ページの画像
PDF
ePub

tors, for producing sulphur from alkali-makers' waste, and various sulphurets. Sulphuric acid is next in order, and, besides the ordinary processes, we have, in additional matter, two others, which are of great importance, and which have been brought out within the last two years. The concentration of sulphuric acid in leaden pans, its removal into platinum stills for further concentration, together with the method of working the stills, are at great length.-The next subject is common salt, or sea salt. We are made to know where it is found stored up in the earth by nature, its production by the evaporation of sea water, the analysis of sea salt obtained from various countries, also the analysis of many brine springs which are evaporated for salt. We have the evaporation of brine without fuel, or the process of graduation, the boiling-houses for its final evaporation, plans and methods of the pans, and the results of the whole operation. Besides the processes commonly in use for the manufacture of soda or soda-ash from common salt, we have two other methods, of infinite importance, added by the editors. There is also the preparation of crystals of carbonate of soda for the market. Next is a sketch upon bleaching-powder, entirely by the editors. Besides the ordinary processes of preparation, there is one of recent invention, in which the use of manganese is superseded. This subject concludes with the recent processes for the recovery of manganese. The bicarbonate of soda manufacture is here given, and tables of the constitution of the ashes of sea-weeds, which in some places are the source of soda, are at great length. The subject of potashes, or carbonate of potash, is next advanced, with methods of preparation, tables of the constituents of the ashes of various woods, barks, leaves, &c., and the analysis of potash. Alkalimetry is fully treated, and new methods for determining the alkali in potash and soda salts by quick process are given. This brings us to borax, under which head we have artificial borax, boracic acid lagoons, evaporation of boracic acid, saturation of boracic acid with soda and crystallization of borax, &c. We regret that much valuable information is communicated by foot-notes under this head, a system by no means to be advised. Saltpetre, or nitre, is given at great length; its production is first considered, and the theory connected with its formation is concluded with various other observations. Its purification, crystallization, application in making gunpowder, with the various and recent processes for testing its purity, is subject of a great deal of new matter. Next we have the history, action, products of decomposition, and actual constitution of gunpowder, contained in a table of twenty-three different kinds. The descriptions are given of saltpetre, sulphur, and charcoal,

used in making gunpowder, with the methods of preparing them for this manufacture, together with an account of processes, plans for trying its force, system of analysis, and much more useful information. By the editors we have an interesting account of the recent discovery of Schönbein's explosive cotton : its high value in blasting and mining operations, and also its probable use in the pyrotechnic art, makes it a subject of great interest. Aquafortis, or nitric acid, opens with a description and theory of its production, its distillation, and the method of testing its purity. This brings us to the very important manufacture of soap, or soap-boiling. We have the history of soap, a description of the crude materials required in the manufacture, tallow, lard, and a great number of oils; methods for testing their purity, and processes for bleaching palm-oil. The preparation of the lye or alkaline liquid, the testing its strength, various modes of preparing the different soaps, extensive tables of their composition and comparative value, with recent methods of analysis, and the theory of the formation of soap, a subject of apparent difficulty, is explained very satisfactorily, with diagrams of easy comprehension. This, with the preparation, &c., of linseed-oil varnish, brings us to the close of Volume I.

We must again remark, that it is impossible to do justice to this work in so small a space, and that the above is only a very cursory glance at its contents, which, in order to accomplish, few and short quotations could only be given from the work. This we regret, as the language is remarkable for the clearness of its scientific definitions, and the elegant simplicity of its style; doing great credit to the editors, who have laboured much throughout the whole volume in affording and elucidating new matter, and which, we regret, it was only in our power to notice on a very few occasions. The construction of new, and additions to the original tables in the work, besides analyses undertaken specifically to render it more highly useful, are subjects worthy of consideration; and when we mention that the tables, which are extremely numerous, are constructed with the greatest care, and in them we have the researches of Lavoisier, Laplace, Clement, Desormes, Rumford, Liebig, Dumas, Chevreuil, Regnault, and many other philosophers, it is a guarantee that no little labour has been bestowed in rendering the work worthy of the greatest manufacturing nation.

ART. VII.-Thoughts in Past Years. By the Author of the Cathedral. Fourth Edition with Additions. Hymns Translated from the Parisian Breviary. By the same. London: Rivingtons.

MR WILLIAMS belongs to the Keble school, both of theology and poetry. His first poetical work was, we believe, The Cathe dral, of which Dr Pusey said, that "it bears the rich character of our early English poetry,"-a remark to which the reader will attach that degree of value which he may conceive the name of its author to justify.

His style considerably resembles Keble's, though perhaps exhibiting both fewer faults and fewer beauties,-being on the one hand more intelligible in most parts, and less beautiful in others. He comes nearer Alford than Keble, having a considerable mixture of both. Like these he has drunk deep at the classic springs, as is evident, not only from the frequent quotations and references, but also from the unconscious imitations both of style and sentiment which one can detect throughout. From these classic wells he has proceeded, like the others, to English poetry of the olden time. From this he has taken his second draught, which has helped to mellow his style. Then plunging outright into the mysteries of tractarianism, he has given the last and most thorough tinge both to his style and ideas. Take these three influences-the classical, the old English, the tractarian-mingle them together like so many colours, and making a slight allowance for circumstances and individualism, you have a general sketch of the kind of poetry to be found in "Thoughts in Past Years," and others of that school.

Much of Mr Williams' volume is monotonous and wearisome. Had he been more prompt and unsparing with the pruningknife, he might have produced a much more readable volume. For though we have seldom opened it without finding some lines or stanzas to reward us, yet we could read but little at a time. A few pages tired us. Yet its classic air, its dreamy musings, and occasionally its touches of beauty, drew us back again to another perusal. It is a volume which one can take up once and again with the expectation of getting at least something to please. It has less of tractarianism than we counted on, though its hints and figures here and there are not to be mistaken. Yet there is nothing here so outrageously popish as in Keble's Lyra Innocentium-a work which shows that his poetic vein is exhausted--a work which had it not been handed to the public in the name of Mr Keble, would have excited nothing but contempt for its sheer silliness and stupidity.

[merged small][ocr errors]

66

We might not be disposed to quarrel with Mr Williams for such expressions as "baptismal dews," (p. 22;) "baptismal drops," (24;)" the Church's bosom," (53;) “ ordered fastings," (54;) "ancient of mothers," (55;) "tranquil mother," (85;) did they not so completely associate themselves with the "Tracts for the Times." The words themselves may be harmless; they may not seem to be aught beyond mere poetic figures; but we know too well what they signify in the dialect of High Churchmanship. They look like flowers; and so perhaps they are. But they are flowers that cover dead men's bones and all uncleanness. Whether he has at last learned the honesty of speaking fully out, we do not know. We have seen nothing of his very lately. Newman has both spoken out and gone out. He was shamed into honesty at last. Pusey and Keble still remain-the latter dealing out undiluted Popery to old and young; the former presiding as abbot or father confessor over a nunnery in London, under the very eye of the Lord Bishop of the diocese!

Perhaps our readers would like to hear Mr Williams' Tractarianism. One or two specimens will suffice. He thus mourns over the neglect of fast days:

"Poor gain I deem it, that from public stage.
And rural nook, the Cross hath disappear'd,
If it no more in heart of man is rear'd;
Bent to please all in this self-pleasing age,
Nor own that sign of Sorrow's heritage.
Witness, ye nominal Fasts, no more revered!
The Church, ye say, is to your love endear'd,
And sadly ye her coming ills presage :
But yet unheeding her small voice ye flee,
While Friday Feastings drown the gentle call,
Which calls you to her sad Gethsemane :-
Unmark'd alike or Fast or Festival;

Sabbaths ye straiten, but ye take no part

:

In arts that train the penitential heart.” P. 54.

And again in a similar strain upon the same subject he thus writes:

"Nor only reverend thoughts of God within,

And Jesus Christ, there sitting in dread light

Are found in fasting: but thence burns more bright

The lamp of Intercession, freed from sin,

In the right hand of Love; o'er friends and kin,
Brethren in Christ, and Kings of Heav'n-born right,
From the deep bosom of the Infinite,

The dews of every blessing taught to win.

Thus Love her sheltering wing spreads more and more,
Then on that out-stretched wing doth upward soar,
Into the fount of Godhead far above.

Ah me! if thus thou train'st to fast and pray,
Ancient of mothers, such thy school of love,

Why are thy portals closed from day to day?" P. 55.

Still farther on he thus bemoans the hapless condition of " the bereaved Church in Scotland:"

[ocr errors]

"Is there no remnant left? hath the cold wind

Of pitiless Persecution left you bare?
Oft from the passing storm the aspen rare
His whitening mantle doth around him bind,
The silvery birch hath his meek arms reclined;
But when calm eve returns, again are fair,
Lifting their green heads to the mountain air.
Is there no holy remnant yet behind?
Ancient of Mothers, thou, when yet a child,
Didst shun proud walls and Pharisaic pride,
For Nazareth's lone moors and mountains wild,
Making thy home with humble fishermen,
And hadst not where thy holy head to hide;

On Caledonia's mountains wake again!" P. 123.

We are not aware when it was that this bereaved Church endured this "pitiless persecution." The dungeons in which they were immured, the racks on which they were stretched, the turf under which their honoured bones repose, are unknown in history. The next that we quote is on a similar topic, and is entitled "St David's;" but who the "good Caledonian Angel" is, we

are not sure:

"Our own Minevia now deserted lies,

Of those forsaken whom her bounty fed;
No longer now the pilgrim thither led,
Drinks heart-ennobling thoughts, but there descries
Her falling walls forlorn, until his eyes

Gush out with water, where her form half-dead

Forth from her mountains stands, as if to plead

Her sacred cause unto the sea and skies.

Her brows they bind with weeds of heresy,

And my lone spirit fain would hope of thee,

Thou wear'st unblamed thy Master's crown of thorns,

Good Caledonian Angel; but again

The yearning feels of her parental chain,

Turns to her country, and in secret mourns." P. 123,

The last specimen we give without comment. It is rather odd to blame the Council of Trent for "troubling the stream of pure antiquity." They certainly did not make matters worse than they found them. They merely stereotyped the errors and idolatries of an impure and antichristian antiquity:

"As when a hillock of undefiling earth,
Let slip from an o'erhanging eminence,

[ocr errors]
« 前へ次へ »