The Sun.
London, England, 1856-12-06 00:00:00

LITERATURE.

gentleman, which is, without doubt, one of the Ma
remarkable I have been engaged in."
The Campaign ire the Crimea. An Historical The treatise is at once gracefully and gratefully
Sketch by George Brackenbury. Illustrated by
dedicated to Sir enjamin Brodie as the most
eminent living _B
member of the Surgical Profession.
William Simpson. 2d. Series. Colnaghi and •
It may, superficially, to the uninitiated, appear a
Company. somewhat unattractive subject—" Automatic Me-
Mr. Simpson's exquisite memorial of " The Cam- chanism as applied in the Construction of Artificial
paign in the Crimea" is here completed. Another Limbs in cases of Amputation "—yet some-
series of Forty-one double-tinted Plates. from how Mr. Gray's skilful (and we had :
interest to his
al-
Drawings taken on the spot, brings the narrative
most said his loving)treatmentof it has
down to the actual close of the War with the cap-' imparted a readily appreciable
pages, followed up as the leaves of his clever treatise
ture of the Malakhoff. The accompanying letter- are by no less than one hundred curious illustra-
press, descriptive of the events here pictorially cele- tive cases and correspondence.
orated by the pencil of Mr. Simpson, still preserves
to itself, throughout, those characteristics of perspi-
cacity and precision which imparted such an imme-
diately recognisable charm to the first half of the
Historical Sketch from the pen of Mr. Brackenbury.
Nothing of any real importance has been passed
over unnoticed, either by the keen eye of the artist,
or by the exact and scrutinising judgment of the
writer his companion. Here, on the very title-
page of the new volutue, in a vivid vignette, re-
minding one of Landseer's famous symbolic picture
of War, is a frightful glimpse enough of a Bomb-
proof Chamber in the Malakhoff. Yonder, in ono
stirring panoramic view, is a peep at the Disem-
barkation of the Expedition to Kertch, and the
blowing-up of St. Paul's Battery. Turning over
another page, we have before us the Fortress of
Yenikale, looking towards the Sea of Azof—an-
other, Kertch from the North—another, the town-
batteries or interior fortifications of Sebastopol. At
one moment we have, filing past in mournful pro-
cession, the Funeral Cortege of Lord Raglan, as it
moved slowly away from Head-quarters. At
another we are admitted to an inner view of those
Head-quarters of the English army before the brave
old soldier's death, and recognise, almost at a
glance, the principal personages gathered about
the table in a Council of War—Lord Raglan, Omer
Paella, General Canrobert, and their associates in
that enterprise of peril and responsibility. Scat-
tered up and down the volume are the various
Camps of the different Divisions. The Battle
of the Tchernaya is portrayed in one of
these graphic sketches—taken on the spot--
the Interior of the Mamelon in another
—here one of the Wards of the Hospital at Scutari
—there the investiture of the Order of the Bath at
the Head-quarters of the British army before
Sebastopol. Imagine two volumes (like those of
Mr. Simpson) delineative—by drawings " taken on
the spot"—of the Campaigns of Marlborough, or of
the Campaigns of Wellington ! Fancy two ele-
gantly gilded, tinted, printed books, illustrating
thus minutely Vittoria and Malplaquet, Ramillies
and Fuentes D'Onore, scenes of the deeds of glory
done in the grand old days—for both are equally
of the Past now—by the two great Dukes of Eng-
land, the Giant Wielders of the Giant Sword of
Britannia! Conceive the interest with which we
should pore over such pages—how we should de-
vour every syllable of the descriptive letter-press,
written thus iu the broad full light of the Present
—how we should examine every minute line of the
artist's sketches, drawn at the actual time of the
occurrences, and in the identical spots commemo-
rated ! Precisely what we might feel while look-
ing over mementoes of those bygone wars of British
History ; others will feel, hereafter, when turning
over these fascinating records of the late Crimean
Struggle records coloured into life by the
facile pencil of Mr. Simpson, or eloquent
with the simple but earnest words of Mr. Bracken
bury. It is observable in regard to the last-pen.

A Manual of Domestic Economy. By J. H
Walsh, F.R.C.S. G. Routledge.
This is one of the most complete and practical,
volumes for domestic reference, that has appeared
for some titne. It is arranged
for families spend-
ing from ROC/. to 1,0001. a year. It is divided into
twelve books. The first is an opening essay on the
practice of economy. The second and third re-
spectively treat of "The House aud its accessories,"
and of "Furniture and Furnishing," and are full of
valuable information for any person couGuencing
housekeeping. In the latter department is a table
of prices, giving four different scales, suited
to the means of families possessing incomes of
1,0001., 5001., 2501., and 1001. a year. These four
incomes are referred to throughout the book, and,
of course, include a large cla.,,s of families. The
fourth and fifth departments treat of the duties of
domestic servants and the supplies of the house.
The numerous receipts and cooking details to be
found iu this part have been obtained from an ex-
perienced cook, and have been practically tested.
Among the numerous other divisions of the work
those on the management of the health, on the
trettment of infants, and the symptoms of disease
will be especially valuable, when it is recollected
that the work is from the pen of a medical
am.
practi-
tioner whose experience, he says, has supplied h
with nearly all his information. With the. excep-
tion of a few details of the household provinces pe-
culiarly under a lady's care he tells us, " there is
no single compartment with which I have not been
practically acquainted, from the building and fur-
nishing of the souse, through the different kinds
of marketing and shopping, to the management
of the nursery and sick-room." Parts of the work
have been subjected to the examination of- a com-
mittee of ladies, who have supplied some of the •
receipts. The chapters on lighting, water, ventila-
tion, and preservation from fire contain the "received
theories and most useful appliances of modern days."
The books on the purchase and maintenance of
horses and carriages, and the social duties of heads
of families, relate to the more important branches
of domestic economy. Of course tastes and opi-
nions may differ on the various trifling details, but
the great amount of information, both in regard
to the chief duties of domestic management
and to the smaller,- matters on which it is so
difficult for the inexperienced to obtain instruction,
renders it a most useful auxiliary for all undertak-
ing the direction of a household. We trust it may
obtain that success which its varied information
merits. It embraces in one work the different
branches of knowledge which usually occupy seve-
ral distinct volumes, and its complete and practical
character renders it an invaluable work of domes•
tic reference.

Hunt on Stammering. Second Edition. Longa:m

and Company.

Unquestionably the most popular treatise ever
given to the world upon the affliction variously
known as Stammering, or Psellismus, or Stutter-
ing. It recounts in a very readable form the par-
ticulars of the "Life" of the late Thomas Hunt,
the memorable Originator of the System for the
Cure of Stammering. It explains that beautiful
and humane system, and, in doing so, indicates
rapidly and succinctly the character and, be it said,
also the cruelty and inadequacy of the various
systems hitherto in vogue fur the Cure of Impedi-
ments of Speech. James Hunt, the son of the late
Thomas Hunt—the " worthy son of a worthy sire"
—is the author of the volumd comprising this
really admirable treatise—and this no less admir-
able biography. The system explained in the
course of the work under notice—a remarkable
work, of which the present is the "second edition"
considerably enlarged—was simply, it may be re-
marked (in the apt words of the writer of a grace-
ful obituary notice of the late Mr. Hunt), a plan
for teaching the sufferers by " the plainest com-
mon-sense directions, the means of restoring na-
ture to its functions," functions " perverted and
counteracted by evil habits, or the curious infec.
tion of involuntary imitation." Mr. Hunt abhorred
the employment of the knife—maintaining that
not one case out of fifty was really the result of
either deficient or distorted organisation. Closing
the volume, after an unaffectedly respectful ex-
amination of its contents, we bid God-speed to the
benevolent Sche►ne, of which it is truly and lucidly
explanatory—remembering with honour, while we
do so, the keen-sighted and large-hearted man who
was, humanly speaking, its Originator, and who,
as its Originator, is entitled to recollection as one
of the world's practical philanthropists.

timed that, at the close of his brief but sufficient
preface, he gracefully acknowledges having derived
many useful hints and much valuable information

froni the works of eminent historians of the War,
such, for example, as Col. Hamley, the contribu-

tor to Blackwood's Magazine and Mr. Russell the
world-famous Times' Correspondent. Now that
the Second Series is actually before us, we may
speak of the work in its entirety, and we do so with
only (if that be possible) a more hearty reiteration
of the praises to which we gave utterance in its
regard at the period of its brilliant and eminently
propitious commencement. It constitutes, we
cannot but think, the most compact, the most ap-
propriate, and the most beautiful memorial yet
published of the Great War in the Crimea, the
War which we still lament as having closed so
fatally, but the record of which we cannot but still
linger over with a rapt and fascinated interest, lit
up as its many deplorable disasters are by the
glorious remembrance of such Days of Fame and
Deeds of Daring as those of Alma, and of Taker-
man, and of Balaklava !

Matter : Its Forms and Governing Laws. By
George Duplex. With numerous Illustrations
on Wood. Bradbury and Evans.
A very masterly little treatise—literally De 0111-
nibus Rebus et Quibusdain Allis. A wonderfully
lucid and condensed epitome of—Everything I A
microcosm •in its marvellous way—a positive,
actual "world in little"—a tiny mirror, as it were,
held up to Nature and reflecting within the narrow
limit of its circumference the whole Universe. We
do not speak of the little volume before us, when we
speak of it thus, in any way at all in the language
of exaggeration. It is a treatise extending only
over 161 moderately sized pages—pages simply de-
scriptive of the Forms and Governing Laws of
Matter—yet, within these 161 pages, the author of
the book defines, by an exquisite`chain of analogies,
the relation of Everything with Everything. De-
monstrating, in fact, by the clear and irresistable
farce of a succession of logical definitions the truth
of Pope's:axiomatic distich, that—

Jonathan Oldham,. By J. Crawford Wilson.
Richard Bentley.
We have often wondered how it came to pass so
intelligent a body as the commercial travellers
have contributed so little to our current literature.
Few men have better opportunities for studying
mankind and becoming acquainted with the cir-
cumstances of domestic events at the fountain-
head, while to no class of individuals is accessible
a richer store of romantic incident and amusing
anecd3tes. Into the cause of this literary laches
we are not at present disposed to make inquiry ;
all we will say is, we trust the work before us will,
without any detriment to business, be the precur-
sor of many more of various types. The author of
these " Leaves from the Diary of a Commercial
Traveller" may or may not be a member of the
body himself ; he writes, however, pretty much
as if he was, or had been, and the leaves of his
diary) if largely fictitious, may serve to indicate
what may be achieved with facts, which it is truly
said are often stranger than fiction. The work
embraces but one journey from Euston-square to
Dublin, from thence to Glasgow and Edinburgh,
and back to London via Manchester. Plot or busi-
ness matter there is comparatively none—instead of
which we have a number of romantic, and more
or less amusing and interesting stories strung to-
gether by means of a hero, who, if a little of " a
withfellow aptrebtotytt,om, and is very pro-
perly
well-behaved wife,
who was previously, as is often the case, a bit of a
romp. During perusal we have here and there
gent,"
" rewarded is
agood a
hit on something we fancied we remembered to
have seen before, and on turning to the preface
found the author had rechristened a notable hero
of his, whose adventures a while back amused the
readers of Bentley, to wit, " Ben• •
Jamul Bobbin,"
being moved to the act by having, in obedience
to
Mr. Bentley, added to, and altered "Benjamin,"
so far that only with difficulty he could be recog-
nised. As a first attempt in prose, "Jonathan" is
very creditable to its author. Leaving or. eaving this fact,
however, entirely out of •
consideration, we shall be
much surprised if he does not find prose composi-
tion more profitable than poetry—for he has suc-
ceeded in producing a very readable and amusing
book, which is more than with can be done most
of the poetry so f called o the present day:

"All are but parts of one stupendous whole,
Whose Body Nature is, and God the Soul."

Altogether the book—small though it is, and un-
pretending though it is in its general character—
is literally the very marrow and pith of all the
Ologies, the"croam of the cream" of all the Sciences,
the essence, or, we should rather say, the quint-
essence of every branch and section of Natural
Philosophy. After a few Preliminary Definitions
of Matter,we areinducted, bya chapter on " Bodies
of Matter Moving in Space," to 'Astronomy—by
another chapter on the "Governing Laws of
Bodies Moving in Space," to what Mrs. Somerville
has admirably termed the Mechanism of the Hea-
vens—by another chapter on " Terrestrial Matter,"
to Geology. Diverging this last one into four sepa-
rate and comprehensive sections—one on " Heat,"
another on " Light," another on " Magnetism,"
another on " Electricity." After a chapter on the
"Laws of Attraction and Affinity," we have an-
other on the " Chemistry of the Elementary Sub-
stances"—one on the " Primary Formation of the
Terrestrial Forms of Matter"—a chapter on " Ter-
restrial internal Heat," and another on the
" Vitalisation of Matter." A chapter follows
this on " Vegetation"—another on " Vegetable
Nutrition," another on "Vegetal Reproduc-
tion." We next come to " Vegetable Chemistry,"
to " Animalised Matter"—to " Animal Nutrition,"
anti " Animal Reproduction." " Intelligent and
Intellectual Matter" is then considered—" Human
Intellectual Matter" —and " Human Organs of
Nutrition." Nutrition proves to be a theme lead-
ing on step by step to an examination of the " Or-
gans of external sensation," otherwise of the
" Perceptive Organs," to " Intellectuality," to
" Memory," " Volition," " Thought," "Reason,"
the " Passions," and the "Emotions." Finally, the
work closes with a distinct reference to "
"Death," and "Health"—thus sounding from the
treble to the diapason the whole Gamut of Human
Knowledge. Altogether the book is, to our think-
ing, something wonderfully fine for its comprehen-
siveness, and yet, be it added, in no one respect
what can be called superficial. It is a volume, in
short—penned by a hand hitherto wholly unknown
to us, that of George Duplex—placing within reach
of the masses, at the cost of just two or three shil-
lings, a perfect Feast of Instruction.

NEW Music. The Eglantine Waltzes. By Frail
B. Tussaud. F. Moutrie.
A bouquet of four sweet little waltzes, clustered
together in the name of the mellifluous Eglantine.
Companions to another group, strung together
by the same daintily ingenious hand, under the no
less agreeable designation of the Violetta. Mr.
song-writer and as
rFrankepu
reputation,
tTsa i
ouns,ausda isv fastery echraeramtiinngg for himself a double
a composer of dance-music, not
, unworthylight
fantastic
of b
eat-
ing a melodious rhythm to the _
toe," lending a new charm to whatas been
ecstatically called the Poetry of h
Motion

Automatic Mechanism. By Frederick Gray.

H. Renshaw.

Automatic Mechanism is here considered exclu-
sively in relation to its application in the con-
struction of Artificial Limbs in cases of Amputa-
tion. And considered in that particular, it will be
very generally admitted, by one eminently
that
qualified to speak upon the 'subject—seeing h
Mr. Gray was the ingenious fabricatort
late
the fa-
mous artificial leg worn by the e gallant
Field Marshal, the Marquis of Anl4 1"a !
. was the Operator to the late Marquis, eas well as
the constructor of that curious limieabling the
old man to walk, and ride, and move about to the
last like
d one foot in
any
literally other
~mortalhad
thegrave
for for t"
odd years ,
Mr. Gray, however, has done greater wonders in
his way even than this—he has made an artificial leg
for a young lady, Miss A....,, H
with which she is enabled not only to (vidance,depl; but 5t
o)
dance " frequentl
Widow of Ems need. '
never
e embarrassingv Aided
one of the latest of Mr. Gray'sgl
exceedinglyfrequently."
r have entered. upon her
ments—it is the case of the lautomatican
allo
heireeT
oi s.

SUICIDE IN HORSHMONGIE-LANE GAOL—Y.O4IMay
morning Samuel George Lucas, aged 31, a married roan,
ony gnoisin bgacto his
on
having a family of three children, committed suicide is
the Surrey County Gaol. He was charged With burglary
at Epsom, and examined before the county magistrates
on the 28th ult., by whom he was remanded nntil yes.
on
o n.
was Of
an atad the
lyingtu turnkey e
cell e rd
in
y forth e rme-oerx:inimug,
h
the floor quite dead. It appeared that he had fastened
his stockings round his neck, and fixed the ends to the
bar over the doorway ; but his weight had broken the
stockings, and he fell down. The tightness round •
hie
neck, however, strangled him.
SHOOTING A RAT.—On Wednesday a most dangerous
accident occurred to Mr. W. C. Burniston collector of
taxes, Suffolk-road, from the bursting c4a pistol. The
family had for some time been annoyed by the incursions
of a rat in the cellar, and had in vain
the intruder with a trap. On Wednesdaytried to capture
ven-
tured into the kitchen, and Mr. Burniston the rat
hay' loaded
a horse pist 1,, drove-it into the, mg
garden, and there shot
at it as it stood with its head buried
ostrich hides its head in a
bush, in the snow, as the
The pistol burst at the
breech, and shattered the stock to pieces. Parts of it
struck Bli. Burniston on the hand, which was severely
injured, the thumb beingalmost The barrel
struck him on the forehead, torn off. him
down; and on a surgeonbeing instantly. knocking_auncl
called in, it was found
that the skull was fractured two or three places. The
in
having taken place, the injuries, though dangerous, are
not likely to prove fatal. The accident is believed to
have arisen from the pistol, which had not been in use
for some months, having been imperfectly cleaned shoat
t
wo months ago. Mr. Burniston is progressing very
favourably.