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    night , while eternity lasted ; and how they were to be made to undergo in the spirit what they had so ruthlessly inflicted on others in the flesh— -the horrors of paying their . own flagitious reckonings . So minute , indeed , were these infernal arrangements for the entertainment of our earthly hosts , that , taking a hint from the well-known proprietor of the Hotel Gribbon at Lausanne , who had the honour of originating the charge for eveillage , it was admirably provided that , while the hotel-keepers are never permitted to slumber , by reason of the armies of fleas , and other nocturnal visitations , they are rigorously to be made to pay through the nose for the service of being roused from their beds after nights of sleepless torment . " Space only permits us to add , that Gteoecke GriiiT'ii / LAN is very severe upon Sheeidan in Hogg ' s Instructor , and that the Triad of Grreat Poets is concluded in . this month ' s Tait .

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    On taking up the Record , that " amusing print , " which delights our very " low Church , " we are always prepared for a large supply of the Christian malevolence emanating from men who regard doubts of eternal tortures in Hell as " attempts to rob man of his last and greatest solace . " What , indeed , would be the " comfort" of Religion if we did not believe that our adversaries would roast P But among the outrages on truth and decency to which the piety of the Record impels it , there is , this week , a manifestation of pruriency which we single out for notice , because it is one of the errors needful to be

    exposed . A lady writes to the Editor complaining that the " disgusting iuman form" ( which , by the way , seems to be as alluring as it is disgusting ) is getting familiarized to the British eye through the medium of Art ; and the consequences of this familiarity with " Grod ' s image" are top dreadful to be named . She assures us : ¦—"I can say with truth that my tmmarried sisters have literally shuddered at our breakfast-table , when some of these Italian boys have stood before our window with statues of the Greek Slave , taller than my eldest child ; and even my little girl had sense enough to ask if I did not think it ' very indelicate to have such naked statues in the streets ? ' Xiterally , one is afraid to cast a glance in the shop windows , at some of the very beautiful prints , for fear of finding , close behind some historical or other picture , one of these disgusting portraits of the human form .

    " Certain I am that Englishwomen generally would deeply regret the continuance , to say nothing of the increase , of nudity in pictures and statues . I was sorry to see that two statues of Venus , and another heathen specimen of immodesty , were erected at the fountains of Osborne . " To our apprehension it seems that minds must have been perverted by education , if plaster casts of statues , not in themselves suggestive of voluptuous thoughts , can so " set the blood ablaze . " We do not lay claim to any peculiar coldness of temperament , yet it is" absolutely impossible for us to place ourselves imaginatively in the state of mind which could be " tempted" by a statue or a picture , not obviously designed for that effect . This good lady , however , thinks differently : —

    '' I should be very sorry to see my children ( of whom I have a goodly number ) growing up with more temptations to evil thoughts and desires than I found around me when I tvas a girl . " She fears the evil thoughts suggested by such things , believes they would constitute " temptations . In such belief , on the part of a woman , we see nothing but the distorted perception resulting from an unnatural education . But it is different with the Editor of the Record . Men have no such educations . They are not taught from infancy upwards to " shudder" at statues ; and when the Editor of the Record appends such comments as those which follow , wo can only attribute them to pruriency or hypocrisy : —

    ' We thank our correspondent for her excellent remarks . When a man or woman can complacently look upon a naked figure without any of that senae of shame felt by Adam and Eve after the fall , this is a proof of the fine edge of thenmoral feelings being already blunted . Our correspondent ' s child only obeyed the pure and healthy impulses o her moral instincts , when she asked if it wore not very indelicate to havo such naked statues in the streets . ' " The offensive oxhi-Intions ho loudly complained of have been too much tolerated , perhaps , by many oi our fair countrywomen ; and wo fear that the high wonso of principle and rejineiuent oi moral feeling- for which English women were always ho distinguiuhed , « as in Homo degrco been deteriorated by frequent intercourse with the Continent ' is not

    the introduction of the immodest and unbecoming continental fashion of very low dresHCB , one of the evil , results of too much familiarity with licentious worfa of art { Wo feel , however , assured that Christian mothers , " and all Horiou . regions profoHsoi-H , will exhibit to tho world , in thiH respect , a better taste and more chastened spirit , following tho apostolic injunction , M will , also , that women adorn themselves in modest iippnrol , with HhamofacedncHH and Hobriety . ' T ' , ™ protest , each in thoir own circle , againnt all demoralizing exhibitions of woiJch oi art , and they will go far in putting them down , and purifying tho prowon t relaxed public standard of moral feeling ; for wonien aro , in an eminent « 4 ? roo , tho guardians of public morals in ovary nation . "

    Ah a matter of fact our reverend "Koeordite" should bo told that so far "'orrHiho faf-duoa of low ( Ii-ohhoh corning from our recent intercom-no with t'I > o Continent , all over tho Continent it is a matter of surprise ihab Eng"Hliwomon are ho , daring in that ronpect . But lot tho i ' mhUm conio WJionco it nmy , it has nothing to do with Art , and only pruriou t Hiiwwptihility co sec in Art a . licontiouH influence . Ifc is true Huch pruriency has llOflo ' from time immemorial . TaHufo ww , ] j itc our " licMumlito , " unablo to boo the naked nliouldors of Dorinc , nnd iiiHiatoil on Jior covering thorn : — . h " Couvnw ; « o Hoin quo je no HauroiH voir . Par de paroilH objntu lea amoH noni , bloHfldon Jit . celafait venir de cowpabUs pe ? i . sf : cs . " Yes , in a gross Tartvjb tho night suggested wicked thoughts ; but to ' onnc ' s aimplo mind that fact only proved how easil y ho wua moved . " Vouh 6 toH dona bton tendro h , la , timtation Jilt la chair aur vot ^ mm fait ^ rande impression 1

    Certes , je ne sais pas quelle chaleur vous monte Mais a corivoiter , moi , je ne suis point si prompte . " People of narrow minds and strong animal propensities may certainly find temptations in a variety of objects , which are not naturally suggestive of voluptuous thoughts j but it is the sign of a vicious or perverted mind , when , instead of appealing to the intellect and sentiments , a work of Art appeals in any way to the animal propensities ; and all the cant about

    delicacy is not only false delicacy , but breeds the very evil it would check . It is by such refinement that America puts trousers on the legs of a pianoforte ; for are they not legs , and do not naked legs suggest ideas P JN " ay , ought the word " naked" itself to be permitted—does it not tend to " blunt the edge of our moral feelings ? " And when orators use the phrase " naked vigour and resolution , " ought we not to put up our fans and stuff our licentious ears with , cotton P Swift says , " a nice man is a man with nasty ideas , " The Record has few ideas , and half of them are nasty .

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    HUXLEY ON" THE CELL-THEORY . The British and Foreign Medical Beview . No . XXIV . October , 1853 . Price 6 * . S . Highley . According to promise we return to this number of the British and Foreign Medical Review , to consider Mr . Huxley ' s valuable and somewhat startling paper on the Cell-Theory , as it is at present understood . It is a paper calculated to stimulate thought , and prevent the stagnation of acquiescent minds ; but it is also , from its very power , calculated to mislead , and we feel it necessary to question Mr . Huxley ' s positions with the same freedom he has used towards Sclileiden and Schwann . To begin our objections ; the general impression derived from the article is , that Mr . Huxley knocks down Schleiden and Schwann , and sets up in

    their place an older philosopher whom he has discovered . When we say discovered , we mean as regards the actual significance of his writings ; for although Wolff ' s writings have been tolerably well known in Germany , it is only , we believe , in Mr . Huxley ' s hands that they have been found to anticipate ( in a somewhat correcter form ) , the doctrines of Schleiden and Schwann . It is true that Mr . Huxley also discovers in a vague sentence quoted from Actuarius , " a concise expression of the cell theory such as may be found in many a handbook of the day . So far , " he adds , " and no further , have three centuries brought us . '" This small passage renders us suspicious of his Wolfian discovery ; the more so as lie does not quote Wolff , but interprets him thus :

    " Wolff s doctrine concerning histological development is shortly this . Eveiy organ , he says , is composed at first of a little mass of clear , viscous , nutritive fluid , which possesses no organization of any kind , but is at most composed of globules . In this semi-fluid mass , cavities ( Bliischen , Zelleri ) are now developed ; these , if they remain i-ounded or polygonal , become the subsequent cells—if they elongate , the vessels ; and the process is identically the same , whether it is examined in the vegetating p oint of a plant , or in the young budding organs of an animal . Both cells and vessels may subsequently be thickened , by deposits from the ' solidescible' nutritive fluid . In the plant , the cells at first communicate , but subsequently become separated from one another ; in the animal , they always

    remain in communication . In each case , they are mere cavities , and not independent entities ; organization is not effected by them , but they are the visible results of the action of the organizing power inherent in the living mass , or what Wolff calls the vis essentialis . For him , however , this ' via essentialis' is no mythical archams , but simply a convenient name for two facts which he takes a great deal of trouble to demonstrate ; the first , the existence in living tissues ( before any passages are developed in them ) of currents of the nutritious fluid determined to particular parts by some power which is independent of all external influence ; and the second , the peculiar changes of form and composition , which take place in tho same manner .

    " Now there is really no veiy groat difference between these views of tho mode of development of the tissues , and those of Schleiden and Schwann . Tho ' solidescible nutritive fluid' of Wolff ia tho ' cytoblastema' of Schleiden and Schwann ; with tho exception of tho supposed relation of the nucleus to the development of the cell ( which , as wo shall see , ia incorrect ) Wolffs description of the latter process is nearly that of Schleiden ; Wolff maintains that tho ' vessels' of plants aro tho result of the greater activity of the nutritivo curronts in particular directions ; and so does Schleiden . " . Now , considering tho notorious erudition of German philosophers , tho

    enmity which Schleidcn ' s caustic criticisms havo excited , and the claims of originality Hot up by both Sehleidon and Schwann never contradicted , it does to us seem very incredible that this claim set up for Wolff should never before have been alluded to . Schleiden and Hugo von JVlohl both quote Wolff ; indeed , tho great teacher of EpigoniHin was not likely to havo been overlooked by them or others . Our belief is that Mr . Huxley , fully poHSOHHed of ail tho details of the cell-theory , has read into Wolff / what vVolff never concoivod ; as , to use an extreme illustration , JJaeon read physical theories in tho " Wisdom of tlio Ancients . "

    Thus much in liiwtorieal rectification . With regard to the wpeculativo portions of Mr . Huxley ' s paper , amid much that is admirable-and nuggeative , wo perceive with regret a ¦ metaphysical leaven , of which he Bcoma unconscious . Thus ,

    inliin—• C'ONTKAHT 1 IKTWEEN WOI . VP AND SOIIWANN . "In tho ' Theorist < Tonoratioinn , ' and in the essay on the vital forces published thirty years afterwaidn , Wolff developed Home vory remarkable views on tho relation of life to organization-of the vital prociwHeH to tho organic olcnicnt . s—in which ho divergOH vory widely from all who preceded , and from wont who havo followed him , — most of all from Sehleuhm and Sohwann . We may luwt exhibit the bearing of those viown by contracting thorn with Wioho of the latter writoiH . "Schloiden and Schwann teach implicitly that the primary hwtological oloinentti ( cells ) are independent , anatomically and physiologically ; that they ntand ia tho relation of causes or centres , to organization and tho ' organizing force ; ' and that the whole organism w tho roHult of tho union and combined action of theHO primarily Heparate elements . Wolfl , on tho other hand , aHHorfcH that tho primary liiHtologicaf elements ( ooIIh too , but not alwayn defined in the name way ) are not either Anatomically or phymologioally independent ; that they stand in tho relation of effects to tho organizing or vital force ( via oHHontialiH ); ami that the organium renulta from tho ' differentiation' of » primarily homogonooua whole into thoae part * .

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    November 5 , 1853 . ] T H E LEA t > E R . 1073

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Nov. 5, 1853, page 1073, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2011/page/17/