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prise the popular philosophy on these topics , and it may truly be said * Vt in nothing are we more universally interested and of nothing more ' versfllly ignorant than the weather , "Whatever Arugo has written has rn pagSed into the minds of ( hose who discourse abroad , and remark upon the cold , gloom , damp , or splendour of the dtiy . They-leave unread all F tier ' s ' lore on isothermal lines , the centigi'ade scale , the minima and nxiina of heat , anomalous currents , cirrus clouds , magnetic intensity , ' cuds i ' o"s , and cyclones . They neglect Kiiintz , forget Humboldt , leave Drew ' upon ^ ie ehelfj isolate JVI r . Glai .-dier within a limited circle of students , nd venture to observe that there will probably bo rain , or that the east wind dries up the face . Now , it would be a groat evil if , after the multiplication of treatises , people felt bound to converse in learned terms upon the weather , to quote Howard perpetually , or to keep Thomson in their pockets for consultation , to mark results daily at the homonymous hours , and never to lose a point in tlie progression from haze to nimbus ; but it is desirable , since we must all talk of the weather , to know something about it and here is Mr . Leonard Jenyns , late Vicar of Swaffham Bulbeck , in Cambridgeshire , who has kept a meteorological journal for nineteen years , and who has reduced to clear simplicity the voluminousi-ess of his special knowledge . Swaffhaui Bulbeck is situated from seven to eight miles , east-north-cast of Cambridge , upon the fenny borders of the county , and is about twenty feet above the level of the sea . At this place , during nineteen years , stood in an unchanged position one of liutherford ' s self-registering thermometers ; but although ] VJr . Jenyns's personal observations were local , his studies have been extensive , and he has supplied a most valuable contribution to the literature of meteorological science . ' 1 he highest temperature registered was 89 ( legs , in 1 S 46 , the year f the hig hest n . can— -the lowest , was ti degs . in 1841 ; at Greenwich , during the same period , the hLliest was 9 ' 2 degs ., the lowest 4 degs . Jn a chapter of general remarks which will interest every reader , Mr . Jenyns brings together die entire fruit of his investigations . In the firtit place , he notices there is a difficulty in describing the weather in any set phrases without misleading . There may be drought with a high or a low temperature ; the sky is often clouded for days without a drop of rain , and it is never more brilliant than during the intervals of showers . There may be a dense mist upon the earth , drenching everything with wet , while a brig ht sun is shining ' overhead . But certain rules are to be laid down . All changes of -weather , as a matter of course , depend upon the winds , their steadiness or irregularity , and the quarter whence they blow . All fine seasons are accompanied by steady winds ; during changeable weather the wind is variable , with two or more currents , one above the other . The east wind generally brings dryness and brilliance , blowing perodically for a certain number of days in the spring , and afterwards only returning at intervals . It is an excessive prevalence of this baleful wind that ^ usually produces what is called a dry and fine summer . From the south , the wind rarely blows in this country for any length of time together—it commonly brings wet , by the -precipitation of warm vapours , or by mixing with cross currents . Upon the grand problem of weather prophecies , Mr . Jenyns has a statement practically suggestive and useful : — Doubtless it would be a great matter if we could always reckon upon the weather « f any particular day or week for which our schemes ol" pleasure or business were set with as much certainty as we reckon upon the changes of the heavenly bodies predicted by astronomers . If tlie fanner , by con&ulliny bis almanac , could lix the exact time " for sowing his seed or cutting his bay , so that in one case he might ensure raiu following shortly afterwards to briny the seed up , in the other secure si dry period for getting iq bis buivest , lie would have a great advantage over those who liad no such authority to guide them in their operations . But are we ever likely to arrive at this V To judge , indeed , by the weather almanacs , which yearly make their npj eaiauee in no suuill number , one might suppose that the science had already made sufficient advances to -warrant the predictions of those who set themselves up to be prophets in this matter . But it is hurcily necessary to warn the public against placing the slightest confidence in these publications , which have been so often exposed . In some instances these almanacs have acquired notoriety for u time by a lew happy gue .- ^ es abo ut the weatlier , which huve come right by a mere coinciiWnie ; but in tlie long rim , if nny one . will take the trouble to compare them throughout with what really ucL-urs , their predictions ^ ill le found just as often wrong as right , showing that they are grounded upon no trustworthy principles . Some , indeed , protend to base their foreknowledge of the weather upon the loreknown changes of the heavenly bodies above alluded to . They claim to be listened to on the ground that , the weather being under the , influence of tlie moon jtnd planet * , . and altering from time to time as these todies niter the . ir positions in reject ol tlie earth and each other , we mny safely draw our inferences about the former horn knowing the exnet plnccis of the latter on any particular day or month we may have in view . But greater iiumei * than any which this class of meteorologists can ImjmM of have , utterly discounted all such t heories . i \ r . ig « , lor cue , inj reference , to tlie common notion of the weather lu . 'ing nn " cctod by the . moon or comets , has expressed his belief that , if the latter have nny influence , at till , that innuenco is so small as to bo almost inappreciable , and that conr-cquontly "the predictions of the weather can never bo u branch of astronomy properly ? o called . " Mr . Jenyns denies that any law lmu been established with reference , to the moon ' s influence upon the weather , and discredits the popular notions on this fcubject . lie is equally sceptical with respect to the cycle theory , supposing a succession of changes in n given order dividing regular intervals of time : — But setting aside cycles , no less than the supposed intlueiice . of the moon , Untruth is , that the nioro the tciuice of meteorology mlviiiiros , lliu lens hoj . e there , seems to bo of ouv over being nblo to foretel the weather with any certainly . It is oven impossible to predict wliut the weather will bo after tlie lapse of a fow hours : — r , , —ln ~ o'fa 6 Trt ^ pfffdie ~ rww temperature oi' ihu upper legion is requisite , and , as this is want ing , Ukvo must « lwuys bo u great degruq of uncertainly in our prognoaliuuiuim . Our summers are at times rendered colder by the presence of icebergs in the Atlantic , and ouv winters milder by the move ample vlllucncu oi the Wftvm Quif-stream , which , in 1821 , instead of tcrminnlimj , as it uaunlly does , ¦ about the meridian of the Azores , ext 6 nded to the coast ol Europe . Xu 1763 , a peculiar hnzo , or smoky fog , hung over Eng land for weeks together ,
and materially influenced the temperature by intercepting the sun ' s rays . Mr . Jenyns adds : — - One thing is certain , that to whatever extent it may or may not be possible to foretel the weatlier , those alone , in general , can form a right judgment who are possessed of good meteorological instruments . It is necessary to insist on this , because we often hear reference made to fishermen , mariners , gardeners , ami that class of persons , as knowing a great deal more about the weather than other people . These persons are much abroad in the open air , and are naturally much interested in knowing what the weather is likely to be . liut they are often greatly under the influence of superstitious ideas , or guid ed by sayings handed down to them by their fathers , to which the } ' attach more importance than to anything else . "When this is not the case , and their knowledge is really the result of their own observations , they have still nothing but the direction of the-wind and the appearances of the sky to guide them in their opinions . This volume is one of original and popular as well as scientific interest . It places Mr . Jenyns among those who have really aided in elucidating a difficult subject of universal importance .
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INSIDE CANTON . Inside Canton . By Dr . Yvan . Vizetelly . A French ambassador , during his diplomatic intercourse with Ki-in , Viceroy of the province of Canton , having contracted what Dr . Yvan terms ' an intimate friendship' with that high functional , was invited to sojourn within the walls of the city at the palace of the Mandarin Pau-sechen . The author , who was physician to M . de Lagrene , went beforehand with an interpreter to prepare for his Excellency ' s reception , taking passage in a fai-tini ; or ' fast boat . ' The Chinese seem born with a taste for both gluttony and gambling . They never lose a chance of inaugurating a feast . Marriages , births , burials , are all so many excuses for a banquet . It is the same in regard to games of chance , to which they devote themselves with a frenzy almost incredible . The Chinaman plays with dice , cards , his fingers ; in his eyes all things are legitimate subjects for betting . Like the ancient Athenians , he fights quails as Europeans do game cocks , and the doctor and his fellow traveller witnessed during their passage incessant duels between these diminutive but pugnacious little birds . Instead , however , of being equipped with artificial steel spurs , as is the brutal custom with English cock-n » hters , the Chinese quails were armed with steel beaks , by which means the duel frequently resulted in the death of both combatants . Withdrawing from this barbarous spectacle the doctor betook himself to the forecastle , where some sailors were cooking their meal , which partly consisted of fricaseed rats . The 3 £ uropean reader is , however , invited to qualify his rather natural sensations of disgust at this heathenish sortof prevent by the assurance tliatthese esculent rodentia are brought from tire rice-fields ofTchou-Kian-r , far from the centre of population , far from the squalid drains of cities . Their feast concluded , the Chinamen take down a couple of bamboo cages shaded with leave ? , two tiny palaces filled with green herbs , and sit down before them . Each cage is occupied by a single cricket , which their masters carefully take out and place at the bottom of a large porcelain bowl . The insects endeavour at first to escape , but the polished sides of their arena form an insuperable obstacle . The two backers arc each provided with a long straw , which one of them thrusts beneath the nose of his champion . The latter , thinking the insult proceeds from his opponent , who all the while appears to be beating time with his antenna . ' , springs at his head , and tears oil" the horn on -which he laid the guilt . Indignant at this unmerited augression , the insect that has lost its horn ijies at his adversary and lames him at the iirst blow . The disabled champion regards with stupor his forefoot deprived of the right torsus , ifhd listening only to the voice of passion , seizes his assailant by the hair and drags him thrice round the bowl . But it is not Achilles with the body of Hector ; for Hector , suddenly discnrjjiginir himself , falls with all his weight upon his adversary , crushes him in Tiis embrace , and devours a portion of his head . Alter thus glutting his wrath , the victor takes up n position in the middle of the bowl ami waits for a new assailant , but no other knight has the hardihood to show his colours . He then returns in triumph to his verdant palace , shaking proudly hi * solitary horn . A good deal of ' cash' appeared to change hands by the result of this unique species oi' gambling duello . Landing at the city of Canton , the doctor and his interpreter take up their abode in quite a palatial residence culled Tbe-KUIau—that is , ' Keinombrnnee of Virtue Factory , ' situate at the corner of ' tfound-of-the-lide Street . ' 'Han , ' by the way , which Englishmen , universally write and pronounce hum / , is applied to all houses of the mercantile class . There the ambassador is introduced to ' . Madame Li , ' the legitimatei wife of 1 nu-se- ^ Chen , his hospitable entertainer , and one of the most patrician beauties ot the Flowery Lund . This frail und delicate creature is compared to ti sprig of jessamine swayed by the breeze ; her handsome , tenderly ohisollod features wore an expression in which smiles and sadness wuro blonded , as if her thoughts were rosy-white as the hue which art had lent to her cheeks . Jlur eyes , like two bhick pearls , sent from behind the shelter of thoir silken lashes solt languid uluiiuvs or sparkling rays of innocent womanly malice . . Notwithstanding a little want of grace in its curve , her nose would not have disu- 'urod a European countenance . Muuumu Li was ladylike alter the manner of a charming girl ; her dignity wiw iulimtinu in Us grace . And as on one of the great sofas of black wood she sat acc-sawing her logs backwards and forwards , showing her feet encased in slippers broidureil wilh « okl , and hev ankles hung with bracelets , picking the- leaves oil an vuitUin flower with her pretty little finger * , murmuring musically rather tliiui talking , you could hardly help feeling as if you could cat her up like uVorai' ^ ffo ^^^ could not have been more charming A Chinese woman , to be seen u « here painted , must bo viewed in the gilded prison which mmi has mudo for her Vou must watch her tottering along , scree , m hand , over those brilliant Hours which reflect hor features ; watch her seated in her porcelain chair , her little body swaying to and fro incessantly ; watch her oatmg with the mother-of-pearl chopsticks which so well become her hltlo lingers and her
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ffo . 421 , Apmx 17 , 1858 . ] T H E LEADER . J *? 9 __
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Leader (1850-1860), April 17, 1858, page 379, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2239/page/19/
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