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    1242 THE LEADER. . [Saturday, ¦ M "' iii...

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    NEW BOOK ON AUSTRALIA. Victoria; late Au...

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    Noble On Insanity. Elements Of Psycholog...

    revealed by the scalpel aftertleath . Nevertheless , it is beyond all question , that the injury which constitutes the immediate causa of insanity is in the brain . , ,. "In some departments of practical medicine , it is true , there subsists an admirable reiation between sensible alterations of structure and their symptoms during lite ; tafce cliestdiseases . for example . Still , in the case of many organs besides the brain , the pathologist ¦ who looks to morbid anatomy for every explanation , will be seriously disappointed ; tor as 3 matter of fact , the relations between the main seat of diseases and ^ he irregular manifestations to which particular diseases lead , are most uncertain and variable—bidding defiance to every attempt at successful classification . A set of symptoms will often display themselves , referable to some obvious change that may be detected after death ; and the vt-ry same symptoms , so far as an observer can judge , will , in another case , be dependent upon some very different condition of the structures , as revealed by post-mortem inspection . It will not unfrequently happen that the central disease shall originate external indications - < -io « . M ~ t 4-v * m ^ iAoi nWrwr ' a ntfont . i ' nn far mnrfl to the oreans secondarily or

    symna-, , thetically affected , than to those which are the subjects of permanent physical change , noticeable after death . Moreover , some very vital structure shall become so seriously affected by disease as to induce a fatal termination , and yet no very material alterations in its appreciable characteristics be afterwards witnessed ; and , on the other hand , deep and irreparable changes in the organisation will , at times , have advanced to the most serious lengths ; without any very sensible alteration in the functional manifestations . Cases have occurred in which complete destruction of the anterior columns of the spinal cord appeared to have taken place , without loss of voluntary motion in the parts below ; whilst a similar destruction of the posterior columns has occurred without corresponding lesion of sensibility . There are instances in which the whole thickness of the cord has undergone softening , and Atinarent disintegration , without the destruction of the functional connexion between the

    encephalon and the parts below the seat of the disease . Again , whilst blindness from paralysis of the optic nerve dependent upon recognisable fault in its tissue , or m that ot its connexions , will sometimes come on ; at others , the exciting cause may be the presence of intestinal worms implicating the visual apparatus only by sympathy . How very little constancy of relation subsists between some very notable derangements of the functions ot the stomach , and the changes found in its structure after death . Host troublesome dyspepsia exists sometimes , and the patient dies from some other disease ; very of ten , msuch cases , there is no change discoverable in the stomach itself . " But we must cease : our limits are already passed , and we have not touched pa half the points of this suggestive volume . We must refer our teaders to its pages , confident they -will thank us for the recommendation .

    1242 The Leader. . [Saturday, ¦ M "' Iii...

    1242 THE LEADER . . [ Saturday , ¦ M "' iiii ^ i ^ MiBHMllllii ^ BM ^^ MlM ^ MIMriltlMMnM ^^ BMMMirriTir ^ K < l ^ ""™ f ^ ' ^ ' ^^ r ^^^ Mgaa '" " ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ " '" '" ^ ""^ MITMMBI ^^ mim ^^—¦ ¦

    New Book On Australia. Victoria; Late Au...

    NEW BOOK ON AUSTRALIA . Victoria ; late Australia Felix , or Port Phillip District of New South Wales ; teing an Historical and Descriptive A ccount of the Colony and its Gold Mines . With an Appendix , containing the Reports of the Melbourne Chamber of Commerce for the last Two Years , upon the Condition and Progress of the Colony . By William Westgartb , late Member o the Legislative Council of Victoria . ' Edinburgh : Oliver and Boyd . 1853 Australia outgrows history . We have for some years been accustomed to the rapid changes on the North American continent , but they are matched by the changes in Australia . Here is a land that twenty years ago was barely known . Thirty years ago , the emu and the kangaroo ran and leapt through the open forest , where now the squatter depastures his sheep , and the digger

    finds the rich red gold . Thirty years ago there was not a single ship m the magnificent waters of Port Phillip ; by the shipping lists brought home this week , we find , there were 404 sail there on the 23 rd September . We dare not writ © that in Melbourne life and property are very insecure ; for the next mail may inform us that efficient Peelers have been instituted ; and speedy justice done . Neither can we say that education is overlooked in the race . for gold ; for ere the passing review is forgotten the reader may learn that new colleges have sprung up here , and new public schools there ; that Sydney has her and ictoriher national schools and that both colonies

    university , v a ; are fully served by the press . It is all very well to write that none of the colonies have good roads ; but next post may inform us of half a dozen railways projected or completed . It is not even safe to assert that Australia has no aristocracy , seeing that some surprising people in New South Wales seem determined upon presenting us with , say—a Duke of Sydney , a Marquis of Willowdilly , or an Earl of Bungoora . What a faculty for imitation ! Well might Lord Monboddo think he had discovered the fundamental similarity between the ape and the man .

    At present the history of Victoria is a romance , not certainly one of the most elevated sort , but still profoundly interesting , and illustrative of the *' pace" which characterises the nineteenth century . As early as 1804 Government made an etFort to inoculate the southern coast of the Australian continent with the poison of a penal establishment ; but , fortunately for Australia Felix , the attempt to convert Port Phillip into a den for convicts failed . It was not until 1835 that two men carried flocks and herds over to the shores of that splendid bay , from Tasmania—one settling down on the spot where Geelong now stands , and the other on the site of Melbourne . Three years afterwards the latter town boasted a newspaper . In 1837 Port Phillip , then a district of New South Wales , exported 175 , 000 lbs . weight

    of wool ; and the progress of the colony may well be gathered from the fact that this quantity had , iu 1852 , increased to 20 , 247 , 000 lbs . ! An allotment of land , worth 50 / . in 1837 , is—start not credulous reader—worth 15 , 000 J . in 1853 . The revenue of Victoria in 1851 , was 380 , OO 0 Z . ; in 1852 , no less than l , 577 , 000 Z . During the same period the tonnage in the port advanced from 120 , 000 to 408 , 000 , and the number of ships from 669 to 1057 . The population sprung from 95 , 000 to 200 , 000 ; and the value of the produce of the colony exported was not less than 15 , 000 , 000 / ., # f course including the gold ! Mr . Westgarth has undertaken to write an initiative chapter of the history of Australia , so far as New South Wales and Victoria are concerned ; and he has ably performed his task . Wo say an initiative chapter , because the book before us does not contain the history of those two

    colonies , it merely explains , in a full and lucid way , several perplexing questions , which all students of the colonial policy of Great Britain require to know . Thus he treats of the great squatting interest ; the land monopoly ; the constitution of political parties ; and the working of our methods of colonial government . He gives the fullest information upon the commerce of the colonies , and supplies us , in an appendix , with the admirable reports of the Melbourne Chamber of Commerce . In his account of the gold discoveries we find nothing strikingly new , but much of interest ; and , from a long and animated narrative of a ride through the diggings , we quote the following passages : —

    ** The diggings that indicalotl tho most improved processes in these nascent artn worn those of the ' Whifco Hilla , " so called from the quantities of dazzling whito pipe clay or noft schist tliat was ejected from the pit iiv tho progi ^ sa of digging , » nd that now ovornprcud tho

    surface of the entire hill like a cap of snow . Oar steps were promptly directed to thk in toresting quarter . We found the diggings penetrating to a depth of fifty feet perpendicukr Seeing a windlass at work over one of the pits , we made for the spot , and met a bucketful I the material as it reached the surface . This was a description pf- auriferous matter thaM had never met with before . It consisted of a white quartz grit , between sand and gmqll gravel , of very uniform appearance . It was evidently very auriferous , for the gold-was onif visible to the eye , scattered in small particles . . throughout tho grit . This was more particn larly the case in portions that were discoloured of a reddish-brown , apparently froin a mixtureofiron . ' .. " Feeling some curiosity to explore so promising a mine , I adventured a descent by a ruda ladder , consisting of a straight sapling with cross pieces for steps driven through the stem 'I guess it ' s twenty-five feet to the bottom , ' said a voice from below , in answer to our in * quiry . We , of course , took the speaker for a Yankee , and so it proved . He had beeit tempted from the States by the gold news , had recently arrived , and' had joined three colonists in working this claim . Australia had no attractions for him , however , beyond iW

    gold , which would detain him only a short year or two . 1 hero was no place like home . " At the foot of the pit , I found two men with lighted candles , who guided me into the side workings . These were entered most easily upon all fours ; for the auriferous stratum being quite thin , no more of other material was excavated than was absolutely necessary The first circumstance that drew my attention was a draft of air that played upon pur faces ' and deflected the candle-flame as we crawled onwards . I then learned that the tunnelling was continuous over the entire hill , the claimants and their claims having repeatedl y encountered and run into each other . A system of under-propping by posts was also id opera , tion , to prevent any subsidence of the upper beds . _ "The auriferous grit I have alluded to was a distinct bed of between one and two inches in thickness , of a dull grayish white colour in the upper part , the lower being uniformly as

    far as my observation went , of the reddish-brown hue already alluded to . Above this stratum was a thick bed of large stones and boulders of pure white quartz , embedded in gravel or grit , or still minuter material ; all being apparently derived from the same substance , the original quartz mass . This bed seemed to merge upwards into gravel of the usual colour , but of irregularly-sized pieces , and one part of the formation , situated abont half-way up the pit , opposed great difficulties to the miners from the strength of its binding . I had observed the same characteristics at the Ballarat gold-fields , as regarded this iron binding , on wliieh many a pick was rung and broken . Between this part and the summit was an ochre-coloured clay , sometimes interspersed with gravel of the ordinary characteristics . " The stratum beneath the auriferous grit was the famous and universal pipeclay , which

    appears almost everywhere in this colony , in some form or hue . This formation is a soft schist of the finest grain , with a texture like that of the most delicate satin . The colourwas nearly pure white , the departure in shade being towards a satin gray . The same formation appears to prevail in many other parts of the country . It is found at Ballarat tinder very similar circumstances to those that were now before us ; and having there a slight bluish cast , it hecame the celebrated 'blue clay' of October 1851 , which turned the heads of all classes , and out of which both diggers and amateurs were reported to be picking small gold nuggets to their hearts' content , with the sole aid of a penknife . It is also met with beneath the site of Melbourne ; and as the surface there in many parts exhibits also a gravelly character , the auriferous conditions are certainl y present , and the gold may yet be found much nearer to the worthy citizens than the localities , inaccessible to many of them , of Mount Alexander or Bendigo . This auriferous character continues for some miles north of the town , and is resumed at intervals still further on . In this direction , about sixteen miles from

    Melbourne , a small gold-diggings suddenly started into existence lately , and for a time as many as two to three hundred were at work , who were said to have averaged a fair result . " A few inches of the tipper part of this pipeclay was taken out and washed with the auriferous grit , and about three feet of Additional depth was cleared away to form a convenient passage for the diggers . Their account of the yield of this grit was to the effect , that a bucketful gave them between two and three ounces of gold after washing , and that a cartload would eive nearly two pounds weight . I had no reason to doubt this statement . But

    in estimating the profits of the miners of the Whitehills , we must bear in mind the preliminary expenses of the excavations . We understood , also , that this extra rich hill , which it was admitted to be , was now nearly worked out , all that remained being comprehended m the claims of particular diggers . Under efficient appliances ,-how enormous might be the rewards from such gold-fields ! It seems as though the stimulus of necessity and hardearned gains were alone wanting here , and that we should collect more gold if it were not acquired so easily . " But what might there bo below tho pipeclay ? Tliis was a qnestion asked by many a

    digger , but I never found any one who had succeeded in solving the problem . The bed was supposed to be of immense depth , and a mysterious possibility of countless gold lying beneath , seemed to weigh upon many minds . Some had adventured partially into its recesses , Due the uncertainty or poverty of present results soon tired out their zeal . The pipeclay itself was not generally auriferous , although quantities of gold particles appeared to have insinuated themselves into its soft substance from the superincumbent quartz or gravel . In is wa particularly the case at Ballarat , where the metal was found in crevices upon tho su ™ c 0 ?^ the bed , or met with in irregular veins of gold particles within a fow feet beneath . tm l account there was quite a rage at that locality to divo into the recesses of the P'P ecla ^ One man , whom I there noticed , had gone down thirty feet from tho surface , twenty oi which was into the bed of this clay , but without any results either as to acquiring gold , sounding the abysses of tho stratum . As this formation had generally , in the accidents " time , been thrown considerably off its original horizontal line of stratification , there wa good field for tho services of the geologist , who might trace tho cropping-out of tno low

    parts of the bed , and so save a long and perhaps useless labour to the digger . Q £ " The gold-fields are a scene pre-eminently calculated to exhibit the continuous Pow ^ j a _ human bones and muscles , and a gold digger , working on his own account , is the P orso jcr tion of these powers . Few know what men can do , and how willingly they do it , t 0 * j' iin <» an adequate stimulus . We gazed at laborious and incessant industry , which . nclther f ; l \ vero sun nor pelting rain could cause to intermit . A number of German mining par 1 ^ met with , which had beon generally successful . Little accustomed even to see gou , ^ loss to possess it in such abundance , tho peasantry of tho ' Fatherland' rous ,. * , _ : „ » tho energy , and wo heard of labours in their pits and tunnola continued by torchlight du fc ^ night , as well as by light of day . Wo passed other foreign parties . Hero and * Il cr 0 ^ ; a . a Frenchman , an American party , or a few Dutch sailors . A Now Zealander migi ! . m eI 1 ( tinguislicd ; and wo were mnused at ono spot by a wholo party of Malays ana o who worked ns laboriously for tho root of all ovil as nny orderly Christian . - ' . . "In tho midst of the busy crowd , and of the rostloss upturning of tho soil , wo no ^ i ^ ^ small Spot of ground cncloaod by a rustic fence , which , on our nearer approach , P . j jn ttiia a grave . Who lay here , no ono seemed to know or caro . Beforo tho discovery or g <> jofl iumi iiiiui >! i |<

    cuiony , . r n jm uiiuuLiiig zuuiuo ill a lAUltorniiiu jiuw » j . vp * » v « our O \ VH « Dead , ' and little thought at that time that tho caaea thero stated would so soon bo ^^ orjljon ; But aiich was now emphatically our case , and to an extent and character < l l o , ^ - " jjs wcro At the Bcabeach , by tlio highway-side , and scattered over tho oxpan » o of thogoW- » ^^ ft tho craves of tho unrecorded dead of our young Australia . Wo encountered i » Ol' oroU g ; number of such graves . Tho deaths upon these groundn uro , as might bo e ^ P ° , ' . / :,, « np irit » nnd frequently ihaa it occur that thero are not only no friends around Uw ui * P |" ^ w ; na t » but thero is no knowledge whatever of tho party who i » thus lonvinj ; hi » cartmy tho last ofliccu and sympathies of his follow-mon . " Without pledging ourselves to all the views , political or cconoml ( ( ^ \ vill forth l > y Mr . Westgarth , we feel wurrantod in saying that the l ' *' - ft ,, y find in this volume more sterling information , in the Hinno space , tiuu ^^ other book that has come under our notice . To one who looks nj ^ ^ jjo than common , tho chapters on gold will not be the most intero * " ^ , ) t , foundation of Australian society must not be sought in the g " ' / 08 jnCtal Alexander or Ballarat . In fact , Australia has yet to show ot w « fc in uhe is made , and whether the ring bo true . She has exhibited i . ^ 0-getting rid of transportation ; she has yet to show what she can tjc , nen forming-lierl at octive political institutions , not , wo hope , luto the g

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Dec. 24, 1853, page 18, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_24121853/page/18/