Writes: 'With a view to keep pace with the Spirit of Philosophical Discovery
which characterizes the present day, the Editor has been his own Prometheus in
introducing his readers to the "Arcana of Science," the object of which
has already been fully explained, and he hopes, to a certain extent, realized'
(iv).
Stevenson 1827Stevenson, Seth
William 1827. A Tour in France, Savoy, Northern Italy,
Switzerland, Germany and the Netherlands, in the Summer of 1825: Including Some
Observations on the Scenery of the Neckar and the Rhine, 2 vols, London: C.
and J. Rivington
CloseView the register entry >>
Rejoicing in the Arcadian pleasures of harvest-time, observes: 'Overgrown
towns and manufactories may have changed for the worse, the spirit and feelings
of our population; in them, "evil communications may have corrupted good
manners;" but in the country at large, there never was a more simple-minded,
healthful-hearted, and happy race of people than our present British peasantry'
(10).
Observes: 'Napoleon's ardour for the abstract sciences amounted to a
passion, and was combined with a singular aptitude for applying them to the
purposes of war' (20). Considers dubious an anecdote suggesting that Napoleon
was refused his desire to ascend in
Jean P
Blanchard'sBlanchard, Jean Pierre (or François)
(1753–1809)
WBI CloseView the register entry >> balloon and attempted to cut the balloon with his sword
in pique.
The narrator has been 'educated for the church', but loses his family
living, and is forced to find other work. He works as a clerk to a brewer, but
is dismissed, and after 'years of struggling and striving', he once more finds
himself without work in a small market town. He stands gazing at the books in
the window of a small stationer's shop; he recalls: 'The first I noticed was,
"The Young Gentleman's Multiplication Table, or Two and Two make Four"—I
sighed as I remembered how little this promising study had availed me!'
(54).
Section: The Selector; and Literary Notices of New Works
Observes: 'A calculator by nature and by habit, Napoleon was fond of order,
and a friend to that moral conduct in which order is best exemplified'
(60).
Notes that 'some philosophers have concluded, that in the bowels of burning
mountains there are various sorts of bodies which probably ferment by moisture,
and being thus expanded, at last produce eruptions and explosions'.
Relates that the 'phrenological developments' of Burns and his brother (the
poet,
Robert BurnsBurns, Robert
(1759–96)
ODNB CloseView the register entry >>) 'are
said to have been not dissimilar'.
Begins: 'Our corporeal machinery requires an occasional relaxation, as much
as the steam engine does the application of oil to its divers springs' (74).
Discussing dozing in church, predicts 'that if the Rev. Nabob Narcotic happen
to preach this evening, you will, of a surety, doze' (75).
Section: The Selector, and Literary Notices of New Works
The news of her lover's death causes Rosalie to 'fall senseless to the
ground'. She is carried to her bed, but the illness rapidly becomes serious: 'A
fever seized her frame; she became at once delirious; nor did reason again
resume her throne; and it was not till after months of suffering and agony,
that she recovered, if that could be called recovery, which gave back deformed
and hapless lunatic, bereft of intellect and of beauty'. (87)
One of the questions is 'What is a Doctor?'. The answer begins: 'A
doctor, videlicit an M.D., is a sedate-looking personage; he listens
calmly to the story of your ailments; [...] he feels your pulse, writes two or
three unintelligible lines of Latin, for which you pay him a guinea' (94). The
remainder of the description relates to his coach and servants.
Paris 1826Paris, John Ayrton
1826. A Treatise on Diet: With a View to Establish, on Practical Grounds, a
System of Rules for the Prevention and Cure of the Diseases Incident to a
Disordered State of the Digestive Functions, London: T. & G.
Underwood
CloseView the register entry >>
Observes of Canning: 'he has stimulated the march of mind; he has seconded
the exertions of liberal friends to the improvements of the uneducated, and he
has patronized the useful as well as the fine arts, philosophy and science, of
his country' (200)
Cunningham 1827Cunningham, Peter
Miller 1827. Two Years in New South Wales: Comprising Sketches of
the Actual State of Society in that Colony; of its Peculiar Advantages to
Emigrants; of its Topography, Natural History, &c. &c, 2 vols,
London: Henry Colburn
CloseView the register entry >>
Forbes 1813Forbes, James
1813. Oriental Memoirs: Selected and Abridged from a Series of Familiar
Letters Written During Seventeen Years Residence in India; Including
Observations on Parts of Africa and South America, and a Narrative of
Occurences in Four India Voyages, 4 vols, London: White, Cochrane, and
Co.
CloseView the register entry >>
Relates that the bluebottle 'rudely and unceremoniously bumps away all sober
reflection', observing: 'I wonder whether the phrenological
SpurzheimSpurzheim, Johann Christoph
(1776–1832)
DSB CloseView the register entry >> ever felt the bumps of a
blue-bottle!' (115). The bluebottle is unaffected by wine-drinking: 'He is
naturally giddy, and according to entomologists, always sees more than
double, while his head was never made to be turned' (116).
The extract from the London Magazine begins with a paragraph from an
unnamed American newspaper concerning the use of a cradle to move two brick
buildings, in which it is claimed that 'In the course of time, it is
likely that houses will be put up upon ways at brick or stone quarries, and
sold as ships are, to be delivered to any part of the city'. The writer
in the London Magazine makes facetious remarks about the future progress
of America.
Bemoans the passing of the London social season. Among the chief rages were:
'Miss Fennel's Macaw, which at Boodle's [a fashionable London club] / Is held
to have something to say; / Mrs. Splenetic's musical Poodles, / Which bark
"Batti, batti!" all day: / The pony Sir Araby sported, As hot and as black as a
coal, / And the Lion his mother imported, / In bearskins and grease, from the
Pole'. Other features of the season were: 'the flowers / Of the grand
horticultural fête, / When boudoirs were quitted for bowers, / And the
fashion was not to be late'. (122)
[Paris] 1827[Paris, John
Ayrton] 1827. Philosophy in Sport made Science in Earnest! Being
an Attempt to Illustrate the First Principles of Natural Philosophy by the Aid
of the Popular Toys and Sports, 3 vols, London: Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown
and Green
CloseView the register entry >>
An Italian poet having located the temple of the god of fashion in the moon,
the writer speculates that 'it was the walls of this edifice that
Professor
GrinthausenGrinthausen, Prof (of Munich)
(fl. 1827)
ML1/10/270a/3 CloseView the register entry >>, of Munich, lately mistook for an immense fortress.'
Relates the existence of 'monthly fashions' to the lunar influence.
The narrator describes a delightful evening spent alone: 'my heart beat
lightly; my pulse was quickened by the exercise of the morning; my blood flowed
freely through my veins, as meeting with no checks or impediments to its
current, and my spirits were elated' (140). Later, he describes his dog, who,
'having partaken of my dinner, was following the advice and example of
AbernethyAbernethy, John
(1764–1831)
ODNB CloseView the register entry >>, and
sleeping on the rug, as it digested' (141).
Malcolm 1808Malcolm, James
Peller 1808. Anecdotes of the Manners and Customs of London
During the Eighteenth Century: Including the Charities, Depravities, Dresses
and Amusements of the Citizens of London During that Period, with a Review of
the State of Society in 1807; to Which is Added, a Sketch of the Domestic and
Ecclesiastical Architecture, and of the Various Improvements in the
Metropolis, London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, and Orme
CloseView the register entry >>
Observes: 'To this conflagration may be attributed the complete destruction
of the plague, which, the year before only, swept off 68,590 persons!'
(149). The extract discusses the danger to public health of the town before the
fire, and of the improvements made in the rebuilding and subsequently. The
afterword quotes
James P
Malcolm'sMalcolm, James Peller
(1767–1815)
ODNB CloseView the register entry >> view that 'London was burnt by government, to
annihilate the plague, which was grafted in every crevice of the hateful
old houses composing it' (150).
Mirror of Literature, 10 (1827), 150–52.
The Sketch-Book. No. XLV. Behind the Scenes; or, A Breakfast in
Newgate
[2/2]
The narrator joins the clergyman, sheriffs, city-marshal and others for
breakfast after an execution. The clergyman expressing alarm at the idea of
having taken cold through officiating without a wig, the conversation turns to
craniology. There are some witty exchanges, but the narrator reports: 'the
ordinary beat us all hollow, when it was contended that the disposition and the
mind might be known from the exterior of the skull, by remarking that he had
now an additional reason to regret having come there without his wig'
(152).
The account begins: 'A GERMAN newspaper contains a strange
account—avouched with as much apparent accuracy as those which concerned
the mermaids lately seen off our own coast, or the sea-serpent that visits the
shores of America—of a conversion lately worked upon the morals of a
famous robber, by a supernatural visitation in the forest of Wildeshausen'
(154).
Section: The Selector, and Literary Notices of New Works
Cunningham 1827Cunningham, Peter
Miller 1827. Two Years in New South Wales: Comprising Sketches of
the Actual State of Society in that Colony; of its Peculiar Advantages to
Emigrants; of its Topography, Natural History, &c. &c, 2 vols,
London: Henry Colburn
CloseView the register entry >>
Forbes 1813Forbes, James
1813. Oriental Memoirs: Selected and Abridged from a Series of Familiar
Letters Written During Seventeen Years Residence in India; Including
Observations on Parts of Africa and South America, and a Narrative of
Occurences in Four India Voyages, 4 vols, London: White, Cochrane, and
Co.
CloseView the register entry >>
A letter from themanager of a strolling company to his promoter includes
ludicrous statements about props and actors, as for example: 'The thunder got
broke on the road, and we have been forced to have fresh sodder [i.e. solder]
for the two lightnings. Our divinities are well, with the exception of Love,
who has got the small-pox; the Graces have been inoculated; we were obliged to
leave them behind on the road'.
Describes the office of body-searcher, and relates that, during the great
plague, a body-searcher of the name of
SnacksSnacks, —
(fl. c. 1665)
ML1/10/272/1 CloseView the register entry >> offered half-profits to
anyone who would assist him in his work. Avers that this accounts for the use
of the phrase 'going snacks' to describe dividing spoils.
Andrews 1827Andrews,
Joseph 1827. Journey from Buenos Ayres: Through the Provinces of
Cordova, Tucuman, and Salta, to Potosi, Thence by the Deserts of Caranja to
Africa, and Subsequently, to Santiago de Chili and Coquimbo, Undertaken on
Behalf of the Chilian and Peruvian Mining Association, in the Years
1825–26, 2 vols, London: John Murray
CloseView the register entry >>
Subjects:
Phrenology, Education, Mathematics
Describes a village teacher with his pupils: 'He was reading a lecture on
the heads of the scholars—a phrenological dissertation, if one might
judge from its effects, with a wand long enough to bump the caput of the
most remote offender' (172).
The 'whole routine of valedictory arrangements' induces in the writer 'a
sense of dislocation, which, next to a vacuum, Nature abhors' and creates 'a
species of moral decomposition, not unlike that effected on matter by chemical
agency' (186). Makes reference to 'one of
Mr. M'Adam'sMcAdam, John Loudon
(1756–1836)
ODNB CloseView the register entry >>
titles—"the Colossus of Roads"'(188).
'QUOTH Doctor Squid of Ponder's End, / "Of all the patients
I attend, / Whate'er their aches or ails, / None ever will my fame attack," /
"None ever can," retorted Jack: / "For dead men tell no tales"'.
Gray 1809Gray, Hugh 1809.
Letters from Canada Written During a Residence there in the Years 1806,
1807, and 1808: Shewing the Present State of Canada, its Productions, Trade,
Commercial Importance and Political Relations; Illustrative of the Laws, the
Manners of the People, and the Peculiarities of the Country and Climate;
Exhibiting also the Commercial Importance of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, &
Cape-Breton and their Increasing Ability, in Conjunction with Canada, to
Furnish the Necessary Supplies of Lumber and Provisions to our West-India
Islands, London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, and Orme
CloseView the register entry >>
Relates that Raphael 'did not design naked figures with so much knowledge as
Michael AngeloMichelangelo (Michelagniolo di Lodovico Buonarotti)
(1475–1564)
CBD CloseView the register entry >>,
who was more eminently skilled in anatomy' (210).
Section: The Selector, and Literary Notices of New Works
Denham
and Clapperton 1826Denham,
Dixon and
Clapperton, Hugh 1826. Narrative
of Travels and Discoveries in Northern and Central Africa, in the Years 1822,
1823 and 1824, by Major Denham, Captain Clapperton, and the late Doctor Oudney:
Extending Across the Great Desert to the Tenth Degree of Northern Latitude, and
from Kouka in Bornou, to Sackatoo, the Capital of the Fellatah Empire, 2
vols, London: John Murray
CloseView the register entry >>
Animal Behaviour, Human Species, Medical Practitioners
The narrator relates an anecdote about his pet monkey who, dressed in
Highland dress, was mistaken by a Highlander for a tradesman. Introducing the
anecdote, he observes: 'I dinna think that monkeys are beasts ava. I hae a half
notion that they are just wee hairy men that canna, or rather that winna speak,
in case they be made to work like ither folk, instead of leading a life of
idleness' (218). On the Highlander handing him a banknote, the monkey looked at
it 'as if to see that it wasna a forgery' shaking his head 'like a doctor, when
he's no very sure what's wrang wi' a person, but wants to mak' it appear that
he kens a' about it' (219).
Anon 1826bAnon. 1826b. The Vintner's, Brewer's, Spirit Merchant's
and Licensed Victualler's Guide: Containing the History, Theory, and Practice
of Manufacturing Wines, Foreign and Domestic, Malt Liquors [...] Numerous
Important Hints on Cellaring. By a Practical Man, London: W. Wetton
CloseView the register entry >>
Anon 1826bAnon. 1826b. The Vintner's, Brewer's, Spirit Merchant's
and Licensed Victualler's Guide: Containing the History, Theory, and Practice
of Manufacturing Wines, Foreign and Domestic, Malt Liquors [...] Numerous
Important Hints on Cellaring. By a Practical Man, London: W. Wetton
CloseView the register entry >>
Anon 1826bAnon. 1826b. The Vintner's, Brewer's, Spirit Merchant's
and Licensed Victualler's Guide: Containing the History, Theory, and Practice
of Manufacturing Wines, Foreign and Domestic, Malt Liquors [...] Numerous
Important Hints on Cellaring. By a Practical Man, London: W. Wetton
CloseView the register entry >>
Holmes [1823]Holmes, Isaac
[1823]. An Account of the United States of America: Derived from Actual
Observation, During a Residence of Four Years in that Republic: Including
Original Communications, London: privately published
CloseView the register entry >>
'In our youthful days, we all remember to have read a pithy string of Maxims
by
Dr.
FranklinFranklin, Benjamin
(1706–90)
DSB CloseView the register entry >>; and we are accustomed to admire the pertinence of their
wit,—but here their influence too often terminates' (227).
Observes that Foscolo's mouth was 'drooping, in the way that physiognomists
dislike, but his forehead was splendid in the extreme; large, smooth, and
exemplifying all the power of thought and reasoning, for which his mind was so
remarkable' (229).
Mirror of Literature, 10 (1827), 231.
English Fruits[1/3]Anon, 'English Fruits', Mirror of Literature, 10 (1827), 295 Anon, 'English Fruits', Mirror of Literature, 10 (1827), 300–02
Describes three paintings of the 'Dance of Death', two of which were painted
shortly after outbreaks of plague. Refers one of them to the occurrence of
plague at Basel in 1312, which 'destroyed above 11,000 people', observing that
the artist probably 'availed himself of the impression which such a dreadful
mortality must have made on the minds of all the surviving, to represent how
inexorable death drags to the grave, in terrible sport, rich and poor, high and
low, clergymen and laity' (235).
'When I see the spirit of liberty in action, I see a strong principle at
work; and, this for awhile, is all I can possibly know of it. The wild gas, the
fixed air, is plainly broke loose; but we ought to suspend our judgement until
the first effervescence is a little subsided, till, the liquor is cleared, and
until we see something deeper than the agitation of a troubled and frothy
surface'.
Suggests that there are people who are naturally dirty or clean. Asserts of
the former: 'It is in the skin—in the blood—in the flesh—and
in the bone—that with such the disease of dirt more especially lies'
(246). Observes that 'there is more truth than
Dr.
KitchinerKitchiner, William
(1778–1827)
ODNB CloseView the register entry >> was aware of in his apophthegm—that a clean skin may
be regarded as next in efficacy to a clear conscience', and that 'the doctor
had but a very imperfect notion of the meaning of the words—clean
skin—his observation being not even skin-deep' (247).
Section: 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
MIRRORMirror of Literature, Amusement, and
Instruction
(1822–47)
Mirror Monthly Magazine
(1847–49)
Waterloo Directory
CloseView the register entry >>, 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'.
Macculloch 1827Macculloch,
John 1827. Malaria: An Essay on the Production and Propagation of
this Poison and on the Nature and Localities of the Places by Which it is
Produced; with an Enumeration of the Diseases Caused by it, and of the Means of
Preventing or Diminishing Them, Both at Home and in the Naval and Military
Service, London: Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, and Green
CloseView the register entry >>
[Graham] 1827[Graham, Thomas
John] 1827. Sure Methods of Improving Health, and Prolonging
Life; or, A Treatise on the Art of Living Long and Comfortably, by Regulating
the Diet and Regimen [...]: To Which is Added, the Art of Training for
Health, Rules for Reducing Corpulence and Maxims of Health, Illustrated by
Cases, London: Simpkin and Marshall, and Callow and Wilson; Edinburgh: Bell
and Bradfute; Dublin: Westley and Tyrrell
CloseView the register entry >>
Subjects:
Health, Nutrition, Temperance, Adulteration, Medical
Treatment
Describes the plans for a new palace, observing that 'the general public
feeling is that of disappointment and regret' (257). Considers the objections
to the site, quoting at length
John C Loudon'sLoudon, John Claudius
(1783–1843)
ODNB CloseView the register entry >>
observations concerning the injurious effects on health of the basin-like
location and of the suggested modifications to the grounds. Loudon observes:
'We defy any medical man, or meteorologist, to prove the contrary of what we
assert, viz. that Buckingham Palace is a dam to a pond of watery vapour, and
that the pond will always be filled with vapour to the level of the top of the
dam' (258). Loudon considers this may be productive of malaria, and the writer
critically examines the recently expressed views of
John
MaccullochMacculloch, John
(1773–1835)
ODNB CloseView the register entry >> on this subject.
Looking back to the year 827, questions where England will be in another
thousand years' time. Speculates that, like other once-great nations, the glory
of England will have passed away: 'our public edifices and manufactories [...]
will be fruitful subjects of conjecture and controversy to the then
learned'.
States: 'The choruret of lime is recommended for preventing bad smells from
water-closets, &c.' Asks for instructions as to the method of preparation
and use.
The narrator relates how she became concerned for a brother and sister
walking in the Scottish Highlands. She observes that her power of sight was
'sharpened by the anxiety' which she 'began to feel for these young people'
(270). When, after a search, the brother was found dead, the sister became
insensible, and remained ill for some hours before becoming conscious
again.
Cunningham 1827Cunningham, Peter
Miller 1827. Two Years in New South Wales: Comprising Sketches of
the Actual State of Society in that Colony; of its Peculiar Advantages to
Emigrants; of its Topography, Natural History, &c. &c, 2 vols,
London: Henry Colburn
CloseView the register entry >>
Public Health, Controversy, Periodicals, Epidemiology
Discusses the 'furious, and yet unappeased, controversy' which has 'lately
raged in the newspapers, upon the question of the filthy nuisance of smoking
tobacco' (276). Attempts to give such a summary of the dispute as a future
historian might give. Asserts that one of the arguments advanced in favour of
tobacco is 'that it has been known to stay the plague' (277).
Section: The Selector; and Literary Notices of New Works
Discussing the confidence of the coalheaver in walking through the
thoroughfares of London, observes: 'let us suppose, that haply you allow your
frail carcass to go full drive against his sturdiness, when lo!—in
beautiful illustration of those doctrines in projectiles, that relate to the
concussion of moving bodies—you fly off at an angle "right slick" into
the middle of the carriage-way' (294).
Mirror of Literature, 10 (1827), 295.
English Fruits[2/3]Anon, 'English Fruits', Mirror of Literature, 10 (1827), 231 Anon, 'English Fruits', Mirror of Literature, 10 (1827), 300–02
Reports that a woman in St. Helena, hearing that a guest had been in
measles-ridden Cape Town, 'fled from the table, exclaiming that she knew she
should have the measles; in fact, she immediately fell sick of that disorder'
and died (302).
Section: The Selector; and Literary Notices of New Works
Reports: 'Gaming-houses in Paris were first licensed in 1775, by the
lieutenant of police, who, to diminish the odium of such establishments,
decreed that the profit resulting from them should be applied to the foundation
of hospitals' (307).
The poet reflects wistfully on his early youth: 'My kite—how fast and
fair it flew! / Whilst I, a sort of
FranklinFranklin, Benjamin
(1706–90)
DSB CloseView the register entry >>,
drew / My pleasure from the sky!' (308).
Quotes comments of 'an intelligent writer in a recent number of
Brande'sBrande, William Thomas
(1788–1866)
DSB CloseView the register entry >>Quarterly JournalJournal of Science and the Arts
(1816–19)
Quarterly Journal of Literature, Science and the
Arts
(1819–27)
Quarterly Journal of Literature, Science and
Art
(1827–30)
Journal of the Royal Institution of Great
Britain
(1830–31)
Waterloo
Directory CloseView the register entry >>' concerning
the progress of architecture in London since the end of the Napoleonic
wars.
Observes that 'a November day is a carnival for the reflective
observer', and that 'amidst such scenes,
NewtonNewton, Sir Isaac
(1642–1727)
DSB CloseView the register entry >> drew the
most glorious problem of his philosophy'.
Begins: 'The locomotive facility with which the aid of our graphic
department enables us to transport our readers, (for we have already
sent them to Sydney,) is somewhat singular, not to say ludicrous; and
would baffle the wand of
TrismegistusHermes Trismegistus
()
DSB CloseView the register entry >>, or the cap of Fortunatus
himself' (329).
An officer is brought to an auberge in a dying condition, his friend
lamenting: 'the surgeon was deceived and rash to consent to his removal' (337).
His wife throws herself on his dying body, asserting: 'if I cannot live I can
die with him', and when he dies, she also dies (338).
Engineering, Utility, Cultural Geography, Commerce,
Nationalism
Contrasts the plain and serviceable utility of the pier at Calais with the
extravagant and ruinous schemes recently attempted in England. 'It is true our
English engineers—who ruin hundreds of their fellow citizens by spending
millions upon a bridge that nobody will take the trouble to pass over, and
cutting tunnels under rivers, only to let the water into them when they have
got all the money they can by the job—would treat this pier with infinite
contempt as a thing that merely answers all the purposes for which it was
erected! as if that were a merit of any but the very lowest degree'.
Comments particularly on the extravagance of
Waterloo
BridgeWaterloo Bridge
CloseView the register entry >>, which was built as a 'monument of British art' and a
'commemoration of the greatest of modern victories'. (341)
Describes the use of horse chestnuts in the treatment of intermittent fever,
during a recent epidemic in Dublin. Discusses the reduced incidence of the
disease following the drainage of bogs in the vicinity.
London Medical and Physical
JournalMedical and Physical Journal
(1799–1814)
London Medical and Physical Journal
(1815–33)
Medical Quarterly Review
(1833–35)
British and Foreign Medical Review or Quarterly Journal of
Practical Medicine and Surgery
(1836–48)
British and Foreign Medico-Chirurgical Review
(1848–66)
British and Foreign Medical Review and Quarterly Journal of
Practical Medicine and Surgery
(1867–77)
Waterloo
Directory CloseView the register entry >>
Astronomy, Natural Law, Instruments, Time, Theology of Nature,
Biblical Authority
Concludes with reflections on the 'unerring regularity of the motion of the
heavenly bodies', which is 'far more exact than the best chronometer ever
made', and asks rhetorically how great must be 'the ignorance of him who does
not behold in them the Almighty ruler of all things' (363).
'The Ox-Eye, so called by seamen, is a remarkable appearance in the
heavens, resembling a small lurid speck, and always precedes two particular
storms, known only between the tropics. Azimuth-Compass is an instrument
employed for ascertaining the sun's magnetical azimuth.'
Medical Practitioners, Heroism, Disease, Pharmaceuticals
The writer points out some slips and signs of carelessness in the novel. One
of these occurs in the following passage: '"Hartley fell a victim to his
professional courage, in withstanding the progress of a contagious
distemper, which he at length caught, and under which he sank," vol. 2, p.
367'. Another one occurs in a passage which describes a medical practitioner's
'great leathern pocket-book in which he deposited particular papers, with a
small supply of the most necessary and active medicines'. (365)
Observes: 'In a retrospective glance at our previous volumes (for can the
phrenologists tell us of a head capacious enough to contain their exhaustless
variety?) our readers will perceive that, from time to time, sundry "accounts"
of the origin and progress of printing have been inserted in the
MIRROR' (377). Describes the location of Caxton's house, and
observes: 'Every lover of science, on approaching this spot, will feel himself
on holy ground' (378).
P T W, pseud.
[Peter T Westcott]
Westcott, Peter Thomas
(1782/3–1845)
Gentleman's Magazine, n.s. 23 (1845), 328
CloseView the register entry >>Timbs, John
1871.'My Autobiography: Incidental Notes and Personal Recollections',
Leisure Hour (1871), 20–23, 85–88, 181–84,
212–15, 266–69, 293–95, 347–51, 394–98,
420–24, 469–72, 500–03, 596–600, 612–15,
644–48, 685–88, 692–96, 730–33, and 794–99
CloseView the register entry >>
Genre:
Miscellaneous
Subjects:
Ancient Authorities, Invention, Astronomy, Authorship,
Cosmology
Observes: 'JosephusJosephus, Flavius
(c. 37–c. 100)
CBD CloseView the register entry >> speaks of two columns, the one of
stone, the other of brick, on which the children of Seth wrote their inventions
and astronomical discoveries'. Having recounted that the Saxons wrote on the
bark of the beech tree, reports: 'A very large estate was given for one on
Cosmography by
king AlfredAlfred, King of the West Saxons
(849/9–901)
ODNB CloseView the register entry >>'.
(380)
Denham
and Clapperton 1826Denham,
Dixon and
Clapperton, Hugh 1826. Narrative
of Travels and Discoveries in Northern and Central Africa, in the Years 1822,
1823 and 1824, by Major Denham, Captain Clapperton, and the late Doctor Oudney:
Extending Across the Great Desert to the Tenth Degree of Northern Latitude, and
from Kouka in Bornou, to Sackatoo, the Capital of the Fellatah Empire, 2
vols, London: John Murray
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Bullock 1827Bullock,
William 1827. Sketch of a Journey through the Western States of
North America: From New Orleans, by the Mississippi, Ohio, City of Cincinnati,
and Falls of Niagra, to New York, in 1827; with a Description of the New and
Flourishing City of Cincinnati by B. Drake and E. D. Mansfield; and a Selection
from Various Authors, on the Present Condition and Future Prospects of the
Settlers in the Fertile and Populous State of Ohio, Containing Information
Useful to Persons Desirous of Settling in America, London: J. Miller
CloseView the register entry >>
Digby 1658Digby, Kenelm
1658. Discours fait en une celebre assemblée. Touchant la guerison
des playes, par la poudre de sympathie. Ou sa composition est enseignée,
& plusieurs autres merueilles de la nature sont
déuelopées, Paris: Augustin Courbe and Pierre Moet
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Concludes with reflections on the various articles that have appeared under
this heading, observing: 'we have not neglected to direct the attention of our
readers to "the good in every thing" which is scattered through each season of
the year, by constantly recurring to the beneficence of the
OMNIPOTENT BEING—thus enabling them to
look "Through Nature up to Nature's God."' (401–02).
Relates the adventures of the narrator on an expedition to 'a part of the
globe hitherto unknown, called by the natives Russell Square' (402). Describes
various of the incidents which occur in natural historical and ethnographic
terms.
Medical Practitioners, Education, Expertise, Pharmaceuticals, Medical
Treatment
Describing the small country town of Hazelby in Dorsetshire, the narrator
observes: 'Such a town would hardly have known what to do with a highly
informed and educated surgeon, such as one now generally sees in that most
liberal profession' (415).
[2] A Lament for the Decline of Chivalry. By Thomas Hood, Esq.
Subjects:
Race, Disease, Medical Practitioners, Medical Treatment, Death,
Accidents, Machinery
Referring to the death of
King Kamehameha
IIKamehameha II, King of the Sandwich Islands
(1797–1824)
WBI CloseView the register entry >> of the Sandwich Islands, writes: 'at our Black Prince / Historic
pens would scoff— / The only one we moderns had / Was nothing but a
Sandwich lad, / And measles took him off'. Another stanza reads: 'No
iron-crackling now is scor'd, / By dint of battle-axe or sword, / To find a
vital place— / Though certain Doctors still pretend / Awhile, before they
kill a friend, / To labour through his case'. Urges the 'ancient men of might'
to 'Sleep on, in rusty iron sleep, / As in a safety-coffin!'. (423)
Observes of the Turks: 'They appear to possess very little genius or
inclination for the improvement of arts and sciences, although they live
in countries which were once in the possession of the classic Greeks; but seem
to prefer a slothful mode of life to an active one, continually sauntering away
their time' (430–31).
Anon 1827cAnon. 1827c. London Vaccine Institution for Inoculating
and Supplying Matter Free of Expense, etc [Annual Report], London: [n.
pub.]
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Edmonds 1828Edmonds, T.
R. 1828. Practical Moral and Political Economy; or, The
Government, Religion, and Institutions, Most Conducive to Individual Happiness
and to National Power, London: E. Wilson
CloseView the register entry >>
The extract describes the party at a country house, which includes 'Captains
that have been to the North Pole; chemists who can extract ice from
caloric'.
'The EditorTimbs, John
(1801–75)
ODNB CloseView the register entry >> of "THE
MIRRORMirror of Literature, Amusement, and
Instruction
(1822–47)
Mirror Monthly Magazine
(1847–49)
Waterloo Directory
CloseView the register entry >>" has in the press, ARCANA OF SCIENCE
AND ARTArcana of Science and Art
(1828–38)
Yearbook of Facts in Science and Art
(1838–80)
Waterloo
Directory CloseView the register entry >>, For 1828: Being the popular Discoveries and Improvements
of the past Year, in Antiquities Architecture, Astronomy, Botany, Chemistry,
Fine Arts, Geography, Geology, Mechanical Science, Medicine, Meteorology,
Mineralogy, Natural Philosophy, Rural Economy, Statistics, Useful Arts,
Zoology, &c. Abridged from the Transactions of Public Societies, and other
Scientific Journals, English and Foreign, in a closely-printed volume.'