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rable lights reflected in the large mirrors , they rushed in every direction , knocked down dancers , trampled furiously over them , and attacked all the looking-glasses ¦ w ith desperate energy . Ladies screamed and lamted away ; -whilst the disconsolate Duchess of Mazann looked on the whole scene of havoc and confusion with unutterable chagrin . — Kavanagh ' s Woman tn France . Rational Recreation : its Effects . — The sobriety in many parts of the continent appears to me to be caused by the greater prevalence than with us of physical pleasures , such as music and dancing ; the abundance of cheap -wine of so mild a kind that it can scarcely intoxicate , and the prevalence of social and mental pleasures of » « ort that « an be enioved by all classes , such as
access to public walks , picture-galleries , &c . In this country , some of these innocent and rational pleasures , instead of being encouraged , are discountenanced ; and the consequence is , that many persons who would otherwise engage in them , fall into the debasing indulgence of drunkenness ; or , if they resolutely seek the other better pleasures , they are often driven in quest of them to the houses of disreputatable persons , instead of enjoying them in the open day , in the presence and with the approval and sympathy of respectable friends and neighbours . Among boys and towns this t of innocent and
girls in manufacturing wan rational amusement is a fertile source of crime . The spontaneous delight of children in dancing and singing seems to show that music and the dance are natural pleasures , and in themselves perfectly innocent , and that to endeavour to suppress them is to oppose the intentions of an all-wise and benevolent Creator ; but the purest gratifications may , by the discountenance of the besteducated and most moral classes , be rendered corrupting , by causing them to be indulged in by stealth , and with the idea that they are sinful . —Report of Prison Inspector for Scotland .
It is not Practical . —If you propose any experiment for remedying an evil , it is nearly sure to be observed that your plan is well enough in theory , but that it is not practical . Under that insidious word " practical" lurk many meanings . People are apt to think that a thing is not practical unless it has been tried , is immediate in its operation , or has some selfish end in view . Many who do not include , either avowedly or really , the two latter meanings incline , almost unconsciously perhaps , to adopt the former , and think that a plan , of which the effects are not foreknown , cannot be practical . Every new thing , from Christianity downwards , has been suspected , and slighted , by such minds . All that is greatest in science , art , or song , has met with a chilling reception from them . When this cold
apprehensive timidity of theirs is joined to a or selfish spirit , you can at best expect an epicurean deportment from them . Warming themselves in the sun of their own prosperity , they soothe their consciences by saying how little can be done for the unfed , shivering , multitude around them . Such men may think that it is practical wisdom to make life as palatable as it can be , taking no responsibility that can be avoided , and shutting out assiduously the consideration of other men ' s troubles from their minds . Such , however , is not the wisdom inculcated in that religion which , as Goethe well Rays ; is grounded on " reverence for what is under us , " and which teaches us " to recognise humility and poverty , mockery and despite , disgrace and wretchedness , suffering and death , as things divine . "—The Claims of Labour .
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There are various modes of viewing the truths of science , as there are various views of the Houses of Parliament , and various aspects under which every landscape may be seen . In the abstract , apart from the actual progress of society , Science has nothing to do in a newspaper . As far as it is connected with the advance of opinion , with change of every kind in society , and with the development of man ' s life generally , it is an essential adjunct to a newspaper . Science now mixes itself up with daily life , and no man can say that he has nothing to do
with it , neither can any well-educated man be without some of its greatest truths familiarized to his mind . In a country so thoroughly artificial , or so thoroughly dependent on so many of the discovered laws of nature applied , and as it were guided by skilful hands , it is not uncommon to see some of the highest laws , the knowledge of which has been gained with the greatest difficulty , made use of to guide us in some of our simplest wants . Perhaps there is no instance more striking than
the manner in which science has been brought to bear on the habits of personal cleanliness . At first no doubt the instinct of a people , disposed to be clean when leisure could be had , and all conveniences easily purchased , and now a law which society has not been able to wield with sufficient force , powerful as its laws of custom are , and which the state has been compelled to adopt , telling every man that ho must be clean . He must be clean or
lie will be unwell ; he must be well or he will nfy'ikc others unwell . The necessity for cleanliness iimde soap , an article long known , much more inportant . than it had ever been , and it became too lear . Science was culled on to cheapen it ; it nade soda from common salt , and soap became heap .
The state ordains that a man shall be clean , lest the plague attack him , and his neighbours fall a victim ; but science has made this command reasonable which before was unreasonable . And in speaking of these subjects we mix up science and state laws , and habits , and substances so humble as to be ridiculous , without respect of things or persons . As the laws of nature act as completely of
whether in an animalcule or in a system suns , so science also , which is simply their expression , acts in the lowest as in the highest concerns . It shall be our business to view it , not in its isolation from man , but in its connection with him , — not as a stranger , but as a friend , —not as a dreamer merely , but as an active , unresting , and effective workman ; exalted certainly very high , with a power that never errs , but stooping also very low ,
serving the poorest . Science expresses the laws of nature ; the results of these laws give the popular idea , when the scientific man finds the language it seems easy for the popular mind to learn it . Popular ideas are not to be despised ; they are , in fact , our highest ideas ; they are the results of science ; they are the gold which the scientific diggers have dug and washed out of the soil , and with great toil obtained . But the world as a whole cares nothing for the work , the coin circulates , and no one thinks of the labour necessary to obtain from the earth the sovereign which he
earns ; he thinks only of the toil necessary to get the grand total result into his hand . The world wants results , and will have them ; these results come into society under the name of popular ideas ; the world has got what it wanted , and cares for no more ; the proof may lie hidden in a dusty book until it be wanted and some other result obtained
by its help . The servant may or may not be rewarded for digging up the gold , and remembered with praise and honour ; but the result will not be forgotten as long as it can be of any use . The world clings to the sacred result , wrung from the mysteries of nature ; constant , enduring , and true , however mysterious at first , in time to become simple , necessary , and popular .
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METEORITE . The Philosophical Magazine contains a long account of the celebrated meteor of February ; it has been sufficiently described , and we shall only give its distance , as this part of the subject seems to have received an unusual amount of attention , and is very interesting as well as important : — " During the * first part of the progress of the meteor it very rapidly descended obliquely towards the earth in such a manner that it was between 80 and 90 miles from the earthand less than 50 miles distant , within 4
, seconds or 5 seconds afterwards ; the two places over which it was vertical at these times being separated by about 17 miles ; it then decreased less rapidly till , when over a place about 37 miles from the first-mentioned place ( that is after it proceeded 37 miles ) , it was 42 miles distant from the earth . When over a place about 80 miles distant from the first-mentioned place , its distance from the earth was 25 miles . When over a place 90 miles from the first-mentioned place its distance from the earth was 23 miles . It exploded at the 110 th mile , at 19 miles distant from the earth . After the explosion the luminous bodies were seen till within ten miles distance from the
earth . " The author believes , from the violence of the explosion , that it was a body of a firm texture , broken up by the formation of an elastic fluid . This gradual and indirect approach to the earth has long been noticed , although it is difficult to tell why a body of it coming from the distant regions ^ space should not come down more directly . The appearance of these bodies when found gives us no clue to any possible mode of generating gas . They are a most commonplace - looking set of
substances , having no elements in them differing from ours ; and those elements which they do exhibit seem not to have been disturbed by any force , since they were gradually aggregated , or crystallized , as certain portions of them often are . The outside seems to have been exposed to great heat , and is melted ; the heat , therefore , seems to have been momentary , generated probably in passing through the atmosphere . The substances are silex , lime , iron , and such earths and metals as we cannot
form into gas . The explosion is still to be accounted for . Some meteors seem to have a light like an electric light , and as they come into an atmosphere charged differently in all probability from themselves , and as they may also generate a great amount of electricity , it is not making too great a demand on this so universal agent to make it account for these interesting phenomena perceived on the approach to this earth of strange bodies , wandering stars , which from time to time
are falling , and no doubt gradually enlarging our earth ' s circumference . This is done by degrees , certainly very small , but no less real , unless there be some mode of compensation , by removing an equal quantity from the earth ' s surface , of which , however , we have not the slightest intimation . What effect this may have on the motion of t he earth in the course of time it is for some age , scarcely for ours , to determine .
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PURIFICATION OP LONDON . A plan for cleaning London seems now to have met with general approbation . The plan is to remove all the refuse by a separate channel , and to clear the river at the same time . The high water at London is often the cause of a great deal o f unwholesome atmosphere being driven up on the town , the refuse of some hours sent back by the tide . This fact became evident to one of the engineers whilst a boy . A dead pig was floating on the waters of a small tidal river ; sometimes it
floated down , and seemed lost , but in a few hours it came back ; and from day to day it seemed only to sail up and down the river , not at any time coming up quite so high as it did the previous time . If the pig comes up so does the water ; and so when the Thames really looks fine , when the bed is full of water and a fresh breeze sweeps over it , we think what a refreshing thing for the centre of a large town ! what a blessing to the inhabitants ! but this refreshment is adulterated and impure , and we have not yet got rid of the dead pig . When the sewers flow out into the Thames some miles below London , the
stream will then be pure , aud then probably we shall have baths at Blackfriars-bridge and the pebbles become visible at low water , instead of the present mud on the banks . Even now the Thames is much purer than it was twenty years ago , the decomposing matter found over a great extent of the surface seems to be entirely removed , the steamboats have mixed well the whole ingredients , and , whatever the river itself may contain , we have it not collected in putrid masses on the surface , exposed to the air and to the inhabitants . The mud of the river also is rapidly stirred up in the
morning by the steam-boats , and is carried away by the stream , whereas in former times it seemed to accumulate and to fill up the river . Probably this may be found to be a value in steam-boats not at first considered . If so , it will be analogous to the advantages derived from macadamized roads . Since they were introduced , roads have increased ; the ground occupied by them is very great , but farmers are now finding that the amount of matter ground down upon them is of great value , and , instead of being a waste of land , they may be looked on as great grinding machines to prepare soil for the worn-out fields . But such unforeseen
results and advantages , accidental though necessary , are to be found every day , when To-morrow is always coming with a face that no one previously knew , however much we have longed to see it , and however curious to know its character . Of the plan we shall give a fuller account .
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SuppiiY of Water for Large Towns . —One of the most important scientific inquiries of which the public must take cognizance , is at present the mode of supplying the metropolis with water ; we hope those who are accustomed to watch over the public weal will have their eyes open , so that no p lan will be adopted inefficient or foolishly expensive , bringing bad water or too little of it , so that we may have to do our work again when our money is spent , or that we may be obliged to do as Liverpool has done , stop in the middle of our work to know what we are"Veally about .
Fumigation or Rooms . —A correspondent of the Athenaeum advises the burning of touch-paper , paper dipped into a solution of saltpetre and dried , for the purpose of purifying the air of a room . It is difficult to see the advantages of this plan . It is probable that the burning of brown paper alone will be more efficacious , on account of the antiseptic qualities of the products , analogous to tar , turpentine , creosote , &c , so much used for fumigating ; but the presence of saltpetre in the atmosphere is unpleasant , and cannot be good for the lungs . In all cases of heating saltpetre a little of the solid sabstance gets into the atmosphere .
New Gold-Beds . —It is reported that the gold found in Spain promises very well . It will , perhaps , be good for that country ; the progress of the European countries around it has not had the effect of stirring it up to any effective extent . Gold may rouse it now as silver once did ; at least we shall probably have another experiment to settle the question of the value of the precious metals to a country . Hitherto they have raised some and depressed others ; what their true effect is , may probably be expressed in the same manner as their true effect on individuals , where money is for good or evil as the character is " now stamped with the image of good Queen Bess , and now of the bloody Mary , " as Hood said .
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Leader (1850-1860), April 13, 1850, page 66, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1840/page/18/
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