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The priests were too cunning to be thus easily caught, and the Pythoness, according to Herodotus, returned the following

answer:

"It is impossible, even for a god, to shun the lot marked out by the Destinies. Croesus is punished for the crime of his fifth ancestor, who, being only a private guard of a king of the race of the Heraclidæ, lent himself to the instigations of an artful woman, killed his master, and seized the crown to which he had no right. Apollo has done all in his power to turn aside the misfortunes of Cræsus from himself to his successors, but has been unable to mollify the fates. All that they could grant to his prayers he has done, to gratify this prince. He has delayed for three years the taking of Sardis. Let Cræsus be assured, that he has been made prisoner three years later than was appointed by the destinies. In the second place, he has succoured him when about to become a prey to the flames. As to the oracle, Croesus has no right to complain. Apollo foretold him, that in making war on the Persians, he would destroy a great empire. If Crasus had been wise, he would have sent again to demand of the god, whether he meant the empire of the Lydians, or that of Cyrus. Having neither understood the meaning of the oracle, nor sent again to ask an explanation from the god, he has only himself to blame. In the last instance, he has equally misunderstood the answer of Apollo, relative to the mule. Cyrus is this mule, his parents being of two different nations; and his father being of a less illustrious race than his mother: she being a Mede, and the daughter of Astyages, king of the Medes while the father is a Persian, subject to the Mede, and who, though inferior in all respects, has married his sovereign."

The Lydians returned to Sardis with this answer of the Pythoness, and communicated it to Croesus; and then, as Herodotus very piously concludes, "Cræsus saw that the blame rested with him, and not with the god."

Apollo was not always thus ambiguous; his answer to the inhabitants of Ægeum is not to be misunderstood: the anecdote is thus related by several historians. The inhabitants of Ægeum having vanquished the Etolians in a naval combat, and having captured a galley of fifty oars, sent a tenth of the spoil to the temple of Delphos, and, being flushed with their victory, demanded of the god, who were the most excellent of the Greeks? The Pythoness replied, "The best cavalry is that of Thessalia; the handsomest women are those of Lacedemonia;

those who drink the clear waters of the fountain of Arethusa, are brave; but the Argians, who inhabit the country between Tiryntha and Arcadia, abounding in flocks of sheep, are more so. As for you, Ægeans, you are neither the third, nor the fourth, nor even the twelfth; you are thought nothing of, you are hardly reckoned among the cities." It is but fair to state, that Suidas, and some other writers, say that this answer was returned to the Megareans.

Herodotus tells us that the Cnidians, a Lacedemonian colony, being threatened with an attack by Harpagus, one of the generals of Cyrus, determined to fortify their city, which was situated on a small peninsula, by cutting a deep trench across a narrow isthmus, which joined it to the main - land. They employed numerous workmen, but made little progress, owing to the hardness of the stone, and the frequent accidents occurring to the labourers. The idea then struck them, that some supernatural power impeded the work, and they sent to Delphos to inquire the reason of their ill success. The oracle replied, "Do not fortify the isthmus, dig not at all. Jupiter would have made your country an island, if he had thought it proper." At this answer of the Pythoness, the Cnidians gave over digging, and when Harpagus and his army presented themselves, surrendered their country without striking a blow. This took place about five hundred years before our era; and though we may wonder that a people could be so easily deluded, yet we may impute their weakness to the ignorance of the times in which they lived: but what shall we say to the following similar instance of superstition which was exhibited in Europe, at the close of the 17th century?

In the reign of Charles the Second, king of Spain, a company of Dutchmen offered, at their own risk and expense, to open a water conveyance between Madrid and the sea, upon the condition that they were, for a certain number of years, to have all the tolls levied upon the merchandise which should pass that way. Their plan was to deepen the bed of the Manzanares, and make it navigable to the spot at which it falls into the Tagus, near Aranjuez, and, by means of a canal, to render the latter river passable to Lisbon. The design, if carried into effect, would have been of incalculable advantage to Spain; and it was submitted to the council of Castile, who, after a long and serious deliberation, came to the following remarkable resolution :—“ If it had pleased God to make these two rivers navigable, he would not have needed the assist

ance of man to do it. Since he has not done it, it is clear that he has not thought it proper that they should be navigated. The proposed enterprise, therefore, appears to violate the decrees of his providence, and is an attempt to correct the imperfections it has pleased his wisdom to leave in his works!!!"

(To be resumed in our next.)

ANATOMICAL STUDY.

MR. EDITOR,

SIR.-There is not at the present moment a more interesting subject than anatomical study, not only from its intrinsic beauty and utility, but from the recent appalling events that have thrown such a melancholy interest over the secrets of the dissecting

room.

The blood-stained horrors of the burking system have aroused the vigilance of the legislature, and new laws of doubtful utility are in progress to arrest the career of murder and sacrilege, by providing a supply of bodies for anatomical study. But while these enactments are in progress, the cause of science is impeded, and the student is deprived of those sources of information, which nothing but practical dissection can furnish. This is more peculiarly the case with respect to operative surgery, in which many cases occur, where such is the effect of disease, that the structure of the parts (seldom vital indeed) is so changed, that none but a man intimately acquainted, by repeated and minute dissection, examination, and preparation, with their natural size and position in a healthy state, would recognise them, or be able to operate for their safe and successful removal. An example of this occurred at Bartholomew's, a short time since, in a woman who was operated on successfully by Mr. Earle, for a cancerous tumour in the mouth and jaws, where nothing but the most minute knowledge of the parts could have enabled him to perform the operation.

Thus, in every operation, the simplest as well as the most complex, a knowledge of anatomy by dissection is indispensable, and it is to be hoped that such enactments will be made, as, without outraging human feeling, may supply sufficient subjects for the use of students, while proper regulations might insure their appropriation to the legitimate purposes of study, which is often overlooked, and bodies are mangled by dozens, without an adequate advancement in the students. Rigid attention, and classiHeation on the part of the demonstrator,

would promote order, and facilitate science; this is done in our classical schools, and why may it not be as beneficially employed in our schools of anatomy? I am not, sir, an anatomist, but surely this, like every other branch of science, is capable of being reduced to the analytical method of study, and thus one body properly distributed might supply daily employment for thirty or forty pupils. The body may be divided into, 1st, the extremities; 2d, the trunk; 3d, the head; 4th, the viscera. The extremities are four, two legs and two arms; these would occupy four classes1st class, the first layer of muscles in the arm; 2d class, second and third layer of muscles; 3d and 4th classes, the leg; 5th class, the continuing parts of the trunk ; 6th class, the head, with the brain and the organs of sight, hearing, smell, and taste; 7th class, the viscera and their parts. Thus a general sketch would be made of anatomical structure, and reference and explanation might be given by means of models, preparations, and lithographic coloured diagrams, the size of life.

Another division might be made on the same principle, of the more advanced pupils, as, class 1st, the arteries; class 2d, the veins; class 3d, the nerves; class 4th, the science of injection, and other anatomical preparations. By such means, a regular course of study would be promoted, and a much smaller number of subjects required weekly, than in the present practice. Each of these classes should have its master, and the students should each in rotation perform the dissection of the part assigned to the class. Hundreds of professional men might be found in London, at present half starving, who could be engaged at a stipulated salary to perform this office, to the great benefit of the students, and the promotion of science. Let not your scientific readers scoff at this national system; it has been availably employed in the most complicated sciences of languages and numbers, and why should it not be equally available in anatomy? Mystery has been too long the bane of the medical profession, and it is now time the veil should be removed, and the structure of the frame, even in its most minute parts, as well known as the construction of a clock or steam-engine.

One source of information I cannot omit mentioning before I conclude, which is the Hunterian Museum at Surgeon's Hall; this, for

minuteness of detail, variety of specimens, and scientific arrangement, is an invaluable institution to the anatomical pupil, and should be open at stated times to the students of our hospitals and schools of anatomy

Being once put into motion, he was ex

rest, he hated moving. By this disposition, when he was prevailed upon by his companions to pass an evening in gaiety, he never desired to change that mode of living, and would have persisted in it, if he could have got them to do the same. He was then as eccentric, and as inclined to motion,

The uniform kindness and intelligence of Mr. Cliff, the conservator, must be grate-tremely apt to continue so: and when at fully acknowledged by all those who have visited the museum, and it is to be hoped that in the present exigence it will be opened to students on certain hours in each day by tickets from the respective demonstrators. If there are any other collection of a similar kind in our hospitals, they should be opened likewise, and the cause of science would thus be promoted during the progress of the proposed enactments.

Anatomy as a study is so interesting and instructive, that when once commenced con amore, it cannot be easily relinquished. Its practical details to the amateur are certainly disgusting, and perhaps few, comparatively, would defile themselves with the "filth and garbage of the dissectingroom," except to follow it as a profession. But many would, and do, study it, for its interest and utility, from prints, models, and preparations, by which a sufficient knowledge of the structure and uses of the several parts may be obtained, as will serve for all the purposes but those of operative surgery, and to such the student may at all times direct his attention with eminent profit; and it cannot be doubted, that in the present emergency every facility will be afforded by our public institutions to forward this desirable object. Sept. 1832.

E. G. B.

MEMOIR OF THE ECCENTRIC
MR. T. STUCLEY.

MR. EDITOR, SIR.-ECCENTRIC biography, or the characters of persons, who have been remarkable for their deviation from the ordinary practice of mankind, may be useful to the observers of human nature. The following sketch of one of these singularities was originally drawn by a very eminent physician, who knew the man well, by living in the same town in the north of Devonshire.

Thomas Stucley, was the son of Lewis Stucley, the celebrated Independent minister, who was ejected for non-conformity, from the cathedral of Exeter, after the Restoration. On his being silenced, he retired to Bideford, where, having a good fortune, he continued till his death, in 1687. His son, the subject of this article, was born at Bideford, and brought up to the bar, in which profession he might have succeeded to advantage, had he employed his talents with energy. But he wanted steadiness, and, having an estate of a thousand pounds a year, he felt no desire to increase it.

as a comet.

In like manner, when he had once become sedentary, by two or three days' staying in his chamber, he hated the thoughts of being put into action again, so that it was not without difficulty he could be brought abroad; like a heavy stone, which has lain some time in one spot, and formed a bed, out of which it is not easily removed.

When he left London, he retired into the country, filled with the project of perfecting the perpetual motion. This naturally kept him much at home, in pursuit of his object; and as no one in the town had resolution enough to reason with him on his conduct, or had sufficient influence to make him alter it, the consequence was, that he kept within doors entirely. During the course of thirty years, he never came abroad but once, and that was when he was obliged to take the oath of allegiance to George the First, in the Town Hall. This was the only time, also, that he changed his shirt, garments, or shaved himself, the whole time of his seclusion. He was a very little man, and at once the dirtiest and cleanliest person alive; washing his hands twenty times a day, not neglecting every other part. In all this long period, he never would have his bed made.

After he had given up all hopes of success in discovering the perpetual motion, he took pleasure in observing the work and policy of ants, with which insects he so plentifully stocked the town, that the gardens suffered considerably by them.

In the reign of Queen Anne, whenever the Duke of Marlborough opened the trenches against any city in Flanders, Mr. Stucley broke ground at the extremity of a floor in his house, and made his approaches regularly with his pick-axe, gaining work after work, which he had chalked out according to the intelligence in the Gazette. His operations were so correctly carried on, that he never failed to take the place in the middle of his floor at Bideford, on the same day that the duke was master of it in Flanders. Thus every captured city cost him a new floor.

He never sat in a chair: and when he chose to warm himself, he had a pit before

the fire, into which he jumped, and squatted down on the floor.

No person was admitted to his presence, but the heir of his estate, his brother and sister the first when he sent for him, which was but rarely, the others sometimes once a year, and then he would be very cheerful, and talkative of the tittle-tattle of the town. His family consisted of two female servants, but only one of them slept in the house. Notwithstanding this singularity and apparent avarice, he was by no means covetous. On the contrary, during the whole time of his retirement, he neither received nor asked for any rent from his tenants: and those who brought him money, he would sometimes keep at an inn several days, pay all their expenses, and send them back without taking a shilling.

He lived well in his house, and frequently gave alms to the poor: always having large joints on his table, and never would suffer the same to be brought before him twice. At Christmas he divided a handsome sum among the necessitous of the town. He seemed to be afraid of two things only one, being murdered for his wealth; and the other, being infected with some contagious disease. Under these impressions, he would sometimes send his servant to borrow a half-crown from his neighbours, to hint that he was poor: and to guard against fever, he wore a hat tarred all over, fumigated all the letters or papers that were brought to him, and received his money in a basin of water.

He never kept his cash under lock and key, but piled it up on the shelves, before the plates in his kitchen. In his bed

chamber, into which no servant was allowed even entrance, he had two thousand guineas on the top of a low chest of drawers, covered with dust; and there were five hundred more on the floor, where, at the time of his death, they had lain fiveand-twenty years. This last sum, a child that he was fond of playing with, had thrown down, by oversetting a small table on which it stood, and which also, ever after, continued in the same situation. Through this money he had made two paths, by kicking the pieces aside as he walked one of which led from the door to the window; the other from the window to the bed.

When he quitted the Temple, he left an old portmanteau over the portal of the ante-chamber, where it remained undisturbed many years, during which time the chambers had been occupied by several persons. At last, the gentleman who took

possession of them, being about to make some alterations, ordered his servant to pull down the portmanteau; in doing which, it broke, by being rotten, and out fell four or five hundred pieces of gold, the owner of which was ascertained by some papers that were found with them. There was reason also to believe that he had placed some thousands in the hands of a banker, or tradesman, in London, without the precaution of taking any memorandum, or acknowledgment. All these sums, how

ever, were lost to his heirs, as he never would say to whom he had lent the same, through fear, perhaps, lest he should hear that the money was lost; which some minds can bear to suspect, though not to know for a certainty.

After leading this useless life of a recluse above thirty years, Mr. Stucley was found dead in his bed covered with vermin. His remains were interred with his ancestors, in the vault of the church of West Worlington, the advowson of which rectory is still possessed by the family.

Mrs. Sarah Stucley, the sister of this extraordinary being, founded and endowed the Grammar - school of Bideford. The nephew and heir at law, Lewis Stucley, was a barrister and recorder of Bideford. He was the last of the male line of this ancient family. Lewis William Buck, Esq., of Daddon, and late member for Exeter, inherits the estates of the Stucleys, by female descent.

ANECDOTE OF DR. BARROW. EXEMPLIFYING THE FORCE OF PREJUDICE AND EXAMPLE.

MR. EDITOR, SIR,-Of this profoundly learned, and, I will add, eloquent divine, Dr. Barrow, you have lately given an appropriate character. I should have wished to see a fuller memoir; in the absence of which, be pleased to accept the following curious anecdote, as related by his friend Dr. Walter Pope, author of that excellent Horatian song, "The Old Man's Wish."

"Dr. Barrow was a very liberal man, and an excellent preacher; though his personal appearance, like that of St. Paul, was far from prepossessing. At the beginning of the Restoration, Dr., afterwards Bishop Wilkins, desired him to preach at his church, of St. Lawrence, Jewry, then, perhaps, the most popular pulpit in the city. The church was full, and great was the sensation when Dr. Barrow made his appearance, with an aspect pale, meagre, and unpromising, slovenly and carelessly dressed, his collar unbuttoned, and his hair un

combed. Thus accoutred, he mounted the pulpit, began his prayer, which, whether he did read or not, I cannot positively assert or deny. Immediately all the congregation was in an uproar, as if the church were falling, and they scampering to save their lives, each shifting for himself with great precipitation. There was such a noise of pattens of serving maids and ordinary women, and of unlocking of pews, and of cracking of seats, caused by the younger sort hastily climbing over them, that, I confess, I thought all the congregation were mad; but the good Doctor, seeming not to take notice of this disturbance, proceeded, named his text, and preached his sermon, to two or three gathered, or rather left together; of which number, as it fortunately happened, Mr. Baxter, that eminent nonconformist, was one; who afterwards gave Dr. Wilkins a visit, and commended the sermon to that degree, that he said, he never heard a better discourse. There was also amongst those who stayed out the sermon, a certain young man, who thus accosted Dr. Barrow, as he came down from the pulpit, "Sir, be not dismayed, for I assure you, it was a good sermon." By his age and dress, he seeemed to be an apprentice, or, at the best, a foreman of a shop; but we never heard more of him.

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"I asked the Doctor, what he thought when he saw the congregation running away from him? "I thought," said he, "they did not like me or my sermon, and I had no reason to be angry with them for that."- "But what was your opinion," said I, "of the apprentice ?"-" I take him," replied he, "to be a very civil person; and if I could meet with him, I'd present him with a bottle of wine." There were then in the parish, a company of formal, grave, and wealthy citizens, who, having been many years under famous ministers, as Dr. Wilkins, Bishop Ward, Bishop Reynolds, Mr. Vines, &c. had a great opinion of their skill in divinity, and of their ability to judge of the goodness and badness of sermons. Many of these came in a body to Dr. Wilkins, to expostulate with him, why he suffered such an ignorant, scandalous fellow, meaning Dr. Barrow, to have the use of his pulpit: I cannot precisely tell whether it was the same day, or some time after in that week, but I am certain it happened to be when Mr. Baxter was with Dr. Wilkins. They came, as I said before, in full cry, saying, they wondered he should permit such a man to preach before them, who looked like a starved cavalier, who had been long

sequestered, and out of his living for delinquency, and came up to London to beg, now the king was restored; and much more to this purpose. He let them run out of breath; and when they had done speaking, and expected an humble, submissive answer, he replied to them in this

manner:

"The person you thus despise, I assure you, is a pious man, an eminent scholar, and an excellent preacher; for the truth of the last, I appeal to Mr. Baxter here present, who heard the sermon you so vilify. I am sure you believe Mr. Baxter is a competent judge, and will pronounce according to truth." Then turning to him, "Pray, sir," said he, "do me the favour to declare your opinion concerning the sermon now in controversy, which you heard at our church the last Sunday." Then did Mr. Baxter very candidly give the sermon the praise it deserved; nay, more, he said that "Dr. Barrow preached so well, that he could willingly have been his auditor all day long." When they heard Mr. Baxter give him this high encomium, they were pricked in their hearts, and all of them became ashamed, confounded, and speechless; for though they had a good opinion of themselves, yet they durst not pretend to be equal to Mr. Baxter; but, at length, after some pause, they all, one after another, confessed they did not hear one word of the sermon, but were carried to dislike it, by his unpromising garb and mien, the reading of his prayer, and the going away of the congregation;" for they would not by any means have it thought, if they had heard the sermon, they should not have concurred with the judgment of Mr. Baxter.

"After their shame was a little over, they earnestly desired Dr. Wilkins to procure Dr. Barrow to preach again, engaging themselves to make him amends, by bringing to his sermon their wives and children, their man-servants and maid-servants, in a word, their whole families, and to enjoin them not to leave the church till the blessing was pronounced." Dr. Wilkins promised to use his utmost endeavour for their satisfaction, and accordingly solicited Dr. Barrow to appear once more upon that stage: but all in vain; for he would not by any persuasions be prevailed upon to comply with the request of such conceited, hypocritical coxcombs."

AVARICIOUS CHARACTERS.

THE greatest endowments of the mind, the greatest abilities in a profession, and

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