On this page

• Text (3)

  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.

  • 

    114 THE L11D E R. [No. 306, Saturday,

  • 

    .;¦ ; ¦' , THE CONSTITUTIONAI, HISTORY O...

  • 

    LATTER-DAY POETRY. The Mystic; and other...

• Transcript

  • 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.

    De La Rive On Electricity. 4. Treatise O...

    reno ^ it ; niortf lil & Sri Eii ^ slb pte 4 i & tBia & a Baadtiooit . M . de W Rive is" no compiler at second hand . He is enxinent as an experimentalist anddiseoverer ; almost unrivalled as an expositor , and'thoroughly informed of all that Europeanlaborers have been doing in this 6 eld . The size of his work is , therefore , considerable , but it should be reckoned as a merit , for the space thus occupied is not swelled with idle learning , or idler rhetoric—it is compact with solid material . The book could only have been smaller by being something quite different in form and purpose . It is emphatically a treaitse , containing both the theoretical and practical aspects of the science j and is so clearly written that even the tyro may make it h : s introduction to the subject , while the most accomplished electrician will find it an invaluable

    summary . The most interesting sections of the present volume are , perhaps , those devoted to the sources of electricity . The ancients were vaguely conversant with the influence which heat exercised on the production of electrical phenomena . Pliny—that repertory of the knowledge and ignorance of his time—mentions the hard violet , or deep red stone , which , when heated in the sun , or rubbed , attracts small light bodies . At the end of the seventeenth century some Batch merchants brought from Ceylon a peculiar stone , which was called tournamal , or ash-attractor , because , when placed upon heated ashes , it attracted them and then immediately repelled them , although with cold ashes no such effects were visible . This stone we now know as the

    mineral tourmaline ; In 1757 -33 pinus , having two polished tourmalines to set in a ring , instituted a series of experiments , and thereby established the firstlaws of the development of electricity by heat . He proved the presence of free electricity in the heated tourmaline , by the attraction and repulsion it successively exercised upon light bodies . He even drew a spark from it , which was visible in the dark . But the most important observation he made wsts > ofthe simultaneous presence of two electricities in the same tourmaline , one being c 6 nfined ? in one part ; the other in another , these two constituting the-electric poles . He further conceived that those electric poles , in the unequally heated tourmaline , are contrary to what , they are in the equally heated tourmaline . Canton cleared up the contradictions by proving that ? itis not the absolute

    - temperature , but the change of tempera-Iture , , v ? hich renders the tourmaline electric ; the electricity of each pole varies according as the change is a heating or a cooling . Bergmann completed ^ this view by showing that when - the tourmaline is placed in a medium of its own temperature , whatever that may be , it is never electrical ; transported into a colder medium , it imrjaediately acquires the two electric poles ^ which state ceases as soon as the tourmaline , having abandoned its superior / heat , is of the same temperature as the medium . This important law is Dot only true for the : cry « tala & a whole , but equally so for each of its molecules separately ^ so that if the two poles are arranged so that one is heatediwhile the other is cooled , they have the same electricity at the same timfei .- ' -. isV ' ,: ¦ ¦ ¦ :: ¦¦ , ¦ ¦¦ . . ' .. .. ¦ ¦ ' . ¦ ¦

    This rapid sketch of the history of one law , will indicate the nature of the progress which science has made in all the other questions of this extremely difficult , subject . We rnust be content with such , brief indication , and send the reader to M . de la Rive ' s masterly treatise for the fullest exposition of all that in 1856 is known about Electricity .

    114 The L11d E R. [No. 306, Saturday,

    114 THE L 11 D E R . [ No . 306 , Saturday ,

    .;¦ ; ¦' , The Constitutionai, History O...

    . ;¦ ; ¦ ' , THE CONSTITUTIONAI , HISTORY OP JEB & EY . A Cojistitviional History of'Jersey . By Charles Le Quesne . Longman ana Co . ^^^ X H an area of nearly fqrty-five square miles * and contains-fifty-seven * " ^ ?^ 4 Wbabitants . But it prides itself , neither upon its extent , nor upon its population ; , but upon the antiquity of its laws . Jersey , indeed , is a little Japan in the British Channel—with legendary privileges , which , bad or good , it values , because covered with the rust and dust of time . The old Norman institutions still nourish in that self-loving little island j few , even of the Norman laws , have there been abolished . The Jersey Jury of Appeal is still composed of twenty-four men ; in the Legislature there are still twelve jurats , who sit for life , twelve doctors of parishes , ex qfficio , and twelve constables or representatives . The Courts are independent , of those at Westminster . In

    actKms relating to real property , the Clameur de Haro is to this day heard . Ihe fc / lameur de Haro is an antique and peculiar institution such as we might expect to see illustrated on middle-age tapestry , or in a pre-Kaphaehte painting . The " Royal Court" has the highest jurisdiction in Jersey , When , before any other tribunal , a decision is pronounced , the person that believes himself aggrieved may fall on his knees , in the presence of witnesses , and invoice the name of Rollo . He cries , " Haro , Haro , Haro , « a ? , b n ]? n , Prmce > on me ft" * * oit . " Haro is a corruption of Rollo , or At ) Hou ,, the name by which the famous Duke was actually called . As soonas these words are pronounced , every workman within hearing must cease trom his employment ; the Court must be adjourned ; no cause then in suspense can be decided , until the royal judges or the Sovereign in Council has disposed at the appeal . If , however , the individual who thus takes advantage of . tho last resource of law , has abused the privilege , he is fined , loses his case ,, and pays all the costs .

    Another peculiarity in the legal procedure of Jersey , is the form of taking * 5 L- ¦ u ' , X * ls strictly Norman , and dispenses with the Testament and ever ? other book ., The witness merely holds up his hand , and declares that , as lie shall answer before Almighty God , he speaks the truth . Hence , men of all creqds can bq sworn with equal facility , before the Jersey tribunals . Mar , Le Quesne ' s narrative ia prolix , and often dull ; but , from its large presentation or original documents and authorities , is historicall y interesting lne , wr , ter , as one . of the Jurats of the Royal Court , and a Member of the fetateg , has studied his subject practically . He has obviously , also , carried * TJ ? S ^ eRI > che a with an acute eye and a zealous hand . Standing ap art from tnQserwbp , would abolish o ) l local codes , he nevertheless concedes much to ! w ^ yQCt £ 2 ? CKmmmjI- Island Reform . But he has a dry , colourless style ; {! ' » fMvMy fQr creating out of the best materials a clear or rapid story ; co ^^ 'ffi 5 ^ - ! Ii n < aMt '' > aomqthin e leas « -a commentator , exact , and discerning * , but neither an nrnvmf r . ^ «« 1 ; o *» .:.. « ?

    , eulSo the '& S ??? * ^? + a Moi « bcr of the S ^ te » > « Jurat fox life , should Hnf ^ re n 3 S ^ ° / ** " * Accordingly , Mr . Lc Qucanc discover many ,. row wmpa * . vx .. tfa ¦ , l * m of that Nornuanised islet . He praises

    especially ^ stoms-that gulate accession property , because they " have strongly operated in preserving it in the same family . " The elder son , on the death of his father , has the house and a certain portion of the land ' and' annually purchases from his brothers and sisters their respective shares There is real ; equity in this * for the younger brothers and sisters have shares which they sell , or keep , at their option . Mr . Le Quesne , however , chiefly lands the Conservatism of the population , though , as we have said , he does not share the bigotry of some of the islanders , who think that because a law is local it ought to be everlasting . Thus , in Jersey , any individual may go before the Court , and , without producing evidence , declare his neighbour rn a state of bankruptcy . Describing the functions of the Lieutenant-Governo ? Mr . Le Quesne writes : — '

    Authority is by law given to the lieutenant-governor over strangers coining to Jersey ; but the law has in a great measure become a dead letter , as it is opposed to the liberal spirit of the age . By the code of laws of 1771 , it ia enacted that strangers stall not be allowed to dwell in the island , nor to marry -women of Jersey , without the permission of the governor ; and a disobedience of this enactment was to be folio-wed by expulsion from the island ; but strangers of good moral character , being Protestants , were to be received -with encouragemen t although even these -were to give security , if thought necessary . ' The right of ordering foreigners out of the island is still possessed , and is sometimes , though , rarely , exercised by the lieutenant-governor . It is a great power to entrust to any man ; and it should be exercised only in extreme casea , and with great discretion and judgment .

    The small extent of the island , and its contiguity to France , are the political reasons why foreigners are not allowed to possess landed property in Jersey , and -why they lave been subjected , particularly in former days , to the rigid superintendence of the governors . In time of war , on a frontier point , the commanderin-chief roust possess powers for protection and self-preeervation , which in time of peace and amity must be dormant ; "but it would not be wise , from the small size of the island , to repeal the law - whereby foreigners are forbidden to hold any re & 1 property in the island . The islanders , as a body , regard with extreme jealousy any legal innovation introduced by the Imperial Government . But , says Mr . Le Quesne , a change is taking place in the public mind of Jersey . It is generally acknowledged

    that innovations are necessary to destroy the monopoly of the legal profession . Against old customs , which are harmless , few objections lie . They are often p icturesque , and , as civilisation undertakes to destroy the picturesque , their quaint outlines and heraldic colours may be usefully preserved . Thus the compulsory attendance of the feudal barons , once a-year , at the Assize de la Conr d'Heritage , almost null as it is in effect , illustrates in the eyes of our generation the manners of our Norman ancestors , and is valuable as a relic . But the essential maxims ^ * of legality , in our opinion , should be assimilated throughout the Empire ; because there is no reason , in morals or policy , why arbitrary power should be hateful in England and tolerable in Jersev . Mr . Le Quesne admits that the lieutenant-Governor exercises a

    prerogative inconsonant with the spirit of'the age ; and the result , logically , must be , that this functionary should cease to possess any authority beyond that of the executive hand which puts into operation the undoubted principles of the law . To trust the Governor of Jersey with powers undefined by statute , is as absurd as it would be to invest the Lord Mayor of London with the privileges of a censor . " The Constitution of Jersey , in fact , is a political curiosity . The island , though it has no native literature , is like a carved cabinet crammed with antique law—not of French origin only , but of German , for the centeniers and

    the dizainiers still exist , and the Constable presides in parish meetings , as under the elective Counts of Germany . At the Assembly" of the Assize d'Heritage the vestibule of the Court is lined by men bearing , not bayonets , but halberds , with Charles the Second ' s mace carried before them—quite a modern contrast . Then , the Governor who " owes eomparcucc " for " the bishops , abbots , and abbesses , " answers to his name ; the Seigneurs appear and respond , the Prev 6 t reads his statement of cases , and when they have been tried , the dignified body dines by the invitation of " the Crown . " This high Court 1 ms another useful function—that of inspecting the public roads four times annually .

    The constable is called upon to produce a jury of twelve good and impartial men , chosen from among his parishioners . The jury take an oath to lead the Court through the -worst roads in the parish . These men are called loss Voyeurs , because , on the march , they see or discover the nuisances which may exist , the encroachments which may have been made , and the trees which , interfering with the free use of the road , should be removed . Formerly the procession -was on horseback ; now it is otherwise . The voyeurs , with the constable , take tho lead ; then follow the vicomte , with a staff , the bailiff * and the jurats , accompanied by the attorney-general and the greffier . Whenever the voyeurs discover any nuisance or in the road

    impediment , or an xinfortunate tree which has boon guilty of an oncroachrnent , they make a verbal report of the wimo to the Court , who immediately order tlxo removal of the nuisance or the downfall of the tree . As all proprietors of land bordering on tho public roads are bound to keep their hedges . properly trimmed , and also to have the trees pruned in such a manner an not to overhang the road below , a- certain height , it is a rule that if tho official staiF of tho vloomto , as he paces along tho road , is arrested by an overhanging branch , n report is made to tho Court , who , ascertaining that tho report is correct , impose a fine on tho owner of the land . Mr . Lc Quesne ' s work abounds in similarly curious details . It has been compiled with diligence and integrity , and though written in a dry , juridical style , will be an acquisition to historical antiquarians .

    Latter-Day Poetry. The Mystic; And Other...

    LATTER-DAY POETRY . The Mystic ; and other Poems . By Pliilip Jamea Bailey , author of " Festus . " Chapman cmd Hall . Man in Paradise ; a Poem in Six JBoohs : with Lyrical Pocnw . By John Edmund Koado . Longman find Co . It ia -with sincere regret that w « find ourselves called upon to notice these two volumes of poems . Both authors are men of faculty s both have written verses which arc worth the rending ; both have clnimis to respectful treatment ; and both are here to bo seen dancing in a kind of mental olovntion , ami in unseemly fashion . The two poems before us belong to the order of tho ultra-mystical , ns ^ ndeed , so far as Mr . Bailey ia concerned , is declared in the very title . The

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Feb. 2, 1856, page 18, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_02021856/page/18/