On this page
- Departments (1)
-
Text (6)
-
Untitled Article
-
Untitled Article
-
Untitled Article
-
Untitled Article
-
Untitled Article
-
3*rfiWrt-ritt«rv - ;!LUn-UUli.vv 4
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
sroNDENT thinks'we were not so ' wide awake' as usual when last attributed to De Quince y the opening paper in . this month ' s ( 7 , which , he unhesitatingly asserts , is only a parody of the great ilater ' s style . In spite of the nudge he has given us , we continue uid snore , and dream that De Quikcet , and not a parodist , wrote L-: . if we are still far from ' wideawake' on this subject , it is because
ifcefy sleep ; In truth a suspicion did once or twice flash upon us ivcre reading an imitation , "but a closer scrutiny dissipated that sus-If any writer can imitate I ) e Quxscey ' s marvellous preluding and > n that noble organ , the English language , so as not only to repro' manner , which is indeed conspicuous enough / but the power also , ) one else but Ruskin has shown himself to possess , then we say palm should' be awarded him for having accomplished the rarest mitatioii . When style is parodied consciously , or imitated semisly , we detect the peculiarities of manner , but miss the qualities
stinguisli the original , and . give bis manner a living soul ; and this ccret of our contempt for imitators . Johnson's antitheses and j , Macaula y ' s antitheses and short sentences , Cahlylu ' s compound id abrupt suddenness of effect , or De Quiscey's confluent , slowly sentences , are easily imitahlo . The difficulty lies else where : it iiitating the felicity and force of Johnson " , the epigram and rare ilia of Macatjlay , the pictorial concreteness of Carlyle , or the id subtlety of De Qufncey ; and the writer who has power enough will not be likely to waste it on an imitation .
Untitled Article
y piquant contrast . vis brought into relief by a writer in the Revue , ?• Mondesy in a paper on Greek and Chinese vases , the contrast of lions as they represent themselves in Art : tlie one idealizing and ng itself , the other caricaturing and degrading itself . The world , Dhina , knows little of the Chinese except in such representations as i artists have given on vases , tea-cups , &c . In all these we have the pe , the Chinese ideal , round head , large cars , eyes lurching upwards tire temples , a , single lock of hair , a grinning gash of a mouth , and ch of nldcrmanie emphasis ; and if we compare this type with the i type i with its noble ¦ front , its large simple contoui-, its regular L and niflipsllf * . -Toi'm- XVP Tiilorlif : nlrnnct < lr > iivtlif » pnmmnnihr nf ennoino i ; and majestic formwe miht almost deny the community of species
, g 1 the two . M . Beulk , referring to the Chinese type , says , " II esfpeu ir toucher la race caucasienne ; ellc en plaisante . " And so little liood do we admit with ugliness so grotesque , that , as he says , " the of China , leaves 11 s indiilerelit , its sorrows even cause us mirth . " be newspapers narrate that many thousand rebels have been cut to these atrocities only seem to us bizarrcs : a Chinese is top distant s for neighbourhood , too ugly for brotherhood : 2 iOin' < # '" notre ' , nil Clibwls fist trap lobi ; povr ttre notre scmhlabh ' , il est trop ' hiiiV this , who will repeat the platitude about beauty being only skin-deep ? > n and women were in the habit of dlvcstina : themselves of their
covering , to show that underneath they were lovely enough ! As if any dhTcrencc whether the beauty was many fathoms or only the th of a line in depth ! Beauty is one of God ' s gifts ; and every one Libmits to its influence , 'whatever platitudes he may think needful to The Greeks understood this influence which , as M , Beuxe says , die respect autour d'unc ' race , de meme que les representations ques soutiennent la mnjeste des rois . " How , think you , should we ve relished the immortal fragments of Greek literature if our cons of Greek men and women had been formed by contemplation of such as those of Chinese art ? Would any pulse have throbbed at jdacidan talc hud the descendants of Labdaeus risen before the
iman with , obese rotundity , large ears , gashes of mouths , and no nose to > f ? Could we , with any sublime emotions , picture to ourselves Fo-Tr Promethean rock , or a Congou Anticone w ' ailing her unwedded Ajax , in the darkness of mndness , slays a flock of sheep , mistaking ep for ungrateful Greeks , and we contemplate him awakening to the f humiliation and despair , with emotions which would scarcely arise the " broad-chested Greek wore substituted a Souchong Ajax with j us head wagging in smiling idiocy . No , the Chinese have chosen to "re themselves , nnd the world takes them at their word ; the Greeks jblcr error chose to deify themselves , nnd the world will ever think of 3 godlike .
Untitled Article
THE WISE PHYSICIAN . s on the Prhictpks anil . ][ c ( lunls nJ ^ McUcui Observation and Jicsca 7 ch . By Dinus Lnyeoelt , M . D . Adam nnd Charles Black . been roiimxked on many an occasion that the wiser a physician is , ii * o sceptical is he of medicine . Only the quacks are confident , for ice is always absolute . The profound complexity of a hunum or , reached , as il . in , through ho many avenues of inappreciable in-, the total impossibility of our distinguishing and eliminating onen , cases where a plurality of causes are necessarily operating , and the
fact that important changes are taking place in recesses of the organism not scrutable by any means in our power , must for ever render the Art of Medicine delicate and difficult . A recognition of its difficulties is , however , of incalculable benefit to the physician . He learns to make allowance for possibilities , hidden yet potent ; he learns to be wary in forming conclusions ; he learns to be vigilant over his own precipitate tendencies . The very fact that Medicine is an Art and not a Science , consequently not to be definitely taught , but only indicated , will always keep tip the distinction between the skilful and the unskilful physician . Raphaels and Canovas are not to be made . Yet Raphaels and Canoyas may learn from wise predecessors certain general rules -wherewith to " guide" their own attempts . And for medical ^ students Dr . Haycock has , in . the work before us , sketched some of these guiding rules , not to make physicians wise , but-to make the wise more alive to what is required of them . It is a treatise on medical logic , or the Methods of observation j and is aa interesting to philosophical as to medical students . See for example how he warns the student against the common fallacy as to the value of mere observation , which in our . ' matter-of-fact' country is constantly lauded as the best of all methods : —
-But , after all , unlearned experience is not the best guide , nor etnpirical knowledge real science ; and this is a fallacy against which I must wain you ; for it is a very common one , Medical practitioners in . all ages , noting the great value of simple experience , and seeing how far away from truth and common sense mem have been led by theories and . hypotheses , have put simple experience forward as Something better or more instructive than the combination of observation with , theory—esteeming them as only mischievous elements , and to be avoided . at all cost . Now , this notion is ; in fact , a theoretical notion ; for experience itself teaches us two great principles or maxims as to what is termed theory or hypothesis—namely , first , that theory cannot be dispensed vrith in observation ; and secondly , that theory , rightly used , is a necessary element not only in the advancement , but in . the practical application of all human knowledge . Let me illustrate these propositions by facts dtawn from experience , and by arguments upon , those facts . He cites Sydenham , who constantly inculcated this necessity of empirical observation , and this is the citation : —
" In writing the history of a disease , " he says , " every ; philoBopbical hypothesis ¦ whatsoever that has previously occupied the mind of the author should lie in abeyance . This being done , the clear and natural phenomena of the disease should be noted—these , and these only . They * should be noted accurately , and in all their minuteness , in imitation of the exquisite industry of those painters who represent in their portraits the smallest moles and tlie faintest spots . " In these directions Sydenham is influenced by two hypotheses—first , that just as there are species of plants , there are also sjiecles o diseases , which have their clear and natural phenomena ; and secondly , that nature , in the production of disease , is " uniform and consistent . " He therefore roundly asserts , what is in fact contrary to the experience of us all , " that for the same disease in different persons the symptoms are for the most part the same , and the selfsame phenomena that you would observe in . the sickness of a Socrates you would observe in the sickness of a simpleton . " ITow , diseases are really series of events , and not well-defined objects , as plants or animals , and these events vary as infinitely in combination as the natures of the individuals to whom they happen ; so that it is a medical proverb or maxim , that in practice " No two cases are alike . " . ;
In truth , empiricism is choked with hypothesis , and labours under the disadvantage of not knowing its hypotheses to be such . "What , then , yon ' will ask , is the nature of hypothesis or theory in medicine , and what the use ? -I ' will endeavour to explain to you . Experience shows that in medicine , as in every other branch of human knowledge , thought itself is impossible without hypothesis or theory . We instinctively desire to understand all that we observe to occur . K " o man can be content with mere perceptions , for these-are only the stimuli to thought . After observation comes comparison with what we already know , and conclusion or inference from the comparison . This conclusion is a theory , which would be perfectly true if the data wore complete and correct ; but they are
not . Our observations are imperfect , our knowledge is imperfect—our conclusion , therefore , reflects the imperfection of our observations and of our previous knowledge , and is never true , but always hypothetical or theoretical ; varying from the truth , just in proportion as . we are ignorant or imperfect observers . Having drawn our conclusion—that 'is , formed our theory—we may or may not xest satisfied with it . If we wisely doubt , then we desire to verify it by observation or experiment ; or if the conclusion be as to something attainable , we endeavour to attain . And this is only another ^ vay of testing the theory by experience . To theory , then , in this sense , that is , tested by observation or experiment , or experience , we owe all true progress in knowledge , for empirical knowledge is stationary .
To be able to theorize and yet discriminate between what is fact and what hypothesis , is the test of a scientific mind . In direct contradiction to such a mind is the self-styled ' practical man , ' who never ' fuddles himself with theories . ' Dr . Laycock well says of such men : — They are unhesitating believers in phrases , in the names of symptoms , and in classes of drugs . For each symptom they liavo a remedy , and talk of tonics , alteratives , astringents , febr ifuges , not being in the least aware , apparently , that every word they use involves a complex and very doubtful theory . They are necessarily theorists in practice of the worst kind , because they do not even suspect that they are theoretical . So far from being practical in their methods of treatment—that is to say , adapting it to the morbid conditions in which the individual is involved as a unity—they only look at special or isolated morbid states . The result is , the administration for the cure of disease of a frightful farrago of drugs , more dangerous even than the nullities of homoeopathy . This error has had a very seriously injurious influence on the profession as a whole , as well as upon medical art .
It is these ' practical men' who , untrained in the rigorous school of philosophy , approach the most complex questions with confidence , and do not even show themselves aware , of the * plurality of causes' with which tliejr have to deal ; as ' practical men , ' they fix on one cause , one palpable factor , and with it work the whole sum . Here is a good example : — Until within the lawt twenty years , it wns an uiicontroverted doctrine in England thnt ripo f ruit , ami especially tho plum , was the ' eaune' of the diarrhoea and cholera prevalent in tho towns and villages during the hot months of summer . Even so lately as October , 1818 , the English General Board of Health set forth this theory in their ofiicinl notification to tho boards of guardians as to tho means to be adopted for the proven lion of cholera—in which wu liavo this paragraph : " It will bo important nl : u > to abstain from fruit of all kinds , though ripo and even cooked , and whether dried or preserved . " My -way of proof , certain facts are subjoined , as thus : " Tho throe fatal cases [ or cho ' lera'l that have just occurred to sailors whi > had been nt Humburg , and who were brought sick to Hull , turned out , on inquiry , to have followed
Untitled Article
EMBKalS , 1856 . ] THE LEADM . 1191
Untitled Article
not the legislators , but the judges and police of literature . They do not 2 Iaw 3—they interpret and try to enforce them . —Edinburgh Bevieto .
3*Rfiwrt-Ritt«Rv - ;!Lun-Uuli.Vv 4
Citmtee .
-
-
Citation
-
Leader (1850-1860), Dec. 13, 1856, page 1191, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2171/page/15/
-