Chambers's Edinburgh Journal, No. 461

There is advancement, too, in other quarters. Faraday has been diligently pursuing his investigations into the phenomena of electricity and magnetism through greater part of the dead season, and will be prepared erelong to make the results public. And Professor Stokes's researches and experiments on light, which have been laid before the British Association and the Royal Society, are regarded by competent judges as the most remarkable and fruitful that have been made for many years. Another means of advance will perhaps be found in the new process for 'illuminating' glass, by which lenses of all sizes, from spectacles to telescopes, may be made so much brighter and more transparent, as to increase their power and utility to an extraordinary degree. We are shortly to have further particulars concerning this improvement, which, if it be such as described, and applicable to microscopes, will perhaps enable Ehrenberg to verify the opinions he has lately formed concerning the atmosphere—namely, that it is not less full of organic and inorganic life than the ocean, or any other part of creation.

Mr Westwood has read a paper before the Zoological Society, 'On the Destructive Species of certain Insects known in Africa,' in which he shows the probability of their having been the insects of the fourth plague recorded in the Pentateuch. Some of them are the Oestridæ; and one kind known in Africa as Tsetse, is so fierce and venomous, that a few of them are sufficient to sting a horse to death: they are the same as the Zimb, of which Bruce gives such a striking account. Their presence appears to be mainly determined by the nature of the soil, for they are seldom found away from the black earth peculiar to the Valley of the Nile. Among the carvings on the ancient tombs, this insect is supposed to be represented. With regard to another species of insect, Dr Macgowan states, that the insect-wax of China, of which 400,000 pounds are produced annually, is not, as has long been believed, a 'saliva or excrement,' but 'that the insect undergoes what may be styled a ceraceous degeneration, its whole body being permeated by the peculiar produce in the same manner as the Coccus cacti is by carmine.'

The Agricultural Society have announced that they will give 'L.1000 and a gold medal for the discovery of a manure equal in fertilising properties to the Peruvian guano, and of which an unlimited supply can be furnished to the English farmer at a rate not exceeding L.5 per ton.' Also, 'fifty sovereigns for the best account of the geographical distribution of guano, with suggestions for the discovery of any new source of supply, accompanied by specimens.' To be adjudged in 1854. They offer, likewise, fifty sovereigns for the best essays on farming in the counties of Hereford, Surrey, and Derby; and thirty sovereigns for the best essays on the 'management of heavy lands;' 'of light lands;' on 'beans and peas;' 'on hereditary diseases and defects in pigs and sheep.' These to be decided in 1853. It is something to see agriculture thus trying to stand on its own legs.

Among minor matters, the wire-lace recently invented at Nottingham has been talked about, and is said to be as tasteful and rich as it is novel, for it admits of being electroplated. Shall we wear metal clothing by and by, as well as live in metal houses? Dr Payerne has been making experiments in submarine steam navigation at Cherbourg, and with such success as to be able to sink his vessel at any moment, to live in it under water, and to propel it in any given direction. Are we to be invaded by a fleet of these artful contrivances, or is it a preparation for the escape of the future emperor from St Helena? There are one or two interesting facts from Australia, although not about gold: the bodies of Dr Leichardt and some of his exploring party, are said to have been discovered near Moreton Bay, where they had been murdered by the natives; and Sir Thomas Mitchell, the well-known surveyor-general, has invented a steam-propeller on the principle of the boomerang, which, when applied to a boat, answered expectation. Further experiments are to be made; meanwhile, the inventor says, 'that the weapon of the earliest inhabitants of Australia has now led to the determination mathematically of the true form by which alone, on the screw principle, high speed on water can be obtained.' The Ericsson caloric ship is launched; but if a new projector is to be believed, the maker may save himself all further trouble, for Mr Burn proposes to build square ships, with the bottoms constructed as double inclined planes, which shall cross from England to America in forty-eight hours! When this scheme is realised, travelling and flying will become synonymous terms. We are to have another electric telegraph across the Channel: it is underground as well as submarine, the wires being laid in wooden tubes under the old turnpike-road from London to Dover, independent of the railway, thus reopening a shorter as well as a competing route. The possibility of an electric telegraph from England to America is again talked about, and will doubtless be talked about until it is accomplished, in the same way that the French, by dint of trying, seem determined to succeed at last in aërial navigation, the latest exploit of that kind having been the turning round of a cylindrical balloon in the air at Paris by means of a small steam-engine, carried up by the apparatus. Meanwhile, Denmark is going to link her states together by wires, which will stretch from Copenhagen to Elsinore and Hamburg, and include Schleswig, Zealand, and Holstein. Loke would stand no chance now in the old Scandinavian land against the thought-flasher. The Swedish exploring expedition is making satisfactory progress in the southern hemisphere, and Captain von Krusenstern is fitting out a vessel at his own cost to explore the coast of Siberia—an enterprise which the Russians have often attempted with but partial success. The Americans, too, are thinking of another expedition, to make such observations and discoveries as may be useful or possible round Java, in the China Sea, as it is called, the Kurile Islands, and Behring Strait. Their state of California is still resorted to by the Chinese, who now number 50,000 in their new country, and conduct themselves as orderly and industrious citizens. There is some talk of introducing tea-culture, for the sake of giving them employment, as their presence at the diggings is scarcely tolerated. We are soon to know more than at present of the geography and people of Borneo, for Madame Ida Pfeiffer has travelled further into that country than any other European, and is preparing a narrative of her adventures. Nearer home, Lieutenant Van de Velde, of the Dutch navy, has been exploring the Holy Land, in a very complete manner, and in some parts heretofore unvisited; and when our Geographical Society meets, we shall doubtless be informed of the chief results of his twelvemonth's toilsome and at times dangerous travel. If Captain Allen's scheme, as laid before the British Association, could be carried out, we should be able to approach the region by another sea as well as the Mediterranean; for he proposes to cut a channel from the head of the Gulf of Akabah to the Valley of the Dead Sea, and allow the water to pour through until the vast basin be filled to the depth of some hundreds of feet, and of course the hollows of the surrounding country, whereby, as the projector states, we should get a new navigable route towards India. He omits to say whether the Arabs would want compensation for loss of territory.

The French consul at Mosul has been making further researches in the Ninevitish ruins, and has discovered, among other curiosities, the wine-cellar of the Assyrian kings, with large jars, in which the royal beverage was once contained, ranged along the sides. They are now filled with dust and rubbish, but on emptying them, a dried purple deposit was found at the bottom of each, thus testifying to their former use. If this deposit is in sufficient quantity to be submitted to chemical analysis, we might learn something respecting the nature of really old wine. Apropos of this matter, Dr Buist says, that while we are digging up antiquities in Mesopotamia, we are neglecting those, not less valuable, which we have at home, particularly the Runic stones found in Scotland. Two hundred of these are known to exist between Edinburgh and Caithness, but some have been used as gate-posts to a church-yard, or, as near Glammis, rubbing-posts for cattle. Sueno's pillar, in Morayshire, is the finest. The remarkable fact concerning these stones, is the similarity, in numerous instances complete, of the sculptures graven on them to those at Nineveh, as though the hyperborean and the Oriental had a common origin. 'Surely,' adds Dr Buist, 'coincidences such as these can neither be fanciful nor accidental; they carry us far back beyond the ages of those we call the aborigines of Britain, as the pyramids and sculptured stones of Yucatan precede the days of the Red Men whom Cortes found peopling America.'

The Dutch Society of Sciences at Haarlem have published their prize-list, in which they offer 2000 florins for the most important discovery in natural science which shall be made between the present year and 1856; and they propose sixty-one questions, the successful replies to obtain a gold medal worth 150 florins, and money to the same amount. Among them are:—The best geological description of the principal hot springs of Europe, their position, course, and quality, so as to show if they have any relation in common, and what relation exists between their changes and the changes caused by earthquakes, volcanoes, &c.—Whether, in any part of the old continents, there are dunes or sandbanks formed, at early geological periods, in the same way as those now existing on the coast of Holland—Whether the sea-level is higher or lower now than formerly with regard to the land-level of the Low Countries—On the wearing of coasts in past and present times, and the means of prevention—Whether a profitable manufacture of iodine may not be attempted on the shores of the Netherlands from certain marine plants and animals—Whether the cinchona can be profitably cultivated in the Dutch colonies—On the influence of the nerves in the origin and progress of inflammation—Whether electricity, either static or dynamic, has anything to do with the production of Daguerreotype figures: and one that will interest ethnologists—The Laplanders are said to be the remains of a people who were once numerous over great part of the north, as the Basques are and were in the south; required, a description of the two, with peculiarities and craniological examinations and explanations in full detail. These are important questions, and well worth attention; the treatises may be written in Dutch, French, Latin, German, Italian, or English, so that aspirants to scientific honours in most parts of Europe have now the opportunity to prove their merits.

The forthcoming publishing season promises to be a brisk one: we are to have good books of history, travel, and science, besides something from Carlyle and the Laureate; and in the matter of light literature there will be no lack; Thackeray is again in the field, with three volumes of the old-fashioned sort, so acceptable to novel readers; and Sir Thomas Talfourd has found time for literary as well as legal work. A learned Hindoo, after thirty-five years of labour, has just completed a Sanscrit Encyclopædia—a desirable work for scholars; and the United States' government have published a second volume of the great work on the Indian tribes—a handsome book to look at, but less valuable than it might have been had proper care been bestowed on its contents. The Smithsonian Institution have brought out the third and fourth volumes of their Contributions to Knowledge—one of the two being a 'Grammar and Dictionary of the Dakota Language,' the work of missionaries who, eighteen years ago, settled in the Minnesota Valley, to teach and reclaim the Sioux or Dakotas, who number about 25,000. Among the reasons assigned for the publication of the handsome quarto, they state: 'Our object was to preach the Gospel to the Dakotas in their own language, and to teach them to read and write the same, until their circumstances should be so changed as to enable them to learn the English.' As the Smithsonian Institution distribute their publications to most of the scientific societies of Europe, our learned men will have ample means to avail themselves of their contents, and thus help to promote their object—'the diffusion of knowledge among men.'

THE POET'S POWER

Ay, scorn the Poet's Power,Darken with doubt his glory,Burst thou the spirit-spell he weaveth o'er thee,Till earthward bowed thine heart in youth's warm hourGrow hard as sinner hoary,Scorning the Poet's Power!Yet know the Poet's songRecks not thy spirit's spurning,But soars to Heaven's high throne, and thence returning,Gladdens the heart to which its strains belong,A rich reward still earning—The Poet's sainted song.Wo when the Poet's wordNo more man's soul awaketh,Nor on his clouded eye faith's vision breaketh!Wo when the world's cold heart no more is stirred,Though trumpet-tongued it speaketh—The Poet's prophet-word!Welcome the Poet's Power,Nor deem he idly dreameth:The light that on his heaven-borne spirit streameth,Is but a ray of truth from Eden's bower.When Love this earth redeemeth,Fritz.

IMPORTANCE OF THE CULTIVATION OF THE SENSES

How our hearts bound to the spirited strains of martial music! how we thrill to the shout of the multitude! and how many a David has charmed away evil spirits by the melody of beautiful sounds! Neither is it a passing emotion of little moment in our lives we receive from the senses, for they are our perpetual body-guards, surrounding us unceasingly; and these constantly repeated impressions become powerful agents in life; they refine or beautify our souls, they ennoble or degrade them, according to the beautiful or mean objects which surround us. A dirty, slovenly dress will exert an evil moral influence upon the child; it will aid in destroying its self-respect; it will incline it to habits which correspond with such a garment. The beautiful scenes through which a child wanders, playing by the sea-shore, or on the mountain-side, will always be remembered; the treasures of shell and seaweed, brought from wonderful ocean caverns, the soft green moss, where the fairies have danced, and the flowers that have sprung up under their footsteps, will leave a trace of beauty, of mystery, and strange happiness wherever its later life may be cast. The senses mingle powerfully in all the influences of childhood. It is not merely the loving of parents, the purity and truthfulness of the family relations, that make home so precious a recollection; there are visions of winter evenings, with the curtains drawn, the fire blazing, and gay voices or wonderful picture-books; there are summer rambles in the cool evening, when the delicious night-breeze fanned the cheek, and we gazed into the heavens to search out the bright stars. It is, then, most important in educating children to guard the senses from evil influences, to furnish them with pure and beautiful objects. Each separate sense should preserve its acuteness of faculty: the eye should not be injured by resting on a vulgar confusion of colours, or clumsy, ill-proportioned forms; the ear should not be falsified by discordant sounds, and harsh, unloving voices; the nose should not be a receptacle for impure odours: each sense should be preserved in its purity, and the objects supplied to them should be filled with moral suggestion and true sentiment; the house, the dress, the food, may preach to the child through its senses, and aid its growth in quite another way from the protection afforded, or the good blood which feeds its organs.—Blackwell's Laws of Life.

AN AMERICAN NOTION

In this book-making age, every man rushes to the press with his small morsel of imbecility, his little piece of favourite nonsense, and is not easy till he sees his impertinence stitched in blue covers. Some one possesses the vivacity of a harlequin—he is fuddled with animal spirits, giddy with constitutional joy; in such a state, he must write or burst: a discharge of ink is an evacuation absolutely necessary to avoid fatal and plethoric congestion. A musty and limited pedant yellows himself a little among rolls and records, plunders a few libraries, and, lo! we have an entire new work by the learned Mr Dunce, and that after an incubation of only one month. He is, perhaps, a braggadocio of minuteness, a swaggering chronologer, a man bristling up with small facts, prurient with dates, wantoning in obsolete evidence. No matter; there are plenty of newspapers who are constantly lavishing their praises upon small men and bad books. A mendacious press will puff the book through a brief season, and then it will go to feed the devouring maw of the past.—New York Chronicle.

NEW PERIODICALCHAMBERS'SREPOSITORYofINSTRUCTIVE AND AMUSING TRACTSThe First Tract to be issued on the First Saturday of November

The success which has hitherto attended Messrs Chambers's exertions in the preparation of a cheap and improving kind of literature, induces them to announce a new literary periodical, under the title of Repository of Instructive and Amusing Tracts. This Work, to resemble in some respects the Miscellany of Tracts completed a few years ago, will aim at a higher, though not less popular tone, and satisfy, it is hoped, the new requirements of the day in regard to literary elegance. In carrying on the undertaking, Messrs Chambers will be assisted by skilled writers in various departments; and as the whole of the Tracts will be under their own editorial supervision, they can with confidence offer the Repository as a fitting companion to the family circle. Each of the Tracts will embrace a single subject, varied to suit different ages and tastes. An important object will be to furnish innocent entertainment, mingled with correct information and sound instruction, under the control of good taste, and free, as far as possible, from controversial matter. The Editors, therefore, trust that the present Series of Tracts will take as prominent a part as the former in that department of the great business of educating the People which is committed to the untrammelled agency of the Press.

The Repository will consist of a series of Penny Sheets, issued Weekly; Four to constitute a Monthly Part, at Fivepence, and Eight to form a Two-Monthly Volume, neatly done up in coloured fancy boards, at One Shilling. Where it appears desirable, Wood-engravings will be introduced. Each Volume will possess a neat engraved Title-page.

1

The Somerset County Gazette.

2

The Advocate, his Training, Practice, Rights, and Duties. By Edward W. Cox, Esq., Barrister-at-Law. London: Law Times Office. 1852.