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October 22, 1853.] THE LEAD E R. 1023
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Critics are not the legislators, but the...
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We have more titan once declared, that o...
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Pumas, tho incommensurable, the incompar...
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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Transcript
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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.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
October 22, 1853.] The Lead E R. 1023
October 22 , 1853 . ] THE LEAD E R . 1023
Jflttfltort.
Jflttfltort .
Critics Are Not The Legislators, But The...
Critics are not the legislators , but the judges and . pplice of literature . Thoy do not mats laws—they interpret and try to enforce them- —Edinburgh Heviete .
We Have More Titan Once Declared, That O...
We have more titan once declared , that one ofthe great functions of Quarterly Reviews was that of lessening the number of books published , by giving suitable publicity to ideas and researches on important subjects , which , in default , would either have remained unpublished , or would have swelled out into books . In the current number of the British and Jfbreign Medical Review—a work which , in spite of its professional aim , is nevertheless sufficiently devoted to science to secure the attention of philosophic readers—there are two essays of the kind we have in view , and to which we specially call attention . The first is on The Cell Theoryperhaps of all biological speculations the most important—and is written by Mr . Huxley , one ofthe young men from whom scieace has most to hope ; the second is by DivThomas Williams , and is on the Bloodits Chemistry , Physiology , and Pathology ; unhappily only in part published , the conclusion and plates are to come in the next number .
This essay on the Cell Theory , wherein Mr . HtrxLET opposes Schwanst and ScHiiEiDEN , is too important to be passed over with a cursory indication , and we shall in a future number consider it in detail . Meanwhile we may make a remark in passing on a passing remark of Mr . Huxley ' s , A propos to Comte ' s refutation of Bichat ' s celebrated definition , " Life is the sum of the functions by which Death is resisted " - —a definition which , to use the words of Coleeidge , consists in saying that " Life is being able to live , " but which Mr . Huxley seems to think an acceptable definition , adding in a note :-
—"It is amusing to find M . Comte , a mere bookman in these subjects , devoting a long argument ( PhilosopJiie Positive , torn . iii . p . 288 ) to a refutation [? J of what he calls the ' profonde irrationality * of Bichat ' s definition . As a , specimen of the said refutation , we may select the following passage : 'Si comrue le supposait Bichat , tout ce qui entoure lea corps vivans tendait rdellemcnfc b , les detruire , leur existence serait par cela mSme radicalement inintelligible ; car , oii pourraientils puiser la force n ^ cessaire pour surmonter nieme temporairement un tel obstacle V What a question for a positive philosopher ! Does M . Comte doubt his own power to get up from his easy chair , because it is unquestionably true that the action of the whole globe ' tends' to retain him in his sitting posture , and because he cannot tell whence he gets the force which enables him to rise . "
The greatest anatomist of France docs not speak in this strain of Comte ; but the tone is the least objectionable part of this note . Mr . Huxley ' s attempt at ridicule and illustration is unfortunate . All tilings do not tend to destroy living beings ; they tend to nourish them even more than to destroy , as is proved by the fact that living beings are nourished . Moreover , the action of the whole globe does not tend to keep the pliilosopher in liis chair ; but only his own specific gravity does bo . The mistake reminds us of the late James Mill ' s ludicrous notion of habit making man accustomed to the weight of the atmosphere ! There is also a paper on Dietetics , from which we will borrow a passage or two of general interest . Speaking of the iniluence of cooking on food , the writer says of roasting : —
' Soon the outer layer of albumen becomes coagulated , and thus the exit of that which is still fluid is prevented , and it becomes solidified veiy slowly , if at all . The cellulose tissue , which unites the muscular fibres , is converted by gradual heat into gelatine , and is retained in the centre of the mass in a form ready for Kolution . At the same time , the fibrin and albumen , according to Mulder , take on a form more highly oxidized , and more capable of solution in water . The fat also is melted out of the fat-cells , and is directly combined with the alkali from the serum of the blood . Thus the external layer of albumen forms a sort of box which keeps together the important parts of the aliment till they have undergone the deairod modification by slow heat ; a box , however , permeable in some degrco b y the oxygen of the freo surrounding air , so that most of the
empyreumatic oils and products of dry distillation are carried off . These are doubtless , in h general way , no loss to our stomachs or our palates ; but one , wo may hope , in retained in some proportion . This is acotic acid , whoso presenco would certainly tend to niako t ho muscular fibro , as well as the albumon , more soluble . Tho caseharden ing of tlio joint may bo produced in a certain degrco by rapid boiling ; but the interior albumen seems by thin process more hardened and less digestibleperhaps from want of the acid above named . Stewing and bahhig retain all the good things ; but then they retain ; i ! ho a variety of known and unknown eductn , inimical to the Htomach ' s peaco ; while dow boiling makes , it is truo , a digestible Htmp , but converts the muscular fibre into a mass of hard strings , which , oitftni not tenmust
<> r ea , necessarily bo wasted . Boasting , then , is an scientific and ¦ wholesome , and therefore a $ economical , a process as it is a palatublo one . One groat advantage which roasting can boast of i « , that it puts a check upon tho "Mcoption , intentional or non-intentional , as tho case may bo of ovor-preparation . ¦ ' eat Heonis to luwo an effect upon albumon , in Homo degree proportioned to the period of its application , rendering it more and moro insoluble , ovon after any -ipp ; t , ren t c . havigft can bo perceived by tho palate . Tlnw , woups and fitewH which '" ' « kept hot , ' arci wholesome enough during tho firnt three or four houni , may hi ( hg (! Hted at a railway refroKhnifiit room for Homo houra after ; but on the second r 'ii-i ! * > K i-Vo tl 10 incautious eater of two-franc pjilaiw lloyal dinners an in-J ' -illiblo diarrhmn ,. "
JTovo in another bit—on pio-cru . st : — off " ' 1 ° ' n ° - ' " fo (>( 1 ' ln <) chllllic ; i 1 diiroronccfl of modes of promotion innnt •«« to tho . intoHtinal oanal the component parts of the cIIhIi in a different order . ( » example , two HortH of puj-cruHt are familiarly known as '« hortf and ' ptifF ; ' in II ? ? > Uo UttOr iH thorou K l > ly incorporated with the < lough , ho iih to divide IS r ° T ? f'h s ° thor ' l " «» t" '' I '" Klutou liko a sponge ; m ii ! r ^ T ' ^ ' i » u tf h . » " » H tllin »>»* Holid layorn , like a quir < , of butl . eml i ¦ l » u . . 11 the teoth are imported . , or tho mastication oiwqIobm , tho latter in well
known to form a solid mass m the stomach , which is very difficult of solution Iii the upper portion of the intestines ; while the easily-broken paste is mixed with the rest ofthe food , and though formed of the same chemical constituents as its indigestible brother , receives a very different character from its employer . "
Here is a long but interesting passage on the influence of diet . — " The influence of diet over muscular fibre is an important social question , for thews and sinews have always ruled the world , both in peace and war , in a proportion quite equal to brains . Indeed , it is a question , which the present writer is disposed to answer in the affirmative , whether , nationally , muscular and mental energy do not always run in couples , and whether the first is not the cause ofthe second ? It does not appear that any diet , so that there be plenty of it , is incapable of fitting man to get through his daily work ; but the best specimens of the species are certainly those who enjoy the greatest mixture . The example of the hunting nations across the Atlantic is given by Dr . Moleschott in evidence that an exclu ^ sive diet of mammalian flesh increases muscular development ; but Mr . Catlin and the Ioways at Lord Cricket's ground did not bear out this statement . And
the inhabitant ofthe Pampas , who lives wholly on water and beef , made tender by being rode upon between saddle and back till dinnertime , cannot show , according to Sir F . Head , an inch of calf , though use and necessity develop his arms to an unnatural extent . A Bramin sepoy , who would as soon eat his own flesh as anything besides rice , would walk him , run him , or knock him down any day ; and he again would receive the same treatment from many of us , fed as our fancy leads us . Feeding on fish has , according to our author , a deteriorating effect upon the size and development of the muscles ; but he is not very happy in the instances he citea of icthyophagous nations . He mentions the Samoyedejif the inhabitants of the Hebrides and Faroe islands , Greenlanders , and the North-west Americans . Now , the Samoyedes are small enough , certainly , but do not live
on fish , being so noted for their love of warm- blooded meat , that 'in the Russian chancellery they are designated Sirogneczi , eaters of raw meat . ' The present inhabitants of the Hebrides would stare much at the company they find themselves in ; nor were matters worse 150 years ago ; for we read in Martin ' s Description oj' ' the Western Islands ( London , 1716 , 2 nd edition ) , that ' the diet generally used by the natives ( of Skye ) consists of fresh food , for they seldom taste anything that is salted except butter . ... . Their ordinary diet is butter , cheese , milk , potatoes , coleworts , brochan—that is , oatmeal and water' ( vulg-o porrilch ) ;—and . a similar bill of fare is attributed afterwards , in the same work , to Tirae and St . Kilda . As to Faroe , their bad habits seem to have been given up now nearly a hundred years ; for we read , that ' we have a remarkable instance of the great effects of diet on the diseases of a nation in the inhabitants of the isl « of F « rrn .
Since fishing has declined among them , and the inhabitants have cultivated com , and live on otherfood instead of whale ' s flesh and bacon , the elephantiasis has entirely ceased among them . ' As to North-west America , the public interested in the search for Sir John Franklin have been assured over and over again that an abundance of fowl , and mammalia also , sufficient for human food , is obtainable afc all seasons . The excessive improvidence of the natives , and the severe climate , fully account for their miserable condition . On the other hand , large tribes who subsisted at one time entirely , and still in a great measure , without red-blooded meat , are noted for their corporeal development . Who have so often excited the wonder of travellers for their superiority to mo : ; t of tho Pacific nation . ' , allied to tlu-nvas the New ' Zealanders ? Yet they are notorious fish-caters . Their carte in deficient in . mammals ; dogs and swine are a recent introduction ; and man , we hope , wat ;
always an occasional luxury : but a programme of their fish-dinners , given us by a chaplain to their enterprising bishop , might almost draw Apici ' us round the globe . It comprises lampreys , eels fresh and dried , kippered shark , a kind of cod , nnillet , whitebait ( inanga ) , which is boiled or broiled , or baked in small baskets , so an to mako a fish-cake , cockles of three Korts , mussels , oysters , and a whole list of Maori names , said to belong to dainties of the most refined description . It is true they have birds , and vegetables also , in considerably variety ; and , as before suggested , perhaps this variety causes their superiority ; but . still , the staple of their faro is evidently fish , as observed by Captain Cook . A Bimilar mode of living is attributed by this observant seaman to the Sandwich inlanders , of whom , he says—' the majority were above the middle height ; ' and to the clean , comely Otaheitaiif ? , whose frail daughters were fair enough to cause the mutiny of the Mount ii , before European civilization had altered them . So that we cannot
attribute degeneracy sololy to tho substitution of fish for meat . Tho truth probably is , that the mode of procuring food has a greater influence over mind , manners , and muscles , than the nature of the food itself . Tie that in Hatiwfied with what he can pick up ready-grown degenerates either into a starved New Hollander , where food is deficient , or into an effeminate creature , like tho former inhabitant of the AVe . it Indies , where it is abundant ; he that seeks only the greatest amount of nitrogenous matter gr 6 wa up a mere hunter , and becomes a prowling , cruel , passionate , dirty , yelling American . Indian ( for the ' noble Ravage' existed only in Mr . Cooper's fancy ) ; while a civilized people will bo found from tho earliest times , like the wi . se son of Sirach's man of a good heart , to ' have a care for their meat and diet . ' Thoy will have thought about it , laboured for it steadily , investigated nature and advancedHcience to improvo it , and obtained their reward in the search itself . " Wo have said enough to pique curiosity and . send tho render to tho ' British and Foreign ; and while on tho subject of Reviews , we may mention that the Quarterly lias an excellent nrtielo on JClcctro Uiology , Mesmerism , and Table Turning , writ ton in a scientific spiritand popular style . As tho Quarterly needs no introduction from us , a mention will suilicc .
Pumas, Tho Incommensurable, The Incompar...
Pumas , tho incommensurable , the incomparable . 'Pumas ! the lying Lorn db Visa a . of romance ! the Bkiakkus of fiction ! who last week prmnined the ' VhSAlrc Francais a new five-act comedy in nix dayH , and who lias done it in loss than four days ! and whose " fecundity"' has hii ^ - f tosted endle . sH Hpeoulation . M , none of which aro roooneileahlo' with all tho factH , han in hi . s 1 ub <; novel HurpaH . sed even the Duaia . s aw < l : u ; ity . Wo knew him of old to be an Axttoj . ycu . s . It us hi . s boast thai , like M . oliic . uk , he rc / wHM . tses hininelfof Inn ^ property wherever he ihuh it ( " Je
rcprends man bum oujc le troniw" ) , and he laughs at the word plagiarism" convey , the Avi . se it call . " ! Hut ho ; really linn wurpnHHod hininelf in . /> Tastcur d'Jshboum—surpaHrtecl even liin " ropoHKcuNiou" of Con . tcic . voa PfmuHtcnt . Yon flhalljiultfo . There in an old Mid now almost forgotten Gorman noveli » t , Aumr . sriiH . Lakontalnic by name , whoso novel . Family JMtjlurcs , has boon ropublinhed by Sim mm uiuI M'Tntykk , iu their Parlour Jui . braty . Tho worthy follow ia dead now , and ( snnnol clamorouwly pro-
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Oct. 22, 1853, page 15, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_22101853/page/15/
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