66 well did he know what these ominous sounds announced. He started. from the grasp of those who held him. "My child, my child!" he once more feebly exclaimed, and fell insensibly to the ground. He was carried to his own home, and the attendants endeavoured to recall him to life. But the blow had been given-the miserable old man never spoke again; and before two days the ashes of the father, like those of his lovely and hapless daughter were scattered to the winds of heaven. The family was extinct, and the village passed into other hands; but its inhabitants with affectionate regard to the memory of their old Zemindar, and the gentle virtues and misfortunes of his beautiful daughter, erected upon the spot of her self-immolation the little mut'h which had attracted our attention, and the young females of the village adorned it, from time to time, with flowers of the jasmine and the chumpah. In process of time, these simple rites acquired by custom a more solemn character; and the mysterious hues of tradition threw their tint over the tale; the little temple became a favourite object of pilgrimage to both Hindoo and Mussulmanee females from many a village of the district. Young girls, with hearts just beginning to thrill with feelings of indefinite tenderness, would repair thither to give vent to their strange but delightful sensations; maidens who indulged some secret, and perhaps forbidden fondness, came to breathe a sigh of passion and a vow of constancy for the object of their love; and young mothers while they held their infants to their breasts, and placed their little offerings on the shrine, would pray that their sons might be brave and true as Sulimaun, their daughters fair and virtuous like Counlah. Time passed, and changes came over the land; the story was scarcely remembered by a new and rising generation, but still the little mut'h continued an object of reverence to the females of the neighbourhood, and the lamp of the fair Rajepootnee's monument is nightly lit by the simple piety and inoffensive superstition of the villagers of M THE CLOUDS. "I DOTE upon the skies,” A book whose changing leaves contain Whereon fools gaze in vain! Nought they see but clouds, and blue Vacant spaces shining through, But thou and I therein can see See yon little plumy isle Floating in a sea of light,— See that lengthen'd purple throng Mingled in disorder, With a golden border! Countless severed pieces, lo! On the blue, like flakes of snow, "I dote upon the skies ;" I love to watch the summer-cloud, Now into a mountain rise, Now a palace proud; Now a dome, and now a tower, O'er the skies my pleased eye ranges, And sweetly bringing into tune And take my fill of love! Or when the “little stars" are blinking, From skies without a frown, On lake beneath no night-breeze shrinking, I love the jagged, crag-like heaps, With the drenching shower is mix'd Rosy Spring and hoary Winter! And I love the scudding rack, When the autumn winds blow shrill, And the spectre-shade glides black I love the giant-forms Of the clouds in thunder-storms, Like the waves along the ocean; T. N. SCIENTIFIC LETTERS TO A LADY OF QUALITY. MY DEAR LADY You tell me that your temporary absence from England has placed you at present completely out of the sphere of that grand. centre of human knowledge in which you have been accustomed to live, and that a few radiations from our literary hemisphere are required to be brought to a focus in yours, in order to dissipate ennui from your circle. You ask why science is so much neglected among us at present, and wish it to become somewhat more fashionable. I shall be happy if it lies in my power to export to you a small stock of information for the benefit of the little community at I highly approve of your plan of substituting a course of social lectures for the constant reference to cards, and of the appointment of the resident chaplain to be lecturer. It is, however, as you say, too much to expect him to draw entirely upon his brains for the materials, besides two sermons every Sunday, and other duties. Among us we can easily furnish you periodically with matter for your lectures, and I will take upon myself the task of supplying information upon the phenomena and laws of organization and the vital functions. Such objects of inquiry constitute the science of physiology, which, from its Greek derivation, might be supposed to allude to the laws of nature generally, although it is commonly understood to include only the phenomena of living matter. Not that the physical laws, which regard merely the mineral world, are entirely excluded from physiology; on the contrary, this science cannot be understood without their admission. But as we cannot explain vital action simply by chemistry and mechanics, or what is termed natural philosophy generally, we consider physiology to include merely the functions of living organs, and refer to natural philosophy, because organized matter in its living state, does not entirely lose its physical properties: these, indeed, are modified and held in subjection by the superadded vital principle which actuates organic bodies. The study of physiology will, I trust, convince all your transatlantic friends of the folly of the world in encouraging quacks in medicine, and of trusting their constitutions to the management of those who know nothing of the structure, economy, and functions of the human body. The success of quacks depends upon the mental darkness of their dupes as to the real nature of medicine, and the necessary qualifications of its professors. The public in general seem not to be aware that medicine is a science in itself, requiring long, constant, and deep observation and experience, united to a perfect knowledge of the anatomy of the body, its healthy functions, and the morbid changes which its organs undergo. The little domestic medicines and recipes to cure coughs, colds, chilblains, or sorethroats, are all very well in the hands of judicious persons, and certainly need no depth of knowledge in physiology to become available. But I would restrain the disposition and zeal of many good ladies to fill their recipe-book, excepting as far as the table is concerned, lest diseases, under the deceptive cover of colds, and so forth, should make their silent way in undermining the constitu tion. Fearfully and wonderfully are we made, indeed, and the fear is that the seeds of disease may be sown imperceptibly, and the wonder is that such complex machinery should bear so much putting out of order without destruction. But such is the mysterious compensating influence of life, that we cannot easily say what injury may or what may not prove fatal. Of this, however, you may be assured, that remedies cannot be administered with safety or advantage but upon a principle, which principle is to be found only among the medical sciences. If a steam-engine gets out of order, or a clock goes wrong, man, who made it, can set it to rights, or make another upon fixed and determinate principles; but the machine which moves by a principle derived from the super-human power which made it, can neither be repaired nor new-modelled. We have a certain degree of influence over physical causes, and thus by observation and experience we are enabled to check and control disease by careful attention to nature's operations. We may prevent, assist, and remove disease in some instances, but the glory of the cure rests solely with nature. I fully expect, after the worthy chaplain has gone through his series of lectures on physiology, that the Lady Bountifuls who attend will never again prescribe but upon some principle and design, if they have ever sinned in this manner; and that, instead of advising a remedy because it is good for a cold or a cough, they will suspend their advice, unless they can ascertain what is going on in the constitution and the exact state of the parts affected, to which they must add a perfect knowledge of the substances they recommend, and their known effects. It is very desirable to correct another common error of the public, which has thrown much obloquy upon physiologists; this is the belief that they are nothing more or less than a set of Atheists and Materialists. When we come to speak of the mind of man, I shall have something more to say upon the subject of materialism. At present, however, I shall content myself with simply observing that the study of nature leads directly to a contrary system of belief. The evidences of design and relation of cause and effect are too strongly manifested to leave a doubt upon the mind of any unprejudiced man. I take it for granted you will like to know something of the history of a science so interesting and important in its applications as physiology. This therefore I will make the brief prelude to my future letters. You must know that physiology is rather of modern date as a science, and, strange to say, has been unaccountably neglected in quarters where a better estimation of it might have been anticipated, as the untutored savage disregards the gold that is mingled with the mountain sand, until made acquainted with the value which civilization has imparted to it. Physiology has worked its way from the earliest recorded periods of social life; but its facts remained till recent times scattered about in a crude and unarranged manner, mingled generally with the discordant elements of other incipient sciences. Of course we may consider the inclination to know something of the human frame as among the earliest desires of man; but the advancements of anatomy were very slow and imperfect. Before the invention of proper cutting September, 1831.-VOL. II. NO. v. C instruments, stones with sharp edges were used to open the bodies of the deceased, so that the anatomy of such professors as were employed to dissect the body, could scarcely be expected to equal that which we derive from the delicate edge of Weiss's or Savigny's highlypolished steel. Moreover, there was a prevalent antipathy for the openers of the dead, who, when they had made their incisions, ran off, and were pelted as the executioner of modern days has been when recognised. Under the malign influence of early prejudices centuries passed away, and the anatomy of monkies, dogs, and ordinary domestic animals furnished the knowledge to be derived from dissection. Thus it was long before any real information was gained of the structure of the human body, the seat and uses of its different organs, the functions which they perform. To complete this combined knowledge has been the labour of thousands in successive ages, until we have each department of medical science properly adjusted; and physiology, from the multitude of its facts and phenomena having acquired a complete system of laws, ranks as a distinct science, depen dent upon rational principles. All the false reasoning and erroneous modes of thinking and argument of the old schools are abandoned, and the rules of Lord Bacon strictly adhered to. The earliest accounts inform us that science of every kind was enveloped by a cloud of mystical learning, in what were termed the 'occult sciences,' of which the Pythagorean school was a fertile example. The Arabian philosophers furnished Pythagoras with the materials on which he founded his doctrines, and these were sufficiently mystical, relating to the supposed connexion of the human mind and body with the heavenly constellations. Such was the powerful influence of these doctrines, that even in the present day the last remnants of their superstitions are not entirely dissipated. For example, see the Vox Stellarum'-Moore's Almanack, itinerant fortune-tellers, and the belief, not very ancient, in palmistry, and also in the signs of diseases and their corresponding vegetable remedies which once influenced the present College of Physicians. Hippocrates was the first to break the chain which bound the philosophy of the Pythagoreans, and he is always styled the father of physic, from his having commenced a system of simple observation of natural indications. In that early period, however, we must expect to meet with a very defective system of physiology. Hippocrates assumed the existence of a superintendent intelligent principle governing the functions of life, and possessing power to select whatever is good, and to reject what may be injurious. Then he supposed some minor agents at work to accomplish the changes of the body from health to disease, and from disorder to recovery. These were classed as four elements, fire, water, earth, and air, from which all the solids and fluids of the body were derived, and which generated other agents which he called temperaments, such as heat, cold, moisture, and dryness, the prevalence of which caused the diseases of the body according to their separate domination. Thus physiology was advancing slowly till Aristotle reformed the whole system by his speculative doctrines, which have been the subject of many learned criticisms and voluminous treatises. Aristotle gained |