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Leader (1850-1860), 5th June 1852, Edition Country of 2, Page 19, BOOKS ON OUR TABLE. A Manual of Metallur...

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      Cubtis's Lotos Eating. Jlotos Bating: A ...

      lean out arid against * he rapids , as if the forest were enamoured of the waters ; flnd which overhang and dip , suffering their youngest and softest leaves to thrill in the trembling frenzy of the touch of Niagara . It is in the vivid contrast of the repose of lSfty trees and the whirl of a living river—and'in the contrast , more in Vular and Subtle , of twinkling , shimmering leaves , and the same magnificent niadn ess . B is in the profuse and splendid play of colours in and around the Cataract , and in the thousand evanescent fancies which wreathe its image in the mind as the sparkling vapotur floats , a rainbow , around the" reality . It is in the flowers that grow quietly along the edges of the precipices , to the sh ' ghtest of which ; one drop of the clouds of spray that curl from the seething abyss is the sufficient eH xir o f a long and lovely life . look the Al

      < j yet—for we must pine comparison which is suggested to every One who knows Switzerland fairly in the face—the Alps are more terrible than Niagara . The movement and roar of the Cataract , and the facility of approach to the very plunge * relieve the crushing sense of awfulness which the silent , inaccessible , deadly solitudes of the high Alps inspire . The roar of an avalanche heard in those solemn heights , bemuse beginning often and ending beyond the point that human feet may ever tread , is a sound of dread and awe like . that of the mysterious movement of another world , heard through the silence of our own . « Besides ; where trees grow , there human sympathy lingers . Doubtless it is the suprem e beauty of the edges of Niagara which often causes travellers to fancy that they are disappointed , as if in Semiramis they should see more of the woman than of the queen . But ; cUmbing the Alps , you leave trees below . They shrink and retire ; they lose their bloom and beauty ; they decline from tenderness into toughness ; from delicate , shifting hues , into sombre evergreen— -darker and more solemn , until they are almost black , until they are dwarfed and scant and wretched ,

      an d are finally seen * no more . With the trees , you leave the sights and sounds and sentiment of life . The Alpine peaks are the ragged edges of creation , half blent with chaos . Upon them , inaccessible for ever , in the midst of the endless murmur of the world , antemundahe silence lies stranded , like the course of an antediluvian on a solitary rock-point in the sea . Painfully climbing toward those heights you may feel , with the fascination of wonder and awe , that you look , as the Chinese say , behind the beginning . "

      S. ' ¦'¦ ¦ ' . '¦ ¦¦ ¦ ¦ ' • , ¦ . ' ' '...

      s . ' ¦'¦ ¦ ' . '¦ ¦¦ ¦ ¦ ' , ¦ . ' ' ' ' ¦ ¦¦' . ' ' ¦ jam 5 , 1852 ;] THE LEAPER ; 543

      Books On Our Table. A Manual Of Metallur...

      BOOKS ON OUR TABLE . A Manual of Metallurgy , or Practical Treatise on the Chemistry of the Metals . By John Ar thur Phillips . Illustrated by Engravings . J . J . GrifBn and Go . Peopessoe Phiixips ' s treatise on the methods of extracting the metals from their ores—originally published in the Encyclopedia Metropolitans—is here republished in Messrs . Griffin ' s valuable cabinet edition of that encyclopaedia . It is a technical book , addressed only to those who need practical instruction , of which its pages are foil ; but the curious reader will also find " useful information" on several points connected with chemistry and chemical manufactures . The diagrams are numerous aiid excellent . An index is added .

      Life and Times of J ^ ancesco _ Sforza , Duke of Milan ; with a Preliminary Sketch iheHtito ^ of lfalyrfy 2 vols . Blackwood . The principal materials used in piling up this monument of twaddling pedantry have been derived from no more recondite sources than a couple of volumes of the Berum Italicarvm Sjcfijpiores , a mine already tolerably well wrought by some previous writers not quite unknown to fame , and notably by one Sisraondi . The History of the Italian Sepullics , by that author , gives , in a lucid and pleasant form , fully as much information about the founder of the ducal family of Sforza as is smothered up in the slovenly , yet pompous verbiage of Mr . Urquhartf s volumes . Having neither any new facts to relate , nor the art of presenting old facts in a novel or agreeable li ght , why did Mr . TJrquhart write at ; aU ?—or , having written , why did he print ? JEx pede Herculem . Judge , reader , what may be the vocation for writing history , by nature and art imposed upon a gentleman , who begins

      a work of ho humble pretensions with such a sentence ns this : — " The narration of the life of any eminent public man , the investigation of the circumstances which contributed to his rise , and the exhibiting the individual qualities which enabled him to turn them to account , is generally supposed to afford a tolerably good exposition of the age in which he lived , and of the people among whom hia lot was cast . ' . Vasari ' s Lives of Eminent Painters , Sculptors , and Architects . Translated by Mr . Jonathan Forater . Vol 5 . ( Bohn ' s Standard Library . ) H . GK Bonn . This fifth volume completes the work . Of Vaaari it is needless to speak ; of his translator we have already spoken with praise ; and of this volume we need simply fiay , that the notes selected from German and Italian commentators are trnly illustrative and useful . A copious index to the five volumes is added . Mr . Bohn never omits that indispensable accompaniment ; and we can assure him all students are grateful to him for his care in that matter . We are not tired of repeating ,, that an index makes all the difference between the usefulness and uselessness of

      many works . Ovid ' s Works , literally translated into English Proso , with copious Notes , by H . T ttiloy , B . A . Vol . 3 . ( JBohn ' s Classical Library . ) H . G . Bohn . Ovid i 8 now complete in a proso version . This volume chains tho JTeroides , the Amores , the Ars Amatoria , the De Medicamine Facei , ana thq other minor works . Of this version we have already spoken ; but the present volume offers a peculiarit y . It is tolerably well known that classic writers did not put trousers ° n tho legs of their pianofortes , but indulg ed rather copiously in " after-dinner talk . " It is also known that , with a view to tho morality of youth , these

      improper passages are expunged from school-editions , and collected nil into one « lo aca of an appendix , whore the scavenger curiosity of youth may revel at plea" » ro . Something of this compromise wo find in Mr . Riley ' s version . " It has toon thought advisable , " he says , " to loavo the more objectionable passages in tho Jrigtaal Latin . Tho reader , if ho is classical , will be ublo to translate thorn for hunself j if he is not , he may rest assured that ho sustains no loss / ' - Does not this procedure brine out into unnecessary distinctness tho very passages it is desired to conceal ? v ti | SSS = - °° "" - isasSE S & ssE " ™>» . to ™ .. psz gg a £ xL'T ™* ' % 8 * Edward Bolder tjtton , Bart . ° £ ZeB mLK " ' -rf ....... hf

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      We Should Do Our Utmost To Encourage The...

      We should do our utmost to encourage the Beautiful , for the Useful encourage itself . —Goethe .

      Comte's Positive Philosophy.. • ¦ ' By G...

      COMTE'S POSITIVE PHILOSOPHY . . ¦ ' By Gr . H ? . Lewes . Part X . —On the Influence and Methods of Physics . The very destination of Positive Philosophy being that of influencing the whole intellectual system of man , who moves through life by its aid , I must not omit to give Comte ' s summary indication of the part played by Physics in that action . , 7 In the first place its influence is necessarily less profound than that of fhe two terminal sciences , Astronomy and Biology , These two sciences 'Standing at opposite extremes , directly determine our ideas respecting

      TiHe two universal and correlative subjects of all our conceptions—the world and man ; and hence , from their very nature , they must spontaneously influence human thought in a more decided way than can be done by the intermediate sciences , Physics and Chemistry , however indispensable the intervention of the two latter may be . The influence of Physics and Chemistry , however , on the general development and the definite emancipation of human intelligence is nevertheless decided . To speak only of Physics , it is evident that the fundamental character of absolute opposition between the positive philosophy and theology or metaphysics made itself very

      strongly felt , although it is in reality less complete than in the case of Astronomy , by reason of its inferiority in scientific perfection . For this comparative inferiority , of which vulgar thinkers are little sensible , we doubtless have a full equivalent , so far as the present question is concerned , in the much greater variety of the phenomena embraced by physics . In fact , the intellectual history of the few last centuries makes it manifest , that physics has been the principal scene of the general and decisive struggle of the positive spirit against the metaphysical ; in astronomy , the discussion has been less marked , and there positivism has triumphed almost spontaneously , except on the subject of the earth ' s movement .

      There is another important fact to be noticed here . It is in Physic 3 that natural phenomena first begin to be really modifiable by human intervention . This power of modification was impossible in astronomy j but we shall see it manifesting itself more and more in all the others of the encyclopedical series . If the extreme simplicity of astronomical phenomena had not necessarily permitted our carrying scientific prevision in their case to the greatest degree of exactness , it would have followed from our impossibility of'interfering in anyway in their accomplishment , that their radical enfranchisement from all theological and metaphysical supremacy would have been a very difficult process . But this perfect prevision

      effectually served this end in a different way from the small virtual action of man upon all the other phenomena of nature . As respects the latter , on the contrary , this action , however limited it may be , obtains by way of compensation , a high philosophical importance , on account of our inability to bring the rational prevision of them beyond a slight degree of perfection . The fundamental character of all theological philosophy , as I have alread y remarked , is the conceiving of phenomena as subjected to supernatural volition , and , consequently , as eminently and irregularly variable . Now , the public cannot enter into any profound speculative discussion respecting the superiority of the different philosophical points of view ; and those

      theological conceptions can only be subverted finally by means of these two general processes , whose popular success is infallible in the long run : the exact and rational prevision of phenomena ; and the possibility of modifying them , so as to promote our own ends and advantages . The former immediately dispels all idea of any directing volition ; and tho latter leads to the same result under another point of view , by making us look upon this power as subordinated to our own . The first process is the more philosophical , and can best carry popular conviction with it , when it is completely applicable , which however has scarcely been the case hitherto , except with celestial phenomena ; but the second , when its reality is very evident , meets no less necessarily with universal assent .

      Illustrations will occur in abundance to any well stored memory . I will mention , as an obvious and striking example , the destruction of the theological theory of thunder by Franklin ' s discovery . If man could thus take the lightning in his hand , and direct its course as he pleased , it could not long be believed to be the flashing wrath of a deity . Passing from this topic to that of the Method of Physics , considered in its hierarchical position , Comte bids us remember that the speculative perfection of a science is to be principally measured by these two distinct but co-relative properties—co-ordination and power of prevision ; the latter being the moat , decisive criterion , as it is the principal object of every science whatever .

      Now , in the first place , whatever may he the future progress of Physics , it must evidently continue , under both points of view , very inferior to Astronomy , from the variety and complexity of its phenomena . In place of that perfect mathematical harmony and unity which wo have admired in . tho science of the heavenly bodies , physics presents us with numerous branches almost completely isolated from each other , and having frequently no other connexion than a feeble and equivocal one between their principal phenomena . And then , instead of tho rational and precise prevision of

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), June 5, 1852, page 19, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_05061852/page/19/