Chambers's Journal of Popular Literature, Science, and Art, Fifth Series, No. 112, Vol. III, February 20, 1886

In Short

This volume is a curated miscellany from a widely read periodical of the 1880s. It functions as a digest of its era, alternating between rigorous natural history—explaining plant habits and insect-eating flora—and practical guides for the gentleman emigrant or the prudent investor. Interspersed with these are dramatic serialized narratives and grim reports on social ills, such as the gambling suicides at Monte Carlo. It serves as a fascinating historical record, demonstrating how the Victorians synthesized the rapid advancement of scientific discovery with their rigid, often deeply moralistic, societal frameworks.

The Story

The volume opens with a scientific exploration of "habit," a recurring motif that links the involuntary actions of human brains to the biological adaptations of the natural world. This focus on orderly, observable behavior flows into a detailed botanical study. The text illustrates how green plants differ from fungi and how certain flora, like the mistletoe or the carnivorous Sundew and Venus’ Flytrap, have evolved complex, "purposeful" behaviors to secure sustenance. This leads to a broader discussion of agricultural science, emphasizing that a plant’s health is as much a matter of chemical composition—silica, lime, and phosphorus—as human health is a matter of diet.

Transitioning from the soil to the social sphere, the book adopts a firm, didactic tone regarding the "problem" of young men. It offers a manual for parents considering the colonial farm-pupil system, cautioning them against fraudulent agents and advising that a young man’s labor is his own best currency. This practical advice gives way to a work of fiction, In All Shades, which centers on a refined, music-loving, mixed-race man from Trinidad. Through his interactions with English society, the narrative touches on the tension between artistic ambition and the duty one feels toward a homeland. The story explores the complexities of identity, prejudice, and the pursuit of justice, particularly regarding a secret inheritance and the machinations of a villainous woman named Miss Wakefield.

The narrative arc then shifts to the rugged, sun-drenched frontiers of Australia in the story The Lady Godiva. Here, a wedding celebration is interrupted by the arrival of law enforcement seeking to arrest the groom, Jim Dwyer, for horse-stealing. The scene is one of vibrant, chaotic colonial life, where the community and his new bride conspire to help him escape across the river into a different jurisdiction. The volume concludes by returning to the stark realities of the modern world. It documents the grim ledger of eighteen hundred suicides at Monte Carlo, contrasting the "callous brutality" of the gambling industry with the technical, cold precision of military artillery experiments, where engineers test the viability of disappearing gun mounts. The book ends not with a resolution, but with a factual accounting of the world’s ongoing, often contradictory, developments.

How It Unfolds

The biological framework The volume begins by asserting that habit is a universal law, governing both the lower centers of the human brain and the nutritional strategies of plants. It establishes a scientific baseline that treats nature as a series of observable, repeatable mechanical functions.

The botanical investigation The focus narrows to the curious behavior of parasitic and insectivorous plants, framing their survival methods as deliberate, evolved tactics. This section bridges the gap between raw nature and the purposeful, utilitarian logic valued by the Victorian reader.

The social instruction The narrative shifts to the economic anxieties of the middle class, providing cautionary advice on the risks of sending sons abroad. It frames the colonial experience as a business transaction, emphasizing the need for legal vigilance and practical labor.

The dramatic intersection The fiction sequences introduce human emotion and moral conflict into the previously clinical landscape. These chapters explore the struggle of individuals—like the cultured man from Trinidad or the desperate colonial bride—to assert their dignity against restrictive social and legal forces.

The ledger of reality The volume concludes with a sobering, analytical look at the consequences of human vice and the progress of state-sanctioned violence. By reporting on Monte Carlo’s suicide statistics and the efficacy of naval weapons, it anchors the reader back in the objective, often harsh, industrial world.

The People

The book presents a cast of characters who serve as archetypes of their social position. Dr. Whitaker, the "mulatto" visitor from Trinidad, stands out as a figure of quiet grace and intellectual depth. He values music and his homeland over the cold, technical jargon of botany, yet he faces the subtle, pervasive skepticism of his English hosts. Miss Wakefield acts as the embodiment of greed; she is driven by a profound, "spiteful" hatred toward her relatives and becomes the antagonist in a desperate, failed struggle to hoard an inheritance. Mr. Slimm, the investigator, is the antithesis of the impulsive Miss Wakefield—he is calm, calculating, and armed with a cold, professional sense of justice. In the Australian frontier, Jim Dwyer appears as the embodiment of colonial independence. He is "narrow in the flanks" and "quick-eyed," a man who views legal ownership as flexible and is supported by a community that values local solidarity over the reach of distant law. Lastly, the unnamed "average British parent" represents the book’s target audience: industrious, somewhat ignorant of the wider world, and deeply concerned with securing a prosperous future for his sons.

In Its Own Voice

That which may be at first unusual, soon becomes the normal way of life.

The author explains how habit, whether in animal instinct or human skill, eventually shapes the structure of our daily reality.

It’s the trees and the plants themselves that interest me, not the mere lifeless jargon of technical phrases.

The character Dr. Whitaker defends his aesthetic appreciation of nature against the reductionist, clinical perspective of his companions.

The sound of the dreaded ‘hammer’ produces universal stillness and apprehension, and where a few seconds before was heard the hum of many voices and the sound of hurrying feet, now every ear is on the alert to hear the name of the proscribed member.

This describes the terrifying social and financial death of a bankrupt stockbroker, marking the absolute finality of professional failure on the Exchange.

What It's Really About

At its core, the volume explores the tension between order and chaos. Whether it is the chemical requirements of a corn-plant, the rigid rules of the Stock Exchange, or the social laws governing colonial emigration, the book seeks to categorize the world to manage its unpredictability. It asks how the individual defines their existence—through the "second nature" of habit, the pursuit of professional status, or the assertion of personal morality in a hostile environment. It is an argument for the necessity of scientific observation and "judicial fairness" as the only means to navigate an era defined by rapid, often unsettling, global change.

Why Read It Today

Readers who enjoy the intellectual density of nineteenth-century periodicals will find this volume deeply rewarding. It provides a rare, unvarnished look at the Victorian worldview, where a discussion on the digestive juices of a Venus' Flytrap sits comfortably alongside a report on the systematic suicide of gamblers in Monaco. The prose is precise, rhythmic, and uncompromising, though modern readers should be prepared for the period’s casual racial categorization and its tendency to lecture the reader on moral and practical conduct.

The experience of reading this book feels like stepping into a Victorian study, surrounded by the era's diverse interests: a mix of earnest scientific curiosity, colonial ambition, and a lingering, quiet anxiety about the modern world. The sections on the "farm-pupil" system and stock-exchange ethics are particularly striking for their bluntness, offering a glimpse into the transactional nature of the age. While the fiction sections show their age in their dramatic flourishes, they remain effective at highlighting the period’s class tensions. This is not a casual read; it is a dense, educational, and at times grimly fascinating artifact that challenges us to consider how much—and how little—the fundamental questions of human habit and survival have changed in the last century and a half.