free to give credit; the greater facility tempts the man whose hopes exceed his present resources to enter into pledges without being forced so nicely to calculate his means; the attempt to enforce the guarantee proves so impracticably harsh, that a complementary law (the law for the "relief" of bankrupts and insolvent debtors) is necessarily added, to mitigate the severity; and thus new elements of temptation and uncertainty are introduced; the debtor is tempted by new chances and examples of escape from liabilities; the trader, experienced in bad debts, is induced to spread his loss over his general dealings-he makes the solvent pay for the insolvent, "the dead pay for the living;" but by that species of insurance he diminishes his own dread of loss, and is the more reckless in giving credit. The "reckless debtor" has an accomplice in the reckless creditor. One fact urged in favor of restoring a greater stringency to the law of credit throws some such doubts of the working of the whole system; it is said that the aggregate of the annual losses sustained through bankruptcy and insolvency amounts to 50,000,000l., excluding insolvencies and bankruptcies privately compounded—a larger sum. But of course, in the aggregate, that sum is not a net loss, since it is in great part met by the process which we have mentioned, of counting an average of bad debts among the standing liabilities of trade; it is not a substantive fact, but a matter of account, an item on the credit side of the "profit and loss" account. It represents less the loss to the trader than an amount of exertion wasted; the creditor and debtor being equally accomplices in the waste, under the operation of the laws that give a nominal guarantee for credit. Perhaps no small portion, if not the largest portion, of that immense sum, is made by the credit guarantee. If such conclusions were supported by a further investigation of the subject, reform should go less in the direction of penal stringency or impracticable distinctions between classes of debtors that are mingled and dovetailed with each other, than in the direction of simplifying and minimizing the credit law. HUDSONISM.* From the Spectator. MORE flings we see at Mr. Hudson! In various railway companies, inquiries into Mr. Hudson's peculiar system have been going on, and as each newly uncovered instance of his contrivance is exposed there is a fresh burst of indignation; as if the mere multiplication of the details could add anything to the gravity of the charge implied in the simple enunciation of the method by which Hudson brought about the apparent prosperity of self and companies. Now it is a mass of shares belonging to the Hull and Selby Railway which he is found to have been selling to the York and North Midland Company, on such terms that a committee of * Perhaps our readers may have noticed the same thing, by a different name, in the case of some American manigers.-Liv. AGE. the shareholders demand a cancelling of the bargain, and make him refund 40,0007.; and already people are exulting in the prospect of his being actually ruined. We cannot deem the exultation at Mr. Hudson's fall more moral than the adulation at his rise. It is the same feeling è converso. The change of circumstances which has taken place since the change in his fortunes is not so great as it seems, nor so decisive as to warrant the change of demeanor towards him. People have found out that his contrivance for raising the price of shares, and for pocketing part of the profit was not more remarkable for cleverness than for honesty. But it would not have succeeded if the public had not made itself a party to the delusion by wilfully shutting its eyes to the conduct of the great juggler. Until the loss began to recoil upon itself, the managing class preferred to avoid a scrutiny of the plan, lest their tender consciences should be wounded, and they be forced to condemn that which was making their property rise in the market. And even that part of the public which was duped was a party to so much of the misdeed as lay in ascribing to the manoeuvrer some golden secret. The very pretence ought to have excited suspicion; but the public preferred to endow the millionaire with the deserts as well as the fruits of success; and hence a very shallow device, in the way of buying up shares and selling them again with a factitious Hudsonian value, became possible. But what has Mr. Hudson lost which takes away with it the favor of society? He is the same man that he was before; there is not the least evidence that he has undergone any change. If he had any name, it was given to him by the gratuitous assumption of the public. There was no manifestation of ability, except the accumulation of wealth; and how little that implies, has been learned from the sequel. The sole attribute peculiar to him was the possession of money, and to that people flocked like flies to a treacle-pot. The cash is understood to be dispersed, and the people disperse, like flies after the treacle has gone. The abandonment is the same thing as the servile following the same motive acting è converso. They are not to be blamed for their conduct; there was no law to keep them away from a Hudson, none which can fasten them to him; but if there is any degradation, it is in the liking to do such things. That does indeed indicate a very low order of mind. From the Spectator. ART MINISTERING TO RELIGION. RELIGION and Art, says the Bishop of London, are essentially connected; a high authority, which ought to reconcile many sceptical persons to an inevitable truth. The right reverend chaplain to the Royal Academy speaks in a double function, not only as a vindicator of art, but as a ruler of the question beyond lay meddling, we are free to underchurch; and, without venturing on any doctrinal stand that the dogmas of the Protestant church do not forbid the consideration of the subject on the stained glass tempers the brilliancy, and casts lovely broadest principles of religious feeling as well as of tints on the dark brown wood. The senses are art. On such grounds, persons who are familiar impressed with an atmosphere of solemn beauty. with the aspect of art in religious edifices cannot If one notices the details of the workmanship, it is comprehend why the usage of the English church with a sense of satisfaction at so much skilful pains should abandon that high influence to the Roman bestowed in rendering the edifice more worthy of Catholic church. It scarcely needed Mr. Ruskin its office; so much the more has been sacrificed to to show, by" the Lamp of Sacrifice," that the labor the glory of God and to the effort at producing that and faculties of man are well bestowed in rendering atmosphere of solemn beauty which attunes the the house of worship worthy of its purpose, and mind to a serious and grateful adoration-a solemn that an edifice adorned with the beauty which is the happiness. The church is visited by travellers human reflex of the beauty in the creation, is more from far and near; repose in that churchyard is not fitting for the spirit of devotion than the sort of oblivion, but a restoration to nature consecrated by washhouse which is usually constructed for the the memory of love-an absorption into the church purpose. A contrary impression may be created in consecrated to God. And the art which renders the mind of those who are not familiar with eccle- the handiwork of man worthy of the spot contribsiastical art, because pictures and ornaments may utes after its kind, we believe, to the spirit of devoto them, by their novelty, be matters of curiosity; tion, in the same way that natural beauty does. but it is to be remembered that the regular attend- Natural theology might as well forego the influence ants in a church must soon lose any such trivial of the mountains and the woods, the firmament and sensation, and remain open to the direct and con- the waters, as the offices of the church forego what stant influences of art. art borrows from those great elements-the art of nature, the art of the church "not made with hands." organ. From the Spectator. MAYO ON POPULAR SUPERSTITIONS.* AFTER many years of useful and active exertions as an anatomist and physiologist, during which he helped to advance our knowledge of the nervous system, Herbert Mayo withdrew to Germany, and gave much attention to animal magnetism, and we believe to some opinions on practical medicine, which, whatever the value of the principle, were presented in an empirical way. In Mayo's hands the practices of charlatanerie were stripped of dishonesty and imposition, and the philosophical truth which might lurk under the exploits of a conjurer was sought after by an ingenious but legitimate mode of induction. That disposition of mind which, when it does not succeed, we call credulity, might prompt Dr. Mayo to rely too It is a mistake to suppose that because a church is richly dight it must be flaunting and gay. The church built by Mr. Pugin for the Earl of Shrewsbury, at Cheadle in Staffordshire, is very rich; but although upon a close examination you discover the elaboration and richness of the ornament, the general aspect on entering the fane is one of a grave harmony—a “tone" in coloring and architectural shade analogous to the ponderous beauty of the As you enter, a sense of solemnity strikes you; and if, penetrating the subdued shadows, you descry a richer beauty, the physical sensation which it produces harmonizes well with the grave and grateful consolation intended by the religious offices. These influences need not be given up to the Roman church. Working in some respects with smaller resources, but in a more favored spot, Lord Ongley has outdone the Romish peer. About eight miles from Bedford lies the parish of Warden, once the site of Warden Priory, celebrated for its pears. Here is a church of some age, which has been re-readily on facts insufficiently authenticated, to conpaired by Lord Ongley, the lord of the manor; he sider an exceptional case as representing a class has brought carvings from abroad; the windows of cases, and to assume an hypothesis as a law in are of stained glass, principally blue and red; a few deed if not in words: but the tales of the wild and pictures, copies probably of an "Ecce Homo" and wonderful are carefully analyzed, the facts are of the "Madonna and Child," after skilful hands, stripped of all bewildering matter, presented clearsupply, not images for worship, but objects that ly, and in the order of their importance; and if attune the mind to the spirit of sacrifice. The sim- the mystery is not satisfactorily explained, the ple but picturesque forms and arrangement of the reader is told where it lies. Extensive reading in older building suit the repairs and ornaments; Lord the curiosities of medical literature, judgment to Ongley, we have been told, was himself the principal workman. The church is situate on a beautiful piece of rising ground, with abundant foliage about it; the graves are adorned with flowers. Exception may be taken, perhaps, to some trivialities in the ornaments; but upon the whole the effect is beautiful. And it harmonizes, we say, with the spirit of devotion-of sacrifice and consolation. The dark carved wood, rich and deep in tone, gives a solemn air to the place; above, heavenward, the white walls rise to a fuller light; the select those cases which strike the attention while they illustrate the principle, and a style both forcible and picturesque, render the discussions attractive, if they do not support the philosophy. The Letters on the Truths contained in Popular Superstitions are based on the principle that "there must be a real foundation for the belief of ages-that there can be no prevalent delusion with tions. By Herbert Mayo, M. D. Published by Black* Letters on the Truths contained in Popular Superstiwood. armature of the magnet was applied, the flames did not disappear; she saw flames still, only they were fainter, and their disposition was different. They seemed now to issue from every part of the surface of the magnet equally. out a corresponding truth." Dr. Mayo's direct object is to discover what this truth is, in the notion of the divining rod, the superstitious belief in vampires, ghosts, and witchcraft, the recorded stories of somnambulism, catalepsy, and other abnormal It is hardly necessary to add, that these experistates of the mind, which Dr. Mayo classes togeth-ments were made in a well-darkened room, and that er as originating in some form of trance. A fur- none of the bystanders could discern what the senther though covert purpose is to connect the truth sitive subjects saw. contained in these beliefs or facts with the princiThen the following experiment was made. A ple of mesmerism, and to procure for it a consid-powerful lens was so placed as that it should coneration if not a credit, which it has not yet re- were) upon a point of the wall of the room. centrate the light of the flames (if real light they patient at once saw the light upon the wall at the right place. And when the inclination of the lens was shifted so as to throw the focus in succession on different points, the sensitive observer never failed in pointing out the right spot. ceived. The It is not, however, with reference to the divining-rod that Dr. Mayo ascribes so much importance to Von Reichenbach's discovery. The superstition of the divining rod consists in the belief, extensively prevalent in mining districts, that some persons have the faculty of detecting veins of metal or underground currents of water, through the means of a hazel twig cut in a partic-tician in Vienna, a physical experiment was made, Next, with the assistance of Herr Schuh, an opular form and held in a particular way. The de- which seems to remove all doubt of the identity of tection is made by the gifted unconsciously; the these to-common-eyes-invisible flames with common rod spontaneously moving in their hands when they light. A prepared daguerreotype plate was kept pass over the concealed veins or water. Dr. Mayo, in due opposition to the poles of a strong magnet for after quoting various facts and investigating the sixty-four hours in perfect darkness. At the expisubject minutely, considers that the "likeliest way ration of that time the plate was found to exhibit the of accounting for the phenomenon is to suppose fullest influence of light upon its whole surface. that the divining-rod may become the conductor of some fluid or force emanating from or disturbed in the body by some terrestrial agency." He thinks that this agency is connected with the new princi-ceives that this "od force" may explain the ple which Von Reichenbach discovered in 1845, hitherto disregarded because apparently unresolvand which he denominated the "od force;" the able facts connected with trance in all its various experiments relating to which were conducted in stages, somnambulism. catalepsy, as well as the this way: wonders, too readily thrown aside as superstitions or quackery, of vampirism, witchcraft, and mesmerism. A selection of cases which, whatever else may be thought of them, possess the interest of the possible in the questions of vampirism and trance, excite curiosity in witchcraft, ghosts, and somnambulism, and pass into the strange if not the impossible in catalepsy and mesmerism. The conclusion at which Dr. Mayo arrives is a mixture of theology and assumption on a single datum. In general, persons in health and of a strong constitution are totally insensible to the influence of Von Reichenbach's new force. But all persons, the tone of whose health has been lowered by their mode of life, men of sedentary habits, clerks and the like, and women who employ their whole time in needle work, whose pale complexions show the relaxed and therefore irritable state of their frames-all such, or nearly all, evince more or less susceptibility to the influence I am about to describe. Von Reichenbach found, that persons of the classes referred to, when slow passes are made with the poles of a strong magnet moved slowly parallel to the surface-down the back, for instance, or down the limbs and only distant enough just not to touch the clothes, feel sensations rather unpleasant than otherwise, as of a light draught of air blown upon them in the path of the magnet. He con The world, as Socrates taught and Paley argued, must have been framed by a supreme intelligence; in contemplating which, our reason finds no resting place short of the belief that it is eternal and selfexistent. But if the divine and infinite mind be thus essentially independent of matter, it is possible, nay analogically probable, that the human and finite In the progress of his researches, Von Reichen-mind is not less so. While many physiological bach found that his subjects could detect the pres- phenomena favor this view, none are known which ence of his new agent by another sense. In the contravene it. dark they saw dim flames of light issuing and waving from the poles of the magnet. The experiments suggested by this discovery afford satisfactory proofs of the reality of the phenomena. They were the following. A horse-shoe magnet having been adjusted upon a table with the poles directed upwards, the sensitive subject saw, at the distance of ten feet, the appearance of flames issuing from it. The armature of the magnet-a bar of soft iron-was then applied. Upon this the flames disappeared. They reappeared, she said, as often as the armature was removed from the magnet. A similar experiment was made with a yet more sensitive subject. This person saw in the first instance flames as the first had done. But when the I shall assume it to be proved by the above crucial instance, that the mind or soul of one human being can be brought in the natural course of things, and under physiological laws hereafter to be determined, into immediate relation with the mind of another living person. If this principle be admitted, it is adequate to explain all the puzzling phenomena of real ghosts and of true dreams. For example, the ghostly and intersominal communications with which we have as yet dealt, have been announcements of the deaths of absent parties. Suppose our new principle brought into play; the soul of the dying person is to be supposed to have come into direct communica of the mind upon the senses, (and, as generally happens in such cases, by the by, of an ignorant, feeble, and ill-taught mind,) endows the spectral tion with the mind of his friend, with the effect of suggesting his present condition. If the seer be dreaming, the suggestion shapes a corresponding dream; if he be awake, it originates a censorial illusion. To speak figuratively, merely figuratively, appearance with the vulgarity or ineptitude which in reference to the circulation of this partial mental distinguishes ghost stories. In Dr. Mayo's theoobituary, I will suppose that the death of a human ry, the point-whether to announce a death, or a being throws a sort of gleam through the spiritual buried-alive, or a murder—is alone the work of world, which may now and then touch with light the disembodied spirit; the shape of the visitant, some fittingly disposed object, or even two simulta-" the habit as he lived," or the true ghostly dress, neously if chance have placed them in the right re- are the produce of memory, and the bodily state of lation; as the twin-spires of a cathedral may be the person visited. momentarily illuminated by some far-off flash, which does not break the gloom upon the roofs below. The same principle is applicable to the explanation of the vampire-visit. The soul of the buried man is to be supposed to be brought into communication with his friend's mind. Thence follows, as a censorial illusion, the apparition of the buried man. Perhaps the visit may have been an instinctive effort to draw the attention of his friend to his living grave. I beg to suggest, that it would not be an act of superstition now, but of ordinary humane precaution, if one dreamed pertinaciously of a recently buried acquaintance, or saw his ghost, to take immediate steps to have the state of the body ascer tained. If rational results imply a reasonable principle, then the "od force" is the most reasonable of the three hypotheses; and it well enough accounts for the churchyard ghost or the detection of murder, by means of the light flame visible to the highly sensitive; for the human form was doubtless imagined by fear, or after the event, in the following and similar stories. At the same time, this phosphorescence may be produced independently of the "od force." stone. : But here is a still better instance from a trust worthy German work, P. Kieffer's Archives. The narrative was communicated by Herr Ehrman of Strasburg, son-in-law of the well known writer Pfeffel, from whom he received it. had The ghost-seer was a young candidate for orders, eighteen years of age, of the name of Billing. He was known to have very excitable nerves, already experienced censorial illusions, and was particularly sensitive to the presence of human remains, There was a cottage in a village I could name, to which a bad report attached more than one who had slept in it, had seen at midnight the radiant apTaken apart from its illustrations, and curtailed parition of a little child, standing on the hearthof its full proportions, Dr. Mayo's theory or hy-hearth-stone was raised, and there were found buried At length suspicion was awakened. The pothesis may suffer from this compression in a lit- beneath it the remains of an infant. A story was erary, but not, we believe, in a logical point of now divulged how the last tenant and a female of view. Tried by the logical test, the verdict, we the village had abruptly quitted the neighborhood. think, must be "not proven," without going fur- The ghost was real and significant enough. ther than the author's own statement of the case. There is not a shadow of proof of either of the three hypotheses, except Von Reichenbach's "od force;" there is not a trace of connection between them. Dr. Mayo's theory, we have seen, rests upon the idea of the immateriality of the mind, and its independence of the body under certain circumstances. The "od force" is evidently material; it was first discovered by the instrumentality which made him tremble and shudder in all his of the magnet, which is known to possess an limbs. Pfeffel, being blind, was accustomed to take occult property; and, assuming the optical experi- the arm of this young man; and they walked thus ment on the flames to be conclusive, it establishes together in Pfeffel's garden, near Colinar. At one their materiality beyond a doubt. The difference spot in the garden, Pfeffel remarked that his combetween the two principles is therefore as wide as panion's arm gave a sudden start, as if he had rethe difference between spirit and matter. The ceived an electric shock. Being asked what was most strainedly favorable interpretation can only their going over the same spot again, the same effect But on the matter, Billing replied, "Nothing." say that we know the mind is influenced by phys- recurred. The young man, being pressed to exical causes; but no proof of this influence is ad- plain the cause of his disturbance, avowed that it vanced in the cases in question, and sometimes the arose from a peculiar sensation, which he always freed spirit is evidently independent of material experienced when in the vicinity of human remains; means of action, operating directly, mind upon that it was his impression a human body must be mind. The assumed "terrestrial agency" in the interred there; but that if Pfeffel would return with case of the "divining-rod" is material enough, but him at night, he should be able to speak with greater confidence. Accordingly they went together to there is no proof of its analogous connection with the garden when it was dark; and as they approached the "od force," or even of its existence at all. the spot, Billing observed a faint light over it. At ten paces from it he stopped, and would go no further; for he saw hovering over it, or self-supported in the air, its feet only a few inches from the ground, a luminous female figure, nearly five feet high, with the right arm folded on her breast, the left hanging by her side. When Pfeffel himself stepped forward and placed himself about where the figure appeared to be, Billing said it was now on his right hand, now on his left, now behind, now before him. When Pfeffel cut the air with his stick, it seemed as if it There is also a deficiency in the minor logic. Dr. Mayo, it seems to us, receives evidence without sufficient sifting or marshalling; and, if it makes in his favor, with too much credulity. In lesser matters, as well as in the essential principles, he appears to deal too much in assumption. Great, however, is the ingenuity with which he explains the connection of the popular superstition with the scientific truth; showing how the action prove; went through and divided a light flame, which then | Hath left the parent hearth, another's tenderness to united again. The visit, repeated the next night in company with some of Pfeffel's relatives, gave the same result. They did not see anything. Pfeffel then, unknown to the ghost-seer, had the ground dug up; when there was found at some depth, neath a layer of quicklime, a human body in pro-Oh! had it but been granted by a wise directing gress of decomposition. The remains were removed and the earth carefully replaced. Three days after-That one and all could plenty find within their nawards, Billing, from whom this whole proceeding had been kept concealed, was again led to the spot by Pfeffel. He walked over it now without experiencing any unusual impression whatever. And well, methinks, old England, such grief beseemeth thee, When so many sons and daughters seek a home be- beyond the sea. The explanation of this mysterious phenomenon has been but recently arrived at. The discoveries of Von Reichenbach, of which I gave a sketch in the first letter, announce the principle on which it depends. Among these discoveries is the fact that the od force makes itself visible as a dim light or wavering name to highly sensitive subjects. Such persons in the dark see flames issuing from the poles of magnets and crystals. Von Reichenbach eventually discovered that the od force is distributed universally although in varying quantities. But among the causes which excite its evolution, one of the most active is chemical decomposition. Then happening to remember Pfeffel's ghost story, it occurred to Von Reichenbach that what Billing had seen was possibly od light. To test the soundness of this conjecture, Miss Reichel, a very sensitive subject, was taken at night to an extensive burying ground near Vienna, where interments take place daily, and there are many thousand graves. The result did not disappoint Von Reichenbach's expectations. Whithersoever Miss Reichel turned her eyes, she saw masses of flame. This appearance manifested itself most about recent graves. About very old ones it was not visible. She described the appearance as resembling less bright flame than fiery vapor, something between fog and flame. In several instances the light extended four feet in height above the ground. When Miss Reichel placed her hand on it, it seemed to her involved in a cloud of fire. When she stood in it, it came up to her throat. She expressed no alarm, being accustomed to the appearance. The mystery has thus been entirely solved. For it is evident that the spectral character of the luminous apparition in the two instances which I have narrated had been supplied by the seers themselves. So the superstition has vanished; but, as usual, it veiled a truth. Our extracts will convey an idea of the manner and style of Dr. Mayo's book; which is something more than a collection of strange stories or ingen ious hypotheses. To establish his theories, is what Dr. Mayo does not succeed in; but it is difficult to read his letters without having routine notions shaken, or without feeling that there is a good deal yet to be done in the philosophy of body and soul. From the Anglo-Saxon. EMIGRANTS. I've seen a mother weeping because her son must roam, To seek his fate and fortune far from his childhood's home; I've heard a father groaning when the daughter of his love Hand, tive land; If intercourse of "near and dear" might last till death unbroken, That last sad word of parted friends remain a word not spoken; If families were not dispersed and homes not rent asunder, Men would not dream of Paradise as some unearthly wonder. Yet wise is that directing Hand, and well the plan is skilled; Man must increase and multiply, and all the earth be filled. The Mother Land, she may not keep her offspring at her breast; They must go forth to other lands, and, subduing them, be blest. Then speed ye well, poor emigrants, nor be your courage faint, Look bravely to the future joy, forget the past complaint ! wants forgot; Nor think that England spurns you-nor deem your Remember that this world is his, and he created [UTILITY OF TRIFLING OCCUPATIONS.] "THERE is something in this strange frippery way of squandering one's hours which, in one view, appears vexatiously trifling and unprofitable, yet taken in the true light, it is certainly, upon proper occasions, as much a part of life as more serious and important-looking employments. One may keep living on to equal purpose, in every variety of external circumstances, provided they be such as naturally arise from one's situation. I believe it is hurt by a submission to what we are apt to deem much oftener our pride than our virtue which is trifles. We are led to form much too magnificent ideas of our own powers of action, and by this means to overlook, with a foolish contempt, the proper occasions for exercising them. It is not in the study of sublime speculations, nor amidst the pompous scenery of some imaginary theatre of action, that the heart grows wiser, or the temper more correct. It is in the daily occurrences of mere common life, with all its mixture of folly and impertinence, that the proper exercise of virtue lies. It is here that the temptations to vanity, to selfishness, to discontent, and innumerable other unwarrantable affections, arise; and there are opportunities for many a secret conflict with these in the most trifling hours, and it is our own fault if the business of life is ever at a stand."-Mrs. Elizabeth Carter's Letters to Mrs. Montague, vol. i., p. 37. |