On this page
- Departments (1)
-
Text (6)
-
Untitled Article
-
Cljc atnUnoiniT T?eioc».
-
Untitled Article
-
Untitled Article
-
Untitled Article
-
Untitled Article
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.
-
-
Transcript
-
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.
Untitled Article
almost knew him to carry lucifers . The dress was a woollen shirt , canvas frock corduroy trousers , and ' a wide-a-wake . ' The weather was very warm and dry . When a little farther on Ms way homewards , smoke was seen rising up from the cart in which the man was , and which contained a good deal of hay , by a herd-boy on a neighbouring rising ground , about one-fourth of a mile distant . The man was next seen to descend from the cart , to stand , then to stagger and fall . The horses stood still . In a few minutes , smoke again appeared from the ground , when the boy rnn down , and found the body lifeless , black , disfigured , and burning . He hurried to a cottage close by , and returned with a woman having a water-pail , with
which they drew water several times from a rivulet almost at their feet , and thereby extinguished the burning body and garments . The position was on the back , inclining to one side ; arms and legs as before-mentioned . The time that elapsed , between the boy seeing the man come down from his cart and the water being dashed on , is represented as not more than fifteen minutes . The body was wrapped into a sheet , and removed home . The pipe was found lying below the body with the cap on , apparently as it had been put into his hands . The clothes were all consumed , except the lower parts of the legs of the trousers , where the burning had ceased , and a small portion of the shirt , frock , and hat , immediately between the body and the ground . There was none of the hay burned .
" Remarks . —The case at first sight appeared to me to have arisen from the clothes having by some means caught fire , and the smoke therefrom producing death by asphyxia—the subject being much intoxicated ; but second thoughts demonstrated a few points not reconcileable to my mind with this view , such as the position on the back , &c . —the event taking place in the open air—rigidity of the limbs—no trace of fire—and the rapidity and extent of the combustion , whilst this latter ( compared with the accounts of martyrs , suttees , and others who have been consumed , and the great quantity of fuel and the time that have been required ) , and no apparent struggle or attempt having been made to cast off the burning garments , or to quench the flames in the brook running alongside , whilst the man was
not at all in a state of insensibility from his potations , led me to the belief , that it was no ordinary combustion from the application of fire . I have , then , been induced to regard it as a case of progressive igneous decomposition , commencing during life without the application or approach of any hot or burning body , as believed in . by several contiliental physiologists of eminence . Such a state of matters I know has been regarded by many as almost fabulous ; but the numbers of general instances from good authorities , and from all parts of the world , of spontaneous combustion , or , as Beck more properly terms it , preternatural combustibility of the human body , and written on by Dr . Mason Good , and received into the Statistical Nosology from the General Register Office , now in the hands of most medical practitioners under the appellation of Catacausis JEbriosa , show that the
doctrine cannot be wholly set aside . If you read this attentively , you will bo amazed at the credulity which , could accept such a case as evidence . JN ^ ot to lay stress on the chief testimony being a toll-keeper and a herd-boy , persons from whom one would little expect accurate descriptions , let me only refer to these points . 1 st . The body "was charred , burned as it always is "when the clothes take fire , and that only superficially . 2 nd . His dress was woollen shirt , canvas frock , corduroy trousers . 3 rd . He was drunk at the time , and in a cart full of hay . 4 thr He bad a lighted pipe in his hand , which , was found under his body . 5 th . The clothes were consumed , except where the burning of the body had ceased , —or , to put it more accurately , the burning of the body ceased , where the burning of the clothes ceased . And then let me aslc whether there is anything wonderful in the cause of his death ? It is simply a case of a man ' s clothes catching fire , and smouldering on him , charring his flesh as it burned .
Turning back , for a moment , to the letters of Ignis and Mr . Bedford , I find in them statements which may mislead those who have not anatomical knowledge . Ignis assures me that the water is diffused in films of molec \ ilar delicacy , amidst membranes permeated by filaments of nerves . And Mr . lledford , because the water of the tissues is not perceptible as water , inclines to the supposition that the water may exist under some other form . What these writers mean , I cannot say , but , to prevent mistake , it should be stated , that the water in the body exists as water ; it is present , largely , in all the fluids , holding them in solution ; it is present among the cell contents of all the cells which make up the tissues , and it is present in tin ? interstices of the tissues , where it is maintained mechanically , by capillary attraction , as in a sponge . 1 am unwilling to prolong this discussion , by noticing the other points which seem objectionable , and leave the correspondence in the reader ' s hands . G , H . Lewes .
Untitled Article
HOOKS ON OUR TABLE . Apsley House . Tjondon : Addoy and Co ., 1853 It ia quite possible to havi : more than enough of the best things , and it must bo confessed that the public have been / dosed with black-draughts of proso and verse , in tho slmpn of " lives" and " deaths" of the J ) tike , till those " who camo to grieve remained to yawn . " Them is one of the stanzas , however , in thin admonitus lororum , l > y Mr . Charles Cole , that deserves to be remembered , aH it expresses n testimony too often forgotten . JL is to the memory of
Cljc Atnunoinit T?Eioc».
Cljc atnUnoiniT T ? eioc » .
Untitled Article
" Others thore were , heroes , though all unknown , Their riainoH unblazon'd on Muiid'h glorious roll , No Kpitnpli is theirs , no JJronze , no Mono ; Their deeds unsung , i . heir patriot' deaths uiihIiowii , Yet hearts nlill throb Mint keep their memory gnuin , " With silent hi ^ h and solemn team unseen . "
Untitled Article
A Key to Ifnelo Tow ' s Cafiin . \\ y U . 1 $ . HUiwo . ^ HmnpHoti Low , Hon , and Co . 'J' / m ' Condition and . Education of J ' oor Children in Jinj / tixh and in ( itwman ' J ' owim . Uy . ) . Kny . M . A . ' Longman , Jirown , Orocui , and l < oii /; imuiH . Vokiiib , Narrative and Lyrical . \\ y . 10 . Arnold . . KrimoiH Ma < iph < irnon . Home Thought * . 1 ' nrlrt ^ l . to III . l £ « 'iit , itud Co . A I'lenfor ' thc Itotanic I ' ractic . e of Medicine , lly . Jolm Hliolton . . 1 . Witt . Mon . The . Mtrhidilnit Itoo / .- . li voln . Hii « ii > lun mid AIiumIiiiII . Tha Ntru ( funl A 7 mA : io . irr « . Kilitiul »> y t ! lmrl < H Kni ^ lii . '•><> , l'Hn « it-Htr «< i ( . . The Child ' * Snrond Letter-Hook , ' j'he Child ' a Mint , Ututdini ) -Book . —Tho Child '« J < 'ir * t Word-Jiook . Hy H . . 1 . Hulyoukii . " . I . Wutnon . Jiptuline ' v ih-wm , in Four Prawn *; and other 4 ' vm » , Jty John J ^ ov ^ iv . jlftmwt H %£ ,
Untitled Article
ALEXANDER SMITH'S POEMS . Poems . By Alexander Smitli . David Bogue . We have a certain pride in Alexander Smith . Not only have these columns been frequently enriched by beautiful passages of his writing , not only have we had to fight a battle for his right as a poet to express in sincere beauty the sincere language of passion , but Tve also sounded a loud trumpet in his praise till its echoes reached the ears of a publisher who has had the honour and the sagacity to behave liberally to an unknown man of genius ! Mr . Bogue will find that he has made a good calculation in making a generous offer i for if Alexander Smith be not ere long recognised as a real poet , in the most serious and exclusive sense of the word , we will burn our pens and renounce for ever the judicial seat ! Our readers know the chariness with which we use the terms genius and poet , terms so prodigally scattered through the periodicals of the day that they almost lose their significance—like an old piece of money fingered through miscellaneous commerce till the effig ies be scarcely traceable—when , therefore , we say , that Alexander Smith is a poet and a man of unmistakeable genius , we are giving praise beyond the power of epithets . That he has many faults and short comings we admit ; but these are so obvious , they lie so on the surface of his writing , that we do not care to dwell on them ; " and we shall better consult the reader ' s p leasure by reserving our space for extracts that will display the luxuriant imagery and exquisite felicity of expression which herald in him the great poet he will be , when age and ripe experience lend their graver accents to his verse . At present the subjects he delights to paint are the stars , the sea , the rivulets , and boyish love . Full as his poems are of love , however , the love is only that of young desire quickened by an aesthetic sense of beauty ; companionship of spirits he does not yet conceive . It is the light in the eyes of his mistress , the sunbeams playing through her hair , the passion of her lip -which , when pressed to his , lifts his spirit to such exaltation that ( to use his own grand phrase ) he " seems to walk on thrones ! " as if kingdoms were the only stepping stones for one so supremely raised above other mortals by his bliss ! This it is which the young poet sings of , because this , and this only , has he felt . He is but one-and-twenty ! One cannot say much for the substance of his poems ; but their form is exquisitely poetical . He has nothing to sing of but Nature and his own emotions . He makes his Muse a harpsichord whereon he plays fragments of melody , practising his hand till some great " symphony of song" be born within him . therefore our extracts will convey an accurate idea of the volume—at least they will convey an idea of his powers ; especially of the prodigal felicity of his images . ! Read , for example , these variations on his favourite theme—the stars : — " As when , upon a racking night , the wind Draws the pale curtains of the vapoury clouds , And shows those wonderful mysterious voids , Throbbing with stars like pulses . " # * * # " This wood I ' ve entered oft when all in sheen The princely Morning walks o ' er diamond dews , And still have lingered , till the vain young Night Trembles o'er her own beauty in the sea . " # # * # " The sun is dying like a cloven king In his own blood ; the while the distant moon , Like a pale prophetess , whom he has wronged , Leans eager forward , with most hungry eyes , Watching him bleed to death , and , as he faints , She brightens and dilates ; revenge complete , She walks in lonely triumph through the night . " # # * # " A mighty purpose rises large and slow From out the lluctuations of my soul , As , ghost-like , from the dim and tumbling sea Starts the completed moon . " # # # * " I read and read Until the nun lifted his cloudy lids * And shot wild light along the leaping deep , Then closed his eyes in death . 1 shed no tear , I laid it down in silence , and went forth burdened with its and thoughts : slowly I went ; And , as I wandered through the deepening gloom , 1 saw tho pale and penitential moon 2 Use from dark waves that plucked at her , and go Sorrowful up the sky . " Head these upon the sea : — " Better for man , Were he mul Nature more familiar fronds ! His part is worst that touches this base world . Although tho ocean ' s inmost heart he pure , Yet the salt Jringe that daily licks the . shore Is gross with sand . " # # # # " Tf ye are fair , Mankind will crowd around you , thick as when Tho full-faced moon wits silver on tho sea , The eager wives lift up their gleaming heads , Much shouldering for her smite . " # # # # " Lovo lights upon the heart , and straight we feel More worlds of wealth gleam in tin upturned eye , Than in tho rich heart of the miser sea . " # * # «
Untitled Article
306 T H E LEADER . [ Saturday ,
-
-
Citation
-
Leader (1850-1860), March 26, 1853, page 306, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1979/page/18/
-