Literature. Reviews.

clime Avhere rude man ever had any social feeling , or where corrupt refinement had subdued all feeling—never was this one uncxtinguishable truth destroyed from the heart of man , placed in thc core and centre of it by its Maker , that man Avas not made the property of man ; that human power is a trust for human benefit ; and that , when it is abused , revenge is justice if not the duty ot thc injured . These , my lords , Avere the causes why these people rose . '" But , believe Mr . Hastings ' s account , ' and no one of these causes

produced this effect ; no one cause could produce its natural inevitable consequence . Breach of faith did not create distrust ; AA'ant of pay did not create mutiny . Famine did not pinch . Drought did not parch . No ; it AA-as the machinations of these wonderful women , Avho sat as it AA-ere dealing in incantations within the sacred wall of their zanana , and disturbing the country which Avould otherwise remain in peace and gratitude to its protectors . No ; it is an audacious falsity . " Where all is so goodthe difficulty of making extracts is greatl

, y increased ; for , copiously as Ave have selected portions for our readers , j-et we could have trebled the quantity , and then had more to spare . Our reason for dealing Avith Mr . Bond's hook in this Avay is , that it is a necessary to every man who aspires to become a great speaker and to model his style on the perfection of English eloquence . It is also of remarkable A'alue to the historical student , for it presents , hi a clear light , an epoch in our administrative

Indian empire that has had some parallels in late years . Although the impeachment of AVarren Hastings ended in liis acquittal , yet it saved the English government from the obloquy which AA'ould have arisen if they had reAvarded and honoured such a man , and it is of importance , in the annals of the uation , that however brilliant an administration of the poAvers of a A'iceroy may he , and Avith whatever lendour they be surroundedyet AA'hen they

sp may , have been brought about by cruelty and oppression , the feelings of Englishmen re \ 'olt at injustice and sympathize AA-ith the oppressed . AA c shall anxiously aAvait Mr . Bond ' s next volume , in AA'hich , if the care taken be the same as with the hook under notice , AVC are hound to admit that it will be , as this one is , as near perfection as poor humanity can attain to .

NOTES ON LITERATURE , SCIENCE , AND ART . ON Monday , February 27 th , a meeting of a feAV friends and admirers of the late Mr . Hallam Avas held at Mr . Murray ' s , Albemarle-street , the Marquis of Lansdowne in the chair , when it was resolved , in consideration of Mr . Hallam ' s eminent services to the Historical Literature of England , to raise a memorial to him . The names of the committee Avill be announced shortly .

At the Royal Institution on Friday week , Dr . Carpenter delivered a lecture on " The Vital and Physical Forces . " The doctrine of the correlation of the physical forces is now generally received , it having been Avell established that most—if not all—the forces in nature can be resolved into one another . The intimate relation subsisting between light , heat , electricity , magnetism , and mechanical motion has been proved b y numerous experiments ; and Dr . Carpenter ' s object AA-as to

show that the same relation subsists betAA'een those forces and the principle of vitality . After noticing the results of the researches of Professor Faraday and others , AA'hich prove the connection betAA'een heat , magnetism , and motion more particularly , he proceeded to shoiv the direct action of li ght and heat in developing vegetation , and hoAV , under their influence , the carbonic acid and ammonia contained in Avater are decomposed , and the carbon and nitrogen are absorbed bv thc

germinating seed . By the further process of vegetation , the oxygen of the atmosphere and hydrogen of Avater are abstracted , and are applied to the groAvth of plants . Every germ , Dr . Carpenter observed , possesses distinct properties , under the guidance of which the inorganic matter assumes its specified form , and becomes part of the organized structure . These changes are effected by thc action of tho forces of heat and li"ht : and the same amount of force thus derived from the inorganic ' world by

vegetable structures is restored to it , cither directly during the process of decay , or indirectl y by constituting tho food , and becoming part of the structure of living animals . The latter , having obtained their nutriment from vegetable matter , restore to the inorganic world the heat imparted to the vegetables and the beat absorbed from the air in the hui"s cither by decay , by exhalation , by excretions , or by motion , the net of AA-alking , or any other movement of the bodybeing , according to this

, view , excited by heat , which is restored to thc inorganic Avurld by thc resulting action . There is , therefore , a continuous and equivalent action and reaction between the inorganic AVorld aud the vegetable and animal kingdoms . Dr . Carpenter said that the opinion formerly received AVIIS , that each germ contains within itself not only the food necessary to support it during germination , but the living principle , or vital force , by the influence of which it becomes developed . According to that notion

it must be ' supposed that tho original germ contained sufficient vital force to animate all tho succeeding generations of its kind , the absurdity of Avhich , he said , is apparent on considering thc vast accumulation of animal life that AA'ould accrue in one senson from a single aphis , or plant louse , if none of them were destroyed . It has been estimated , for instance , that an aphis would produce during one season , in ten broods , as much liA'iug animal matter as Avould equal in bulk five hundred

millions of stout men ; and it Avould bo monstrous to suppose that the vital force necessary for the life of that mass of living insects could have been contained in the ori ginal one . Every germ , Dr . Carpenter observed , though containing AA'ithin itself the poAver of directing the app lication oi the materials of its groAvth , so that by a peculiar power the same materials arc applied to the formation of all the varieties of vegetable and animal life , yet the force that calls that peculiar property into action is

not inherent in the germ , but is derived from the physical forces of the inorganic AA-OI-ICI . On Saturday last Sir Benjamin Brodie , as president of the Royal Society , gave his first soiree for the season at Burlington House . All the rooms were thrown open , and an unusually large collection of interesting objects in science and art AA-ere exhibited . Among these were the extremely beautiful machine for Aveaving by electricity , invented by Mr .

Bonelli ; Mr . H . Bradbury ' s engraving machines , which were exhibited in action ; specimens of the newly invented process of p hoto-zincography , by Colonel James , director of the ordnance survey ; models of Mr . AYhitworth ' s guns , and specimens of the actual shot used , explained by Mr . AVhitivorth ; a very interesting series of portraits and relics of Dr . Priestley , including two of his electrical machines , exhibited by Mr . Bastock , the Rev . James Martineau , and Mr . Yates ; Trcvithiek ' s original locomotive engine , exhibited by Mr . AVooderoft ; curiosities from Japan , exhibited by Captain Osborn and Dr . M'GoAvan ; model of an iron fortress , exhibited by Mr . Hall ; and a very remarkable series of

experiments , shoAviug electric discharges in vacuo by the voltaic battery , by Mr . Gassiot . Among those present were , His Royal Highness the Prince Consort , the Marquis of Lansdowne , Lord Belper , Lord AVrottesley , Lord Heniker , Lord Teignmoutli , Lord Sheffield , Lord Dennian , Marquis of Bristol , Lord Cranstoun , Lord Stanley , Sir It . Murchison , Sir J . Clarke , Sir . Tames Ross , Sir Leopold M'Clintock , Sir George Back , Sir 0 . Hamilton , Sir C . Pasley , Sir J . Liddell , Sir AV . Harris , Sir J . Rennie , Sir G .

Clark , master of the Mint , Sir H . Holland , Sir E . Ryan , Sir F . Baring , General Sabine , Colonel Hardinge , General Portlock , Sir . ) . Burgoyne , Admiral Manners , Colonel James , Colonel Owen , Dr . Sharper , Dr . Carpenter , Professor Stokes , Professor OAven , Captain AA rottesley , Captain Noble , Captain Sinclair , Major Burt , Professor Maiden , Mr . AA'hcatstone , Mr . AYeld , Mr . Akermann , Mr . Reeve , the Rev . J . Martineau , the Rev . J . Jephson , Mr . J . Dixon , Mi ' . Majenclle , Mr . Fairbairn , Mr . AVhitrt'orth ,

Mr . Forster , Mr . Gould , Mr . Sclater , Mr . Forrest , Mr . AVooderoft , Mr . GodAA-in , Dr . Major , Mr . Pearce , Air . It . Cole , Mr . Atkinson , Mr . Brodie , Mr . Fergusson , Dr . Walker , Dr . Gladstone , Dr . Noad , Mr . Locke , Mr . Ashton Yates , Mr . James Yates , Mr . Green , Dr . Grant , Mr . Bradbury , Dr . Roget , Air . BigeloAv , Dr . Arnott , Air . Venn , Mr . Faraday , Dr . Lankester , Mr . Evans , Dr . Gray , Mr . Beaumont , Mr . Hudson , Mr . AVebster , Mr . Skey , & c . At the last meeting of the Society of Antiquaries , the chair Avas

taken by 1 . OUATV , Esq ., the treasurer . Mr . AVoodward exhibited a rubbing of an incised slab at Saint Cross . Air . Howard exhibited a silver ring with a merchant ' s mark , found in Lincolnshire . Mr . Franks , director , exhibited a tradesman ' s token issued by a relative of Samuel Pepys . Mr . Hart exhibited a parchment roll of the rental of the Manor of Kettylberston , in the county of Suffolk , in the reign of Edward A'I . Thc Director read Mr . Akerman ' s remarks "On the Traces

of Early Anglo-Saxon Settlements in the Upper Valleys of the Thames ; Avith an attempt to identify the Coalohythe of the Charters . " A movement has been set on foot for the purpose of offering a testimonial to Mr . AVakley , the originator , proprietor , and editor of the Lancet ; and , considering the great services rendered not only to medical science , but to the public Aveal , by its fearless exposure of the adulterations practised in this commercial age , the compliment seems

thoroughly deserved . The testimonial is to assume the noble and enduring form of a medical scholarship in the London University , called alter his name . Some very interesting additions have been made to the National Portrait Gallery , among which arc Garrick stud ying " Macbeth , " by R . E . Pine ; AVarren Hastings , by Tilly Kettle ; John Smeaton , Avith the Eddyston Lighthouse in the distance ; James AVatt , contemplating a drawbig of the steam engine ; Dr . Erasmus Darwin , by AVright , of Derbv ;