On this page
-
Text (2)
-
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
¦ revealed : by the scalpel after death . Nevertheless , it is beyond all question , that the injury which constitutes the immediate cause of insanity is in the . brain . ... , ' - -m * , ,. „ "In some departments of practical medicine , it is true , there subsists f . admirable ielation between Sensible alterations of structure and their symptoms d . uringlifef take chestfc » . for example / Still , in the case of many organs besides the brain , the pathology Slooks to morbid anatomy for every explanation , will be seriously disappointed ; , foras r matter of-fact , the relations between tne main seat of d ^ eas es and the irr ^ larmamfestations to which particular diseases lead , are most uncertain and vambje-bidd ng dSto every attempt at successful classification . A set of symptomswill ^ disp lay themselves , referable to some obvious change that may be detected after death ; and the vtry ^ same ' symptoms , so far as an observer can judge , will , manother case be dependent upSi some verydifferent condition of the structures , as reveaed ! by Pf fc-m ?^ "S ^ . ™ It will not unfrecraently'happen that the central disease shall originate external ^ du ^ ons Jhat direct the medical observer ' s attention far more . to the ° ^^^ " £ ^ g ^* thetically affected , than to those which are the subjects of permanent physical change , noticeable after death . Moreover , some very vital structure shall become so seriously ateJed bv disease as to induce a fatal termination , and yet no very material a terations in the otner
ite appreciable characteristics be afterwards witnessed ; and , on nana , aeep » u irapSrable changes in the organisation will , at times , have advanced to the most wnous lengths , without any very sensible alteration in the functional manifestations . J ^ es have Surred in which complete destruction of the anterior columns of the spmal cord appeaed to have taken place , without loss of voluntary motion in the parts below ; whilst a sun lar destruction of the posterior columns has occurred without corresponding lesion of sensibility There are instancefin which the whole thickness of the cord has undergone softening , and apparent disintegration , without the destruction of the functional connexion between the Shalon and the parts below the seat of , the disease . Again whilst blindness from paralysis of the optic herve dependent upon recognisable fault in its tissue or m that of its Unions , will sometimes come on ; at others , the exciting cause may be the presence of intestinal worms implicating the visual apparatus only by sympathy . Ho * very . little constancy of relation subsists between some very notable derangements of the functions of the stomach , and the changes found in its structure after death . Most troublesome dys-™™™ fi ™ ts sometimes , and the patient dies from some other disease ; very often , m such
cases , there is no change discoverable in the stomach itself . But we must cease : our limits are already passed , and we have not touched on half the points of this suggestive volume . We must refer our readers to its pages , conEdent they will thank us for the recommendation .
Untitled Article
NEW BOOK ON AUSTRALIA . Victoria : late Australia Felix , or Port Phillip District ofNeu , SouthWales ; being « n Historical and Descriptive Account of the Colony and its Gold Mines . With anAppmdix , containing the . Reports of the Melbourne Chamber of Conimerce for the ^ ^ . ° «** r upon tht Condition and Progress of the Colony . By William Westgartb , late Member o the Legislative Council of Victoria . Ldmburgh : Oliver and Boyd . 1853 Austbama outgrows history . We have for some years been accustomed to the rapid changes on the North American continent , but they are matched by the changes in Australia . Here is . a land that twenty years ago was barely known . Thirty years ago , the emu and the kangaroo ran and leapt through the open forest , where now the squatter depastures his sheep , and the digger finds the rich red gold . Thirty years ago there was not a single ship in the magnificent waters of Port Phillip ; by the shipping lists brought home this week we find there were 404 sail there on the 23 rd September . We dare insecure for the next
not write that in Melbourne life and property are very ; mail may inform us that efficient Peelers have been instituted ; and speedy justice done . Neither can we say that education is overlooked in the race for sold ; for ere the passing review is forgotten the reader may learn that new colle ges have sprung up here , and new public schools there ; that Sydney has her university , and Victoria her national schools ; and that both colonies are fully served by the press . It is all very well to write that none of the -colonies have good roads ; but next post may inform us of half a dozen i-ailways projected or completed . It is not even safe to assert that Australia has no aristocracy , seeing that some surprising people in New South Wales seem determined upon presenting us with , say—a Duke of Sydney , a Mar-< iuis of Willowdilly , or an Earl of Bungoora . What a faculty for imitation ! Well mi ^ ht Lord Monboddo think he had discovered the fundamental similarity between the ape and the man .
At present the history of Victoria is a romance , not certainly one of the most elevated sort , but still profoundly interesting , and illustrative of the " pace" which characterises the nineteenth century . As early as 1804 Government made an effort to inoculate the southern const of the Australian continent with the poison of a penal establishment ; but , fortunately for Austi'alia Pelix , the attempt to convert Port Phillip into a den for convicts failed . It was not until 1835 that two men carried flocks and herds over to the shores of that splendid bay , from Tasmania—one settling down on the spot where Geclong now stands , and the other on the site of Melbourne . Three years afterwards the latter town boasted a newspaper . In 1837 Port Phillip , then a district of New South Wales , exported 175 , 000 lbs . weight of wool ; and the progress of the colony may well be gathered from the
fact that this quantity had , in 1852 , increased to 20 , 247 , 000 lbs . ! An Allotment of land , worth 501 . in 1837 , is—start not credulous render—worth 15 , 000 / . in 1853 . The revenue of Victoria in 1851 , was 380 , 000 / . ; in 1852 , no less than l , 577 , 000 Z . During the same period the tonnage in the port advanced from 120 , 000 to 408 , 000 , and the number of ships from 669 to 1657 . The population sprung from 05 , 000 to 200 , 000 ; and the value of the produce of the colony exported was not less than 15 , 000 , 000 / ., -of cour . se including the gold ! Mr . Westgarth has undertaken to write an initiative chapter of the history of Australia , so far as New South Wales and Victoria are concerned ; and he has ably performed his task . We say an initiative chapter ,
because the book before us does not contain the history of tho . se two colonies , it merely explains , in a full and lucid way , several perplexing questions , which all students of the colonial policy of Great Britain require to know . Thus he treats of the groat squatting interest ; the hind monopoly . ; the constitution of political parties ; and the working of our methods of colonial government . Ho gives the fullest information upon the commerce of the colonies , and supplies uh , in an appendix , with the admirable reports of the Melbourne Chamber of Commerce . In his account of the gold discoveries we find nothing strikingly new , but much of interest ; and , from a long and animated narrative of a ride through the diggings , we quote the following passages : —
** The digcinga that indicated tho most improved processes in those naiicent arts wero those of the ' White Hills , " so called from tho quantities of dazzling whito pipe clay or Koft ecuiatlhat was ejected from tho pit in tho progress of digging , nnd that now ovor . sprcnd tho
snrface of the entire hill like a cap of snow . Our steps were promptly directed to this in terestrn * quarter . We found the diggings penetrating to a depth of fifty feat perpendicular " Seeing a windlass at work over one of the pits , we made for the spot , and met a bucketful of the material as it reached the surface . This was a description of auriferous matter that t had never met with before . It consisted of a whito quartz grit , between sand and snvill gravel ofvery uniform appearance . It was evidently very auriferou 3 , far the gold was quite visible to the eye , scattered in small particles throughout the grit . This was more particularly the case in portions that wore discoloured of a reddish-brown , apparently froin a mis .
ture of iron . , . . .. _ . , " Feelin * some curiosity to explore so promising a mme , I adventured a descent by a ruda ladder , consisting of a straight sapling with cross pieces for steps driven through the stem ' I guess it ' s twenty-five feet to the bottom , ' said a voice from below , in answer to our in . quiry . We , of coarse , took the speaker for a Yankee , and so it proved . He had beea tempted from the States by the gold news , had recently arrived , and had joined three colonists in working this claim . Australia had no attractions for him , however , beyond its gold which would detain him only a short year or two . There was no place like home . " At the / foot of the pit , I found two men with lighted candles , who guided me into tha side workings . These were entered most easily upon all fours ; for the auriferous stratum being quite thin , no more of other material was excavated than was absolutely necessary . The first circumstance that drew my attention was a draft of air that played upon our faces .
and deflected the candle-flame as we crawled onwards . ^ 1 then learned that the tunnelling was continuous over the entire hill , the claimants and their claims having repeatedl y encountered and run into each other . A system of under-propping by poots was also in opera . tion , to prevent any subsidence of the upper beds . "The auriferous grit I have alluded to was a distinct bed of between one and two inches in thickness , of a dull grayish white colour in the uppar part , the lower being uniformly , as far as my observation went , of the reddish-brown hue already alluded to . Above this stratum was a thick bed of large stones and boulders of pure white quartz , embedded ia gravel or grit , or still minuter material ; all being apparently derived from the same substance , the original quartz mass . This bed seemed to merge upwards into gravel of the usual colour but of irregularly-sized pieces , and one part of the formation , situated about half-way up the ' pit , opposed great difficulties to the miners from the strength of its binding . I had observed the same characteristics at the Ballarat gold-fields , as regarded this iron binding , on which many a pick was rung and broken . Between this part and the summit was aa
ochre-coloured clay , sometimes interspersed with gravel ot the ordinary characteristics . " The stratum beneath the auriferous grit was the famous and universal pipeclay , which appears almost everywhere in this colony , in some form or hue . This formation is a soft schist of the finest grain , with a texture like that of the most delicate satin . The colour was nearly pure white , the departure in shade being towards a satin gray . The same formation appears to prevail in m * ny other parts of the country . It is found at Ballarat under very similar circumstances to those that were now before us ; and having there a slight bluisli cast it became the celebrated'Hue clay ' of October 1851 , which tiu'ned the heads of all classes , and out of which both diggers and amateurs were reported to be picking small gold nu ^ " -ets to their hearts' content , with the sole aid of a penknife . It is also met with beneath th < f site of Melbourne ; and as the surface there in many parts exhibits also a gravelly character , the auriferous conditions are - certainly present , and the gold may yet be found much nearer to the worthy citizens than the localities , inaccessible to many of them , of Mount Alexander or Bendigo . This auriferous character continues for some miles north ofthetown 4 and is resumed at intervals still further on . In this direction , about sixteen miles from
Melbourne , a arnall gold-diggings suddenly started into existence lately , and for a time as many as two to three hundred were at work , who were said to have averaged a fair result . ' "A few inches of the upper part of this pipeclay was taken out and washed with the auriferous grit , and about three feet of additional depth was cleared away to forma convenient passage for the diggers . Their account of the yield of this grit was to the ellect , that a bucketful gave them between two and three ounces of gold after washing , and that a cartload would give nearly two pounds weight . I had no reason to doubt this statement , liot in estimating the profits of the miners of the Whitehilb , we must bear in mmd the preliminary expenses of the excavations . We understood , also , that this extra rich hill , winch id was admitted to be , was now nearly worked out , all that remained being comprehended in the claims of particular diggers . Under efficient appliances , how enormous might be the rewards from such gold-fields ! It seems as though the stimulus of necessity and hardearned gains were alone wanting here , and that we should collect more gold if it were noD acquired so easily . , , _ ,. ___ "But what might there be below the pipeclay ? This was a qnestion asked by many a rtitrnvr hnt . T nevnr found anv ono who had succeeded in solvin £ the problem . 1 lie bed was
supposed to be of immense depth , and a mysterious possibility of countless gold lying benei ""> seemed to weigh upon many minds . Some had adventured partially into its recesses , oa the uncertainty or poverty of present results soon tired out their zeal . The pipeclay « was not generally auriferous , although quantities of gold particles appoared to have insii - ated themselves into its soft substance from the superincumbent quartz or gravel . i « ' » ¦ particularly the case at Ballarat , where the metal was found in crevices upon the su" ^ . ^ tho bed , or met with in irregular veins of gold particles within a few feet beneath , y " account thera was quite a rage at that locality to dive into the recesses of tho pi ^ One man , whom I there noticed , had gone down thirty feet from tho surface , two' ^ which was into the bed of this clay , but without any results either as to acquiring { , ' > ^ sounding the abysses of the stratum . As this formation had generally , in . tlie . } ? l : a time , been thrown considerably oft' its original horizontal line of stratification , there ^ rrood field for the services of tho « reolocist . who mi < rht trace tho cropping-out ot
parts of the bed , and so save a long and perhaps useless labour to tho digger . nnwors of " The gold-fields are a scene pre-eminently calculated to exhibit the continuous P ^ nifi _ human bones and muscles , and a gold digger , working on his own account , is thei p ^^ tion of these powers . Few know what men can do , and how willingly they « o ix , i JiViZ \\ n gr nn adequate stimulus . We gazed at laborious and incessant industry , which neil " t ; ea ' ^ er e sun nor pelting rain could cause to intermit . A nuinbdr of German mining 1 ^ mU di mot with , which had been generally successful . Little accustomed even to see g i ^^ less to possess it in such abundance , the peasantry of tho ? Fatherland' r " V ? ° i \ jng tho eucrgy , and we heard of labours in their pits and tunnels continued by torchligi ^ i ^ iss , night , as well i \ h by light of day . We passed other foreign parties . Hero niio ^ t no ^ ^ n Frenchman , an American party , or a fovv Dutch sailers . A New Zonlaimci fc hinaiiicn , tinguished ; nnd wo wore amused at ono spot l > y a whole party of Malays an who worked as laboriously for the root of all evil as any orderly Christian . - ' ^ " In tho midst of the busy crowd , and of the restless upturning of tho soil , wo n ^ ^ ^ H-. nall spot of ground enclosed by a rustic fence , which , on our nearer approach , ^ . ^^ a grave . Who lay hero , no on « neemed to knowor caro . Before the discovciy | jlircC oril « J
colony , I road a rather affecting ai tide in a Californian newspaper upon *¦ o ) jr offn , Dead , ' and little thought at that time thut tho cases there stated would sosom C ; i | j | - () nljaii . But uuch wan now emphatically our case , and to un extent and character qui jj (> i , | 9 ) uroro At tho Bcabeaeh , by the highway-sido , and wcattorccl over tho expanse of "'^ "V " wnlk » the craven of the unrecorded dead of our young Australia . Wo nncountoreu nuinerous ; number of such graves . Tho deaths upon those grounds aro . as might bo e ?^ ° i , D ) irtjjig Hp ' »' ' and frequently does it occur that there are not only no friends around j «' *\| i r « in : iillfi t 0 but thtne is no knowledge whatever of the party who is thus leaving hw C ! Ut ¦> tho laat oflicuM nnd c > ympathios of his fellow-men . " j . Without pledging ourselves to all the views , political or ccon ° " ^ \ vill forth by Mr . Westgarth , we fuel warranted in saying that the Jj ^ ul jn « ny find in this volume more . sterling information , in the same flp «« > deep ly other book that has come under our noticeTo one who looks in ,. \ , mkj \ uiai \ bii # ¦
. , ui / uv / i vj v / v ^*» - wu * u . v \; n » u uum ^ JL u ;< L > i - * - v - * --- *• - ^ fill ( A than common , the chapters on gold will not be tho most mteres ^ j ; ^ , ) t foundation of Australian society mu . st not be sought in the guiu ? jjictlll Alexander or Ballarat . In fact , Australia haw yet to »» ° y . j t ^ p lu ck i ' » ho i # made , and whether tho ring bo true . She has cx | do * n r < 1 " getting rid of transportation ; she has yet to show what . she « entlci » " forming her-Jei cctive political institutions , not , wo hope , nice tn b
Untitled Article
1242 THE L E A D E R . [ Satu ^ pay ^^ - ^~^^^^^^^^— n »»^ i i ^^»^^ . pi i !¦ »¦¦» i » i ^^ - ^» m > i ' ^~—^— ^_^_ - ^ wtnt ^ g 11 !| im ill ! 1 * * M . L _ f . aj- ^^^^ 3 Bn >^^^ BI ^ OMCJBB 3 i ^^^^^^*^^^^ " ^ a ^^^ ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ . - - ¦ " . ¦ ^^^^^ ^^^^^^*^^^ fc
-
-
Citation
-
Leader (1850-1860), Dec. 24, 1853, page 1242, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2018/page/18/
-