THE STAR OF THE NORTH. B. W. Weaver Proprietor.] Troth and night God aid onr Country. [Two Dollars per An nam VOLUME 7. ' THE STAB OF THE NOBTH J3 PUBLISHED EVERY THURSDAY MORNJWO BY ft. W. WEAVER, OFFICE— Up stain, in the tieto brick build ing, on the south side of Main Street, thud square below Market. TERNS :—Two Dollars per annum, if paid within six months from the lime of sub scribing ; two dollars and fifty cents if not A paid within the year. No subscription re ceived for a less period than six months ; no discontinuance permitted until all arrearages are paid, unless at the option of the editor. ADVERTISEMENTS not exceeding one square vill be inserted three times for One Dollar and twenty five cents for each additional in sertion. A liberal discount will be made to those who advertise by the year. CHWCEPOEfRV. LITTLE THINGS. Scorn not the slightest word or deed, Nor deem it void of power j There's fruit in each wind wafted seed, Waiting its ®Hfdpower. A whispered word may touch the heart, And call it back to life; A look of love bid love depart, And still unholy strife. No act falls fruitless ; none can tell How vest its power might be; Nor what results unfolded dwell Within it nilently. Work and despair not, give thy mile, . Nor care how small it be; God is with tli that serve the right, The holy, true, and free. PHILOSOFHY OF RAIN. To understand the philosophy of that beautiful and sublime phenomenon, so often witnessed since the creation of the world, and so essential to the very existence of plants alfd animals, a few facts derived from observations and a long train of experiments must be remembered:— 1. Ware the atmosphere everywhere at all times of a uniform temperature, we should never hqve rain or hail, or* snow. The wa ter absoided by it in evaporation from the sea and the earth's eurjadfe, would descend in <ui imperceptible vapor, or ceaßc to be ab sorbed by the air .when it was once fully saturated. 2. The absorbing power of Ibe atmos phere, and consequently its capacity to re tain humidity, is proportionally greater in waftnth than in cold air. 3. The air near the surface of the earth is warmer than it is in the region ot the clouds. * The higher we ascend from the earth, the colder do we find the atmosphere. Hence the perpetual snow on very high mountains iu the hottest climate. Now, when, from continued evaporation, the air is highly saturated with vapor, though it be invisible and tha sky cloudless, if its temperature is suddenly reduced, by cold currents descending from above, or rushing from a higaer to a lower latitude, or by the motion of a saturated air to a colder latitude, its capacity to retain moisture is diminished, cloud* are formed, and the result is rain.— ' Air condenses as it cools, aud, like a sponge filled with water and compressed, pours out the water which its diminished capacity can not hold. How singular, yet how simple, the philosophy of rain I What but Omnr ccence could have, devised such an admira ble arrangement for watering the earth ? EFFECTB PRODUCED BY RAIN AS IT DESCENDS THROUGH THE SOIL. >■ BY PROFESSOR F. W. JOHNSON. The most itcportaEt immediate effect of thorough drainage is, that it enables the rain or other surface water to descend more deep ly end escape more readily from the soil.— It may be interesting to specify briefly the benefits which are known to follow from this descent of rain through the soil. 1. It causes the atr to be renewed.-—U is be lieved that the admission of frequently re newed supplies of air into the soil is favora ble to its fertility. This the descent of the 1 rain promotes. When it falls npdn the soil it makes its way into the pores and fissures, expelling of course the air which previously filled them. When the rain ceases, the wate runa off by the drain ; and as it leaves the pores of the soil empty above it, the air fol lows, and fills with a renewed supply the nu merous cavities from which the descent of the rain had driven it. Where lands remain full of water, no such renewal of air can take plaee. 2. It warms the under soil.— AM the rifin falls tbrongh the air it acquires the tempera ture of the atmosphere. If this be higher than that of the surface soil, the latter is warmed by it; and if the rains be copious, and sink easily into the subsoi', tbey will carry this warmth with them to the depth ol the drains. Thus the under soil in well drained laud is uot only warmer, because Ibe evaporation is less, bnt because the rains in the Rummer seasons actually bring doWn warmth irom the heavens to add to their nmtnral heal. 3. U equalises the temperature of the soil du ring the season tf growth.—' The sun beats fib upon the surface of the soil, and gradually warms it. Yes, even in eamraer, this direct heat descends only a few inohes beneath the surface, and fitfds ah easy descent, as it does into the undersoil. Then the roots of plants ate warmed, and general growth stimulated. It hew bean proved, by experiments with "* the thermometer, that the under as well as the upper writ is warmer in drained than uqdrained isud, and the above era so rife of the ways by which beat seems to be aoto - ally added to soils that have been thoroughly drained. 4. It carries down soluble substances to the root* of plants.—When rain falls upon heavy BLOOMSBURG, COLUMBIA COUNTY. PA.. THURSDAY. JUNE 7, 1855. undrained land, or upon any land into Which I it does not readily sink, it runs over the sur face, dissolves soluble matter, and carries it into the nearest ditch or brook. Rain thus robs Snd impoverishes such land. But let it sink where it falls—then what ever it dissolves it will carry downwards to the roots—it wHI distribute uniformly the sa line matters which have a natural tendency to rise to the surface, and it will thus pro mote growth by brihging food every where within the reach of plants. 0. If i bashes noxious matter from the under soil. —ln the subsoil, beyond the reach ol the air, substances are apt to collect, especially In red-colored soils, wiych are injurious to the roots of plants. These the descent of the rains alters iu part and makes wholesome, aud in part washes out. The plough may dpscend in search of food where they would ' previously have beec destroyed. It it true that when heavy rains fell they will also wash out ol the soil and carry,-into the drains substances which would be use ful to retain. Upon this fact some have laid unnecessary stress, and have adduced it as an argument against thorough drainage. But if we balance the constant benefit against the occasional evil, 1 am satisfied, as experience indeed tiasT shown, that the former will greatly preponderate. 6. ltluings down feitilising substances from the air. —Besides, the rains never descend einpt)-hmtded. They Constantly bear with them gilts, not only of moisture to the parch ed herbage, but of organic and saline food Iby which its growth is promoted. Ammo nia aud nitric acid together many exhalations which are daily rising from the earth's surface, come down in the rains; common salt, g) psum, and other saline sub stances derived from the sea, rarely want ing; and thus, the constant descent from the heavens may well be supposed to counter balance the occasional washing from the earth. 7. Much of the rain is evaporated. —And lastl), in answer to this objection it is of im portance to slate, that in our climate a very large proportion of the rain that fallsdoes not sink through the soil, even where there are drains beneath, but arises again into tbe air in the form of water vapor.* Experiments in Manchester have shown, that of 31 inchesof rain, which fall there in a year, 24 are evap oraied ; while in Yorkshire, of 24} inches of - rain which fall, only 5 inches run off through pipes laid at a depth of 2 feet 9 inches, the rest being evaporated; There Is little cause, therefore, for the fear expressed by some, that the draining of the land will cause tbe fertility in any perceptible degree to dimin i ish iu consequence of the washing of tbe de -1 eceding rains. They may, as I have said, 1 improve the subsoil by washing hurtful sub stances out of it, but io general, the soil will : have extracted from the water which fil ters through it, all the valuable matter it holds in solution, before it has reached the depth of a 3 feet drain. BAIN WATER AS A BEVERAGE. Rain-water is the purest water in the world. Dr. Flumtning, of the water-cure at Roches ter, allows no other water to be used in his family or office. He passes this rain-wuler through a filter, which separates from it ev ery offensive taste, and extraneous matter Its taste is better than well or spring water. In all locations where water is defective, the evil can be remedied by the use of rain wa ter. The miasmas of fever and ague couo r tries cau be completely avoided by a proper , use of ibis simple remedy- The apparatus for filtering, sufficient for one family, can . be procured for from three to eight dollars, i The writer,, while riding in the cars hear Bitighamptou, saw two brothers, healthy looking men as you would see among ten . thousand, who had spent some twenty-five . years in the lowlands of Indiana. Inconver . sution with one of them, he attributed his r uniform good health, to the constant use of I rainwater. They, were lawyers, one of them i, tbe President of the United States Senate, and f of course actiag Vice President of tho United - Stales, (we want great names to give forte to B little truths now-a-days.) Mr. Bright's mode - of purify ing rain water, is to get it from win - ter snows, which gives it in its pure slate, or if when obtained from summer rain) let* il n stand some three weeks, wben it will under e go a process of fermentation tbe extraneous matter will evaporate leaving the article pure, n Water put up for a sea voyage will grow sir. i- my and nauseous after a few days embarca i lion, yet will become pure in three weeks s Pure even as coming from tbe hand of the i, Creator, when it was first pronounced good II together with everything then made; very if good.— Corning Sun. II —— e DOWN ON THE GOVERNOR. —Tbe Lanoas'.ei S Examiner and Norristown Herald, two'of the n stauncbesl and best old-line Whig papers ir if this State, have come otft in* strong condom lion of the reoem appointments of Governui i- Pollock. With one or two exceptions, they , pronounce them "not fit to be made." Tb< y Examiner goes into particulars, and givei it some off-band portraits of tbe Leather, Bark, i Whiskey, and Floor Inspectors, which are s by no means flatteung to < thoe functions B ties. I. —j Il Important Provision, s Bv two section* of tbe general apptopria i tion bills, as approved by the Governor, it ir fc made the duly of Tteuurere, Clerks, Pro - ibonotaries, and other persons who oollact Ir' moneys belonging to the Commonwealth, to deposit montnly, the sums in their band* t in such place a* may be designated by ths r State Treasurer. —. . .... CDripinaf Sommnnitation. MUSIC 4 An Essay read at the triday Evening exercises of Dickenson 1 s Seminary, May the 1 Ith, 1855, by JOHN UUSS, of Juniata County, Pinn a. Music may be defined to bo the qrt ot pro ducing a combination of sounds agreeable to the ear. As an art its history may be traced from the day 8 of Adam, in whose period it is said "there lived one who was the father of all such as handle the harp." In nil ages and among all tribes, il serins to have oc cupied a prominent posiiion, being held as a part of religious worship, both by pagans and christians; even ihe untutored savage has dispelled his griefs and cares by this gracious boon of heaven. Indeed when we considrr its mysterious effects and influences on the mind, its übiquity and exalted nature, we must be lost to all the finer feelings of humanity if a conviction of its importance be not impressed upon us. It is a remarka ble fact that the "accomplished minstrel" can touch and sway the hearts of friend and foe nor can the savage beast of the forest withstand his power,but losing bis ferooious nature is rendered harmless as a lamb. By his magic power crowded multitudes have been rapt io awe tnd melted into one. He can excite mirth or create sadness—be can rouse a spirit of revenge, or insoire our hearts with feeling of gratitude and love— "lie it master of the soul and sways it at pleasure." So powerful are Ihe effects of music, that man and beamt have been known to expire under tbe violent agitations pro duced by it. Sacred music has a favorable I influence on the moraj ai.d intellectual pow ers of man. He must be stupid indeed, who ! would not have some pure desire or holy | thought awakened in his heart, by hearing j onoof Zion's rich songs, set to a soul stirring ! melody. Martin Luther was both a com- I pocer and a practical musician. Whrlefield and the Wesley* were noted for their musi cal talent. Bacon required its aid in bis pro found investigations, and Milton it is said was indebted to bis organ for much of his ' depth and splendor. Its swells and explo ' ; sive tones, its intervals and variations, its ! noisy choruses and silent rests, its major and ' < minor moods, its grave and presto.move- I meats, are calculated to "reach and play up no every chord of the human soul." I But let us notice its übiquity as exhibited ' ' throughout the works of Creation, Music, ' j harmony and order seem to prevttdo the ' , universe. If we take our position by some ' forest, whose tall, dead trunks look like vast | ' organ pipes, we cau bear every variety of j ' I movement and combination of harmony.— ' ; The arolian murmur which the north wind ' wakes among the treetops, will fit us for ' I quiet and heavenly meditation. The ring ' ing soprano of the whistling tempest and the ' j thunder bass of the sky are calculated to in '; spire qui hearts with reverence and awe ' while the mournful minors of the sinking breeze and Ihe lowing ol cattle produce sad ness and heaviness of soul. Still greater . emotions are awakened in the triind, when - approaching a beautiful grove on a spring s morn, just as tbe silver edge of tbe sun is r | shooting its rays parallel to the eastern hor - ixon, and ihe clarion notes of a thousand - feathered songsters fall upon the ear as tbey . i jnin in one harmonious concert to welcome j > the "harbinger of day." All nature seems, - to rateh the theme and reverberates il through - ber vast domains. Its exalted nature may r be infered from the infportant occasions on ) which it was used. We leara that when the t earth was created for the abode of a new race of being 9 "the morning stars sang to r gether and all tbe sous of the most high f shouted for joy." The immortal Milton, re i I faring to this, beautifully represents the Mus s siah returning Irom his six days work in • (tflse lines:— s "Up he rode f Followed with acclamation and the sound Symphotrious of tee thousand harps that tuned . Angelic harmonies; the earth, the air resound -1 ed, J . The heaven* aud all the constellations rung, o Ths planets in llieir stations listening stood, B I While tbe bright pomp asceuded jubilant. Open ye heavens, ye living doors, ' Let in tho great Creator from his work re r turned, il Magnificent,his six days work, a world. At the incarnation or tbe redeemer a ohoir s of angels appeared to the shepherds wulch l. ing tbeir flocks by night, singing Hosanna to i. the highest peace on earth and good will to i- ward man. We may infer from these items s. (hat musio occupies a high position among e the things that minister to the happiness and I, comtorl of our race. Were it otherwise the y Creator would not have bestowed, it so plen lilulljr throughout his works. When there tore we consider its mysteries, operations , r and effects that we are endowed with faoul e ties capuble of producing these effects when n we remember that it is stamped on all na tore's works, and finally when we consider lr that it is not merely man's interest, but the theme of angels, it becomes ue as rational e and accountable beings to cultivate our m inds !g and train our voices in order that we may ( be enabled to joio the anthems of redeem jpg g love wben time shall be no more. t- •••• OT An Irishman, on being told to grease the wagon, returned in about quarter of an hour afterwards, aod said: "I've graird every part of tbe wagon, inside and out, yer s honor, bnt, by tbe blue hair o'Moees' wig, I can't get at tbe sticks the wheels hang on, it re. h • s OT Lord Bacon says, "He is tbe great e eat philosopher who adhere* most closely to particular*." For the " Star of the North." ITIJIIOI'IJ IN 1805. BV n. W. WEAVER. (CONCLUSION.) A general war in Europe now seems in evitable, but all the crowned beads are inter ested against euob an event. IF it does come only Omniscience can know the roenk, for ihere are strange providences in history.— The Bourbons thought to check England by furn>shing aid to the American revolution, and when independence was acknowledged, it was the universal cry of exultation at Paris and Vicuna that England was ruined. Even at London it.wns the subject of lamentation' And yet it was the republican .spirit which came lrome with Lafayette and hiscompat rMus that revolutionized France, and brought Louis XVI. to the scaffold. The American revolution was the seed that brought forth its fiutl in France, and if the fruit was not like the seed, that difference was the effect of a less genial soil for,sui'h a result. So perhaps may be the a short-sighted wis dom of man now. The rulers of Europe think (heii safe'y lies in the #ar against Rus sia. And yet the Cossacks may in this very war sweep every throne from Europe, and thus pave the way for a liew-order of things out of chaos. The barbarous Cossacks could not remain the rulers of the refined South and West, but the new would arise, would begin without Ihe encumbrance of the present national debts that now hang liko an incubus over Europe. For the doc trine is ere long to be recognized that the Kings and tzars of one generation cannot I for their own family aggrandizement impose l a tax equal 1o half the value of their empire I u{ on all the generations that shall follow them. In England this question of national debt thunders lond at the palace gale. By means of that debt, unproductive and consuming idleness has been .waging n secret warfare against the labor of the kingdom, until now the wages of a week ot a month will only buy one fourth Ihe necessaries and com forts ot lile which that labor would have purchased five hundred years ago.— ' But worse than that—the manifest wrong of | the oppressor has crushed the spirit and I withered the heart of the laborer. This | poverty of man's infliction has demoralized ( the toilsman, and made him hate and fear I his own human nature. It has eaten the j feeling of humanity out of his soul, as well as vitality from his body. So that in Eng land, since regular statistics of crime and life have been preserved in 1805. crime has increased sixfold ; and that was four times as fast as the number of the people, lo Scotland the records Bhow that it*, the same period erimo has risen twenty-five times as fust as the number of the people. It is this and other such problems which must be solved in this war or by some other political convulsion in Europe. In France I the peoplo long since expelled their iocapa ■ ble rulers, and sought for good plebiah blood. And though they have beeen de ceived since by each new aet they have chosen, the mass has learned ils power and the Emperor feels it. When the caged liou * knows hie strength, the keeper dare no lon ger be cruel. If the impending war go on there will be a strange fellowship of incongruous elements, and in the multiplicity of the Czar's enemies will lay his strength. There is no natural af finity between Ihe French and English na ' tious, that have been at sword's point for I ten hundred years, and the world may well wonder when Kossuth and Mazzini will once 3 marshal their brethren with the loroes of Lord Aberdeen and Louis Napoleon. The Hungarian and Roman chiefs would fight for the cause of Freedom—Lord Palmerston to check Russia and save India—Louis Niipo -1 leon to give employment lo. his restless and troublesome coontrymen or to realize the ' idea of his unole that the world might be . partitioned between him and the Russian Czar—and only the infidel Turk would bat -9 tie for his cenntry. But Kossuth mud Maz * zini ate not yet the allies of Palmerston and * Napoleon, nor will Ihey be so soon. The former look to the overturning ol thrones be fore they become a party to the fray; while t England and France lead the conservative i interest, and fear the Uprising of the liberal 1 elements. There is the germ of repoblican r ism in every nation in Europe, and it only I needs a little loosen ing of the " upper crust" i to break through. The diplomatists this and are fearful of the result. They do not want war, and yet fear the encroacb ■ meets of the Czar. > If this is a there question whether Turkey shall fall into the clutches of Russia, Prussia t i . ■ > i .* - i -• - uid Austria, or of England and France, as American republicans we have no interest in the reeull. But it were far belter for Ihe cause of humanity thai Austria and Prussia should join with..the Czar. Then England and France wonld not tgke the field as the champions and allies of kingcraft, but as the defenders of freedum. Then tliey would be compelled from necessity to ally themselves with the republican elements of Europe,and it would be the war of the English and French people and not of the English and French dynasties. Then, (and in that case alone) would 15,000,C00 Hungarians fight with good true steel and lead, and not only with their nails and implements of husband ry as before. Then would the. free spirit of Italy burst forth again, and Germany an swer with her million sons of freedom.— Sweden is the natural enemy of Prussia since the day that Charles the XII. with 8,- 000 "Swedes defeated 80,000 Prussians in their retrenchments at Narva. Bernadotle, its ruler, is a brave and bold soldier after Bonaparte's own heart—a mar. frank, true and honest lo the cause of his people. The Swedes ate a noble and gallant nation, arid will never forgive Russia the robbery of Kin land If the war shall be the last great bat tle of freedom the Austrian and governments \yill find their hands full at home to suppress republicanism) and the Polish soldiers will no longer be in the Rus sian ranks to be driven on by the threats and blows of Russian officers, as at Olteuitza, nor will they need to desert and beg as they did then to be incorporated into the army of their Turkish captors. The niost'formidable part of the Czar's army is the southern di vision of Cossacks, and these savages only fighr in any cause so long as they can find plunder. The detachment of the army which has been under the training and patronage of Nicholas himself has enthusiasm for his cause, but '.he soldiers ol the distant provin ces who know only the discipline of the rod and the knot, and who have neither family nor land in the Empire will not he equal Jo the enthusiasm of Patriotism and Freedom. If tho war must come, may it so begin and end that the cause of Humanity and Liberty may triumph. Ihe True Wife. She is no true wife who sustains not her hucband in the day of calamity, who is not, when the world's great frown makes the heart chill with anguish, his guardian ar.gel, growing brightpr and more beautiful as mis fortunes crowd around his path. Then is the lime for testing whether the sweetness of temper beams only with a transient light, or like the steady glory of the morning star, shines as brightly under the clouds. Has she then smiles just as charming? Does she say " Affliction capnol touch our purity, and ahould not quench our love 1 Docs she try, by happy little inventions, to lift from his sen sitive spirit the burden of the thought? There are wives—nay, there are beings who, when the dark hours come, lull to repi ning and upbraiding—thus adding to outside qpxiety the harrowing scenes of domestic strife—as if all the blame in the world would make one hair white or black, or change the decree gone forth. Such know that ourdatk ness is heaven's light; our trials are but steps io a golden ladder, by which, if we ascend, we may at length gain that eternal light, and bathe forever in its fullness and beauty. " Is that all ? and the gentle face of the wife beamed with joy. Her husband had been on the verge of distraction—all his earthly pos sessions were gone, and he feared the result of her knowledge, she bad been so tenderly cared for all her life ! But, says Irving's beautiful story, "a friend advised to give not sleep to his eyes nor slumber to bis eyelids until he had untolded lo her all his hapless case." Ami that was her answer, with the smile of an angel— lt that all ? 1 feared by your sadness it was worse. Lei these beautiful ah lugs be taken—all this splendour let it go; 1 care not for it—l only care for my hus band's love and confidence. You shall lor gel, in my affeotion, that you were ever in prosperity—only stUI lore me, and I will aid you to bear these little reverses with cheer fulness. Still love her I site a man must reverence, aye, end liken her to the very angels, forsueh a living woman is a living revelation of Heav en. EF- Punch says, that although ever so many parallels are constructed before Sebas topol, yet it is a sjtgt without a parallel! r l_ OT Thomas Wiggleworth, an eld mer chant of Boston, died recently, teaviog prop erty to ihe amount of 12,000,000. s PROGRESS AND BIGOTRY. The following extract from a lecture of Prof. Joseph D. Friend of the Metropolitan Medical College has a great deal of force in it The past is full of error. Man lias been seeking in evety direction and availing him self of all the menns within his reach to en large the sphere of his khowledge—to bring forth from the great store house of art and nature, tilings new and valuable. Amid the rubbish of the pßst there has been gathered up many a gem of priceless worth, which will grow brighter and brighter as the shadows of time lengthen. But the iron hand of precedent has grasped many a false and hurtful thing, garnered from every de partment of philosophy and science and art, and with its giant force has borne it trium "phantly along through suceeding ages, and to day holds it up to our gaze and bids us behold rfhd wonder and approve. But man kind have learned that precedent is often but anothor name for error, and refuse to pay slavish homage to' its claims. * God has endowed every soul with a men tal activity. If it lie not dormant and un used, progress must be the result of its exer cise. The mind cannot always feed upon what it knows. It must have other mental aliment. It has desires wltich must bo sat isfied; hopes which neck fruition; aspirings which lead it upward to the attainment of high purposes—the accomplishment of no ble ends. Could the results of mental ac tivity be daguerreptyped and exhibited at a single view, we should see more distinctly the evidences of progress. We should learn by studying the picture, that many of the errors to whieh-men cling to this hour with zoal and pertinacity, are but the stepping stones over which mankind have necessarily passed in the attainment of truth. Our pride might hero find something to chasten and subdue its vaunliiigs; and the great Diana to which we have bowed and worshipped, might be found to be a sightless and soul less image. The noble temple which llie liafnls of our predecessors have for ages beon employed in rearing, and which their successors and followers have been indus > triously engaged in adorning and strength ening, might be seen, in the language of llush, to be roofless at the top and cracked in the foundation. Systems and theories which we have learned to revorence and re spect, might be seen stripped of every ele ment adapted to inspire the one or command the other. 'Die reformer might here learn to distrust somewhat the correctness of his own dogmas; and while he receives with enthusiasm the doctrines that go to make up tile sum anfl basis of his system of practice, let him guard against sitting down with a satisfied and contented air, as if nothing more were to be learned, no greater victo ries to be achieved. While you believe that the fundamentals on which your structure rests, are truths in harmony with the laws of life and the teachings of nature; while the experience of the past serves to fortify and strengthen your convictions df its supe riority over other methods and other systems, it will serve ns to remember that the same law of progress applies hore as elsewhere. If you would not rust you must work. De pend not 011 past successes alone as a capital that will always yield yon the respect and confidence of an intelligent and discerning public. I used to wonder when I was very young, what the Jews stoned Stephen to death for—and nflerwanl, when I came to learn something of history, why men were burned nnd butchered and racked and tortur ed for thinking different kinds of thoughts from those who murdered them; why such good men as Harvey were persecuted and scoffed at ami exiled.—What crime Jenuer was guilty xif that led his contemporaries to treat him like a malefactor; gpd in latter times, whose house Thompson had set on fire, that he should be loaded with chains and cast into prison, along with other crimi nals nnd disturbers of the peace. 1 used to wonder, if truth were invincible in every en counter with error, why error's mouth should so often shut by padlocks, and her arms com pnssed with chains, instead of giving her a > fair free field in which to spread herself— ' and be vanquished. Die day of dungeons atul inquisitorial persecutions is past. But the spirit that saw and proclaimed their ne cessity, still lives, and shows itself in a thou sand petty annoyances and displays of os tentation and arrogant assumptions. ■ 'earful Mortality. From the report of the board of trustees bf thu Massachusetts General Hospital, we learn that during the past year, 922 patients have boon admitted into the institution; of whom US or about one eighth of.the whole number have died! At the McLean Asylum 120 patients have been admitted, of whom 16, or nearly one seventh have been discharged deadl In ad dition to this dreodfnl mortality, not one half of those admitted have been discharged cured! This too, our readers will remem ber, is in public institutions where every comfort and attention that tend to facilitate a cure is provided at the expense of a gen erous and philanthropic public. The greatest breadth of the Crimea is a 124 miles ; the length from eart to weal a ■7O. The Tartar population is about 60,000. A few miles from Simferopol the ground be ■ comes so level, that there is not even the • slightest undulation. This uniformity con tinues the whole way to Perekof. NUMBER 20. From the Medical Reformer. INCREASE OP INSANITY IN TIIK f UNITED STATES. i 111 a cursory examination of the census , report for the year 1850, I have been great ly surprised at the awful increase of this | fearful malady among us; and my own mind has been led into a train of thought in the investigation of the unknown cause that r must be surely thought secretly working all j this mental wreck and ruin among the vig , orous sons and fair daughters of our own I happy land. At the decennial census ol 1840 there were reported 14,641 insane and idiotic persons in the United States: ten years later, in 1850 this number is nearly doubled, amounting to 29,220! an increase of 100 per cent, in ten years while the whole in crease in population is only 6,122,423, or about 40 per cent. Should not these figures and facts attract the attention of our statesmen and philan thropists and induce them, at least, to make an effort to arrest this awful calamity?— Millions of dollars are annually spent to provide homes, instruction, and assistance for this unfortunate class of individuals, and the minds of many of our generous cit izens are devoted to an alleviation of Uleir sufferings. This is as it should be; and every niau whoso heart contains a spark of sympathy for the afflicted of humanity bids them success in their benevolent efforts.— But may not also something be done to pre vent the unprecedented increase of this dreadful national calamity ? We think that much may be accomplished in this direct tion, and to direct the friends of the unfor tunate to the contemplation, of the means by which it may be done is the object of our present feeble effort. • To remove an evil in the most judicious and expeditious manner, it first becomes 1 necessary that we make suitable explora tions in search of its cause. In some in -1 stancs it is difficult to at once discover this; if in tlio present case such are the condi tions, so much greater is the necessity for the attempt. , It is quite apparent that the cause of the . j great increase of insauity and idiocy among .' us. is not—as some have supposed—to be attributed to the ten thousand trifling ex r citenients that daily stimulate the mental L faculties in this age of new things. New and wonderful revelations may be made in all the arts and sciences; the student of natural philosophy may dffive deep into the great store house of nature and bring forth the most exquisite fabrics of her production, ; but these are not calculated to so excite the j mind as to drive itfrcm its true balance and ! dash it into chaos. To these things we are | from infancy accustomed, pnd the most | wonderful inventions of man or develop j ments of nature excite but a passing notice, j Further into the great ocean of physics we" ! must force our way ; and "en passant," we I would ask, is it possible, that "intoxicating 1 liquors," with all the known evil that it has I entailed on society, is still chargable with a i portion of this great crime against human- I ity ? It may in part be, but we infer that ' | there are other causes, such too as the great 1 philanthropists and philosophers of the | day do not even suspect of a participation, I at work down deep in the great heart erf so- I j ciety, undermining and sapping the physi j | cal as well as mental vitality of the race, , ; and quietly and secretly hewing out the sep ulchres that annually entomb this brilliant God-like principle of humanity. All the pas sions that grow rank in the corrupt heart of man may spend their powers upon this men tal principle, if it is firmly planted it will ho in vain, for something more is required to drive reason from its throne and plant furies in its seat. In ultra the humati being U doubtless sub ject to many unnatural and disturbing forces which may give rise to derangraenta in the structure of the brain and other nervous cen tres sufficient to entail at least a predisposi tion to the calamity. Of these we shall not here sUcmpt an elucidation, but confine our selves to a notice of some of the causes that operate to produce this dire effect after birth. One of the first customs of society which we arraign for a share (and a large one it is too) in producing the great increase of lu sanity is that of prematurely forcing the young intellect. Tho desire to see their childrea precocious is one of the greatest sins of "young America," and so far astray has the public mind been carried in this respect that tho publishers of newspapers hare in serted a department into .the columns of their regular issue for the expressed purpose of heralding to the world the profound and brilliant sayings of infant philosophers! In P our own limited experience we could pro duce soveral cases in which tliis pernicious ' custom has resulted in insanity, ft is very seldom tho case that precocious children ev ' er attain tank as great men, while on tho contrary nearly all tho foremost men of tho nation , were either neglected in their youth or were noted for unusual dullness of intel lect. We have no hesitation in asserting that the method of education in this country is radically Wrong. The custom of retain ing children in school six or eight hours ft day plying them continually with difficult questions and hard tasks both in and out of school, forcing the intellectual faculties, like the gardener forces the delicate hot house plant to the total neglect of the physical de velopement is one of the chief causes of the i appalling increase of insanity among us. * We believe it to be a true physiological maxim, that, a sound, strong and vigorous mind cannot be reared; it will not crow, i n a delicate, weakly, unsound body, a- n d ■ whatever tends to lessen the physical {row - ers of the child or youth, also tends V, it&, pair the intellectual functions
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