Current:

Leader (1850-1860), 31st May 1856, Edition 2 of 2, Page 19

Page 19
Page 19
19 of 24

On this page

  • Text (3)
  • Transcript

    • 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.

      Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.

      The Microscope. The Miorographic Diction...

      oral , the largest , -lias been , i' € garded as a nucleus , and any spot within the elens has be & n viewed a »« , nucleolus . Whereas many of the so-called 11 are -hompgene ° spheres ; * nany of the nuclei are vacuoles , and a true JSdeufl is very rarely < found except in books . " ^ StTcb errors « re nttCoisal , at first inevitable ; they can be corrected only hv wactice , by testing observations in other ways , especially by chemical re-MrentiB an' 3 by comparison with the observations of others . The marvel is lifttTiatthe miscroscope should suggest false views—do not our eyes play flB'that tr ick" ?—but that it should reveal so 4 narry astounding facts as it really floes and the one consolatory reflection which accompanies the difficult task of jnicroscoipic investigation is the unanimity which now reigns among ^ jgrv ers © n so vast a body of observations- If we read in physiological ««« ks of the volk cells and coloured oil globules of the yolk , and the

      beautiful function of assimilation which has been -attributed to them , when m tact u thev exist only in the imagination of the authors who have regarded the rf > ne as cells simply because they are round , and the other as consisting of fat 1 > ecaHse they are highly refractive , "—such errors of interpretation do not discredit it any more than the preposterous interpretations , which have helped to " mate Ehrenberg ' s name at once famous and suspicious , alter the facts "which lie saw , and could not rightly interpret . In truth , the eye is only a preliminary instrument in science . What we see has to be interpreted . " and . as -it is very difficult to confine ourselves to pure observation unnuxed by hypothetical interpretation , we need many collateral confirmations . Ehrenberg and others , seeing red specks in a jelly-fish , have , without misgiving : , declared them to be eyes ^ and that upon evidence not much better than would justify the belief in the eyes of a potato . 3 ! so one has ever demonstrated a nervous system in these jelly-fishes ; and what is an eye without a retina ? No one has ever proved , positively or negatively , that

      these red specks perform the office of eyes . And thus , without any corroboi-ation of structure or function , a red speck is said to be an eye because it resembles the eyes of certain animals . If our readers , possessing a Microscope ., "happen to be at all disheartened either by t"heir want of success or by the disputes among Mioroscopists , we fear-tkein to consider the ill success of ordinary observation , and the disputes among doctors of all degrees ; and , having placed the Micrographic JHctiotiary on . their study . table , to take < heart and continue the difficult but fascinating study .

      ¦&Xv $1>. , : 3&&*1 ±.I_L...- Tbe Jleabe...

      ¦& xv $ 1 > . , 3 &&* 1 ± . i _ L ...- TBE JLEABEB : 1533

      Modern Greek Historythe History Of Greec...

      MODERN GREEK HISTORYThe History of Greece , under Ottoman and Venetian Domination . By George Finlay , JLthlX Blackwood . The events of Grecian history , from the fall of (* e Empire of Paleologos to the commencement of the revolution of 1821 , are not wanting in dramatic interest or -variety . It is true that they have not the lustre of the ancient ^ tory—they refe r to a period of servitude ; but servitude was the condition of ilie * Grecian race for nearly two thousand years . Rome , Byzantium , the Crusaders , Constantinople , Trebizond , represent the successive eras of Hellenic bondage , but traditions of glory and virtue cling to these historical ruins , and irradiate at intervals the narrative of suffering and decay , ihe ; laat epoch , that of Ottoman and Venetian rule , displays , indeed , the spectacle of a prostrate State , first governed by an Asiatic dynasty , then thrown under the divided and rival dominion of Europe and Asia , and

      next restored , with the exception of-some dependent islands and fortresses , to the sole sovereignty of a barbarous and fanatical nation . We see the Greeks forced to pay a tribute of children to their illiterate masters ; we . see them the victims at once of religious insolence and fiscal rapacity ; we . see them degraded by every form of oppression ; we see their Church corrupted , their priesthood depraved , their laity dishonoured , yet , after a series 4 f wars , that drenched the JRoumelian territories in blood , we discern a new Creek nationality rising amid the corruptions of the Ottoman Empire . 3 ) liis ( nationality , formed under the domination of the Turks , gathers strength

      -ausl prevails partially and by decrees over the political ascendancy of the military race . It cultivates and inherits the soil , it enters into new relations -with the Ottoman lords of the empire , it abolishes the predial slavery , it learns from the English revolution of IG 88 that rulers may be compelled to - answer tfbr the exercise of unlawful power , it begins to be restless , and the tpurkish 'Government , in consequence ) , begins to be conciliatory . ' At first , as Mr . Fmlay shows , the Greek population was not averse to the Turkish rule . It "had long ceased to enjoy virtual independence , and it preferred the vigorous absolutism of the Sultans to the conllictiiuf tyrannies of

      ihe Emperors , of the Morean viceroys , of the Frnnkish princes , dukes , and iignors . The conquering power , though peremptory and relentless , was not at first capricious or moan ; it exacted every fifth male child as a slave , parents gave their sons to be janissaries and thoir daughters to be odaliscs , hut the Government was at least regular , ahd the people , having long lost the sense of patriotism , sank , without many murmurs , under the Mohammedan iceptro . Mr . Finlay notices tlit ! curious fact that the Ottomans subdued the orthodox Christians of Europe far more easily than they subdued isome -nations of their own fiiith in Asia . The truth , indeed , was , that 4 teOh * istmn emperors of Constantinople were not bettor than the sultans hateful to the

      t iho succeeded . them ; that as tho Turks were never more akwaylvanians and Hungarians than the Hapsburga , so they were not more IjiiteftoT to the Greeks than the Catholic Venetians . The Sublime 1 orto feWMWno inua supremo from the plains of Podolia to the banks oi the Don , - and , at tho highest point of its success , ruled without a rival from Buda , on the tyumbe , to Jassowi , on the Euphrates . On the north , tho Osmanhs guarded thoir frontier against the Poles at Kamcniete , and against the Kuasians at Azof . Southwards , tho fortress of Aden was the citadel oi tho Arabian ^ VjOfca * Red Sea , and of the Indian Ocean . To the east they powe-sod * Wma « ry on Xfhe Caspian , from the Tenck to the Koiir . W estwardn , their MnHm * , tftrotdiing beyond Oran , reached the Imperial borders oi MCmooco . " 3 ? h « 8 » ltan might bouat , without excessive vanity , that ho wart * [«» . nwneMff many kingdoms , the ruler of three continents , and the lord ofcttrQ . w ^ : ' . , ffottlwtofcattfcuries tho arms of the miltans wore engaged in contests ,

      aiot with an insurrectionary . peo , pie , -but w-ibh . rival powers , ambitious of dividing the spoils M > f -Greece . = Xile long Venetian wars , the battle -of Lepanto , the invasion "of the islands , 'the sieges of Vienna , the conquest and reconquest of the Morea , form a succession of events only varied by occasional and limited outbreaks of the Greek population . Bat , after the cessation tif the Venetian wars , in the strictly modern period of their history , and after the first collisions between the Russian and Turkish armies , the Greeks begin to appear as a progressive , aspiring race . A change tad taken place in the aspects of Europe . Venice was no longer the centre of commercial enterprise or of naval supremacy . The Greek religion was powerfully represented by Russia . The Turks were scarcely formidable to Europe . The

      JPorte , & s we have said , relaxed its government m the provinces , and though sufficiently despotic to inflame the temper of the people , was not so energetically or so systematically despotic as to compress them , under its rule , into listless or impassive ' subjection . Indeed , the most powerful of the sultans and the ablest of their ministers had perceived the policy of governing the Christian subjects of the empire with moderation as well as firmness ; and , though severe social restrictions were maintained , together with the insulting ascendancy of the Mohammedan faith , the Greeks grew and prospered , attained an influence that was felt in the public departments of the state , and almost monopolized the industry that enriched the land and the commerce that carried the produce of the Levant to every southern

      port . When France , by her revolution , affirmed that nations were independent of their governors , Greece felt the impulse . The Greeks did not rebel , but they learned . The French were welcomed in the Ionian Islands ; and , though the result of the conflict that followed was to consolidate the Ottoman power , to erase the last traces of Ottoman domination on the Continent , and to increase the influence of Russia as a representative of despotic principles , the Greeks were encouraged to hope for the historical revival of their race , and the Tenewal of their political existence . They bad never entirely lost their veneration of letters . Their clergy preserved the ancient memorials in the ancient language . Their schools nourished many enthusiastic students . Their modern dialect was purified and ennobled by the labours of numerous scholars . Literary and ecclesiastical reformers arose . Greece was prepared for a revolution .

      _ Mr . Finlay has closed his historical series at this point . He has now surveyed the whole course of Grecian history , from the Rornan conquest , through the Byzantine , mediaeval , and modern epochs , to the treaty of Vienna . We could wish that he had included an account of the revolution , and of the establishment of Otho ' s kingdom . The work , however—for we must regard the five volumes as part of one book—can scarcely be called ncomplete . It is a full and carefully finished narrative , composed in clear and masculine English , thoroughly impartial , and deserving of a permanent place in the library of European history . Mr . Finlay is not a pictorial or even a suggestive writer , but he narrates rapidly , otten with happy effects of style , and always with simplicity and discretion .

      Swedenborg On Love And Marriage. Conjugi...

      SWEDENBORG ON LOVE AND MARRIAGE . Conjugial Love and its Chaste Delights ; also , Adulterous Love audits Insane Pleasures By Emmanuel Swedenborg . A New Edition , Revised . Published by the Sweflenborg Society . "I am aware , " says Swedenborg with quiet earnestness , " that many who read the following pages , and the memorable relations attached to the chapters , will believe that they are fictions of the imagination . ; but I solemnly declare they are not fictions , but were truly done and seen , and that I saw them not in any state of the mind asleep , but in a state of perfect wakefulness ; for it has pleased the Lord to manifest himself to me . . . , . by virtue of which privilege it has been granted me to be in the spiritual world with angels , and in the same time in the natural world -with men , and this now , 1768 , for twenty-five years . " . . , makes it assuredl

      What are we to say to such an assertion ? He quietly , y , knowing that men will be sceptical , but knowing that he is speaking the simple truth . He walks with angels , and the sceptics to whom angels are invisible declare he dreams . But this he serenely smiles down . What he has seen he will describe , and describe with a particularizing minuteness , which must give us pause . Swedenborg , indeed , is a psychological study : learning , acuteness , plain practical sense , as well as high scientific attainments , make his visions and his teachings marvellous . One cannot dismiss hhn with the remark : " the man was mad . " There was strange method in his madness . There is excellent matter mingled with his ravings . He haB not only founded a sect , he has gained over men of subtlety , sagacity , and scientific eminence . A madman who can achieve this isivorth studying . Yet , to believe in him ! to credit lor one moment that he did see and hear what he so circumstantially relates I We will open at random , . literally-aft meot

      random , and quote a bit of the first Relation we : — I onco saw three spirits recently deceased , who were wandering abdut in the world of spirita , examining whatever came in thoir way , and inquiring oonoenilnff it . They were " all Amazement to find that men lived altogether as before and tlmt the obje « rt » Sioy saw wore oimilur to those they had seen before j for thoy knew that they we » departed out of the former or natural world , and that in that world thoy believed that fhey Bhonld not live an men until after the day of the last judgment , when they should be agaiu clothed with the ilesh and bonos that had beeu laid m the tomb ; KirsfKa . ^ s « = tyt & s : s' = ~ ii gfSXffi & X ^^^ s ^^ H ^ £ fcft £ ^ jsssr ^ s ^»? f ?~ Z " ™ , ' fto . J 2 S . ., ' i . U . B « vo thorn th . Mlowi ,, g tof «™ .. io « ¦ " I « Won to . u .

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), May 31, 1856, page 19, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_31051856/page/19/