Various

“ The object of a Corner is to buy in order to sell at some future time; and when the selling begins, the downfall of prices is always more rapid than the advance, and then the Corner is swept clean not only of the commodities, but also of those who put them in. And as there is about almost every evil some germ of good, we must not forget that the effect of a Corner is often to stimulate supplies of the commodity ‘cornered,’ in other regions, and the world is benefited by the increase of productive wealth. ”

“ We cannot recall a single instance of a Corner—and we have been acquainted with the inner history of a good many of the species—which did not result in overthrow and disaster, sooner or later, to those in it. Either the operation attempted is too gigantic for the means at command; or success in the first steps feeds the appetite for gain, and blinds the operators to the attendant risks, so that they go too far; or they become timid, and do not go far enough. In the glow of extensive buying, the effects of the ultimate sales are always under-estimated. ”

“ As to your cup or wine-glass, it stands on a swinging table opposite your nose, and preserves so perfect an equilibrium, that in the wildest storm, not one drop of the contents is spilt. How the stewards manage to wait, and the cooks to cook, for such a multitude, in such a rolling and turmoil, and in such limited space, is a matter for perpetual wonder and admiration. ”

“ Not, one would say, the man to win a woman’s love, and throw it aside at the bidding of father or mother. Not the man to do a thing hastily and repent the deed at his leisure. Rather, a man who, when once engaged in a pursuit, would follow it steadfastly to the end, whatever that end might be. It was scarcely right that Millicent Keene should allow fear to mingle with her grief at the approaching long separation from her lover. ”

“ It is one thing to buy heavily of a commodity because your instinct or your information or your experience teaches you that a comparative scarcity, and consequent dearness, of the commodity will shortly occur. It is quite another thing to buy up a commodity for the purpose of creating a scarcity for your own benefit. It is one thing, again, to sell out as quickly as you can such stocks as you hold of a commodity which you see reason to think will be depressed in value later on. It is another thing to sell in advance a commodity which you do not possess, in the hope of buying it cheaper ”

“ Suicide, whether regarded as a crime or a disease, is in all cases a rash, ill-advised act of impatience. Napoleon—who, when his misfortunes reached a climax, declared he had not ‘enough of the Roman in him’ for suicide—described it as an act of cowardice, a running away from the enemy before being defeated. Perhaps the best safeguards against it are domestic ties and the sense of responsibility and accountability. Very few instances of self-destruction occur among prudent hard-working heads of families who have insured their lives. ”

“ Philip stood still, surprised and puzzled, and a little distressed. It was such a new experience to see Madge nervous and irritable—she who was always so calm and clear-sighted when other people lost their heads—that he did not know what to make of it. ”

“ As soon as the order commanding suicide has been communicated to a culprit, he invites his friends to a feast, and takes formal leave of them; then, the order of the court having been read over to him, he makes his ‘last dying speech and confession,’ draws his sabre, and cuts himself across the body or rips himself up, when a confidential servant at once strikes off his head. In China also, the regulations for self-destruction are rigorously defined and carried out; a mandarin who can boast of the peacock’s feather is graciously allowed to choke himself by swallowing gold-leaf ”

“ Every woman is a physician at heart, and nothing is more refreshing than to sit and listen to two ladies in confidential medical conversation respecting the merits of their favourite nostrums. It is to them that homœopathy especially appeals. What more delightful spectacle can be found than that of a fair amateur ‘doctress’ with her book, her case of phials and little gold spoon, dispensing globules to her family, to her servants, to her neighbours, to any one and every one ”

“ SUICIDE.
The term ‘suicide’ is almost universally applied to all acts of self-destruction, and equally indiscriminately to all perpetrators thereof, no distinction being made as to their state of mind at the time of killing themselves. It is in this popularly understood sense that we have used the word throughout this article. From a legal point of view, however, the term can only be correctly employed to denote the self-murder (felonia de se) of a sane and legally responsible person. A lunatic cannot in a legal sense commit suicide, though he may destroy himself. ”

“ What British home would be a home without its little roll of sticking or court plaster? How often is it that little tearful eyes look mistily down on a poor scratched finger, held carefully out in the other hand, as if there were some danger of its coming off, while mamma cuts a thin yellow strip and wraps it round the injured member with comforting words, all lamentation being temporarily reduced to an occasional sob in the interest of the operation. That the sticking-plaster exercises a fine moral effect in such a case, there can be no doubt ”

“ Imagine the torture which must be inflicted by such an army of babies on the older passengers, probably never, at the best, much addicted to babiolatry, but now rendered doubly irritable by long battles with sun and liver; for on a voyage homeward there are generally a sad proportion of sickly folk; men conscious of possessing a liver, and all manner of other complaints, or, worse still, unconscious alike of life’s cares or pleasures. ”

“ After all, there is very little rationale in any amateur system of medicine; all its treatment is purely empirical, and has its root in that love of mysticism which prevails in everything. Medicine, like every other science, is built up of hard, unromantic facts, amenable to the laws of logic and common-sense. The popular idea runs always on specifics. Every bottle in a druggist’s shop is supposed to contain a definite remedy for a definite disease ”

“ There must always be some amount of speculation in every department of commerce and industry. The shipbuilder, for instance, must to some extent speculate on a continuance or otherwise of the level of wages, or of the prices of iron, at the time he makes a contract for a vessel. The manufacturer who buys a quantity of raw cotton must speculate on the chances of the market enabling him to sell the products of the cotton when manufactured. The merchant must speculate on the solvency of his buyers, and his sellers even, when he concurrently buys and sells a cargo of goods. ”

“ The publicity afforded by newspapers to any remarkable case of suicide, with full description of details, has unquestionably a pernicious effect, not only by suggesting a means to those already predisposed to the act, but also by its tending to lessen the natural horror of self-murder inherent in the human mind. ”

“ Men in prosperous circumstances have frequently been known to make away with themselves from fear of poverty and want; others have perhaps committed some trifling act of delinquency, which they magnify into an unpardonable offence, only to be expiated by death. Some insane persons will kill those dear to them, especially their own children, before destroying themselves, probably with the view of preserving them from so wretched a lot as they conceive their own to be. ”

“ Instead of finding ourselves surrounded by a superabundance of bright energetic life, our companions were almost all on the sick-list, as few people who were not driven home by illness, would exchange an Indian winter for the chilly frosts and snows of England. Instead of the continuous sunshine of our outward journey, we had bitter winds and sharp storms, and though we were too good sailors to be thereby affected, some of our neighbours were wretched enough. ”

“ In what may be designated, as compared with European countries, the topsy-turvy nations of China and Japan, suicide is quite an institution, and is apparently looked upon as a fine art; so much so, that in the latter country the sons of people of quality exercise themselves in their youth for five or six years, in order that they may kill themselves, in case of need, with grace and elegance. ”

“ Outside of insanity, the passions and emotions are generally at the root of self-murder; remorse, dread of exposure and punishment, long wearing sorrow or disease, or hopeless poverty, are the usual causes for an act which is generally regarded with far too great equanimity, and occasionally even with commiseration, being looked upon as ‘a catastrophe rather than a crime,’ although condemned by the religion and laws of the land. With lunatics, the causes inciting to the act are mainly if not wholly imaginary, or delusional ”

“ Quite other is the form of a speculation of modern development. We do not say it is of modern origin, for men have not varied very much either in character or in practice since commerce began; but its development is modern, and its application is modern.
This modern phase has made current two curious words—‘Corner’ and ‘Syndicate.’ The latter is of Latin origin, and was not unknown in old-world commerce. Then it meant the combination of a number of merchants for the consummation of a venture beyond the means or the inclinations of any one of them. ”

“ In India, the voluntary self-immolation of widows on their deceased husbands’ funeral pyres was, until recently, a universal practice, and still takes place occasionally in secret, though very properly discouraged by the government. In some parts of the East Indies the natives vow suicide in return for boons solicited from their idols; and in fulfilment of this vow, fling themselves from lofty precipices, and are dashed to pieces. Or they will destroy themselves after having had a quarrel with any one, in order that their blood may lie at their adversary’s door. ”

“ Frank Abbot is now a barrister of nearly three years’ standing. He works hard, is frequently on circuit, and if, as yet, he has not achieved any brilliant forensic triumph, he is neither briefless nor without hope. Some small cases have been intrusted to him, and he finds the number of these slowly but surely increasing, and knows that if the opportunity comes, and if, when it does come, he may be able to seize it and make the most of it, success may soon be his. ”

“ By-and-by they become the masters of all, or nearly all, the available supply of pigs’ bristles; they have ‘made a Corner,’ and in the American phraseology, they ‘control’ the market. But markets are rather unmanageable affairs, after all, as Messrs John Horner and Company find when they have to realise in order to pay for their later purchases; or when, if they have been rich enough to pay and lie out of the money, they want to realise their profit. ”

“ But the father is off to his daily business, and the child runs about and plays as usual, while—since they feel so much better—neither takes any precaution, by extra clothing or otherwise, to guard against the consequences of the poultice itself. The skin and subjacent tissues have been rendered lax by the heat and moisture, the blood-vessels are dilated, and the circulation of the part increased; to use a common expression, the ‘pores’ are open, and there is thus a tenfold liability to catch cold, especially in winter-time, when these things most frequently happen. ”