The Sun.
London, England, 1858-07-19 00:00:00

LITERATURE.

The .Thitish Army in, India. By Julius Jeffreys,
F.A.S., formerly Staff Surgeon at Cawnpore.
Longman.
This is a very valuable and interesting work that
treats, of a subject that concerns the welfare of
tie:a-mai-ids of our countrymen, and et the present
epoch
~is especially deserving of the attenton of
those in authority. The care of the health of the
soldier in India has always been an imperative
duty, but it has not met with the consideration it
deserves. Now, when motives of policy are joined
to those of humanity, and when the demand for
increased forces renders every man of se much
value to his country, we may hope that meics will
be adopted to render the soldier's life in India as
harmless and as little wearisome as possible. The
author. of the present work has evidently thought
much.Outhe subject, and combines the knowledge.
of theore.ical principles with the experience of prac-
tierd results. He was formerly a staff-surgeon at
Cawnpore, and civil surgeon at Futtegurh, and
having passed many years in India he has gained a
full acquaintance with the injurous ofp eta of a
tropical. climate on the European constitution. His
remarks are full of sound sense ; he takes into con-
sideration the differ( nee of the temperament, the
mental excitement, the insidious evils which a-e
not less surely destructive than the more apparent
sunstroke, or fever. He protests very strongly
against the opinion that exposure to the sun in
-India is not so injurious as has been hitherto be-
lieved. The apparent exemption of the troops
before Delhi has been •a-ken as a pro fby many that
B-itish soldiers may be employed throughout the
year in the field with no great danger., In opposition
to this asset ion,'the author says that human health,
even in India, is to be estimated at more than a
season's duration ; and that in the prime of life,
without the aid of depressing mental emotions,
some time will elapse before the man succumbs to
those infiaences which may, nevertheless, In ruin-
ing his health for life. In some ins'ances in-
dividuals are possessed of whet the author terms a
semi-tropical constitution, and speedily adapt them-
sdares to the climate, and it is, he says, unfor-
tunate to others when a man of iefineece possesses
this immunity, as he is too likely to measure the
coiustitutions of others by his own. The importance
of a suitable dress for the climate can scarcely be
overated. The author has made many suggestions
and given illustrations of his propnsed uniform,
which he himself derived great benefit fi oar. What-
ever opinions may be entertained of the propozel
changes, it is impossible to.deny the truth and jus-
tice of his remarks on the necessity of a speedy
alteration in the dress of the Indian collier. It
has often been sail that we cannot do better than
copy the example of the natives, but Mr. Jeffreys
brings two forcible arguments against this sugges-
tion. First, that their sensibility to climatic influ-
ence is very different from ours, and secondly that
they have no knowledge of science, and conse-
quently can only try experiments without any cer-
tainty of success. The British soldier on duty has
to contend with th:ee foes more deadly than
native troops, the sun above his head, the ground
beneath his feet, and the surrounding atmosphere.
Their different action on the system is clearly and
ably shown by Mr. Jeffreys, and the beSt means of
defence explained. The principles of the refrac-
tion of heat, the ovaporaton of water, the con-
vec ion and subterranean eb orption of heat are all
employed by him as beneficial agencies, and made
to influence his system of dress and lodging. To
the hat he at' aches especial importance. "It is posi-
tively frightful to contemplate the passive spectacle
of the sun above in Cancer, British skulls bolo w,hsrd
by that tropic, and between them scarce a quaver of
an inch of matter, and teat the most rscentive of
radiance, and at the rreser ou:y at any distance
fr sni the skurl, but pressing close against its !sides
all round. Would that one had the command of
rhetoric anti of leisure adequately to depict the
cerebral ruin and constitutional destruction pac-
ing on in an army marching in such shakos and
helmets, and throttled with neck stocks 1" In sup-
port of his theory of the dangers of the cliana-e,
he proves the fallscy of comparing the mortslity
in a newly arrived corps with its subsequent de-
crease, and of supposing that the accliwitatiorr has
made the difference. There are many vigorous
men, he says, who are quite unable to stand a
tropicil climate, and die at once; there are many
others who are so wilfully careless, that they soon
fall a prey to intemperance and exposure, and
there are others naturally feeble who soon
become invalided ; and when all these are sifted
out of a regiment, the rate of sickness and death
is naturally reduced, " not IReause the survivors
have beccime climate-proof." The housing of the
troops, the ventilation of barracks, the locat on of
the regiments, and especially the employment of
the soldiers, are all treated of earnestly and prac--
tically. The terrible effects of ennui are forcibly
depicted. "Itisto be hoped that all active ebul-
litions of the natives will be quenched by two years
of chilling defeats, and thee will recommence bar-
rack imprisonment, objectle,s and hopeless, with
its ennui, intemperance, and, at times, even de-
spair; eyes looking upon nothing; minds caring
for little, and hoping less ; thoughts of home long
suppressed." The Indian Government has sup
plied the troops with reading rcoms, but, as the
writer justly observe., a large portion of the so!-
diem are drawn from the village labourers of
England, to whom purely intellectual recreation is
not enough. He suggests that they should be en-
couraged to follow those arts or trades with which
they were acquainted in England, and to isstract
come of the native lads in them—a system n hich
would thus be doubly advantage ;us. The duty of
holding out hopeful encouragement to the soldier
is also especially dwelt upon ; and all who are ac-
quainted with the demoralising effects of a life of
moody idleness, without prospect of change, will
be glad to see ie case so simply and forcibly stated.
The appendix treats of same general questions of
policy, involving many mixed principles, and
varieus considerations ; but there can scarcely be a
(2ifference of opinion as to the necessi y cf giving
the soldier every possible chance of health and life,
and as suggesting much that is useful and practical
this volume is deserving of immediate attention.

Notes on the Revolt in the North- Western Provinces
of _lndia. By Charles Bales, Judge of the
Sudder Court at Agra. Longman.
The author of this work observes, with truth,
that in these days any h..nest narrator of the
Indian history of his day may hope for the indul-
get4e of the publerNotwithstanding the increa-ing
number which are now claiming attention and con-
sideration, the diaries of besiegers and besieged,
the works of those who strove at d suffer, d in the
mutiny, and of those whose previous acquaintance
with the country enable them :o describe its petiole
and natural features, the v. lumes from the pen of
the soldier, the surgeon, the civilian, the rec3rds
of feminine heroism awl endurance, notwithstand-
in.z this great variety and appareLtly interminable
number, the work before us will not be likely to
pass unnoticed. The author having filled a high
official position at Agra, and being late civil com-
missioner with Sir Colin Campbell, has mixed with
many ram whose Lames are now eminent in the
history of British India. Though having no per-
sonal adventures to relate, ho has naturally seen
much of the striking and terrible events that have
filled the last year. Having very lately returned
to England, he observed the anxiety felt by
a large class of his countrymen to obtain
correct information respecting the feelings and
conduct of the people of India. Ho conse-
quently offers to the public an account of his
own observations during the eventful epoch, and
gives the reader a picture, no doubt faithfully and
accurately drawn, of the results of the mutiny in
the north-western provinces of India. The state
of the country before the revolt, the retirement
into the fort, his visits to Delhi, Umballa, and
Furruckebad, and various other branches of infor-
mation, are given, while the author's views and
opinions on the clutrac'er of
arethe
ded in su
revolt, our future
ad
relation to the natives, &c.,pple-
mentary chapters. He c3nsiders that there has
been no rebellion, properly so called in North-
Western India, but that the disorganisation °cm-
gimled by the violence, of the Sepoys and temporary
removal of the magistrate, was merely a passing
evil. The Sepoys are represented in more favour-
able colours than they are usually painted in, and
the writer is fully in favour of judicious lenity being
shown to the whole Indian people, though be
would not, of course, losen the prestige of British
power by any unworthy modes of conciliation.
There is much in this work which may be new to
the reader, and it gives him a fair and simple nar-
rative of the rise and fall of one branch of the
great mutiny.

A Long Vacation in Continental Picture Galleries.
By the Rev. T. J. Blake, M.A. Park,..r.
A. series of succinct criticisms on the contents
of the Continental Picture Galleries is contaiued
in this volume. All the chief repositories of
art are visited and described ; in fact, the work is
an elaborated and refined catalogue. The author's
aim and ability are clearly shown in the following
passage from the preface :

The aim in publishing these notes has been, to supply
to the general traveller in a portable and cheap form,
something a little fuller and fresher than the notices in
Murray's " Handbooks," a little less abstruse than
Kugler. If the artistic part of Murray had seemed as
good as the wonderfully accurate information on inns,
routes, and battle-fields—if the le Abetic element had
seemed as well provided for as the historical, topogr_a:
phical, geological, antiquarian—the present notes would
not have been printed. Nor would they, if Kugler bad