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Leader (1850-1860), 27th March 1852, Edition Town of 2, Page 300, Untitled Picture

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      ' FEEBTCH AnTIiTBEATIOBrS . The adulteration of bitter beer , we are informed by the Medical Times and Gazette , is carried on in a very large way in Paris , for the English market—a very serious adulteration , too , when it is called « Strychnine . " Adulteration for Paris is impossible , they say , from the strictnesa of police precaut ions . ¦ . Yet what is the present Napoleonic era but' a " supreme adulteration , in which coup-d ' e"tat , centralization , falsified birth , capote grise , chapeau tricorne , and other poisonous elements , are largely mixed . Well ! strychnine vice pale ale is bad enough j but of the two evils , we prefer the adulterated beer to the adulterated Empire .

      And strychnine might be a quieter engine than soldiers and guns for the next coup-d ' e " tat . Government , they say , has " discovered" this maanfacture : when a pickpocket is afraid of detection , he runs , and calls out " stop thief !"

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      fur THIS DEPABTMBHT , AS All , OFI 1 TIOKS , HOWEVBB BXTBEMB , AEB ALLOWED AN EXPBKS 3 IOK , THB EDITOB NECESSABH / T HOLDS HIMSELF BESFONSIBLE FOB JTOITE . ]

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      SCIENCE AND SCRIPTURE . " Newspapers , we are told , are not the proper place for religion : we presume to think otherwise ; wherever we cast our eyes we see social life inextricably interwoven with relig i , which is everywhere an animating impulse or a formidable obstacle . In science , in art , in literature , in morals , in politics , we can sound the bottom nowhere without touching religion . " —{ Leader , Feb . 14 , p . 166 . ) Sib , —Aware as I am that the critic of the press , like the head of the state , is usually considered irresponsible , and that his decisions , if not received as true and binding , must at least be received in silence , I will , nevertheless , trust to the expansive spirit or

      the Leader , to " rule an exception" in reference to the criticism , headed as above . First , because the subject embrBces no class question , but one of intense and incalculable interest to humanity itself ; and secondly , because a conclusion is arrived at , without every argument on the positive side being exhausted . Dr . Pye Smith , and the critic of last week , both appear to assume that there are only three ways of regarding the Book of Genesis , ( and of course other parts of scripture ); 1 st , either as a positive and literal account of the mode of creation ;—2 nd , as an account of creation ' conveyed in expressions comporting with the knowledge of the age in which they were delivered ; " or , 3 rd , as a metaphorical , or rather indefinite history , in which

      the expressions relating to time and place may be bent and twisted to suit any theories or subsequent requirements of science . Dr . Pye Smith very properly rejects the 1 st and 3 rd , and the critic , I believe , as properly , all three , leaving a fourth explanation , which he thinks inevitable , and honestly states as follows : — " That it is the work of a Jewish author , whose conceptions of the universe I see to be those of barbarian ignorance , and whose conceptions of the Deity are repugnant to my moral sense . " The final conclusion being , that " the explanations of natural phenomena given by Scripture , and those given by scionco are irreconcilable—science or Scripture ,, choose between them , for you cannot ask the world to yield obedience to both . "

      Now , sir , that there is yet another explanation possible , which , while leaving full and undisputed scope to science and its positive teachings , tends to place tho Scriptures in a new and inconceivably grander light , than as a textbook of geology , or even anthropology , and to demonstrate that , deep within its contents lie the foundations of a new science or philosophy , as positive as that geology and astronomy which have successally undermined tho stronghold * of dogmatic theology , I hope to be able to prove to those of my readers who reject no idea because it is novel or ( startling , but only

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      when , after examination , they have proved it to be illogical , and without data for its support ; The position , then , I am about to assume with regard to the Scriptures is briefly as follows . The Bible is a book written , not to throw light upon the early history of this globe or the material universe , not to explain successive geological periods ,, or even the natural creation of ' mankind , but , that under . physical . terms and alle- ; gorical expressions its purpose is to developethe history of the spiritual states of man , i . e ., the process by which " Adam , " or the man , becomes elevated from the lowest degree of natural perception and brute instinct to the lofty realization of the religious life—the life of truth

      and love . That the first eleven chapters of Genesis contain the psychical history of the first generations of men , as they became successively removed from the simple doing of good to the pursuit of truth , and finally the rejection of both , when the flood , meaning the end of the first church , took place , and a new phase of religious life commenced , and so on , till the literal advent of Abraham , where the real history commences ; but ( and this is most important , ) without arresting this inner sense , which goes on simultaneously with , and contained in , the representative policy of the Jewish nation , and the dicta of thei propJiels , 03 \ Jesus Christ appeared , to found another church or receptive class of

      men . I am aware , sir , that these statements do not neces sarily carry conviction of their truth , or constitute their own arguments , but in a subsequent letter I shall adduce , not only evidence from ancient history , and the known laws of mental development and philology , to prove that , in any case , the above view would be the most rational and probable as to the nature of these

      ancient sacred writings , but from the existence of a great law of interpretetion , applicable , without exception , to' every portion of Scripture ; discovered a century ago , that it is possible to extract from their contents a psychical philosophy so tangible , so elevated , and withal so applicable to every phase of humanity that the mind imcpnscibusly feels that the wisdom and prescience which created it , must inhere in God . FbASTCIS RtTDAXIu London , March 8 , 1852 . . ¦ .

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      CASE OF HILL v . PHILP . { To the Editor of the Leader . ) Sib , —In a paragraph respecting this case , which appeared in the Leader of the 21 st ult ., it is stated of the plaintiff- — " From Dr . Philp ' s he was removed to Northampton , and placed under the care of Dr . Nesbitt , who testified to the unsoundness of his mind " This is so contrary to the fact , and so liable to operate prejudicially towards me with many of your readers , that I may confidently rely upon your candour and fair dealing to correct the mistake , now that it is pointed out .

      The evidence given by Dr . Nesbitt , as reported in the Times newspaper of the 17 th February , is" The plaintiff was in good bodily health when he came , and always appeared consistent and rational . The defendant said he would write and explain his case to me , but he did not . The plaintiff was not dangerous . The local board investigated his case , and recommended * his discharge . He had free ingress and egress at Northampton , and walked about as he pleased . He corresponded with his friends . When he left he was in the same state as when he came . I thought him fit to be discharged "

      The reports of Dr . Nesbitt ' s testimony in the Morning Chronicle of the 18 th , and in the Morning Herald of the 19 th , are to the same effect . Surely this is something widely different from having " testified to the unsoundness of his mind \" The description of the patient , or victim , in Dr . Nesbitt ' s case-book , will still further elucidate the affair : — " GeneeaI ) Heaxth . —Very good in all respects ; is stout , strong , and muscular ; hair grey , senses natural , eats and sleeps well . " Habits . —Quiet , clean , and decorous . " CoNYBltSATiON . —Free , intelligent , and consecutivebnt formal and precise . *

      , " Disposition . —Easily irritated and fretted by trifles ; f very impatient of restraint . '" RBWGHON . r—On this subject ho is reserved , and dislikes being questioned . " Education . —Has a cultivated mind , and his pursuits are of tho higher intellectual order .

      " Mentax Peouwabities . —Great dislike of re gnition , * and very desirous of explaininc awav all Vv ' allegations brought against him . f ¦ y the " Passions .- —Strong / Has a . great hatred of hi « former residence , and a very persecuting spirit toward ! the proprietors of Kensington House ; his aenmonvin this respect is intense . J •< Auctions .--. Warm . ; Is very fond of his wife and children . " e It will be acknowledged on all hands that this is not exactly the description to be expected of one sent to be confined as a lunatic ! And since it is shown bv Dr . Nesbitt ' s evidence that he always found ine « cq / sistent and rational ; " that the local board who inves * tigated the case recommended my discharge ; that he

      also thought me fit to be discharged , and that when I left I was in the same state as when I arrived , —it follows that he considers I ought to have been di * charged previously to being sent to Northampton Hence , however desirable it may be to love our enemies ' better than our friends , I was ' not likely to entertain a very affectionate feeling towards the proprietor of Kensington House , who , having long deprived me of my liberty under very aggravated and painful restrictions , had consigned me over to the commencement of a new term of captivity , which , though divested of the enormities which characterized Kensington House , was still felt to be very galling .

      The proceeding becomes the more obviously unjust , when it is explained that my brother and my sister , one of whom has known me for forty , and the other for fifty years , gave evidence not only that they never had occasion to doubt iny sanity , nor did they ever hear it called in question until after I had been placed in confinement , but that when they visited me at Kensington House , eight months before my removal to Northampton , they found me perfectly sane , and were desirous that I should leave with them : Two merahem

      of the medical profession , Mr . Bird and Mr . Hare , also testify to having visited me on more than one occasion , many months before I left Kensington , and finding in me not the slightestjreason why I should not be liberated , nor though they had been acquainted with me the one six , the other fifteen years , had they ever discovered any manifestations of insanity previously to my illness in M&j , 1850 ; whilst the two medical gentlemen who certified me when I was conveyed to the

      asylum , admit that I was then under the influence of an opiate ; moreover , one of those who had known me intimately for five or six years , acknowledges that previously to that day he never saw the slightest reason to suspect my sanity , and the other certifier had never seen me until called in on that occasion , during a period of alarm , when he found me ill in bed , after having taken the opiate . Your obedient servant , James Hixx . London , March 2 nd , 1852 .

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      There is no learned man but will confess he hath much , profited by reading controversies , hia ^ enses awakened , and bis judgment sharpened . If , then , it be profitable for Trimn to read , why should it not , at least , be tolerable for bis adversary to write . —Mimok .

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      * The two latter , undor tho particular circumstances , because it woe known that every word was liable to be misunderstood or misrepresented . f If this ia true , the unjuet and prolonged confinement would furnish a sufficuat reason ; but loos of liberty is not a trifle , ,.,

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      * Undor such painful and humiliating oottditioB ** f CorUinly j and properly no *

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      MiBABEAtr . —Mirabeau was indeed a great sinner ; he was possessed by a devil , but he had a very great nature , and there is more joy in heaven over one such sinner , than qver a hundred just men . He was too high above his nation , like Carnot , the only two great men of the Revolution . His eloquence carried away tho people , and they fancied that they admired bun ; just as the loud noise of a full orchestra seizes kj ldot the common people , who would have remained perfectly indifferent to the music itself , performed on less nowy instruments . Such sinners excite a peculiar kind ot veneration in me , though most truly they do not now tho highest place . There is something yet far higher * and over that we can only weep . —Niebuhr ' s Ufe am Letters . Books to Bead . —Above all , read Livy again and again . I prefer him infinitely to Tacitus , and am giw to find that Vos « is of the same opinion . There w no other author who exercises such a gentle despotism over the eyes and ears of hia readers , as Livy among « n Romans and Thucydides among the Greeks . Quinctiuw calls Livy ' s fulness " sweet as milk , " and Iris eloquence " indescribable : " in my judgment , too , it equals «• " « often even surpasses that of Cicero . Tho latter muw » son genre—he possessed infinite acutenesfl , ""J ^' wit ; ilfaisait du gSnie aveo de Vesprit , like \ oltaire ' but ho attomptod a richness of style , for whicn » lacked that heavenly repose of tho intellect , wp-Livy , like Homer , must have possessed , and , anioijj tho moderns , Fenelon and Garvo in no common degree . Niebuhr ' s Life and Letters .

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      Will our correspondent , " Tentator , " be so good as to send us particulars P

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      300 THE LEADER . [ SAwkday

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  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), March 27, 1852, page 300, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1928/page/16/