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Leader (1850-1860), 7th August 1852, Edition Town of 2, Page 761, Untitled Article

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      Untitled Article

      a * a " desolate and uninteresting p lace , " and nobody could care to see T Whv should he visit out-of-the-way places ?—mere travellers did not A such things . Why should he want to study the old Hungarian consti-+ ? t ; on and the working of the new Austrian system , unless he had a Ser object P He must be in a plot , and therefore he had better confp = s Had he not had about him a note of introduction from General Cze ' tz , a rebel , and another to one of the emigration in London P had he not called upon " persons compromised in the Revolution of 1848 r did he not possess a pamphlet and a history advocating the Hungarian side ? and had he not uttered"" words implying an acquaintance with Ujhazy Y Inferences were most ingeniously drawn from these premises , and , in the eves of the major in command , Mr . Brace stood there clearly condemned . ¦ Rnf- fortunately , one of his prison companions was liberated , and he took two

      letters for Mr . Brace in the lining of his boot , addressed to gentlemen in Vienna . At length , after long delay on the part of the Austrians , a " note" came from Mr . M'Curdy , the American minister at Vienna , saying that he would do all he could to obtain the release of Mr . Brace , and that he had demanded it in the most positive terms . Finally , he was liberated , and , under the escort of a noted spy , taken to Pesth , and thence to Vienna . As the man who carried the letter from Eossuth to Palmerston , when the Turks were deliberating on the fate of the Hungarian refugees ,

      was an Englishman , so an Englishman was the first to carry the news of Brace ' s imprisonment to Vienna : " It concerns me , " said our countryman , " as much as him . " Fortunately for Mr . Brace , two American _ ships of war happened accidentally to put in at Trieste , while the negotiation was going on between the Austrian government and Mr . M'Curdy . They were very useful diplomatists . The reader will find in Mr . Brace ' s book much valuable information , verv -pleasantly mingled with lighter matter . The chapters on—the

      State of the Protestant . Church ; the Bauer , or Peasantry ; the System of Common Lands , which is specially remarkable , and the Agrarian Laws in actual working on the Plains of Central Hungary ; the summary of the old laws , with the clear account of the " ftobat , " or forced labour , abolished in 1848 , and its effects ; are particularly worthy of attention . It is worthy of remark , that both the books , whose titles we have placed at the head of this paper , wind up with the strongest expressions of confident anticipation in the future of Hungary . Mr . Henningsen is a traveller no less than Mr . Brace : indeed , if we mistake not , Mr . Henningsen

      is peculiarly well acquainted with Eastern Europe and Western Asia , and capable , from long experience and intimate acquaintance , of forming a tolerably correct judgment on the state and prospects of the people of these countries . It may be said , that his estimate of the power of Uussia is too low ; but we find him supported by Mr . Cobden ; and the Economist and preacher of peace agrees with the Secretary of Kossuth . Mr . Henningsen has given a brief , but good account of the various campaigns of the War of Independence , illustrated by maps . He has appended to his book some curious speculations on what may be called the revolutionary forces of the East , which all who would understand the question would do well to consult .

      Untitled Article

      BOOKS ON OUR TAJUJL . E . Railway Superannuation . An Examination of the Scheme of the General Railway Association for providing Stvperannuation Allowances to worn-out and Disabled Hallway Employe ' s . By ' C . ID . Brydgea , of the London and South-Western Kailway Company . London : John Thomas Norris . A small and readable pamphlet , explaining in a very lucid manner the history and nature of an important project . The plan may be said to have originated jointly in a provisional committee at the Clearing House , and in the principal office of the South-Western Railway Company . The principal provisions are thus described : — " 1 . The arrangement is to be confined to salaried officers only [ not servants at weekly wages , who could not so well bo comprised in the plan , while they have in every lino provident associations of their own ] . " 2 . The funds are to bo supported by an annual payment of five per cent , upon the salary of every subscriber , which it is proposed shall bo paid in equal proportions by the subscriber and his employers , the Railway Company . " 3 . Tho age of superannuation is fixed at tho Government ago , Go , with an option of coming on the fund either at 65 or 00 , receiving , of courso , « only a proportionate benefit . " 4 . Tho rate of superannuation is to bo graduated according to the length of service , and is the samo as that adopted by Government , under tho authority of an Act of Parliament ; the scale is as follows : After 10 years ' , and to 17 years' service , 3-12 ths of tho average salary . „ 17 „ 24 „ 4-12 tliB „ „ 2 < t „ 31 „ 5-12 ths „ 31 „ 4 M „ 6-12 iha „ „ 38 „ 45 „ 7-12 ths „ ,, 45 and upwards 8-12 thfl „ " 5 . The superannuation allowance ia to bo calculated on the average of tho last five yours' wilary . " (> . In t , hrt (> vent of a subscriber resigning his situation , or being dismissed for nny reason nliorfc of fraudulent , dealing , he will receive ; back the whole ot his own contributions , without interest . ; but in the event of his dying beforo receiving tho superannuation allowance , his payments will bo forfeited to the Fund . " The iiggrugatc number of salaried officers is about . 8000 , mid the iiggrcgal . o income which Uiey receive must exceed 800 , 000 / . ; facts which illustrate tho magnitude of Hie interest in question . Kvery railway officer ought , to have the pamphlet , in his hand .

      Untitled Article

      Jlluxt . rattut Literature of all Nations—A Simple Storii . JJy Mrs . Inohlmld . . 1 . K . Chupman Wi « r ,, on a ,, ld . J ' JL > . j { o , « , l ^ riHtm n Kxaminer . . John Olummim , /"'*"" . ""' « Kdinburgh Mnauzine . W . JHim : 1 cwoo < 1 and Hoiih "' ¦"" f . i ( xMimwllany . It . Uo . Uloy ii umir HMugaeine . J . w . IWkor und Hon ¦ i l OH / m-Hvi j Jiiwii-w . John Ohupnmn iMlb uni * United Service Magazine . Oolburn and Co / ., 7 ?> , !'"*"' Miscellany . W . and It . Oluuul . orH 111 7 , r 0 aUo * X- W . H . Orr and Co Af , " v J £ mu ? ' „ ««• VI . lirudhiiry und UvaiiH lV ; iH ' '' ' "* T ?*''' , tin ! ' . T "" r- l > llrL VllL Unidtmrv and Ev . hih Venn ' ^ " l ^" Jerrold—Ca kes and Ale . l'art 111 . t ' unch Oflkw 1 uZ . -W- («»"' pl «'" d . ) Chapman and Hull alapr- « ,,,,, « b '»! KX iJKJsasta . ¦— -. ^ 55 - s :

      Tlie Charm : a Magazine for Boys and Girls . ^ ddey Co JorindeandJoringel . Part IV . Addey » nd Co A Manual of Ancient Geography . By Eev . W . L . Bevan . John W . |» rker a £ d . ° « Charles Knight ' s Imperial Cyclopedia . Part XII . 9 , u * } v * m MalfKou . rsofJLngtishH . Mory : n Charles Knight The Traveller ' s Mbrary ^ -Electricity and the Electric Telegraph . By Dr . G . Wilson . J Longman , Brown , Green , and Co Bentlei /' s Shilling Series—Pictures of Life at Home and Abroad . By Albert Smith . B . gentley Two Tears on the Farm of Uncle Sam . By Charles Casey . £ £ " ° y Constance Tyrrell ; or , the Half-Sister . By P . H . Pepys . 3 vols . «• , " ey Gardener's Lcord . Groombridge and Son Illustrated Exhibitor and Magazine of Art . John CasseJI The Popular Educator . John Cassell The Elements of Geometry . By R . Wallace . John Cassell ,

      Untitled Article

      COMTE'S POSITIVE PHILOSOPHY . By Gr . H . Lewes . Part XVII . —Vital Dynamics : Materialism or Immaterialism ? To the analysis of the fundamental statical condition of living beings , succeeds the co-ordination of all known organisms into one hierarchy ; in other words , to Anatomy succeeds zoological Classification . The chapter devoted to this subject by Comte is full of interest , but I must pass it over

      with a mere indication . He decides against Lamarck ' s celebrated development hypothesis , made so popular by the admirable , but as I cannot help thinking , somewhat metaphysical version of it given in the Vestiges . Although his admiration of Lamarck , and appreciation of his influence on philosophical zoology is such as may be expected from so great and liberal a thinker , he does not , as it appears to me , fully appreciate the immense value of this hypothesis if merely treated as a philosophic artifice , let its truth be what it may .

      Having set down the general consideration necessary as a prelude to classification , Comte then commences his survey of the dynamical conditions of Biology ; or what in common parlance is termed Physiology , as distinguished from Anatomy . I can only glance at the main positions . Physiology first demands a fundamental division into Vegetative Life and Animal Life , corresponding not only with the two kingdoms Vegetable and Animal , but with the twofold life of every animal—viz ., the organic

      life and the relative life . The Vegetative , as more simple , more general , and first in the order of time , demands priority in study ; the animal depends upon the vegetable , the vegetable does not depend upon the animal . Now in the phenomena of Vegetative Life we see very distinctly the co-operation of all those laws of inorganic , matter , which the previous sciences have made us acquainted with ; and Comte has sketched what he calls the " theory of media , " or indispensable circumstances , as a necessary preliminary to this part of our science .

      " The true philosophic character of physiology consisting in the institution of an exact and constant harmony between the static and dynamic points of view , between the ideas of organization and the ideas of life , between the notion of agent and that of act , there results the evident necessity of reducing all our abstract conceptions of physiological properties to the consideration of elementary and general phenomena , every one of which necessarily reeals to our mind the idea of a locality more or less circumscribed . One may say , in short , that the reduction of the various functions to corresponding properties must be regarded as the consequence of the habitual analysis of life itself into its different functions , setting aside all vain pretensions to discover causes , and bearing in view only the discovery of latvs . Otherwise , the ideas of properties will fall back into the ancient notions of metaphysical entities .

      " In endeavouring to make our different degrees of physiological analysis correspond with those of anatomical analysis , we may begin by saying that the idea of property , which lies at the bottom of the one , must correspond with that of tissue , which lies at the bottom of the other ; while the idea of function corresponds with that of organ .- so that the successive notions ot function and property present a gradation perfectly similar to that which exists between the notions of organ and tissue . ' " It lias already been seen , in treating of the tissues , that we must divide them into , 1 st , one primordial generative tissue—the cellular ; and 2 nd , the secondary and special tissues which result from the combination of certain substances with this primary tissue . That is to say , there is the cellular tissue and its modifications ; and there is the combination of this tissue with jibrine and tie-urine to form muscular and nervous tissues . The

      physiological properties must therefore be divided into correspondent classes—1 st , those general properties whieli belong to all the tissues , and which constitutes the life , so to speak , of the primordial cellular tissue ; and 2 nd , those special properties which characterize the most distinctive modifications—i . e ., the musctilar and nervous tissues . Thus we return to the great fundamental distinction between Vegetative and Animal Life . "If , " says Comte , " we consider the condition of opinion with reference

      to tins matter , we shall find , that , as regards the two special secondary tissues , very clear and important conclusions have been obtained of their properties , because , in accordance with the natural inarch of intelligence , the most striking phenomena are the soonest appreciated . All the general phenomena of animal life , an ; , now-a-daya , unanimously connected' with contractility and sensibility , considered each as the characteristic attribute ¦ ¦ . ' i i" . ¦ ' " 11 ¦ > i ¦ r . '» " * v

      Untitled Article

      We should do our utmost to encourage the Beautiful , for the Useful encourage itself . —Goethe .

      Mvthlin.

      mvthlin .

      Untitled Article

      and AtTGiiST 7 , 1852 . ] THE LEADER . 76 }

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Aug. 7, 1852, page 761, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1946/page/21/