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Leader (1850-1860), 11th September 1858, Edition 1 of 2, Page 942, Untitled Article

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      Untitled Article

      A WORK ON DEAFNESS . On jRheumatism , Gout , and Neuralgic Headache in Relation to Deafness and Noises in the Ear . By William Harvey , F . K . C . S . Renshaw . The author states that Ms design in the present treatise is to trace the relations existing between the ear and its appendages , and those gouty , rheumatic , and neuralgic disorders of the parts about the head ' i face , and throat , which often complicate , sometimes cause , and too often protract indefinitely that very afflictive condition—partial or total

      deafness . In tracing the links of this ravelled chain of morbid actions , Mr , Harvey says that he has very frequently had occasion to observe that every form of disease treated of in this work has presented itself in one and the same case , but not always in the same order ; that gouty cases often owe their violence to rheumatic action , resulting from exposure to cold ; that rheumatism , on the other

      hand , is easily produced in a gouty subject , even when no gout actually exists at the time ; and that neuralgic pains and deafness are both at hand ready to attack , even when they are not leading maladies , nor even present among the existing symptoms . The same may be said of headache and noises in the ears , neither of which are long absent when the case is severe or protracted . Yet again , in other cases , noise may exist without headache , _ or beadache without noise , or deafness without either .

      The author has , therefore , divided the treatise into three chapters- ^ -the first comprehending those cases where rheumatism is the prominent symptom , the second relating to the gouty constitution , and the third to the neuralgic or nervous . The important point , of all others , Mr . Harvey calls the reader ' s attention to is , that whenever deafness may be clearly traced to any of these morbid conditions of the system as a . cause , then the method of treatment suggested in this volume may

      be relied upon with confidence . In fact , he has been much gratified in witnessing the relief wliich has often speedily-followed the adoption of this simple treatment , the natient having been previously subjected to' manipulations , which not only inflicted a large amount of unnecessary pain , but in many instances aggravated the exciting disease . The book is written in an unpretending style , and we can recommend its perusal to all suffering from deafness .

      Untitled Article

      CHINA . China : being the " Times" Special Correspondence from China in the Years 1857-58 . By George Wingrove Cooke . G . Routledge and Co . Mb . Wingeove Cooke ' s Chiua letters were so anxiously looked for , and so eagerly studied by readers of the Timte and of other journals which appropriated them—in fact , by the community at large- —that many of their salient features are . still fresh in public recollection . They can , however , be read , when collected , with so much more attention , comfort , and chance of : profit , than in the newspaper form , that we , at least , were glad of

      Poor Mr . Wingrove Cooke ! While he was sympathising with the fate of the battalions and tue civil colonists , for whose custody our paternal Government selected pestilential Hong-Kong , he was unaware , perhaps , that the public were investigating the mortality of her Majesty ' s , household -troops , under the . very noses , and , as some fondly thought , under the immediate care of the Dowbocracy itself . What hope is there for soldiers in China when soldiers perish for want of care at Charing Cross ? Mr . Cooke has wisely not based any elaborate essay upon the . national character upon the mere cuticle of China which lies along the seaboard , inhabited by one out of a score of nations who arc but barely welded together into the empire : '

      The truth is ( he says ) , that I have written several very flue characters for the whole Chinese race ; but having the misfortune to have the people under my eye at the same time with my essay , they were always saying something or doing something which rubbed so rudely against my hypothesis that , in the interest of truth , I burnt several successive letters . We will endeavour to condense a few of the author ' s remarks upon the possibility of our obviatin g the unfavourable aspect of our trade-balance with China . Some years ago the Carolus dollar could be bought at 4 s . 2 tL English money , and when you had thus bought it you could exchange it for 2000 of the copper cash of the country . Now , partly by t h

      the action of the exchanges , and parly throug popular caprice , a Carolus dollar costs about 7 s . English money , and y ou have great difficulty in getting 1200 cash for it . V The metal silver has diminished in value while in places the coin is at a fancy price . Thus it happens that a man who has a fixed income from England . instead of getting 2000 cash for every 4 s . 2 d ,, only gets 1200 cash for every 7 s ., a difference so enormous that it would be incredible if every table of official figures did not prove the fact . Merchants still draw no conclusions from these premises . They see prices going up enormously and ' with occasional vibrations maintaining their advance ; yet they still neglect to buy articles which are getting dearer except with silver which is gettmff cheaper .

      The author can sec no other remedy for the present unsatisfactory state of things—no other means whereby the export of tea and silk can go on—except the sending of cottons and broadcloth and hardware and lace to China instead of bullion . The usual answer to this is , that the Chinese are not easily induced to adopt foreign fashions ; but the author considers this as well as other alleged reasons insufficient to account for the paucity of British exports . He believes that though a China woman will not wear a Cranbourne-strcet bonnet , nor a coolie a pair of Stuart plaid trousers , they would

      readily purchase manufactures suitable to then prejudiced and very economical turn of mind , There is nothing surprising in this ; but the shortsightedness of the merchants implied by the author is , if true , very surprising . We adapt our Manchester goods to the South American , Pacific , and West Indian markets . Travellers among the looms and spindles see dyed fabrios of forms , texture , pattern , and colour that would astonish a cockney anywhpro but on the boards of a theatre ; yet Mr . Cooke soems to say that our merchants , as a general rulq , insist upon forcing into tho Chinese

      markets our ordinary grey calicoes of a fabric unsuitqd ; to . the ,, demands of the people , which must compete with nativia goods that' Will answer their purpose verjr fairly . < f At this moment , " he says , " narrow thick calicoes , which one of tho Hong-Kong houses had tho wit to order from England , are soiling at very remunerative prices , Thoro is also some trado doing in cotton brocades , mado in imitation of tho Chinese silk brocados , of the same flowered pattern and dyed to tho same colours . " Again , it is a mistake to supposo that tho Chinese ai * o not fond of Western fashions . Tho author was u surprisod to find furniture without a

      mandarin , a dragon , or a pieoo of inlaid ivory about it , and-imitated _ -frpm l , drawings in the Illustrated London News—a , paper wfiloli K , Clunaman ^ awayir anxious to bog , borrow , or steal . If Messrs . Moses and Son had boon at Shanghao with a proper staff of Chinese poets , and a real good assortment of loose Chincso o'qats , frosh from tho Minories , they might ; have . sold , hundreds of them in Shaughao alono on that severely wintry morning 1 , when tho thermometer stood only a little above summer heat . " Tho letters referring to tho demeanour of tho oaptivo Yoh wore very favourably received , on their first

      their republication by Messrs . Routledge and Co . If , inthespaqe at our disposal , we can pretend to do much more than barely announce the title and publisher of a work of this kind , we ought , we presume , to indicate some points or topics treated in it on which we conceive the public memory ought to be charged or refreshed . Briefly , then , we take itthat Mr . Cooke ' s observations on the insalubrity , of Hong-Kong and the state of our trade relations with , the Celestials , deserve , in our opinion , to be read and re-read . The colonial vital statistics of her Majesty ' s unhappy 59 th Regiment , stationed at Hong-Kong , are wortn a wilderness of argument : — Of the 600 men who form the strength of the 59 th , there are 150 in hospital .

      This regiment has beon at Hong-Kong for eight years , and there are ten men of those who originally landed now left . The climate , the samshoo , and pther causes which I can only glance at , have melted all Us strength away , and it is quite wonderful that it was able to behayq ,, ftq ^ el fl fit '" the capture of Canton . I was told , though thei " Btatemoitit' 8 eem ' a '" q ' ultdwinVJriffaible 7 i ; halr-upi « words of 2000 men . have been buried , or sent home permanently invalided , since the 60 th have been at

      Hong-Kong , and that the drafts for this regiment have spoilt two battalions . The expenditure of tho flower of our English manhood , in such stations ad thjla , and the possibility of mitigating the evil by a judicious and more rapid eyele round all our foreign possessions , form a subject far too large to be discussed in a foot-note ; but I am convinced , by careful investigation , that no efforts Of a commanding officer ean keep a European regiment permanently stationed at Hong-Kong in a state of military efficiency ,

      Untitled Article

      THE ANCIENT SCOTS . History of the Ancient Scots . In Three Parts . By the Rev . Duncan M'Gallum . 12 mo . Edinburgh : J . Menzies ; . This is a small but learned book , and is not only interesting to the countrymen of the land of which it treats , but to all historians . The origin of nations is always a vexed question , and there arc few subjects" that hav . c more earnestly attracted the attention of the learned than the early state of the two very different races that originally occupied the northern portion of our island . The author has no misgivings about the early accounts of the condition

      of the Celtic race , and takes the orthodox slatemerit , as founded on . the Scriptural narration of the dispersion , as the foundation of his historic system . He has Carefully studied the classic and collateral authorities , and has given the result in a clear and concise manner . He takes no notice of a theory which has been started by some antiquarians , that Britain itself rather peopled the French and Belgian coasts than derived its population from them- ^ a theory wliich is adverse to all the written statements that have come down to us ,, and-has-only-a faint probability from the fact that Druidism was in a more perfect state in Britain than in Gaul when the Romans first visited our shores .

      The work is divided into three parts . Ihe origin of the , ancient Scots to the beginning of the ninth century . From the ninth to the thirteenth century . The Hebrides under the government of Norway-Somerlcd , and chiefs descended from Somciled . This Somerlcd—unknown to most mere ' English readers by that name—was a great thane of Argylc , who conquered and held the Hebrides , or Western Islands , and was known as Lord of the Isles , and

      from him descended a memorable raccj who lived as independent monarchs , until Baliol concluded a treaty with one of the lords , who consented to be a liegeman , receiving in return the isles of Mull , Skye , and Islay . The little book abounds with adventures ami anecdotes of the conflicts of the various clans , and the extraordinary feuds and escapes of the chieftains , and is , altogether , a curious , interesting , aud learned work .

      Untitled Article

      The Money Bag . No . V . ( IX F . Oakey . )—This shilling serial has reached its fifth number . The articles embrace literature , politics , and finance . Many of the subjects are handled in a stylo which would not discredit . tho higher class , at least in price , of similar publications . The Ladies' Treasury . With Illustrations . ( Ward and Co . )—A decided improvement both in text mid illustrations is to be found in the number for this month . Thia little work may with safety be introduced iuto families . MagnalVa Questions . ( Ilardwicko . )— Tho object of this work is to supply answers—as a matter of course brief—to historical and miscellaneous questions . Tlioro is also a selection of British and general biography . As an aid to memory tho . " questions " .. will have their value .

      Curiosities of Literature . By B . D'lfliiAELt . ( Koutlodge . )—What nood wo do more of a work that in in tho library of every gontloman and man of letters ; than reproduce from the notice which introduces this cheap issue of tho first collected edition of this runownwl compiler the fact that tho volumes " offer us a uholi " , a divor 8 iflod miscellany of literary , artistic , ami political history of critical disquisition and biogrnphic . il anecdote , " to be found in equal excellence in tho liU'rnvy records of no other nation . Tho now edition has l > oon edited , with Memoir and Notes , by the ltight Hon . Benjamin Disraeli ; and Messrs . Koutledge have taken ffitrn ^ tlmiy » f . hfl »!»« iy : po ^ rftpli , y--nn < L . p / LpflR-ahiill bo W ' ' / of the work .

      Untitled Article

      appearance , and arc particularly worth perusal . If it be true that a Chinese embassy is due at Claridge ' s before long , we may gather from Mr . Cooke ' s studies of xeh and his compatriots -what manner of men we are to expect . The ' Appendix contains an interesting report o £ Tsaug Wang-yen ,, a . distinguished member of . " the Haii-liu academy , and ah ex-Government official of standing , upon the origin of the rebellion in China , with notes by Mr . Wade , the Chinese Secretary to our Embassy at Hong-Kong .

      Untitled Article

      BOOKS RECEIVED THIS * WEEK . Eva Desmond ; or . Imitation . 3 vols . post 8 vo . Smith and EMor . Topics for the Indian Statesman . By J . B . Norton . « vp . Kichardson Brothors . Tho Palm , Crisis ; or , Three Monttts aC Patna . By W . Taylor . Post 8 vo . Niabot ami to . History of the British Empire in India . By IS . Thornton . Second Edition . 8 vo . W . II . Allon ami Co .

      Untitled Article

      942 THE LEABElt . [^ ° * 442 , September 11 , 1858 ,

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Sept. 11, 1858, page 942, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2259/page/22/