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1048 THE LEADER. [Saturday,
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Cxitics are not the legislators, but the...
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Although the connexion between the Stage...
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In France Dr. "Vekon is exciting conside...
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It will be interesting to many of our re...
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BOOKS ON OUR TABLE. The Coal Mines: thei...
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the need for such a work can hardly exis...
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.
1048 The Leader. [Saturday,
1048 THE LEADER . [ Saturday ,
%M$M.
% m $ m .
Cxitics Are Not The Legislators, But The...
Cxitics are not the legislators , but the judges and police of Hteratj ure . They do not make la-wa—they interpret ana try to enforce them—Edinburgh Memew .
Although The Connexion Between The Stage...
Although the connexion between the Stage and the Pulpit is more obvious in a sarcasm than in a serious consideration of the two—although " hypocrite" primarily means " actor" —and although young gentlemen with lofty aspirations , and five detestable acts of very blank verse in their pockets , tell us emphatically , that "the Stage is a Lay Pulpit" ( which sonorously dignifies a very agreeable recreation ) , we have not yet made out the subtle linTr of sympathy , which seems to connect the two . That the Rev . W . Gbttels should first learn his hideous elocution from an " old established actor , " and then mount the pulpit to Mminate against all actors , is intelligible enough . But what is it which lures the " old established" from the boards " which Kemble , Siddons , Kean have trod" to the pulpit , not made illustrious by the Eev . G-euels ?
There have been many actors who have quitted the stage for the pulpit ; we have not heard of any one quitting the pulpit for the stageprobably because all actors imperiously claim " leading parts . " But hi all the changes , we remember none more curious than that of Shebi 1 > an KjrowiiES , who , having secured a first place among dramatists , tried bravely to seeure a place among actors ; giving up- at last , when the fight was no longer promising either to dramatist or actor , he turned theologian , and published a work against the Pope ; and now , we hear , he has taken his place in the pulpit , with chance of being a popular preacher . All these phases of a long career are assuredly intelligible enough to those who know the man , and have traced the gradual process of each change ; but to the public they are paradoxical , and may impede his acceptance .
In France Dr. "Vekon Is Exciting Conside...
In France Dr . "Vekon is exciting considerable uneasiness by following the common , but" unscrupulous , plan of publishing the letters he has , from time to time , received from men with whom he has had transactions . The other day a bootmaker wrote to % wit respecting a small financial operation desired on the bootmaker ' s part . The wit , on being reproached with not even answering the letter , replied , that he was " afraid of one day seeing his epistle in the Memoires d ' un Bottier de Paris . " Biography has certainly put a great check on correspondence . "We know more than one public personage in constant vigilance with respect to letters even on trifling subjects . Lovers of gossip will , nevertheless , flock to Mr . Jeffs ' s shop to secure the first volume of Veeon ' s book .
It Will Be Interesting To Many Of Our Re...
It will be interesting to many of our readers to learn , that Auouste Comte lias just issued the third volume of his Systhne dc Politiquc Positive , which contains the " Philosophy of History , " and may , therefore , be studied as a separate work , especially by these who have the exposition of Comte , recently published in Bohris Scientific Library . This volume , of six hundred and twenty pages of abstract matter , Comte assures us ho has written , " without precipitation or fatigue , in
six months . " It is the fruit of "the honourable protection afforded him by the elite of the western peoples , which permits him to devote himself exclusively to his mission . " The volume opens with a preface , in the style of his late prefaces , which must pain all his sincere friends ; and is succeeded by two circulars , one addressed to the Emperor Nicholas , the other to Reschid Pasha—both the naive productions of a man who , living in hermit-like retirement , occupied in revolving his own thoughts , has lost the Sense of ordinary affairs .
Books On Our Table. The Coal Mines: Thei...
BOOKS ON OUR TABLE . The Coal Mines : their Dangers and Means of Safet y . By James Mather . Longman and Co Decimal Coinage Tables . Uy 11 . Mouth . w j A < j arnH Asiatic Cholera . By B . Harwell . John Churchill The Adventures of Mr . Verdant Green , an Ojford Freshman . By C . Bede . Is . NnUiaiiioI Cooko The Universal Library . 1 « . Nathaniel Cooko Outlines of General History , Ancient and Modern . Uy I ) . Seryingeour . 1 « . Sutherland and Knox tocher " * Stamp Duties Digest . Vm . r & m { ^ IPree Thoughts on Natural and Revealed Religion . C'harlos k \> x Christianity in China , —The History of Christian Missions and of the Present Insurrection . In . -r „ W - > S - Orr aml <*> . The Traveller ' s Library . —A Love Story : a J < mymc . nl' Jrom "The Doctor , " fa Uy tho late It . Sonthoy . 1 » . ' ij 0 U ' Knmu iuld Co The Oeiiitm and Mission of the Protestant Jiptsoopal Church in tho United States of America Bv the Jtov . C . Colton . ' , Ho ' ilmm M argaret ; or , Prejudice At Home , and its Victims . An Autobiograph y . 53 Vo 1 h . 7 s ^ i &' i / , . . ¦ ' K . IJontloy .
The Need For Such A Work Can Hardly Exis...
the need for such a work can hardly exist ; certainly not for such a work as that of Mr . George Macilwain . The book is a mistake . As a biograph y it is meagre beyond excuse ; the few biographical facts would barel y make up a scanty " Memoir" prefixed to an edition of Abernethy ' s works , and are not narrated by Mr . Maejlwain in a style to make their meagreness forgotten . The two volumes of digression and gossip , slop and science , which he has devoted "to the subject , ought to have been one , and that one small in bulk . If Mr . jMacilwain feels an indwelling oestrus irresistibl y compelling him to publish his views on " things medical , " let him by all means do so ; only to beguile a reader by promising a book on Aberneth y , and having allured him with such a promise ; to give him "leaves from the note-book of a medical man" is not wise , for the entrapped reader rebelling against such procedure , is unjust to the matter Mr . Macilwain does give him . Thus much by way of warning and objection . For the rest , medical men will read the volumes with a certain interest , if they come prepared not to find much about Abernethy ; while " general" readers must be informed that the biographical interest of the book is null , and that even the anecdotes are sparing . Here is one which is new to us and is verydramatic : — "On one occasion , Sir James Earle , his senior , was reported to have given Abernethy to understand that on the occurrence of a certain event , on which he would obtain an accession of property , that he , Sir James , would certainly resign the surgeoncy of the Hospital . About the time that the event occurred , Sir James
* i J &^ V ' , ' ¦ : i LIFE Ol ? AlibUlNKTUY . />/& £ -7- » ' . " Memoirs of John Aberncthy , V . 1 LS . With a view of Ms lectures , Writinas and f 7 * $# . -l ¦ ¦ ' ¦ ¦ r " ' ' *¦' ' ' .- •¦ Character . By Goorgo Maoilwnin , P . 1 LC . S . InlVoVols . Price 21 « k ^ i ^ 'V ^ ' ^^''^ , 'WJO . : | l « rHt ; mid JllookoM ,. \ ^^/ ' *" } . '( c 1 Atwtinktjty ' 8 name , onco bo celebrated , both as that of an ablo practitioner V ^ "* - " - ¦ ¦¦ ( - ¦;•)• ¦ . "'« J : ^ # . eccentric character , is now only mentioned as tho hero of hotho popular ¦^ 7 . £ ] n v- flfiecdotoH , allhou ^ h in the Hintory of the Art ho practised ho must , for * - ¦ < 4 V Z $ rj Bomu tiino continuo to hold a place , jib mi iiuloponuont thinker and ahlo teacher . Tho " Life" of such a man , if pubUsheel when Juh reputation waH still warm , so to speak , might have been a desirable work . At present
, happening one day to call on Abernethy , was reminded of what he had been understood to have promised . Sir James , however , having , we suppose , a different impression of the facts , denied ever having given any such a pledge . The affirmative and negative were more than once exchanged , and not in the most courteous manner . When Sir James was going to take his leave , Abernethy opened the door for him , and as he had always something quaint or humorous to close a conversation with , he said , at parting : ' Well , Sir James , it comes to this : you say that you did not promise to resign the surgeoncy at the Hospital , I , on the contrary , affirm that you did ; now all I have to add is , —— the liar ! ' " We shall indulge in only one more extract , and that one shall be an abbreviation of Mr . Macilwain ' s exposition of
ABERNETHY ON ANIMAL HEAT . " The discovery of oxygen gas by Priestley , not only gave a great impetus to chemical inquiries , but affected physiology in a very remarkable manner ; when it was found that the more obvious phenomena of all cases of ordinary burning , lamps , candles , and fires of every kind , consisted of the chemical union of charcoal and oxygen ( carbonic acid ) , and again , when it was discovered that animals in breathing somehow or other produced a similar change , one may conceive how ready every one was to cry : ' I have found it ! The heat of animals is nothing more than combustion ! We inhale oxygen : we breathe out carbonic acid ; the thing
is plain . This is the cause of animal heat ! "It has always struck us as a curious thing that chemists should have attached such a dominant influence in the production of heat in animals , to the union of carbon and oxygen ; because nobody is necessarily so familiar as they are , with the fact that the evolution of heat is not at all peculiar to the union of these bodies ; but is a circumstance common to all changes of every kind , in all forms of matter ; there always being either the absorption or the evolution of heat . " There is no doubt that the analogy is very striking between tho changes which appear to be wrought in respiration , and those which take place in ordinary combustion . A very little consideration shows that the idea that respiration is the cause of animal heat , or that it is due to any other change of oxygen , is not only an assumption ; but in the highest degree doubtful . In the first place , the carbonic acid thrown out when we expire is certainly not made by the immediate union of oxygen with charcoal expired ; secondly , nothing is so clear that in respiration there is an immense quantity of heat thrown out of the body . "
'' In order to estimate correctly the value of these surfaces to the animal or vegetable , it is obviously of great importance to us to know what they do , and i f they give off anything , to ascertain its nature . That either animal or vegetable may be healthy , the processes of nature , whatever they are , must be carried on ; and we may be assured , that the fragrance of the rose m just as necessary an exhalation frovi the plant , as it is an agreeable impression to us . " But all animals may be said to breathe quite as much by their skin as by their lungs . Leaves , too , arc the breathing surfaces of vegetables ; and therefore to ascertain tho facto in tho 0110 without inquiring into thoso observable in the other , would be likely to fog our reasoning and falsify our conclusions . Tho firnt impression wo obtain from all animals is from external form and appearance—from , m fact , its outward covering . It wan the first organ to which Aboriiethy devoted his most particular attention , and hero again bin investigations show how little those knew of his mind who imagined that his thoughts wero restricted to any one
sot of organs . Abernethy directing his attention to ascertaining what the skin actually gave oil ' , and what wero tho changes of tho air in the lungs during inspiration , made a aeries of experiments : — " Having a trough containing H largo quantity of quicksilver , ho filled a glaflt * jar ( sufficiently capacious to contain his hand and wrist ) with that metal . U ° in * verted it into tho trough in the usual way of proceeding- in collecting ganoH . " ' fixed tho glass jar in a sloping position , that ho might introduce his hand tho m <> r » roadily benoath tho quiokHilvcr . In thin way , whatever was ^ ivon off from tn <» skin of tho hand , riwing through tho quicksilvor to tho top of tho glaHH , and o course displacing a proportionate quantity of quicksilver , could bo mado tho mu > - joct of analysis . 1
" Ho ricacriboH Iuh firat oxporiment as follows : ' I hold my hand ton ininuw'H tho jar benoath tho surface of tho quicksilver , and frequently moved it m "i . 1 situation , in order to detach any atmospheric air thiit might accidentally ndhero . it , and afterwards introduced it into tho inverted jiir . Tho quicksilver hooh » ' " quirod a degroo of warmth which rendered it not unpleasant . Minute Mi . \ ) X _ asenndod to tho top of iho quicksilver , more spuodily in tho beginning <> ' tJi <> < ^ porimont , moro tardily towards tho conclusion . Aftor an hour had <> lapH «< > - withdrew my hand ; tho bubbles of air , which now appeared on the top <>' quicksilver , wero , I supposo , in hulk equal to ono soruplo of water . rfWii " ' In sixteen faun-it , 1 collected a Iialf-ounoo moasuro of air , which w » k « h " .,, „ grains tho HVonitfed product , of , hour . No kind of moisture jippoarixl <»«» ' ^ nurfaco of tho < iuiclcHilvor . Homo sucking-jiaper was ]> ut ii |> , which wnH ., { ' drawn unmoistonod . My hand was alwsiyn damp whon taken <>«• ' ° ' ' . ^ ({ iii < : ksilvor . Whatever ; k | uoouh ixjrspiration was produced h < Hio'' < !( ) ' * ^ surface , whilst tho conform ascondod to the top of tho' jur . ' \ a"' T ) j , jly thua collected , 1 throw up lime-water , when about two-thirdrt of it wero 1 1 J
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Oct. 29, 1853, page 16, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_29101853/page/16/
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