credit to himself for explaining this , and , instead of looking on himself as a Credulous person , asserts , and not without reason , that in explaining this he aims at Superstition a very strong blow . He says that the light was the product of chemical decomposition caused by the lime , and the figure was shaped out of the light by the fancy . This is most natural ; and it agrees with what unbelieving people do believe : we have only to suppose a person with a better sight than the average man . He then takes his experimenter , Miss Reichel , to

    graveyards , and she is well accustomed to all these sights , points out the new graves and the old ones by the am ount of light upon them , and sees no ghost at all . The Board of Health wanted to cover all the graves in London with lime ; we see that this would not do , it would hasten decomposition too fast , and the ghosts would become rather troublesome in London . We do see , however , in this , that in old times , when cleanliness was less attended to , the amount of decomposition and consequently of spectres would be much more frequent , and now , in fact , we have washed them actually away , drained them out by the sewers , and carted them off in manure carts .

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    BOOKS ON OUR TABLE . History of Religion . A Bational Account , by John Evelyn , Author of " Sylva . " Edited , with notes , by the Beverend B . M . Evanson , B . A . InSvols . Colburn . There is a certain interest in the authorship of this book which may induce a few persons to read it ; but regarded intrinsically it is a poor performance , wanting all the graces of style which might compensate for its barrenness of thought , wanting all the felicity of illustration which might redeem its commonplace . In an orthodox work of that century one knows beforehand all that is likely to be said ; but we doubt whether even in that century Evelyn ' s book would have been thought of value , and assuredly it is worthless in the present . To describe it in a phrase , we should say it was a lumber-room of

    commonplaces varied with absurdities . The opinions of ancient and modern writers are thrown pell-mell together ; and the assumptions of theologians are stated as if they were axioms . It begins with an examination into the existence of a Deity , which is proved by Universal suffrage , by the creation of the world , by the soul of man , by the hovity of the world , and by Providence . Then comes a pleasant chapter entitled ' What God and the Supreme Being is ; " a tissue of twaddle and assumption . The immortality of the soul being proved , religious worship is deduced therefrom ; and , this leads to an inauirv into religion itself , which is not unworthily

    defined as " the most immediate tie between God and his creature obliging to a certain law and rule for the government of his life and actions . " He divides religion into True and False ; the false or Pagan sprang , he tells us , from the corruption of Natural Religion which was first itself corrupted by the Fall of Man ; a philosophic view of history which will give the measure of the author ' s ability ! Into his chapters oh the Scriptures , and on Christianity , Judaism , and the Church of England " restored to primitive purity , " we cannot enter , for if we may parody the proud Roman ' s saying , it were " easier to write this book than to read it . "

    Uber unnachaJimliche Werthpapiere ( On Inimitable Banknotes , &c ) Braunschweig . London , Franz Thimm . The author of this work is the inventor of the " Charnitypie . " He gives a scanty summary of the origin of paper money ; an equally scanty review of its history and development ; and recapitulates the improvements which have been made in the production of various " paper money , " and its inimitability . This last chapter has a good deal of technical research , and communicates three new inventions , which will be welcomed by those who take an interest in this important matter , for the fabrication of an inimitable paper for monetary purposes is a question of equal importance to the legislature and the public at large . Deutscher Zeitungs Katalog 1850 . ( Catalogue of the German Periodical Press ) . Leipzig . London , Franz Thimm .

    This catalogue ( published at Leipzig ) gives , not only a list of the German reviews published , specifying the number of copies printed and the price of the advertisements , but it also furnishes a complete list of all the newspapers published in the various cities of Germany . Its statistics are highly interesting , particularly at this moment when the Governments are suppressing newspapers wholesale , and the Prussian Government enacts a tyranny over the press which is unequalled in its annals . 55 newspapers are published in Baden , 5 of which appear at Carlsrhue , 5 at Baden Baden . 127 in Bavaria , 9 at Augsburg , 18 at Munich , 10 at

    Nuremberg , 6 at Wurzburg . 9 in the duchy of Brunswick , 6 of which in the capital . 18 at Bremen , 17 at Frankfort , 22 at Hamburg . 82 at Hanover , 6 of which in the capital . 34 in the Grand Duchy of Hesse , 9 at Darmstadt . 22 in Mecklenburg , 5 at Schwerin . 74 in Austria , 24 of which at Vienna . 630 in Prussia , 34 of which at Berlin , 15 at Stettin , 12 at Konigsberg , 13 at Breslau , 7 at Colon . 183 in Saxony , 10 at Dresden , 16 at Leipzig . These statistics are the best proofs that the Germans must be a great reading people .

    The Government Scheme of Education explained and defended from the Attacks with which it has been assailed by certain Parties . In a Letter to the Most Honourable the Marquis of Lamdowne , Lord President of the Privy Council . By the Reverend Henry Hughes , M . A ., Perpetual Curate of All Saints , Gordon-square , St . Pan eras , liivingtons . Mr . Hughes has shown with much clearness in this little tract the groundless nature of the accusations brought aorainst the Educational Committee of the Privv Council .

    It is notorious that certain zealots of the National Society have made the committee's stipulations with regard to management of schools to be aided by Government grants the pretext for their assertion of claims to priestly domination the most unreasonable and pernicious . Of these persons and their charges Mr . Hughes disposes most successfully . Wo wi&h he had been equally felicitous in his manner of dealing with the question of national secular Education ; bis remarks upon which and its advocates are so uncharitable , as to make it difficult for us

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    . to * is * 1850 . ] gfrE 3 Lea % tt . ***

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), July 13, 1850, page 377, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1846/page/17/