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Chained at his root, two scion-demons dwell,
Breathe the faint hiss, or try the shriller yell;
Rise, fluttering in the air on callow wings,
And aim at insect-prey their little stings.

So Time's strong arms with sweeping sithe erase,
Art's cumbrous works, and empires, from their base:
While each young Hour its sickle fine employs,
And crops the sweet buds of domestic joys!"

A short time after the appearance of Forsch's paper, the Batavian Society commissioned two of its members to examine the statements contained therein; and in their report, the falsehood of all the leading circumstances introduced to heighten the interest of the narrative is completely established. The memoirs of MM. Deschamps and Leschenhault, and of Dr. Horsfield, may be likewise adduced in evidence against the Dutchman, and have presented us with valuable information upon which reliance can be placed. Some have supposed that the production of Forsch arose from a confusion of the upas tree with the upas valley of Java, which Mr. Loudon describes as about half a mile in circumference, from thirty to thirty-five feet deep, the bottom quite flat, no vegetation, a few large stones, and the whole covered with the skeletons of human beings, tigers, pigs, deer, peacocks, and all sorts of beasts and birds. He descended to within eighteen feet of the bottom, and then thrust down two dogs, one of which continued to breathe eighteen, and the other seven minutes; a fowl died in one minute and a half, and another which they threw in was dead before it reached the bottom. The result of these experiments is probably due to the escape of carbonic acid from the soil, similar to that which occurs on a smaller scale in the Grotto del Cane, near Naples.

But not only has the authenticity of the narrative been called in question, but also its genuineness; and even at the time of its publication, many considered it to be fabricated in a great measure by Heydinger. D'Israeli, however, thinks Forsch himself is as fictitious as his tale, and ascribes the manufacture of both to George Stevens, whose principal delight consisted in a literary hoax.

By botanists the Upas tree, or Antiaris toxicaria (Leschenhault), is considered a member of the order Urticacea, or nettle tribe. It is one of the largest forest trees of Java, attaining the height of from sixty to one hundred feet, and delights in a fertile, and not very elevated soil. Like other trees in its neighbourhood, it is surrounded with vegetation, and it even affords support to numerous climbing plants. Its leaves are oval and alternate, and its inflorescence is monoecious, the catkins of the male flowers, according to the simile of Deschamps, resembling the contrayerva, and those of the female, so many budding figs. From incisions in its whitish bark a milky sap exudes, which is mixed with the juice of arum, galanga, onions, garlic, and other plants, and the whole boiled down with a small quantity of black pepper. In order to test whether or not the poison is duly prepared, a single seed of the Guinea-pepper (Capsicum fruticosum) is placed on the fluid in the centre of the bowl; if it immediately performs a rapid series of movements, the digestion is incomplete; the same quantity of pepper is therefore added, and the experiment again tried, and this is repeated until the seed of the Capsicum, when dropped on the liquid, remains perfectly still; the poison is then considered fit for use. Dr. Horsfield details the results of several experiments with the Upas, and found the usual train of symptoms to be,-trembling of the extremities, restless

ness,

erection of the hair, alvine discharges, fainting, slight spasms, difficulty of breathing, violent vomiting, great agony, repeated convulsions, and death. To dogs it generally proved fatal in an hour; a mouse died in ten minutes, a monkey in seven, a cat in fifteen, and a buffalo in two hours and ten minutes.

The juice has been analysed by Mulder, who found it to contain a peculiar resin, antiarin, the principle in which its activity resides, and several other ordinary vegetable matters.

As regards the uses to which the tree is applied, besides yielding its celebrated poison, with which the natives imbue both their weapons of war and of the chase, a strong kind of rope, and a coarse stuff is made from its liber, or inner bark, which is somewhat analogous to that of the paper mulberry (Morus papyrifera). This stuff the poorer classes wear at labour in the open fields, and it is said that when they are exposed to rain, it gives rise to such intolerable itching as to render it quite insupportable.

THE IMPORTANCE OF VENTILATION.

THERE can be no question, that a great amount of physical evil resulting from the system of late-hours, must be laid to the account of bad ventilation. The fearful amount of impurity existing in an atmosphere where an enormous quantity of flame has been burning for many hours, places the assertion beyond dispute. We feel it our duty, therefore, to call the attention of employers to a simple but admirable plan for the ventilation of gas-lamps, recently brought before the notice of the Pharmaceutical Society, by Mr. P. Squire. The cost of its adoption cannot be very heavy, and the increased health and comfort it must produce will, we are sure, quite compensate for the original outlay.

"I now," says Mr. Squire, "come to the form of apparatus which I employ, and which I think is perhaps the most simple and least costly of any that I can recommend for general adoption, taking all its advantages into the account: it consists of an iron gas pipe, 14-inch in diameter, having a diminishing connector as it is called (capable of receiving a 2-inch pipe at one end, and connecting the other with a 14-inch pipe) screwed on to its aperture. This forms the cap to drop over the mouth of the glass chimney. Each of the lights will require one of these capped pipes, and it may approach the glass chimney within one-eighth of an inch, or drop close over it. These are connected with a pipe in the ceiling, which conveys through the joists the products of combustion into the nearest chimney; the pipe is surrounded by a circular tube of sheet iron, about nine inches in diameter, or if there are several lights, six inches may do for each, and they must be flattened, if they cross the joists to get to the chimney, as indeed mine do. This flue of sheet iron commences at the ceiling, passing the whole course of the pipe to the chimney, and answers admirably in carrying off the vitiated and heated air which collects under the ceiling. The iron pipe rising direct from the gaslight to the ceiling, if left naked, radiates a considerable quantity of heat, and this can either be used as a warming agent, or the pipe can be cased with a loose tube of bronze, or better still by ornamental porcelain, or by opaque glass, which will stop half the heat. The heat by this arrangement draws up to the perforated ventilator which covers the opening of the sheet iron flue, and is thus got rid of: the iron gas-tube retains the heat so well, that all the water produced by the combustion of the gas, is carried in the

C

B

DIAGRAM ILLUSTRATING THE PROCESS OF VENTILATION. Recommended by Mr. Squire, page 40.

D

D

4, The Pipe conveying heated air to the open air, and finishing in a T piece, B. C, the outer casing of ditto. DDD, Tubes conveying the heated air between the joists to the chimney. The dotted line represents the outer iron casing for the double ventilation.

This diagram has been kindly furnished by the Pharmaceutical Society.

SCIENCE CONSIDERED IN ITS INFLUENCE ON RELIGION.

ANCILLATUR RELIGIONI PHILOSOPHIA.

THIS is plainly not an age in which the pretensions of Science are to be contemned; at least, its claims may not be slighted with impunity. The most superficial observer of the present state and tendencies of society cannot fail to perceive how earnestly, effectively, and universally this mighty agency is at work, in purifying the tastes-re-modelling the habits-and promoting the physical comforts and mental culture of our race; and in a less, though still far from unimportant degree, elevating its moral character, and furthering its consequent happiness and peace. In addition to which the careful student of history will discover much that is calculated to excite his wonder and admiration in what has been already accomplished; and he will, perhaps, be curious to trace the individual steps by which mankind have advanced from the several starting-posts of barbarism to their present stage of comparative civilization and refinement. Nor will the philosophic mind rest satisfied with this, but rather love to contemplate the probable effects that existing influences will continue to produce on the future condition and progress of humanity, and to realize in idea the fond anticipations of philanthropic spirits, in relation to benefits that may hereafter result from the general application to human conduct of principles hitherto but imperfectly received, in developing the yet untried capabilities of the human constitution, and general scheme of which it is the head.

Such considerations would be, indeed, under any circumstances, suited to awaken, in a well-constituted mind, sentiments of mingled seriousness and joy-" of hope, and fears that kindle hope”—but at this day are rendered peculiarly impressive by the important bearing and significant aspect of human affairs. Whoever will consider, with but a moderate degree of attention, the present state of parties and interests-or even turn his eyes for a moment to the operations and prospects of any great "cause" of modern times-will see at once that there is a new spirit of activity-a general force of antagonism, diffusing itself through every part of the social machine. In theology it is the antagonism of rationalism on the one hand, and dogmatism,* either scriptural, or traditional, on the other: in philosophy, of transcendentalism on the one side, and scientific induction on the other; while in politics we see a constant struggle maintained between the conflicting powers of liberalism and legitimacy; and even in poetry a general opposition between the florid freedoms of the romantic, and the chaste severities of the classic style. Of all these embattled powers, that of Christianity is undoubtedly supreme, as the interests of truth are ever paramount and unchangeable; and to Christianity alone must Science succumb, as the learning of man is inferior only to the teaching of God. To these two all the others seem destined eventually to become subordinate. Upon the extension or decline of these hang the future destinies of our world. Hence the investigation of their general and particular tendencies becomes an important branch of study, in which it would not be uninteresting to enquire into the manner and degree in which they may reciprocally affect each other's interests and advancement.

* Dogmatism-dogmatic. The reader will please to observe that these words are here employed in the confined, critical sense, as contradistinguished from induction and inductive.

Hitherto these great teachers of mankind have pursued different roads in the search of truth; they have attained their objects by separate and independent methods. Christianity has been naturally dogmatic,* as Science, on the contrary, is necessarily inductive: the object of the one being to instruct us in the application of certain truths to the existing circumstances and coming destinies of our race; that of the other, to reason from observed facts to the principles on which they rest. But if this were all that Science could effect, her researches would remain comparatively valueless to the majority of men; if refined speculation were her final aim, the partial illumination of the few would serve only to render more apparent the total blindness of the many. With her, however, this is but "the beginning of wisdom ;" and while her first and most palpable efforts are to enlarge the understanding, her ultimate object is, or at least should be, to bring the principles there learnt to bear upon the practical concerns and conduct of life. It will thus be perceived, that in the great work of educating the human mind, Science begins one step further back than her elder sister, Christianity; who, having in the word of her divine lord and master, all the requisite materials ready-formed to her hands-all the principles revealed on which she is to proceed-is under the necessity of adopting no preliminary measures, but may at once address her whole energies to the accomplishment of the task set before her: whereas Science, having no such prospective aid at her command, is compelled to gather materials, before she can use them; to provide herself with tools, before she can by any means apply them to meet the necessities, and ameliorate the condition of humanity. Being therefore employed, if we may so say, in the same school, although in separate departments, and operating upon the same mind to produce similar effects—or at least effects, differing only as consecutive parts of the same process-one would naturally suppose, that in accordance with the universal principles of harmony discoverable in the institutions of Providence, they were respectively intended by the one "omnific" mind, not to obstruct, but assist, one another; and that their constitutions were so framed in reference to the world and each other, as to subserve this useful design. Nor does it form any real objection to this view, that, generally speaking, there has not subsisted between the professors of science and religion that spirit of friendliness and cordiality, which was to have been expected in men devoted to congenial pursuits. This is with more reason attributed to their want of communication, and consequent ignorance of each other, which has led some of the most sincere adherents of both sides so far to mistake the true character of their respective professions, as to regard each other as natural foes, and those interests as opposed, which, in point of fact, are identical. The theologian, conscious of the superiour digdity of his office of the supremacy of his commission-and perceiving that the researches of Science were for the most part conducted without any definite recognition of his authority,—that her advancement was generally in a line parallel with his own endeavours,-that her operations now and then even trespassed upon ground preoccupied by himself,-that her inquiries sometimes extended to matters which he had been accustomed to consider as belonging to his exclusive jurisdiction,-has been perhaps too often, and too readily disposed to treat her indiscretions with undue severity, if not to look upon her as the rival of religion, and to view all her movements with suspicion and distrust:—while the man of science, becoming vain in his persuasion of the certainty and simplicity attending his method of investigation, of the advantages of inductive demonstration over dogmatic

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