The Sun.
London, England, 1842-05-28 00:00:00

LITERATURE.

ON THE HYDROPATHIC CURE OF GOUT.
By G. Hume Weatherhead, IvLD., Member of the .Royil
College of Physicians of London, 6-c.
In the midst of all the corruptions which, from the
history of every age, would seem necessarily to result
from the progress of what is called civilised society,
the voice of Nature makes itself heard from time to
time ; but the same record also teaches us that
another voice, not so still, the voice of worldly-
mindedness, comes, like a brawling Stentor, sooner or
later, to drown the benign suspiration, and the whole-
some dictates which the former would inculcate, are
scarcely uttered ere they are silenced by the sophistry
and outcry of the self-interests they oppose. These,
sentiments are prompted by the reading of the little,
modest pamphlet before us. Dr. Weatherhead, de-
serting the region of drugs, all of which we know to
be more or less poisonous, asserts with a manly em-
phasis the empire of Nature ; he shows us by what
simple means the Alma Mater of all mankind accom-
plishes her healing purposes, when the body of the
first of her creatures, man, labours under diseases
arising from impurities of the humours, by endowing
one of her simplest and most abundant productions
with remedial properties of not less power than safety
—and that is water.

As the able writer observes, " Water is the natural
beverage of all animals ; whole nations, as the Maho-
metans and Hindoos, use it alone as their ordinary
drink. Unlike spirituous or fermented liquors, it
does not sate the appetite ; but, on the contrary, ren-
ders it keener. It is a fluid that requires no diges-
tion, for it is not necessary it should undergo any
changes ; it is the natural menstruum which holds in
solution both what is essential for the nutrition and
healthy functions of the body, and what has become
refuse after having served its destined office and in-
tention in the animal economy."

In skilful hands this element, when used externally
in different ways, can be made to evince two appa-
rently contradictory properties as a medicine—firstly,
in abating the redundant heat of a part inflamed ;
and secondly, in producing abundant perspiration ;
and when taken internally, there is no therapeutic
agent that possesses such power in cleansing the blood
of all its impurities through the means of the skin and
kidneys.

It is by its employment in these several ways that
Dr. Weatherhead shows the great superiority` of
the Hydropathic treatment of Gout over every other
mode of cure, and being himself a severe sufferer
from the disease, he speaks according to the best of
all rules—that of personal experience. Therefore,
let no one too thoughtlessly despise a remedy of so
common a nature as water, for in the words of an
elegant modern writer, " there is nothing really worth
having or caring about in this world that is uncom-
mon." 'We cordially recommend the Learned Doc-
tor's pamphlet to the attention of the gouty.

TENNYSOIV'S POEMS. 2 Vols.
Moxon, London, 1842.
Nothwithstanding his frequent affectations and
puerilities, Mr. Tennyson possesses much of the fancy
and feeling of the true poet ; and, could he but learn
" the useful art to blot," might not despair of win-
ning a very • enviable reputation. His most beset-
ting defect is his want of judgement, which is con-
stantly leading him into absurdities, and inducing
him to mistake eccentricity for feeling, and mere
silliness for simplicity. IVhen he trusts to his
own natural emotions, the language they sugge4 to
him, is almost invariably chaste, forcible, and appro-
priate ; but, unfortunately, he is fond of going out of
his way in search of crude conceits, and hyperbolical
images, and then his mode of expression becomes not
merely affected, but absolutely ridiculous. He is a
dabbler in metaphysics, too, and splits upon the same
rock on which the genius of Shelley foundered—
namely, Mysticism, though it is but fair to add that
he has no passages so hopelessly obscure as those which
perplex us in every page of the " Revolt of Islam."
With a little difficulty. we can just contrive to guess at
Mr. Tennyson's meanings, which in Shelley's case was
next to impossible, for his was not mere obscurity, but a
deep Ciminerian gloom, unillumined by even the
faintest ray of intelligence. Many readers of verse
have, we know, a great fancy for this cloudy inysti-
cisrn, and because they cannot comprehend it, take for
granted that it must be something very profound and
sublime ; but we are of the number of those who
prefer the obvious and the intelligible, being firmly
convinced that the basis of all true poetry is common
sense, and that even in its wildest excesses, the
imagination—as we find it in Shakspeare—must
still be amenable to the laws of the understanding.
Hence the very passages we most admire in Mr. Ten-
nyson's poems are, we suspect, precisely those of
which he himself thinks the least. We turn with in-
difference from the ambitious and elaborate mysticism
of his " Palace of Art," with whose far-fetched con-
ceits, and quaint, hazy imagery, it is evident that he
has taken a world of pains ; and dwell instead on
his exquisite description of " Mariana in the Moated
Grange," which has been written, apparently without
effort, and whose every line is instinct with the truest
feeling. But our author's best poem is decidedly
the one entitled " Locksby Hall, wherein strength
and earnestness of purpose are visible throughout, re-
lieved and softened off by occasional touches of infi-
nite tenderness. There is no mysticism—no cloudi-
ness here—no hunting about for quaint images, or
striking ideas, striking only because they are eccen-
tric ; the poet is hurried straight onward on the broad,
rapid tide of emotion, and expresses himself in the
exact language that truth and nature dictate. We
entertain so high an opinion of the elegance, the
variety, the alternately reflective and impassioned
spirit, which characterise this poem, that we unhesi-
tatingly give it the preference over the majority of
those that have appeared within the last ten years.