Fashion is a poor Vocation.—Its creed, that idleness is a privilege, and work a disgrace, is among the deadliest errors. Without depth of thought, or earnestness of feeling, or strength of purpose, living an unreal life, sacrificing substance to show, substituting the fictitious for the natural, mistaking a crowd for society, finding its chief pleasure in ridicule, and exhausting its ingenuity in expedients for killing time, fashion is among the last influences under which a human being who respects himself, or who comprehends the great end of life, would desire to be placed.
THE MAGNETIC POLES.
The unwearied spirit of scientific research which so peculiarly marks the times in which we live, has ascertained the positions of the northern and southern magnetic poles to a degree of almost mathematical precision. This discovery will be hailed with pleasure by every person at all acquainted with the benefits derived to society by the labours of those gifted individuals who have devoted their thoughts more particularly to the study of this most abstruse and mysterious branch of physical knowledge. The position of the northern magnetic pole was determined by Sir John Ross, in his second northern expedition, fitted out at the sole expense of a British merchant, to be in 70 degrees 5 minutes 17 seconds north latitude, and 96 degrees 46 minutes 45 seconds west longitude, near the western coast of the newly discovered tract named, after the individual through whose munificence the boundaries of science have been thus enlarged, Boothia Felix. Its place is now marked on the globes and maps of the world published since the navigator’s announcement of the solution of this long-sought-for problem. The day of the discovery was the 1st of June 1831.
The position of the southern magnetic pole has not yet been ascertained to so great a degree of precision. Excited by a noble spirit of emulation caused by the success of the expedition fitted out by Mr Booth and led by Sir John Ross, three expeditions have been fitted out to complete the solution of the problem—to fix the position of the southern magnetic pole, as that of the northern had been already fixed. The parties in this noble rivalry are Great Britain, France, and the United States. The British magnetic expedition, under Captain James Ross, sailed on the 5th of May for Van Diemen’s Land. The only notices as yet received of its progress are, that soundings were obtained at the depth of 3600 fathoms in the South Atlantic, about 900 miles S.S.W. of St Helena; and again at the depth of 2680 fathoms, at 450 miles west of the Cape of Good Hope. A dispatch from Captain Dumont d’Urville, commandant of the French expedition, to the Minister of the Marine, details all the leading particulars of his voyage, by which it appears that he has nearly though not altogether succeeded in solving this part of the problem. On the 1st of January the expedition sailed from Hobart Town in a southern direction for 1350 miles, and in the latitude of 60 degrees south met with the first island of ice, and shortly afterwards discovered land ranging nearly along the south polar circle, and, as far as the navigator’s observations went, between 136 degrees and 142 degrees east longitude. The appearance was that of an ice-bound, barren coast, wholly unfit for the habitation of man. The snow and ice which covered it gave its surface an almost level appearance. Farther inward nothing was to be perceived but ravines, inlets, and projections, without a trace of vegetation. Whales, large porpoises, fur-seals, albatrosses, and petrels and penguins of different species, were seen near the shore. The commander gave this newly discovered coast the name of Terre Adelie. “This name,” he says in his dispatch, “was intended to perpetuate the remembrance of my profound gratitude for the devoted companion who has three times consented to a long and painful separation, to enable me to achieve my projects of foreign exploration.” On the 1st of February, in 65 degrees 20 minutes south latitude, and 131 degrees east longitude, the expedition crossed the meridian of no variation; and the magnetic observations afforded the means of determining that the position of the magnetic pole must be in the neighbouring land of Adelie itself, or on the compact ice which adjoined it. Having so far succeeded in attaining the main object of his mission, Captain Dumont bade a final adieu to these dreary regions, and steered for Hobart Town, where he arrived on the 17th of February, after an absence of forty-six days, having lost sight of the ice altogether in the parallel of 57 degrees south latitude.
The American expedition, under Captain Wilkes, has been equally successful in discovering the south polar island or continent, for its geographical character has not yet been ascertained. The land was first seen in 64 degrees 50 minutes south latitude, and 154 degrees 18 minutes east longitude, by a singular coincidence precisely on the same day, 19th January, that it had been observed by the French navigator; and Wilkes was enabled to run along the shore, for about 1700 miles, as far as 97 degrees 45 minutes east longitude, so near the land as often to find soundings with a few fathoms of line, and to be able to carry away several valuable geological specimens of the rocks and soil. His description of the appearance of the coast corresponds with that already given.
Whether any immediate beneficial results, practically applicable to the improvement of commerce and colonization, will accrue from these discoveries, may be doubtful, but the experience of the era in which we live forbids us to reject the prospect of ultimate benefits to society from any discovery tending to enlarge the bounds of science, though the means by which they are to be sought for are still out of sight. The discovery of the extensive line of coast ranging nearly along the south polar circle, serves in some degree to realize the conjectures of former geographers, who, observing that by much the greater mass of known land was in the northern hemisphere, laid down the position that there must lie a countervailing quantity of land somewhere in the southern hemisphere; so fully convinced were they of the existence of this fancied continent, that in the maps constructed by Herman Moll and other scientific artists of his time, the coast is laid down in a line nearly corresponding in latitude with that of Terre Adelie, and continued round the globe, so as to represent the whole of the south frigid zone as a continent, on which they inscribe the name of Terra Australia Incognita—the unknown southern region. With those who originated the supposition, this unknown region was a mere creature of the imagination. They were in possession of no facts to prove its reality; yet it is singular that in this, as well as in many other fictions, the ideal creature of the fancy has been discovered to have some foundation in the realities of existence.
Paying down upon the Nail.—The origin of this phrase is thus stated in the Recollections of O’Keefe the dramatist:—“During the Limerick assizes I saw a stuffed glove, about four feet long, hanging out from the top of the Exchange, nearly across the main street; this was the accustomed token that for a week or a fortnight, whilst the courts were sitting, no debtor could be arrested. Debtor or creditor, this was a good thing for the theatres, as during that time the city was thronged. An ample piazza under the Exchange was a thoroughfare: in the centre stood a pillar about four feet high, and upon it a circular plate of copper about three feet in diameter; this was called the nail, and on it was paid the earnest for any commercial bargains made, which was the origin of the saying, ‘Paid down upon the nail.’” Perhaps, however, the custom was common to other ancient towns.
General Use of Tea in China.—In China an ardent spirit is made from rice, and called sam-shu, of which punch is made in a coffee-pot, and it is drunk out of China cups; but the natives are not much addicted to its use, a simple infusion of tea being the general beverage of all classes. At all hours of the day the artisan, as he sits at work, has his little tea-pot and miniature cup beside him, out of which he quaffs a little at pleasure, or presents a cup to his visitor. The more refined class make the infusion in cups, in the manner already described. After this process, as nothing is allowed to go to waste in China, the tea-leaves are collected, dried, and rolled up again, and sold to the English and Americans, under the denomination of hyson mun-dun-go; that is, tea having neither taste nor smell. None of this tea is sold in England under its proper name, being for the most part mixed with other kinds, and thus brought into the market. I never saw green tea used in the houses of the natives, or of the Fanqui merchants, where of course the best kinds were to be had. The fact is, the consumption of green tea is for the most part confined to the lower orders and the opium smokers, who require its stimulating effects to settle the disturbed state of their nervous system; and with us it is found to correct the effects of an over-dose of opium—Dr Fulton’s Travelling Sketches.
Progression.—He that is good may hope to become better—he that is bad may fear that he will become worse; for vice, virtue, and time, never stand still.—Colton.