Admiral Lord Keppel, who had been wrongfully accused of misconduct at the battle with the French fleet off Ushant. He was successful in getting a verdict of acquittal; and full of gratitude for his zeal and industry, Keppel presented him with a thousand pounds. and chemical properties, a good deal was already known, but their physiological, and consequently their therapeutical, qualities had been little investigated. To a man of active imaginative faculty like Beddoes, the possibilities of the application of It is unnecessary to pursue the details of his these aërial fluids to the cure of disease opened up forensic and political achievements how he a boundless field of speculation. He gave up the defended Lord George Gordon, Horne Tooke, and chemical lectureship at Oxford, in order to devote others, became member of parliament for Ports- himself to a course of research into the curative mouth, and rising in his profession, was appointed virtues of various gases. For this purpose, he took Lord Chancellor of Great Britain, and raised to the peerage as Baron Erskine of Restormel, 1806. a house in Bristol; but when his landlord, and his Owing to a change of administration, he did not neighbours in Hope Square, came to know of his long retain the office of Chancellor. While a object, they were not a little troubled in spirit, and judge, he was liked for his suavity. It never has for a time it seemed very doubtful whether he been said that he was eminent as a jurist. He would be permitted a peaceful occupation of the was celebrated mainly for his brilliant oratorical premises. The fear was, that the house, or, possibly, qualities, the saliency of his wit, his manly cour- the whole square, might some fine morning be age in defending right against might, and his inde- propelled skywards by the irresistible force of his fatigable industry. He was fond of fun and jocularities, and uttered innumerable bon-mots, imprisoned 'airs,' or that the surrounding atmosthough, in these respects, he was perhaps outshone phere might be poisoned by the fumes generated by his brother, Hon. Henry Erskine, who distin- in their production. When these alarming anticiguished himself as an advocate at the Scottish bar. pations had been allayed, the sanguine doctor set Lord Erskine's wife, who had been his faithful and hard to work, and in a few years managed so enduring companion in depressed circumstances, thoroughly to imbue others with his own hopes unfortunately did not live to see her husband and ideas, that in 1798 the British Medical PneuLord Chancellor. She died in 1805, before he matic Institution was established by public subreached this dignity. He mourned and long survived her, marrying a second time in his old age. the great merit of some papers on Light and Heat, scription. Its founder had the sagacity to recognise His lordship died while on a visit to Scotland, in 1823, and was succeeded in his title by his eldest written by a young man of only nineteen years of son. The only thing we have to add respecting age, living in one of the remotest parts of CornLord Erskine is, that his Speeches have been col- wall. To him Beddoes at once offered the scientific lected and published, and testify to his extraor- superintendence of the new Institution, which dinary genius. included a laboratory for experiment, a hospital, and a lecturing theatre. Humphry Davy-for he it was eagerly accepted an appointment so congenial to his tastes THE STORY OF A GAS. W. C. Ir is nearly a century since the celebrated Dr The young chemist forthwith began a series of Priestley, on exposing iron nails to the action of experiments on the physiological effects of difnitric oxide, discovered a gas whose properties, he ferent gases, in the course of which he, more admits, upset his most cherished ideas, being of than once, all but killed himself, by resolutely such a nature that he would not have hesitated inhaling some of the most deadly aerial fluids. beforehand to pronounce them incompatible. What One of the very first of the gases to which he puzzled him was, that whilst the gas was almost turned his attention was Priestley's 'dephlogistiinstantly fatal to animals placed in it, yet it sup-cated nitrous air.' Shortly before, an American ported and even intensified the flame of a candle. chemist, named Mitchell, had propounded a theory To this anomalous gas he gave the name of 'dephlo- of contagion by which this gas was credited with gisticated nitrous air;' which, however, gave place a capacity of mischief-working perfectly appalling. to that of nitrous oxide,' on the science of chem- It was stated to be the active principle in all conistry soon after being emancipated from the 'phlo-tagion, and to be capable of producing the most giston' theory. But it is not with the name of its discoverer, but with that of another great chemist, that this remarkable gas will be for ever associated. The story of how the latter came to investigate its properties is worth recalling. At the end of last century there lived at Clifton a physician named Dr Beddoes, a man of great abilities, and of restless mental energy, which, however, was not seldom misdirected. He was all his life a man of hobbies, and one of them was, that disease could be cured by the inhalation of 'factitious airs,' that is, artificially generated gases. Most of the elementary and compound gases, it must be borne in mind, had been only recently discovered. Of their physical terrible effects when respired in the minutest quantities, or even when applied to the skin. To investigate the qualities of so pestilent an 'air' required some little courage. Davy first satisfied himself by cautious attempts, frequently repeated, that the gas could be breathed, at least in small quantities, without any of the dire effects ascribed to it. It should here be mentioned that in Davy's experiments the gas was inhaled in a diluted form, as his arrangements did not provide for a complete exclusion of the air in the course of the experiment. Convinced that it was so far innocuous, he at last determined on inhaling continuously a tolerably large quantity of the gas. He found that the first THE STORY OF A GAS. inspirations caused slight giddiness; this was succeeded by an uncommon sense of fulness in the head; then shortly after came a sensation analogous to gentle pressure on all the muscles, attended by a highly pleasurable thrilling, particularly in the chest and extremities. The objects around me,' he says, 'became dazzling, and my hearing more acute, and at last an irresistible propensity to action was indulged in. I recollect but indistinctly what followed; I know that my motions were various and violent.' These effects soon ceased on discontinuing the respiration. 357 was a thing which could be bottled in a small Cleanse the stuffed bosom of that perilous stuff Davy's discovery, of course, soon got wind, and the British Medical Pneumatic Institution found itself famous. It was now visited by many literary and scientific men, curious to experience the effects of the wonder-working gas. Southey, Coleridge, Lovell Edgeworth, and Dr Roget, were among the number of those experimented on. Its effects were found to vary very much in different constitutions. Some were obviously much more susceptible to its influence than others, but all in more or less degree bore testimony to its exhilarating qualities, and its power to produce new and delightful sensations. This experiment shewed Davy that he had got to do with a gas of very extraordinary physiological properties, and it stimulated him to further investigation. He soon found that the feeling of exhilaration was diminished when too large a quantity was respired; and further, that the mental effects were by no means uniform, but depended to a considerable degree on the bodily and mental condition at the time of the experiment. Sometimes the feelings produced were those of intense intoxication, attended by but little pleasure; while at other times the respiration of the gas gave rise to sublime emotions, connected with highly vivid ideas. He noticed that the delight was always most intense But the question still remained to be tested, when he inhaled the gas after excitement, whether whether an agent whose effects on the constitution from moral or physical causes. The most remark- were so singularly manifested, possessed any useful able experiment which he made was one intended qualities to sanction its administration in cases of to test the effects of the long-continued inhalation disease. Did this entrancing 'air' resemble in its of the gas in a form more diluted than ordinary. influence the serviceable Scotch brownie, or only For this purpose he shut himself up in an air-tight one of those fantastic sprites whose pranks are of chamber filled with the diluted gas. We have not little or no earthly use to any one? Experience soon space to quote the narrative of his impressions; appeared to shew that laughing-gas,' by which but after remaining in the chamber an hour and a name it was now popularly known (though it may quarter, the desire for action became so painful be remarked its action on some persons is to cause that he came out, and immediately thereafter began hysterical weeping), was of little use except as a anew to respire the gas from a silken bag. His kind of physiological curiosity. Dr Beddoes tried feelings were now raised to a state which he evi- its therapeutic virtues in various ailments, but with dently finds it difficult to portray in words: 'A little effect, except, indeed, that in one case a few thrilling extending from the chest to the extremi- whiffs of it nearly liberated a patient from all her ties was almost immediately produced. I felt a mortal ills. One or two psychologists, also, curious sense of tangible extension highly pleasurable in to establish its precise effects on the mental faculevery limb; my visible impressions were dazzling, ties, and possibly, hopeful, through the exaltation and apparently magnified. By degrees, as the of the intellectual powers produced by it, to pleasurable sensations increased, I lost all connec- solve some great psychological problem, subjected tion with external things; trains of vivid visible themselves to its influence, but, as the result of images rapidly passed through my mind, and were Davy's last-mentioned experiment might have connected with words in such a manner as to pro- indicated, with no effect. Oliver Wendell Holmes duce perceptions perfectly novel. I existed in a tells us, half-laughingly, half-gravely, that on one world of newly connected and newly modified occasion he inhaled a pretty full dose of etherideas. I theorised; I imagined I made discoveries.' a substance whose physiological effects closely When awakened from this semi-delirious trance resemble in many points those of nitrous oxideby the bag being withdrawn from his mouth, he with the determination to put on record, at the says: 'Indignation and pride were the first feelings earliest moment of regaining consciousness, the produced by the persons about me. My emotions thought he should find uppermost in his mind. were enthusiastic and sublime. As I recovered He relates that, when under the influence of the my former state of mind, I felt an inclination to ether, 'the veil of eternity was lifted, the one communicate the discoveries I had made during great truth which underlies all human experithe experiment. I endeavoured to recall the ideas; ence, and is the key to all the mysteries that philthey were feeble and indistinct. One collection of osophy has sought in vain to solve, flashed upon terms, however, presented itself; and with the me in a sudden revelation. Henceforth, all was most intense belief and prophetic manner, I ex- clear; a few words had uplifted my intelligence to claimed: "Nothing exists but thoughts! The the level of the knowledge of the cherubim. As universe is composed of impressions, ideas, pleasures, and pains!" Here, then, to all appearance, was the discovery of a panacea for human ills, such as had never entered into the imagination of poet to conceive. De Quincey says, that when he first experienced the pleasures of opium-eating, he felt that he had made the discovery that happiness my natural condition returned, I remembered my resolution, and staggering to my desk, I wrote, in ill-shaped straggling characters, the all-embracing truth still glimmering in my consciousness. The words were these (children will smile, the wise will ponder): A strong smell of turpentine prevails throughout." After the time of Davy, laughing-gas was almost thrown aside by men of science, as it did not appear capable of subserving any useful function. It now fell into somewhat disreputable company. Electro-biologists, peripatetic lecturing mesmerists, and others of the like stamp, pretended publicly to exhibit its physiological properties. But it eventually shewed itself possessed of qualities which fitted it for better society. Davy himself, with the prescience of genius, suggested an application of it which may be said to be the first practical hint towards the use of our modern anæsthetics. 'As nitrous oxide,' he says, 'seems capable of destroying physical pain, it may probably be used with advantage during surgical operations.' It was more than sixty years after this suggestion had been made, before the gas began to be used as an anaesthetic. It was in America that nitrous oxide (as well as chloroform) was first employed to produce insensibility; and from that country it was introduced into England as a tried and useful anaesthetic, in 1868. When used for this purpose, the gas is inhaled, not in the diluted form in which Davy used it, but entirely free from all admixture of atmospheric air. It is now the anaesthetic commonly used by dentists. For the purpose of the operating surgeon, it is not well adapted, as the period of insensibility from one administration lasts only about a minute, or a minute and a half at furthest. But, for the purpose of the dentist, this period is usually sufficient; and one of the commonest of dental operations may now be submitted to with perfect freedom from pain. The rapidity with which insensibility is produced, the absence of any unpleasant odour or troublesome after-effects, and its comparative safety, all eminently fit it for the purpose to which it is now commonly applied. The chief disadvantage in its employment, up to this time, has been the costliness of the apparatus for making and administering but this is now in some measure obviated, as the gas may be procured in small compass in a liquid form, and liberated for use as required. it; The most recent experimental application of nitrous oxide in this country involves a return to the idea of the old Bristol physician. Dr Beddoes, we have seen, applied it to diseased bodies; but, obvious as the idea appears, it does not seem to have occurred to him that its peculiar action rather indicated its applicability to mental maladies. An agent capable of stimulating the mental powers, and producing exalted emotions, would, of all others, appear suited to that class of the mentally alienated who remain continually plunged in the depths of melancholy. The gas in its dilute form has lately been tried in this class of mental diseases; but the published accounts do not permit us to say that the results are very encouraging. For the time, it is true, it wonderfully stimulates the dormant mental powers, and enables the sufferer to recall with vividness the events of the past. Even in cases in which the power of coherent speech appeared to have been lost for ever, the inhalation of the gas has enabled the patients to relate, in a collected manner, long passages of their past lives. For the moment, it often gives a new direction to the thoughts, changing in a marked manner the current of the ideas. But the effects are only transient ; and it is possible that were we acquainted with the mode of action of the gas, this tentative application of it might turn out to be a CHAPTER XXXIV.-MR BLAKE'S SUBMISSION. A MORE disconcerted expression of countenance than was worn by Mr Dennis Blake, as he sat listening to the inspector's words, with bent-down head and with his wrists so much nearer to one another than custom or comfort would have dictated, it would have been hard to imagine. Such an extraordinary case of table-turning was never seen as had just occurred in the little parlour at Rosebank, and, what was still more remarkable, the operator himself, and not the spectators, was the person most astonished by the result. His dogged face, eloquent as it was of rage, and fear, and malice, wore a look of wonder and bewilderment that preponderated over all. 'I should like to speak a word with Mrs Milbank in private,' ejaculated he sullenly, when Mr Brain had finished his peroration, and laid his hand upon Blake's shoulder, in sign that he had taken possession of him as his lawful prize. 'I have not a doubt of it,' observed the inspector coolly; but I shall not permit you to do anything of the kind; for, if you are going to try the game on again of which I suspect you, it is my duty to shield this lady from your designs; while, if there is really any truth in your late statements, it is still more my duty that nothing should occur in the way of composition of a felony. That is a third charge, by the bye-supposing this cock-andbull story of yours to have any ground at all—that will be urged against you in the proper place. You were ready enough to keep everything dark, remember, upon what you were pleased to call "equitable conditions." Altogether, Mr Dennis Blake, it seems to me that you are in a pretty considerable hole.' The extreme depth of this hole, however, could only be appreciated by the person in it; the arguments of the inspector were incontestable; but besides, there was this supreme and bitterest conviction in Blake's breast, that the foe whom he had designed to ruin, and whose destruction he would gladly now have worked, no matter at what cost to himself, was probably at that moment beyond the reach of his malice. There seemed nothing for him but, by an abject submission, to save, if possible, his own skin. 'You can't compound a felony, Mr Inspector, if there was none to compound, you know,' mattered he sullenly: it was all gammon from beginning to end.' 'Oh, you admit that, do you?' answered the other contemptuously. Well, that will save the lawyers some trouble, at all events. But you'll find it more difficult to prove your breaking into the cellar was "all gammon" too.' "I didn't take anything.' That's not the question, my man, though it is doubtless something that may be urged in mitigation of your crime, and in the proper place: you might just as well say you didn't get anything by your attempt to extort money out of this poor lady; it was not through any fault of yours that you failed, as I can witness.' THE BEST OF HUSBANDS. With respect to that matter, Mr Brain,' observed Maggie gravely, 'I have myself no wish to proceed against this person. I confess that his vile and slanderous story-though not for one single instant did it obtain credence with me has given me great distress and pain; but to punish him would be to punish myself also. I can imagine that so base a creature, finding his case hopeless, and having nothing to gain by an honest confession, would gratify his malignity and spite by repeating in a court of justice, and to as many ears as possible, the same atrocious falsehoods respecting my poor husband which you have just now heard him utter.' "They would give him another year or two for that, however,' remarked the inspector parenthetically. 'Still, that would be little satisfaction to me, as compared with its cost. I speak quite plainly, and in this villain's presence, because, under no possible circumstance, will I hold converse with him again, and that he may understand, once for all, my position in regard to him. Why my husband did not give him up to justice, in the first instance 'Ah, why, indeed?' sneered Blake. "You had better be quiet, my man,' said Mr Brain menacingly. I know your past almost as well as you do yourself, and I foresee your future much more clearly. If once you leave this room as my prisoner, Dennis Blake, it will be for good and all. You may shoot your little spurt of venom, as this lady suggests, but that will be your only consolation till you die; for you will be "a lifer." I daresay I need not tell you what that means.' Blake's dusky cheek turned a shade paler; but he answered nothing, only moistened his dry lips with his tongue. 'I say,' continued Maggie firmly, 'that it may be just possible that you may have possessed yourself of some secret connected with my husband's affairs, which has induced him to spare you, and the divulging of which may harm his credit. To save him that much of annoyanee or inconvenience, I would willingly overlook your offences; just as, if your death would serve him ever so slightly, I would willingly see you hanged. Upon my own account, I have not one shadow of fear of you, nor one grain of pity.' 359 defeating the ends of justice. A hair in the balance would just now decide me to take you by the collar, and lay you by the heels at the police office, which you would only exchange for the county jail, and that, again, for Her Majesty's establishment at Portland. So far as you are concerned, I will go a step farther than this lady, and say, that it would be an inexpressible comfort and satisfaction to me to see you there; so you had better keep a civil tongue in your head, or, since that is probably impossible, be silent. I say, I am not at all sure that I am not overstepping my duty in permitting such an audacious reprobate and villain as you have proved yourself to be, to escape punishment. This lady, it is true, by not appearing against you, might cause the charge of extorting money to fall to the ground; but not only have I heard with my own ears your voluntary confession of having committed a burglary under this roof, but I have seen the evidence of the fact with my own eyes. You talk-in his absence of having some "hold" upon one whom all who know him know to be an honest gentleman; but that hold (whatever it may be) is as nothing, let me tell you, to the hold I have on you. I have got you as tight as any terrier who has his teeth in a rat's neck-and, by all that's dear to the heart of an inspector, I have a mind to shake you out of your skin! Still, taking into consideration the circumstances of the case, as respects this lady and without the least regard to you whateverand since she has formally declined to prosecute you, I will, for this time, let you go at large. Only, I also have one proviso to make: don't you stop at Hilton; don't remain within ten miles of the beat of Inspector Brain, because you will find the air unhealthy for you. It ain't often that these bracelets, which become your wrists so well, are unlocked so easily.-Not a word; not a syllable: now, go.' Mr Dennis Blake was not a gentleman given to poetic metaphor, or he might have likened himself, on this occasion of his departure, to the month of March, which is said to come in like a lion, but to go out like a lamb. The air of proprietorship which he had assumed on his arrival, had utterly disappeared, and was replaced by one of extreme dejection. He shambled rather than walked out of the parlour, nor did he venture to breathe a syllable, even of thanks, to the inspector for seeing him out of doors. Nay, when he found himself alone, except for the snow-flakes, and journeying homeward to the wretched lodgings that he had, doubtless, calculated upon soon exchanging for more eligible apartments, he did but mutter to 'So far as I am concerned, then, Dennis Blake,' himself, in dismal monotone, the reiterated word continued she, 'you are free to leave this house, Blank, blank!' in reference, doubtless, to the unupon the proviso, that you never enter it again, nor expected aspect of that document upon which he attempt to address me either by word or letter, had built so much, and which Mr Brain had connor venture to soil my husband's name by breath-siderately returned to him on his departure; moreing it through your perjured lips. Disobey me in this in the least particular, and the law shall take its course with you from that moment; and what that course will end in, you have just heard.' Mr Inspector Brain placed and replaced one of his huge hands softly over the other, as though playing on an invisible concertina; his head, too, moved in time to Maggie's words; altogether, he looked the very personification of harmonious but inaudible applause. 'Silence, silence!' exclaimed the inspector warningly, perceiving Blake about to speak. This is the last chance of getting out of your hole, my man, that you will ever have, and I recommend you not to throw it away. This great piece of good-fortune is not only far beyond what you deserve, but I have my doubts whether it is not over, his countenance was that of one who, after he has promised to himself a magnificent prize in the lottery of Life, has drawn a blank. CHAPTER XXXV.-NEWS AT LAST. There have been battles gained before and since that, after which the conqueror exclaimed: 'One more such a victory, and I am undone.' And so it was with Maggie, as she sat that night in the parlour at Rosebank, when the ally who had so largely contributed to her enemy's discomfiture had left her, to enjoy her triumph alone. Such another conflict, no matter how signal might be the success attending it, would, she felt, be utterly beyond her strength. Spiritless, prostrate, utterly exhausted with her own exertions-though she had but stood on her defence throughout-she was mistress of the field, and that was all. She had read how largely the element of chance enters into the calculations of war; how its greatest successes have been attained by a lucky stroke, and how vain would have been the foresight of the most skilful generals, even when the dove-tailing of this and that event with one another has come off beyond all anticipation, had not some mischance, which they have not reckoned on their side at all, befallen their foe: and thus she knew it had been with her in respect to Dennis Blake. She had calculated on the virtues of the terminable ink to confound her husband's accuser, and on the presence of the inspector of police to inspire him with terror; and they had not failed her; but notwithstanding this good-fortune, all would have been fruitless but for the unexpected confession from Blake's own lips, by which he had been placed, independently of his offence against herself, within the power of the law. Throughout that terrible interview, trying enough had she been alone, but ten times more trying since she had had to weigh every word before she spoke it, with regard to its effect upon her hidden audience, as well as on the man with whom she was face to face, she had borne up to the last, though every nerve was strung to the utmost, and her very blood had stood stagnant more than once; but now that it was over, it seemed that the victory had been purchased at the cost of life itself. In her complete and utter prostration, she could hardly believe that she was the self-same being who had endured the experience of the last two hours, and never shewn-but once-a sign of that weakness which she had felt in every fibre, and the exhibition of which would have been ruin. The thought of her husband's peril had alone sustained her, and now the peril was past, her strength departed with it. Yes, the peril was past, at all events for the present; but the Thing that had caused the peril alas, no longer Nameless-had not passed; could never do so, as it seemed to her, but must remain before her eyes continually, a worse than Belshazzar's warning, since it was written in letters of blood. That much of Dennis Blake's narrative was true, she could have no doubt: no more doubt than Inspector Brain would have had, had it not been for that impotent and baseless finale, to which all had led, but which had never, of course, for an instant imposed upon herself. Without doubt, Blake had done the things he said he had done-indeed, they were sufficiently discreditable to be genuine-and it was even difficult for her to refuse credence to much that he had said of others. She perfectly well remembered-notwithstanding that she had so stoutly denied it-imitating, at Richard Milbank's request, the autograph of her present husband. Richard had been praising her skill in caligraphy and other arts of penmanship, and had playfully asked her to give examples of it, which she had very readily done; and it was now brought home to her mind, that Richard had on that occasion pushed something before her with a Suppose that this were a cheque, for instance,' and that she had signed it in John's name. This might have been that bill for a thousand pounds. That she believed it indeed, was certain, since it seemed to reveal to her, with the suddenness of the rise of a stage-curtain, the real character and object of the wretched man on whom she had once thrown away her love. The representations of her father and her friends-of those who had known Richard best, and better far than she, an inexperienced girl, could possibly have known him-had gone for nothing, or even made her more kind to his faults, more blind to his vices and his selfishness; and through the years that had intervened, though she had got to have a more sober and reasonable estimate of human affairs, and with them, insensibly, of Richard's character, she had still regarded him with tender charity: he had been in her eyes, if not indeed 'more sinned against than sinning,' still 'no one's enemy but his own;' but now that delusion had found its end. A man might even forge his brother's name, and yet leave something to be urged in extenuation; but to make an innocent girl, whom he professed to love, the unconscious instrument of his crime, was the act of a villain. That Maggie herself had been the victim of the device, did not affect the matter, for if, on the one hand, she might have felt more indignation on another's account than on her own, on the other hand, the remembrance of how much she had loved this man, how passionately she had clung to him, how bitterly she had regretted him, filled up the scale, and made his trespass heavy indeed. And as he sank, so rose, in Maggie's eyes, his brother, John. For years, nay, for all his life, save since she had been his wife, she had done him wrong, and all for Richard's sake. His very virtues, because they had contrasted so with the other's defects, had been obnoxious to her; and if she had not applauded those who sneered at them, she had not rebuked them. Of his love for her, she had been unconscious, but it almost seemed to her now that she must have been wilfully blind to it. What a life of placid happiness, had she perceived that love, acknowledged it, reciprocated it, in those early days, might have been hers! nay, might have been his-whose wholesome heart her conduct had changed to gall: not the gall of bitterness, for of that he was incapable, but of disappointment, of humiliation, of despair. What a present might he have been enjoying; what a past might he have had to look back upon; what a future might be awaiting him! But Now! Now she was sitting alone, a deserted wife, and John was a wanderer and an exile, she knew not where, nor why! She might know Why, indeed, if she pleased: she might learn how much was true, how much was false, of Blake's dark tale, by the mere unfolding of the paper that lay hidden in her bosom ; but that was not to be opened till he was dead, or until she had lost her faith in him. And she had not lost faith. Lost? nay, she had gained faith. For if she had not believed ill of him, even in her blindness to his gifts of good, was it likely that she should do so now that her eyes were opened to them, because this Dennis Blake accused him of ill-doing! She did not, and she never would. Should John return to her to-morrow, or in ten years' time, or in twenty, it would be all the same. Here is your paper, still untouched, dear husband,' she would |