The Sun.
London, England, 1842-12-28 00:00:00

WA VERL EY NO Ls7Abbotiord Edition—•

Part 18. Cadell, Edinburgh, 1842.
This Part contains a spirited likeness of the
celebrated Graham of Claverhouse, Lord Dun-
dee, together with several other clever and
appropriate, embellishments. This edition is by
far the handsomest and completest that has yet
appeared of these novels.

DISEASES OF THE SKIN. A Practical andi
Theoretical Treatise on the Diagnosis, Pathology, and
Treatment of the Diseases of the Shin, 45-c. By Erasmus
Wilson, Consulting Surgeon of the St. -Pancras In-
firmary, .5-c. London, Churchill, 1842.
We know no more striking illustration of the
great advantages of division of labour, than the
numerous discoveries which are made almost
every day in electricity, in chemistry, in. mecha-
nics, in anatomy, and in medicine, by indi-
viduals confining their attention exclusively to
some one brancti, or even minute twig, of one
particular science. It is necessary for- them to
be acquainted with principles, and to keep up a
knowledge of general progress, but that being.
accomplished they select some minute branch of,
the whole, watch it, inspect it, investigate it with
microscopic attention. To this circumstance we
are indebted to all the discoverieS concerning
photogenic drawing, and the creation of the •
whole art of electrotype printing. Not many
years have elapsed since every chemist felt him-
self bound to embrace in his investigation the
whole phenomena of light, heat, electricity, all
possible affinities of bodies, and ail possible com-
pounds; and no work was ,complete which did not
include the whole. Not very long since every phy-
sician or surgeon was a general practitioner, and
the former was expected to prescribe for every pos-
sible ailment, and the latter to-perform everyope-
ration from drawing a tooth to taking the thigh off
at the socket. It was even considered to be a
kind. of quackery.for medical men to confine
their practice to particular brandies of the pro-
fession; but, as individual diseases became nume-
rous, and afforded an honourable professional
living by attending to one or two only, and as
medical men multiplied, jostling against one an-
otheri-many- of them who practice amidst a
large and dense population, devoted them-
selves to the study of some one disease,
or class of diseases. If they -
.haVe perhaps
caused some terror
.13Y - discovering many
before unkmi6wn, they have .conferred'fai more
than'eOmmensurate benefit on the public,: by,
finding out remedies for them, and fOrrdiseases.•
previously known. Of' this tninutelsgbdi‘;4§,ipn:
of medical labour, the work before vs pro-
duct; and, like other products of the same prin-
ciple, teems .with valuable inforinatiOn. - It is
beyond our province, . indeed, to enter into • its
professional_ merits, but we-can see'at 'every page
marks of a careful and close inquirer, who has
verified the discoveries of others, and added
several of his own. We can say,. too, that the
work is neatly and well written, and worthy of
the reputation which Mr. Wilson has acquired as
a searching and skilful anatomist. Certainly we
are startled by an octavo of 400 closely printed
pages on tile diseases merely of the • covering of
the body, which, being designed to be its pro-
tection, we might anticipate should itself be
liable to few diseases. It would, at first, seem
as if zeal and partiality had much overdone
the subject, but when we recollect that to
this class of diseases belong both the cow
pox and the small pox, and which have given
occasion to many ponderous volumes,—when
we know, too, that one of the largest
hospitals in Paris—St. Louis—is devoted exclu-
sively to persons afflicted with diseases of the
skin, that they are extremely numerous, and
their appearance often times very disgusting, or
even hideous—that these diseases in the main
chiefly affect the lower and working classes, and
constitute some of the most loathsome and trou-
blesome maladies to which the human body is
subject,—we are sensible that they are worthy of
all the care and the skill which Mr. Wilson, and
even gentlemen of much higher reputation, have
devoted to the subject. They deserve, indeed,
great commendation for their efforts to elucidate
the sources, and find out remedies, for these very
troublesome disorders. Much oftheir success has
been owing to minute microscopic • and, anato7
mical investigations of all tissues which com-
pose the covering of the body, a „branch
not new, has• been
our- time. Mr.
coafnsiceidenctoe
awlgiircelai,tstelixotuegnitiin
Wilson has been successful in prosecuting
such investigations, and the result, combined
with the labours of others, is a very com-
plete work on the diseases of the skin. If care
and diligence can make it worthy of the pro".'es-
sion of which the author is a member, this book
must attain high honour.. -

Robert Loosemore, of Tiverton, appeared I;efore
Mr. Sergeant Goulburn, the local -Judk,re of Bank -
ruptcy, at the Castle of Exeter, on Monday. The
termination of the case was hardly more satisfactory
than the opening was astounding.
.The bankrupt,
after four attempts, succeeded in giving no satisfac-
tory explanation. His certificate was, therefore, with-
held, by the proceedings being
adjourned sine die.—
Western Times.

DESTITUTION.—A young man, apparently about
eighteen years of age, was, on Thursday forenoon,
during the very heavy rain, seen standing shivering
in South Albion-street, with nothing on but his shirt
and trousers, and consequently drenched to the skin.
Seeing a police officer passing to the office, he delibe-
rately forced his hand through a pane of glass, in the
back window of a shop in Nelson-street. He was
immediately apprehended, and when taken before the
Lieutenant, and questioned as to his reason for break-
ing the glass, said he was wet, and starving of cold
and hunger, and, having nowhere to go to, he thought
it much better to do what he had done than to steal—
which he had no wish to do—in order to get shelter
in the police-offic. He pled earnestly for a piece of
bread before being locked up. It appeared in Court
that he had once before been placed at the bar in pre-
cisely the same circumstances.—Glasgow Argus.
SINGULAR PIIENOBIENON.—.On Friday morning,
last week, between the hours of four and five, a most
remarkable phenomenon was observed by all the car-
riers approaching Perth by the north and west roads.
The phenomenon was that of the whole surrounding
country in the districts of Dunkeld, Crieff, Blair-
gowrie, &c., being suddenly illuminated by a blaze of
light, which rendered objects for several miles around
more distinctly visible than on the clearest noon-
, day. Sheep, cattle, trees, and bushes, were beheld
with an accuracy, at six and seven miles' distance,
equal to what would be produced by the finest
telescope, so vivid and intensely brilliant was the
light. This curious phenomenon lasted nearly a
minute, and, as is described by those who wit-
nessed it, had a kind of unsteady motion, resembling,
in the impression it created on their minds, the
roll of the waves of the sea after the subsidence of
a storm. The light was dazzlingly white, and, from
what we learn, appeared like the white light" dis-
played by pyrotechnists, but, of course, on a much
grander and more extensive scale. Robert M'Donald,
the Dunkeld carrier, alleges that he felt distinctly a
heat produced by it, similar to what would be ex-
perienced in passing the door of premises in which
there was a powerful furnace-blast working. He
was in the neighbourhood of Birnam at the time, and
distinctly saw the colour and plumage of several chaf
finches perched upon a tree at the road-side. From
his account, compared with the accounts of the other
carriers, he appears to have been in the very focus of
the meteoric phenomenon, as, while they felt no heat,
they concur in stating that the centre of its brilliancy
seemed to be a little below Dunkeld. The morning
w t
as
o
with a thick, raw, rhymy
m
LICENTIOUS DEPRAVITY IN THE SOUT/I SEA
aostphheerrlev.te very
Pe r tlt drl
Courier.
ISLANDS.—The triumph of the gospel in Polynesia
has been more conspicuous in regard to that leading
virtue which is the pledge and safeguard of domestic
comfort, the foundation of all regular society, and the
source of all the endearing relationships of life. No
one can read the descriptions of the early voyagers
without a mixture of compassion and disgust at the
licentious scenes introduced into their narratives ; and
though the writers in general may not have been dis-
posed to darken beyond necessity the shades of the
picture, some of them were constrained to declare that
the "excesses were incredible." To the first mis-
ared so insuperable
saisonthaerieloso,
saeccnoViohnigsly;bniochbarevaeprpys
where prevailed in
regard to the requisitions of the 'seventh command-
ment. The effect was the same on the minds of the
early converts themselves, and clouded their antici-
pations as to the success of the new religion. " You
may," said one of the more intelligent among them,
" induce the people to discontinue murdering their
infants, offering human sacrifices, and practising
demon worship. You may induce them to burn their
idols, embrace your faith, attend your prayers, learn
your books, and possibly even refrain from drunken-
ness and theft ; but the preservation of female virtue,
and conjugal fidelity, will never be obtained." On
union in marriage according to Christian precepts,
this important point, however; where reformation was
the most hopeless, success has been the most com-
plete. No sooner was the authority' of the Redeemer
recegnisecl, -even through the somewhat obscure me-
dium in which his character and offices were con-
veyed, than the more offensive of the abominations
disappeared; the virtue of chastity was inculcated and
maintained ; Christian marriage was instituted, and
the inviolable obligations of the bond piously acknow-
ledged. This change, it is added, has been, under the
Divine blessing, effected entirely by the exertions of
Christian missionaries, not only without any external
assistance, but in the face of the determined opposi-
tion of many from whom they might have expected
both countenance and aid.—Edinburgh Cabinet
Library, No. XXXIII. Polynesia.