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    fi ^« THE IiE A P E B,. [No. 323, Saturd...

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    HAXTHAUSEN'S RUSSIAN EMPIRE. The Hussion...

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    THE MICROSCOPE. The Miorographic Diction...

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  • 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.

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    The Montalkmbebt-Choker Controversy Is N...

    JWs ^^^ aa ^ s ^^ sSs SSS ^^ fiSS ^^ 2 L * ***» — " - ** " *• Mark the wordS j * T 5 L iS ?^ ™ W 5 Irtter that the airfhorlzea translation was made from the first ^ SS eSons-meaning , of course , that althongii commenced from the fSfcte pSXhed in a periodical in their imperfect shape ^ it was completed , perfected , SdiSd " m all respects to correspond with the second edition . revue et augmentce . Yet Sting his ground in the very next sentence , he says that he has compared the third editioi mitbihat ( rat Mow ) torn which tie translation was made Y ^ Z ™ that * It can only be the two incomplete and unfinished articles ; for had it been with the seconde edition xxyvk ex AUGMBsrfe , the suppressions would have been made manifest " Your obedient servant , - ' " « TKE REVIEWER OF MoNTAliEMBERT A 2 TI > HIS TRANSLATOR tv ' Fbaseb ' s Magazine . ' "

    Fi ^« The Iie A P E B,. [No. 323, Saturd...

    fi ^« THE IiE A P E B ,. [ No . 323 , Saturday ,

    Haxthausen's Russian Empire. The Hussion...

    HAXTHAUSEN'S RUSSIAN EMPIRE . The Hussion Empire ; its People , Institutions , and Resources . By Baron von Haxthausen . Translated by K . Farie . 2 vols . Chapman and Hall . Mr . Fame remarks in the preface to -tins translation , that , before reading Baron Haxthausen ' s work , he was completely at a loss to form any idea ¦ whatever of the Russians , or their history . Mr . Farie ' s studies in this direction must have teen very limited . The Baron Haxthausen ' s experience of iRnssia was-derived from little more tnan a year's residence , and was : spread over . ihe cultured country between St . Petersburg and Moscow , the immense forest region of the north , the Tatar districts as far eastward as Kazan , -and the corn lands of the south . Certainly , during these journeys be applied to the social aspects and political system of the empire a natural faculty of observation , sharpened by twenty years of travel , and by the exercises of a studious life . But to believe that Russia is now for the first . time described is to be ignorant of the existence of an extensive literature , German . French , and English , devoted to the illustration of Russian history

    & nd . . manners . Baron Haxthausen himself , however , is not responsible for his translator ' s extravagance . " If his narrative be not a unlq ue and faultless view of [ Russian society and institutions , it possesses solid merits , which will be ^ appreciated by arl who read for information . Though not purely impartial , it m free from vulgar bias , the writer being influenced less by his prejudices ihan by his character , first as a noble , then las an admirer of positive power , next as a German addicted to subtle speculations . It is necessary , therefore , ^ before accepting his new method of studying Russian life , to receive his theory of the national microcosm found in the family , of the social laws -operating in 'Russia in a direcfton contrary to that m which they operate elsewhere , *© f *§ he pacific'genios of the later Ozars , . and of the indigenous nrocess !> yirehichtfheir dominion has idihated , Jess byiforce of arms than by havcreated in Russia the

    coLonizatioo , « ntil . a thoHsandjyears of growth e parallel of British conquest , and possessed that aspiring people of one iseventh of "the habitable glo"be . »¦ ' ¦ % . However irreconcilable the reader ' s knowledge and convictions maybe whJh-soaneiparts of Baron Haxthausen ' s view , it will Toe admitted that , in these masterly volumes , he haa collected , classified , and presented , in a . philosophically simple ; form , a -vast variety of fresh and minute information . He starts < from St . ^ Petersburg , to -which Moscow supplies a contrast , representing the difference . between the Orientalism of Russia and the peculiar ^ civilization itif Western Europe . Many tourists fancy that a residence in the cfty o * f Petar'"I . qualifies iihem to judge dogmatically of "Russian life andmatmers . St . Petersburg , however , as Baron Haxthausen reminds us , has been called a window which Peter opened that he might look out upon Europeand breathe European air . It is inhabited , not by a pure

    popula-, tion ^ j f Russians , . but by Germans and Finns , and it stands on Finnish . ground . Aa to pure populations , he disparages the part they have played in the iOTorlcTs Tnstory—excepting , indeed , the Arabians and the Jews—and is content to < find that the . Slavonic people—the nucleus of "Russia—has re--cervea ^ 'Fhmish , German , "Tatar , « nSL Mongol admixture . These varying -elements : hris jnelting by a gradual process into one , the Polish nation being that which * ione is likely to maintain 'what Baron Haxthuusen calls a separate spiritualr ^ xiatence , Ihough he discredits the idea that it will ever resume a distinct political ^ position . A common language , a peculiar and kniiform religion , and patriarchal institutions , form the threefold basis of the destvrrres 'which lie believes to be reservefl . for the' Russian Empire . "Tfce 41 kistt * ations < he dfferfe are taTten 'from every grade of Russian life , and

    almost from every province . He describes in picturesque chapters the corcmoMfiSiODfttthe 'Greek Church , the public offices , schools , manufactories , thecDmmwnwl organization of the empire , cities , villages , palaces , cottages , « fctfonieB , 4 ^* ificfltions , ncrbles , ditizens ,-serfs , the graduateil ranks of society , the TTtmitibrii taflT"women , ' * ihe enrrjloyments of the ^ peasantry , their costumes , -chfrerangs , ^ 0 tf £ iyals , songs , their modes of agriculture , their taxes , Xhe disci-;] 9 ine dTthOn graat ikcms , the variations of national character in the Asiatic _ and EurqpeftnpBoviiicea ,, tlie several governments , the . penal settlements of ^ Siberia ^ tthe ^^ unous religious , seots © T Old Believers . and < Mennonites , with -aliaoetievxu ^ rth'ing w 4 thiii the range of a'traveller ' s inquiries , or of a reader ' s iPtOjflnt- iimtmff ithfi irirriTmnimnfrnn inmrrnnrifrn ^* noticed by him as

    evi-4 mdbc « mx i £ mmr of 'his > p * rtrioul « r view , lomo we 'well worth . attention . mmtiwe > woitoLapiand'g * rrJg , ^ fe wa ys , 'a wrnever seen « s shop-women in Ruusiu . A . igj »* t ) p « tt'wf -Jtheltated property is In . flhe hands of women , ' © n ' the front df'Wm ^ hw wre ih Moscow -Wi fl St . Petersburg is written the name of the proprietor , and before every third houste n't least the name is that of a ; w 6 nmh . '" TPlftBT ^ fflflb ^ he case wWh-landcd property , from one fifth to one ! fourth being in the ^ hands oFthoTemale sex , thus conferring on it a social ) ftufldiewctt ) not ' » eeogwiiM ( 4 , in this serrao , in other countries . 'Russian'legislation ttiwo' ^ farOttTB -women ^ in iihe control and assignment of their possessions . 9 ff 6 wh « r ^ « nys ^ BaTQn ^ Htixthau 8 ort , ' fa there sudh a jperpetual revolution of ^© p eif ^ y : OHJ ( ii ! Rli 8 ^ 1 jv ; the lan d is continually-passing fromownor to owner ;

    large fortunes , rapidly made , are as rapidly lost . In Moscow , the ancient palaces in which the nobles lived , sometimes "with from five hundred to a thousand servants , have disappeared , or descended to opulent manufactur er s notwithstanding which , however , all the efforts of the Government to form and foster a citizen class have failed . This the writer traces to mysterious causes in the character and history of the Slavonian people , showing th at neither the Poles nor the Southern Slavs ever hud a middle order , while that in Bohemia is an importation from Germany . The tendency of the Slavonic people , upon this hypothesis , is to separate into two classes , and to preserve their respective positions . Baron Haxthausen left Moscow in May , 1843 , directing liis course araon » the gabled villages of Yaroslaf , and through agricultural districts in wliica the mode 3 of peasant life seemed to have been influenced by a modific ation of the St . Simonian theory . St . Simon laid down as a principle that the

    land belongs to the Spirit of Humanity , the God of the . Earth . Every individual , being an emanation from this spirit , has a right to a personal use of the earth ' s productions . The Russians declare that the land belongs to its Creator , but that the human family , while it exists , has a joint property in it , and that in Russia , the Czar , as the father o the f amily , has a right to distribute it among the family section , under his patriarchal control . Every Russian city , in the interior , is , says Baron Haxthauseu , an epitome of Russian history . It is usually approached through a village , where the old peasants dwell , cultivating gardens and orchards for the supply of the town . This is a monument of the rural age . Through the village , as through a porch , the traveller enters the quarter belonging to the period of Catherine II . Here the streets are long , straight , wide , and of inhabited b

    unpaved , with log-houses and gabled cottages one story , y graindealers , mechanics , and others of the industrious classes . Next appears the European town , with spacious squares , palaces , droschkies driving to and fro , and government buildings . These triple cities are found even on the verge of the Iteppes , among the Little Russians , whose pastoral manners are described with pleasant sympathy by our German traveller . Hence traversing the steppes to the Dnieper , he reached the great German Men , nonite settlement in the circle of Khoritz . The settlement contains seventeen villages of German appearance , the inhabitants of which have given a German aspect to the whole district—to the flocks , to the houses , to the wardens , even to the scenery , by Germanizing the hedges and the meadows . The Mennonites are passivists , who declare the use of the sword unlawful , who hold the cultivation of the soil to be a sacred duty from which no one ,

    unless under absolute necessity , is exempted . From a curious notice of this settlement Baron Haxthausen proceeds to give a description , full of colour and animation , of the Russian colonies of the Ukraine and the Don , of the forests and the steppes , travelling thence to the borders of the Azof and the Euxine , to the Crimea , and , through Odessa , back to Moscow , where he pauses to write a summary of his observations and views . This is succeeded by a sketch of the military and , naval institutions of the empire , and of the administration of the crown lands . "Without assenting to Mr . Farie ' s notion that this translation of Baron Haxthausen ' s narrative is the sole exposition in our language of Russian politics , of Russian society , and of Russian national progress—which would be an absurdity , and unfair to previous writers—we attribute a high value to the book , which abounds in graphic and suggestive matter .

    The Microscope. The Miorographic Diction...

    THE MICROSCOPE . The Miorographic Dictionary : a Guide to the JSxaniination and Investigation of the Structure and Nature of Miwoscopic Objects . By J . " W . Griffith , M . D ., and Arthur Henfrey , F . R . S . Van Voorst . There are works which are pleasant , works which are valuable , and works which are indispensable . The MicrograpMc Dictionary is one of the indispensable works—to those at loast who possess a microscope for any other purpose than that of a mere toy . It contains 69 G double-columned closelyprinted pages , illustrated with forty-one plates , many coloured , each plate representing some thirty or forty objects , anil , besides these platos , eight hundred and sixteen woodcuts ! Never was such a mass of illustration produced in so small a compass , and for so insignificant a price . This is w'brtt strikes the observer who merely tnkes up the volume . When

    he comes to examine it , he finds that it is intended as an alphabetical index to all the structures revealed by the microscope — from the minutest organisms , vegetable or animal , up to the most complex tissues . If he wants to know the structure of some animalcule , some ftlga , or fungus , this Dictionary will not onl y tell him a great deal , pcrhnps as much us he wants , but will refer him to all the best sources of fuller information . I [ ho wants to know the best methods of mounting an object so ns to elicit its true structure , this Dictionary gives him ample and precise details . The numerous plates and woodcuts ' ( greatly aid him in that diflicult but indispensable tusk of identifying the animal or vegetable he has met with . J » short , although the book is one which can onl y be properly estimated after it has been long in use ( no one reads a dictionary ) , we venture to say that , tno guarantee offered'by the reputations of Messrs . Griffith and Henfrey will be tins timc

    fully borne out by protracted experience of their work . Up to ^ o have found it always useful , always ready , always reliable . Although our use of it has been somewhat fragmentary , our jiecd was great , and we arc delighted to say that it did not serve us ns dictionaries usualjy serve us . Tiamejy , give every information cxcqpl what was sought . We found me thing we wnntefl , and wo found it where we sought it . In their admirable Introduction the authors property allude to the ninny and absurd errors which ihave been set ibrth Jby mioroscopists , and wl " *~ . have brought discredit on the Microscope among those not acuiiHLoined to its use . Thus the fruit of the mulberry has beon mistaken for onloozu , caicnveous corpuscles Jbr ova , for nucleated colls , and even for blood corpuscles ; kninuto "hairs projecting from the surface of a membrane have been nustuKcn 'for'Bpiculn , ' within subjacent cells . But it is with colls and cellular structures wo 4 ind'the'greatest amount of-wrong observation . Since Scbloidon an Sohwann startled Europe with the coll theory , " almost every thing rounu has been regarded as a , cull , any single body within this , or where thurc a 1

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), May 31, 1856, page 18, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_31051856/page/18/