life, at which time, persons are not very unfrequently subject to what is called climacteric decline. Some are favoured so far as to recover from this attack; but, to the spirit-drinker, it almost always proves fatal. Premature old age is another result of spirit-drinking; and this habit unfits its victims to bear the wounds, fractures, and accidents of various kinds, to which all are liable. It is also worthy of remark, that the spiritdrinker is peculiarly susceptible of disease of all kinds, and, consequently, is likely to fall the first victim to fevers, or other epidemic distempers. It is generally supposed that spirits promote the warmth of the body; on which account they are frequently taken by persons who have no inclination to intemperance, when they are peculiarly exposed to cold. This is a very fallacious practice. A transient glow may, indeed, be produced by the quickened circulation which for a short time succeeds the swallowing of the dram; but this afterwards becomes proportionably more languid; in consequence of which, the surface, and more especially the extremities, become pale and cold, whilst the internal parts are both stimulated by the spirit, and loaded with the blood which has left the surface of the body. The object of maintaining and equalizing the warmth of the body is completely lost; whilst the internal organs are exposed to the danger of inflammation. The pernicious influence of ardent spirits is no less strikingly exerted on the intellectual and moral feelings than on the bodily health. It has long been known, that, under the influence of intoxication, secrets are betrayed; yet, although the impolitic or ill-timed divulging of a truth, may have its inconveniences, this is, perhaps, the very least of the evils which attend this perversion of intelligence. The veracity of drunkenness is as untrustworthy as impolitic; and instances are by no means rare, of persons, in a state of intoxication, accusing themselves, as well as others, of crimes of which they are altogether innocent. Although the imagination may sometimes seem to be stimulated to extraordinary power and activity, under the temporary excitement of intoxicating liquors, imagination as well as judgment, and every other faculty of the mind, in time, becomes irreparably injured or destroyed under the influence of strong liquors. Many individuals, whose cultivated talents had gained them well deserved reputation, and might have insured them an ample income, have irretrievably ruined their abilities, lost their acquirements, and sunk into beggary, the blots, instead of the ornaments, of society. It is by no means uncommon for the injury of the intellectual faculties, induced by frequent intoxication or habitual tippling, to amount to actual insanity; sometimes in the form of mania, or raving madness; sometimes in that of the most wretched and desponding melancholy, in which self-destruction is sought for with persevering obstinacy; sometimes resembling the vacant stupidity of a born idiot. The moral feelings are not less impaired than the intellectual faculties. A reckless disregard of right and wrong is progressively induced, by which a path is opened to the commission of every species of crime. Veracity or honesty of speech is violated for the purpose of either concealing the intemperance itself, or the faults committed under its influence. Honesty, with respect to the property of others, is disregarded, for the purpose of gratifying the appetite for liquor, or to meet the expenses which the extravagance of drunken folly may have occasioned, or to repair the mischief which wanton destruction may have committed, or to provide for pinching wants, which become progressively more urgent, as the loss of property and employment cut off the honest and lawful means of satisfying them. The temper, which may have originally been mild and placid, becomes fretful, irritable, and disturbed by uncontrolable passion. Parents have been known to cause the death of their children; children have slain their parents; and the nearest friends have been sacrificed. Even when the impulses of passion do not urge the drunkard to acts of extreme violence, the ties of relationship, and the general claims of humanity are dissolved. Parents witness with seeming indifference, the distress and misery in which they have involved their offspring; and, for the purchase of a little gin, have been known to devote them, in helpless infancy, to the loathsome slavery of a chimney-sweeper. Volumes might be filled with the details of murders, incendiaries, and riots, perpetrated by those who have given themselves up to the demoralizing influence of intoxicating liquors. It is needless to detail the catalogue of crimes of which drunkenness has been the parent or the promoter. It is enough to allude to the many evils which attend the various forms of gambling; and the numerous snares by which hitherto untainted and unsuspecting youth is beguiled into irretrievable ruin, under the spell of inebriating liquor. You will, perhaps, be inclined to think that an undue stress is laid upon extreme cases,—that the most is made of the evils and dangers which may proceed from giving way to a taste for strong drink, and that you see many indulge in it who have not brought themselves to the brink of ruin, and blasted their characters in the way described. But, in endeavouring to point to the limits to which a course of intemperance is likely to lead, let it be asked whether any one who enters into such a course can ensure himself against the dreadful chance of reaching those limits? and what there was to distinguish the most profligate and abandoned alluded to, when they began to gratify themselves with the fascinating pleasures of intoxicating liquors, from any of those whom you may see around you, and fancy to be innocently indulging themselves in the same fatal pleasure? The majority, who may escape the worst extremes, have, nevertheless, to rue many evils and sufferings, which cannot fail to befal them in their deviation from virtue and temperance. Long before they become notorious as decided drunkards, regular and industrious habits are broken in upon, and lost, if they had ever been formed. Earnings are diminished; whilst the money expended is more considerable, as well as injuriously, or less usefully applied. The publican and the pawnbroker swallow up the wages of the workman; whilst filthiness and idleness introduced into his family, cannot fail to draw down upon them the contempt or the reproach of all around them. It is in vain that their relatives or friends take compassion on their miserable fate. Every effort to relieve them is sure to be abortive; and everything which is bestowed upon them, seems to share in the curse which they have incurred. The melancholy picture which they present cannot be duly appreciated, unless it be contrasted with the happy results which a steady course of industry, and prudent economy,-the offspring and associates of temperance, cannot fail to procure. Your own observation and reflection will enable you to draw the contrast; and when you have conscientiously done so, you will not only be struck with the beauty of the one picture, and the deformity of the other, but you will make the discovery that a large portion of the misery and distress at present dependent on poverty, and the in sufficiency and want of success of nearly all the measures, public and private, employed to relieve them, are in a great degree to be attributed, either directly or indirectly, to intemperance. [Abridged from HODGKIN on the Means of Preserving Health.] THE PALACE OF DEATH. I SAW a PALACE, wide and fair, Yet, contrast strange to gaudy pride! But, stranger still, the crowds that prest, How shall I draw the motley band? "And who is he, that horrid king, Sorrowing I spoke :-the crowds were gone; When in a deep and rattling tone, "Lo! it is I! 'tis DEATH!" replied A grisly Spectre at my side: M. He who ventures into the river where the crocodile is basking, becomes himself the cause of his own destruction; and the serpent cannot be said to have occasioned the death of the man who has extracted the poison from his tooth, in order to try its effects.From the Arabic. AVOID luxury, but condemn not temperate or moderate mirth and cheerfulness-BUCER. ELECTRICITY-GALVANISM MAGNETISM. THE powers of Electricity, Galvanism, and Magnetism, are so curiously and intimately connected with each other, that it is almost impossible to understand one without some knowledge of the other two; and the mor: we inquire into the subject, the more probable does it appear that the three are but modifications of the same mysterious agent. The most simple means of exciting the electric power, is by rubbing smartly a stick of sealing-wax, or a rod of glass, on a piece of silk or woollen cloth. When this friction has been continued for a few seconds, it will be found that the sealing-wax or glass has acquired the power of alternately attracting and repelling small substances, such as fragments of paper, gold-leaf, and other light objects; and if the experiment is attempted on a larger scale, by substituting a large cylinder of glass, mounted in a frame, and turned rapidly round by means of a handle, while a pad of silk presses tightly on its surface, a larger quantity of the electric principle is elicited; and this principle, be it what it may, can be collected and condensed, so as to exhibit its powers in a much more effective manner. In this case, if the hand, or any metallic substance, is brought near to the receptacle in which it has been collected, instead of showing its presence simply by attracting small substances, as in the first experiment, it will appear visible to the eye, producing a brilliant spark, accompanied by a crackling noise, as it passes from the receptacle to the hand or metal, and, at the same time, communicating a very palpable shock. To understand this better, it will be necessary to state, that all substances have been divided into conductors and non-conductors of electricity: thus, for instance, glass and sealingwax are non-conductors, and metals, conductors. The usual method of accumulating the electric principle is by means of a conductor, formed of a cylinder of hollow metal, supported by a glass pillar: the conductor is then said to be insulated; for the glass being a non-conductor, will not allow the electric power to escape. At one end of the conductor is a piece of metal with several points, like a fork: this end is placed next to the electrical machine, and attracts the electric principle as fast as it is generated. It was long ago shown by Dr. Franklin, that lightning is identical with electricity, and that the flash produced is but the visible passage of this principle through the air, and identical, although on a grander scale, with the spark noticed in the last experiment, in which the crackling sound is the humble representative of the terrific thunder-clap. It may be worth while noticing here, that the injury done to a building, or other object, in a thunderstorm, is occasioned by the passage of the electric principle, or lightning, and not, as is commonly believed, by a supposed solid substance called a thunderbolt, which exists only in the fancy of the uninformed. Towards the close of the last century, another form of the electric principle was observed, which, from the name of the inventor, Galvani, has C been called Galvanism. It was z discovered, that if any two metals, on which acids would c act with different degrees of violence, such as silver and zinc, copper and zinc, &c.,—were placed alternately, with a piece of woollen cloth, wetted in diluted sulphuric acid, between each, and a copper wire (A), soldered to the upper piece of copper, was taken between the finger and 232 thumb of the left hand, the other hand, or any part of the body, being brought into contact with the wire B, the galvanic power which has been excited, will evince itself by producing what is called a shock, attended with pain and a peculiar sensation. If the galvanic apparatus is made on a larger scale, and the ends of the wires are brought nearly in contact, a continued stream of sparks is produced, so powerful when proceeding from a very large apparatus, as to be capable of melting the most stubborn metals. In the engraving, the alternate letters, z and c, point out the zinc and copper plates, and the dark space between represents the wetted wollen cloth. The properties of magnetism we have already described in the Saturday Magazine, when noticing the Mariner's Compass *. Having thus laid before our readers a short account of the distinguishing properties of these three great agents, namely, Electricity, Galvanism, and Magnetism, we shall endeavour to point out in what manner they agree with each other, in their effects upon matter; and, to render this more clear, describe several very ingenious and beautifully constructed arrangements of apparatus, which illustrate these effects in a most surprising manner, and which we have copied, with permission, from the machines themselves, in the Adelaide Gallery, at the Lowther Arcade, London. Electricity has been considered as a more diffused, and rather a less concentrated, state of the threefold principle we are now speaking of, than either Galvanism or Magnetism; and, consequently, we are led to expect less powerful results from any attempts we may make to bring it, as it were, to a focus, so as to bear upon any particular point, although, as we have already said, when it appears in the form of lightning, prepared in the great laboratory of nature, its effects are terrific. There is a great resemblance between the two poles of the magnet and the two kinds of electricity, namely, the vitreous, produced by friction on glass, and the resinous, from sealing-wax, or amber; any light body, as, for instance, a delicate pith-ball, nicely suspended, will, according to the state of electricity in which it is, be attracted by the one and repelled by the other. Its resemblance to Magnetism was also shown by Dr. Franklin, who passed a violent shock through a sewing-needle, by which the needle became sufficiently impregnated with the magnetic power to range itself north and south, when allowed to traverse by being nicely balanced on a pivot. An electric shock will also at times change the poles of a needle; and this has not unfrequently taken place at sea, when, after a thunder-storm, the north end of the needle has pointed to the south, thus placing the safety of the vessel in jeopardy until by observing the heavenly bodies the error has been discovered. Although there is little doubt of the identity of Electricity and Galvanism, from the effects produced by both being of the same description, differing only in intensity; yet, as the galvanic power appears to be excited by chemical agency, that is, by the action of acids on metals, and the electric power by friction, or by induction from the atmosphere, there is much variety of opinion as to the points in which they agree or differ. We thus find that the electric principle identifies itself with Magnetism and Galvanism, at least in its effects. The following engraving shows the mode in which a most powerful magnetic effect is produced by the action of a very moderate galvanic battery. The apparatus consists of a bar of soft iron (A), bent See Saturday Magazine, Vol. III., p. 115. | into the form of a horse-shoe, weighing about thirtyfour pounds. Several pieces of copper wire, each measuring ninety feet in length, are wound round the iron, the wire being covered with silk, to prevent one piece coming in contact with another. The extremities of these wires are soldered to two thick pieces of copper wire, (B and c), so that one end of each wire is at в and the other end at c. This arrangement affords the means of transmitting an electric (galvanic) current through the whole series of wires at the same time. TEMPORARY ELECTRO-MAGNET. The battery (E) employed to excite the electromagnet is very small, composed of a double concentric cylinder of copper, and a moveable cylinder of zinc between the two copper cylinders. Diluted acid being poured into the battery to excite its action, the two extremities of the combined copper wires are connected with the battery, by placing one end of the thick wire in each of the small cups which form part of the apparatus. As soon as this is done, the soft iron becomes a very powerful temporary magnet, capable of sustaining between four and five hundred pounds weight; but immediately the connexion is broken, the magnetism almost entirely ceases. There are several other machines illustrating, in a most beautiful manner, this curious subject, which 1 we shall figure and describe in a future number of the Saturday Magazine. THE following account of a particular process for the purpose of obtaining salt, well illustrates the ingenuity of the human mind in taking advantage of natural hints. In Guiana there is a very common species of palm, the flowers many pints of water; and the density and general nature of which are enveloped by a sheath, capable of holding of the sheath is such, that the water contained in it may be heated over a fire without destroying its substance; and the Caraïbs actually employ these sheaths, in evaporating the sea-water, for the purpose of obtaining a quick supply of salt.-Diction. des Sciences Nat. LONDON: JOHN WILLIAM PARKER, WEST STRAND. PUBLISHED IN WEEKLY NUMBERS, PRICE ONE PENNY, AND IN MONTHLY PARTS, FRICE SIXPENCE, AND Sold by all Booksellers and Newsvenders in the Kingdum. 1 THE 19TH, 1835. PRICE ONE PENNY. UNDER THE DIRECTION OF THE COMMITTEE OF GENERAL LITERATURE AND EDUCATION APPOINTED BY THE SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE. THE SONG OF THE BELL, A GERMAN POEM, BY SCHILLER; WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY MORITZ RETZSCH. THE SONG OF THE BELL. I ring. When mirth and joy are on the wing PART of our pleasure, on viewing a good drawing in outline, is derived from the surprise we feel at so much being accomplished with such small means. We have sometimes, in this way, a history conveyed to us by a few touches; and, if the touches be simple and correct, the mind is amused by the act of filling up for itself the colours, or shadows, which are omitted. Those of our readers who have seen a mere sketch by the hand of a master,-West, or Lawrence, for instance,-will agree in the truth of this remark; the story being as well told, or the expression of the face as well given, in mere outline, as by a high finish of the pencil. Moritz Retzsch, a living artist of Germany, has for many years been employed in the kind of etching VOL. VII. of which the above engraving may be considered a specimen, though certainly, (as a copy, and on wood,) an imperfect specimen of the original. We alluded to this eminent engraver two years ago, in our paper on Albert Durer*, and compared him, in some measure, to his ancient and highly-gifted countryman. The subjects which Retzsch has chosen for illustration are, the Faust of Goëthe, by which he is chiefly known; Fridolin, by Schiller; the Fight of the Dragon, being the story of St. George, founded on the well-known tale in the "Seven Champions of Christendom; Macbeth and Hamlet, in which, though fine works, he appears to us to have failed in embodying the beings that Shakspeare drew; and, lastly, The Song of the Bell, an original and elegant poem by Schiller. This style of art is by no means new, some of the earliest being in outline. Flaxman also adopted it with success, though his drawings were too strictly Sec Saturday Magazine, Vol. III., p. 226. 222 classical, and too much like sculpture, to become generally popular. In 1793, when he was in Rome, were published his outline designs for Homer's Iliad and Odyssey, for the Tragedies of Eschylus, and Dante's Inferno. But to return to Schiller, and the clever artist who has made known The Song of the Bell to many who would otherwise never have heard of such a poem. The casting of a bell is, in Germany, an event of solemnity and rejoicing. The agreeable author of An Autumn near the Rhine tells us that, in the neighbourhood of the Hartz mountains, and the other mine-districts, one reads formal announcements in the newspapers from bell-founders, that, at a given time and spot, a casting is to take place, to which they invite all their friends. An entertainment out of doors is prepared, and attended with much festivity. Schiller, in a few short stanzas, forming a sort of Chorus, describes, like one who well knows the trade, the whole process of melting, casting, and cooling. of the bell; the sharp, clear rhymes, and the sound of the words, forming an echo to the sense. In the intervals between these various stages in the art and mystery of bell-founding, the poet breaks forth into the most beautiful representations of the chief events with which the sounds of the bell are connected, "in all the changing scenes of life." These views appear to be suggested by the alternate feelings of pleasure and alarm excited in the minds of the master and his workmen, during the anxious progress of their task. There are forty-three plates. The first, entitled "The Vision," conveys, though somewhat mystically, a general view of the whole; the shadowy figures of Joy, and Discord, Suffering, and Peace, being led by the Hours round the Bell, which is first struck by the palm-branch of Peace! The next plate introduces us to the interior of the foundry, where the master is giving directions, and the men are employed at their various works. The mould for the bell having been completed, the furnace prepared, and the metal reduced to a molten state, the master-founder exclaims, Ha! the rising bubbles tell Metals mingling, melting well: Salt of ashes lightly throwSo the fused ore shall flow. Quickly from the scum and froth Cleanse away the whitening broth, That from metal pure and choice, May swell the full sonorous voice. Plate the sixth, a family procession, on its way to church, opens the story as applied to life, of which "the first step" is here bringing an infant to be baptized. The Bell is seen swinging merrily in the tower, as the following lines of the poem will indicate: Then with joy's enlivening strain, (Plate 5.) (Plate 6.) In the eighth plate, (the one we have selected,) the mother is seen tenderly watching beside the cradle of her child, while her husband pauses in his employment, to contemplate the little slumberer: In Time's dark lap for him await In plate the ninth, the boy is seen running towards a child, his playfellow, who is on her knees, tending a little garden, and holding out her hand for the slip of a rose-bush he brings her. On this very spot, after the lapse of years, during which he has been absent, abroad, and in danger, they meet again. There is the same garden, and door; and the very latch, and the mill-wheel, all looking as they did; but With downcast blush and looks of truth, A joyful marriage procession takes place," whilst the merry bells ring round," followed, however, by a train of pensive reflections on the father's toils and wanderings for the sake of his family,-the mother's In his absence, anxieties and household cares. She to the girls imparts her skill, until he returns from a successful tour, and finds himself in a good estate, surrounded by a happy and thriving family. But here, we find, the poet has "chang'd his hand, and check'd his pride!" The dangers attending the fusion of the metal suggest a grand picture of the horrors and devastations of fire!-the conflagration of the mansion, and the sufferings of the lately-joyous inmates, while the loud and quick notes of the Bell give the dreadful alarm. Their lives are, by God's mercy, spared; but scarcely has the father of the family had time to rejoice, on seeing the circle so dear to him, safe, than there comes an affecting strain of another sort,-the funeral Bell; Hark from the tower With heavy dong, Hoarse sounds of woe The knell prolong! Sad the swelling notes betray A wanderer on the grave's dark way. Torn from the fostering care Of those she blooming bare. Who lately bore a mother's sway. A more soothing view succeeds, arising from a favourable turn in the process of founding:-rural evening scenes; waggons returning loaded with sheaves of corn,-the cattle lowing as they "wind slowly" towards the stall,-the villagers dancing in the twilight,-the lights glimmering in the cottages, -the creaking town-gate closing, and the silence, stillness, and security of the inhabitants, reposing under the watchful eye of justice, and protected by the majesty of the law. This gives a hint for an address on Order, and the blessings of peace; and then, by way of contrast, on the miseries of rebellion and insurrection, which are awfully and terribly depicted. At last the Bell is finished, raised and suspended; and its first note is that of PEACE! May that delightful word find an echo in the hearts of those who peruse this paper! May they endeavour in each change of many-coloured life to promote the ends as at this season commended to us in the Angels' hymn; "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men." COUNT STRUENSEE. JOHN FREDERICK STRUENSEE was born at Halle, in 1737; his father was an eminent divine, the pupil of Buddæus, and an intimate friend of Count Zinzendorf, the founder of the Moravian sect. He carefully superintended the education of his son, endeavoured to inculcate on his mind the truths of religion, and fondly hoped for his concurrence in dis |