The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction. Volume 10, No. 277, October 13, 1827

It is impossible to consider these phenomena without feeling anxious to account for them; to discover whether they are occasioned by circumstances unsusceptible of investigation or regulation, or by causes which can be ascertained, and may be within human control. To us, as Englishmen, it is of still deeper interest to inquire whether the causes of our superiority are still in operation, and whether their force is capable of being increased or diminished; whether England has run her full career of wealth and improvement, but stands safe where she is; or, whether to remain stationary is impossible, and it depends on her institutions and her habits, on her government, and on her people, whether she shall recede or continue to advance.

The answer to all these questions must be sought in the science which teaches in what wealth consists, by what agents it is produced, and according to what laws it is distributed, and what are the institutions and customs by which production may be facilitated, and distribution regulated, so as to give the largest possible amount of wealth to each individual. And this science is Political Economy.—Senior's Lecture on Political Economy.

PROLONGING LIFE

The notion of prolonging life by inhaling the breath of young women, was an agreeable delusion easily credited: and one physician who had himself written on health, was so influenced by it, that he actually took lodgings in a boarding-school, that he might never be without a constant supply of the proper atmosphere. Philip Thicknesse, who wrote the "Valetudinarian's Guide," in 1779, seems to have taken a dose whenever he could. "I am myself," says he, "turned of sixty, and in general, though I have lived in various climates, and suffered severely both in body and mind; yet having always partaken of the breath of young women, whenever they lay in the way, I feel none of the infirmities which so often strike the eyes and ears in this great city (Bath) of sickness, by men many years younger than myself."

Wadd's Memoirs.

FELLOW FEELING

It is told of a certain worthy and wealthy citizen, who has acquired the reputation of being a considerable consumer of the good things of the table, and has been "widened at the expense of the corporation," that on coming out of a tavern, after a turtle feast, a poor boy begged charity of him—"For mercy's sake, sir, I am so very hungry!" "Hungry!—hungry!—hey!—what!—complain of being hungry!—why I never heard the like!—complain of being hungry!!—Prodigious!!!—why I'd give a guinea to be hungry!!!—why, a hungry man (with a good dinner before him) is the happiest fellow in the world!—There, (giving the boy half-a-crown,) there, I don't want you to take my word for it: run along, my fine fellow, and make the experiment yourself."—Dr. Kitchener.

ARCANA OF SCIENCE,

OR REMARKABLE FACTS AND DISCOVERIES IN NATURAL HISTORY, METEOROLOGY, CHEMISTRY, MINERALOGY, GEOLOGY, BOTANY, ZOOLOGY, PRACTICAL MECHANICS, STATISTICS, AND THE USEFUL ARTS

[Under this head it is proposed, in the future numbers of the MIRROR, to assemble all new and remarkable facts in the several branches of science enumerated above. These selections will be made from the Philosophical Journals of the day, the Transactions of Public Societies, and the various Continental Journals. The advantages of such a division in accordance with the high and enlightened character of the present age, must be obvious to every reader of our miscellany. At the same time it will be our object to concentrate or condense from all other authentic sources such new facts in science as are connected with the arts of social life, and which from being scattered through elaborate and expensive works, might thereby be lost to some portion of our readers. In short, popular discoveries in science, or all such new facts as bear on the happiness of society will be the objects of our choice; neither perplexing our readers with abstract research, nor verging into the puerile amusements of a certain ingenious but almost useless class of reasoners; it not being our object to "ring the changes" on words. Our selections will occasionally be illustrated with engravings; for by no means are philosophical subjects better elucidated than by the aid of the graphic art.]

Longevity

The relative advantages of town and country, in point of salubrity, are shown by the following table of deaths:—

1. In great towns, from 1-19 or 1-20, to 1-23 or 1-24.

2. In moderate towns, from 1-25 to 1-28.

3. In small villages and the open country, from 1-35 or 1-40, to 1-50 or 1-60.

Thus, in London one person in 20 of the whole population dies annually; while in the healthiest villages and open country, the rate of annual mortality is not more than 1 in 55 or 60.

Atmosphere of Theatres

Lavoisier, the French chemist, found, in a theatre, that, from the commencement to the end of the play, the oxygen, or vital air, was diminished in the proportion of from 27 to 21, or nearly one-fourth, and was in the same proportion less fit for respiration than before.

Butterflies

In June, 1826, a column of butterflies, from 10 to 15 feet broad, was seen to pass over Neuchatel, in Switzerland. The passage lasted upwards of two hours, without any interruption, from the moment when the butterflies were first observed.—Brewster's Journal.

Water Plant

A shrub has been discovered in our new Indian countries, from whose stem, when divided, there issues a copious vegetable spring of limpid and wholesome water. The natives know this well, and hence we rarely meet with an entire plant. It is a powerful climber, and is quite new and nondescript.—Letter from India.

Malaria and Fevers

It is notorious, that, in the last autumn, the remittent fevers in various parts of the country amounted to a species of pestilence, such as has scarcely been known in England from this cause since the days of Dr. Sydenham. Wherever ague had existed, or ever had been supposed possible, in those places was this fever found; so that in all the well-known tracts in Lincolnshire, Norfolk, Suffolk, Kent, Essex, Sussex, Hampshire, &c. there was scarcely a house without one or more inhabitants under fever, with a considerable mortality. In the parish of Marston, in Lincolnshire, it amounted to 25 in 300 inhabitants. The same fevers were extremely abundant in various parts of the outskirts of London, as also in the villages or towns which are connected with it, within a range of from six to ten miles. This was the case throughout the range of streets or houses from Buckingham Gate to Chelsea; in which long line, it is said, that almost every house had a patient or more under this fever, though these were mistaken for typhus, or at least thus misnamed. Then it was also about Vauxhall and Lambeth; and to a great extent among all that scattered mixture of town and country which follows from Whitechapel, from Bishopsgate, &c., and very particularly along Ratcliffe-Highway to an indefinite range along the river. In Lewisham there were in one house nine patients under this fever, which proved mortal to one. We may also enumerate Dulwich, especially subject to this disorder, Fulham, Ealing, and the several other villages along the Thames, as far as Chertsey; and even Richmond, where, as at Lewisham, there was one house where ten individuals at one time were suffering under this disease. Whatever was the pestilence last year, it promises to be much greater in the present one. This is easily judged from the manner in which the season has set in, but still more decidedly from the extraordinary prevalence of ague in the spring; since that which was intermittent fever then, will be remittent in the autumn, or rather, there will scarcely be a definite season of vernal intermittent, but the remittent will commence immediately, increasing in extent and severity as the summer advances, and promising to become, in the autumn, the greatest season of disease that England has known for this century. Dr. Macculloch attributes this alarming increase to malaria, on the production and propagation of which he has recently published an essay, the leading argument of which is, "that as the quantity of the poison which any person can inspire is necessarily small, and as this small quantity can be produced by a small marshy spot as well as a large one, it is the same, as to the production of the disease, whether the marsh is a foot square or a mile, provided the exposure be complete; while also any piece of ground where vegetables decompose under the action of water is virtually a marsh, or must produce malaria."

Acclimatizing Plants

A Mr. Street, of Biel, in East Lothian, has recently made some successful attempts at acclimatizing, or giving to exotic plants greater powers of withstanding cold than they had when first introduced. By planting in situations well drained from superfluous moisture, under circumstances where rapid growth was rendered impracticable, and in a garden admirably adapted to the object from its position, he has succeeded in naturalizing, in latitude 56° N. plants which have not yet been known to endure the winters even of the parallel of London.—Quarterly Journal of Science.

In a table kept at Sydney by Major Goulburn, from May 1821 to April 1822, the thermometer never rose above 751/2° and never lower than 54° of Fahrenheit.

Bronzing Tin

To obtain complete success in bronzing medals of tin, the two following solutions must be employed:—

The first, which is merely a wash, is composed of 1 part of iron, 1 part of sulphate of copper, and 20 parts, by weight, of distilled water. The second solution, or bronze, is composed of 4 parts of verdigris and 16 parts of white vinegar. The medals should be filed, and well cleaned with a brush, earth, and water; and being well wiped, should have a portion of the first solution passed slightly over their faces, by means of a brush, and then be wiped; this gives a slight grey tint to the surface, and causes the ready adhesion of the verdigris, &c. The second solution is then to be rubbed over by means of a brush, until they have acquired the deep red colour of copper; they are then to be left an hour to dry, after which they are to be polished with a very soft brush and rouge, or the red oxide of iron in fine powder. The polish is to be completed by the brush alone, the medals being passed now and then over the palm of the hand.—Verly.

Culture of Celery

Mr. Knight, president of the Horticultural Society, has found that by keeping the ground in which celery was planted, constantly wet, it grew by the middle of September to the height of five feet, and its quality was in proportion to its size. Mr. K. also recommends planting at greater distances than is usually the case, and covering the beds, into which the young seedlings are first removed, with half-rotten dung, overspread to the depth of about two inches with mould; under which circumstances, whenever the plants are removed, the dung will adhere tenaciously to their roots, and it will not be necessary to deprive the plants of any part of their leaves.—Mr. Wedgewood also states, that good celery may be readily obtained by transplanting seedling plants that have remained in the seed bed, till they had acquired a considerable size.—Quarterly Journal.

Dwarfs

Richard Gibson, the dwarf, married Anne Shepherd, another dwarf. Each of them was only 3 feet 10 inches high. They had nine children, of whom five lived to maturity, and were of a proper size. Richard, the father, lived to the age of 75, his little widow to that of 89. It is presumptive, that the dwarf size is only occasioned by some obstruction during utero—gestation. The full size of the children proves that nature does not perpetuate abortions.

Cruelty and Epicurism

A sharp axe, on the principle of a punch, is used in slaughtering bullocks, not to kill them at once, but to cut a circular hole in the skull, into which a stick is introduced to stir up the brains, for the purpose of making the meat more tender! The throat is not attempted to be cut till after the infliction of this torture, horrible even to think of, which instantly causes the most convulsive agonies, such as are never seen in death of any other kind.

Lord Somerville's mode of pithing animals, brought forward with the most humane views, is a horrible operation. The body is deprived of sensation, while the living head rolls its eye in agony on its tormentors.—Sir Everard Home.

USEFUL DOMESTIC HINTS

APPLES

The preservation of apples is now brought to great perfection, by keeping them in jars secure from the action of air; but there is one method of preparing them for culinary purposes which is not practised in this country. Any good baking sort, which is liable to rot, if peeled and cut into slices about the thickness of one-sixth of an inch, and dried in the sun, or in a slow oven, till sufficiently desiccated, may be afterwards kept in boxes in a dry place for a considerable time, and only require to be soaked in water for an hour or two before using.

At a recent meeting of the Horticultural Society, a large collection of the best late varieties of the apple, as grown in America, were exhibited. It was a remarkable circumstance, that, while these fruits are unusually handsome, none of them, except the New-town pippin, were, although sweet and pleasant, comparable to our fine European apples; and yet the New-town pippin, the only good variety, is as much superior to any variety of apple known in Europe as the others were inferior.

BLACK DYE AND INK

The following is a process for the preparation of a black dye, for which a patent was taken out at Vienna by M. Honig:—Logwood is to be boiled several times in water, and a little sub-carbonate of potash to be added to the decoctions, the quantity being so moderated that it shall not change the colour to blue; the stuff to be dyed is then to be plunged into this bath. This stuff may be either animal or vegetable. When it is well impregnated with colouring matter, it is to be withdrawn, and, without being exposed to air, is to be introduced into a solution of green-vitriol, and left there until it has obtained the desired black hue. In preparing the ink, the decoction of logwood is used in place of the infusion of galls.

MALT LIQUORS

By a Physician

I am much disposed to extol the virtues of malt liquors. When properly fermented, well hopped, and of a moderate strength, they are refreshing, wholesome, and nourishing. It is a common observation, that those who drink sound malt liquors are stronger than those who drink wine; and to those who are trained to boxing, and other athletic exercises, old home-brewed beer is particularly recommended, drawn from the cask, and not bottled. Hence Jackson, the celebrated trainer, affirms, if any person accustomed to drink wine would but try malt liquor for a month, he would find himself so much the better for it, that he would soon take to the one, and abandon the other. Some suppose the superior bottom of the British soldiery to be owing, in a great measure, to their use of malt liquor.

"Your wine-tippling, dram-sipping fellows retreat,But your beer-drinking Britons can never be beat."DR. ARNE.

Good home-brewed beer has been styled by some vinum Britannicum, and by others liquid bread. There can be no doubt of its highly nutritive and wholesome qualities, and it is much to be regretted, that so few families in this kingdom now ever brew their own beer, but are content to put up with the half-fermented, adulterated wash found in public-houses, or with the no less adulterated and impure drink called porter.

Malt liquors are divided into small beer, strong beer, ale, and porter. Small beer is best calculated for common use, being less heating and stimulating than other malt liquors. When used soft and mild, after having been thoroughly fermented and purified, it forms an excellent diluent with food, more especially at dinner. Sydenham was in the habit of using it in this manner, both at dinner and supper, and he justly considered its being well hopped a great advantage. In general it is, without doubt, the best drink which can be taken at dinner, by persons in the middle and higher ranks of society, who are in the habit of drinking wine after that meal. As it abounds with carbonic acid gas, or fixed air, it is the most useful diluent for labourers, because it cools the body, abates thirst, and, at the same time, stimulates very moderately the animal powers. Small beer, when stale and hard, is unwholesome to all persons.

Sound strong beer is very nutritious and wholesome; indeed, it is generally considered more nourishing than wine. It is a most useful drink to the weak, the lean, and the laborious, provided they are not very subject to flatulency, nor troubled with disorders of the breast. If taken in moderate quantity, and of the best quality, it will often be found of great service to the invalid, in assisting to restore his strength, spirits, and flesh. It should be drunk from the cask; bottled beer being more likely to disagree with the stomach, and to produce flatulency.

There is a general prejudice against beer in the case of the bilious and the sedentary, but it appears to me without sufficient foundation. Bilious people are such as have weak stomachs and impaired digestion, and those who are sedentary are nearly, in these respects, always in a similar state. Now, I have not observed that beer tends to weaken such stomachs, or to become ascescent, or otherwise to disagree with them; on the contrary, I believe, it will be found, in the majority of cases, that this beverage agrees much better than wine, since it is far less disposed to acescency, and better fitted to act as a stomachic, and, therefore, to invigorate both the digestive organs, and the constitution at large. That it is very far superior for such persons to diluted spirit, in any form, I am fully persuaded. Of course, I here speak of sound home-brewed strong beer, and of a moderate strength. No man can answer for the effects of the stuff usually sold as beer; and we know strong ale is always difficult of digestion.

Strong ale is, undoubtedly, the most nutritive of all malt liquors, but being digested with greater difficulty than the other sorts, it cannot with propriety be taken but by those who are strong, and who use much active exercise. The best ale is made from fine pale malt, and with hops of the finest quality. It should sparkle in the glass, but the smaller the bubbles the better. I ought to add, that in some cases of general weakness, where the individual is certainly recovering, and is possessed of a good measure of strength of stomach, a little of the finest ale daily will be found highly restorative.

Porter, when good, is not an unwholesome drink; but it is very difficult to procure it of the best quality. I cannot recommend it to those who are desirous of preserving their health.—Sure Methods of Improving Health, &c.

THE GATHERER

"I am but a Gatherer and disposer of other men's stuff."

—Wotton.

SAMBO'S SERMON,

(From the New York Statesman.)

"Strate is de rode an narrer is de paff which leadeff to glory."—"Brederen believers!—You semble dis nite to har de word, and hab it splained and monstrated to you; yes, an I ten for splain it clear as de lite ob de libin day. We're all wicked sinners har below—it's fac, my brederen, and I tell you how it cum. You see, my frens,

"Adam was de fus man,Ebe was de todder,Cane was a wicked man,Kase he kill he brodder.

"Adam and Ebe were bofe black men, and so was Cane and Able. Now I spose it seem to strike you a understandin how de fus wite man cum. Why I let you no. Den you see when Cane kill de brodder de Massa cum, and he say, 'Cane whar you a brodder Able?' Cane say, 'I don't know, Massa.' He cum gin an say, 'Cane whar you a brodder Able?' Cane say, 'I don't know, Massa;' but de nigger noe'd all de time. Massa now git mad—cum gin—peak mity sharp dis time,—'Cane whar your brodder Able, you nigger?' Cane now git friten, and he turn wite: and dis is de way de fus wite man cum pon dis arth! an if it had not been for dat dare nigger, Cane, we'd neba been troubled wid dese sassy wites pon de face ob dis circumlar globe. Now sing de forty lebenth hym, ticular meter."

EPIGRAM (FROM THE ITALIAN)

On a Father who would not allow his Son to marry until he had arrived at years of discretion.

Poor Strephon is young, and lacks wisdom 'tis said,And therefore still longer must tarry;If he waits tho', methinks, till he's sense in his head,I'll be sworn that he never will marry.

THE REV. MR. WATERHOUSE

The following is the inscription on a stone designed to perpetuate the memory of the late singular and unfortunate rector of Little Stukely, and is now exhibited in the mason's yard at Huntingdon. According to immemorial usage a copy of verses is appended to the inscription, which, in point of style, taste, and orthography, are on a par with the "uncouth rhymes" alluded to by Gray. The poetry is said to be the production of a Cambridge graduate.

"Sacred to the memory of the Rev, Joshua Waterhouse, B.D., nearly forty years Fellow of Catherine Hall, Cambridge, Chaplain to his Majesty, Rector of this parish, and of Coton, near Cambridge, who was inhumanly murdered in this Parsonage House, about ten o'clock on the morning of July 3rd, 1827. Aged eighty-one.

Beneath this tomb his mangled body's laid,Cut, stabb'd, and murdered by Joshua Slade;His ghastly wounds a horrid sight to see,And hurl'd at once into eternity.What faults you've seen in him take care to shun,And look at home, enough there's to be done;Death does not always warning give,Therefore be careful how you live."

MAN

Philosophers have puzzled themselves how to define man, so as to distinguish him from other animals. Burke says, "Man is an animal that cooks its victuals." "Then," says Johnson, "the proverb is just, 'there is reason in roasting eggs.'" Dr. Adam Smith has hit this case; "Man," says he, "is an animal that makes bargains; no other animal does this—one dog does not change a bone with another."—London Mag.

LANGUAGES

A French professor of languages, in what he calls an Ethnographic Atlas of the Globe, states there are 860 languages, and about 5,000 dialects, all which may be classed; in addition to as many more which are not so arranged. In the present state of our knowledge, therefore, the Asiatic languages amount to 153; the European to 53; the African to 114; the Polynesian to 117; and the American to 423.

Epitaph in the Church-yard of Iselton Cum Fenby, in Lincolnshire.

Here lies the bodie of old Will Loveland,He's put to bed at length with a shovel, andEas'd of expenses for raiment and food,Which all his life tyme he would fain have eseyewed:He grudg'd his housekeeping—his children's support,And laid in his meates of the cagge mag sorte,No fyshe or fowle touch'd he, when 'twas dearly bought,But a green taile or herrings, a score for a groate.        No friend to the needy,        His wealth gather'd speedy,    And he never did naught but evil;        He liv'd like a hogg,        And dyed like a dogg,    And now he rides post to the devil.

LENDING BOOKS

Doctor Gerhard, of Jena, used to write in his books a Latin inscription, thus translated:—"I belong to Gerhard's library; take care neither to soil nor tear me; neither keep me in your possession out of the library more than one month. Do not steal me."

TO THE PUBLIC

With the present Number of the Mirror is published a SUPPLEMENTARY SHEET, half of which is occupied by THREE ENGRAVINGS, viz. an authorized Ground Plan of St. JAMES'S and the GREEN PARKS—a View of BUCKINGHAM NEW PALACE, and of the GRAND ENTRANCE to the PALACE GARDENS at Hyde Park Corner. The Supplement also contains minute references and descriptions of the above Engravings, and the REPORT of the EXPEDITIONS of Captains Parry and Franklin, recently returned to England. The daily increasing interest of the above subjects (which so largely engross the public attention) cannot fail to render the above Number proportionally acceptable to our readers; whilst the illustrations will recommend themselves by the fidelity of the sources from which they are executed.