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Leader (1850-1860), 5th May 1860, Edition 2 of 2, Page 19

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      ;• Anecdote Biograpliy. By John Timds, F...

      The work on Tlie Causes and Treatment of * Invp & irfect . Digestion contains some well-written chapters on the physiology and symptoms of dyspepsia . ' It is a subject about which nine persons out of ten have more or less , some experience of . ^ Habits of intemperance tend perhaps" more than any others to impair the digestive ' organs , or , more plainly , tend to weaken the stomach , and hence , as a matter of course , habits of temperance will strengthen and restore the debilitated functions of the stomach . It cannot be too much impressed upon the mind how absolutely

      essential to the enjoyment of life is the healthy and vigorous action of the organs of digestion and assimilation ; and how much the mental activity and vigour of man depend upon their perfect and undeviating operation . In order to show on what permanently depends the golden possession of health , we have but to refer any one careless of it to the statement of the causes and treatment of imperfect digestion by Dr . Leared . The physiology of digestion is so clearly and ably stated , and the symptoms and varieties of dyspepsia are so fully given , together with the best treatment of it , that this work must be invaluable to the sufferer

      in . any of its painfui-forms . The new work on Consumption ; its true Nature * and successful Treatment , by Dr . Godwin Timms , bears ample evidence of being the production of one who entirely understands the subject and is able to treat the disease , tinder circumstances which render it possible , with success . That there should be a hope , nay , even a possibility , of arresting a disease so common in England , and fatal to so many thousands annually , is an invaluable boon . According to Dr . Godwin Timms ' s showing such may be the case , and the young and fair of our land may bloom and grow strong in spite of the ravages of pulmonary consumption . His arguments are both plain and convincing , and we believe implicit confidence may be placed in his judgment ; and we doubt not that his mode of treatment is as satisfactory to members of the faculty who are competent to judge as it will " be eagerly sought after and pursued by the invalid ; ¦ : ¦ ¦ .. ¦ ¦ _ . ¦

      The British Volunteer of Yesterday and To-day is a little work that has enough intrinsic merit to recommend it to the volunteers of the country . Major Walter writes earnestly arid vigorously , arid with perfect knowledge of what constitutes our great bulwark of peace . We cannot ^ but say that we owe our acknowledged superiority as much , indeed more to the intelligence of our army than to their mere display of what is erroneously called * ' brute force . " As the only element of victories achieved by our armies we object to the use of the epithet "Jbrute force" by the peace-at-anyprice party . The sheer force of vast numbers was never known , to accomplish and permanently to sustain the higher objects for

      which batties are sometimes inevitably fought . But the manly force of the English army , which , when thoroughly disciplined and ably commanded , has at no time yielded to armies immensely superior in point of numbers ; neither do we think it ever will , provided the unrivalled courage of the soldier is guided by the superior intelligence of his commander . Scientific knowledge and historical information relating to war should by all means be diffused in tlie army . We therefore recommend the British Volunteer , and suchvJilce-worJcs ^ o ^ lxe ^ altfiniiQaof ev ery man who is engaged in the present military movement of the nation , while , at the same time , we hope that the art which they tend to perfect , and the army which the science renders invincible , may rarely , if ever , be

      tested by the collision of nations . It is well for the essayist that the History of the Unreformed Parliament has its lessons to instruct or warn us , otherwise so little interest have the public to-day in its political antiquur ianism , that we fear the most elaborate essay on the subject wouldfail to excite curiosity . It so happens , however , that the question is interesting , inasmuch as the system of Parliamentary representation attained ita sluggard acme of progress before tlie Reform of 1832 . Since then the principles of representative government have undergone so great a change , and the moulding and reforming spirit of progress has yet to accomplish ' so much more in the direction of true representative government , that all the good we can do now by calling public attention to the Unreformod Parliament is to let them see how little practical benefit it produced to the country at large . This is the trreat lesson which it teaches . The doctrine of experience has

      bo little to do with our higher liberties and privileges , that wo do not know where to look for facts or precedents for our guidance . In a state of retrogression , whether of politics , religion , or science , we should find plenty of facts of experience , as it is called , for we should bo sinking 1 year by year into the precise conditions of what we have , as a nation , historically been ; but in a state of progression , baaed upon the moral and intellectual advancement of the people , how can wo bo guided by the experiences of a social and political condition which have never obtained prior to' the present time P As a proofhoweverhow interesting the subject of

      , , tlio practical working of our system of parliamentary representation before 1832 may be made by elaborate and enlightened criticism , and how useful may be tho lessons derived , from an inquiry into the Unrofbrmed Parliament—for is it nob still n part of our old English constitution P—we voter tho reader to tho essay in question by Mr . Bngehot . That it may bo more generally known and read , as it deserves to bo , it is reprinted from the National Jicvieto , und though our system of parliamentary representation still requires to be reformed , that " Unroformed Parliament" before 1832 , while its losaons will undoubtedly survive , can never be

      repeated . . Tho Lecture on " Hooks and Libraries , " by Sir John Simeon , is , we venture to suy , one of tho most interesting and instructive that

      has ever been delivered before the members of a literary and scientific institute ; the value and usefulness of the learned lecturer ' s researches may be appreciated when we state that he has recorded the history of tljerbest books' and . libraries in the world , from the time when Plato , the chief of heathen-philosophers , and the earliest collector of books , gave £ 300 for three books , to the present time , when the library of the British Museum contains six hundred thousand printed' books , and when three good books may be bought for three shillings . This lecture is very neatly printed and bound , and is inscribed to the members of the " Hyde Literary and Scientific Institute , " before whom it was recently delivered . In a little work on " Criminals and Crimes , " Mr . Bridges certainly proves himself to be an able expositor of the sciences of physiology and mental geometry . Much sound and important knowledge may be gleaned from this treatise , and we therefore commend it to public attention . „

      The Declaration of the Clergy , & c , is simply a list of names of thousands ' of the clergy against alteration of the Book of Common Prayer . * The series of Legends translated' from the French contains , to a certain extent , a good deal of interest . Every story , however , appears to be damaged by a fault common to the whole , and the moral lessons intended to be taught are vitiated by an excess of the miraculous which is interwoven with them . To inculcate the _ precepts of morality and to encourage the practice of them is certainly commendable ; but if it be held that the fabrication of occurrences which are utterly beyond all rational notions of what constitutes the miraious truth

      culous adds to the authority or beauty of moral or relig , then we must say that we think that the writer , translator and reader who are of that opinion have ^ very seriously deluded themselves . We are not averse to reading the lives of pious and charitable persons , of their deeds of mercy and compassion , but if it is wished to maintain the characters of such men perfectly free from suspicion , and their influence from being weakened , it is better not to tell us , as we are told in these legends , that they changed horsehair into necklaces of pearls , dead-leayes into gold , and sand into diamonds . Omit such miracles and others of a more foolish and extravagant kind , and the publication of works like the present will be more successful , and the morale of the tales more wholesome and

      effective . " , -.- . , " Evenings with Grandpapa " is a series of very pleasing tales in prose and verse , and a ' dmirably adapted to interest andrinstruct the young , and , what will make these stories still more attractive to the young reader are the appropriate illustrations . Messrs . Dean and Sons' publication of the prose works of Longfellow , which being very finely printed , and ' beautifully illustrated by Birket Foster , must , we think , command a large sale . From the same publishers we have received two numbers of a nublication entitled " Notable Women and Remarkable Men , " being "

      the stories of their lives , intended as books for the young . Lady Russell and John Frederic the Magnanimous are the subjects of the present parts . They are written in a style exactly to suit the understandings of those for whom they are designed . _ _ In the "Magnet , " or " Stories for Summer Days and Winter Nights , Messrs . Groombridge and Sons have just published a very pleasing little tale entitled , "When we were Yourig , " -byi ; lre ^ ttttayr--6 f ^ t -A Trap to catch a Sunbeam . " It is nicely illustrated , and is certain to be read with great pleasure by the young—ay , or by the old , in this pleasant month of May .

      Hay 5, I860.] The Leader And Saturday An...

      Hay 5 , I 860 . ] The Leader and Saturday Analyst . 431

      Foreign Correspondence. (Svecial.) Hanov...

      FOREIGN CORRESPONDENCE . ( SVECIAL . ) Hanovek , April 30 th , 1860 ; T ? XPERIENCE shows , that when princes pay each other ap-Xj parently friendly visits , consequences , in some way or . other affecting the interests of their subjects , are sure to ensue . An instinctive belief in this causes the people now to attach more importance to the visit of the King of Saxony to the Prince Recent of PuussrA , than the simple fact itself seems to justify . It is supposed that the King of Saxony , who has held always a more neutral position between Austria and Prussia than most of the princely partisans of these two States , has been selected as the best instrument to effect a reconciliation between tho contending ot

      powers in particular , and to bring about , it possible , a unity action among * all tho petty States . The reciprocal guarantee of their resptJffnvely threatened territories of Venetm and the lvtune Provinces , is said to be the basis of the reconciliation and union . Time certainly presses for an xinderstanding of some sort between tho two great German nations , but whether the present moment is opportunofor tho object tho King may have in view , is rather questionable . Besides , the King of Saxony , notwithstanding his probable impartiality as regards tho two houses of HoHE . vzorxEUN and Hai'Smujbo , is not the man to stamp the successful result of Ins mission with tho approbation of the liberals of Prussia and the rest of Germany . This King ' s Government is certainly very calm , out utterly subversive of all individual liberty . I doubt whether any n « vmlfl in tho wide world are more completely under tho thumb , ot

      tho police than tho people , more especially tho poasantry , of Saxony . They make no noiso , like tho Hossians and Holstoinora , bocauso in those countries so much liberty does exist , that their wrongs can find utterance ; but in Saxoivy all is silonco and passive - endurance . This King ' s visit is , therefore ; not viewed , with an eye of « ' \ tistaction by liberals , and n close union of Prussia with Austria under lu auspices would bo rathor abhorrent than welcome , much as tho

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), May 5, 1860, page 19, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_05051860/page/19/