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Fundamentals of Biochemistry 4Th Edition Voet Test Bank Full Chapter PDF
Fundamentals of Biochemistry 4Th Edition Voet Test Bank Full Chapter PDF
Matching
A) Porins
B) gap junctions
C) symport
D) active
E) ion channel
F) secondary active
G) channel-forming
H) carrier ionophores
I) passive-mediated
J) uniport
K) simple diffusion
L) anti-ion transport
1. ______ are transporters that bind the substance to be transported on one side of the membrane
then diffuse through the membrane and release the substance on the other side.
Ans: H
Level of Difficulty: Easy
Section: 10.2.A
Learning objective: Passive-Mediated Transport
Ans: K
Level of Difficulty: Easy
Section: 10.1
Learning objective: Thermodynamics of Transport
Ans: I
Level of Difficulty: Easy
Section: 10.2.E
Learning objective: Passive-Mediated Transport
4. ______ are bacterial proteins forming a barrel structure with a central aqueous channel.
Ans: A
Level of Difficulty: Easy
Section: 10.2.B
Learning objective: Passive-Mediated Transport
Ans: B
Level of Difficulty: Easy
Section: 10.2.E
Learning objective: Passive-Mediated Transport
6. A transporter that moves two substances simultaneously in the same direction is an example
of a(n) __________.
Ans: C
Level of Difficulty: Easy
Section: 10.2.E
Learning objective: Passive-Mediated Transport
Ans: G
Level of Difficulty: Easy
Section: 10.2.C
Learning objective: Passive-Mediated Transport
8. The Ca2+–ATPase requires ATP directly and is therefore an example of ______ transport.
Ans: D
Level of Difficulty: Easy
Section: 10.3.B
Learning objective: Active Transport
9. The Na+–glucose transport system requires generation of a gradient by another transporter
and is therefore an example of ______ transport.
Ans: F
Level of Difficulty: Easy
Section: 10.3.D
Learning objective: Active Transport
Ans: E
Level of Difficulty: Easy
Section: 10.2.C
Learning objective: Passive-Mediated Transport
Multiple Choice
11. Which of the following compounds would cross a biological membrane most readily by
nonmediated diffusion?
A) water
B) acetone
C) hexane
D) acetic acid
E) methanol
Ans: C
Level of Difficulty: Easy
Section: 10.1
Learning objective: Thermodynamics of Transport
A) simple diffusion
B) facilitated diffusion
C) passive transport
D) active transport
E) all of the above
Ans: A
Level of Difficulty: Easy
Section: 10.1
Learning objective: Thermodynamics of Transport
13. Which statement does not describe the transport of ions by valinomycin?
A) Mutations in the peptide sequence may alter ability to transport through the membrane.
B) Transport may be active or passive.
C) The active site binds K+ with greater affinity than Na+
D) Transport results in equilibration of a concentration gradient across membranes.
E) All of the above do describe transport by valinomycin.
Ans: B
Level of Difficulty: Moderate
Section: 10.2.A
Learning objective: Passive-Mediated Transport
A) Protein structure studies indicate a flexible pore size capable of transporting ions of varying
size.
B) Ions require waters of hydration for sufficient passage through the entire channel.
C) Ion channels maintain sodium and potassium ion concentrations that are greater in the
extracellular fluid than in the cytosol.
D) Channel rigidity minimizes energy states for appropriately sized ions.
E) None of the above is true regarding ion channels.
Ans: D
Level of Difficulty: Difficult
Section: 10.2.C
Learning objective: Passive-Mediated Transport
15. Which of the following channels open in response to an extracellular stimulus such as a
neurotransmitter?
A) mechanoselective channels
B) ligand-gated channels
C) signal-gated channels
D) voltage-gated channels
E) All of these are sensitive to an extracellular stimulus..
Ans: B
Level of Difficulty: Easy
Section: 10.2.C
Learning objective: Passive-Mediated Transport
16. D-Glucose and D-mannitol are similarly soluble, but D-glucose is transported through the
erythrocyte membrane four times as rapidly as D-mannitol. What is the most likely explanation?
A) D-glucose undergoes simple diffusion more rapidly than mannitol because glucose is less
polar.
B) D-glucose and D-mannitol enter the erythrocyte via an ion-gated channel.
C) D-glucose and D-mannitol are transported via a system that distinguishes the two sugars.
D) D-glucose flux through the membrane is linear whereas D-mannitol flux is described by a
hyperbolic curve.
E) None of the above provides the explanation.
Ans: C
Level of Difficulty: Easy
Section: Box 10.2 and 10.2E
Learning objective: Passive-Mediated Transport
17. D-glucose is added to cells and the rate of glucose transport is plotted against D-glucose
concentration. In the presence of the D-galactose derivative 6-O-benzyl-D-galactose, the curve is
shifted to the right, indicating that D-glucose and the D-galactose derivative both compete for a
place in the binding site. Which of the following is true?
Ans: E
Level of Difficulty: Difficult
Section: Box 10.2 and 10.2 E
Learning objective: Passive-Mediated Transport
18. Which of the following is not an example of a passive-mediated transporter?
A) aquaporins
B) the Kv ion channel
C) GLUT1
D) lactose permease
E) none of the above
Ans: D
Level of Difficulty: Easy
Section: 10.2
Learning objective: Passive-Mediated Transport
A) I, II, IV
B) II, III, IV
C) II, IV
D) II, III
E) II
Ans: C
Level of Difficulty: Difficult
Section: 10.3.D
Learning objective: Active Transport
20. Which of the transporters listed below differs from the others?
A) (Na+–K+)–ATPase
B) Na+–glucose transporter
C) lactose permease
D) KcsA
E) Ca2+–ATPase
Ans: D
Level of Difficulty: Easy
Section: 10.3
Learning objective: Active Transport
21. When the cardiac glycoside, digitoxin, is used for heart failure, the effects include:
A) I, II, III, IV
B) I, III, IV
C) II, III, IV
D) II, III
E) I, III
Ans: B
Level of Difficulty: Difficult
Section: 10.3.A
Learning objective: Active Transport
22. Which features allow the KcsA channel to selectively transport K+?
I. The entrance of the channel contains hydrophobic residues which forces the removal
of waters of hydration.
II. It is attracted to the entrance of the channel via electrostatic interactions.
III. The “selectivity filter” involves a narrowing of the channel, allowing only
dehydrated K+ access.
IV. As K+ is transported through the channel it interacts with −C=O groups from the
protein.
A) I, II, III, IV
B) II, III, IV
C) II, III
D) III, IV
E) I, III
Ans: B
Level of Difficulty: Difficult
Section: 10.2.C
Learning objective: Passive-Mediated Transport
I. exist because active transporters cannot maintain the gradient at a rate equal to non-
gated ion flow.
II. remain open unless acted on by an external stimulus.
III. remain open to all ions that are smaller than the pore diameter.
IV. can transport varying ions.
A) I, II
B) I, III
C) II, III
D) II, IV
E) I
Ans: E
Level of Difficulty: Difficult
Section: 10.2.C
Learning objective: Passive-Mediated Transport
24. Which does not occur when neurons are stimulated?
A) Local depolarization results from the opening of Na+ ion channels allowing Na+ to exit the
cell.
B) Neighboring Na+ ion channels open in response to the change in membrane potential,
resulting in a wave of depolarization.
C) Depolarization stimulates the opening of ion-gated K+ channels, resulting in repolarization .
D) Recovery involves the movement of Na+ out of the cell and K+ into the cell, resulting in the
membrane regaining its resting potential.
E) All of the above do occur when neuron are stimulated.
Ans: A
Level of Difficulty: Moderate
Section: 10.2.C
Learning objective: Passive-Mediated Transport
25. Vanilomycin
Ans: A
Level of Difficulty: Easy
Section: 10.2.C
Learning objective: Passive-Mediated Transport
I. assist in transport by forming a strong electrical dipole with the N-terminal end
positively charged.
II. effectively funnel ions into the pore via electrostatic interactions with basic amino
acids.
III. have a selectivity filter constructed from the N-terminal ends of α-helices, whose
dipoles attract Cl– ions.
IV. rely on the side chain hydroxyl groups from Ser and Tyr.
A) I, II, II, IV
B) I, II, IV
C) II, II, IV
D) III, IV
E) I, IV
Ans: A
Level of Difficulty: Difficult
Section: 10.2.C
Learning objective: Passive-Mediated Transport
Ans: A
Level of Difficulty: Moderate
Section: 10.2.D
Learning objective: Passive-Mediated Transport
28. Which of the following correctly rank the steps in erythrocyte glucose transport by GLUT1?
I. Glucose binding results in a conformational change, opening the binding site on the
opposite side of the membrane
II. Glucose binds to the transporter on one side of the membrane
III. The transporter reverts to initial conformation
IV. The glucose disassociates
A) II, I, III, IV
B) II, I, IV, III
C) IV, III, II, I
D) I, II, IV, III
E) IV, II, III, I
Ans: B
Level of Difficulty: Moderate
Section: 10.2.E
Learning objective: Passive-Mediated Transport
29. Which of the following is true about the (Na+–K+)–ATPase transporter?
A) Three potassium ions bind to the cytostolic face of the transporter in the E1 state.
B) GTP binds to it and is hydrolyzed to form GDP and a high energy phosphorylated glutamyl
residue.
C) Formation of the high-energy phosphorylated glutamyl residue triggers a conformational
shift from the E1 form to the E2 form.
D) Phosphate hydrolysis of the E2 state releases potassium ions to the cytosol and results in
rearrangement to the E1 state.
E) All of the above correctly describe this transporter.
Ans: D
Level of Difficulty: Difficult
Section: 10.3.A
Learning objective: Active Transport
Ans: D
Level of Difficulty: Easy
Section: 10.3.A
Learning objective: Active Transport
31. Lactose permease uses a ___________ gradient generated ______ to cotransport lactose
across the cell membrane.
Ans: D
Level of Difficulty: Moderate
Section: 10.3.D
Learning objective: Active Transport
32. The Kv channel is transiently closed by ___________.
Ans: A
Level of Difficulty: Moderate
Section: 10.2.C
Learning objective: Passive-Mediated Transport
33. A graph of the rate of glucose transport via the GLUT1 transporter vs. glucose concentration
would have a ________ shape indicating that higher glucose concentrations increase the rate of
transport until all the sites are saturated.
A) hyperbolic
B) sigmoidal
C) bell
D) linear
E) exponential
Ans: A
Level of Difficulty: Easy
Section: 10.2.E
Learning objective: Passive-Mediated Transport
34. In the intestinal epithelium, glucose enters the cell in symport with ______, which is
subsequently ejected by ________.
Ans: C
Level of Difficulty: Moderate
Section: 10.3.D
Learning objective: Active Transport
35. The concentration of cytosolic Ca2+ is _________ the extracellular concentration of Ca2+.
A) dependent upon
B) equal to
C) 4 orders of magnitude greater than
D) 2 order of magnitude greater than
E) much less than
Ans: E
Level of Difficulty: Easy
Section: 10.3.B
Learning objective: Active Transport
A) I, II, III
B) II, III
C) I, III
D) III, IV
E) II, IV
Ans: A
Level of Difficulty: Moderate
Section: 10.3.C
Learning objective: Active Transport
37. A pore that simultaneously transports two different molecules in different directions is called
A) a symport.
B) a uniport .
C) a gap junction.
D) an equilibrium channel.
E) an antiport.
Ans: E
Level of Difficulty: Easy
Section: 10.2.E
Learning objective: Passive-Mediated Transport
38. Gap junctions
A) connect the cytoplasm to the extracellular solution thus allowing transfer of small molecules
out of the cell into the extracellular solution.
B) are essential communication channels between the cell and the extracellular solution.
C) allow exchange of small molecules between cells within an organ.
D) allow intercellular exchange of macromolecules.
E) All of the above.
Ans: C
Level of Difficulty: Difficult
Section: 10.2.E and Box 10-1
Learning objective: Passive-Mediated Transport
39. The rapid transport of K+ ions by the KcsA ion channel moves up to ____ ions per ______.
A) 106; minute
B) 101; second
C) 1023; minute
D) 108; second
E) 108; hour
Ans: D
Level of Difficulty: Easy
Section: 10.2.C
Learning objective: Passive-Mediated Transport
40. In the body hydrogen ions produced from the reaction of carbonic anhydrase are transported
into the lumen of the stomach via an ATP utilizing proton pump. The removal of hydrogen ions
drives formation of bicarbonate ions and a concentration gradient is formed. Bicarbonate is
transported out at the same time that chloride ions are transferred in. Based on this information,
which of the following is FALSE?
A) The pump driving the driving the hydrogen ions into the lumen must undergo a
conformational change.
B) The pump driving bicarbonate out and chloride in must be an antiport system.
C) The pump driving bicarbonate out and chloride in must require ATP directly.
D) The bicarbonate-chloride pump requires ATP indirectly.
E) The bicarbonate-chloride pump must require activity of the proton pump.
Ans: C
Level of Difficulty: Difficult
Section: 10.3.C
Learning objective: Active Transport
41. Based on the diagram below, which of the following statements is TRUE?
Ans: E
Level of Difficulty: Difficult
Section: 10.3.C
Learning objective: Active Transport
Ans: A
Level of Difficulty: Moderate
Section: 10.3.C
Learning objective: Active Transport
43. Which of the following methods will allow you to determine if a substance used mediated
transport?
A) Measure the rate of transport to determine if it is high or low relative to other transport
systems.
B) Evaluate the flux at several different concentrations of the substance and look for hyperbolic
dependence.
C) Monitor transport rates at a variety of concentrations and confirm a linear dependence.
D) Compare rate of transport in an in vitro system to those in vivo.
E) None of the above.
Ans: B
Level of Difficulty: Moderate
Section: Box 10-2
Learning objective: Active Transport
Ans: A
Level of Difficulty: Moderate
Section: 10.1
Learning objective: Thermodynamics of Transport
45. The E. coli maltoporin utilizes what has been termed the greasy slide. Which of the
following statements best describe the function of the greasy slide?
A) There is a pathway of phospholipids that line the inside of the channel and facilitate
transport.
B) A series of aromatic side chains arrange in a helical pattern matching the relative curvature of
the protein backbone, thus provided little restriction to transport.
C) Hydroxyl groups on glucose hydrogen bond with polar and charged side chains lining the
channel, thus resulting in a series of interactions mimicking a screw-like pathway.
D) Constriction in the channel removes waters of hydration, thus making the substrate more
hydrophobic and "greasy."
E) Amino acids side chains lining the channel are small and non-bulky, making steric
constriction essentially non-existent.
Ans: C
Level of Difficulty: Moderate
Section: 10.2B
Learning objective: Passive-Mediated Transport
46. Of the transport proteins discussed in the chapter, in general, which of the following do they
have in common?
Ans: A
Level of Difficulty: Moderate
Section: 10.2E
Learning objective: Passive-Mediated Transport
47. A patient has low levels of potassium. Which of the following could be affected?
A) I, IV
B) II, IV
C) II, III
D) II, IV
E) I, II, IV
Ans: E
Level of Difficulty: Difficult
Section: 10.3.A, B, C, D
Learning objective: Active Transport
48. What type of gradient is required for efficient lactose transport in E. coli?
A) sodium
B) potassium
C) proton
D) magnesium
E) calcium
Ans: C
Level of Difficulty: Easy
Section: 10.3.D
Learning objective: Active Transport
49. Which of the following correctly describes the reason for the specificity of valinomycin?
A) The K+ ion is the only ion small enough to fit through the ion channel.
B) The K+ radius is the ideal size for a large binding affinity because it minimizes steric strain
and potential for degrees of rotation.
C) It selectively binds to the entrance of the transporter which is lined with negatively charged
amino acids.
D) All of the above describe the specificity.
E) None of the above describe the specificity.
Ans: B
Level of Difficulty: Difficult
Section: 10.2.A
Learning objective: Passive-Mediated Transport
Ans: B
Level of Difficulty: Moderate
Section: 10.2.C
Learning objective: Passive-Mediated Transport
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this expedition, along with another vessel styled the Greenwich, he
was saluted with the unwelcome sight of two powerful pirate vessels
sailing into the bay, one being of 30, and the other of 34 guns.
Though he was immediately deserted by the Greenwich, the two
pirates bearing down upon him with their black flags, did not daunt
the gallant Macrae. He fought them both for several hours, inflicting
on one some serious breaches between wind and water, and
disabling the boats in which the other endeavoured to board him. At
length, most of his officers and quarter-deck men being killed or
wounded, he made an attempt to run ashore, and did get beyond the
reach of the two pirate vessels. With boats, however, they beset his
vessel with redoubled fury, and in the protracted fighting which
ensued, he suffered severely, though not without inflicting fully as
much injury as he received. Finally, himself 1733.
and the remains of his company succeeded
in escaping to the land, though in the last stage of exhaustion with
wounds and fatigue. Had he, on the contrary, been supported by the
Greenwich, he felt no doubt that he would have taken the two pirate
vessels, and obtained £200,000 for the Company.[723]
The hero of this brilliant affair was a native of the town of
Greenock, originally there a very poor boy, but succoured from
misery by a kind-hearted musician or violer named Macguire, and
sent by him to sea. By the help of some little education he had
received in his native country, his natural talents and energy quickly
raised him in the service of the East India Company, till, as we see,
he had become the commander of one of their goodly trading-
vessels. The conflict of Juanna gave him further elevation in the
esteem of his employers, and, strange to say, the poor barefooted
Greenock laddie, the protégé of the wandering minstrel Macguire,
became at length the governor of Madras! He now returned to
Scotland, in possession of ‘an immense estate,’ which the journals of
the day are careful to inform us, ‘he is said to have made with a fair
character’—a needful distinction, when so many were advancing
themselves as robbers, or little better, or as truckling politicians. One
of Governor Macrae’s first acts was to provide for the erection of a
monumental equestrian statue of King William at Glasgow, having
probably some grateful personal feeling towards that sovereign. It
was said to have cost him £1000 sterling. But the grand act of the
governor’s life, after his return, was his requital of the kindness he
had experienced from the violer Macguire. The story formed one of
the little romances of familiar conversation in Scotland during the
last century. Macguire’s son, with the name of Macrae, succeeded to
the governor’s estate of Holmains, in Dumfriesshire,[724] which he
handed down to his son.[725] The three daughters, highly educated,
and handsomely dowered, were married to men of figure, the eldest
to the Earl of Glencairn (she was the mother of Burns’s well-known
patron); the second to Lord Alva, a judge in the Court of Session; the
third to Charles Dalrymple of Orangefield, near Ayr. Three years
after his return from the East Indies, Governor Macrae paid a visit to
Edinburgh, and was received with public as 1733.
well as private marks of distinction, on
account of his many personal merits.
An amusing celebration of the return of the East India governor
took place at Tain, in the north of Scotland. John Macrae, a near
kinsman of the great man, being settled there in business, resolved to
shew his respect for the first exalted person of his hitherto humble
clan. Accompanied by the magistrates of the burgh and the principal
burgesses, he went to the Cross, and there superintended the
drinking of a hogshead of wine, to the healths of the King, Queen,
Prince of Wales, and the Royal Family, and those of ‘Governor
Macrae and all his fast friends.’ ‘From thence,’ we are told, ‘the
company repaired to the chief taverns in town, where they repeated
the aforesaid healths, and spent the evening with music and
entertainments suitable to the occasion.’[726]
The tendency which has already been Dec. 6.
alluded to, of a small portion of the Scottish
clergy to linger in an antique orthodoxy and strenuousness of
discipline, while the mass was going on in a progressive laxity and
subserviency to secular authorities, was still continuing. The chief
persons concerned in the Marrow Controversy of 1718[727] and
subsequent years, had recently made themselves conspicuous by
standing up in opposition to church measures for giving effect to
patronage in the settlement of ministers, and particularly to the
settlement of an unpopular presentee at Kinross; and the General
Assembly, held this year in May, came to the resolution of rebuking
these recusant brethren. The brethren, however, were too confident
in the rectitude of their course to submit to censure, and the
commission of the church in November punished their contumacy by
suspending from their ministerial functions, Ebenezer Erskine of
Stirling, William Wilson of Perth, Alexander Moncrieff of Abernethy,
and James Fisher of Kinclaven.
The suspended brethren, being all of them men held in the highest
local reverence, received much support among their flocks, as well as
among the more earnest clergy. Resolving not to abandon the
principles they had taken up, it became necessary that they should
associate in the common cause. They accordingly met at this date in
a cottage at Gairney Bridge near Kinross, and constituted themselves
into a provisional presbytery, though 1733.
without professing to shake off their
connection with the Established Church. It is thought that the taking
of a mild course with them at the next General Assembly would have
saved them from an entire separation. But it was not to be. The
church judicatories went on in their adopted line of high-handed
secularism, and the matter ended, in 1740, with the deposition of the
four original brethren, together with four more who took part with
them. Thus, unexpectedly to the church, was formed a schism in her
body, leading to the foundation of a separate communion, by which a
fourth of her adherents, and those on the whole the most religious
people, were lost.
An immense deal of devotional zeal, mingled with the usual alloys
of illiberality and intolerance, was evoked through the medium of
‘the Secession,’ The people built a set of homely meeting-houses for
the deposed ministers, and gave them such stipends as they could
afford. In four years, the new body appeared as composed of twenty-
six clergy, in three presbyteries. It was the first of several occasions
of the kind, on which, it may be said without disrespect, both the
strength and the weakness of the Scottish character have been
displayed. A single anecdote, of the truth of which there is no reason
to doubt, will illustrate the spirit of this first schism. There was a
family of industrious people at Brownhills, near St Andrews, who
adhered to the Secession. The nearest church was that of Mr
Moncrieff at Abernethy, twenty miles distant. All this distance did
the family walk every Sunday, in order to attend worship, walking of
course an equal distance in returning. All that were in health
invariably went. They had to set out at twelve o’clock of the Saturday
night, and it was their practice to make all the needful preparations
of dress and provisioning without looking out to see what kind of
weather was prevailing. When all were ready, the door was opened,
and the whole party walked out into the night, and proceeded on
their way, heedless of whatever might fall or blow.
The poet, too, appears to have paid 2s. 6d. for the insertion of his
lines in the Caledonian Mercury.
From this time onward, an annual ball, given by ‘the Right
Honourable Company of Hunters’ in the Palace of Holyroodhouse, is
regularly chronicled. At one which took place on the 8th January
1736—the Hon. Master Charles Leslie being 1735.
‘king,’ and the Hon. Lady Helen Hope being
‘queen’—‘the company in general made a very grand appearance, an
elegant entertainment and the richest wines were served up, and the
whole was carried on and concluded with all decency and good order
imaginable.’ A ball given by the same fraternity in the same place, on
the ensuing 21st of December, was even more splendid. There were
two rooms for dancing, and two for tea, illuminated with many
hundreds of wax-candles. ‘In the Grand Hall [the Gallery?], a table
was covered with three hundred dishes en ambiqu, at which sate a
hundred and fifty ladies at a time ... illuminated with four hundred
wax-candles. The plan laid out by the council of the company was
exactly followed out with the greatest order and decency, and
concluded without the least air of disturbance.’
On the 27th January 1737, ‘the young gentlemen-burghers’ of
Aberdeen gave ‘a grand ball to the ladies, the most splendid and
numerous ever seen there;’ all conducted ‘without the least confusion
or disorder.’ The anxiety to shew that there was no glaring
impropriety in the conduct of the company on these occasions, is
significant, and very amusing.[730]
The reader of this work has received—I fear not very thankfully—
sundry glimpses of the frightful state of the streets of Edinburgh in
previous centuries; and he must have readily understood that the
condition of the capital in this respect represented that of other
populous towns, all being alike deficient in any recognised means of
removing offensive refuse. There was, it must be admitted,
something peculiar in the state of Edinburgh in sanitary respects, in
consequence of the extreme narrowness of its many closes and
wynds, and the height of its houses. How it was endured, no modern
man can divine; but it certainly is true that, at the time when men
dressed themselves in silks and laces, and took as much time for
their toilets as a fine lady, they had to pass in all their bravery
amongst piles of dung, on the very High Street of Edinburgh, and
could not make an evening call upon Dorinda or Celia in one of the
alleys, without the risk of an ablution from above sufficient to
destroy the most elegant outfit, and put the wearers out of conceit
with themselves for a fortnight.
The struggles of the municipal authorities at sundry times to get
the streets put into decent order against a 1735.
royal ceremonial entry, have been adverted
to in our earlier volumes. It would appear that things had at last
come to a sort of crisis in 1686, so that the Estates then saw fit to
pass an act[731] to force the magistrates to clean the city, that it might
be endurable for the personages concerned in the legislature and
government, ordaining for this purpose a ‘stent’ of a thousand
pounds sterling a year for three years on the rental of property. A
vast stratum of refuse, through which people had made lanes
towards their shop-doors and close-heads, was then taken away—
much of it transported by the sage provost, Sir James Dick, to his
lands at Prestonfield, then newly enclosed, and the first that were so
—which consequently became distinguished for fertility[732]—and the
city was never again allowed to fall into such disorder. There was
still, however, no regular system of cleaning, beyond what the street
sewers supplied; and the ancient practice of throwing ashes, foul
water, &c., over the windows at night, graced only with the warning-
cry of Gardez l’eau, was kept up in full vigour by the poorer and
more reckless part of the population.
An Edinburgh merchant and magistrate, named Sir Alexander
Brand, who has been already under our attention as a manufacturer
of gilt leather hangings, at one time presented an overture to the
Estates for the cleaning of the city. The modesty of the opening
sentence will strike the reader: ‘Seeing the nobility and gentry of
Scotland are, when they are abroad, esteemed by all nations to be the
finest and most accomplished people in Europe, yet it’s to be
regretted that it’s always casten up to them by strangers, who admire
them for their singular qualifications, that they are born in a nation
that has the nastiest cities in the world, especially the metropolitan.’
He offered to clean the city daily, and give five hundred a year for the
refuse.[733] But his views do not seem to have been carried into effect.
After 1730, when, as we have seen, great changes were beginning
to take place in Scotland, increased attention was paid to external
decency and cleanliness. The Edinburgh magistrates were anxious to
put down the system of cleaning by ejectment. We learn, for
example, from a newspaper, that a servant-girl having thrown foul
water from a fourth story in Skinners’ Close, ‘which much abused a
lady passing by, was brought before the bailies, and obliged to enact
herself never to be guilty of the like 1735.
practices in future. ’Tis hoped,’ adds our
chronicler, ‘that this will be a caution to all servants to avoid this
wicked practice.’
There lived at this time in Edinburgh a respectable middle-aged
man, named Robert Mein, the representative of the family which had
kept the post-office for three generations between the time of the
civil war and the reign of George I., and who boasted that the pious
lady usually called Jenny Geddes, but actually Barbara Hamilton,
who threw the stool in St Giles’s in 1637, was his great-grandmother.
Mein, being a man of liberal ideas, and a great lover of his native city,
desired to see it rescued from the reproach under which it had long
lain as the most fetid of European capitals, and he accordingly drew
up a paper, shewing how the streets might be kept comparatively
clean by a very simple arrangement. His suggestion was, that there
should be provided for each house, at the expense of the landlord, a
vessel sufficient to contain the refuse of a day, and that scavengers,
feed by a small subscription among the tenants, should discharge
these every night. Persons paying what was then a very common
rent, ten pounds, would have to contribute only five shillings a year;
those paying fifteen pounds, 7s. 6d., and so on in proportion. The
projector appears to have first explained his plan to sundry
gentlemen of consideration—as, for example, Mr William Adam,
architect, and Mr Colin Maclaurin, professor of mathematics, who
gave him their approbation of it in writing—the latter adding: ‘I
subscribe for my own house in Smith’s Land, Niddry’s Wynd, fourth
story, provided the neighbours agree to the same.’ Other subscribers
of consequence were obtained, as ‘Jean Gartshore, for my house in
Morocco’s Close, which is £15 rent,’ and ‘the Countess of
Haddington, for the lodging she possessed in Bank Close,
Lawnmarket, valued rent £20.’ Many persons agreed to pay a half-
penny or a penny weekly; some as much as a half-penny per pound
of rent per month. One lady, however, came out boldly as a recusant
—‘Mrs Black refuses to agree, and acknowledges she throws
over.’[734]
Mr Mein’s plan was adopted, and acted upon to some extent by the
magistrates; and the terrible memory of the ‘Dirty Luggies,’ which
were kept in the stairs, or in the passages within doors, as a
necessary part of the arrangement, was fresh in the minds of old
people whom I knew in early life. The city was in 1740 divided into
twenty-nine districts, each having a couple 1735.
of scavengers supported at its own expense,
who were bound to keep it clean; while the refuse was sold to persons
who engaged to cart it away at three half-pence per cart-load.[735]
The Muse, it was said, after a long career of glory in ancient times,
had reached the shores of England, where Shakspeare taught her to
soar:
‘At last, transported by your tender care,
She hopes to keep her seat of empire here.
For your protection, then, ye fair and great,
This fabric to her use we consecrate;
On you it will depend to raise her name,
And in Edina fix her lasting fame.’
All this was of course but vain prattle. The piece appeared in the
Gentleman’s Magazine (August 1737), and no doubt awoke some
sympathy; but the poet had to bear single-handed the burden of a
heavy loss, as a reward for his spirited attempt to enliven the beau
monde of Edinburgh.