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We liave more than 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suitable publicity to ideas and researches on important subjects , which , in default , would either have remained unpublished , or would have swelled out into books .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 Foreign Medical Meview—z , 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 of the young men fro m whom science has most to hope ; the second is- by Dr . Thomas "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 . Huxley opposes Scetwann and Schleiden , 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 , apropos 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 Coleridge , consists in saying that "Xife 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 . Convte , a mere bookman in these subjects , devoting a long argurnent { Philosophic Positive , torn . iii . p . 288 ) to a refutation [?] of what he calls the ' profonde irrationality' of . Biehat's definition . As a specimen of the said refutation , we may select the following passage : ' Si comme le supposait Bichfit , tout ce qui entoure les corps vivans tendait reellemcnt a les detruira , leur existence serait par cela meme radicalement inintelligible ; car , ou pourraientils puiser laforce ne * cessaire pour surmonter meme temporairement un tel obstacle ?' 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 ofthe 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 . "
x The greatest anatomist of France does not speak in this strain of Comte ; but the tone is tlic least objectionable part of this note . Mr . Huxt / ey ' s attempt at ridicule and illustration is unfortunate . All things do not tend to destroy living beings ; they tend to nourish them oven 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 philosopher in his chair ; but only Ms own specific gravity does so . Tke 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 influence of cooking ou food , the writer says of roastinq : —
" Soon the outer layer of albumen becomes coagulated , and thus the exit of that which is still fluid is prevented , and it becomes solidified very 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 solution . 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 witli tho alkali from tho scrum of tho blood . Thus the external layer of albumen forms a sort of box which keeps together the important parts of tho aliment till they have undergone tho desired modification by slow heat ; a box , however , permeable in boiho degree by tho oxygen of tho free surrounding air , so that most of the
empyreumatic oils and products of dry distillation are carried oiF . These are doubtless , in a general way , no loss to our stomachs or our palates ; but one , wo may hope , is retained in some proportion . This is acetic acid , whoso presence would certainly tend to make the muscular fibre , as woll as the albumen , more soluble . The casehardening of tho joint may bo produced in a certain degree- by rapid boiUwj ; hut the interior albumen seems by thin process more hardened and less digcfitiWoperhaps from want of the acid abovo named . Stewing and baking retain all tho good things ; but then they retain aluo a variety of known and unknown uduetH , inimical to the stomach ' s peace ; whilo stow bolting makes , it is true , a digontiblo soup , but converts the muscular fibre into a mass of hard strings , which , tiaien not
or eaten , must necessarily bo wasted . . Roasting , then , is as fieiontific and wholesome , and therefore , as economical , a process an it is a palatable one . One groat advantage which roasting can boast of is , that it puts a check upon tho deception , intentional or nou-intentional , as the case may bo of over-preparation . Heat acorns to have an effect upon albumen , in Home degree proportioned to the period of its application , rendering it more and more insoluble * even after any apparent change can bo perceived hy tho palate . Thus , soups and utewn which aro Mcopt . hot ,, ' aro wholesome enough during tho fir « t three or four houni , may »> o digested at a railway refrcHlnnrnt room for nomo hours after ; but on the Hocond I-Vm ! rd ( lay ' K ivo tlu ' » lca » tioua ofttur of two-franc Palais lloyal dinners » n infalhblo diarrhoea . "
Horo is another bit ;—on pie-cruat : — "Ho , too , in food , tho mechanical cliflnrnucoH of modes of preparation nm « t oner to tho intestinal canal tho component parts of tho dish in a different ordor . ^ or exam ple , two norta of pie- crust aro familiarly known as ' short ' and ' puff ; in ' -no lormor , tho butter ih thoroughly incorporated with tho dough , no as to divido ww Htaroh-granuloH one from tho othor , and pormoato tho gluten like a spongo ; ™> Uo 11 , puir-pastry , tho dough foniiH thin but Holid layers , like a quire of buttorod l »« l l > er . il the tooth aro imperfect , or tho mastication carolcm . the latter if ) woll
known to form a solid mass in the stomach , which is very difficult of solution in 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 interestmg 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 of the 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 ofthe hunting nations across the Atlantic is given by Dr . Moleschott in evidence that an exclusive 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 of the 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 cites of icthyophagous nations . He mentions the Samoycdes , 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 , beincr so noted for their love of warm-blooded meat , that ' in the Russian
chancellery they are designated Sirogneczt , 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 ofthe 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' ( vulgo porritch ) ;—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 isle of Ferro .
Since fishing has declined among them , and the inhabitants have cultivated corn , and live on other food instead of vvhale ' 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 at all seasons . The excessive improvidence of the natives , and the severe climate , fully . account for their miserable condition . On the other hand , large tz-ibos who subsisted at one time entirely , and s ' -ill 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 most of the Pacific nations allied to them as the New Zealand ers ? Yet they are notorious fish-eaters . Their carle is deficient in mammals ; dogs and swine are a recent introduction : and man , we hope , was
always an occasional luxury : but a programme of their u / . h-dinners , given us by a chaplain to their enterprising bishop , might almost draw Apicius round the globe . It comprises lampreys , eels fresh and dried , kippered shark , a , kind of cod , mullet , whitebait { inanga ) , which is boiled or broiled , or baked in amall baskets , so as to make a fish-cake , cockles of three sorts , mussela , 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 considerable variety ; and , as before suggested , perhaps this variety causes their superiority ; but still , the sta ple of their fare is evidently fish , as observed by Captain Cook . A similar mode of living is attributed by this observant seaman to the Sandwich islanders , of whom lie says— - ' the majority Avere abovo the middle height ; ' and to the clean , comely Otaheitans , whoso frail daughters were fair enough to cause the mutiny of the liountii , before European civilization had altered them . So that we cannot
attribute degeneracy solely to the substitution of fish for meat . . 1 he truth probably in , that the mode of procuring food has a greater influence , over mind , manners , and muscles , than the nature of the food itself . He that is satisfied with what ho can pick up ready-grown degenerates either into a starved New Hollander , where food is deficient , or into an effeminate creature , like the former inhabitant of tho West Indies , where it is abundant ; ho that seeks only tho greatest amount of nitrogenous matter grows up a mere hunter , and becomes a- prowling , cruel , passionate , dirty , yelling American Indian ( for tho ' noble savage' existed only in Mr . Cooper ' s fancy ) ; while a civilized people will bo found from tho earliest times , like the wise son of Sirach ' s man of a good heart , to ' have a caro for their meat and diet . ' They will have thought about it , laboured for it steadily , investigated nature and advanced science to improve- it , and obtained their reward in tho search itaolf . "
We have said enough to piquo curiosity and send tho reader to tho British and Jforeign ; and while on tho subject of . Reviews , we may mention that the Quarterly has an . excellent article on . Electro JUology , Mesmerism , and Table Twrmng , written in a scientific- spirit and popular Htylo . Ah the Quarterly needs no introduction from tin , a mention will suffice .
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Dumas , tho incommensurable , the incomparable Dumas ! the lying Lop k dt ? Vnga of romance ! tho "B uiak kuh of fiction ! who last week promised tho T / iMtro l < V <( ncais a new five-act comedy in six days , and who has done il ; in less' than four ihy » ! and wlio . se " fecundity" lias suggested endless speculations , none of which are reconeiloable with all tho facts , lias in his last novel su . rpn . HNed oven tho Pumas audacity . Wo know him of old to 1 ) 0 an A / UTor / Yeus . It is his boast that , like Mo-LiKUK , lie repossesses himself of liIh ' property wherever he finds it (" , /"«
reprends won hi on oh jo le tronva" ) , and lie laughs at tho word plagiarism" convey , tho wise it call . " . But lie' really lias surpassed himself in ' . Lc . Pasteur d'Ashbourn—surpassed even his " repossession" of Consciernoe I'J ' nmmmL You shall , jud ^ o . There- is an old and now almost forgottan ( lonnan novelist , Aijuuhtun Lakontalnk l > y name , whoso novel , Family Pictures , has been re-published by Sutms and . M . ' . I . ntviuc , in their Parlour Library . Tiio worthy fellow ia ( load now , and cannot clamorously pro-
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Critics are not the legislators . but the judges and police of literature . "They da not make laws—they interpret and . try to enforce them- —Edinburgh Review ,
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October 22 , 1853 . ] THE LEADER . 1023
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Leader (1850-1860), Oct. 22, 1853, page 1023, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2009/page/15/
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