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December 11, 1852.] THE LEADER. 1108
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A WORD ABOUT THE THEATRES. I take it qui...
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Tan Great Duke of MAitLuojiotroii".—Oar ...
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Cnntttierrinl ffiam.
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MONEY MARKET AND CITY INTELLIGENCE. BRIT...
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FOK1SHJN FUNDS. (Lam Oi'iTi^iAi- QimrA'm...
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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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The Haythorhe F Fofefflmm No. Iv.* A Tit...
• tain elements in the blood and the tissues . Any great abstraction of c . from the system must consequently be followed by increased absorpof oxygen to make up the loss . Life therefore is rendered possible i by fulfilment of the condition , that the application of cold to the skin h 11 excite the lungs to greater activity . Hence those convulsive inspira-. produced by a shower-bath , or by walking into the sea ; hence the raedy for asphyxia from carbonic acid—deluging the patient with cold ter hence the use of sprinkling in the face to revive those Who have fainted . _ _ .. . .... ..,.., „ ., . the of that
N ow , the action of the lungs in laughter is essentially reverse educed by cold or by exertion . The effort made is , not to take in more air but to take in less * By a series of convulsive muscular contractions , the contained air is . as far as possible , expelled ; a short inspiration follows , and then another series of expulsive movements ; and so on till the laughter ends , we being then , as we often significantly say , " out of breath ;" Evidently the result of all this must be a temporary falling off in the absorp tion of oxygen , a corresponding diminution of vital activity , and , by imp lication , a decrease of that . high cerebral excitement , of which , as we saw , laughter is a consequence . It may also be remarked , that the
mechanical action by which laughter is effected , itself aids the same end ; seeing that the muscles employed , making as they do a demand on the system for blood , must indirectly tend to diminish the circulation in the brain . So that the protection of the brain from effusion , and from rupture of its bloodvessels , is- subserved both by the laughter itself and by the contractions producing it . In crying , too , which , as shown , is accompanied by excess of cerebral circulation , the action of the lungs is in essence the same . The long and forcible expirations , and the short inspirations , which characterize it , must similarly cause deficient oxygenation and its results . The liability of crying to run into hysterical laughter may thus be readily understood ; the one being simply a less intense form of the other .
On turning to the plates of Quain ' s Anatomy , in the distant hope of learning how this effect of the feelings upon the lungs was produced , I was surprised to find the agency effecting it distinctly visible . Each of the carotid arteries , just before its entrance into the brain , is surrounded by a nervous plexus derived from a branch of the great sympathetic nerve . The lower part of the sympathetic nerve sends fibres to join the pulmonary plexus , sad the motor nerves of the intercostal and abdominal muscles . Thus distention of the carotids , by impressing the nerves surrounding them , sends a reflex stimulus to the apparatus by which laughing is effected .
Laughter and tears , then , are both caused by . pressure on the cerebral bloodvessels , and have alike the effect of lessening that pressure . When the arteries supplying the brain are considerably distended from pleasurable emotion , laughter results ; when considerably distended from painful emotion , tears are produced ; when excessively distended from either cause , we have tears and laughter simultaneously . The extreme importance of these two checks to the cerebral circulation will be seen on remembering the liability to be paralyzed by strong shocks of grief or joy ; and , further , on remembering that those kinds of mental excitement which are not accompanied by tears or laughter — as great anxiety or intense intellectual action—are common causes of paralysis .
December 11, 1852.] The Leader. 1108
December 11 , 1852 . ] THE LEADER . 1108
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A Word About The Theatres. I Take It Qui...
A WORD ABOUT THE THEATRES . I take it quite unkindly of Managers and Purveyors of Amusement generally , that they cannot let us critics rest oven at this dull season , when wo are recruiting for Christmas . It is not often I enjoy repose , but to bo
troubled at this season is too bad . Charles Mathews must needs bring out a new farce , The Jenkinses—or one so old it may be counted as new ( what are new farces but forgotten old ones P who ever saw a new farce ? who ever saw anything new P ) and I am weak enough ., out of friendshipi to go and see that farce , weak enough to laugh at it , weak enough to forget my Christian Fathers , with , whom I had made arrangements for a solid and serious fortnight ' s entertainment ! The fact is , to use a scientific metaphor , I boil at low temperatures , and whatever seriousness may
occupy me , I can ' t resist a laugh . It is a very amusing little farce this of the Jenkinses , without a particle of wit , but so neatly constructed and so well acted , especially by Frank Matthews , that the hour passes gaily . Then there is Albert Smith : another inflicter of amusement ! Why couldn't lie keep quiet till after Christmas , and leave me to my Fathers ? He doesn't read them himself—at least , not ardently . Therefore he has no compunctions in dragging me out these damp nights to listen to his Ascent of Mont Blanc , with all its former attractions , heightened by new scenes , new matter , new fun !
The Marionnettes have returned from their Provincial Tour , and taken up their home in the St . James ' s Theatre . London having declared these Marionnettes to be a philosophic pastime not unworthy those who are worthy to be amused , the Provinces have followed the lead ; and now these wooden actors have come back to us . But why couldn't they wait till after Christmas , when the children will be home for the holidays ! Then tliere is Mr . Phelps , who , with total disregard to my feelings , produces a new five-act play , Might and Right , and counts upon my going to see it . So I shall . Meanwhile , see what the Times says of it , and go yourself :
" The play of Might and Right , brought out on Wednesday night at Sadler s Wells , came with much novelty to recommend it . The scene is laid in Russia , amid a host of conspirators , whose names end in ' , ' and thxis we have an unusual costume , and scenery of an uncommon , character . But the story also is new , and that is the great merit of the piece . We are growing mortally tired of the conflicts between the Royalists and Republicans of every country and period ; our sympathies deaden towards those young ladies who have fathers in one faction and lovers in another , and we are glad to see new motives at work , however imperfectly the theme may be worked out . " The author ' s constant purpose has been alternately to awaken and satisfy the curiosity of his audience . The personages are mere sketches , which even an actor can scarcely fill up , and the language put into their mouths does not rise above that conventional level which is found in so
many of our blank-verse plays . But the story is both novel and interesting , and if the characters of the meek Olga and the imperious Helena had been written up to their full capability , a drama of a much higher order might have been produced . The best scene , dramatically speaking , is that in which Obolenslci , to save Olga , works upon the Czarina ' s feelings by recalling the days of their early love ; and this scene derived great advantage from the acting of Mrs . Ternan , who represented the conquest of love over anger with much delicacy . But altogetherjfche play is an unkindly one for the actors ; Mr . Phelps , as OholensJci , has a great deal to do , but nothing that appeals to the sympathies ; and Olga , who is played by Miss Cooper , is interesting rather through her position than through her acts or her discourse . It is as a clever melo-dramatic spectacle that the play succeeds , and in this respect everything has been done for it in tho way of scenery and dresses , the Russian views by Mr . Pindlay being as beautiful as they are novel .
" The audience were so delighted with the piece , that they began to call for the author at tho end of the third act . The cry was of course renewed at the end of the fifth , when their curiosity was balked by the statement that the author ' s name was unknown to the manager . There also seems to be a mystery as to tlie source of tho story . Vassili Ivanovitch , who died towards the middle of tho sixteenth century , left behind him a son , during whoso minority Helena acted as regent , and as this son was no other than the atrocious Ivan IV " ., whose name is placed with the Neros and Caligulas of old , it is difficult—to say nothing of his sex—to identify him with tho innocent and amiable Feodoru . " Thero , having discharged my " duty , " I now betako myself to my delight . Vivian .
Tan Great Duke Of Maitluojiotroii".—Oar ...
Tan Great Duke of MAitLuojiotroii " . —Oar chief , whom England and all Europe ; , saving- only tho Frenchmen , worshipped almost , had this of tho god-like in him , that ho was impassable before victory , before danger , before defeat . Before tho greatest obstacle or the most trivial ceremony ; before n hundred thousand men drawn in battuliii , or a peasant slaughtered at tho door of bis burning hovel ; before u carouse of drunken German lords , or a inoiiarch ' H court , or a cottage table , where ! bis plans wen ; laid , or an enemy ' s battery , vomiting Hume and death , and strewing corpses round aliouL bhn ;—lui was always cold , calm , resolute , like fate . Ho performed a treason or a court-bow ; he told 51 falsehood as black as Styx , as easily us lie paid acompliuionl or spoke about the weather . He took a mistre . HH , and left her ; he betrayed his benefactor , and s upported him , or would have murdered him , with the "fine calmness always , and having no more remorse 1 'han Clotho , when she weaves the thread of Ladiesis , when kIio cuts it . Perhaps he could not have boon the K » 'eiit man Iks was , had he had a henrt , either for love ; ° v hatred , or pity or feur , or regret- or remorse- He n <; hievod tho highest deed of daring , or deepen ! . mlcula-1 l j > n of thought , as ho performed the very meanest action of which a man is capable ; told a lie , or cheated a loud woman , or robbed a poor beggar of a halfpenny , with ii lila , awful serenity and equal capacity of the '" ghost and lowest iwifw of our nature . His qualit / ioa w <' -ro pretty well known in the army , where thero were l » irtie , s of all politicks , and of plenty of uhrowdnutw » md
wit ; but there existed such a perfect confidence in him , as the first captain of tho world , and such u faith and admiration in his prodigious genius and fortune , that tho -very men whom he notoriously cheated of their pay , the chiefH whom he vised and injured—( for he used all men , great and small , that came near him , as his instruments alike , and took something of theirs , either Home quality or some property , —the blood of a soldier , it might be , or a jewelled bat , or a hundred thousand crowns from a king , or a portion out of a starving sentinel ' s three farthings ; or ( when ho was young ) a kiss froin a woman , and the gold chain ofl' her neck , taking all ho could from woman or man , and having , as I have . said , this of the god-liko in him , that ho could see a hero perish or a sparrow fall , with the same amount of sympathy for either . Not that he had no tears ; ho could always order up this reserve , at tho proper moment to huttlo ; ho could tlmw upon tears or smiles alike , and whenever need was for using this cheap coin . Ho would cringe to a shoeblack , as he would flatter n minister or u monarch ; lie haughty , he humbles threaten , repent , weop , grasp your hand or stab yon whenever ho Haw oeciwion ) -Hut yet those of the army , who knew him best , und had wittered most from him , admired him most of all ; and as he rodo along the lines to battle or galloped up in the nick of time to a battalion reeling from before tho enemy ' s charge or shot , the fainting men and otlicers got new courage as Mioy saw the splendid calm of his face , and felt that 1 uh will niadti them irrosiBtible . —TiiACKBJiAJf ' p J ' Jsmond ,
Cnntttierrinl Ffiam.
Cnntttierrinl ffiam .
Money Market And City Intelligence. Brit...
MONEY MARKET AND CITY INTELLIGENCE . BRITISH FUNDS FOR THE PAST WEEK . ( Closing Pbioes . ) Satur . Atond . Tuva . Wedn . Thura & rid Bank Htook 222 222 222 2 * 23 8 por ( Vml ,. Red ]( M )| lOOj KMVfc 1 OO | 100 } 3 por Omit . Con . Aim . 101 ? 101 J 1014 101 i J 01 £ 3 por Cent . Con ., A « t . KM it- 101 jj 101 § 1015 31 porOe >» fc . An KWi 101 lOIiJ KttJ 101 Now 5 por Conl . n liS 7 Loiik Aiih ., 1 H ( H ) « 7-1 (» 0 7-10 ( fj India Htouk 277 * Ditto Iloii . ls , 121000 ... H ;» HO H 3 MO Ditto , und . M- . £ 1000 .. 81 $ HO HO Mx . Uiiin , . 121000 o ' . > p < ii ) p w > p <> r > p i ) itt <> ,. ur > oo : 7 i p < if » i » Ditto , Niriall « N p 71 p < I 6 p
Fok1shjn Funds. (Lam Oi'iti^Iai- Qimra'm...
FOK 1 SHJN FUNDS . ( Lam Oi'iTi ^ iAi- QimrA'mm nimmn tub Wbbk : HHDiiro 'I ' ll UltHOA V KVNNINU . ) Hraiiiliim fi ]) or < ( mi () i . ... KWii lNntutfiiomi 4 per Oorits . Su Hrnziliaii Ninv I . } |>< ii (! t . N . » 7 i Itiifmiitn , 1 H 22 Ill ) Diitoh 2 J por CoiiIh * M > I itubNiiui 4 Hi n « r OontH . ... 104 A I Hit oh 4 i >< m- Out . < . 'Dvt . il ' . 1 ) H £ Hanlinian fionrin , ex div . 6 ( 1 $ Oriuittilu Dofurrod 1 JJ J flpiiiiinli ' . i p . OontH 61 * G-uatiimnlti Hoih \ h ,... M Hpiiuinlt H p . Otn . NowDef . Mf Mnxiciui JI pur ( ViiI . h U'l J Hjmiimli Coin . Cwt . il ' . of A ' cruviuu , !* per Cent . J ) of . tJO Conpon nut ftindotl ... : i |
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Dec. 11, 1852, page 21, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_11121852/page/21/
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