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      Untitled Article

      Kr Francis with any notion of order ; chronology is the comer-skme of h is art He ^ as gone through Hansard , and picked , and culled not always with commendable discrimination , from what he calls m choice phrase , " abundance of materials of the best quality" -- ^ has placed above his excerpts a title , more or less applicabWand he ^ has ^ arranged ? hem in sequence of time . By way of preface , he has placed before > . these extracts wlTat he terms a "Memoir , !' Wt which is chiefly a . collection of dates and proper names . Indeed , that the figures of the Christian ear should succeed each other in exact succession seems to be the most notable principle adopted in concocting this volume . And the result achieved was inevitable—the book is nearly useless as an assistance ^ to the " Dublic mind , " the laudable intention of the editor

      remainingjunfulfiiled . How different that result would have been had Mr . JbYancis excluded about a fourth of the extracts , and filled up the space with explanatory notes . And how well the public could have spared them , he who ever ventures into these waste places will speedily discover ! What is the importance to us , for instance , of an insinuation , uttered in the heat of debate , that Mr . Hume does not understand arithmetic ; or of ridicule of Mr . Croker , out of which all the point and smartness have faded long ago , and which Mr . Francis would not be at the pains to revive ? ...

      Apart , however , from defects of arrangement , the book has a certain value . We have Lord Palmerston's authentic opinions on many subjects ; we have glimpses of Lord Palmerston ' s " character , " although these , from the absence of a running commentary , are rather dim ; and we have some indications of Lord Palmerston's policy , which , diligently ^ strung together , and placed in then : historical setting * are welcome enough . But of Lord Palmerston ' s " career , " except in so far as indicated in the dates and names of the pages headed "Memoir , " we have no information whatever . If the Editor only intended his volume as a book of reference * then , we admit , he has partially succeeded , and we willingly give all due thanks for the same . But we must protest against books of reference ot introduction to

      bearing such magnificent titles ( which stand as letters the public ) as " Lord Palmerston ' s Opinions and Policy , " when the editor only proffers a heap of Lord Palmerston's discursive opinions , and disjointed specimens of a policy , embracing more than forty years of time , and almost all the world in its effects .

      Untitled Article

      BOOKS ON OUR TABLE . Observations on TAfe Assurance Societies and Savings Banks . In Two Parts . " With a Mathematical Appendix and Tables . By Arthur Scratchley , M . A . John W . Parker and Son . Me . Scratcbxey , who was formerly the Sadlerian lecturer of Queen ' College , Cambridge , and who , as Examiner of the Institute of Actuaries of Great Britain , must he allowed to speak with authority on matters of Life Assurance and Savings Banks , has recorded his opinionsin this elaborate treatise in a way to secure the attention of all interested in this subject . He examines Life Assurance from all its principal points of view , with an urgent plaidoyer in favour of assurance . He then treats of Savings Banks and the Deposit System , and concludes with a variety of illustrative Tables . The remarks on what Mr . Scratchley calls the Suspension Principle are peculiarly deserving of attention , and meet one of the most pressing objections to assurance . *

      Untitled Article

      Two Stories for my Toting Friends : The Ericksons . The Clever Soy ; or , Consider Another . By Miss Frances Brown . Paton and Ritchie , Edinburgh . Sir Christopher Wren , and his Times . With Sketches and Anecdotes of Most Distinguished Personages in the Seventeenth Century . By James Elmes . Chapman and Hall . On the Amendment of the Law and Practice of Letters Patent for Inventions . By Thomas Webster , Esq ., M . A ., &c . Second Edition . Chapman and Hall . Zoological Notes and Anecdotes . Richard Bentley . JBentley ' s Shilling Series—Narrative of the Lots of the Amazon Steam Vessel . Richard Bentley . The Biographical Magazine , for March . J . Pasamore Edwards . Report on the Mortality of Cholera in England , in 1848 and 1849 . By George Graham , Esq ., Registrar General . Clowes and Son . A Grammar of Musical Harmony . By John Hullah . John "W .. Parker arid Son . The Earth and Man ; or , Physical Geography *«_ its lielation to the History of Mankind . Abridged from the Work of Arnold Guyot ; with Corrections and Notes . John W . Parker and Son , Zettei' 8 from Italy and Vienna . Macmillan and Co ., Cambridge . The Measoner . Part LXVII . James Watson , Queen's Head-passage . Itaihoay Library—Self-Control . By Mrs . Brunton . George Routledge and Co . Michaild ' s History of the Crusades . Translated by W . Robson . Vol . I .

      George Routledge and Co . Tales of Mystery , Imagination , and Humour . ' By Edgar Allan Poe . With Illustrations . Henry Yizetelly , The Master Engineers and their Workmen . By J . M . Lndlow , Esq ( . John James Bezer . Men and Women of France , during the Last Century . 3 vols . Riohard Bentley The Court and the Desert ; or , Prteuta , Pastors , and Philosophers , in the Time of Louis XV . From the French . 3 vols . Riohard Bontley , The Podesta ' s Dauahtcr : and other Miscellaneous Poems . By George H . Bokor . J DelfandTrubnor Robert Owen ' s Journal . Part XVIII . James Watson . Memoirs of Extraordinary Popular Delusions , and the Madness of Crowds . By Charles Maokay , LL . D . Vols . I . and II . National Illustrated Library . Travels in Tartary , Thibet , and China , during the Tears 1844 , 1845 , and 1840 . Translated by W . Hazlitt . Vol II . National Illustrated Library .

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      Untitled Article

      MAGNETIC EVENINGS AT HOME . —( Concluded . ) Letter VI . —To G . II . Lewes . On looking over my , notes , , 1 find that I have hitherto omitted to mention some of our experiments , which , though perhaps of . minor importance in themselves , are nevertheless riot ill-calculated to assist in developing the widely-extended range of the magnetic influence in its action on the human suhject . The experiments to which I refer , tended to show the power of Animal Magnetism in immensely increasing the muscular energy ; in suspending the organic functions of persons in a perfectly wakeful state ; and in aiding the painter or sculptor , by a special exertion of its influence in the studio , to work from the " living model . "

      The proof of the increase of muscular energy , to be produced at will bv the application of magnetism , was thus displayed : —r ^ Whiler ^ V—~— was in the magnetic state , the Count desired me to give her my harid > asserting at the same : time , that he would make her clasp it with the grasp of a vice — , with a grasp from which he alone could free me . ; The appearance of Y __— - » s hand , which had evidently never been exercised in any harder work than needlework , rendered this assertion very difficult , to credit but

      the event soon proved , in anything but an agreeable manner tome- ^ or as it seemed , to her—that the power of the magnetic influence had , in this instance , not been one whit overrated . The magnetizer made one * pass " over V— * s hand , when she took mine ; and immediately after , I felt it beginning to close—tighter , tighter , tighter!—r-uritil her arm quivered all up to the shoulder ; and the pain I felt from her grasp grew so intense , that— " setting my manhood aside "—I fairly begged to be released from a sensation which most men consider to be a remarkably agreeable one—the

      squeeze of a young lady ' s hand ! Two deep red impressions of that squeeze left in my skin , and a coldness and distortion of my fingers , which lasted full a quarter of an hour , were tolerably fair guarantees to the spectators of this experiment that I had certainly not " cried put before I was hurt . " The Count assured iny friends who were present , that , if the practical illustration of his assertion which they had just witnessed , were not sufficient for them , he would be quite willing to experiment on the stoutest boatman they could call into the house from the beach outside , just as he had experimented on me . And he laughingly offered , at the same time , to lay a wager with anybody , pledging him—by merely placing one of V~—' g hands on this said boatman ' s chest , and the other against his shoulder *

      blade—to make her inflict such a pressure on the man , as should , in the most literal acceptation of the phrase , reduce him , to " roar for mercy . " It is hardly necessary to say that , after what the company had already seen , nobody was wilhng to take up the Count ' s bet ! The capabilities of the magnetic influence in suspending the exercise of particular organs , were very curiously exemplified in reference to the organ of speech . While we were all standing , one night , talking round the fire , after the experiments of * the evening were over , and V—— - had been awakened out of the magnetic sleep , the Count suddenly made a few

      " passes" close before her lips . Immediately afterwards , her articulation thickened ; then ceased to be comprehensible : she Could murmur ; but could not pronounce-a single word . In order to verify this experiment by our eyes , as well as by our ears , I asked her to open her mouth ; and found her tongue reduced to less than its natural length , swollen to considerably more than its natural thickness , and presenting a curiously twisted , convulsed appearance . On touching it afterwards with the finger , it felt quite hard . Fairly judged by the tests of hearing , seeing , and touching , she was at that moment perfectly and palpably " tongue-tied , "

      The third experiment at which I have hinted , as tending to prove that Animal Magnetism might render real practical assistance to those who cultivate the fine arts , requires a word or two of preface , addressed to readers who may never have witnessed the progress of a picture on the easel , of the gradual construction of the clay model from which the marble statue li afterwards formed . Persons in this position , who only become acquainted with works of art in their finished state , have , very naturally , hardly an idea of the technical difficulties which at all stages beset the production of a picture or a statue , whatever the genius , however long the practice , of the producer may be . Among these technical difficulties , one that ranks as chief , is the difficulty of working from the liyjjng model , of painting ^ or modelling from the life . In the first place , it is physically impossible , under

      any ordinary condition , for any human being to keep in the same position even for five minutes together , without insensibly moving a little , so as to embarrass the artist ; to whom changes of this sort , so slight as to be inappreciable to the ordinary spectator , are always visible . In the second place , the effort on the part of the model to " sit" as still as possible , produces a constant sense of fatigue . Perhaps at the very moment when the painter or sculptor is working his best , the sitter discovers that he or she can si no longer , and must absolutely take a rest j and the unfortunate artist finds his labour interrupted exactly at the point where his own interests deman that it should be continued . The more difficult the position of the model . Sometime

      the more frequent these minor miseries of the studio become . ^ when , for instance , the sitter ' s arm is long kept in an outstretched direction ( most probably by tying it to a support ) , positive injury is sustain ^ by cramps and stiffness , which often affect the limb that has been mai - tained too continuously in one arduous position . Some years sine , serious accident of this kind happened at the Royal Academy . A mode the " life school" had been standing for a considerable time , with one his arms ( artificially supported ) extended , in the action of holding ft f ' He was told to put his arm down , and rest . " I ' m afraid , gentleme , was the reply , " that-I can't rest , for I can't put my arm down , was found that the limb had stiffened in the socket , and the as 8 istB ^ nat 0 surgeon was obliged to be called in to restore the arm of the unjortu

      model to its natural position by his side . those Such accidents as these , such difficulties in the artist ' s way as ™ above-mentioned , Count P assured us could be entirely obvia e ^ magnetizing the " model , " and then using the magnetic influence ^ him ( or her ) with the stillness of a statue , in the same position—no . oncO how difficult—for any number of hours required ; and this , as all exper proved , without the slightest sensation of stiffness being felt by ,

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      ¦ - ¦ . , ¦ i . . . ... ' . : ' ¦ ¦ . ' . '¦' . ' ¦ ¦ ¦''¦ 256 THE LEAD ER . [ SATtmiut ,

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      We should do our utmost to oncourage tho Beautiful , for tho Useful encourages itaclf . — Qoexhb .

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), March 13, 1852, page 256, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1926/page/20/