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    July 19, 1851.] ©!> * ILtaltt X* 683

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    POEMS BY ERNEST JONES. Poems, and Notes ...

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    Liebig's Chemical Letters. Familiar Lett...

    ciple of madder , or the valuable remedies known as quinine and morphine . All these things are either as precious or more useful than gold . Every one is occupied in the attempt to discover them , and yet this is the occupation of no individual inquirer . All are occupied with these things , inasmuch as they study the laws of the changes and transformations to which matter is subject ; and yet no one individual is sneciallv engaged in these reseaches , inasmuch as

    no one , for example , devotes his life and energies to the solution of the problem of making diamonds or quinine . Did such a man exist , furnished with the necessary knowledge , and with the courage and perseverance of the old gold-makers , he would have a good prospect of being enabled to solve such problems . The latest discoveries on the constitution and production of the organic bases permit us to believe all this , without giving to any one the right to ridicule us as makers of gold . "

    Nay , he adds : — " The philosopher ' s stone , for which the ancients sought -with a dim and ill-defined impulse , was , in its perfection , nothing else than the science of chemistry . Is that not the philosopher's stone which promises to increase the fertility of our fields and to insure the prosperity of additional millions of mankind ? Does not chemistry promise that instead of seven grains we shall be enabled to raise eight or more on the same soil ? Is that science not the philosopher ' s stone which changes the ingredients of the crust of the earth into useful products , to be further transformed , by commerce , into gold ? Is that knowledge not the philosopher ' s stone which promises to disclose to us the laws of life , and which must finally yield to us the means of curing diseases and of prolonging life ? " ¦ ¦

    One more curious passage we must give : — " That which chiefly excites our wonder is , that the existence of the philosopher ' s stone should have been regarded , for so many centuries , as a truth established beyond all doubt , while yet no one possessed it , and each adept only maintained that it was in the possession of another . " "Who , indeed , could entertain a doubt , after Van Helmont had declared , in 1618 , that on several occasions there had been sent to him , from an unknown hand , one-fourth of a grain of the precious material , with which he had converted into pure gold eight ounces of quicksilver ? Did not Helvetius , the

    distinguished body physician to the Prince of Orange , and the bitter opponent of alchemy , himself relate , in his Vitulus aureus quern mundus adorat et orat , ( 1667 ) , that he had obtained the most convincing proofs of the existence of ihe philosopher ' s stone ? For he , the sceptic , had received , from a stranger , a fragment of the size of half a rape seed , and therewith , in presence of his wife and son , had transmuted six drachms of lend into gold , which stood the tests applied to it by the Warden of the Mint at the Hague ! Were not two pounds nnd a half of quicksilver converted into pure gold , of which a large med > l was struck ( Kopp . Geschichte der Chemie IV . 171 ) , with

    the figure of the God of Day ( Sol or gold ) holding the eidueeus of Mercury , to indicate the origin of the precious metal , and the legend Divina Metamorphosis exhihita Prague , xv . Jan .. An . tndcxlviii . in piDeseutiu Han . Cues . Maj . Fordinandi Terlii , & c . ? Was not this done at Prague , in presence of the Ijiupeior Ferdinand 111 . ( l (>; J 7-lli- } 7 ) by the burgomaster , Count Von Rush , with ihe aid of one grain of a red powder , which he * had received from a certain Richtliausen , and lie again from an unknown !

    ( According to J . F . Grnelin , this medal was still ix ( ant in 1797 , in the treasury at Vienna . ) The Landgrave , of Hesse Darmstadt also , Krnst Ludwig , as wo are told by the alchemists , received , from an unknown hand , a packet containing red and white tincture , wuh directions for their line . Ducats were coined of the gold which had been made from lead by this means , and from the silver thusohtnincd were coined the Hessian apecie dollars ( Species thaler ) of 1717 , on which is the legend Sic Deo placuit in Tribulalionibu . s . ( Kopp . II . 172 . )"

    And since we are touching on curious passages , let us not forget this piquant one : — man is or Am ! ?• Science has demonstrated that mnn , the being who performs all these wonders , is formed of condensed air ( or solidified and liquefied gases ) ; that he liven on condensed , as well as uncondeiiHed air , nnd clothes himself in condensed air ; that he prepares his food by means of condensed air , and , by means of the mwne agent , moves the hcuvicht weights with the velocity of the wind . Hut the strangest pait of the

    matter is , tliat thousands ol these tabernacles formed of condensed air , and going on two legs , occasionally , and on account of the production iuulmipplyofiho . su forms of condensed air which they require for food and clothing , or on account of their honour and power , destroy each oilier in pitched battles by means oi roiiilciiMcd air ; and furilicr , that , many believe the peculiar poweiH of the bodiless , conscious , thinking , and M-nsilive being , honied in ibis tabernacle , to be the result simply , of its iudrnal t-tructtire , and the nria / igenu nt oi'i ' H i > : ; rt rl , a or atomis ; while chemisn y

    supplies the clearest proof , that , as far as concerns this the ultimate and most minute composition and structure , which is beyond the reach of our senses , man is , to all appearance , identical with the ox , or with the animal lowest in the scale of creation . " To return to the alchemists : Liebig has stated with great sagacity their position in the history of science , and has traced the issues of their labours . He rightly observes , that the notion of the Philosopher ' s stone as an universal medicine , led the way to chemical preparations in medicine , and thus began a new era in science . To estimate the imrevolution thus effected must

    mensity of the , we remember that the opinions of Galen had reigned as indisputable truths during thirteen centuriesit was heresy , it was madness to doubt them . Galen was the Aristotle of medicine . He prohibited all metallic preparations ; in his pharmacopoeia none but organic substances were admitted ; and the least familiar with such matters will see at once the extension given to the pharmacopoeia by the introduction of chemical preparations : whether for good or evil , we decide not ! Enough that Paracelsus effected a revolution by making chemistry the handmaid to medicine . We-must break off here , reserving for a second paper the further consideration of this volume .

    July 19, 1851.] ©!> * Iltaltt X* 683

    July 19 , 1851 . ] ©!> * ILtaltt X * 683

    Poems By Ernest Jones. Poems, And Notes ...

    POEMS BY ERNEST JONES . Poems , and Notes to the People . By Ernest Jones , of the Middle Temple , Barrister-at-Law , Author of The / Food Spirit . Lord Lindsay , My Life , & c . B .. Pavey . If Ernest Jones has no other ambition than to make verse the vehicle for popularizing certain convictions—if he only desire to make poetry an elegant kind of journalism—then indeed we have nothing to say against the course he is at present pursuing . But if it be otherwise—if in following the laborious delights of Art , he claims to take his seat among the Poets—then we , in

    all friendliness and sincerity , tell him that , had Nature endowed him with genius far greater than he can boast , he would be throwing away his chance by such inconsiderate haste and such laxity of self-criticism as he exhibits in these Poems , and Notes to the People . How can he expect to continue the weekly publication of twenty full doublecolumned pages of prose and verse and preserve anything like a high standard ? The pen of a ready writer may suffice for that quantity of passable prose ; but verse ! The very attempt argues a want of proper respect for Art .

    This it is which makes us hesitate . All that we could say to him on the score of his carelessness and commonplace he might receive with an indifferent shrug , intimating that he was perfectly aware of it all—that the " art to blot" had never been studied by him—that he thought only of a hasty effect on a hasty reader—that the jierfection of form , which constitutes Art , demands in / initely more labour and more time than lie could spare

    from other things to bestow on it—and that lie publishes hia verses as they are written , good and bad together , more like improvisations than like works . All tins the poetic journalist might with some reason retort upon any close criticism . We acknowledge the force of it ; but hi registering the plea we cannot help saying that , unless the absolute perfection of form be striven after by the poet , it seems to us a waste of time anil effort to write

    verse at all . Bestow your days and nights in subduing the marble to your inspirations of beauty , and the success repays the labour ; but do not waste the long winter in carving a statue from a block of ice , which the first-warmth of spring will breathe into formless water ! If Poetry is worth writing at all , it is worth writing with all your soul , with all your heart , and with all your strength . If it in not exquisite , it is useless .

    The Chartist leader may snap his fingers at Parnassus , and declare that life has other aims for him than the perfectioning of Inn verse . He it so And let us wee what vision and what faculty divine these hasty poems show . For that l . ' . rnest Jones has a real faculty in him we will prove to } 'ou immediately by a long quotation ; you may say that the faculty seems rather rhetorical than creative , but you will not deny the energy , the compactness , the lyrical rhythm , and the facility which characterize him . The extract shall he from liefdatfon Church , the best of Inn poems we have been . Having first described the Walk to Church and the Ritual of Nature in varying measures , ho comes to

    "THE SERVICE . " Tn thfl churchyard's clmrn shade Glittering o ! u-. ii- > tH * . fnnrl nrrnved ;

    The coachmen on the boxes nod ; The horses paw the sacred sod ; And round the porch are laughing loud The lounging lacqueyB * liveried crowd . But now , behold , we are within , Safe from sunshine and from sin . ** Silks have rustled , fans have fluttered ; Sneers and compliments been uttered ; And many found , as find they ought , In church the object that they sought ; Business finds a turn in trade ; Praise , its victim ; wit , its butt ; New acquaintance have been made ; Old acquaintances been cut . " Shivering on the naked floor , By the cold denying door , And where the dratty windows soar The dust encumbered galleries o ' er , Stand the hundreds of the poor . Those , at least , who still can wear A coat that is not worn too bare , For rags are never suffered there . " Now the congregation ' s seated , And the church is growing heated With a heavy perfumed air Of scents , and salts , and vinegar . The morning prayers are ending ; The psalmody ' s ascending ; The great men , lowly bending , Turn their gilded leaves about , Most ostentatiously devout . " Then , like the flutter of a full pit When a favourite passage comes , As the Bishop mounts the pulpit Sink the whispers , coughs , and hums ; And , here and there , a scattered sinner Rising in the House of God , Shews he Knows the Rosy , Cosy , Dosy , Prosy , Bishop with a smile and nod . " The Prelate bows his cushioned knee ; Oh , the Prelate ' s fat to see ; Fat , the priests who minister , Fat , each roaring chorister , Prebendary , Deacon , Lector , Chapter , Chanter , Vicar , Rector , Curate , Chaplain , Dean , and Pastor , Verger , Sexton , Clerk , Schoolmaster . From mitre tall , to gold-laced hat , Fat ' s the place—and all are fat . " The Bishop rises from his knee , And thus begins his homily ; —

    "THE HISHOI * OF 1 IKLUAOON S SERMON . " Sink and tremble , wretched sinners ; the Almighty JLord lias hurled His curse for everlasting on a lost and guilty world ! Upon the ground beneath your feet ; upon the sky above your head ; Upon the womb that brings you forth ; upon the toil that gives you bread ! On . ill that lives , and breathes , and moves , in earth , and air , and wave ; On all that iVels , and dreams , and thinks ; on cradle , house , and grave .

    For Adam murdered innocence , —and since the world became its he : irse , Throughout the living sphere extending breeds and spreads the dreadful eur ^ e . The seasons thro' Creation bear our globe continually , To shew its shame to every star that frowns from the recoiling sky ; And fMivnge comets come and gn / . e , and fly in horror from the wight , To tell it through unf . ithoincd dintanco tc each undiscovered light . Sin , its ghastly wound indicting , damns us to eternal

    pain — And from the heart of human nature flows an everbleeding vein . You may blame your institutions , blamo your mmters , ruler . " , kings : This is idle : ' tis the curae eternal , festering as it clings . Change them— sweep them to destruction , an the billow sweeps the hhore ; Misery , pain , and death- —the curse— tho curse will rankle but the mere . If it were not Uhih , in nature you would surely

    Witness joy—(» n / . e .. round you , and behold the novcr-cenaing our §» < lt Htroy : , , , Flower and leaf , nnd blade and blossom languish In a slow decay ; Fish 011 Huh , and bird on bird , and beast on btttt , it : ie < - ; : si : ig i ; r i V-

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), July 19, 1851, page 15, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_19071851/page/15/