Scientific Notices. Comprehending Notices of new Discoveries or Improvements in Science or Art; including, occasionally, singular Medical Cases; Astronomical, Mechanical, Philosophical, Botanical, Meteorological, and Mineralogical Phenomena, or singular Facts in Natural History; Vegetation, &c.; Antiquities, &c.

ANATOMICAL DISSECTIONS.

Some recent committals for disinterring human bodies, for anatomical dissection, have reminded us four pledge to transfer to the Kaleidoscope the whole f the valuable article from the Westminster Review, -the first portion of which we now proceed to lay fore our readers.

Appeal to the Public and to the Legislature, on the necessity of affording Dead Bodies to the Schools f Anatomy, by Legislative Enactment. By William Mackenzie.

Disease, which it is the object of these arts to prevent and to cure, is denoted by disordered function: disordered function cannot be understood without a knowledge of healthy function; healthy function cannot be understood without a knowledge of structure; structure cannot be understood unless it be examined.

All

shall show why it is that there can be no rational medi- | liver has been found perfectly healthy, but there has cine, and no safe surgery, without a thorough knowledge been discovered extensive disease of the brain. Disease of anatomy. of the liver is often mistaken for disease of the lungs : on the other hand, the lungs have been found full of ulcers, when they were supposed to have been perfectly sound, and when every symptom was referred to disease of the liver. Persons are constantly attacked with convulsions-children especially; convulsions are spasms: spasms, of course, are to be treated by antiThe organs on which all the important functions of the spasmodics. This is the notion amongst people ignorant human body depend are concealed from the view. There of medicine: it is the notion amongst old medical men : is no possibility of ascertaining their situation and con- it is the notion amongst half-educated young ones. nexions, much less their nature and operation, without this time these convulsions are merely a symptom; that inspecting the interior of this curious and complicated symptom depends upon, and denotes, most important machine. The results of the mechanism are visible; the disease in the brain: the only chance of saving life, is the mechanism itself is concealed, and must be investigated to prompt and vigorous application of proper remedies to the be perceived. The important operations of nature are sel- brain; but the practitioner whose mind is occupied with dom entirely hidden from the human eye; still less are the symptom, and who prescribes antispasmodics, not only they obtruded upon it; but over the most curious and loses the time in which alone any thing can be done to wonderful operations of the animal economy so thick a snatch the victim from death, but by his remedies absoveil is drawn, that they never could have been perceived lutely adds fuel to the flame which is consuming his pawithout the most patient and minute research. The cir- tient. In disease of the hip joint pain is felt, not in the culation of the blood, for example, never could have been hip, but, in the early stage of the disease, at the knee. discovered without dissection. Notwithstanding the par- This also depends on nervous communication. The most tial knowledge of anatomy which must have been acquired dreadful consequences daily occur from an ignorance of Every one desires to live as long as he can. Every one by the accidents to which the human body is exposed, by this single fact. In all these cases error is inevitable, Ees health "above all gold and treasure.' Every one attention to wounded men, by the observance of bodies without a knowledge of anatomy: it is scarcely possible ows that, as far as his own individual good is concerned, killed by violence; by the huntsman in using his prey; by with it: in all these cases error is fatal: in all these cases tracted life and a frame of body sound and strong, the priest in immolating his victims; by the augur in pur- anatomy alone can prevent the error-anatomy alone can * from the thousand pains which flesh is heir to, are unsuing his divinations; by the slaughter of animals; by the correct it. Experience, so far from leading to its detecakably more important than all other objects, because dissection of brutes; and even occasionally by the dissection tion, would only establish it in men's minds, and render and health must be secured before any possible result of the human body,-century after century passed away, its removal impossible. What is called experience is of any possible circumstance can be of consequence to without a suspicion having been excited of the real func- no manner of use to an ignorant, and unreflecting prac. In the improvement of the art which has for its tions of the two great systems of vessels, arteries and veins. titioner. In nothing does the adage,-that it is the wise ject the preservation of health and life, every individual It was not until the beginning of the 17th century, when only who profit by experience, receive so complete an therefore, deeply interested. An enlightened physician anatomy was ardently cultivated, and had made considera- illustration as in medicine. A man who is ignorant of la skilful surgeon are in the daily habit of adminis- ble progress, that the valves of the veins and of the heart certain principles, and who is incapable of reasoning in a ing to their fellow men more real and unquestionable were discovered; and, subsequently, that the great Harvey, certain manner, may have daily before him, for fifty years, d than is communicated, or communicable, by any the pupil of the anatomist who discovered the latter, by cases affording the most complete evidence of their truth, er class of human beings to another. Ignorant physi- inspecting the structure of these valves, by contemplating and of the importance of the deduction to which they lead, s and surgeons are the most deadly enemies of the their disposition, by reasoning upon their use, was led to without observing the one, or deducing the other. Hence munity; the plague itself is not so destructive; its suspect the course of the blood, and afterwards to demon- the most profoundly ignorant of medicine are often the ages are at distant intervals, and are accompanied with strate it. Several systems of vessels in which the most oldest members of the profession, and those who have had n and alarming notice of its purpose and power; theirs important functions of animal life are carried on-the ab- the most extensive practice. A medical education, founded constant, silent, secret; and it is while they are looked sorbent system, for example, and even that portion of it on a knowledge of anatomy, is, therefore, not only indisto as saviours, with the confidence of hope, that they which receives the food after it is digested, and which con- pensible to prevent the most fatal errors, but to enable a espeed to the progress of disease, and certainty to the veys it into the blood, are invisible to the naked eye, ex-person to obtain advantage from those sources of improveoke of death. cept under peculiar circumstances; whence it must be ment which extensive practice may open to him. evident, not only that the interior of the human body To the surgeon, anatomy is eminently what Bacon has must be laid open, in order that its organs may be seen; so beautifully said knowledge in general is: it is powerbut that these organs must be minutely and patiently dis- it is power to lessen pain, to save life, and to eradicate sected, in order that their structure may be understood. diseases, which, without its aid, would be incurable and The most important diseases have their seat in the or- fatal. It is impossible to convey to the reader a clear congans of the body; an accurate acquaintance with their ception of this truth, without a reference to particular situation is, therefore, absolutely necessary, in order to cases; and the subject is one of such extreme importance, ascertain the seats of disease; but, for the reasons already that it may be worth while to direct the attention, for a assigned, their situation cannot be learnt, without the study moment, to two or three of the capital diseases which the of anatomy. In several regions, organs the most different surgeon is daily called upon to treat. Aneurism, for exin structure and function are placed close to each other. ample, is a disease of an artery, and consists of a preturnaIn what is termed the epigastric region, for example, are tural dilatation of its coats. This dilatation arises from situated the stomach, the liver, the gall bladder, the first debility of the vessel, whence, unable to resist the impetus portion of the small intestine (the duodenum) and a por- of the blood, it yields, and is dilated into a sac. tion of the large intestine (the colon ;) each of these or- once the disease is induced, it commonly goes on to ingans is essentially different in structure and in use, and is crease with a steady and uninterrupted progress, until at liable to distinct diseases. Diseases the most diversified, last it suddenly bursts, and the patient expires instantatherefore, requiring the most opposite treatment, may ex-neously from loss of blood. When left to itself, it almost ist in the same region of the body; the discrimination of uniformly proves fatal in this manner; yet, before the which is absolutely impossible, without that knowledge time of Galen, no notice was taken of this terrible malady. which the study of anatomy alone can impart. The ancients, indeed, who believed that the arteries were air tubes, could not possibly have conceived of the existence of an aneurism. Were the number of individuals in Europe, who are now annually cured of aneurism, by the interference of art, to be assumed as the basis of a calculation of the number of persons who must have perished by this disease, from the beginning of the world to the time of Galen, it would convey some conception of the extent to which anatomical knowledge is the means of saving human life.

It is deeply to be lamented that the community, in neral, are so entirely ignorant of all that relates to the t and the science of medicine. An explanation of the actions of the animal economy; of their most common important deviations from a healthy state; of the redies best adapted to restore them to a sound condition, d of the mode in which they operate, as far as that is own, ought to form a part of every course of liberal acation. The profound ignorance of the people on all se subjects is attended with many disadvantages to mselves, and operates unfavourably on the medical iracter. In consequence of this want of information, sons neither know what are the attainments of the man whose hands they place their life, nor what they ought be; they can neither form an opinion of the course of station which it is incumbent upon him to follow, nor ge of the success with which he has availed himself of means of knowledge which have been afforded him. ere is one branch of medical education in particular, foundation, in fact, on which the whole superstructure st be raised, the necessity of which is not commonly derstood, but which requires only to be stated to be ceived. Perhaps it is impossible to name any one sub. which it is of more importance that the community fuld understand. It is one in which every man's life deeply implicated: it is one in which every man's ignoice or information will have a considerable influence. e shall, therefore, enter into it with some detail: we all show the kind of knowledge which it is indispensible at the physician and the surgeon should possess: we all illustrate, by a reference to particular cases, the ason why this kind of knowledge cannot be dispensed ith: and we shall explain, by a statement of facts, the ature and extent of the obstacles which, at present, oppose e acquisition of this knowledge. We repeat, there is • subject in which every reader can be so immediately nd deeply interested, and we trust that he will give us is calm and unprejudiced attention. The basis of all medical and surgical knowledge is anaomy. Not a single step can be made either in medicine r surgery, considered either as an art or a science, with ut it. This should seem self-evident, and to need neither proof nor illustration; nevertheless, as it is useful occasionly to contemplate the evidence of important truth, we

The seat of pain is often at a great distance from that of the affected organ. In disease of the liver, pain is generally felt at the top of the right shoulder. The right phrenic nerve sends a branch to the liver: the third cervical nerve, from which the phrenic arises, distributes numerous branches to the neighbourhood of the shoulder: thus is established a nervous communication between the shoulder and the liver. This is a fact which nothing but anatomy could teach, and affords the explanation of a symptom which nothing but anatomy could give. The knowledge of it would infallibly correct a mistake into which a person who is ignorant of it would be sure to fall: in fact, persons ignorant of it do constantly commit the error. We have known several instances in which organic disease of the liver has been considered, and treated, as rheumatism of the shoulder. In each of these cases, disease in a most important organ might have been allowed to steal on insidiously until it became incurable: while a person, acquainted with anatomy, would have detected it at once, and cured it without difficulty. Many cases have occurred of persons who have been supposed to labour under disease of the liver, and who have been treated accordingly: on examination after death, the

When

The only way in which it is possible to cure this disease is, to produce an obliteration of the cavity of the artery. This is the object of the operation. The diseased artery is exposed, and a ligature is passed around it, above the dilatation, by means of which the blood is prevented from flowing into the sac, and inflammation is excited in the vessel; in consequence of which its sides adhere together, and its cavity becomes obliterated. The success of the operation depends entirely on the completeness of the adhesion of the sides of the vessel, and the consequent obliteration of its cavity. This adhesion will not take place unless the portion of the artery to which the ligature is applied be in a sound state. If it be diseased, as it almost always is near the seat of the aneurism, when the process

of

of nature is completed by which the ligature is removed,, ascertained, but by an anatomist. The same surgeon
hemorrhage takes place, and the patient dies just as if the has recorded the case of a man who, having fallen
aneurism had been left to itself. For a long time the twice from his horse, and experienced, for several years,
ligature was applied as close as possible to the seat of the considerable uneasiness in his back, was at length af-
aneurism: the aneurismal sac was laid open in its whole flicted with acute pain in the abdomen. At the same
extent, and the blood it contained was scooped out. The time an oval, irregularly circumscribed tumour, made
consequence was, that a large deep-seated sore, composed its appearance in the right flank. It presented a dis-
parts in an unhealthy state, was formed: it was ne- tinct fluctuation, and had all the appearance of a collection
cessary to the cure, that this sore should suppurate, of matter depending on caries of the vertebra. The pain
granulate, and heal; a process which the constitution was seated chiefly at the lower portion of that part of the
was frequently unable to support, Moreover, there spine which forms the back, which was, moreover, dis-
was a constant danger that the patient would perish torted; and this might have confirmed the opinion that
from hemorrhage, through the want of adhesion of the the case was a lumbar abscess with caries. Pelletan, how-
sides of the artery. The profound knowledge of healthy ever, who well knew that an aneurism, as it enlarges, may
and of diseased structure, and of the laws of the animal destroy any bone in its neighbourhood, saw that the
economy by which both are regulated, which John Hunter disease was an aneurism, and predicted that the patient
had acquired from anatomy, suggested to this eminent must perish. On opening the body (for the man lived
man a mode of operating, the effect of which, in preserving only ten days after Pelletan first saw him) an aneurismal
human life, has placed him high in the rank of the bene- tumour was discovered, which nearly filled the cavity of
factors of his race. This consummate anatomist saw, that the abdomen. If this case had been mistaken for lumbar
the reason why death so often followed the common ope- abscess, and the tumour had been opened with a view of
ration was, because that process which was essential to its affording an exit to the matter, the man would have died
success was prevented by the diseased condition of the ar- in a few seconds. There is no surgeon of discernment and
tery. He perceived that the vessel, at some distance from experience whose attention has not been awakened, and
the aneurism, was in a sound state; and conceived that, whose sagacity has not been put to the test, by the occur-
if the ligature were applied to this distant part, that is, to rence of similar cases in his own practice. The consequence
a sound instead of a diseased portion of the artery, this of error is almost always instantaneously fatal. The cata-
necessary process would not be counteracted. To this logue of such disastrous events is long and melancholy.
there was one capital objection, that it would often be ne- Richerand has recorded, that Ferrand, head surgeon of the
cessary to apply the ligature around the main trunk of an Hotel-Dieu, mistook an aneurism in the armpit for an ab-
artery, before it gives off its branches, in consequence of scess; plunged his knife into the swelling, and killed the
which the parts below the ligature would be deprived of patient. De Haen speaks of a person who died in conse-
their supply of blood, and would therefore mortify. So quence of an opening which was made, contrary to the
frequent and great are the communications between all the advice of Boerhaave in a similar tumour at the knee.
arteries of the body, however, that he thought it probable Vesalius was consulted about a tumour in the back, which
that a sufficient supply would be borne to these parts he pronounced to be an aneurism; but an ignorant prac
through the medium of collateral branches. For an aneu- titioner having made an opening into it, the patient in-
rism in the ham, he, therefore, boldly cut down upon the stantly bled to death. Nothing can be more easy than to
main trunk of the artery which supplies the lower extre- confound an aneurism of the artery of the neck with a
mity; and applied a ligature around it, where it is seated swelling of the glands in its neighbourhood; with a swell-
near the middle of the thigh, in the confident expectationing of the cellular substance which surrounds the artery;
that, though he thus deprived the limb of the supply of with abscesses of various kinds; but if a surgeon were
blood which it received through its direct channel, it to fall into this error, and to open a carotid aneurism, his
would not perish. His knowledge of the processes of the patient would certainly be dead in the space of a few mo-
animal economy led him to expect that the force of the ments. It must be evident, then, that a thorough know.
circulation being thus taken off from the aneurismal sac, ledge of anatomy is not only indispensible to the proper
the progress of the disease would be stopped; that the sac treatment of cases of this description, but also to the
itself, with all its contents, would be absorbed; that by vention of the most fatal mistakes.
this means the whole tumour would be removed, and that
an opening into it would be unnecessary. The most com-
plete success followed this noble experiment, and the sen-
sations which this philosopher experienced when he wit-
nessed the event, must have been exquisite, and have con-
stituted an appropriate reward for the application of pro.
found knowledge to the mitigation of human suffering.
After Hunter followed Abernethy, who, treading in the
footsteps of his master, for an aneurism of the femoral,.
placed a ligature around the external iliac artery; lately
the internal iliac itself has been taken up, and surgeons
have tied arteries of such inaportance, that they have been
themselves astonished at the extent and splendour of their
success. Every individual on whom an operation of this
kind has been successfully performed, is snatched by it

from certain and inevitable death!

The symptom by which an aneurism is distinguished from every other tumour, is, chiefly, its pulsating motion. But when an aneurism has become very large, it ceases to pulsate; and when an abscess is seated near an artery of great magnitude, it acquires a pulsating motion, because the pulsations of the artery are perceptible through the abscess. The real nature of cases of this kind cannot possibly be ascertained, without a most careful investigation, combined with an exact knowledge of the structure and relative position of all the parts in the neighbourhood of the tumour. Pelletan, one of the most distinguished surgeons of France, was one day called to a man who, after a long walk, was seized with a severe pain in the leg, over the seat of which appeared a tumour, which was attended with a pulsation so violent, that it lifted up the hand of the examiner. There seemed every reason to suppose that the case was an aneurismal swelling. This acute observer, however, in comparing the affected with the sound limb, perceived in the latter a similar throbbing. On careful examination he discovered that, by a particular disposition in this individual, one of the main arteries of the leg (the anterior tibial) deviated from its usual course, and instead of plunging deep between the muscles, lay immediately under the skin and fascia. The truth was, that the man, in the exertion of walking, had ruptured some muscular fibres, and the uncommon distribution of the artery gave to this accident these peculiar symptoms. The real nature of this case could not possibly have been

(To be continued.)

Miscellanies.

METAPHYSICAL BOTHERATION.

MODERN LEARNING EXEMPLIFIED

pre

BY A SPECIMEN OF COLLEGIATE EXAMINATION.

By the late Professor Porson.

The following article is stated to have been written some years since, by Mr. Professor Porson, in ridicule of the

mode of examination at Oxford :

S. Into a salt-box, and a box of salt.
P. Very well: show the distinction ?

S. A salt-box may be where there is no salt; but salt
is absolutely necessary to the existence of a box of salt.
P. Are not salt-boxes otherwise divided?
S. Yes, by a partition.

P. What is the use of this division?

S. To separate the fine salt from the coarse.
P. To be sure: to separate the fine salt from the coarse.
But are not salt-boxes otherwise distinguished?
S. Yes, into possible, probable, and positive.
P. Define these several kinds of salt-boxes?

shopkeeper. And a positive salt box is one which hath actually and bona fide got salt in it.

P. Very good: what other divisions of salt-boxes do you recollect?

S. They are divided into substantive and pendent; substantive salt-box is that which stands by itself on tr table or dresser, and the pendent is that which hang a nail against the wall.

P. What is the idea of a salt-box?

S. It is that image which the mind conceives of a st box when no salt is present.

P. What is the abstract idea of a salt-box? S. It is the idea of a salt-box abstracted from the des of a box, or of salt, or of a salt box, or of a box of salt P. Very right: by this means you acquire a most pa fect knowledge of a salt-box: but tell me, is the a salt box a salt idea?

S. Not unless the ideal box hath the idea of salt tained in it.

P. True: and therefore an abstract idea canto either salt or fresh, round or square, long or short; this shows the difference between a salt idea and an of salt. Is an aptitude to hold salt an essential, or an cidental property of a salt-box?

S. It is essential: but if there should be a crack int bottom of the box, the aptitude to spill salt would termed an accidental property of that salt-box.

P. Very well, very well indeed: what is the salt calle with respect to the box?

S. It is called its contents.
P. And why so?

S. Because the cook is content, quo ad hoc, to find plenty of salt in the box.

P. You are very right. Let us now proceed to

LOGIC.

P. How many parts are there in a salt-box?
S. Three; bottom, top, and sides.
P. How many modes are there in salt-boxes?
S. Four; the formal, the substantial, the accide
and the topsy-turvy.

P. Define these several modes?

S. The formal respects the figure or shape of the such as round, square, oblong, &c. The substant spects the work of the joiner; and the accidental upon the string by which the box is hung against th P. Very well: what are the consequences of th dental mode?

S. If the string should break, the box would fall salt be spilt, the salt-box broken, and the cook in a pale sion; and this is the accidental mode, with its conse

P. How do you distinguish between the top and be tom of the salt-box?

S. The top of a box is that part which is upper and the bottom that which is lowest, in all positions.

P. You should rather say, the uppermost part is t top, and the lowest part the bottom. How is it then the bottom should be uppermost?

S. The top would then be the lowermost, so that the bottom would become the top, and the top would becom the bottom; and this is called the topsy tury which is nearly allied to the accidental, and freque arises from it.

P. Very good but are not salt-boxes sometimes singl and sometimes double?

joiner's hands.
S. A possible salt-box is a salt-box yet unsold, in the retaining salt.

P. Why so?

S. Because it hath not yet become a salt-box, having never had any salt in it, and it may possibly be applied to some other use.

P. Very true; for a salt-box which never had, hath not now, and perhaps never may have any salt in it, can only be termed a possible salt-box.-What is a probable salt-box?

S. It is a salt-box in the hand of one going to a shop to buy salt, and who hath sixpence in his pocket to pay the

P. Very good: what are the mechanical powers con cerned in the construction of a salt-box?

S. The axe, the saw, the plane, and the hammer.
P. How are these powers applied to the purpose in

tended?

S. The axe to fell the tree, the saw to split the timber. to split. P. Consider: it is the property of the mall and wedge

S. The saw to slit the timber, the plane to mooth and thin the boards.

P. How? Take time; take time.

his body politic deposited in this place of repose. All the much, I know not-he always gave more than he could
party then retired, wishing him a good night, and remov-
ing the candle, for fear of accident.

When the door was closed, I was, for the first time, made acquainted with the structure of the bedstead, which our host considered as his master-piece. Upon the touching of a spring, outside the door, the bed was so acted upon by a pully, that it ascended slowly and smoothly through the four posts, until it came within two or three feet of the ceiling. The snoring of the Scotchman was the signal for touching the spring, and he was soon at the proper altitude. The trick, to be sure, might have cost

Or rather tacks. Have not some philosophers con, red glue as one of the mechanical powers? - Yes, and it is so considered; but it is called an inmechanical power; because, where it is the property he direct mechanical powers to generate motion; glue, the contrary, prevents motion, by keeping the parts to it is applied fixed to each other. Very true: what is the mechanical law of the saw. The power is to resistance as the number of teeth force impressed, multiplied by the number of strokes him his neck, but Deuce may care was the reply of J self had wished, and that the last offices were rendered him, given time.

Is the saw only used in slitting timber into boards? Yes, it is also employed in cutting boards into hs. Not lengths. A thing cannot be said to have been to lengths.

Into shortnesses.-P. Very right.

following whimsical story is very familiar to Ithough we do not just now recollect its source. copy it from a Liverpool paper, the editor of h not unfrequently appropriates similar articles out any acknowledgment.

THE HUMORIST.

Extract of a Letter written in the year 1792.

afford."-Sterne died in 1768, at his lodgings in Bondstreet, exhausted by a long illness. "There was something (says Sir Walter Scott) in the manner of his death singularly resembling the particulars detailed by Mrs. Quickly as attending that of Falstaff, the compeer of Yorick for infinite jest, however unlike in other particulars. As he lay on his bed totally exhausted, he complained that his them. She did so, and it seemed to relieve them. He feet were cold, and requested the female attendant to chafe complained that the cold came up higher; and whilst the assistant was in the act of chafing his ancles and legs, he expired without a groan. It was likewise remarkable, that his death took place much in the manner which he himnot in his own house, or by the hand of kindred affection, but in an inn, and by strangers."-Sterne used to justify the licentiousness of his humour by representing it as a mere breach of decorum, which had no perilous consequences to morals. Soon after Tristram had appeared, whether she had read his book." I have not, Mr. Sterne," Sterne asked a Yorkshire lady of fortune and condition

LITERARY TRIFLING.

Swift's Lilliputian odes are, in all probability, familiar

to my suggestion to that effect. The servants, as I before
observed, were all so disciplined to second the mischievous
fun of their master, that they required no instructions
how to act. In one moment the house was in an uproar;
cries of "Fire! fire!" were heard in different directions.
A pile of shavings was set in a blaze opposite the very win-was the answer; "and, to be plain with you, I am in-
dow where poor Sawney slept. J's voice was conti- formed it is not proper for female perusal.' "-"My dear
nually heard, exclaiming, "Good Heavens! save the good lady," replied the author," do not be gulled by such
poor Scotch gentleman, if possible; the flames have got stories: the book is like your young heir there (pointing
into the room just under him!" At this moment we heard to a child of three years old who was rolling on the carpet
in his white tunics.)"
him fall, and bellow out. A sudden silence took place-
every light was extinguished, and the whole house seemed
to be buried in the most profound repose. The Scotch-
man's voice could alone be heard, roaring out, in the high
dialect of his country, for assistance. At length two of
the men-servants, in their shirts, entered the room with to many of our readers; Scarron's were, in our opinion,
candle just lit, and yawning, as if immediately roused better. We shall give the reader a specimen or two from
from their first sleep. They found him sprawling on the
floor-" Lord bless us, Sir! what is the matter with you?"
"Matter! (says he) why, isn't the house on fire ?" "God
forbid, Sir!" "What was the reason of the cries of Fire,
fire,' then ?" "Bless you, Sir, you must have been dream-
ing; why, there's not so much as a mouse stirring, and
his honour and the whole family have been asleep these
three hours" The Scotchman now gave up all credit in the
testimony of his own senses. "I must ha' been dreaming,
indeed, and ha' hurt myself by falling out of the bed.".
"Hurt yourself, Sir; not much, I hope, the bed is so low."
By this time it had been made to descend to its first level.
The poor Scot was quite confused, quite ashamed at dis-
turbing the family; begged a thousand pardons, accom.
panied the servants to the door, closed it after them, and
was left once more in the dark.

a

D'Israeli's Curiosities of Literature.

EPITRE A M. SARRAZIN.

Sarazin

Mon voisin
Cher ami
Qu'à demi

Je ne voi,
Dont, ma foi,
J'ai dépit
Un petit.

He describes himself
Un pauvret
Très maigret,
Au col tors,
Dont le corps
Tout tortu,
Tout bossu.
Suranné

Decharné

N'es-tu pas
Barabbas,

Busiris,

Phalaris,

Ganelon,

Le Fenlon?

Est réduit, Jour et nuit, A souffrir, Sans guerir, Des tourmens Vehemens.

He complains of Sarazin's not visiting him, threatens

to reduce him into powder if he comes not quickly, and

concludes,

Avec nous
Mon courroux
Finera,

Well, then, I have seen your friend J, and aim to be exactly what you described him to bemorist. He seems to have imparted much of that eter to every thing around him, both animate and nate. His servants are all admirably disciplined to This whims, and his very furniture is, for the most Tadapted to the same purpose. Upon my arrival, for ice, after receiving me with much cordiality, in connce of your letter of introduction, he invited me to wn in an easy chair that stood by the fire-place; but A scarcely complied with this request, when I started horror from my seat, upon the supposition that I had hed a cat and her whole litter of kittens to death, so letely were the mingled and discordant tones of the als imitated by the mechanism of the chair. This be on my guard, and there was hardly any thing in ouse afterwards that I did not touch with apprehenNo other trick, however, was practised upon me; as I found afterwards, I was indebted for such innce to one which they reserved for me at night, and i was such as, perhaps, all my English phlegm would lave enabled me to bear with patience. I escaped, ver, being put to the proof, by the merest accident, trival of a poor Scotch surveyor, who was thought a subject for the often repeated experiment. /substitute was treated with great, indeed, with exhospitality; he was helped to every thing to excess; lass was never allowed to stand full or empty for one e. The potations were suspended not until, and only 24, the cloth was laying for supper, during and after b, they were resumed with renovated energy. Our tainer was like the landlord described by Addison; iquor seemed to have no other effect upon him than other vessel in the house. It was not so with his ch guest, who was, by this time, much farther advanced Sterne.-" Poor Maria," was no fiction. “When we a the cruise of intoxication than half seas over; he was I came up to her (says Sterne's valet) she was grovelling in ally dead drunk. In this state he was conducted to the road like an infant, and throwing the dust upon her chamber, a fine, lofty, Gothic apartment, with a bed-head; and yet few were more lovely. Upon Sterne's acNeele; Sonnet, 1820. d that seemed coeval with the building. I say seemed, costing her with tenderness, and raising her in his arms, Henry Neele, son of the late respectable map and that was by no means the case, it being, in reality, a him her tale of misery, and wept upon his breast. My house of his father, in the Strand. His parents soon after she collected herself, and resumed some composure-told heraldic engraver, was born January 29, 1798, at the odern piece of structure, and entirely of the invention master sobbed aloud. I saw her gently disengage herself wards settled at Kentish-town, where Henry was sent to our host. It was of dark mahogany, with its four posts from his arms, and she sung him the service to the Virgin. school as a daily boarder. The academy wherein he imending completely to the ceiling of the chamber. The My poor master covered his face with his hands, and bibed all the instruction he possessed previous to his 1, however, was not more than two feet from the floor, walked by her side to the cottage where she lived there entrance into life, did not offer much towards the attainbetter to enable the parties singled out for initiation in he talked earnestly to the old woman. Every day, while ment of a liberal education. The writer of this slight we staid there, I carried them meat and drink from the sketch, Mr. Neele's contemporary, although his senior, mysteries of the castle to get into it. The Scotchman, hotel; and when we departed from Moulines, my master recollects making many a willing, though painful, effort th a good deal of assistance, was soon undressed, and had left his blessings and some money with the mother: how to encounter Greek, but all in vain-such was the bax

But the last act of the pantomime was not yet performed. The spring had been immediately touched, upon closing the door, and the bed was soon beyond the reach of our guest. We could hear him groping about, and uttering frequent ejaculations of astonishment. He easily found the bed posts; but it was in vain for him to endeavour to get in. He moved his hands up and down. His leg was often lifted by way of stepping in, but always encountered the floor by its descent. He uttered "curses not loud, but deep," for fear of again disturbing the family. He concluded himself to be in the possession of the devil. In short, when it was found, by his silence, that he had given up the task as hopeless, and had disposed of himself upon one of the chairs, the bed was allowed to slide down again, and in the morning Sawney could not but express his astonishment at not having been able to find it in the dark.

Mais pourtant
Repentant
Si tu viens
Et te tiens
Seulement
Un moment

Et cætera.

Biograhical Notices.

MR. HENRY NEELE.

(From the Literary Gazette.)

"He claims some record on the roll of Fame,
And Rumour for a season learns his name,
And Sorrow knows the prison where he lies-
Mortality's cold signet on him set."

At the commencement of the present year appeared his Romance of History, in three volumes, dedicated to the King. This production greatly enhanced Mr. Neele's fame as a writer of a higher order than the mere contributor to periodical publications. The object of the author was to prove, as his motto stated, that

"Truth is strange

barous system pursued there; and passing through, as the | are yet acute, discriminative, and eloquent: they abound
phrase was, the best Latin poets, without being taught to in illustration, and display considerable powers of hu-
scan, or dreaming that there was the slightest difference mour. Mr. Neele showed on this, as on other occasions,
betwixt Latin poetry and prose. The French language that the cultivation of poetical talent is no impediment
(a solitary exception) was taught grammatically by an to the acquisition of a nervous and perspicuous style in
able, zealous, and conscientious emigré, who, previous to prose composition.
the French Revolution, possessed the right of grinding
In the winter of 1826 Mr. Neele completed a series of
all the corn in his seigneuriage, and who continued his lectures on the English poets, from Chaucer to the present
occupation in grinding the seeds of knowledge into the period. These lectures he read at the Russell, and after-
sullen capacities of his pupils. Henry Neele, therefore, wards at the Western Institution. They are described
left school, possessing, as Dr. Johnson would say, little by one who heard them as "displaying a high tone of
Latin, and scarcely any Greek, but capable of reading poetical feeling in the lecturer, and an intimate acquaint-
and enjoying the best French writers. He added after-ance with the beauties and blemishes of the great subjects
wards, by his own unassisted efforts, some acquaintance of his criticism." The public prints mentioned them in
with Italian literature. If, at this font of learning, Greek terms of approbation; and profit, as well as praise, accrued
and Latin were partially imbibed, the "well" of English to our author by this undertaking.
poetry, or prose, was wholly "undefiled" by students'
lips. There prevailed an absurd notion, that English
was best taught through the medium of the Latin gram.
mar; and Lindley Murray was voted useless. The
theme-that ordinary resource for puzzling a juvenile
brain-would have equally puzzled the master's; and,
whatever other sins were committed in the sacred groves
around, the sin of poesy was not among the number.
The only delinquent, within the writer's memory, was and that tomes of romance need not alone be ransacked
Neele. He displayed no extraordinary application to for the marvellous in incident. His compilation embraces
study, no talent for mathematical or other science; but tales of every age from the Conquest to the Reformation,
he evinced an early inclination for poetry; and he wrote, extracted from the chronicles and more obscure sources of
at that period, unnoticed, but not unnoticing, verses which historical information. As a book of instruction, it is
would bear a comparison with those of the most precocious invaluable to readers who cannot be persuaded to sit
poet on record. His genius was purely lyrical, and Col-down to the perusal of history in a legitimate form; for
lins was his chief model. The Ode to enthusiasm (the each tale is preceded by a chronological summary of the
earliest of his printed poems) contains more natural images, events referred to, arranged in a brief and accurate form.
and natural expression, than are ordinarily found in the The narratives themselves are highly attractive, teeming
productions of a boy of fifteen. Neele's father, a man of with interest, and interspersed with lively and character-
fair natural talents, had the discernment to perceive, and istic dialogue. The idea was a happy one, and capable
the good taste to encourage, his son's genius. The Odes of almost boundless extent. The early history of France,
and other Poems, published in 1817, were printed at his of Spain, of Italy, would have furnished fresh materials,
and the excitement would have been renewed at every
recurrence to the novel habits of a fresh people. The
author had begun to avail himself of this advantage: he
had commenced a second series of Romances, founded on
the history of France. Known and appreciated, he was
beginning to rear his head as a lion of the day. His
poetical works had been collected, in two volumes, with
a portrait; but, alas!

expense.

On quitting school, Mr. Neele was articled to an attorney; and, though at times he "penned a stanza when he should engross," he, nevertheless, we believe, did not neglect the opportunities afforded of obtaining experience in his profession. At a later period, he practised as a solicitor in Great Blenheim-street.

In 1821, the Odes and Poems were reprinted, with a frontispiece, and attracted much notice from Dr. Drake, and other critics of repute. Our author then began to be sought after by booksellers, and became a regular contributor to magazines, Forget-Me-Not, &c. &c.

Stranger than fiction;"

"Scarce had their fame been whispered round,
Before its shrill and mournful sound

Was whistling o'er (his) tomb:
Scarce did the laurel 'gin to grow
Around (his) early honoured brow,
Before its grateful bloom

The great success that had attended the dramatic scenes of Barry Cornwall gave rise to the composition of Poems, Dramatic and Miscellaneous, published in 1823. Mr. Was changed to cypress, sear and brown, Neele had evidently no talent for dramatic poetry. His Whose garlands mock the head they crown." Dramatic Sketches contain many beautiful images, and Neele's Odes. much pure and excellent sentiment; but the personages The unfortunate subject of our memoir was found dead rather improvise than converse. They are efforts of the in his bed, on Thursday, the 7th ult., with too certain mind or the imagination, but not effusions of the heart. tokens of self-destruction. He had exhibited symptoms Other and greater imitators of this style have failed. of derangement the day previous. It is neither our purHalidon Hill does no credit to the Author of Waverley; and we recollect to have read an avowal of Lord Byron, pose nor our wish to inquire into the cause of this aberthat, with all his ambition, he felt he could not succeedplication to studious pursuits preying upon a system ration of intellect. The most probable is, incessant apas a dramatist. He coquetted with the town in the pub: nervous even to irritability. lication of his dramas, and was less sore that they had been forced on the stage than that they had been condemned by a mixed audience.

The miscellaneous poems in this second volume are written with more attempt at polish than his earlier productions, but are very beautiful specimens of his genius, especially his songs. We have a melancholy pleasure in transcribing the following from the fragments, which close the volume:

"That which makes women vain, has taught my heart
A deeper lesson; and my weary spirit

Looks on this painted clay, but as the night garb
Which the soul wears while slumbering here on earth,
And, at its waking, gladly throws aside,
For brighter ornaments."

If our author could not excel in dramatic poetry, he had a keen perception of dramatic excellence in others. He studied minutely the productions of what is termed the Elizabethan age, and was an enthusiastic admirer of Shakspeare. He pleased himself with composing a series of lectures on the works of the great bard, and undertook, in 1819, a pilgrimage to his shrine. His compagnon de voyage (Mr. Britton, the antiquary,) read one of those lectures at the Town-hall of Stratford, to a numerous audience; and the produce of the tickets (about ten pounds) was presented to a public charity at Stratford. Mr. Britton possesses the manuscript of these lectures. Poured forth with rapidity and apparent carelessness, they

"Ah! noblest minds
Sink soonest into ruin, like a tree
That with the weight of its own golden fruitage
Is bent down to the dust."

H. N. (The Mourner, 1820.)

Mr. Neele was short in stature-of appearance rather
humble and unprepossessing; but his large expanse of
forehead and the fire of his eye betokened mind and ima-
gination; and, whatever unfavourable impressions were
occasioned by his first address, were speedily effaced by
the intelligence and good humour which a few minutes'
conversation with him elicited. His manners were bland
and affable; his disposition free, open, and generous..
He was naturally of a convivial turn, and enjoyed the so-
ciety of men of kindred talent. That enjoyment, per-
haps, brought with it indulgence of another kind. It is
easy for "fat, contented ignorance" to sneer at such fail-
ings; but the candid and ingenuous inquirer, estimating
the strain of intellect which produces works that render
men immortal, can readily comprehend that the relaxation
of such gifted beings may not always be adapted to the
sober simplicity of sages. The life of a man of letters is
by no means an enviable one. "I persuade no man," says
Owen Feltham, "to make meditation his life's whole
business. We have bodies as well as souls." Happy, if
"the mind too highly wrought," which

"Preys on itself, and is o'erpowered by thought,"
can find alleviation in the momentary folly of the table,

and sink not in despair, nor fly to the refuge of a p ture grave.

T. S.)

We are under obligation to a friend for the fir sketch; and should have been sorry that the unfi subject of it had gone to his untimely grave witho such memorial of him in our page. Of the amenity disposition and the kindness of his heart, we had many opportunities of judging; and we felt, according dismal catastrophe which closed his mortal career. afraid to think that the idea of self-destruction ma been long familiar to his imagination; yet it seems t influenced several of his poetical effusions. So long Mr. Ackermann's Forget-Me-Not for 1826, the following position from his pen appeared; and, though it was sponded to by the editor, in the same volume, it is in reflect on the state of morbid sensibility which mu inspired it:

Suns will set, and moons will wane,
Yet they rise and wax again;
Trees, that winter's storms subdue,
Their leafy livery renew;

Ebb and flow is ocean's lot,
But Man lies down and rises not;
Heaven and earth shall pass away,
Ere shall wake his slumbering clay.
Vessels but to havens steer;
Paths denote a resting near;
Rivers flow into the main;
Ice-falls rest upon the plain;
The final end of all is known;
Man to darkness goes alone:
Cloud, and doubt, and mystery,
Hide his future destiny.

Nile, whose waves their bound'ries burst,
Slakes the torrid desert's thirst;
Dew, descending on the hills,
Life in Nature's veins instils;
Show'rs, that on the parch'd meads fall,
Their faded loveliness recal;
Man alone sheds tears of pain,
Weeps, but ever weeps in vain!

BCDEFGH
WHITE

"TINK A TINK," AND "OH DEAR, WHAT CAN THE MATTER BE!"

The following musical morceau was obligingly communicated by a correspondent, together with the following note ;

SIR-Among the novelties and ingenuities exhibited in the music for that fashionable instrument of the present day, the piano-forte, may be classed the bining of Airs in simultaneous harmony. In the celebrated piece, the "Recollections of Ireland," by Moscheles, is introduced, in an andante movement, ments of three Irish airs moving together. I have seen a glee, in which three national melodies, from different countries, exhibit that coincidence of racter and structure as to move together in perfect harmony. The following old airs, "Tink a Tink," and "Oh dear, what can the matter be!" moving ather, form the theme of a Fantasia, composed by Mr. J. J. JONES, Mus. Bac. Oxon. and published at the Harmonic Institution, London.