" sense. The author has a deadly and horrible phantom for ever glaring and grinning at him, whom he denominates the Bread Tax," and which frights his mind from its propriety. Cheap bread, and high profits, and high wages, is what he calls for; and he says, "that we shall be better without agriculture altogether." His complaints, we presume his personal complaints, are these: "that he pawns his furniture for Saturday's wages; that he pawns half his tools; that the law compels him to labour for the winds; that he cannot marry, but must go childless to his God;" and his threats, "that a Daniel O'Connell should be raised up in every parish; that an ocean of blood and horror will overwhelm England, while only one star, that of democracy, is seen; and that while all else perishes, the indestructible ship of the Commonalty will survive; and that the landowners and their apes, the laughers and yawners, have rendered revolution inevitable." Such is the substance of the Preface of the Poet of Sheffield, with the omission of certain expressions that are not generally used out of the precincts of that town. The landed gentlemen are called "landed paupers in their coach and four;" and it is said, that "if an English nobleman were to give himself such airs in France, as we witness here daily (who are the English noblemen in Sheffield?) he would instantly be rolled in the mire." Mr. Elliott proves that the land does not belong to the landholder, but to the poor; because the landholder must give back to the poor millions that have been taken from them by inadequate wages; secondly, all they have lost by taxes, paper-prices, and wars; and "all the lands of England would not pay the balance which before the eternal throne stands at their debit." Sir Thomas Lethbridge, the author hopes, will not starve; but he will be happy to believe that he will come to the workhouse which will not be of so much consequence, as "the brains of the landholders are in their bellies." It is fortunate for the Muse of Poetry that she is of a more joyous disposition, and gayer and brisker temper, than her sister of Prose; and, accordingly, though the same opinions and declarations prevail in the poeti cal part of the volume, yet they are reluctantly subdued and softened by the magic of verse. There are in this volume strong marks of poetic feeling, vivid impressions of nature, select observation, and good choice of language, and easy flow of versification, whenever the author chooses to be a little moderate in his views and placid in his temper: but if the Corn Laws come across him, he forgets his hyacinths and blue bells, his green lizards and yellow butterflies, his Phoebes and Cicelys; and commences furious and raving diatribes against Norfolk Squires and London Whigs, and placemen and dandies; and then anon he becomes imaginary evils, and lacerating our hearts by descriptions of fictitious woe: but he soon set us right. He complained that himself and all the workmen of Sheffield were writhing under the forced constraint of hunger and celibacy; that they could not eat, and were not permitted to marry. We of course considered Mr. Elliot himself to be a pale, thin, woe-begone, unwilling bachelor! but, lo and behold! in a few pages after, we find him very tenderly and kindly talking of Mrs. Elliott and his children, and forecasting their future lot; and, so far from feeling any effects of hunger, we listen to him with pleasure, when he asserts that he will always have his joint of roast mutton, and pot of beer. Why, that is right! ever may he have it! but he would digest it better, if he would not snarl and grumble at his neighbour who is sitting over his partridge and pint of port; and if he would cultivate the superior talents which Providence has bestowed on him, as Christian poets should, in meekness, in content, in charity, and "in obedience to the powers which be." We must, however, do Mr. Elliott the justice to say that there are still a few gentlemen left whom he honours with his praise; the catalogue is small, but it includes nearly all the talent and virtue in England, viz. Henry Brougham, esq. the friend of the poor (par excellence) Doctor C. Holland, who is preparing better days for England, and Mr. Elliott's children; Lord Durham, "the wise, the good, the great;" Thomas Ward, Esq. the Man of Sheffield; and, lastly, Godfrey Higgins, "the Bentham of Hallamshire, the author of Essays on the Formation of Opinions." These are his guides, philosophers, and friends.' Does Mr. Elliott ever reflect what the Apostle says is the end of revilers? Dialogues, Moral and Scientific. 2 vols. ONE of the useful and praiseworthy little publications that are constantly proceeding from the Wesleyan brotherhood. Its purpose is at once to cultivate and improve the youthful mind; and filling it with the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge, not to forget also the still nobler Tree of Life. The observations on the works of nature are taken principally from the best publications, and from the latest discoveries of science. Occasionally there are mistakes and omissions; as that of bringing the fact of shells and marine productions found in elevated spots and hills, as proofs of the Mosaic Deluge: but, on the whole, the work is very well executed. The account of the venerable founder of their church, and the description of Joseph Benson their preacher, are exceedingly interesting; and the great, very great, stress laid on the practice of psalmody among the Methodists, as appears by this book, is worthy the attention of our Church, where it is unaccountably neglected. England and America, a comparison of the Political and Social State of both Nations. 2 vols. ALTHOUGH this work is written in a spirit and feeling that we do not altogether approve, and though there is an occasional flippancy in the author's method of treating the arguments or opinions of those who differ from him, as the defenders of the Corn Laws, yet still it cannot be denied that there are a great many important observations, correct views, and valuable discussions brought forward and enforced with knowledge, ability, and experience. Let any one only read the subjects that stand at the head of the different chapters, and he cannot refuse to acknowledge their weight and importance. The wealth of England, the misery of the bulk of the people, the uneasiness of the middle classes, the political prospects of the English, the free trade in Corn, the means of extending trade, the art of colonization, such are the subjects which pass under discussion; and the object which the author has in view, is to show by what measures the great misery of the working classes may be relieved, and their unjust and melancholy depression removed; how the capital of the middle classes may best be employed and used in production; by what means the abolition of the Corn Laws may be rendered advantageous to all, not excepting the agriculturists themselves; the adoption of what measures would tend to promote or secure the tranquillity of the country, under the altered form or reform of its ancient constitution; and how far a more extended trade, a more systematic colonization, and a more extensive field for the employment of capital, would tend to relieve the exigencies and promote the prosperity of the state. We consider many of his positions to lie on the strong bases of wisdom and truthbeyond the fear of contradiction—and that he has clearly pointed out the causes why there are such contradictory circumstances existing in the economy of our country-immense and overflowing capital, and stagnation of trade-abundant riches, crime and poverty, and degrading pauperismfree and equal institutions, a discontented people-a protecting Corn-bill, and distressed agriculturists. No one can deny the truth, the pressing importance of these subjects; and all who read this book will admit, that they have been discussed with ability; the errors, dangers, and difficulties attending them are fairly stated, and the means of removal or amendment candidly and judiciously pointed out. In the future situation of England, in its political character, in the degree of its prosperity, in its commerce and productions, there is at present no one circumstance of such leading importance, or which will so much affect it one way or the other, as the_long agitated question of the Corn Laws. In that question is involved the point, which is, shall England continue to be an agricultural nation, or a manufacturing one. The question would be of less importance, more easily arranged, and less angrily and disputatiously surveyed, if the demands of the country did not press so severely on its resources as to call strenuously for its most vigorous and unwearied exertions. Cæteris paribus, an agricultural country is more agreeable, more natural, more tranquil, more easily governed, than a commercial and manufacturing one; at the same time, to be solely agricultural, a country must be contented to be poor, to have few artificial wants, to have no state debt, and few state expenses, and no armies and navies to swallow up the industry of a people. On the other hand, to the wealth which commerce carries on her wings, there seem no bounds that can be conceived: so far, agriculture cannot pretend to compete with her; her returns are slow and moderate in amount. Yet if the object of nations and of people is happiness-(the greatest happiness principle of Bentham), an agricultural nation appears to possess some of its best and truest elements. The question with us is, can agriculture be transferred to manufactures? Is it necessary, just, or benefical so to transfer it? The favourers of the manufacturing system hold out an enormous and rapidly multiplying population, boundless wealth, cheap food, the open markets of the world. The opponents presume that that immense population cannot with safety be dependent for their daily food on the will of foreign nations; that those markets may be shut against us; that other nations may successfully compete with us; that such a population could not live under the existing form of government; that the ruin of the race of agriculturists existing during the transfer or change, whether landlord or peasant, must be certain and terrific; and that if the wealth and resources of the nation are not sufficient to meet its wants (its assets equal to its debts), they must not be attempted to be raised by measures so extraordinary, so violent, and so dangerous, as the absorption of agriculture; but by a partial sacrifice of every interest at home, and by extending the field of its speculation abroad. On Somnambulism and Animal Magnetism. By J. C. Prichard, M. D. Cyclop. of Medicine, Part XX. THERE exist in every science certain divisions of the subject, which, standing upon a sort of neutral territory, are assignable, like the joint effusions of the " wits," to no particular head, and upon which a writer may safely dilate without becoming obnoxious to the imputation of pedantry. Of such divisions the " Theory of Medicine" has been usually considered to possess but few, and those rather from the manner in which they had been extrinsically handled, than from any intrinsic dryness of their own, had been set down in vulgar phrase, as savouring of the shop," and were consequently in bad odour with the GENT. MAG. VOL. I. " multitude of half-informed readers, until by the increased intellectual vigour of its professors, and by the consequent moral as well as intellectual advancement of the science itself, discoveries before undreamt-of have been brought to light, original illustrations have been made to bear, and the theme has been rendered more universally attractive by the prospect held out by it, and by it alone, of expounding those trains of moral and physico-moral phenomena, concerning which so much curiosity has been raised, and so very little has been satisfied or even allayed. Dr. Prichard has hitherto been chiefly known to the world as the learned physician, the friend of Grimm and Blumenbach, their associate and their equal. To the learning once considered essential to the medical character, he has added abstruse philological acquirements, and his late work under the modest title of "Researches," contains bold and original views, strongly supported by sound argument, and brilliantly distinguished from the works of the continental, and more especially the German neologian school, by its perfect coincidence with the Mosaical history of mankind. In the present paper, under the head of Somnambulism, Dr. Prichard has treated of Animal Magnetism, and it is to this part of his paper that we shall devote the present article, as to a subject which has exercised, and does still exercise, both vulgar and learned curiosity in no small degree. About the year 1766, a German physician named Mesmer, more famous for his strange and erratic notions than for any new lights thrown by him upon his profession, appears to have collected into a more definite form some of the various speculations of Paracelsus and Van Helmont, and, with additions of his own, to have determined to practise them to his own advantage. He held that the phonomena of life depended upon a current of magnetism established in the body, to be affected in intensity or direction by external means, of the secret of which he of course was master. His pretensions created a great sensation at Vienna and Paris, and he finally retired, regarded as would appear as 4 K an imposter, but having amassed a large sum of money. Contemporary with, or somewhat later than Mesmer, were several similar "Doctors" in England, of whom Perkins was most notorious. The revolution of 1792 turning public attention to more important subjects, checked for awhile the progress of Animal Magnetism; and when towards the commencement of the present century it reappeared, it was under a form completely changed. Since that period the doctrine has made considerable progress in Europe, and ranks among its supporters some of the greatest continental names, among which was that of Cuvier, a man assuredly not prone to credulity. In this country it has found but little favour, or rather, it has been totally rejected by all classes. For ourselves we cannot indeed subscribe to all the wonderful stories that are related, but neither can we shut our eyes to the mass of evidence arrayed in their behalf. The supporters of Animal Magnetism, like the Freemasons and old heraldic authors, lay very extravagant claims to the antiquity of their art, and talk much nonsense about the Delphic Oracle, &c. There is however one passage cited from Plautus which we shall subjoin, as rather singular. He means to say, jocosely," that if I knock him down?" the words are "Quid si illum tractim tangam ut dormiat?" The operation of magnetising is thus performed. The operator and patient are placed vis-à-vis, their knees and the extremities of their feet touching. The former then holds the thumbs of the patient, until their temperature is equalized with his own. His fingers are then drawn down various parts of the body, taking care to keep them at a distance while returning. The effects are heaviness and languor, and sleep. The volition of the magnetiser is moreover necessary to produce the effect. The further results are various in different individuals, but in the most perfect cases the power of vision is bestowed upon the epigastrium and great toe; how such extraordinary localities came to be pitched upon, we cannot divine, unless in the former case the Court of Aldermen had been made the subjects of the experiment, who are indeed said to be endowed with accurate sensations in that region. It does, however, to us, who are not blessed with this civic clairvoyance, appear a little wonderful, however ideas of the modes of bodies are to be acquired, where there is no mechanical apparatus prepared for their perception. We should have thought moreover that the power would have been more convenient, had it been placed in the lumbar rather than the epigrastic regions. But the magnetical clairvoyance is by no means limited to such perceptions as these. All things past, present, and to come, are laid open before them, and they can see, whether with eye, toe, or belly is not stated, even through a stone wall. "As to this talent (seeing through stone walls)" observes Dr. Prichard, “whether with the eyes or the epigastrium, we do not think it can be turned to very practical advantage. Not so the inspection of living bodies, and the power of discovering morbid changes in the thorax or abdomen. A magnetic nurse in each ward of an hospital, who could perform autopsy while the patients are alive, would save us a world of trouble in auscultation and percussion, and might even obviate the necessity of post mortem examinations. But if she had the instinct of remedies, where would be the want of a physician?" It would appear then, that we are entering upon the magnetic æra of the world. Cause and effect, physicians and patients, we beg pardon-patients and physicians, are to be abolished, magnets of superlative pungency are to be substituted for smelling-bottles, and evil humours, moral as well as physical, will be dispersed by convenient tractors; the illustrious Rowland and the yet more illustrious Mac Alpine, will magnetise their Macassar and Bear's-grease, and our belles and beaux will exert an elective attraction upon each other by means of magnetic fans and quizzing-glasses, to the dismay of the uninitiated papas and mamas. We have not indeed yet seen any notice on the subject upon the table of the House of Commons, but we think certainly the " great magnet" at Mr. Faraday's should have taken the chair at Mr. Sheil's Committee, when the question as to "Who's the Traitor," would of course have been settled immediately. |