Memorials from Ben Rhydding [By J.P. Nichol]. (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated.1852 Excerpt: ... nation. There seems, iudeed, an inveterate contrast between the popular mind and the scientific, in regard of such matters. How often, for instance, has history recorded of codes of law, eminent for scientific beauty, and profoundly cherished therefore by Rulers and philosophic Jurists, failing nevertheless and crumbling to the ground, before rude questioning of their objects--the amount of happiness they secure, the kind of progress they facilitate % Valetudinarianism is not a luxury which a poor man appreciates; life is a blessing to him, and health needful, so that he earn the daily bread he prays for: the doctrine of the independence of the human frame, or its non-connexion with man, could therefore scarcely be a favourite with that rough and practical class. Science might kill disease; but if it did not preserve life and insure strength, how little its import to the man desirous to live, and requiring to work that he may live Tidings, too, had E gone abroad concerning truths of unquestionable reality, although disowned by the logic of Science. These plants and animals; they have no immunity from disease, and yet, without medicine, they grow, nay, grow gloriously--accomplish their course and functions, and, then only, pass away and give place. Suppose you wound a tree. Return after an interval, and, in all probability, the wound has disappeared. Notice, again, that feverish kid. Is it a favourite? Then let it alone, for the brook is near; and although you know not the how or the wherefore, the kid will get well. To make or mend the drapery of the lily, do you seek the aid of a Bond Street artist? Look at the ineffable mechanism of your own frame;--is the building of a structure like that, within the capacity even of the designer of your Crystal Palace?...