The Press. — London, England, 1858-11-13 00:00:00

THE PRESS, NOVEMBER 13, 1858. 1112 which seems to us worthy of citation—" If it be " true, as we have ventured to affirm, that to " every man his God is his best, you can by no " means give to his faith a higher God till you " have given to his heart a better best." We have also an essay on " Mediatorial Religion," the character of which may be imagined. He is, of course, very hard upon the doctrine of substi tution and satisfaction, but the conclusion at which he ultimately arrives is curious. He de cides that St. Paul's doctrine of atonement is in timately connected with a Realistic philosophy, and that it will be impossible to maintain that doctrine unless Realism can be revived. Then we have an essay on " Hippolytus and his Age," which contains a hesitating and not very forcible defence of the Tiibingen theory against M. Bun sen. Mr. Martineau's account of that theory, however, is well written. We extract it as a specimen of his manner, as well as on account of the importance of the theory itself:— This theory runs as follows. The opposition which St. Paul's teaching excited, and of which his letters preserve so many traces, was neither so insignificant nor so short lived as is commonly supposed, but was encouraged and led by the other Apostles, especially James and John and Peter, who never heartily recognized the volunteer Apostle, and was so completely successful that he died without having made any considerable impression on the Judaic Christianity sanctioned from Jerusalem. Accordingly, the earliest Christian literature was Ebionitish; and no pro duction was in higher esteem than the " Gospel of the Hebrews," which, after being long current, with several variations of form, at last settled down into our Gospel of Matthew. In almost all the writings known to us, even in Roman circles of the second century—the Shepherd of Hermas, the Memorials of Hegesippns, the works of Justin —some character or other of Ebionitism is present—mil lenarian doctrine, admiration of celibacy and of abstinence from meat and wine, denunciation of riches, emphatic assertion of the Messiahship of Jesus, and treatment of the miraculous conception as at least an open question. The labours of Paul, however, had left a seed which had been buried but not killed ; and, from the first, a small party had cherished his freer principles and sought to win ac ceptance for them ; and as the progress of time increased the proportion of provincial and Gentile converts, and the Jewish wars of Titus and Hadrian destroyed the possi bility of Mosaic obedience and the reasonableness of Hebrew hopes, the Pauline element rose in magnitude and importance. Thus the two courses of opposite develop ment ran parallel with each other, and gradually found their interest in mutual recognition and concession. Hence, a series of writings proceeded from either side, first of conciliatory approximation only, next of complete neu trality and equipoise, in which sometimes the figures of Peter and Paul themselves are presented with studiously balanced honour, at others their characteristic ideas are adjusted by compromise. The Clementine Homilies, the Apostolic Constitutions, the Epistle of James, the Second Epistle of Clement, the Gospel of Mark, the Recognitions, the Second Epistle of Peter, constitute the series proceed ing from the Ebionitish side ; while from the Pauline came the First Epistle of Peter, the Preaching of Peter, the writings of Luke, the First Epistle of Clement, the Epistle to the Philippians, the Pastoral Epistles, Polycarp's, and the Ignatians. These productions, however, springing from the practical instinct of the West, deal with the eccle• siastizal more than with the doctrinal phase of antagonism between the two directions, and end with establishing in Rome a Catholic Church, founded on the united sepulchres of Peter and Paul, and combining the sacerdotalism of the Old Testament with the universality of the New Gentile Gospel. Meanwhile a similar course, with local modifi cations, was run by the Church of Asia Minor. Rome, with its political aptitude, having taken in hand the ques ti one of discipline and organ i zation, the speculative genius of the Asiatic Greek addressed itself simultaneously to the development and determination of doctrine. Here the Epistle to the Galatians marks, as a starting-point, the same original struggle between the contrasted' elements which the Epistle to the Romans betrays in Italy; while the Gospel of John closes the dogmatic strife of develop ment with an accepted Trinity for faith, just as the Igna tian Epistles wind up the contests of the West with a recognized hierarchy for government. And between these extremes the East presents to us, first, the intensely Judaical Apocalypse ; next, with increasing reaction in the Pauline direction, the rudiments of the Logos idea in the Epistles to the Hebrews, Colossians, and Ephesians; and as Montaniem, in the midst of which these arose, had already made familiar the conception of the Paraclete, all the conditions were present for combination into the Johannine doctrine of the Trinity ; and then it was, in the second quarter of the second century, that the fourth Gospel appeared. The speculative theology thus native to Lesser Asia was adopted for shelter and growth by the kindred Hellenism of Egypt, and gave rise to the school of Alexandria. This same Tubingen notion of a radical oppo sition in doctrine and personal enmity between St. Paul and the other Apostles Mr. Martineau again brings forward in an article on " St. Paul and his Modem Students." lie supports it., in our opinion, with singularly weak arguments. For example, he refers to Rev. xxi. 14, as a proof that the author of the Apocalypse did not acknowledge St. Paul to be an Apostle. In that passage we are told that on the twelve foundations of the wall of the New Jerusalem are the names of the twelve Apostles of the Lamb. We imagine there is little doubt that in the appointment of the twelve Apostles, Christ had reference to the number of the tribes of the children of Israel. At any rate St. John had these in his mind, as is proved by v. I`2. The plain reason, then, for not including St. Paul is, that to include him would have been to break the symmetry of the picture and to introduce a number hallowed by no asso ciation. We acknowledge that the passage is consistent with Mr. Martineau's theory ; that it can be adduced in proof of it we deny. There is also an essay on " The Ethics of Christendom," interesting as throwing light on the present position of the party, ifnot very excellent in itself. Its object is to show that the Ethics of the Apostles are of a purely temporary character ; that, anticipating the consummation of all things in a few years, they merely gave such directions to their followers as might keep them in order till the crisis came ; and accordingly that it is as absurd for Christians at the present day to take example in morals by the Apostles as it would be for them to imitate in ordinary life the movements of soldiers drawn up in expectation of a signal to march. This false expectation of the early Christians is a capital pomt with Mr. Martineau ; and it is, in fact, a characteristic of his book throughout, as no doubt considering his position it must have been, that he is far more often at one with the enemies of the Faith than with its defenders. Health and Disease : their Laws ; with Plain Practical Prescriptions for the People. By Benjamin Ridge, M.D., &c. London : Chap- man and Hall. Tun writer of this book appears to have had two objects in view : in the first place, to contribute an addition to the library of Popular Science ; in the second, to throw out a sort of challenge to his profession, by the attack he makes on several doctrines they generally receive, and on certain points in medical practice which he con siders erroneous. It is thus a sort of provocatio ad populttm, inviting, as it does, the general public to form their own judgment as to the reasonableness of many metiods of procedure in which they have hitherto been accustomed un hesitatingly to acquiesce ; and setting before them in a clear light the anomalies which the author conceives to exist in medical science, as usually understood. Into the question as between Dr. Ridge and the rest of the doctors it is not, of course, our province to enter ; such disagreements being proverbially difficult for laymen to decide ; and we leave him, not without pity, to the tender mercies of the medical journals, upon whose well developed faculty of virulent abuse this flag of defiance may be expected to have much the same effect as a red rag upon the retina of a bull. We are for our own parts rather disposed to welcome the book on its own obvious merits, as adding one more to the list of " handy books" (though this is rather a stout specimen of the class), on whose general excellence at the present day as compared with former times we have had occa sion to remark in noticing similar works upon other topics of information. Every man, it has been said, is a fool or a phy sician at forty : that is to say, he by that time knows what his constitution will do for him, and what liberties he may take with it ; whether he can drink cold water in a violent perspiration with impunity; whether he can eat white soup made with almonds without feeling symptoms of irritant poison ; how many dozen " mute in glorious Miltons" he can swallow ; whether his swimming is to be measured by miles or yards ; whether be can listen to Mr. A—n's speeches and Mr. C—l's sermons without drowsiness, and read the metaphysics or drink the ale of Edinburgh without headache. Much of all this is no doubt the effect of what is vaguely termed " idiosyncrasy," and that is why an individual is often so good a judge in his own case, and why one man's meat is another man's poison.' Dr. Ridge, however, has attempted to lay down some general rules, by attending to which we may, at all events, be induced to refrain from improper remedies, and be able to estimate the propriety of relying on his instructions for our cure, or of having at once recourse to a medical man. Books of domestic medicine do not enjoy It very good repu give direc tions sure to tation . among sensible people—the reason probably being, that they attempt, like works casuistry,. to prescribe for all cases, an h d tons as to the details of disease, Whic , st t r h on ei g r as pre t s h cr e i y pt o i ng on h s t ar to e übesuall'y addeda a be misapplied . by inexperienced persons • t tLw e hi as ch latter . point Dr. Ridge does not seem to . so e -In ce 11 ; ed m i m es pl a e re , an m d te h h is de e d xpl t a h nat h io a n ve of the effect his descriptions . of the symptoms of disorders " ' and ]isf i! l remedies that we do not imagine any serious mistake likely to oceur from making use of hi s p h ar. macopceia. All this, however, comes at the end o f his book. He commences by an investigation the chief chemical constituents of th e into body, which he classifies under the heads of Acid, Alkaline, and Neutral. Ile conceive , him se lf to have established the fact " that a certain predominance " of the acid principle is requisite to sustain a " normal standard of health ;" so that the due pro portion of this principle may be regarded as the " tormal cause" of health. Any excess of it produces acid or congestive disorders, while a deficiency produces those of an alkaline cha racter. Of the neutral principles, the most important seems to be the bitter, the due propor tion of which is incompatible with fever or inflammation. When either of the two former elements is in excess, it requires correction by the administration of its opposite, in order to restore the balance of the system; a superfluity of acid is to be corrected by the administration of alkali, and vice versa. Thus, in diet, a long persistence in the use of boiled meat, which is acid, produces disturbance, while too much salt meat, as is well known, produces scurvy, the cure for which, as both philosophy and empiri cism teach, is some form of acid, such as lime or lemon juice. Such is Dr. Ridge's philosophy of the causes of disease. In judging of the symp toms, he teaches us that the tongue is to be regarded as the clearest index. This, of course, is not very new; you put out your tongue when a doctor comes near you just as naturally as you offer your ticket when a railway guard appears at the window of your carriage. Dr. Ridge however affirms, as the result of long and close observation, and to which he has devoted a separate work, that the tongue is capable of being mapped out into compartments, each of which by its appearance shows the state of the organ or portion of the body to which it is specially referable. For the illustrations of this novel and ingenious discovery we must refer to the book itself. With regard to the treatment of disorders, Dr. Ridge's advice is to begin with the primary organs of digestion, and to use no violent remedies until the simple and innocuous ones have failed of effect. He constantly insists on the harm done to our constitution by the pre valent belief that the greater part of our internal ailments arise from " liver," and by the perni cious practice of an immediate resort to some form of mercury to act upon that organ. As in the case of the tongue, so with regard to head aches, he maps out the head, and teaches that the part affected is a guide to the portion of the internal economy which is disturbed. Thus a headache at the back of the head indicates some thing wrong in the first processes of digestion; if at the sides, it denotes that the evil belongs to the " chylopoietic viscera" (the second stage); . if in the anterior part, the larger viscera require_ imagine that 111 attention. Thus, it is wrong to headaches proceed from the brain ; this is on y the case when the pain is seated in th e temples. There are, however, more headaches tha n these : Convivial men Die proceeds] know too well that we are occasionally the subjects of headaches extending over the whole cranium—back, front, sides, temp les and all. The exciting causes are various; but I shall not be wrong in attributing such headaches in the major it y of instances to convivial excess and over-indulgence at the table: As a people we are, beyond all other civilized nations, given.to social gormandizing, and as a conseque nce are familiarwith the penalties it entails. The bon vivant site dowitto table to enjoy himself. He overloa ds his stomach with rich and luxurious viands, and therefore, to hasten their passage through it. he stimulates it with alcoholic beve rages. The food is thus propelled prematurely into the small intestines, which, goaded by the pressure from above, hays not time to perform their functions coni pletely, but pass on the semi-digested mass into tke large intestines, until the whole of the alimentary canal ov.er loaded and distended. Then comes the after-dinner wine: communicating an abnormal stimulus t o the blood•vevael, and the orgies are consummated by the advent of a he nut, ad; ache, which throbs, and thumps , and rages, threatei to burst the very skull asunder. • • • e e e [t 0 g is It le IT if e, ie is e. is is es to it it h to 19 is al iC in 1- at to a !•• t; I; 11 s. re )e in to 10 to it IS u• e, 6; d•