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Mackwood gives us Part V . of " The Athelings , " and Part III . of " Seaside Studies " -which closes the series . We are tempted to borrow one bit of " useful information" from this last paper , namely , that Cleopatra ' s celebrated extravagance of dissolving a pearl in her wine is open as an historical fact to this slight objection , that-wine will not dissolve pearls : " the most powerful vinegar attacks them lmt very slowly , and never entirely dissolves them , for the organic matter remains behind in the shape of a spongy mass larger than the original pearl . " Alas J for History , if Science is to apply its retorts !
" Wayside Songs ' 13 a series ox poems , original and translated , strung on a thread of prose and quotations . "Mr . Buttle ' s Review , " is a notice of some poems by means of a fiction , the humour of -which does not strike us : perhaps because we labour under the misfortune , indicated by Professor F : ebrier , of having been born south of the Tweed . " Our Tour in the Interior of the Crimea" will be certain to attract readers 3 and " Family History" is a pleasant review essay . ~ '"'
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THE CHEMISTRY OF FOOD . The Chemistry of Food and Diet , with , a Chapter on Food Adulterations . ( " Orr ' s Circle of the Sciences . " ) Houlston and Stoneman . Eightbenpencb will be well bestowed on this volume of popular science . It consists of a translation of Moleschott ' s admirable Lehre der Nahmrigsmittel filr das Volk , and a chapter on * 'Adulterations , " by Dr . Scoffern . As a question of literary etiquette and commercial propriety , the £ act of the translation should have been more emphatically acknowledged ; a line of small type on a crowded titlepage , which few will read , or , having readremember
, , is not sufficient announcement . Moleschotfc will have reason to complain of this , should the translation meet his eye ; and still more wrath will be excited in him by glancing at the first page , where he will find himself made to express opinions diametrically opposed to those for which he has fought and suffered . It 13 difficult to believe that the translator -ivas ignorant of Moleschott ' s outspoken materialism— -which has cost him his professorshipand which he loses no opportunity of enforcing ; yet the translator makes him , by a . verbal alteration , express himself in the language of the most orthodox immaterialists- Here is the whole passage : —
It is a well-known fact , that change of food has transformed the wild cat into the domestic fireside companion : from a carnivorous creature with short intestines , it has , by gradually becoming accustomed to another food , become transformed into another being , enabled by a long intestinal canal to digest vegetable food , which in its natural state it never touches . Food , therefore , makes of the most rapacious and perfidious animal in the -world an inmate with man , agreeing with cliildren , and rarely , except to a very close observer , revealing its former guileful character . Are we then to vronder that tribes of men become ardent or phlegmatic , strong or feeble , courageous or cowardly , thoughtful or unintelligent , according to the different kinds « f aliment they take ? If food is transformed into blood , blood into nerve and muscle , bone and brain , must not the ardour of the heart , the strength of the muscles , the firmness of the bones , tie activity of the brain , be dependent upcn the constituents of food ?
body , inasmuch as the alcohol we have imbibed takes possession of the inhaled oxygen Hence , wme with a meal is extremely useful when a long journey or work in Wl renders it imposSlble to taka food again at the usual timel so much thTmore SJ ^ such detention from food itself usually causes an acceleration of the metamorphSs of the tissues , winch beer and wine efficiently obviate . » " » orpnosi 3 01 The subject of » Adulterations" has been so constantly before the public of late that Dr . Scoffern ' s chapter will be read with , curiosity . It is yerv good , and very temperate . Let us hear him on y _ , . CHICOBY . Chicory cannot be said , I believe , to be more deleterious than coffee , taken dose for dose : coffee , Sndeed , is tie more active substance of the two ; its effects on certain delicate constitutions are so strongly manifested , that , without a violation of language it may almost be designate * a weak poison . To raise a special outcry against chicorv because of its injurious character on the constitution , is simply absurd ; nor would it ever have been raised , had not the customs receipts on coffee experienced a decreaap incompatible with the necessities of the Chancellor of the Exchequer . Unquestionablv some palates like chicory , others detest it . The philosophic , and indeed the onlv practical , way of dealing with chicory would be to permit its sale—of course seeine that it is not injurious—but not to permit its sale when mixed with coffee ex ' cenfcthe percentage quantity of the mixture be strictly defined . At present the sate of chicory-coffee mixture is regulated on a very objectionable basis . If a purchaser demand to be supplied with coffeethe retailer may deliver a mixture of chicoiy and
, coffee , provided a label expressive of such mixture be attached to the parcel . If the purchaser , however , ask for pure coffee , or coffee unmixed with chicory , then it is incumbent on the retailer to heed the request . All this is very objectionable it is an example of the ill-effect 9 of legislating in detail . If , instead of legislating in the specific matter of coffee , some scheme had been adopted of generalizing on adulterations—a slierne based on some principle which should appl y to every case of adulteration -whatever—much confusion would have been avoided , and public morality , as well as public hygiene , would have been promoted . The present regulations effecting the sale of mixtures of coffee and chicory are very unjust to the purchaser , and provocati ve of deceit to the retail dealer . Not only is the latter allowed to take advantage of the purchaser who does not think it necessary to qualify the word coffee by the expletive " pure , " but provided the chicory-coffee sold be enveloped 5 n a paper duly labelled , the dealer may raise the percentage amount of chicory as high as he pleases ; he is under no legal restraint whatever .
And further on : — Shortly after the chicory-mixing practice became adopted in this country , certain contemplative men began to reflect on the impermeability of tin-plate canisters . Everybody knows how desirable it is to retain the aroma in coffee . The best plan of accomplishing this consists in roasting the coffee when wanted , but the practice hardly accords with , our domestic habits and cuisine . The next best plan consists , perhaps , iu hermetically soldering the coffee in tin-plate cases ; accordingly the canister project vraa based upon the principles of true philosophy—the idea was attractive , its practical application easy : here are sound reasons , therefore , in favour of the canister scheme . But its denouement was heralded by other recommendations . Curiously enough , the exaltation of chicory was contemporaneous with decadence of alcohol—canister coffee
was the agent by force of which total abstinence aspired to domination . Evil-minded people , who , knowing that the tin-plate costs money , marvelled not a little that a pound of coffee in tin should be sold for less than an equal weight of . coffee in paper , were told that they knew not the power or the extent of Christian benevolence in well-ordered minds . The coffee canisters , people were made to understand , originated in no sordid motive of vulgar gain , but sprang , Minerva-like , from the teeming brain of spirithating abstainers- —men who so little cared for profits , that they -were content to live by the loss . But I seriously doubt whether tin-canisters , if they could speak , would not proclaim themselves innocent of protecting the virtues of any one sample of pure coffee . They are , in sober earnest , mere chicory traps ; and frequently they are filled in accordance with a nicely calculated scheme of deception , —chicory almost pure at the bottom , and coffee almost pure at the top .
Who does not know the debilitating effects of hunger if of long continuance , the uneasiness caused by strong coffee , the stimulus imparted by a good tea ? Who is ignorant how many noble poetical productions owe their origin to draughts of generous vyine ? The time is past when it was believed that the mind was perfectly independent of material conditions ; but those times are also passing away in which the immaterial is thought to be degraded , because it manifests itself only' by means of the material . The last paragraph will malce Moleschott justly indignant . What did he say ? " Die Zeiten sind vorbei in welcken man den Geist unabKanqiq w ' dhnte vom
Stoff" literally , " The times are past in which men conceived Mind as independent of Matter . " The translator ' s substitution of " material conditions " seems but slight ; it however paves the way for the next sentence : " But those times also are disappearing in which men fancied that Mind was degraded because it manifested itself only as dependent on Matter — das Geistige erniedrigt glaubte , lociles nur am Staff sich aussert "— -which is directly opposed to the translator ' s phrase , where we find " the immaterial" ( denied altogether by Moleschott ) used as the equivalent of Mind ; and this immaterial is said to manifest itself only by means of the material , which is precisely what irnirtaterialists maintain , and . what Moleschott fiercely
opposes . The public , however , will liaye reason to thank the translator for the excellent work he htis placed within their reach . It begins with a popular exposition of the nature of food , and the physiology of digestion , secretion , hunger and thirst . It then examines in detail the composition of various kinds of food and their relative nutritivoness : first solid food , next liquid food , and finallycondimenta such as salt , butter , cheese , vinegar , sugar , spices , &o . Having thus laid a scientific basis , Moleschott proceeds to apply the results to practice , and treats of Diet—first of diet in general , and next of childhood , youth , maturity , age , of women , of urtizans , of literary men , and of invalids . Very interesting to all persons will these pages bo . We extract a specimen : —
RRINKINO AT DINNMR . Not seldom do wo hear the opinion- 'advanced , that drinking during a meal is an obnoxious habit , but quite wrongfully ; for the gastric juice may bo diluted with a considerable quantity of water without losing its dissolving power in the slightest degree . Unly a superabundance of watex would diminish or arrest the peculiar notion of the matters contained in tho digestive fluids . , v , mT ^ ^ r * Vebt 8 of wator , therefore , would be the most injurious with aliments fat n VI , ge 8 tlon » ll . ke tho fata » and hence tho drinking of too much water after nMtntn 2 Instance , is properly avoided ; but , in countries where soup does not conti 5 ? part of tho moaldrinking water is positively to be recommended
^« - *• . . ensft tl , « nin ^ i , aro also hurtful only if taken in excess ; for in tho latter tta ^ tmLf e ?? fl , f « l f > Ac albuminous substancea not only of tho food , but also of bevorS 1 ^ nJi ' i a ^ thua dlsitttxb 8 digestion . If taken in a moderate quantity , those i £ t £ SLTh £ ?« " tod 5 t ° T mthQ meal t 0 l > ° ld outlongcr ; fox tho fact that we are ShitTtn ? Z *"» ^ meal vlth * ° . « *« « ™ hiivo taken only water with it , i « to bo accounted for by tho Blower coraWlon of tho constituents of our
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THE LIFE AND WORKS OF JTULLER . An Essay on tlie Life and Genius of- Thomas Fuller . With Selections-from Ms Writings By Henry Rogers- Longman and Co . Fp we were called upon to lay the first stone of a Mechanics' Institute or Book Society's Collection , it should be composed of the hundred and two parts of the Traveller ' s Library , It is the best shilling series extant . The Home ami Colonial ranks with it in value , not in cheapness . Here are Mr . Macaulay ' s best ¦ writings , the anthologia of Sydney Smith , some admirable literary essays by different authors , several excellent volumes of science , narratives of travel in eight European , four American , four African , and . thre . e Asiatic countries , and examples from the works of Souvostre and Dumas . Bound together , they form twenty-five convenient volumes , -which any society of a hundred and live members may possess , upon payment of one shilling each . An association of this kind , formed in every small town , would thus create sufficient basis for a free library upon a modest scale . Good books are not beyond the Teach of working men , if working men will combine to obtain them .
Mr . Henry Rogers brings up the rear of about fifty contributors to the Traveller ^ Library . His Essay on the Life and Genius of T / iomas Fuller , reprinted from the Edinburgh Review , consists of a biographical sketch , an analytical criticistn , and a spicilegimn from the various writings of ' his author . ' During ten years , from 1831 , Fuller enjoyed a revival . All his principal works were republished in London , and filled nine goodly volumes . At no time , indeed , did he ever full into disrepute , though lie suffered occasionally from the pi-aise of uncritical admirers . Coleridge , wo are afraid , raised many a laugh against tho Aldwincklo worthy when he drew a comparison between him and Shalcspeare . Mr . Rogers very propei'ly disclaims this suggestion , though , if he blames the extravagance of Coleridge , lie censures the neglect of liallam , who only alludes incidentally , in his History of European literaturo , to . tho works of Thomas Fuller . But * Henry Kogcrs ' does not care to be as sharp upon Mr . llulliim as ' we' of tho Minhurgh Review . Therefore , a note is added , to present a contrast to this fragment of dispraise , in a paragraph of apologetic eulogy , The addendum is not out of place . It would have appeared more gracefully in the original reviow . Thomas Fuller , horn at Aldwinckle in 1608 , was among those men who havo not to wait upon fortune . Fortune waited upon him . At twelve years of nge ho en tored college ; at fifteen was a Bachelor , at eighteen a Master of Arts , and . nt twentv-one a Prebend of Salisbury . If his prosperity was not ajwnys equally rapid , it was on account of the disturbed state ot
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952 THl LEADER , fNo . 341 , Sattjbday
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Leader (1850-1860), Oct. 4, 1856, page 952, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2161/page/16/
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