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    ALL ROUND THE WREKIN *

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    SEA SIDE-BOOKS.* -

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    Untitled Article

    Comparative physiology may one day come to our aid in these curious inquiries , and we may ascertain what relation the development of the nervous system of insects , for example , and their consumption of nervous matter , bears to the quantity and quality of the instincts they put forth . Many ideas of a supernatural character appear to take their origin in mental aberration , and while some insane persons enjoy beatific visions , or seethe heavens opened before them , others are pursued by furies as tragie , if not as classic , as those recorded in

    old Greek plays . Thus a convict in Van Dieman ' s Land , having murdered one of his overseers , escaped into the bush , and after a while went mad , rushing from tree to tree , endeavouring to escape an imaginary avenger whom he fancied was tracking him . At length , in an agony of remorse and terror , he gave himself up to the police , and prayed for death to release him from the spectre that was for ever present to his mind . In another case , the victim of aberration reproduced , though in a rougher and coarser way , the agonised remorse of Macbeth .

    The action of physical disturbance presents itself in a two-fold form , insanity , from external injuries , is not uncommon and , on the other hand , there are cases in which a blow on the head , or even a wound involving loss of brain , has had a curative effect , and the madness or idiotcy has disappeared . Still more curious is the command of mind over body , as shewn by physical changes in various organs following , and apparently being the result of , long continued attention to the subject in the shape of expectation of the disease that actually appeared . Cures of positive physical

    disorder through the action of mental impressions have occurred in all ages , and none were more remarkable than those of the Irish gentleman , M . Greatrex , who felt that he could remove disorders by simple touch . We now laugh at the application of royal fingers fpr the " king ' s evil , " and at the niiraculous virtues ascribed to the hand of a murderer as capable of charming away a wen ; but these and similar magical practices of past times , or remote villages in , our day , may not be entirely destitute of foundation , but be illustrations of the force of mental impressions laroduced by

    foolish means . The marked phenomena of speech accompanying cerebral disorders suggest many puzzling considerations , both as to the portion of the brain which is effected , and the precise mental disturbance which has taken place . Dr . Wihslow cites , on the authority of Dr . Osborne , the following extraordinary case which will illustrate these facts : —A gentleman of great literary and linguistic attainments was seized with an apopletrc fit . In a fortnight he was restoredrto _ the command of his intelligence , but was deprived of speech . His articulation was not impaired , but he could only utter syllables , conveying no definite ideas . If the case had stopped here it . would not have been difficult to understand , but the peculiarity was that although he could pronounce articulate sounds , and that he correctl

    understood all that was said -o him , proving y associated sounds and ideas , and although he could read books in various languages , and write correct translations of them , he could not repeat or read any sentence correctly . By way of testing his powers Dr . Osbprne invited him to read the following sentence , containing a bye-law ' of the College of Physicians : — " It shall be in the power of the College to examine or not examine any licen-^ at ^ TeVioiirtoirfs ^ fit . " This he rendered into gibberish thus : ¦— " And the be what in the temotho of the trothotodoo to majprum or that emidrate ein einkastrai mestreit to ketra to torn breidei to ra fromtriedo as that kekreitest . " A second attempt made a few days afterwards with the same sentence was equally unfortunate . The patient gave another specimen of the same unknown tongue , in which , as in the first . German sounds , thought not German words , were

    conspicuous . . It would be exceedingly difficult to surmise what mental difficulties this gentleman laboured under , and by what morbid process of association he was compelled to utter such sounds in the attempt to convey by speech what he would have written correctly in several languages . Another curious symptom in certain cases is the " echo" state , in which the patient repeats whatever is said to him . Ramsay mentions an idiot boy who mimicked music in the same way . In some cases insanity leads to a loss of speech without any paralysis of the organs . Brierre de Boismont tells of a man insane for fifty-two years , and who did not speak for thirty years of the time . Shortly before his death his faculty of Bpeech returned . We must here close our notice of Dr . Winslow ' s remarkable book , which is an invaluable magazine of facts , and which wo are glad to find is only the precursor of another work which we hope shortly to see .

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    T ^ HIS well known Shropshipo proverb serves Mr . Walter White , JL the author of many books of travels , for the title of a work that describes many pictarcsqiioplnc Guy's Cliff , in Warwickshire , with its nccoHsorieH in the river Avon , and the " stately pfrove , " celebrated by Fuller . The terrific phenomena of the Black . Country next detain the writer , and load him to admire " the omnipotence of coal and , iron , " But nt ¦ Wolverhampton ho escapes from" smoko and noise into fields and pastures . Outran and Wrottesloy Hall then pass in review ; the astronomer at the latter iicting as the author ' s cu-crone , in the library and the observatory . Chillinftton and Boscobol , with tho

    Royal Oak , or its descendant , from whence the traveller may get a peep at the . Wrekin , and St . Bartholomew at Tong , next command attention . At this last place , Sir Thomas Stanley ' s tomb has an epitaph , which some antiquaries say , was ( and it iniglit have been ) , written by Shakspere . Here it is : Not Monumental'Stone preserves our fame , ¦ 2 for sky-aspiring Pyramids our name . The Memory of him for whom , this stands Shall outlive marble and defacer ' s hands : When all to Time r s consumption shall be given , Stanley , for whom this stands , shall stand in Heaven . " Hawkstonc Park , the seat of Lord Hill , is fully described , and also the river of Ellesmere , a place " where was a castelle . " Anon , we find ourselves at Llangollen aiul Owestry . and Sweeny , with its Silurian and Cambrian rocks , Ere long- we are in the vale of Severn . But we must hurry on . It is - impossible to name all the places mentioned in the book ; we must , therefore , transport ourselves to the City of Wroxeter , the Jimlish Pom / pen ' ¦ , not , however , to extract our author ' s able description of the buried town , but Is recommend it to the reader's perusal . The name of the place , lie tells us . was well chosen by the Romans , * ' for Uricon is but the Romanized form of Wrekin . The Saxons , in their turn , combining-Wrekin-ceastre , originated the present name Wroxetor : "

    The view from the summit of the Wrekin , a . height of 1 , 320 feet , is called by an old topographer " delightfully awful . " Mr . White corroborates his testimony . His walk round the Wrekin is , however , completed sooner than his book . Before we have got half through it , we find the task accomplished ; but having another fortnight ' s holiday , Mr . White journeyed back to ' Birmingham , on which town he bestows some half dozen chapters , ancl then visits other places ; the Potteries of Staflordshire auunuf the number , proving ' , during his rambles , the truth of his motto , that , " with unabated bounty the land of England blooms and grows ; wayinjr with yellow harvests ; thick studed Avith workshops ; industrial implements , with fifteen millions of workers , understood to be the strongest , the cunningest , and the-. willingest our earth ever had . " Those Avho thus think and feel with the -author" in connection with picturesque spots of our country will find abundant enjoyment in the perusal of this excellent work .

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    POPULAR Marine Zoology seems in increasing demand , and though , lew visitors to our sea-aide haunts are prepared for any elaborate investigation-of the wondersJ > f the shore , many are . eager to-know enough to take an intelligent intei'est in an aquarium , or some such means of amusement . A few years ago , Dr . Harvey produced his admirable sea-side book , which seems to have suggested the pretty work by Mr . Fraser , called " Ebb and Flow , " in which will be found clear and pleasant ? descriptions of tides and currents , aspects of the shore and changes on our sea-coasts , together-with chapters on sea weedsj shells and shell fish , sea anemonies , jelly fishes , true flalies , arid the birds freqnenting marine localities . This little book is elegantly illustrated , and will we hope redeem the sea-side excursions of sotne hundreds of young ladies and gentlemen from the tediousness of perfect idleness , only relieved by remarkable displays of wonderful trousers and crinoline . Mr . Wraxall ' s book is based upon a German work , of the same name

    ^ y ~ J 3 rr ^ XartAvIg ; and does not confine Itserf , nike ^ rR : Bb ~ ancl"rio *« 7 to the sea shore , but plunges into great oceans in search of whales , dolphins , and other huge inhabitants-of the . mighty deep . The account of the most interesting fishos is well given , and those to whom , such narratives are new will read , with surprise , of tho Anobas , or climbing fiali of East India , China , and tho Moluccas , which , by being able to keep its gills under cover and prevent their drying cum make inland excursions and climb trees in search of its usual prey . The Hasdftr ( Doras CasfataJ , ia another of those amphibious fishes , and belongs to South America . It will spend a whole night in wandering from a pond which has dried up in search of another which has retained its water . The Hassar is also remarkable for making a nest for itB eggs , and for wa . tch . inc its young with sometliing like maternal atfoction . The battle of

    life , upon which Mr . Darwin founds one portion ot Ins theory , must rage with extraordinary energy against some creatures , when a cod has to lay nine millions of eggs a year , and sturgeon seven millions , in order to keep their respective breeds in their duo numerical strength . Mr . Wraxall ' s book appears to bo very ; well put together , but when he speaks of those curious organs podicellariro of the sea urchins , as soizing and conveying prey to tho mouths of the creatures to which they are attached , he is saying somewhat more than it would be easy to prove , although wohave no doubt they are not parasites , but do in some way contribute to tho nutrition of the creatures from \ rliioU they

    An amusing instance of learned ignorance is gravely quoted from Professor Luckhart , as furnishing tho " boat idea of tho present position of science , " with rogard to the phosphoronco of various sea erouturos . Tho lournocl professor first ttilk « about phosphorus , which ho tolls us is probably proaont in lurgor quantities thun wo uro nwaro ; but not finding in tliis substance a probable explanation of tho phenomenon , he is ' « disposed" to think of " electric ouri-ent . s , nntl « n this liypothosi * hus - uo ~ foundation , Jio ^ . conjectures . " -thalight may come from chemical decomposition , a supposition on which wn inuv rest , " unless we prefer to confess our perfect ignornnw m th <« manor . Air uncomfortable conclusion , although in reality fur pmiurublo to tiic vnin effort to appear wiser than wo arc . ' Wo Btiid Mr . Jfraior ' a book was' a . pretty one , mul most , of »* »» O 1 ' miUioiMWom * oorroot ; but wo are uurpri » o < l nl . him myinn " / 'f ' twenty vuriotios of aotiaitn ore nh-oady known to naturulisla ax boJoiif , ' . ing to our nhores . " Mr . Qoaso onumopntos aovonty-llvo » jjoc-ip » oi

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    July 14 , i 860 . } The Saturday ' Analyst and Leader . ( 557

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    « Atl Rovml the Wrekin . By Walter White (! h «| umvn •«»

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    ' "Vkm and AV «« T ByT ^ rt W . Kra * . . p . Life in the Am . » . v I-hmi . | I . « \ Vnut « ll , Uatilatau uiiU \ Vrly ; lit ,

    All Round The Wrekin *

    ALL ROUND THE WREKIN . *

    Sea Side-Books.* -

    SEA SIDE-BOOKS . * >

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), July 14, 1860, page 657, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2356/page/9/