faced, jolly-looking lawyer, Mr. Scarlett -and, farthest of all, the college-looking, muddy faced man, Mr. Marryatt. As for those behind, they are unknown to fame -save one, who, on the score of oratory, far transcends his compeers. I mean that person with the meagre, forbidding contour, the grey eye, the upturned, twitching nose, and the quivering lip; he sits in the back row - Mr. Brougham. One feels moved when he rises in defence. When he gets up, with a grating harsh voice, an undulatory motion of the fingers-soon the extended forefinger raised, comes slap into the palm of his left hand,—and louder yet with two-a vibration that rings through the court. Mark the silence, the coughing has ceased-all eyes, as if by a talisman, rivetted on him. What tension of nerves! Listen to him proceed-hear the relentless sarcasm-the frightful denunciation-the tremendous peal! Watch the va cillating attitude-each nerve strained,each muscle-the antitype of his vengeance. Now, behold the uplifted arm-thunder falls with it-BANG-on his briefs-again and again. You might hear a pin fall in the gallery. At length, after an hour and a half, he reseats himself-each passion that distorted his face, each flash that lit his brow, still dance in livid lines on every feature. One more half hour, and he has sunk into the original dark bronze aspect, and he seems frigid, and coiled up in the same immovable indifference as ever.

After him, I would not care to hear any other but the attorney-general; he certainly is a very superior hand. But, as for Mr. Gurney, his vigour is on the wane; he has little elocution-no desire for it, apparently. Mr. Scarlett, too, has had great fame, but falls off, because he is not so persevering as formerly; it is all ingenuity -nothing striking-and Marryatt is more fit for a lord chancellor than a pleader.

But we will pass over the Hall into the Common Pleas; there opens a widely different prospect :--an irritable judge, and refractory bar-the one nettled at every trivial offence, the other tantalizing with malicious mirth-the former determined to overcome-the latter resolved to rebel and to torture. Every point "not worth an egg

"is teased and wrangled, and off they go like gunpowder? Mr. serjeant Taddy catches one end of the subject, and Mr. serjeant Wilde the other, and they revile and recriminate over this bone of contention with most admirable and brotherly complacency. And "his lordship," to improve the matter, considering his dignity disregarded, and his seat insulted, with a sober and laudable resolve, annoys these quibblers, with a most praiseworthy, pertinacity. There is but one

more observation to make ;-that the barristers in this court must all be serjeants, and wear the coif: a restriction exceedingly unfair; as it excludes the young, and, perhaps, the more talented, for their more monied brethren-as this is a place obtained by money, not by merit. It is to be hoped, that the eyes of our legislature will be directed to this when they have nothing better to do.

MR. M'CULLOCH'S LECTURES

ON

POLITICAL ECONOMY, AT THE LONDON TAVERN.

LECTURE VII.

PAPER MONEY.

Necessity of making Paper convertible into Gold-Distinction between Public and Private Banks-Advantages of a Paper Currency-Mr. Ricardo's Plan for making Notes exchangeable for Bars of Bullion-No valid Reason for with drawing small Notes from Circulation Evils of the Act of 1708-Superior Plan of Scotch Banks.

THE subjects of inquiry this morning were the advantages of paper money, and the means by which its value may be kept on a par with the value of gold.

The cost of production, as explained in the last lecture, determines the value of the precious metals. The value of a paper currency depends on the proportion be tween the quantity of paper in circulation, and the quantity of commodities. Increase the issue of paper, and its value is depreciated; in other words, the same quantity of paper exchanges for a less quantity of commodities, and vice versa. Exchangeable value depends on the issue of paper, and those who have the power to regulate its amount, have power over prices; they may raise or depress them at pleasure.

The example of England and America shows, that such a power ought not to be vested in any individuals. Their interest consists in augmenting the paper in circulation: to limit the issue it is necessary" they should prefer the interest of the public to their own. Such persons may be found in Utopia, but not in London or Edinburgh. No check on excessive issues is so effective, as that of making paper convertible into gold at the will of the holder.

Mr. McCulloch next entered into some arguments to prove the depreciation of paper in 1811, but as this is a point generally conceded, we shall pass them over. The power of issuing paper in some respects limits itself. More paper there put forth, and less valuable it becomes: it might be issued in such quantities till a ten pound note would not buy a pound of beef. Suppose by some chemical process guineas can be multiplied indefinitely; their value would in consequence fall, till they were worth no more than so much lead or iron. It is exactly the same with an increase of paper.

A distinction exists between the Bank of England and private banks; the latter can only force their paper into circulation by discounting bills, or making advances on landed or other securities. The former pays the interest of the public debt,amounting to thirty-two millions, and has always the power of issuing paper to that amount. The only check is the obligation to pay their notes in gold or silver. For a century previous to the Restriction Act, in 1797, the bank was so limited, and their paper never depreciated, except during a short period in the American war.

A paper currency is undoubtedly the most perfect and economical. Supposing twenty millions of coin in circulation, the annual cost, from wear and loss, is not less than a million. The obligation of the bank to pay their notes in gold, imposes on them a considerable expense, which is partly lost to the community. The wealth of the state is made up of the wealth of individuals: the capital lost by the bank in keeping on hand a stock of coin ready to meet the uncertain demands of the holders of their notes might, under a different system, be employed in trade and commerce, in the improvement of docks and manufactures. The state also suffers; the expense of the Mint is 15,000l. a year.

To obviate the disadvantages of a currency being wholly or partly metallic, Mr. Ricardo proposed an expedient equally admirable for simplicity and effect. In lieu of coin, he proposed bars of gold should be exchanged for paper, at the rate of 31. 17s. 104d. per ounce. By this means, the value of paper would be kept at par, and as the bars would not circulate, there would be no loss from wear or casualties. The bank committee of the house of lords, in 1818, adopted the suggestion of Mr. Ricardo, with the restriction, that the bank should not be compelled to take up paper for a less weight of gold than sixty ounces. Instead of sixty, the limit might have been five hundred or one thousand ounces.

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One great advantage of Ricardo's plan is the security it affords against sudden panics; which always operate with the greatest effect on the humbler classes. When a great amount of small notes is in circulation, no bank can withdraw them in a few days: the obligation to pay only in bars is a check on the holder. Those who have only one or two notes, are not entitled to demand payment; they are obliged to join together; time is afforded to the bank to make preparations, and, perhaps, in the interval the alarm subsides.

16

For

The necessity of withdrawing the small notes from circulation to prevent forgery, caused the plan of Mr. Ricardo to be aban doned. Forgery, however, arises partly from the defective execution of the bank notes; for twenty-five years the bank has made no improvement in the execution of their notes. That notes might be made not easily to be imitated is evident from the example of America and Ireland. five years not a single forged note was presented to the Irish bank. Doubtless, what one artist does another may imitate so well, as no difference be perceptible to common observance. But it is not likely the highest order of talent is to be found among forgers: artists of superior ability have loftier objects in view than defrauding their fellow creatures. If paper may be counterfeited, coin may be clipped and adulterated. I do not think the plea valid for withdrawing the small notes: a paper currency would save the country 1,200,000%. or 1,500,000l. a year.

The lecturer then adverted to the act of 1708, in favour of the Bank of England; which restrained the establishment of private banks with more than a certain number of partners. The injurious tendency of this regulation is very great. From the limitation on the number of partners, banks multiply without a sufficiency of capital, the evil of which has been strikingly exemplified. In the years 1814, 15, and 16, no less than ninety-two commissions of bankruptcy were issued, which was at the rate of one in seven and a half of the whole number of banks established. The misery and loss occasioned to small tradesmen, and the labouring classes, were prodigious. The act of 1708 does not extend to Scotland; joint-stock companies, with great capital, carry on the banking trade; and the consequence is, there has been no material failure since that of Douglas in 1772. The advantage of banking has been proved by Dr. Smith, and by lord King. Private banks prevent forgery, from the opportunities they enjoy for watching over and detecting any attempts to counterfeit their notes in their

L

Home Trade-Relation between Home and Foreign Trade-Prejudices of Mr. Spence-Addison on Commerce-Mr. Pitt and the Treaty of 1786-Progress of Commerce.

THE advantages of home trade, or the mutual exchange of commodities between different districts of the same country, are too obvious to need enforcing. What domestic trade is to the different provinces of the same kingdom, foreign trade is to the nations of the earth: the intercourse between Yorkshire and Devon is conducted on the same principle of mutual benefit as that between Spain and England. There is a territorial division of commerce among countries, as well as a division of employment among individuals; and the wealth and prosperity of each are most accelerated by pursuing that branch of industry for which it possesses the greatest natural facilities. One country can best cultivate the grape; another is better adapted for manufactures. Portugal, with a suitable climate, finds it more profitable to cultivate the vine than to manufacture broadcloth; England, with superior capital and machinery, finds manufactures more conducive to her interest. It is therefore the mutual advantage of both that their pursuits should differ, and the Portuguese exchange their surplus wines for the woollens of Britain. Mr. Mill has justly observed that foreign commerce is merely an extension of the principle of a division of labour, which has proved so beneficial to the human race.

Providence, by giving different soils, climates, and natural productions to different countries, has provided for their mutual intercourse and civilization. When the freedom of commerce is not restricted, each country necessarily devotes itself to such employments as are most beneficial. This pursuit of individual advantage is admirably connected with the good of the whole. By stimulating industry, and by using most efficaciously the particular power bestowed by nature, commerce distributes labour most effectively and most economically; while by increasing the general mass of useful products it diffuses opulence, and binds together the universal society of nations by the powerful ties of mutual interest and reciprocal obligation. Commerce has enabled each particular

state to profit by the inventions and discoveries of every other state. It has given new tastes and new appetites, and also the means of gratifying them. Man is naturally prone to indolence, and the savage is invariably found to be averse to labour. Industry is always in proportion to our wants. Hume and sir W. Temple have remarked that, nations labouring under the greatest natural disadvantages are usually the most industrious.

Whatever Mr. Spence may affirm, it is to commerce countries are indebted for their greatest enjoyments. The best account of the advantages of foreign intercourse is given in an early number of the Spectator:"

"Nature," says Mr. Addison, " seems to have taken a particular care to disseminate her blessings among the different regions of the world with an eye to this mutual intercourse and traffic among man. kind, that the natives of the several parts of the globe might have a kind of dependance one upon another, and be united together by their common interest.Almost every degree produces something peculiar to it. The food often grows in one country, and the sauce in another. The fruits of Portugal are corrected by the products of Barbadoes, and the infusion of a China plant is sweetened by the pith of an India cane. The Phillipic islands give a flavour to our European bowls. The single dress of a woman of quality is often the product of a hundred climates. The muff and the fan come together from the different ends of the earth. The scarf is sent from the torrid zone, and the tippet from beneath the pole. The brocade petticoat rises out of the mines of Peru, and the diamond necklace out of the bowels of Hindostan.

"If we consider our own country in its natural prospect, without any of the benefits and advantages of commerce, what a barren and uncomfortable spot of earth falls to our share! Natural historians tell us that no fruit grew originally among us but hips and haws, acorns and pig-nuts, with other delicacies of the like nature; that our climate of itself, without the assistance of art, can make no farther advances towards a plum than to a sloe,and carries an apple to no greater perfection than a crab : that our melons, our peaches, our figs, our apricots and cherries, are strangers among us imported in different ages, and naturalized in our English gardens; and that they would all degenerate and fall away into the trash of our own country, if they were wholly neglected by the planter, and left to the mercy of our sun and soil. Nor has traffic more enriched our vegetable world than it has improved the whole face

of nature among us. Our ships are laden with the harvest of every climate. Our tables are stored with spices, oils, and wines. Our rooms are filled with pyramids of China, and adorned with the workmanship of Japan. Our morning's draught comes to us from the remotest corner of the earth. We repair our bodies with the drugs of America, and repose under Indian canopies. My friend, sir (Andrew, calls the vineyards of France our gardens; the spice islands our hot-beds; the Persians our silk-weavers, and the Chinese our potters. Nature, indeed, furnishes us with the bare necessaries of life, but traffic gives us a great variety of what is useful, and at the same time supplies us with every thing that is convenient and ornamental. Nor is it the least part of this our happiness that, whilst we enjoy the remotest products of the north and south, we are free from those extremities of weather which give them birth; that our eyes are refreshed with the green fields of Britain, at the same time that our palates are feasted with fruits that rise between the tropics.

"For these reasons there are not more useful members in the commonwealth than MERCHANTS. They knit mankind together in a mutual intercourse of good offices, distribute the gifts of nature, find work for the poor, add wealth to the rich, and magnificence to the great. Our English merchant converts the tin of his own country into gold, and exchanges its wool for rubies.

The Mahometans are clothed in our British manufacture, and the inhabitants of the frozen zone warmed with the fleeces of our sheep."

The reading of this brilliant passage, which is in the 69th Number of the "Spectator," excited a very lively interest. The lecturer continued to enlarge on the advantages of commerce by showing how nations are benefited by their mutual discoveries. A process invented in Calcutta or New Holland is in a few months adopted in Manchester. Mistaken views of commerce, like mistaken notions in religion, often lead to miseries. The object of commercial wars has been to enrich one nation by impoverishing its neighbours. Nothing could be more absurd; it is not the riches but the poverty of a neighbouring state we ought to dread. The Commercial Treaty, concluded by Mr. Pitt, in 1786, was the first symptom of a more liberal policy. From mutual jealousy, little intercourse for centuries had subsisted between England and France; and that minister was entitled to great praise for the ability and eloquence with which he assailed long-established prejudices.

Mr. M'Culloch concluded a very interesting discourse, with noticing the dis

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covery of the mariner's compass, and a rapid sketch of the progress of commerce from the time of the Phoenicians to the present day.

LONDON AND ROYAL INSTITU

TIONS.

DR. ROGET has commenced Courses of Lectures at both of these important establishments for the diffusion of knowledge. The series of discourses which are now delivering in the theatre of the Royal Institution will first claim our attention. They are devoted to the physiology of the external senses; and in our present number we propose furnishing our readers with a correct outline of the most interesting portions of the course.

Dr. Roget noticed, in the first place, several peculiarities in the mechanical organization of the parts of animals, in the structure of which, he observes, there prevails, even in the simplest cases, a much greater complexity than at first view appears; and he gave some account of the different opinions of anatomists, respecting the nature and properties of the elementary tissues of which their fabric is composed. He explained the mechanical properties of the cellular and membranous parts of the body, as resulting from their peculiar mode of organization, and exhibited an experiment in illustration of the hygrometic property of animal mem-brane.

Muscular contractility, of which the effects are so remarkable, and which is a property so characteristic of animal life, was next presented as a subject of inquiry. Dr. Roget took a review of the most celebrated hypotheses which have, from time to time, been devised for explaining the phenomena of muscular power; pointing out, at the same time, their inefficiency, inasmuch as their admission would involve greater difficulties than the simple fact which they profess to explain. He then gave some account of the theory on this subject, which has been recently advanced by Dr. Prevost and Mr. Dumas, and which has excited considerable attention on the continent, founded on the newly discovered laws of electro-magnetic attrac tion. The conclusion which these physiologists have been led to by their observations and experiments is, that muscular contractions are the result of an attraction between the nervous filaments distributed to the muscular fibres, consequent on the transmission of currents of electricity through these nervous filaments.

Proceeding in his subject, Dr. Roget began in the second lecture to examine the

sense of touch, which is the simplest of external senses, and the one most universally diffused in the animal kingdom. The purposes for which it hath been bestowed, are to acquaint us with the presence of external bodies, and with such of their properties as we are more immediately interested in perceiving. The impressions conveyed to the mind by this sense are variously modified in different cases; the distinctions arising from these modifications, and the circumstances which produce them, were then explained.

The different opinions of anatomists with regard to the rete mucosum, which is interposed between the epidermis and corium, were next discussed; and the connection which subsists between this membrane and the colour of the skin, in different animals, and in different parts of the same animal, was pointed out. The different races of mankind have a differently coloured rete mucosum; thus while it is white, or pellucid, in the European, it is yellow in the Chinese; of a copper hue in the aboriginal American; and of a deep black in the negro. In the mandril baboon it is of a bright scarlet on the skin of the nose; and of a violet hue on the cheeks. Similar diversities of colour occur in the legs and toes of many birds, and in the neck and cheeks of the vulture. The various lines of tortoiseshell, in like manner, derive their origin from the natural colours of the mucous web in the corresponding parts; which is also the source of the variegated skins of serpents and of fishes, so frequently admired for their extreme beauty and splendour. The deficiency of this constituent portion of the skin, or its preternatural pellucidity, gives rise to those varieties in animals which have been termed albinos. Many in stances of this singular deviation from the ordinary structure occur in the human race, especially among negroes; but it is also frequently met with among various species of quadrupeds.

When speaking of the different appendages to the skin, the ingenious lecturer remarked that hair was almost exclusively confined to the class mammalia. Its mode of growth from a minute vascular pulp, situated within the interior surface of the corrum, or true skin, where it derives its nourishment from a set of vessels, distinct from those which nourish and repair the epidermis, was detailed at length. The structure of the bulb of the hair was fully described. It is composed of a pulpy and vascular portion, and an investing capsula, from which the root of the hair proceeds; and is itself contained in a *h of condensed cellular membrane, vests it on all sides, and forms a

tube for the passage of the shaft of the hair through the skin. These several parts were represented by drawings on a large scale, by which their structure and connections were rendered intelligible. Many curious particulars were stated as the result of microscopical observations on the hair; the various opinions entertained by physiologists, as to their consisting of bundles of filaments; as to their being tubular, or containing a central pith; and as to the inequalities of their surface, whereby they admit of the operation of felting, the foundation of so many useful arts, were discussed. The chemical properties of hair, though in general similar to those of horn, were stated to differ in some respects from the latter. The colour of hair appears to be derived from two kinds of oil, discovered by Vauquelin, and separable from it by alcohol. The black colour of hair is owing to the predominance of iron as a colouring material in these oils, while an access of sulphur imparts a yellow or orange tint to the hair. The different proportions in which the component parts exist in hair, produce various modifications in its mechanical properties of cohesion, density, and elasticity. The electric and hygrometric properties of hair were next adverted to; and the result of the experiments of De Saussure, and of Brian Robinson, on this subject, was stated. Various circumstances were also detailed respecting the growth and regeneration of hair, and the changes in colour which it undergoes in different states of the system. The diversities of structure that are met with in the hair of different tribes of mammalia were next noticed; the more complete structure of the larger hairs that compose the whiskers of some animals-such as those of the cat kind, and of the seal-was described; and the gradation pointed out by which we were conducted to the bristles and quills of the wild boar, of the hedgehog, and of the porcupine.

In examining the insensible investments of the other classes of vertebrated animals, Dr. Roget remarked, that we are able to trace the same affinities and the same chain' of gradation, as in the mammalia. This he exemplified in the claws, talons, beaks, and bills, of birds; and noticed the peculiarities in the several parts of the integuments, and of their appendages, in this class of animals. The structure of the feathers, and the series of processes employed by nature in their formation and developement, were explained at length. It would be impossible to enter into the detail of these processes, or to convey clear ideas of the nature of the changes by which the growth of a feather