On this page

• Departments (1)
  • 
• Text (6)

  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.

  • 

    Untitled Article

  • 

    Untitled Article

  • 

    Untitled Article

  • 

    Untitled Article

  • 

    1i v tfi>rnfirri> 3!^U£I UUU £»

  • 

    Untitled Article

• 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.

    Untitled Article

    . . . . ¦ ¦ - . . . ¦ ¦ . ?> ¦ ¦• • . ¦ .. ¦ 3 ritiG 3 are notthe legislators , but the judges and police of literature . They do not . make laws—they interpret and try to enforce tlxara .. —Edinburgh Heview *

    Untitled Article

    Has any one ever writtea an Essay on Dedications ? If not , we suggest the subject to contributors , as one capable of very piquant treatment , and very amusing historical illustration . With the disappearance of patrons , dedications have ceased for the most part , or have merged into friendly salutations . There are still , indeed , a few extremely feeble writers who dedicate to Prince Albceht and the Queen of Hanovkk , as there are occasional pig-tails which still arrest the passing gaze in quiet provincial towns . Should any ingenious , reader of this ingenious journal follow our . hint , and write tbe essay , let him by no means forget that marvellous dedication of Edwabds ' s History of Birds , which a writer in Frctser this month has given in a-note : — Though somewhat voluminous , it is a careful and interesting compilation . The " dedication" is a literary curiosity : —

    To Gor > , The one Eternal ! the Incomprehensible ! the Omnipresent , Omniscient , and Almighty Creator of all things that exist ! from orbs immeasurably great to the minutest points of-matter , ' this Atom is Dedicated and devoted with all possible gratitude , humiliation , worship , and the highest admiration of both body and mind , " By His most resigned , low , and humble creature , ¦ ¦ . ' ¦ ' „ ¦ ¦ . ' ... " Geor g e Edwards . It appears that Solomon ' s remark on the absence of novelty is true even of such freaks of madness as the dedication of an Epic poem to the Almighty , which was gravely perpetrated by a writer of out own day , but Avhich we find to have been anticipated more than a century ago . The modern writer thought the Epic ( we beg pardon , the Epopa ) too high a thing to be dedicated to the Creature , therefore he dedicated his to the Creator . When the late George Darxey heai'd of this , he stuttered put , " I hope he sent the presentation copy splendidly bound ?* .

    The amusing article in Fraser from which we borrowed the passage just quoted is entitled " Sketches on the North Coast . " In it the writer has a passage about the amiable Calvinism of Scotland , which ought to be circulated : — . ' ¦ - ¦ ; . . . ' . ¦¦ ¦ .. -. .. - . ; '¦ : ' ' ¦ ¦'¦ .-. . ¦ .- ¦ . • . . ¦ ¦ . ¦ ¦ . ' . -. ' . ' ¦ . ' •' . ¦ ¦¦ ¦ .- ' . ¦¦ " ¦ ¦'¦¦ '¦¦ ¦ ¦¦ ¦ " ... ' . . To an Episcopalian , the society of indiscriminate Calvinists , who look upon him as given over to the enerny from , his baptism , cannot be very entertaining and you cannot feel peculiar cordiality for those who , could they get you into their clutches , would certainly send you , my dear Juniper , to the grass-market . A Scotch . Puritan should keepto Ida column .. He is out of his element in the society ofthe ' unregenerate . ' Indeed , how , -with his convictions , he can get through the business at all , it is difficult to understand . What do you think , for instance , this gentleman with the rubicund face , who sits beside you during dinner , and whose devotion to the good

    things of the table you have had occasion to admire—what do you think he believes in his heart ? Do you . know that , innocent and harmless as he appears on the surface , he sticks to a creed which asserts that the power of evil is inveterate and invincible ; that the po ^ ver of God is so feeble , that the'dominion of the good must he for ever restricted and confined ; that men ( because they have not accepted an economy which from the beginning was limited to the ' elect' ) have been created , not for life , but for death , and that they "will be eternally punished , not for any good it will do them , but to manifest the righteous and merciful nature of the Being who made them what they were ? And the man who holds this consolatory doctrine sits at your elbow and consumes his victuals , and neither smoke nor flames issue out of his mouth

    How can the starched neckcloth , and the black coat , and the spotless shirt-front cover such a furnace , and yet retain their unimpeachable propriety ? It is a dreadful anachronism . One cannot help feeling that , in artistic keeping with such a creed , something shocking ought fortlnvith to happen . But the rubicund face continues unmoved , and having discussed your claret , it will leave you in th , o perfect conviction that you are on the high road to destruction . How , next morning in the marketplace , it will strive to overreach its neighbour—how it will grovel in the dust at the foot of Dives—how it will sell its own blood for filthy lucre—and yet how , with all these things , it will unite a certain sincerity in its tremendous convictionsis one of those mysteries of the human heart into which one does not care to penetrate .

    Untitled Article

    In nothing is modern science so markedly distinguished from ancient science as in its clear perception of the difficulties of each problem . The greater our advance , the wider are our eyes opened to the difficulties of advancing ; the more we attempt to vei'ify , the greater doubt attends our verification - Formerly men guessed boldly , and seldom attempted to prove ; now proof itself is subject to counterproof , and that again to severe criticism . Even when experimental proof came into use , men were satisfied with what now satisfies no one . As an example let us consider for a moment the very valuable paper in the Annettes' des Sciences Naturclles just published . It is on a subject , and enters into details which few of our readers would understand ( Recliercltcs sw la Vote par layteelle de pet its corpuscules solides ' passent de Vintestin dans les va-isseatix sunguins ) \ but we will place the problem and the uolution in an intelligible form .

    thus explained ; accordingly , since 1843 Physiologists have been engaged in researches to ascertain through what avenues these solids have ° ained entrance . The first experiments seemed to prove that the vessels absorbed these solids , if very minute , almost as easily as li quidsmolecules of charcoal liaving indubitably passed from the intestine into the blood . But against these experiments it was objected , and with force , that the molecules of charcoal were like so many needles , and could easily tear through the delicate walls of the vessels . Nor -was this

    all . Dondebs and Mensonides , repeating the experiments , and taught by the spirit of modern science to doubt everything and examine every detail with suspicion , thought of examining their own blood and the blood of animals before trying the absorption of charcoal ; and to their surprise they discovered therein corpuscles which were so like the molecules of * charcoal as to be indistinguishable from them under the microscope . Is not this a curious example of the necessity for verification of every step ? What was the use of trying experiments with charcoal when the blood already contained particles not distinguishable from charcoal ?

    The physiologists whose paper we are now considering—MM . Marfels and MoxESCHOTT—feeling the necessity of some more rigorous demonstration , bethought them of employing substances which could not pre-exist in the blood , which were solids , and which eould not tear the walls of . the vessels . They selected blood corpuscles and pigment cells . The blood corpuscles of different animals differ much in size and figure , and are therefore easily distinguishable one from the other . Our authors first took the precaution of mixing the blood of a lamb with the blood of a frog , to see if

    they were distinguishable when , mixed , and to see if they would remain separate . Having ascertained both points , they fed frogs on lamb ' s blood , and had the satisfaction of finding the blood corpuscles absorbed into the veins , and circulating in the vessels as foreign , distinguishable solids . The same result was obtained with pigment . We need not dwell further on the matter ; the conclusion is enough , and that conclusion is : Minute solids cau be absorbed . But if the reader wishes for a lesson in scientific evidence such as modern science demands , he will do well to study the whole details of this paper .

    The vessels in which our nutrient fluids circulate—arteries , veins , capillaries , and lymphatics—form a system of closed canals , without any external openings . As there are no openings through which the food can pass from the intestines , but as the food indubitably does pass into the vessels , the first problem is , How can the food gain entrance ? Physiologists answer thia by showing that the food ia first rendered liquid , every solid particle being rendered soluble by the process of digestion , nnd this liquid passes by endosmose through the walla of the vessels . So far all is satisfactory . JBut the presence in the " blood of insoluble solids—especially the presence of fat globules—and tho whole question of the absorption of fat , was not to bo

    Untitled Article

    GERALD MASSEY'S POEMS . CraigcrooJc Castle . ByG eraldMassey . David Bogue . Those who have followed Mr , Gerald Massey ' s course as a poet will have noted an improvement which justifies the hope he expresses in the Dedication to this volume . . I pray you accept of this second effort as my best for the time being . In other years , God willing , I may win a touch more certain , and a larger reach , upon a harp of tenser strings . Having from , the first felt great interest in this young singer , and , while admiring the exuberant fancy lie displayed , always warned him against the mistakes into which it led him , we may here frankly say that unless he does 4 win a touch more certain and a larger reach" the promise of his youth and the ambition of his manhood will never be fulGlled .

    In Craigcrooh Castle there is manifest advance . Without losing any ol his exuberance , his felicity of expression , his lyrical feeling , he has considerably diminished the atFectations , conceits , and absurdities into which a riotous fancy seduced liis inexperienced style . But the advance is at present only negative . He has not gained new power . He has added no strings to his harp . He was a purely fanciful poet—one in whom Fancy usurped the place of Imagination , Thought , and Emotion ; and such he l'emains . The beauties and the faults of this volume are , witli rai * e exceptions , the beauties of a quick and graceful Fancy , and the faults of a Fancy uncorrcctcd . In the descriptions of Nature we seldom see the things described , or feel the emotions they would excite in us if seen . Instead of vividly making present

    to us the objects themselves ( as the objective poets make them present ) , or the emotions which sensitive natures feel in their presence ( as the subjective poets contrive to call up within us ) , Mr . Massey presents us wjjih the images which his active and capricious Fancy connects with the objects . We may admire his skill , but we do not share his feeling ; the expression of his Fancy may be felicitous , but , even when it is most so , - \\ e are not enriched as we are enriched by a fine image of the great poets , who teach us to look at Nature with keener eyes and more delicate susceptibilities . Tor example : —¦ Midsummer Morn her silvery-gray Rain-veil upliftcth fold on fold ; And , purple-fl uslit , and topt with gold , The white clouds kindle nnd float away O ' er violet-shadowed hills that stand In cloudy crowns , and soft attire ; And , in a frngrancy of fire , Midsummer Morn floods all the land . Did any one ever so consider Midsummer Morn before ? Will any one ever so consider it again ? When Tennyson spoke of " cedar-shadowy Ida , " he called up on image which the mind could dwell on with delight ; but when Mr . ' Massey calls the hills " violet-shadowed , he startles without pleasing ; and the " fragrancy of fire" which Morn is supposed to flood over the land neither recals any feeling-vre ' have of Morning , nor endows us witu a new image which Morning will call up again . Elsewhere he felicitously describes Morning in a couplet placed among lines which are more fnnciiui than felicitous : —

    Up purple twilights came the golden son Of sunlight breaking in a silent surge . This is an image which appeals to the reader ' s experience , and by it is r * j" " fied ; the dawn does advance like i \ tide , and this likeness Mr . Massey » & expressed in novel and happy phrase , Jtut who civn recognize anything i this ? - —

    1i V Tfi≫Rnfirri≫ 3!^U£I Uuu £»

    WxttAwt .

    Untitled Article

    1048 THE IiEADER ; [ No . 345 , Saturday ,

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Nov. 1, 1856, page 1048, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2165/page/16/