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Leader (1850-1860), 30th September 1854, Edition Town of 2, Page 932, Untitled Article

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      itlier , and become more vivid- But it may happen that the blue will appeal to incline to jreen or to violet , and the orange to yellow or to red , that is to say the modification acts rot t aly upon the intensity of the colour , but also upon its physical composition ; whatever it be , if the latter effect takes place , it is undoubtedly always much feebler than the first . Besides , if vre look a certain number of times at these same coloured bands we shall see that the blue , which at first appeared greener , wall soon appear more violet , and that the orange , which at first appeared yellower , will become redder , so that the phenomenon of modification , dependent upon the physical composition of colour , will not be so constant as those which are the subject of the seventeeen preceding observations . These complementary colours have long been known ; they are the spectral colours that appear to the eye after looking ^ at a real colour . We must consider them as inseparable from the sensation of colour . The merit of Chevreul ' s view consists in proving how the complementary colours act when two such colours are contrasted , simultaneously . ( To be co 7 itimicd ?)

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      tion among their friends , than injury to their foes . Of the hundreds of thousands in England , few of them have ever handled a musket , and fewer still have ever fired a ball , ot have even seen a ball-cartridge . Is this a population to be suddenly called into the field and opposed to the fire of veteran soldiers ? Are these the intrepid hearts and skilful hands that are to " drive the enemy into the sea , " " find for every invader a bullet and a grave ?" The fact is , that England , as a nation , cannot spring at once full armed into the arena of the battle-field- " Peasants and burghers , however brave , " says Mr . Macaulay , the historian , " are unable to stand their ground against veteran soldiers , whose whole life is

      a preparation for the day of battle ; whose nerves have been braced by long familiarity with danger , and -whose movements have all the precision of clock-work . " Yet these men , -who from their childhood have lived a life of peace and quietness at home , *• ' buying and selling , or tilling their broad acres , " possess the individual bravery and physical strength of disciplined troops , and only require to be trained and accustomed to the -use of arms , in order to place England in a position to defy invasion ; for , as Lord Palmerston once remarked , " there is no fortification like brave men , armed , organised , and ready to meet an enemy ; that is the best fortification , and such a fortification you -will always find in the hearts and arms of Englishmen . "

      Dr . Balfour's Outlines of Botany contain the substance of the article Botaky in the eighth edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica , and are now published , " with the view of supplying a cheap work , -which may be useful in schools , colleges , and philosophical institutions . " The book is not so much a treatise on botany as a , full and accurate record of the facts of the science , given in the briefest possible form . The Photographic Primer is the name given to thirty pages of lessons on photography , and is published with the authority of the Institution in Bondstreet . To those ¦ who are fond , of metaphysical inquiries , we announce the publication of a book called the Philosophy of the Infinite , ' by Henry Calderwqod . The object is to solve the very difficult problem , ¦ " What can we know of the Infinite God ? " The present state of the question is this : — -The opinions regarding the unconditioned , as an immediate object of knowled ge and of thht toe

      ougmay reduced to four : 1 . The unconditioned is uncognisable and inconceivable , its notion being only negative of the conditioned . 2 . It is not an object of knowledge ; but its notion , as a regulative principle of the mind itselfj is more than a negation of the conditioned . 3 . It is cognizable , but not conceivable ; 4 . It is cognisable and conceivable by consciousness and reflection , under relation , difference , and plurality . Sir William Hamilton holds the first of these opinions , Kant the second , Schelling the third , and M . Cousin the fourth . Mr . Calderwood , a pupil of Sir William Hamilton , differs from that philosopher , as--well as from M . Cousin , de ^ scribing the doctrine of the former as irrelevant , that of the latter as erroneous . Having set aside their theories , he maintains that clear ground is left in the centre , and arrives at the conclusion that " the infinite , as absolute , is that " which is essentially independent and unrestricted , but which may nevertheless exist in relation , and be thus recognised by the mind . " We do not pretend to offer an opinion .

      A BATCFI OF BOOKS . * Over some men , who have filled no inconsiderable space in the history of their own times , the scene closes , and their names are never heard of again . Others belong to all time . They are the lords of the world , are -enshrined as deities in every heart , and command perpetual admiration . Of such a kind was Julius Ccesar—the last and most conspicuous of the sons of Rome . The secret of his success was his marvellous organisation . Alive to every enjoyment , enduring beyond measure , the first in everything he attempted , the peerless general , the consummate orator , the accomplished writer , the master of statecraft , he was born to win and wield universal dominion . As the history of Roine is the grandest of all histories , so does Caesar stand forth as the type of intellectual and physical greatness . Arnold was the first -who dared to express his cleep abhorren ce of the moral character of this man .

      It was he who said that ** the whole range of history can scarcely furnish a picture of greater deformity , " and that " never did any maa occasion so large an amount of human misery with so little provocation . '" He dwelt , with indignant severity , on the millions he slaughtered , the sufferings he caused by his spoliations and confiscations , and all this in order that he might be able to attack Ms country . In spite of conscience , however , the world will never eease to reverence success as such , and Caesar is the man of all others , at least in undent history , who was at once most brilliant and niost successful .. But whether we agree or not with Arnold , who generally tries to exalt Porupey at the expense of Caesar , who Idved the pure character of the one , as he detested the moral degradation of the other , we are never weary of hearing about the nephew of Marius , who , after conquering the world , perished vilely by the hands of assassins , who were also his friends .

      Archdeacon Williams , therefore , has chosen an attractive subject . Ever since the time of Plutarch the biographer has commanded more readers than the historian , and when he deals with a well-known name-, of whom all wish to know everything that can . "be said , it is his own fault if he does not succeed . Archdeacon Williams tells us , in his preface , that" he has been far more anxious to represent facts , their causes and consequences , as they were represented by Caesar himself and his contemporaries , than to exhibit them , as coloured by modern writers , more anxious to discover in the history of past events a confirmation of their own prejudices , than the conclusions which an unbiased judgment must necessarily draw . ' * The first chapter is introductory , and the remaining portion consists of a faithful narrative of Cajsar's life , from which the reader'is left to draw his own conclusions . The fault of the book is that it is too much a mere record of facts—it is deficient

      in personal interest—there is no warmth of tone , no brilliant colouring . Still , it is the work of an accomplished scholar , who has taken obvious pains to state all the necessary facts about the life of Julius Ccesar , and will , no doubt , take its place us a very useful and readable biography . ' A new edition of Gay ' Fables , with , an Original Memoir , Introduction , and Annotations , by Octavius Freere Owen , has been published by Messrs . Routledge . ^ The editor takes extraordinary credit to himself for originality . ** We live , " he says , "in the days of literary veneer . ; the true Spanish mahogany upon the Honduras of originality is nearly withered to the stump : nothing is said but what has been spoken before . The ' points' of our best novels are merely old friends in a new dress ; the tags' of our dramas , the airs of our overtures , are the odds and ends of ancient compositions . " This tremendous dish of satire is an introduction to a short Life of Gay , and a few notes scattered here and there among the Fables . It is to be hoped that

      Mr . Owen -will not content himself with this . When an author denounces with such vehemence the plagiarism of his follows , and comes forward himself « s the apostle of originality and common sense , " we wait in anxious suspense for a new revelation . Iiut in spite of jus bombastic preface , and some commonplace dulness in the Annotations , Mr . Owen has produced & very creditable edition of Cray ' s Fables , and wo hope that it will bq successful . Tlie Volunteer Rifleman and the liifle } by John Boucher , is one of the many books which vro owe to the war . It was written for the use of the Hanover Park Ride Association , was originally circulated in a manuscript form , and is published at the request of some military friends . It ia full of practical directions , and hna the merit of being the iirat treatise of the kind . la days when the majority of Englishmen have forgotten how to fight , the following remarks aro well worth reading : —

      TIio cant phrase with those * who sneer at the idea of preparing for danger in tho time of peace , , that , in the event of an inviiHlon talking place , " England would riHQ as one man ; " but this ia absurd , for what would bo tho use of a . half-armed undisciplined rabble , such as could bo got together on n sudden emergency ? Tho great mass know no more about a g ? un than they do of ttio working of a steam-engine , nnd , if intrusted with arms and formed into lino , would bo much more likely to cause

      dcatruc-A Defence of Religion is not the most intelligible title in the world- One naturally asks which religion Mr . Crosskey proposes to defend ? Only think of a good orthodox Protestant attracted by the title , and purchasing Mr . Crosskey ' s Defence ! "What a disappointment would ensue J It is true that the book is saved from any such fate by the circumstance that it forms a portion of " Chapman ' s Library for the People ; " but still we advise the author to fix upon some more distinctive appellation . The Defence of Religion is inscribed to George Jacob Holyoake , for whose " brave sincerity , and reverence ^ for truth and justice , " the author professes great regard . Mr . Crosskey is a theist , and defends his position by arguments drawn from the constitution of human nature , and by an appeal to experience , on which latter point he says that " the experience of all religious natures is that man can easily hold real , and actual , and living communion with his God . Then if ive require a test of experience , the required test is to be found in the simple axiom that truth must last . " The following extract is taken from a chapter on " Objections to the reality and worth of the religious sentiment" : —

      Priests , for their own interest , are charged with persuading men to receive tales about the Goda . But , unless an actual tendency of human nature is seized upon , the chance to deceive is not great . The vain man is deceived by propitiating his vanity —tho proud man by appeals to his pride . Tho deceiver always needs something to woik upon in the character of tho deceived . Granted the existence , therefore , of any number of fraudulent priests , it yet remains to bo explained what tendencies of character they took advantage of in order to be successful in deceit . History shows no possibility of such a wide-spread fraud as this account represents religion , altogether unconnected with any part of the natural constitution of man . Moreover ,

      priests have ahvays been opposed to pure and fresh manifestations of tho Religious Sentiment . These priesta , said to have becw its inventors , have been its greatest antagonists . "Who opposed tho Jewish Prophets ? The priests . Who wore Uhrist ' a bitterest foes ? Tho priests . Who were Luther ' s antagonists V The priests . A priest is one claiming to stand between a man and his God- —a mediator and intercessor . Religion is personal and individual communion with tho ever-present leather . Therefore has every great religious reformation been fought ugninat the priests , and they hare been inveterate antagonists of the purely religious life of humanity . r J , ' o priests , therefore , can hardly bo ascribed tho invention of that against which they havo ever faithfully made war .

      Jhe most striking feature in Diprosa ' s Funny Book is that it is not at nil funny , consisting of some very old English jokoa , and some not good American ones . Ir > addition to tho above , wo need only announce that Mr . I 3 ontley hns published in a cheap form Mr , Proscott- ' a well-known und most valuable works , The Conquest of Mexico , and The Iteign of Ferdinand and Isabella - Fern Leaves from Fanny ' s Portfolio wo have already noticed . Frascr ' n Handbook for Ireland has reached a fourth edition , and , " from the altered st « to of travelling consequent on tho railways , may , in a great measure , bo regarded 119 a new work . " Anderson ' s Mercantile Correspondence ia suiliciently well known to render any criticism needless . The only other books on our list are an edition of Milton ' s Paradise Lost , and Paradise Jlegained , published by Nelson ; a pamphlet by Mr . Ruwlinson on the Drainage of Towns ; und a re-publication of tbo Speeches on National Education , delivered by Lord Brougham in . tho House , of Lords on the 24 th of July aud the 4 th of August , 1854 ,

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      * Williams' L \ fa of Julius Caisar . ( Koutlodgo . )—Gay ' s Fables . By O . F , ( hvon , M . A . - ( RoutlcdgvJ—' flte Volunteer Rifleman and the ft \/ le . By John Boucher . ( UunU Tvick « . )—Balfotir ' s Outlines of Botany . ( Adum stnd Olmrles limok . )—Philosophy of the Infinite . By Honry Caldcrwoud . ( Constable nnd Co . )—A Defence qf Religion . Ily H . Vf . Croaskoy . ( Ghnpmnn . )—The JPhaCographia Primer . By Joseph Oaiixlol . ( PJiotocrnphlo Institution . )—JJiprosa ' s Funny Jtiooh . ( Hnnlwlcko . ^—l > r * acotCs History of tho Conquest qfAicxico . ( Bontloy . ) . —Pretcolfa History of the Iteijm of Ferdinand and Isabella flfaatloy . )—Fern Leaves /) 'om Fanny ' s Portfolio . ( Ward and liock . )—Fvaser ' a Handbook fW Ireland . ( James M'Gluahan , Dublin . )—Anderson ' s Mercantile Correspondence . { EiflngUara Wilson . )—Milton ' s Paradise Lost and Paradise Regained , ( Nelson . )

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      932 THE LEADER . [ Saturday ,

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Sept. 30, 1854, page 932, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2058/page/20/