The star of the north. (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1849-1866, June 07, 1855, Image 1

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    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