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682 ©ft* &*&&**? [Saturday,
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Socialism, manifold in denominations and...
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As a specimen of tho refutations (?) of ...
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What do you suppose to be the canker-wor...
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liebig's chemical letters. Familiar Lett...
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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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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What Has Become Of Mr. J. A. Roebuck's L...
claims of the Allied Powers to the gratitude of European liberty . How will this suit the taste of " uncle ' s nephew" ? The following extract from the English prospectus is worth quoting : — " And which , from its recognizing the justice of that monarchical policy pursued by our Government , in order to check the grasping ambition of Napoleon , cannot fail to be deeply interesting to the English nation . " To say the truth , the Monarchies were , as we believe providentially , mistaken in leaguing for the destruction of the Emperor ,
who , soldier of the Revolution though he was , played their game and not the People ' s . To this day , under the shadow of that column in the Place Vend 6 me , liberty withers j and while a vestige of the Imperial traditions of Government , with the prying and restless centralization , the monstrous conscription , and the army of f unctionaries survives , a free Government , be the form what it may , is impossible in France . Either Caesarism or anarchy . But until that stupid idolatry of a name be purged out , Democracy itself will be nothing better than a disguised and complicated despotism .
682 ©Ft* &*&&**? [Saturday,
682 © ft * &*&&**? [ Saturday ,
Socialism, Manifold In Denominations And...
Socialism , manifold in denominations and developments , continues to be attacked and defendedj propagated and proscribed , with equal pertinacity , if not with equal good faith and success . Let the men who ignobly flattered , and now most basely insult , the Revolution of February , stigmatize it as an accident , a surprise , a catastrophe . Certain it is , that a movement which sprung from deep social corruption and discontent , however baulked for a time , must finally accomplish its course of thorough
social reconstruction . Reaction will have its day , but on ne recule que pour mieux sauter : and the seed having been sown , the harvest will come . f ( The old society is worn out , " was the confession of Napoleon at St . Helena , and of Chateaubriand , as he wrote the last chapter of his Meinoirs . The last stakes of the old political gamblers are played out : the new political science takes the place of party tactics and diplomatic intrigues . As a bold and able organ of the new
ideas , of a generous and enlightened democracy , freedom of thought and social reform , we may mention La Politique Nouvelle , at first a fortnightly , now a weekly , review , which has just reached its twentieth number . It is in the hands of the remaining chiefs of the St . Simonians , with an infusion of new blood from the more recent combatants . We are glad to observe E . Pelletan among the contributors ; and George Sand bestows her great name and a charming story or two upon its pages .
Anotherorgan of the movement Party , LeJiienetre Universel , deserves notice . It is of the pamphlet size and form , and at a price below the possibility of remuneration , without an immense publicity . But in the face of all kinds of fiscal difficulties and vexatious restrictions of the new press law , it has attained in a few weeks to a circulation above 100 , 000 , chiefly in the country . Every article has a directly practical bearing and tendency , and
industrial , agricultural , and economical questions are treated with great ability by writers of special experience . The names of Emil , k de Giuahdin , Victok Hugo , KiuiAit Quinkt , are a sufficient guarantee for the power with which the more exclusively political articles are written . If it enlighten the peasantry who elected Loihb Nai » olkon with enthusiasm , it will render incalculable service to the future of the Republic .
As A Specimen Of Tho Refutations (?) Of ...
As a specimen of tho refutations (?) of Socialism ( rather say calumnies against Socialists ) under the patronage of tho " Grand Party of Order , " take the following : —We extract tho puff preliminary from the DAbats . Tho title of the book ia Le Socialisms dans le passe : " tho author ( says the X ) e"bats ) , " rl'tablit contre eux le sens du Christiantsme et sa sublime philosophic Ho has indulged perhaps a little too freely in atory-telling : but that which would be a defect if the work were intended exoluaively for men of learning , becomes an .
attraction for the numerous readers who naturally prefer —« ne discussion piquante ! "
What Do You Suppose To Be The Canker-Wor...
What do you suppose to be the canker-worm of modern societies , the cause of Socialism , and of all other atrocious inventions ? Think for a moment ! The secret cause of the pestilence has just been brought to light by a distinguished ultra-montane priest , L'Abbe J . Gaume , favourably known as the author of a Catechisme de la Perseverance , and other light treatises , in a book just published , entitled , Le Ver Rongeur des SociStSs Modemes ; ou ,
le Faganisme dans VEducation . Shade of Lempriere ! what have you to answer for ! But , with a naivete * which does him honour , the worthy Abbe lets the cat out o ' the bag in the following sentence , wherein he insists on the necessity of "la reaction du Catholicisme sur l ' e'ducation sans laquelle toutes les reactions , toutes les restaurations n * aboutiront a rienj ah ! mon cher Abbe " , you have had the misfortune to be born into this planet of ours some three centuries too late !
Liebig's Chemical Letters. Familiar Lett...
liebig ' s chemical letters . Familiar Letter * on Chemistry , in its relation * to Physiology Dietetics , Agriculture , Commerce , and Political Economy . By Justus von Liebig . Third edition , revised and much enlarged . Taylor , Walton , and Maberly . The perusal of Liebig ' s admirable volume has forced upon our attention the astonishing contrast of wealth and poverty , which the philosopher must remark in the present condition of chemical science—so rich in multitudinous facts , so poor in general ideas , so accurate in details , yet so far from philosophic accuracy . Liebig ' s noble vindication of the Alchemists ought to teach our doctors modesty , while it enables them to measure the
extent of the progress that has been made . It is a mistake to suppose that Alchemy is extinct ; the elixir vitae , or the philosopher ' s stone , may no longer be the object of search ; but , although the object changes , the spirit remains ; and every positive thinker will recognize the metaphysical method , even in some of the most celebrated chemical speculations . What , for example , is that famous Chemical Affinity ^ but the offspring of the metaphysical method ? Liebig has objected , indeed , to the phrase " affinity , " if by affinity be meant relationship ; but he , too , believes in a
mysterious tendency of one substance towards another , although he would laugh at any one who should tell him that nature abhorred a vacuum , or that mercury had an affection for sulphur ! If the phrase " chemical affinity " be used as a phrase , there may be no weighty objection against it ; but to suppose that by " affinity " anything is explained , is to suppose that the simple enunciation of the phenomenon in abstract terms is equivalent to an explanation of it . " Papa , " said a boy , " this crystal is heavier than this bit of wood , yet I can see through , it and not through the wood ; why ? " "Of course , my dear , " replied the
father , " of course : the crystal is transparent . " Both believed that an explanation had been given ! When tfie action of sulphuric acid determines the decomposition of water by iron f-o as to disengage hydrogen , this is commonly attributed to the affinity of the sulphuric acid for the oxide of iron , which tends to form itself ; so that here we have the sympathetic action of one substance upon another which does not yet exist , and the formation of this non-existent by means of the said sympathetic affection I Yet how absurd the Alchemists seem to us ! Not however to Liebig hear him : —
" In our day , men are only too much disposed to regard the views of the disciples and followers of the Arabian school , and of the late alchemists , on the subject of transmutation of metals , aa a mere hallucination of the human mind , and , strnnf » ely enough , to lament it . But the idea of the variable and changeable corresponds to universal experience , and always precedH that of tho unchangeable . The notion of bodies , chemically dimple , was first iirinly established in the science by the introduction of tho Daltonian doctrine , which admits tho existence of solid particles
not further divisible , or atoms . But the ideas connected with this view aro so little in accordance with our experience of nature , that no chemist of tho present day holds tho metals , absolutely , for simple , undecomposable bodies , for true elements . Only a lew years since , lierzelius was firmly convinced of tho compound naturo of nitrogen , chlorine , bromine , and iodine ; and we allow our so-called simple substances to paas for such , not because we know that they are in reality undecompaaable , but because they are as yet uudocomposed ; that is , bocauae wo cannot yet
demonstrate their decomposability so as to satisfy the requirements of ecience . But we all hold it possible that this may be done to-morrow . In the year 1807 , the alkalies , alkaline earths , and earths proper , were regarded as simple bodies , till Davy demonstrated that they were compounds of metals with oxygen . «• In the last twenty-five years of the preceding century , many of tbe most distinguished philosophers believed in the transmutation of water into earth .
Indeed , this belief was so widely prevalent , that Lavoisier , the greatest chemist of his day , thought it advisable , in a series of beautiful expe riments , to submit to investigation the grounds on which it rested , and to point out their fallacy . Such notions as that of the production of lime during the incubation of eggs , and of iron and metallic oxides in . the animal and vegetable vital processes , have found , even in the present century , acute and enthusiastic defenders .
" It is the prevailing ignorance of chemistry , especially of its history , which is the source of the very ludicrous and excessive estimation of ourselves , with which many look back on the age of alchemy ; as if it were possible , or even conceivable , that for more than a thousand years the most learned and acute men , Buch . as Francis Bacon , Spinosa , and Leibnitz , could have regarded as true and well-founded an opinion void of all foundation . On the contrary , must we not suppose , as a matter beyond a doubt , that the idea of the transmutability of metals stood in the most perfect harmony with all the observations and all the knowledge of that age , and in contradiction to none of these ?
" In the first stage of the development of science , the alchemists could not possibly have any other notions of the nature of metals than those which they actually held . No others were admissible or even possible ; and their views were consequently , by natural law , inevitable . Without these ideas , chemistry would not now stand in its present perfection ; and in order to call that science into existence , and in the course of 1500 or 2000 years to bring it to the point which it has now reached , it would have been necessary to create the science anew . " We hear it said that the idea of the philosopher ' s 6 tone was an error ; but all our views have been developed from errors , and that which to-day we regard as truth in chemistry , may , perhaps , before to-morrow , be recognized as a fallacy .
• ' Every theory which urges men to labour and research , which excites acuteness and sustains perseverance , is a gain to science ; for it is Zabour and research which lead to discoveries . The three laws of Kepler , which are regarded as the foundation of modern astronomy , were not derived from just views of the nature of that force which retains the planets in their revolutions and in their orbits , but are simply deductions obtained by the art of experimenting ; that is to say , by labour and research .
" The most lively imagination , the most acute intellect , is not capable of devising a thought which could have acted more powerfully and constantly on the minds and faculties of men , than that very idea of the philosopher ' s stone . It was that same force which urged thousands of adventurers , with and after Columbus , to venture fortune and life on the discovery of a new world , and which , in our day , drives hundreds of thousands to cross the mountains of Western America , and thus to spread cultivation and civilization over that hitherto neglected part of the globe .
"In order to know that the philosopher ' s stone did not really exist , it was indispensable that every substance accessible to study and observation should be observed and examined , in accordance with the scientific resources of the time . But it is precisely in this that we perceive the almost miraculous influence of the idea . Tho strength of tho opinion could not be broken , till science had reached a certain stage of development . During centuries , as wo have seen , whenever doubts arose and the labourers became languid in their efforts , a mysterious unknown was sure to appear at the right moment , who convinced some prominent and trustworthy man of the of
reality the great Magisterium Mnny of the fundamental or leading ideas of the present time appear , to him who knows not what science has already achieved , as extravagant as the notions of the alchemists . Not , indeed , the transmutation of metals , which seemed so probable to the ancients , bjit far stranger things are held by ua to bo attainable . We have become bo accustomed to wonders that nothing any longer excites our wonder . Wo fix the solar rayn on paper , and Bend our thoug hts literally with the velocity of lightning to the greatest distances . We can , as it were , melt copper in cold water , and cast it into statues . We can freeze water
, or mercury into n solid malleable mass , m white-hot crucibles ; and we consider it quite practicable to illuminate most brightly entire cities with lamps devoid of flame or fire , and to which the air has no access . We produce , artificially , ultramarine , one of tho most precious minerals ; and wo bolieve , that to-morrow or next day somo one may discover a method of producing , from a piece of charcoal , a splendid diamond ; from a bit of alum , sapphires or rubies ; or from coal-tar the beautiful colouring prin-
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), July 19, 1851, page 14, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_19071851/page/14/
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