Notes On Literature, Science, And Art.

NOTES ON LITERATURE , SCIENCE , AND ART .

In a treatise On , Food and its Digestion , hy William Brinton , M . D ., just published , it is stated : — - "A mixture of animal and vegetable food must unquestionably be regarded as the natural food of man . Whether we look to the Biblical announcement of his destiny in this resjjiect , or to the more specific line of conduct in-escribed to a particular nation , in what must be acknowledged as

the admirable sanitary code of the Hebrew Theocracy ; to the present ancl past habits of the human race in general ; or to those instincts which , in the main , these habits express and represent : we meet with facts which alike establish this proposition , and completely shelve the question of the so-called vegetarian— 'Is animal food permissible or advisable ? ' But while it is beneath the dignity of science' directly to moot this last inquiry , the information she seeks , as to the natural proportions in which the two kinds of

food ought to be mixed , indirectly decides it . AVe look to the teeth : and find them representatives of the cutting , tearing , and grinding organs of the Carnivorus , Herbivorous , and Granivorous animals respectively . AA ' e unravel the coils of the tortuous bowels ; and find them also , in respect to their length , then surface , ancl their distinction into small and large intestine , intermediate between the Carnivorous and Herbivorous intestinal canal . Nay ,

more , without adopting the numerical argument of the author who considers the numbers of the various kinds of teeth as dictating the predominant proportion of vegetable food ; or applying a similar numerical test to the human bowel , to infer a similar conclusion ; we may so far imitate the ancient augers as to find , in man's entrails , a clue to various dietetic , and even social , details of his nutrition . With only one set of permanent molars , it is clear that he must either he as frugivorous as in Paradiseor resort to

, some kind of cookery which may economise these grinding instruments . With no paunch attached to his stomach , and but a moderate capacity of colon , he ought never to be far from his external stores of food and sliould probably eat two or three times a day . Vegetables , and in large quantity , he is clearly intended to consume : the more so that , in respect to various details of structure and function , his large intestinal surface is gifted with energies far

beyond what its mere comparative size would imply . Lastly if we may accept the above description of a typical food , it is clear that this can scarcely ever be constructed , save by an admixture of animal with vegetable food : the latter only approaching the requisite composition in the case of a few articles , themselves rarely grown in sufficient quanity and permanence save by the aid of animal products which , in practice , nothing but the habit of slaughtering domestic animals could systematically supply . "

It is refreshing amongst all the uncharitable things which it is the fashion to write of Sterne , to find the late Leigh Hunt thus speaking of him , in his Saunter through the West End , lately issued : — "The faults of Sterne are known to everybody , for reasons best known to themselves ; hut it is lamentable to see that envy has not yet done with his virtues . Regrets ( meaning hopes of its

being true ) are still heard about Sterne's ' canting , ' and of his want of common generosity to his relations . Don't believe a word of it . Don't believe it , for the sake of the man who has done the world so much good . Don't believe it , for your own sake , who will injure yourself , to say nothing of betiaying yourself , in proportion as you doubt good in others . We could relate the most affecting instances of pain iven bcalumnies of this sortin quarters

g y , whose only fault was an excess of kindness ancl delicacy . Sterne had reason to exclaim , 'Of all cants in this canting world , deliver me from the cant of criticism . ' .... To suppose that Sterne was unfeeling merely because it fell to the lot of his genius to write more enthusiastically about feeling than other men ,, is at the very least a narrow-minded assumption . At the worst , it is the renouncement of a claim to have one's own words believed . Sir Walter Scott

, who had occasion to write a Life of Sterne , and who had no prejudice in his favour beyond what every man of feeling has a right to have in favour of everybody , does not condescend even _ to notice the charge against him of refusing help to his relations . He contents himself with observing , as simple matter of fact , that his resources , ' such as they were , seem to have been always at the command of those whom he loved . '"

The cinnamon gardens of Ceylon are described as follows , by Dr . Karl Scherzer , in his Narrative of the Circumnavi gation of the Globe by Ihe Austrian Frigate " Novara , " the first volume of which has lately been issued : — " The cinnamon gardens in the nei ghbourhood of Colombo , although for the most part gone to decay , nevertheless impart to the whole scene a singularly cheerful , agreeable aspect . The bushes , from four to six feet in height , with

their smooth , beautiful , light green leaves , resembling those of the hay-tree , and their pale , yellow flower-stamens shoot up doubly fresh and succulent , from the snow-white quartz soil in which they best thrive . The flowering season of the cinnamon is in January , and the fruit ripens in April , when the sap is richest in the shrub , In May the boughs are begun to be "barked , " which process continues till October . The pruning and gathering of the yearling

shoots , which are about the thickness of a man's thumb , is very laborious , ancl employs many hands . Bach labourer cuts off as many as he con conveniently carry in a bundle , then , with the point of a crooked knife , made for the express purpose , strips the entire rind from the wood , carefully scrapes off the exterior corticle ancl innermost layer , and lays the stripped-off cinnamon rind , now reduced to the thickness of parchmentin the sunAvhere it dries

, , and curls together . All round the hut , in which the peeling of the rind is carried on , is diffused a most exquisite aroma , caused by the breaking of the leaves or twigs . What is related , however , by various travellers of the fragrance of the cinnamon forests , which they have scented at a great distance seaward , would seem to indicate that this delicious odour emanates from various other

aromatic plants , in which Ceylon is so rich , rather than the cinnamon groves , the aroma of which , indeed , is not perceptible beyond the immediate vicinity . The best description of cinnamon is not so thick as stout paper , ancl is fine-grained , flexible , lightbrown or golden yellow , sweet and pungent ; the coarser qualities are thick-skinned , dark brown , acrid , stinging , and leave a bitter after taste . In the warehouses , the cinnamon rinds ancl canes sorted for shiing are piled each otherpacked in bales of

pp upon , about 901 bs . weight each , and carefully sewed . In all cavities and spaces , between each layer an immense quantity of pepper is strewn , to preserve the cinnamon during its sea-voyage , by which both spices are benefited ,. the black pepper absorbing , all the superfluous moisture , and gaining by the fragrance of the cinnamon . "

Dr . Bullar , in his Letters from abroadfrom a Physician Search of Health , thus describesa Turkish bath at Grand Cairo : — " I have just heen with a fellow-traveller to take a Turkish bath . You enter a large pillared room hungfrom its ceiling with towels ancl coloured garmeuts . You mount a large divan , strip , and are wrapped in towels and turban , and then marched to the bath-room . This is a room about sixteen feet squarein the middle of which is a hathabout eiht feet

, , g square , ancl full of very hot water . The floor , which is on a level with the top of the bath , is of a coarse kind of marble mosaic . The atmosphere is hot from the quanity ot hot water in the bath and the closeness of the room , which allows of no escape of vapour . Two men , who look like demons of suspicious kind , then take you in hand ; one took my companion , and one myself . They are necked , except a cloth round the loins , skin dark brown , black beards , ancl

long black hair growing from the back half of their heads , the scalp elsewhere being closely shorn . They are as skinny as sweating can make them . The room is dark from situation and scanty light , and darker from cloudv vapour , ancl your imagination can picture many ugly possibilities from such folk in such a place . They lay you down flat on your back on the marble , with only a towel between you and it and a rolled towel beneath your head ..

; Then they throw small quantities of very hot water on you , ancl ! rub you softly with their hands . They next put on a glove of short horse-hair , and keep up a friction for about twenty minutes , rubbing you all over . It is this which brings off your scarf skin , in small rolls , ancl in considerable quantity . Then you get into thehot bath , and wash as long as you like . After this you get out , and are soaped all over with very clean soap , and gently ' rubbed ,,

get again into the hot bath for a wash , ancl are thence taken intoanother room . Here bowls of tepid water are thrown over you . This being finished , you are conducted into another room , are wrapped in dry linen cloths , turhaned , and covered by a coloured cloth , ancl then are conveyed to the first room , where a bed is made for you on the ground , close to an open window Here you are kneaded , stretched , twisted , cracked in your knuckles and otherjoints , shampooned , and then finished oil " . After a few minutes of quiet , you dress , and walk off . It is a very refreshing process . "

A new book for the microscope , hy Henry J . Slack , JF . G . S ., is on the eve of publication , entitled Marvels of Pond Life . In A Saunter through ihe West End , by the late Lei gh Hunt , only published a few weeks ago , . we have the following genial gossiping about Charles Lamb ancl Hazlitt , in connection with Wardour-street : —Charles Lamb was fond of this street ; and

Hazlitt lies on the other side of the wall which encloses the burial ground of St . Anne ' s . We have heard Lamb expatiate on the pleasure of strolling up ' Wardour-street on a summer ' s day . ' It was there , in stalls and boxes more precious to him than conser-