Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 62, No. 382, August 1847

In Short

This collection of articles offers a snapshot of Victorian intellectual life, ranging from technical critiques of Scottish philosophy to atmospheric travelogues and tragic short stories. It is a quintessential artifact of its time, capturing the transition from Enlightenment-era rationalism to a more modern, inquisitive curiosity. The magazine endures as a fascinating record of how educated readers in 1847 processed the rapid changes in science, history, and politics. By juxtaposing heavy philosophical treatises with dramatic fiction, it reveals the multifaceted interests of a public eager to understand both their ancient heritage and their evolving world.

The Story

The contents of this volume follow a disparate arc, unified only by the inquisitive spirit of the Victorian periodical. The magazine opens with a major critical examination of George Grote’s History of Greece, setting a tone of scholarly rigor. The reviewers praise Grote for his ability to move beyond the "icy timidity" of previous historians, who treated classical authors as infallible gods rather than fallible men. The discussion shifts from the political structures of Athens to the legendary nature of the Trojan War, questioning how much of that foundational myth remains anchored in historical reality.

The narrative then pivots from the academy to the wild, rugged geography of the Scottish Highlands. The writers lament that while British tourists flock to the Alps, they neglect the "grand and beautiful" scenery of the Cairngorms in their own backyard. This section descends into a humorous, long-standing feud regarding the true size of Loch Avon, pitting the writers against the late James Hogg, "the Shepherd," who insisted on exaggerating the lake's length in his writing. This transition from high history to personal, grounded landscape studies underscores the magazine’s intent to document the nation's character.

The collection then shifts into the medical and the macabre, exploring the emerging "science" of the time. The contributors examine the potential of etherization in surgery—hailing it as a "signal benefit to humanity"—before diving into the mysterious, often baffling accounts of mesmerism and catalepsy. These accounts describe patients who, while in a trance, appear to possess heightened, localized senses, such as hearing through the stomach. This interest in the limits of human consciousness leads directly into the political and biographical realm, with a sober retrospective on Napoleon’s final days at St. Helena. The text details his fatal "precipitancy" in leaving Elba, suggesting that a small lapse in timing cost the Emperor his empire.

The final segments move into fiction and polemics. A tragic tale of a bullfighter, Juancho, illustrates the heavy price of a "perilous profession," while a separate narrative introduces the romantic entanglements of the legal bar, involving stolen emerald studs and a noblewoman fleeing a mercenary marriage. The volume concludes with a dense, argumentative critique of Dr. Thomas Reid’s "Philosophy of Common Sense," attempting to dismantle his theories on perception. A brief, apologetic note from the publishers to Professor Wilson regarding a dispute over the University of Edinburgh serves as a reminder of the magazine's role as an active participant in contemporary institutional politics.

How It Unfolds

A new history of Greece. The text evaluates the shifting perspective on classical studies, noting that historians have begun to view the Greeks as human beings rather than marble statues. It asserts that modern scholarship allows us to strip away the "mysterious air of learning" that once protected ancient texts from critical scrutiny.

The call of the Highlands. The focus shifts to the Cairngorm mountains, arguing that they are as magnificent as the Alps and deserve more attention from travelers. The writers use the debate over the size of Loch Avon to highlight the difference between subjective, poetic memory and objective geographic fact.

Medical mysteries and the Emperor. The discussion moves to the practical application of ether in surgery and the curious, unverified claims of mesmerism. It concludes this beat with a historical autopsy of Napoleon’s final, ruinous decisions, emphasizing how the smallest delays can alter the course of world events.

The drama of life and law. The volume shifts into fictional territory, exploring the intense passions of a Spanish bullfighter and the complicated romantic lives of young Scottish lawyers. These stories provide a vivid, if sometimes melodramatic, look at the social anxieties and class distinctions of the day.

The final philosophical reckoning. The book closes with a rigorous dissection of Dr. Reid’s philosophy, arguing that his attempts to explain perception ultimately fail by relying on the very theories he sought to destroy. This analytical section reflects the era's deep commitment to mapping the boundaries of the human mind.

The People

The figures in this volume are defined by their ambitions and their constraints. Napoleon Bonaparte emerges as a man betrayed by his own impatience; his desire to reclaim his power leads him to act prematurely, turning what might have been a negotiated outcome into a "hue and cry" that ends his career. Juancho, the torero, is a man haunted by his own legend; despite his physical perfection and the admiration he commands, he is trapped by the "gloomy air" of a man who lives constantly on the edge of a violent death.

Dorothea Percy is a noblewoman caught in a conflict between her heritage and the "mercenary" desires of her father, who wishes to marry her to a wealthy, upstart merchant. She represents the struggle of the traditional aristocracy against the new "Caucasian" wealth of the industrial age. Tom Strachan, a young lawyer, serves as the classic romantic dupe; he is a man who loves "with an earnestness and an obstinacy which is actually appalling," allowing himself to be treated as a "poodle-dog" by a clever, fickle woman. Finally, Dr. Thomas Reid and his philosophical peers stand as intellectual architects whose systems are scrutinized, with the authors acting as clinical judges of their internal consistency, ultimately finding them wanting in their grasp of reality.

In Its Own Voice

"As he saw men, and not moving statues, in the heroes of Grecian history, so he was persuaded that the writers of that history were also men, fallible and prejudiced, like those who were living and writing about him."

The author commends the historian Mitford for his revolutionary approach to interpreting ancient texts.

"The amount of success already obtained, may further be deemed sufficient to make us secure that the object of extinguishing the sufferings of surgery will never again be lost sight of by the medical profession and the public."

The contributors express cautious optimism regarding the early, experimental use of anesthetics.

"He made no phrase about refuting the theory--he simply refuted it."

This remark clarifies that the philosopher Berkeley performed the work of dismantling representationism before his contemporaries did.

What It's Really About

At its heart, this book is an exploration of the authority of experience. Across its varied articles, it asks: what can we truly know? Whether the subject is the physical reality of a lake, the psychological state of a mesmerized patient, the authenticity of a historical event like the Trojan War, or the nature of human perception, the contributors are obsessed with distinguishing between "observed fact" and "tortuous statement of hypothesis." The underlying theme is the struggle to reconcile the inherited traditions of the past with the cold, critical light of modern science and philosophy. It is a work concerned with the act of seeing—how we look at the world, how we look at history, and how we look at each other.

Why Read It Today

Readers who enjoy the slow, deliberate pace of nineteenth-century prose will find this volume deeply rewarding. It feels like stepping into a Victorian drawing room, where the conversation shifts effortlessly from the heights of classical philosophy to the gossip of the local court, and finally to the rugged beauty of the Scottish wilderness. It is an honest, unvarnished look at a time when "progress" was a frantic, daily pursuit.

You must be prepared for the difficulties of the era: the text is dense, sometimes academic in its philosophical critiques, and occasionally colored by the period’s prejudices, particularly in its casual remarks on race and class. However, the reward is an unparalleled sense of atmosphere. There is a strange, lingering power in the descriptions of the Cairngorm mountains—where the modern world of "steam-engines and railways" is momentarily set aside—and in the clinical, detached accounts of medical marvels that were then in their infancy. For anyone interested in the history of ideas or the development of modern travel and scientific writing, this magazine offers a perspective that is both distant and strangely recognizable. It is a work of immense character, reflecting a time that was as intellectually restless as it was physically adventurous.