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March 7,1857.] THE LEAD El, ¦ ' ¦!. ::_^...
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IVO11S. Ivors. By the Author of " Amy He...
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THE PAUIS UNIVERSAL EXHIBITION-. lUyorts...
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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.
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Nature And Art In Disease. Of Nature And...
5 . Finally , it is the same ignorance of Nature and her proceedings that often forces medical men to multiply their visits and their prescriptions , to an extent not simply unnecessary , but really injurious to the patient , as could be easily shown . The work is characterized by moderation and good sense . Its opinions are urged "with the warmth of conviction , but without the heat of polemics . After explaining what are the general notions of Disease he touches on the causes and nature of Disease , adding : — It "will be thus seen that disease , contrary to the vulgar notion of it , is no-new thing superadded to the living body and constituting a special entity in rerum natura , but is a mere group or collection of modifications of structures already existing , and of actions always going on in a living-system . Whatever be the remote or exciting cause of the morbid state or disease , whether external to the body or originating in the body , the morbid state itself is always the product of the body itself , that is , of the vital actions always taking place within it , and of the materials of which it is normally composed .
Neither is disease , as others believe , a distinct impermm in imperio , independent of , and setting at defiance the legitimate laws of the organism in which it is developed , and acting in accordance with laws of its own . It is rather , if we may carry on this analogy , like a constitutional Opposition in a free government , organized in accordance with the existing laws , and still submitting—reluctantly it may be—to their sway . . ' -. '¦ ¦• . ¦ '¦ . ' . This brings the question within the seopo of Physiology and Pathology ; and leads to the investigation of the laws of the organic processes , which , when fully ascertained , will enable us to appreciate the disturbances we name disease , and the means possessed of arresting them . Sir John Forbes , in speaking of the ordinary . division into Structural and Functional diseases , says , " It may even be questioned whether there is not
of necessity some degree of structural change , whether discoverable or not , in every instance of diseiise . " We cannot think it questionable at all , but certain . Functional disease means disturbance of some function ; function is the activity of an organ ; but this activity is no independent entity capable of being affected in itself ; and to suppose a function can be disturbed without an equivalent cause in the disturbance of the organ , is like supposing that the motion of a billiard ball could be changed in its direction ¦ without any alteration in the direction of the ball . The equivoque lies in men habitually regarding the solids of the body as alone constituting the structure ; whereas the iluids not only constitute part of the structure—the Wood being , as Bordeu finely called it , fluent flesh , la chair coula ? ite—but almost all the so called solids of the body are semi-lluid .
Sir John believes , as we said , in the curative powers of Nature . He does not seem to have very clearly settled with himself what precise meaning should be attached to such a statement ; at times he seems to favour the idea of a vismedicatrix , at times lie seems more philosophically to Relieve that the natural organic processes tend in their undisturbed influence to rid the body of all noxious influences , and restore the healthy activity of the organs : — Among the numerous and manifold misconceptions respecting the natural liistory of diseases prevalent in the public mind , aud , I may add , in the mind of professional men also , there is none greater than that which regards the termination of diseases , especially acute diseases . Iii the case of chronic diseases , and of slight diseases of all kinds , most persons are prepared to admit that a certain proportion of cases may end
favourably—in other words , may terminate in health—when abandoned entirely to Nature . In the case of severe diseases , however , more especially acute diseases , and most of all in inflammatory and febrile diseases , the predominant opinion is that , if left to Nature , the great majority of cases would prove fatal , the recoveries witnessed being regarded as almost entirely the consequence of the interference of Art . That such should be the opinion of non-professional persons is not at all surprising , -when we consider what is the ordinary source of lay notions respecting diseases and their treatment . It may seem , however , somewhat strange that , witli their opportunities of judging , such an opinion should be also that of the professors of the medical art . Yet that it is so , is not only to be inferred from the extreme reluctance universally evinced to trust the event of such cases to Nature , but from the recorded opinions of practical authorities . And yet the facts of the case are entirely at variance with such a statement .
Even in the instance of the most fatal of acute diseases , as in Asiatic cholera , plagxie , and yellow fever , we find a considerable proportion of the sick recover , under every variety of treatment , and alike under nominal as real treatment . The half , the third , or fourth part , of those attacked by such diseases , who recover , are , generally speaking , restored by the powers of Nature alone . In less fatal diseases , as in ordinary inflammations of the viscera or membranes , as in inflammations of the lungs , liver , pleura , peritoneum , & c , whether left entirely to Nature or treated by means incapable of controlling them in any way , we find a still larger proportion of cases terminating in recovery , more or less perfect . In the zymotic or poisonous eruptive fevers , as in smallpox , measles , scarlatina , & c , it is now universally admitted to be impossible to check their course ; and all our most experienced and moat enlightened practitioners agree that the terminations , whether favourable or unfavourable , are only very slightly modifiable by treatment ; and yet we find a large proportion of auch disoases always terminating in restoration or health .
For the carrying out of his views into detail Sir . John declares that health and years arc wanting to him ; but he points out the direction which Young Physic should take .
March 7,1857.] The Lead El, ¦ ' ¦!. ::_^...
March 7 , 1857 . ] THE LEAD El , ¦ ' ¦! . :: _^___ jgg-
Ivo11s. Ivors. By The Author Of " Amy He...
IVO 11 S . Ivors . By the Author of " Amy Herbert , " " Clevo Hall , " & c . 2 vols . Longman and Co We have had these two thick voliunes in hand too loJig , perplexed to know how to ilc : il with Uilmu . \\ c have seldom met wilh more pleasant reading , and jet the construction of the work \ a indiilurent . 'Hiere are . sonic excellent , developments of character and good situations , but no story . What perplexes us the moat in , that the book is a total failure for the object of ( he writer , if we guess that aright ;' but it is eminently successful in refuting her positions , ho that we should condemn it , probably for what the lady desires to enforce , and our condemnation would be clinched by the . hourtv praise which wo must bestow . Perhaps we may guess at the duplex CiiusJ . s which have produced this unequal result : wo should say that tlio writer lm . s a hearty , clear , healthy , and animated intellect , but has been brought up in a sectarian training , the habits of which sho does not know what to do with .
Ivors is the seat of Sir Henry ; Clare , a good and kind-hearted man , too much interested in political affairs to give due attention to those of his family . Having lost an excellent wife , and having two young children , a son and a daughter , he seeks a head for his household ; and he offers his hand to Lady Augusta Mordaunt , " a cold , hard , harsh-mannered woman . " The lady accepts him , not from any affection , but " because she -wanted occupation , independence , and the excitement of a new-made life , " because "it was an opportunity for testing her theories , " for she is a Mziria Edgeworth of forty-tutor power . She enters her married life with the determination to be an exemplary stepmother ; but as she was actuated "by no feelings of tenderness towards the child , no earnest desire to ensure her future happiness ; as every thought , word , and action had reference to herself , and the triumphant success which she anticipated ; so-the-child becomes at first a slave , and then a renegade . In her childhood , " playfelLows were
forbidden , walks were limited to the precincts of the park ; the contaminating influence of the world was the' subject , continually , discussed in Helen ' s presence . " In the neighbourhood of Ivors resides the sister of Helen ' s own mother , a widow with a large family , brought up in an unpretending , practical way . Mrs . Graham is the contrast with Lady Augusta . She is always doing good , always sensible ; a genuine Maria Edgewortb , at the head of a cheerful household , only inspired-with evangelical principles . Her circumstances being by no ' means equal to those of the Baronet , she necessarily cultivates a plainer mode of life , and her daughters , to use Lady Augusta's expression , are allowed to associate with people " whom , of course , we could never visit . " She addresses the remark to another neighbour of Sir Henry , his uncle , old Admiral Clare .
" People you can't visit ! " muttered the Admiral , " I shall talk to Trances Grabam about it . " "Oh ! my dear sir , pray—I entreat you—not for the world . She -would never forgive me ! " Lady Augusta seized the Admiral ' s hand in her alarm . He drew it away . " Your Ladyship will excuse me . 1 ' rances Graham , was my ward ; if slie is bringing up her children wrongly , it is ray duty to warn her . 4 People you could never visit !' " lie muttered again In an under tone . " You are so exact , Admiral , " and Lady Augusta laughed rather nervously . •' There is no physical nor moral responsibility . They may be very good people , but unrefined , homely—not at all what Helen has been accustomed to . "
The Admiral is a formidable test for the didactic Lady Augusta , he is a man of strong sense , excellent good heart , and merciless tongue . His house becomes the residence of Claude Egerton , a pattern man , whom the fair authoress endeavours to endow only with so much , imperfection as shall make him human and' " real , ' * - —shall throw a little , salt into the otherwise unvarying sweetness and wisdom of his composition . Susan Graham , the most perfect daughter of Mrs . Graham ' s household , and Helen Clare , the imperfect- manufacture of Lady Augusta out of an admirable raw material , unconsciously become rivals . Susan is painted the very type of gentleness and self-sacrifice ; Helen is more beautiful , but far . more imperfect . Inheriting a fierce and wayward disposition , she has been left practically untaught by the systematic Lady Augusta ; whose education has slipped ofi " her like water olf duck
a ' s back . She has to learn her- discipline in actual life , and this appears to be the object of the book . It is intended to compare-the natural result of an education in which the heart has been cultivated , and practical goodness made the object of all labour , -with one in which the intellectual faculties alone are aimed at . The dry Lady Augusta thinks to produce a pattern lady out of Helen Clare , and the result is something of a Di "Vernon with a Spanish impetuosity . To apply such a test as the author would use , the distinction between her and Susan is shown in the exercise of their charity . One gives time and kindness ; the other sends money , of which she knows neither the value nor the want , and which will be Sup plied to her on demand , too readily for her to be subjected to the slightest privation by the bestowal . This lesson is well taught .
But also the authqr teaches another lesson , still more striking , and still more forcibly made out . She is to her book what Lady Augusta is to Helen ; she produces a moral of which she is unconscious , —one as much to astonish herself as the ducklings astonished the hen , us Hercules astonished Alcmena ; and we are perplexed to know by what Jovial inspiration so stout a moral has been given to the world through so sectarian a channel . The engaging , gentle , self-sacrificing Susan Graham is not successful as a working model . Evidently she might if she pleased , at more than one point of the story , take to herself the pattern hero , with whom both the heroines are as much in love as the authoress is . lie is an intellectual , moral man ; no one can more justly rate at its minimum the beauty of Helen Clare , or more accurately probe her imperfections-and morbid fancies . She hates the persecutors who would compel her to do right , and he is the very slaves of conscience . Yet ho is also the slave of Helen ; her beauty , the
vivacity of her spirits , the power of her will , all hold him captive . Even her infidelity , her perverse flirting with an unworthy rival , cannot estrange him . At lust he wins the lovely tyninl , and receives her with as much gratitude as agift from Heaven . Undoubtedly she has become improved under the discipline of sorrow , and she is to be znadu yet better when they live happy ever after ; hut while the Spanish-faced Di Vernon carries oft" the prize liero , the gentle , Christian , self-sacrificing Susan ( Jrahum nearly dies of unknown love , and finds nn ultimate consolation in becoming a species of lodger in the home of the other two—a spectator of the happiness which she lias deserved and the sinner has attained . This is an odd . moral to find in the hook of n writer who condemns novels , and intends to develop a tract into an evuugclicid copy of b ' ir Charles ( irandhon . The characters are excellentl ) drawn , and the moral stands out , as Stewart ltose ' a ser \ unt aaid , sculptured .
The Pauis Universal Exhibition-. Luyorts...
THE PAUIS UNIVERSAL EXHIBITION-. lUyorts on tin : J ' ar ' iH Univevml Exhibition . Presented to both IIouhch of Parliiimen by e . onmmnrt of 1 lev Majesty . 180 ( 5 . Spottiswoodi The Paris Universal [ Exhibition has passed away ; not so its results . Th Palace of Industry 1 ms been emptied of that gorgeous collection of th
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), March 7, 1857, page 17, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_07031857/page/17/
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