The Sun.
London, England, 1844-12-16 00:00:00

LITERATURE.

MURRAY'S HOME AND COLONIAL LI-

BRA RV. No. XV. Murray, London, 1844.

In the present Number of this-monthly Miscellany
we have a condensation of the most interesting por-
tions of Father Ripa's History of the Chinese Col-
lege, which was published at Naples in the year
1832. This venerable priest went to China about the
commencement of the last century, where he made a
protracted residence, and was much noticed by the
reigning Emperor, who treated him with unusual
kindness and condescension, and allowed him to see
the interior of his palaces and pleasure-grounds, and
obtain an insight into his domestic mode of life—an
honour never before granted to European travellers.
Father Ripa was not slow to avail himself of the
opportunities he enjoyed, and wrote a lengthy account
of his residence in China, of which the present book
is an abridgment, and from which we gather that
manners, and customs, and prejudices in the Celestial
Empire, are little, if at all, altered from what they
were upwards of a century ago. Civilisation, that
has made itselt felt, more or less, in every other part
of the world, has been at a complete stand-still
among the Chinese, who seem to pride themselves on
their inveterate prejudices, and the unchangeable
character of their customs and institutions. We
quote the Father's curious account of the mode of
treatment to which he was subjected by a Chinese
surgeon, for a severe wound he received in his head
by a fall from his horse
When I recovered my senses, I found myself in a
house, but everything appeared dark and indistinct, and
I felt au if I had fallen from my horse two months
before. The Emperor sent me a Tartar surgeon, for he
and his Court were fully persuaded that for falls Tartar
surgeons were better than Europeans. And, to confess
the truth, although the mode of treatment was of a bar-
barous description, and some of the remedies appeared
useless, I was cured in a very short time. This sur-
geon made me sit up in my bed, placing near me a large
basin filled with water, in which he put a thick piece of
ice, to reduce it to a freezing point. Then stripping me
to the waist, he made me stretch my neck over the basin,
and, with a cup, he continued for a good while to pour
the water on my neck. The pain caused by this opera-
tion upon those nerves which take their rise from the
pia-mater was so great and insufferable, that it seemed
to me unequalled. The surgeon said that this would
stanch the blood and restore me to my senses, which
was actually the case ; for in a short time my sight be-
came clear, and my mind resumed its powers. He next
bound my head with a band, drawn tight by two men,
who held the ends, while he struck the intermediate part
vigorously with a piece of wood, which shook my head
violently, and gave me dreadful pain. This, if I remem •
ber rightly, he said was to set the brain, which he sup-
posed had been displaced. It is true, however, that
after this second operation my head felt more free. A
third operation was now performed, during which he
made me, still stripped to the waist, walk in the open
air, supported by two persons ; and, while thus walking,
ho unexpectedly threw a bowl of freezing cold water
over my breast. As this caused me to draw my breath
with great vehemence, and as my chest had been injured
by, the fall, it may be easily imagined what were my suf-
ferings under this infliction. The surgeon informed me
that, if any rib had been dislocated, this sudden and
hard breathing would restore it to Its natural position.
The next proceeding was less painful and extravagant.
The operator made me sit upon the ground ; then'
assisted by two men, he held a cloth upon my mouth
and nose till I was nearly suffocated. This,' said the
Chinese Esculapius, by causing a violent heaving of
the chest, will force back any rib that may have been bent
inwards.' The wound in the head not being deep, he
healed it by stuffing it with burnt cotton. He then
ordered that I should continue to walk much, supported
by two persons ; that I should not sit long, nor be allowed
to sleep before ten o'clock at night, at which time, and
not before, I should take a little hifan, that is, thin rice
soup. This continued walking caused me to faint several
times ; but this had been foreseen by the surgeon, who
had warned me not to be alarmed. He assured me that
these walks in the open air, while fasting, would prevent
the blood from settling on the chest, where it might
corrupt. These remedies were barbarous and excru-
ciating ; but I am bound in truth to confess that in seven
days I was so completely restored as to be able to
resume my journey into Tartary."

KNIGHT'S WEEKLY VOLUME. Vol. 20.
C. Knight, London, 1844.
The Part before us of this cheap weekly Miscel-
lany forms the first volume of a History of British
Commerce, from the earliest times down to the pre-
sent period, when it has attained to such an unex-
ampled height of grandeur, and extends itself over
the whole habitable globe. The work is a reprint
from the " Pictorial History of England," but it has
been carefully corrected throughout by the author,
and numerous useful additions have been made to it.

BALLADS, AND OTHER POEMS.
Clarke, London, 1844.

•
These poems are the production of an American
writer named Whiltier, and have, it seems, been
favourably received by his countrymen. They ex-
hibit much freedom of versification, and the thought
and imagery are occasionally of a superior order ;
but there is nothing national about them—nothing
that reflects the genuine feelings, tastes, and pre-
judices, of the American character. Like the essays
in Washington Irving's " Sketch-book," Mr. Whil-
tier's poems are all cast in an English mould. The
best are those which are directed against the atrocious
system of slavery carried on with such intrepid
effrontery in the Southern States.