side of our most potent remedies; for any thing capable of doing so much mischief, can, if rightly used, do some good. I speak now of ardent spirit, alcohol, under the varied forms of distilled liquors and wines, free from the admixture or adulteration of any noxious or unwholesome drug. With the compounds denominated porter, ale, and beer, the evils are magnified; they not only contain the noxious ingredients of their ordinary composition, but the vile drugs with which they are adulterated. There are, doubtless, some honest brewers; but, to a certainty, there are a few consummate rogues. It is known, beyond a possibility of doubt, that the most poisonous drugs with which we are acquainted are used, more or less, in the adulteration of malt liquors: but the extent to which this murderous system is carried, is best known to those whose reckless love of money prompts them to the practice of this diabolical knavery. But a pure malt liquor, the oldfashioned ale, made of malt, hops, and water, is claimed to be a wholesome and nutritious drink and 'tis passing strange' that this claim is universally acknowledged—and that too even by medical men. A most important item in making up the account of the wholsomeness of this beverage, has been unaccountably overlooked. It has been thought that if nothing worse than hops entered into its composition, it could not, therefore, be hurtful to the healthy constitution. But how justifiable is this conclusion from the premises, a moment's examination will enable us to decide. Dr. Chapman, in his Therapeutics, says, that it,' the hop, is possessed of such medicinal qualities as to entitle it to a place in the Materia Medica. It is, perhaps as a narcotic that it has the highest claims. The fact of its having this property was long known, so generally so, indeed, that a pillow of it came to be a popular expedient to quiet nervous irritation and procure sleep. As an anodyne it may be substituted for opium, where the latter, from idiosyncracy or other causes, does not suit the case.'

·

"They are also said to possess the power of procuring sleep in the delirium of fever, and in mania, when used as a pillow; and owing to this effect having been confirmed in the case of the late King George III., their efficacy as a general narcotic, when introduced into the stomach, has been investigated. Dr. Maton observed, that besides allaying pain and producing sleep, the preparation of hops reduces the frequency of the pulse, and increases its firmness in a very direct manner. One drachm of the tincture and four grains of the extract, given once in six hours, reduced the pulsations, in twenty-four hours, from ninety-six to sixty.' The dose of the powdered hop is from three to twenty grains; and the other preparations are given in a dose of proportionate strength. The testimony of many other writers, and the experience of multitudes of practitioners confirm the above statements. The usual quantity of hops, according to the formula of brewers, is about one ounce avoirdupois in a gallon of ale; so that he who drinks his quart a beer a day, swallows each day the active properties of a quarter of an ounce of hops. The Eclectic Dispensatory recommends that the infusion of hops, to be administered with a view to obtain its sedative, narcotic effect, be made in the proportion of a half an ounce of hops to one pint of boiling water; and of this, one ounce and a half to be taken two or three times a-day. Thus, then, a single glass of pure ale contains twice the quantity of hops that is prescribed as a sufficient dose when used as a medicine !!! Little wonder there need be at

the bloated carcases of beer-drinkers; but we may well be astonished a the infatuation of man, in daily pouring down such quantities of this most villianous compound.' Can any man, dare any man, put the question to his conscience, whether or not, with these facts staring him in the face, he can any longer indulge in the habit of beer-drinking? But if his con

cience impose no obstacle, reason, speaking by facts like these, must lead him to consider well before he tastes. Some of the articles that are, ar have been, used in the manufacture of beer, besides hops, are Indian cockle, nux vomica, bitter bean, grains of paradise, Indian bark, coriander seed, Leghorn juice, red pepper, orange powder, colouring, hartshorn shavings, ·Spanish juice, ginger, 'cum multis aliis.' If the imagination of man ever conceived a more horrid mixture, Shakspeare put it in his witches' caldron; and it is not improbable that the brewers' tubs suggested the idea of his hell-broth.' Let him describe his own infernal mixture, and if anything on earth can equal it, malt liquor is the thing.

What would the eccentric Kitchener have said to this abuse of the "vinum Britannicum," the "liquid bread," which he thought preferable to any other beverage during dinner or supper? and how unfortunately must the British people be situated, who are essentially "beer drinking!" The whole paragraph is a specimen of that "ultraism," against which the author professes to "run a muck," and the same may be said of his remarks-medical and moral-on the use of tobacco. Weighty objections can, doubtless, be urged against its abuse. We know it to be a virulent poison when taken in sufficient dose; but we do not give so much weight to the elucidation offered by the author as he himself does. "If tobacco," he observes, "is so poisonous as to destroy animal life instantaneously, when applied to the tongue," (Qu. In what form ?)" it needs no other argument to prove its hurtful tendency to health, when habitually and daily used." This appears to be a "non sequitur." Have we not constant opportunities for witnessing the facility with which the system accommodates itself to influences originally malign? and are we justified in concluding, without any sensible evidences, that an article, which, in large doses, is deleterious, must necessarily be prejudicial in a smaller dose? If this were true, we should run the risk of permanent injury from flavouring our custards, day after

day, with the peach leaf, inasmuch as we know that the hydrocyanic acid, which communicates to it its flavour, in an adequate dose, is a rapidly fatal poison. As to the author's comments on the vulgarities associated with chewing, smoking, &c., we approve of their correctness, rather than of their taste. A cigar smoker he compares to a "walking volcano," and he thinks the definition of an angler, by "a British classic writer," might be transferred to the other worthy :-" a stick and a string, with a worm at one end, and a fool at the other?"

Dr. Ticknor's fifth chapter is on dress. We have nothing to object to the general rules he lays down on this subject. He commences his observations with the physiology of respiration, the pertinence of which we do not exactly see. Nor are we prepared to accord with him, or with Bichat, who is the author of the view, that the blood, as it returns in the veins to the heart, is altogether unfit for nutrition; and "acts as a most deadly poison, if allowed to enter the arteries without undergoing the change." This, we say, was the view of Bichat; but other experiments have shown that it is by no means as deleterious as was believed, and that in asphyxia the organs die in consequence of the deficiency of arterial blood, rather than from the presence of black blood. The phenomena, too, of Asiatic cholera are opposed to the notions of Bichat.

The animadversions of the author on the subject of tight-lacingthat baneful practice, which has laid the foundation for so many fatal maladies in the fairest part of creation-are just and proper, and we hope will not be without their influence in correcting the evil. How many thanks would be due from the philanthropist, would some of those who hold the necessary elevation in the fashionable world set an example on this head, and introduce the custom of wearing an article of dress which could exert no injurious compression. Fashion alone regulates the matter; and were the present mode to change, its successor would soon exert the same imperious sway, whilst the evils that are now so much deplored might be abolished.

Such are some of the topics discussed in the "Philosophy of Living." To understand the manner in which the author has treated his various topics in connexion and detail, it will be necessary to refer to the work itself, which, as we have said before, is creditable, and calculated to be of advantage; although by no means to the same extent, as if he had eschewed ultraism on all points, as well as on the few which he has made the subject of his animadversions.

589 NOTICES,

ART. XVII.-An Architectural Tour in Normandy; with some Remarks on Norman Architecture. By G. H. KNIGHT, Esq., M. P. London: Murray. 1836.

THE Norman Society of Antiquaries, in their Report for the year 1825, maintained that certain churches in Normandy had been built in the eleventh century, and built in the pointed style; that is to say, that the pointed style was adopted in France one hundred and thirty years before it appeared in England, and nearly as much before it appeared any where else, contrary to the generally received opinions of authorities in these matters. No small share of surprise and discussion was excited in consequence of the boldness of the doctrine. The author, who is deeply skilled in the study of architectural antiquities, to satisfy himself on the subject of dispute, visited Normandy, in 1831, and the result of his investigations there, and in England, has been a full conviction that the supposed existence of the pointed style in Normandy, at the period alleged, is a pure imagination. He also, in an exceedingly clear and masterly manner, shows that the Normans, though they adopted the corrupt Roman style of the conquered country, yet gave it a character of their own; that when they passed into England they greatly contributed to the advancement of the arts in this new theatre of their power; and that architecture performed exactly the same revolutions in England and France, France having, in all the changes, a certain precedence. The work will be highly interesting and satisfactory to architects and antiquarians.

ART. XVIII. Excerpta ex Frider. Iac. Bastii Commentatione Palæographica, cum Tabulis Lithographis XX. A JOHANNE HODGKIN, Transcriptis. London: Simpkin and Marshall. 1836. THOSE Who wish to become perfectly acquainted with the most puzzling of the contractions used by the ancient Greek caligraphers, will find the present work an excellent help and tutor. The ingenuity exhibited by the manner in which these crooked characters are here explained, cannot be supposed much less striking than that which those clever persons displayed who invented them.

ART. XIX.-Ideagraphy: being a Complete System. With its Practical Variations arranged progressively. By THOMAS How. London: Steill. 1836.

IDEAGRAPHY, according to the author's explanation, "is designed to enable the hand in writing to keep pace with the tongue in speaking." In other words, it is a system of short-hand writing, to the invention of which Mr. How lays claim, and part of which he presents the public in the small work before us; the remaining parts of the system is to be afterwards, at various intervals, given to the world. There is, apparently, much ingeVOL. II. (1836) No. IV.

R R

nuity in the scheme. The great question, however, must be, whether it is practically superior to any that have previously been followed. A principal feature in it is to employ ruled paper, the lines of which serve to locate the signs used. It would be by no means an uninteresting, and very probably a profitable exercise, were the system made the subject of study; especially, to use a remark of the author, since by occasional glances made to its details, at any moment when leisure allowed, and without entrenchment upon other occupations, much might be acquired both as to the characters used in it, and the positions they are appointed to hold, in relation to the lines on the ruled paper.

ART. XX.-National Education, its Present State and Prospects. By F. HILL. 2 vols. London: Knight. 1836.

THE author has been appointed Inspector of Prisons in Scotland; nor can any one, who examines these volumes, for a moment entertain a doubt of his competency for the office, and of the earnestness with which he will pursue its duties. And yet we must, in some degree, regret that his confidential appointment should have been bestowed upon him before he was able to complete the work before us, upon the scale originally contemplated by him; for, from its contents, it is clear that a more carefully and ably executed production on the paramount subject of National Education has not appeared, at least in the English language. The information he has collected of a statistical kind has been minute and extensive. He does not confine himself to this kingdom, but travels to America, to Prussia, and even to Spain-drawing from each and all of these countries most valuable data, weighing that data with power and impartiality, and obtaining therefrom such lights as must go far to direct the course of philanthropists upon the subject in question. In short, Mr. Hill displays candour and mastery at the same time, and we hope will, at no distant date, find composure to lay before the public his entire views, not merely as to the present state of National Education, beyond which he has not yet gone, but as to its prospects and requisites.

ART. XXI.-Geology. Remarks on Bishop Sumner's “ Appendix” to his Work, entitled "The Records of Creation." By the Rev. R. FENNELL. London: Renshaw. 1836.

THE author wages something not much short of intemperate war against all the Geologists, believing that they are enemies to true religion, because their opinions lead to inconsistency with the Mosaic history, or are directly opposed to it. That history he takes in its most literal sense. Two sentences extracted from his reasoning, or rather declamation-for of argument the pamphlet is destitute will show this. He says, "We believe it to be in the power of God to do any thing and every thing by a fiat, or by mere volition; that it must have been as easy for Him to have created masses of crystallized rocks-those ribs and bones of the earth-in an instant, as to create man, or the lowest of organized creatures, in the same short space.' Some might here be disposed to ask the reverend gentleman, how organic remains came to be imbedded in these