KIDD'S LONDON JOURNAL. 



157 



quently ; but the " Doctor " repeated, witli 

 the most violent and hideous gestures, that 

 what he said was "the fact." Still, it was 

 "no go." A more lamentable piece of 

 chicanery and prostitution of intellect(!) 

 never came under our observation. We do 

 not affirm that we know there was collu- 

 sion ; it is not necessary for us to do so. 

 But we do say that such miserable exhibi- 

 tions as these, got up at the expense of 

 science and truth, to promulgate the doc- 

 trines of veritable humbug, and gross imposi- 

 tion, ought to be exposed. 



If Mesmerism be true ; if any cures, or 

 alleviation from pain, have by its agency 

 been accomplished — let us rejoice in that 

 fact, and make it patent to the world. We 

 thereby confer a lasting-benefit on society ; 

 but let us not get up " a show," a puppet 

 show, or a mountebank exhibition at the 

 expense of it — and make money by it ! It 

 is the direct way to cast discredit on every 

 discovery that has been made, and as such 

 we denounce it. 



We do not wish to be severe on " Doctor " 

 Darling in particular ; although the contor- 

 tions and convulsions of his body, and the 

 horrible violence of his gesticulations, were 

 sufficiently indicative of the means whereby 

 he sought to produce certain diabolical 

 effects on the nervous system of his poor 

 " patients," — but we war with the whole 

 tribe of charlatans. 



Under cover of a new-fangled, jaw-break- 

 ing word (Electro-Biology), the public are 

 got together in many parts of London to 

 see something wonderful (John Bull like) ; 

 and the result ends, as usual, in the easing of 

 their pockets of loose cash. 



We have lots of other " Doctors " beside 

 Darling. There are Brisk, Whisk, - Frisk, 

 Disc (who charges Is. extra for a " talis- 

 man "), Stone, Moan, Groan, and a host of 

 other starving adventurers — all " Doctors! " 

 Not one of these Worthies knows anything 

 about science, and cares even less for it. 



May their money perish with them ; and 

 may all the diabolical follies with which they 

 seek to inoculate society be concentred in 

 their own silly sconces, and buried with them! 

 So long as we can hold a pen, so long will 

 we defend the community from the mal- 

 practices of such miserable, crawling 

 charlatans. 



THE ROYAL BOTANIC GARDENS,— 

 Regent's Park. 



There are few persons ignorant of the 

 very beautiful appearance which these 

 gardens present in the various seasons of the 

 year; and it is only doing common justice to 

 Robert Marnock, Esq., F.S.A., by whom 

 they were arranged and laid out, and by 



whom they are still superintended, to pay 

 him this well-earned tribute of unqualified 

 praise. Dr. Balfour a stranger to us, and 

 therefore an impartial critic, thus comments 

 on the gardens in his printed " Notes," 

 Avritten during a recent visit : — Visitors to 

 the City of London should not fail to ob- 

 tain a peep at the garden of the Royal 

 Botanic Society, Regent's Park, where there 

 are some features of interest which cannot 

 fail to be instructive to all who interest 

 themselves (as every gardener ought to do) 

 in landscape gardening. Within the limits 

 of a by no means extensive garden we have 

 a variety of scenery — gardenesque and pic- 

 turesque — all of the most interesting cha- 

 racter, and displaying the results of a correct 

 taste such as is not daily met with in works 

 of art. The quiet seclusion of the lake, and 

 the manner in which the whole grounds are 

 laid out, convey to the visitor's mind an im- 

 pression that the grounds are of an exten- 

 sive character, such as is by no means the 

 case ; and some of the most sequestered 

 nooks whose seclusion the visitor is apt to 

 regard as obtained by the sacrifice of a wide 

 extent of surrounding grounds, in reality 

 verge upon the very limits of the garden, and 

 are within two or three feet of the public 

 park. 



The ground forming the garden was, we 

 believe, originally quite level; but the well- 

 directed ingenuity of Mr. Marnock has 

 broken it up in a hundred different ways, and 

 with so just a conception of the natural, that 

 an accomplished geologist might readily 

 depict in imagination the phenomena at- 

 tending the upheaving of the miniature 

 mountains, and the sinking of the hollows, 

 without dreaming that they are the result of 

 human labors. 



The ivied bridges and other rustic objects 

 that are introduced, are in good keeping 

 with the surrounding scenery, and serve to 

 heighten its picturesque character. Here, 

 the artists of London ought to repair to 

 study nature ; they will find the elements of 

 landscape beauty arranged to their hands, 

 and in combinations calculated to correct 

 their views of the beautiful and the pictu- 

 resque as they are exhibited in nature. 



In England the expansive flat country pre- 

 sented to the eye, with its monotonous clus- 

 ters of trees, is unfavorable for exhibiting 

 those " views " and small bits of exquisite 

 scenery, which perpetually open up upon the 

 traveller in Scotland : hence the acknow- 

 ledged tameness of English scenery ; in it 

 the charms of variety and decisiveness of 

 character which so enchant the imagination, 

 are entirely wanting. 



The new conservatory in the Regent's 

 Park Garden is a magnificent object; but it 

 is intended to add considerably to its extent. 



