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    frequent in the metropolis , in persons after the first strength of youth , that , for large classes o £ sacisfcy , a perfect discharge of the natural process of digestion ( such a discharge of it as a . lecturer would describe to ho the exact type and intention of nature ) is exceptional and raset Unquestionably , in large numbers of cases , wine and beer and spirits , rather than water , have , to do with tills effect . Unquestionably , other influences of metropolitan life—and , not least , the mental wear and tear which belong to its large excitement , contribute immensely to this chronic derangement of health ; but there are reasons likewise Jbr believing that the quality of water consumed is not a matter of indifference to the result . We cannot but give it an important place among those influences of health or xuahealth which , we consider local ; and we cannot refuse to recognise the fact , that in recommending onr patients ( aa we do often recommend , them ) to try ' change of air' for -complaints which baffla us by their obstinacy , so long as the subject of them remains in London , the coarse on which ; we * rely for success implies chaage of water , ' equally with that other change to which more popular importance is attached . " -In illustration : of this viewy I may quote * to you the experience of two other towns . Dr

    Sutherland stated ia evidence before the General Board of Health , that having lived for a number of years at Liverpool ( where the water is said to ba of about the same degree of hardness a 9 ours } , he had long entertained a conviction that ' the hard water , in a certain dags of constitutions , tends to produce visceral obstructions ; that it diminishes the natural secretions , produces a constipated or irregular state of the bowels , and consequently deranges the health . He had repeatedly known these complaints to vanish on leaving the town , and to re-appear immediately on returning to it , and it was such repeated occurrences which , fixed his attention aa the hard selenitic water of the sew red sandstone as the protable cause , as he believed it to be , of these affections . * And Dr . Leach , of Glasgow , stated before . -the same Board , as the result in that town of two years * experience of a substitution of soft < br hard drinking-water , that in his opinion , ' dyspeptic complaints had become diminished in number ; ' and that it had f been observed , since this change , urinary -diseases have become less frequent , especially those attended by the deposition of gravel , ' 11 Inferences useful for ourselves cannot be drawn from statements like the above , oa the fullest assumption of their accuracy , without comparing the waters referred to with our own .

    more completely than is clone by the one characteristic of ' hardness ; ' and there may likewise be otbar ^ qualifications requisite for an application of the analogy . But those disorders ¦ of / health , " which , are specified "by the gentlemen , quoted , as produced by the use and diimnlsliied l ) y the disuse of hard waters , are such as migjit very probably stand in the relation of efl&ct to their alleged cause ; results , namely , primary and secondary , of disordered digestion . " Practically , I may tell you , that there are many individuals whose stomachs are extremel y sensitive . to tho impression of hard water , who derire immediate inconyenfence from its use , and who refuse to drink it without artificial redaction of its objectionable quality . Ithay likewise inform . you that a physician , recently deceased , whose knowledge of indigestion and its chronic efiecta ( especially in . relation to tie skin and urinary organs ) was moat profftund and accurate , and whose consulting practice In such disorders was for many years , almost . a monopoly ( t mean Dr . Prout ) waa m the habit of enjoining on Ms patients 1 £ Mtfl t 34 4 4 LliCLL

    « UC HOC U * UQLIUCU . W <* . ** F V-Uw « CJJr VUUUICCU LUG CUUSUUip . LIUU OI SUCH W&KtrS JIS aseJiabifcBall jf drunk in . the metropolis was detrimental at least to an enfeebled digestion . This is an opinion which * J have reason to believe , is generally entertained by medical practitioners ia London . "It may-not be irrelevant to mention to you ( since the influence of imagination or of artificial habits can have little to do with tMs result ) that horses are liable to be much Inconvenienced , by hard water , if unaccustomed to its use ; and it is , 1 believe , notorious that grooina in charge of racers , habitually take the trouble of conveying with them , to their temporary racing staples , a supply of the accustomed water . Veterinary surgeons say that under tha continued use of hacd water , which horses -will avoid if possible , their coats become rough and staring;—an effect ,. I may observe , analogous to those skiu-disorders of the human subject which are apt to occur from impairment oFthe digestive functions . " We seed only recal to the reader the curious observations of ML Chatinformerly noticed ia these columns—which , proved the existence of goitre to ¦ depends eta the water drunk in the goitre localities—to endorse the foregoing remarks .

    One word in . conclusion—there is no index to this volume , aor even the substitute , ia the sh ^ pe of run » ia » titles ; as the work is one for frequent reference , we hope to see this omission rectified in a future edition .

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    DE . QUINCET'S THIRD VOLUME . Miscellanies chiefly Narrative . By Thomas de Quincey . Being Vol . III . of " Selections . Grave and Gay . ' Groombridgc and Sons . Wb hare so recently expressed our opinion on De Quincey ' s powers generally and on the attractiveness of this republication , now gathering the scattered , riches into accessible caskets , tlat a very brief notice will suffice for the present ) volume . It opens with an account of tb . e adventurous Catalina de Erauao ' s exploits , and adventures , which have inspired him . with great admiration , but not with admiration great enough to tame into sobriety his incomprehensible freaks of humour . Almost the only pages we would wish towot ia Be Quincey ' s writings ara those in wMch he attempts to be funny . TChe . story of Cat / ilinivis go romantic , and parts of it are here so finely told , that , fe . w will foe disposed to leav « it unread in spite of these said attempts at humour ; but < fte ohaptor in the volume which will bo read by the greatest number is that on the last days of Kant , a very minute and interesting page of biography . Here is a bit for tlie psychologist : —

    « <) n returning front his walk , ho sat down to his library table , and read till dusk During- this period of dubious light , so friendl y to thought , he rested in tranquil meditation on- what ho had-been reading , provided the book were worth it ; if not , ho sketched his lecture-for the next day , oruomo part of any book he might then bo composing During this * tat « of repose , ho . took his station winter and summer by tho stove , looking through tho window at-the o ! d . tovrer of Lobonicht ; mot that he could be said properly to see it , Imt the tower rested upon his eye as distant musia on tho ear—obscurely , or but half revealed to tho consciousnoss . _ No words seemed forcible ? enough to express his sense of tho

    gratificaand < mwt wrera . The seanel , indeed , showed hdw important it had becomo to hia comfort ; for « t length oorao poplars in a neighbouring garden ahot up to such a height as to obsouro the toww , upon which K « nt became very uneasy and restless , und at hngtli found himself positively unabta to pnrsuo hia evening ; meditations , Fortunately , tho proprietor of tho garden jt * s * very considerate- and obliging person , who had , besides , a high regard for Iffant ; « nd accordihgljr , upon r repnjsontation of tho case being made to htm . lio Rave ordera that tho poplars should bo cropped . This was done ; tho old tower of Lobonicht was aigafn exposed ; Kanfc recovered hia oqtuwimity , and onco more found himsolf ftblo to pursue hi » twilight medttations » n peaco . "

    On « «« rioua dot ^ U about Kant hero given is , that ho never pcrapired night ¦ ortlay , and . yet ho always contrived to keep himself in an atmosphere of wgh temperature : — i " I ^ L " ^ " ^ ** WJ !? of I ^ hronheit waa tho invarinblo tomnorafcuro of thia room in whioh he . o ^ le ^ y . to ^ and rfit toll below tlint point , no mutter at what bgusou of tho year ho had » t raised 'WWgWW . to ( 4 » o uauwl stundm- < l . In tlw hoata of summer ho wont thinly cU-oased « WP JovariaWJt in & % stooking 8 yet , « a oven tliia drosa oould not RlvvHya seouro hiin ngulnn Mra ^ u-tna , wjion oag ^ a in wotivo exorcisw , ho lmd a singular remedy in rosorvo . Rotirinir loBoiWBlmdy place , Xo atood still and motlonloaa—with tho nir nnd nttltudu of a poraon iwtenn » £ , 01 : m flU 3 nen 8 « jT-. until hia usual aridity w « a restored . Kven in th « moat aultry

    summer night , if the slightest trace of perspiration had sullied his nigbt-dress , he spoke of it with emphasis , as of au accident that perfectly shocked him . " On this occasion , whilst illustrating Kant ' s notions of the animal economy , it may bo as well to add one other particular , which is , that , for fear of obstructing the circulation of the blood , ha never would wear garters ; yet , as he found it difficult to keep up his stockings without them , he had in-vented for himself a most elaborate substitute , which I will describe . In a little pocket ; , somewhat smaller than a watch-pocket , but occupying pretty nearly the same situation as a watch-pocket on each thigh , there was placed a small box , something like a watch-case , but smaller ; into this bos was iutroduced a watch-spring in a wheel , round about which wheel * was wound an elastic cord , for regulating the force of which there was a separate contrivance . To tho two ends of this cord were attached hooks , which hooks were carried through a small aperture in the pockets , and so , passing down the inner and the outer sid& of the thigh , caught hold of two loops which were fixed on tho off side ani the near aide of each stocking . As might be expected , so complex au apparatus was liable , like the Ptolemaic system of the heavens , to occasional derangements ; however , by good luck , I was able to apply aa easy remady to these disorders , which otherwise threatened to disturb the comfort , " and even the serenity , of the great man . "

    Tho following details give a vivid but painful picture of the waning of a great myad : — " InDocember , 1 S 03 , he became incapable of signing his name . His sight , indeed , had for some timo failed him so much , that at dinner he could not find his spoon without assistance ; and , when I happened to dine with him , I first-cut in pieces whatever was on his p late , next put it into a desert-spoon , and then guide ! his hand to find tha spoon . But his inability to sign his name did not arise merely from blindness : the fact was , that , from irretention of memory , lie could not recollect the letters which composed his name ; and , when they were repeated to him , ho could not represent the figure of tho letters in his imagination . At the latter end of November , I had remarked that these incapacities were rapidly growing upon him , and in consequence I prevailed on him to sign beforehand all the receipts , &c , which would be wanted at tho end of the year ; and afterwards , on my representation , to prevent all disputes , he gave me a regular legal power'to sign on hb behalf . .....

    " During . the ' . last fortnight of Kants life , he busied himself unceasingly . ia a way that seemed not merely purposeless , but self-contradictory . Twenty times in a minute he would unloose and tie his necfc-handkerchief ; so also with a sort of belt which he wore about his dressing-gown ; the moment it was clasped , he unclasped it with impatience ., arid was then equally impatient to have it clasped again . But no description can convey au adequate impression , of the weary restlessness with which from morning to night ho pursued these , labours of Sisyphus—doing and undoing—fretting that he could not do it , fretting that he had ' .-done it . " Uy this time he seldom knew any of us who were about him , but took U 3 all for strangers . This happened first with LLs sister , then witk . ine , and finally with , his servant . Such an alienation from us all distressed ma more than any other instance of his decay :

    though I knew that he had not really withdrawn his affection from me , yet his air and mode of addressing nw gave me constantly that feeling . So much the more affecting was it , wien the sanity of liis perceptions and his remembrances returned , but at intervals of slower and slower recurrence . In this condition , silent or babbling childishly , - self-involved and torpidly abstracted , or else busy with self-created phantoms and deluskwis , waking up for a , moment to trifles , sinking back for hours to what might perhaps bo disjointed fragments of grand perishing reveries , what a contrast did lie offer to tliat Kant who had once been , the brilliant centre of the most brilliant circles for rank , wit , or knowledge , that Prussia afforded ! A distinguished person from Berlin , who had called upon him during the jreceding summer , was greatly shocked at his appearance , and said , ' This is not Kant that I have seen , but the shell of Kautl' How much more would he have said this if he had saen him iio \ v !"

    We cannot resist the following note , added oy De Quincey to a passage in the text , where the dying Kant bids his friend kiss him : — "'_ T / iat Ishould kiss him?—The pathos which belongs to such a , mode of final valediction , is dependent altogether for its effect upon the contrast between itself and the prevailing toae of manners amongst the society where such an incidont occurs . In some parts of the Continent , there prevailed during'the last century a most effeminate practice amongst men of exchanging kisses a 3 a . regular mode of salutation on meeting after any considerable period of separation . Under such a standard of manners , tlie farewell kiss of tlio dying could have no special effect of pathos . But in nations so inexorably manly as the English ^ any act , which for the moment seems to depart from the usual standard of manliness , becomes exceedingly impressive when it xecals tho spectator's thoughts to the mighty power which has been able to work such a revolution—the power of death in its final agencies . Tin brave man has ceased to bo in any exclusive sense a man ; ho has become an infant in his weakness : he has become a woman ia his craving for tenderness und nitv . Forced bv

    a S onyi Me has laid down his sexual character , and retains only his generic character of a human creature . And ho that is manliest amongst the bystanders , is also the readiest to sympathise with this affecting cliatigo . Ludlow , the parliamentary general of horse , a man of iron nerves , and peculiarly ho . itilo to all scenical displays of sentiment , mentions , nevertheless , in his Memoirs , with sympathising tenderness , the case of a cousin—that , when lying mortally wounded on tho ground , and fooling his life to bo rapidly welling away , entreated his relative to dismount * and kUs him . ' Everybody must remember the immortal scene on board the Victory , at four j . » . m . on October 21 , 1805 , and tho farewell , Kiss me , Ilardijl' of the mighty admiral . Anil hero again , in tho final valediction of tho stoical Kant , we road another indication , speaking oracularly from dying lips of natures tho sternest , that the last necessity—that call which survives all others in mtm of noblo and inxp »« ssioned hearts—is the necessity of love , is tho call for aome relonting caross , such as may simulate fora moment some phantom imago of female tenderness in au hour when tho actual presence of fomaloa is impossible . "

    It seems astonishing that the man who could have compiled these last days of Kant could , in the same volume , perpetrate such a jocosity as that wlierem Do Quincey declines to argue against " such a swell ' as Kant . " Xhis phrase occurs somewhere in the article on the Revelations of Lord Kosse ' s telescope , one of De Quincey ' s fantasias , not to be read with any soberness of thought . Tho long note appended to this article , endeavouring to make the scientific blunders in Scripture evidences of its Divine Authorship , would bo pitiable were it not paralleled in a thousand instances , anil were it not refemble to tho intense desire of ingenious minds to " reconcile" things n-ieconciloablo . The chapter on Joan of Aro is a splendid page of eloquence la De Quincoy ' u beet manner . The chapter on Roman meals is an amusin ^ and erudite bit of gossip ; that on Modern Superstition is both curious and suggestive ; but we have no space for further extracts , for most of our readers it is enough to name tho publication of another volume by Thomas do Quincoy .

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    A SECOND BATCH OF NEW BOOKS . GrvxNa the first place , aa in critical duty bound , to Mistouv , lot us put at the head of our second Batch , Tha Life of Cardinal Mc 7 tclie . ti , hyWi \\\ i \ n \ Robaou —( Koutlodge ) . Mr . ltobson has two excellent ^ unliaoations to fit him for the buamoas ol writing historical biography : —ho Itua gi > oat poraovornnco in collecting materials , and great impartiality in forming Inn opinions from what ho collects , llioholiuu has beoii move indebted for tho perpetuation of his fame to noveliHta and play-writers than to historians . Mr . Robsou , boin-r apparently well awaro of thia , Uaa done his best to oxtrioato tho fhots in con ° -

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    & 42 THE LEADER . [ Saturday ,

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), July 8, 1854, page 642, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2046/page/18/