■ ■ t
THE STAR OF THE NORTE
B. W# Weaver, Proprietor.]
VOLUME 9.
THE STAR OP TIIP, NORTH
1* PUSLISHED CVKHY WEDNESDAY MORNING BT
H. iV. AV::Vvtn,
OFFitt—ffpitairs, inthenew brick build
ing, on Ibe south si.ie oj Main Street, third
iquurc below Itlurket.
'I'Y; It >1 S :—Two Dollars per annum, if
paid within fix months frotn the time of sub
icribug ; two dollars nni! fifty rents if not
paid within the year. No subscription re
ceived for a less period than six months; no
discontinuance permitted until nil arrearages
are pnid, uuless at the option of the editor.
ADVLiiTf-UiMCNTs not exceeding one square
will be inserted threa times for One Dollar,
and twenty five cents for each additional in
seition. A liberal discount will be inado to
( those who advertise by the year.
Prom the Weekly Pendulum.
WINTEH--W4 U'l NG hull HIE 'I K A IN.
Snow-drifts in the valleys,
Snow drills on the plain,
Snow-drifts on the highway,
Snow-drifts in the lane-
Bless mo, l.ow delightful
Waiting for the train.
Tony anxious passengers,
Depot nine by seven,
riold* by dint of squeezing,
Only ivvenly-seven!
Fat man on the platform,
Half tJiMcured by-snow,
Tries to wedge inside—desists,
Finding it "no go;
Woman with a baby
* Cannot gel a chair,
Holds the little innocent
Dangling in the air;
Baby rather fractious,
Gos9 agai. si his grain
In a crowded depot
r Waiting for the train !
■ -JL .
Lawyer from li e city
V Looks a little down,
Just received some evidence,
"Jenkins versus Brown ;"
Can't help feeling nervous,
Case comes on to-day,
J He, defendant's counsel,
Thirty miles away I
Hoars grow nut of minutes,
Time speeds on apace,
Snow-flake after snow-flake
Leads a merry chase;
Passengers are wratlly,
Bitterly complain,
Do not seem tg relish
Waiting lot the train I
Maiden, with a band-box
And u funk of hair,
Siliiuit in the corner
With a doleful air,
Thinks it more than probable
(Thought how full of freight!)
L> that crovvdo I depot
Sim must pass the nigld.
Tall man, drossed in broad cloth,
Looking very grurn,
Thinks the end of all things
Very nearly come:
Largely quotes from Daniel,
Making il quite plain
• That the world, like ns, is
• Waiting for the trair. !
Snow-drift" in. the valleys,
Snow-drifts on the plain,
Sfiow-diifts on the highway,
I Snow-drifts in the lane—
Bless me how delightful
Waiting for the train I
CART. CANTAB.
freezing to Death.
[ That to be frozen to death must be a fright
ful torture, many would consider certain,
from their own experience of the effects of
cold, But here we fall into the usual error
of supposing that the suffering will increase
Jj> with the energy of the agent, which could
only bo the c;se if sensibility remained the
same. Intense cold brings on speedy sleep,
l whioli fascinates the senses, and fairly bo
guiles men out of their lives. The most cu
rious example of the seductive powers ol
cold, is to be found in the adventures of the
botanical party, who, in Cook's first voyage,
were caught in a snow storm on Terra del
Fuego. D*. Solander, by birth a Swede,
And well acquainted AVith the destructive de-
K ■ ceils of a rigorous climate, admonished the
company, in defiance of lassitude, to keep
moving on. "Whoever," said lie, "sits
down will sleep—and whoever sleep* will
perish." The doctor spoke as a sage, bui he
felt as a man. In spite of the remonstrances
of those whom he had instructed and alarmod,
he was the first to lie down and die. The
A same warning was repealed a thousand
K times in the retreat from Moscow. Allison,
the historian, to try the experiment, sat down
in his garden at night, when (he thermome-
V let had fallen four degrees below zero, and
K so quickly did the drowsiness come stealing
on, that he wondered how a soul of Napo
leon's unhappy band had been ablo to re
sist the treacherous influence.— London Qi/ar
terly.
Fating Horse Meat.
The French restaurants are just now serv
ing up horse meat (so we learu by tiieir pa
pers.) as one of the greatest "delicacies of
the season," and the French journals have a
good deal to say on the subject. In Berlin,
also, horse rneal is a great luxury. A gen
tleman—an American gentleman—who has
recently been residing* in that city, assures
us that, cooked in vinegar, it is better than
beef or venison; and such is the rage for it
among epicures that a good fat horse will
bring more money in the butcher's sham
bles, than for any other purpose. The au
thorities hare made it an offence, punishable
by fine and imprisonment, for a horse lo be
killed in Berlin without a physician's certifi-
Icate that the animal was not-diseased. How
long will it be before our gourmands, with
European tastes, will affect a fashionable
relish for horseflesh.
MAKING CANNON.— An irishman being ask
ed if he knew how cannons are made, re-
I one worJ-^jf
I to this four Ida th ®y m,k# lo "8 hohs
Uow Por hr... around it."
M||lestnees, St
BLOOMSBURG, COLUMBIA COUNTY, PA., WEDNESDAY. FEBRUARY 4. 1857.
AN ACT
For the security of Railroad Companies and
[ tofity of travelers, introduced into the Sennit
j ly Mr. Browne.
SECTION I. Be it enacted by the Senate and
House of Representatives of the Commonwealth
of Pennsylvania in General Assembly met, and
1 il is hereby enacted by tin authority of the same,
That every conductor, baggage master, engi
neer, brakeman, or other servant of any rail
road company employed in any passenger
train or at stations for passengers, shall wear
upon his hat or cap a budge which shall in
dicate bis office and the initial letters of the
name of such cornpauy; and no conductor
or collector without such badge, shall be en
titled lo demand or receive from any passen
ger any tare, or ticket, or to exercise any of
the powers of hui office; and no office; or
servant without suclt badge, shall have au
thority to meddle or interfere with any pas
senger, his baggage, or properly ; any per
son who shall, without the authority o( such
company, assume such a badge, br any
badge indicating an appointment by such
company, shall be finable therefor for each
appearance with such badge ten dollars, lo
be recovered by the company, before any
alderman or justice of the peace.
SEC. 2. That if any passenger shall refuse
to pay his or her fare, or be disorderly in his
or her conduct, and offensive to other pas
sengers, it shall be lawful for the conductor
of any pissengor train and the servants of
the company, to put him or her and his or
her baggage out of the care, using no unne
cessary force, at any usual stopping place or
near any dwelling-house, as the conductor
shall elect on slopping the train : Provided,
That the passage money paid for the dis
tance not traveled shall be refunded or ten
dered to such ejected passenger.
SEC. 3. That every engineer of any loco
motive engine upon any railroad, shall cause
the steam whistle or bell thereof to bo soun
ded at the distance of eighty rods from the
point where every highway shall cross such
railroad at the same level, except in cities or
boroughs, where the streets occur at shorter
intervals, where such sounding shall be re
peated at distances not greater thatveighty
rode, and in the built parts of any cities or
boroughs the speed shall not be greater than
shall be permitted by ordinance of such cities
or boroughs, and any omission ol said requi
sitions shall be a misdemeanor.
SEC. 4. That whensoever ony intersection
of a railroad and other highwoy at the same
level shall not be guarded by a watchman, it
shall be the duly of the conductor or engi
neer of any locomotive engine, when r.p
proaching such intersection, if by reason of
any intervening obstruction, or Ihe daikncss
of night at any lime previous to ten o'clock,
P. M., travelers upon the intersecting high
way approaching the intersection cannot bo
seen, or if seen, they shall have approached
within eighty rods of such intersection, to
cause the speed of the engine to be reduced
to the rate of twelve miles per hour, when
at tho distance of eighty rods from such in
tersection, and not to iriereaso such speed
until ihe intersection be passed by the loco
motive, aud for the brakeman of each pas
senger car lo man the brake; and any omis
sion of such duty by such conductor or brake
man shall be a misdemeanor; and there shall
be the like precaution observed under the
like penalty, whensoever any locomotive
and train shall approach within eighty rods
of any drawbridge, whether the same be
guarded or not, and that during all hours of
ihe day and night.
SEC. 5. Thai any person who shail cross
with a horse or vehicle, any railroad or a
road at the samo level, or drive any animal
thereupon, while any locomotive shall be
approaching within forty rods of such inter
section, or shall not when within fifty yards
of the crossing, stop at the sound of the sig
nal required by this act to be from the loco
motive, shall be guilty of and punished for a
misdemeanor under ibis act?
SEC. 6. That every railroad company now
incorporated, or hereafter to be incorporated,
shall have the power conferred by the eighth
section ofninteenth February, one thousand
eight hundred and forty-nine, entitled "An
Acl regulating railroad companies," lo change
the site of any turnpike, or public or private
road, and to carry it over or undot their rail
road, by causeway, oulvcrt or bridge, at a dif
ferent level from such railroad, paying any
damage incurred thereby, as in said aot pro
vided.
SEC. 7. That it shail be the duty of every
railroad company operating upon any single
railroad track within this Commonwealth, to
make, publish and keep furnished to their
conductors and engineers, a schedule of their
running lime on such railroad, designating
what train or trains, shall have the preference
on said road, and how long such preference
shall continue, so that no two trains moving
in opposite directions, shall be upon said sin
gle tiack railroad at tho same time, without
a switch and sliding between them, unless
the train which shall be out of time shall Le
preceded by an agent on foot, at least eighty
rods in advance thereof, exhibiting a red flag
by day and a red light by night; and any
omission of the duty imposed on this section
ihall be a misdemeanor in the conductor and
engineer of the train, and subject the compa
ny to all damages ensuing from such neglect:
Provided. That the requirements of thi* sec
tion shall not be applied to local branches
of railroads leading to coal and other mines,
and not designed for general or passenger
travel.
SEC. 8. That whensoever any train of cars
or locomotive shall be stopped upon the line
of any .-ailsoatf, where other trains may be
i approaching on the same track for five mm-
tiles or upwards, it shall be the duty of such
conductor as may have the same in charge,
to send back a person to the distance of at
least eighty rods with a red flag in the day,
and if at night with a lantern shewing a red
light, to give warning to an approaching
train ; and also il at night, to place a red light
in the rear end of the hind car oflho station
ary train, or in the rear end of the locomotive
if no car be attacked, and any omissions of
| this duly shall be a misdemeanor in such con
conduclor; and any person who shall exhibit
\ said signals without authority, shall be guilty
I of and punished for a misdemeanor under this
aot.
! SEC. 9. That if any person while in charge
1 of a locomo'ive engine tunning upon any
; railroad, or while acting as the conductor o(
i tha car, or train of cars on any railroad, shall
! be intoxicated, he shall be guilty of a misde
meanor, and besides the penalty hereinafter
provided, shall be liable lo indictment in the
court of quarter sessions, and tn an impris
onment not exceeding ninety days ; and any
person who shall sell or give, or permit
any person by him or her employed, to
| sell, or give any intoxicating liquor to any
| engineer, fireman, agent or conductor, while
I in the charge of any locomotive or train
attached to a locomotive, shall be guilty of
and punished for a misdemanor under this
act.
SEC. 10. That it shall be the duly of every
railroad company, owning or using any rail
road, to place and maintain at the intersec
tion of every highway with such railroad at
the same level, a sign board across the in
tersecting highway, so placed as not to ob
struct travelers and loaded vehicles, and lo
be conspicuously seen; and painted on each
side upon a white ground with capita I letters
in black, not less than six inches in length
and one in widih in the heavy parts of the
letter, "look out for engine," or equivalent
warning, and also to plant and maintain
each way from such intersection and distant
therefrom eighty rods on the side of the rail
way, a white post with n letter W. of the
size aforesaid, painted thereon in black.
SEC. 11. That it shall be the duly of every
railroad company owning or using any rail
road which shall pass through enclosed or
fenced parts of the country, lo construct at
every commencement and termination of
such enclosure, cattlo guards and fences
across the railway and adjoining ground, ad
equate to prevent cattle, horses, sheep and
pigs from entering upon the railway track ;
and if any person shall ride, lead or drive
i any horse or other animal upon such railroad,
( other than at highway and farm crossings,
or shall walk along said railway without the
railway tracks, where so enclosed, without
tho consent of tho railroad company or its
agent, he or she shall be guilty of and pun
ished for a misdemeanor.
SEC. 12. That if any person employed in
repairing any railroad shall lake up a bar, or
otherwise interrupt the connection of the rails
on which locomotives and trains are passing,
without exhibiting a rod flag by day and a
red light by night on each side, at least eigh
ty rods distant from the place ol repair, he
shall be guilty of and punishable for a mis
demeanor under this act.
SEC. 13. That every person who shall bo
guilty of any neglect or omission hereby de
clared to be a misdemeanor shall be liable
! lo a fine of not less than five nor more than
fifty dollars for each offence, to be recovered
as any debt of that amount is by law recov
erable ; and every railroad company which
1 shall neglect any of the requisitions enjoined
upon them by this act, or shall make any
rule or give any order contrary hereto, shall
for each violation of this act, and fur each
month's neglect to comply therewith, be lia
ble to a fine not less than twenty Oor more
than two hundred dollars, to be recovered as
aforesaid; and also in default of payment of
any fine incurred by any person in their em
ployment, under this act shall be liable there
\ for, and be authorized lo deduct the same
from his wages: Provided, That where sev
eral fines have accrued, they shall be consoli
dated, and il exceeding in ihe aggregate one
hundred dollars, sued for in court, with re-
I covery of single costs; and any persoff
j ing once sued shall pot afterwards sue for
i any fine previously incurred; all such suite,
j if lor cause occurring in the oily of Philadel
phia shall be in the name and for said city;
and all for cause occurring elsewhere ph all
be iu the name of the supervisors or road
commissioners of the townships whore die
penally accrued, which shall be applied to
wards the expenses of repairing highways,
except two fifths thereof, which shall be paid
lo Ihe prosecutor.
SEC. 14. That whensoever any passenger
on any railroad shall be injured while on the
platform of the car, there being room in lh.e
car for his accommodation, or any baggage,
wood or freight car, or by puttiug his head or
arms out of the window while the car shall
be in motion, contrary to any printed direc
tion* placed conspicuously in the passenger
cars of the trains, such company shall not be
liable for snch injury.
SEC. 15. That whensoever damages shall
have accrued for any negligence or unlawful
violence by ar.y railroad company or others,
and dealti shall have ensued in consequence
thereof, any recovery therefor by the legal
representatives of such deceased, entitled lo
recover the same, shall not exceed for any
single death five thousand dollars.
Sic. 16. That this sol, as to 60 much (here
of a* requires railroad companies to make
new constructions, shall not go into effect be
fore (be first day of July next; and nothing
herein contained, shall relieve any railroad
company from answering in damagee besides
the penalties aforesaid for any injury or loss
Truth and Right God and dnr Country.
resulting from their negligence or misfeas
ance, or that of persons by their employers,
except that any disregard for the require
ments of this act, shall be taken to be negli
gence or misfeasance on the part of the com
pany omitting or disregarding the same.
SEC. 17. That il any locomotive engineer,
conductor of a train, switch or drawbridge
tender, or other person in the employment of
any railroad company, shall by his negligence
or disobedience of law or the regulations of
the company, cause injury to any person
lawfully travelling upon such railroad, either
as a passenger or as oil employee of the com
pany, or other person lawfully crossing the
same, he shall be guilty of a misdemeanor,
and upon conviction, shall be puni.-hed by
imprisonment not exceeding twelve months
in the county jail; and if death shall have
ensued from such injury, he shall be guilty of
manslaughter, and upon conviction in the
proper county, shall be punished as the crime
of manslaughter is punishable by law.
SEC. 18. That any person who shall wilful
ly, maliciously and with premeditation place
any obstructiou on any railroad, or shall re
move a rail or other part therefrom, or change
the switch thereof, whereby the death ol any
person shall be occasioned, shall be guilty of
murdor in the first or second degree, accord
ing to the finding of the jury, and upon con
viction thereof, shall be punished as *aid
crime is by law punishable; and il in such
case any parson shall be maimed or injured
thereby, and no death shall have been occa
sioned thereby, such person shall be guilty
of a felony, and upon conviction thereof,
shall undergo solitary confiemetii at labor,
according to the enormity of the circumstan
ces, not exceeding ten yeare.
SEC. 19. That every railroad company shail
have one or more places to deposit lost bag
gage and freight, where all articles lost or
omitted to be called for, shall be deposited,
and advertised once in each month by murks
or description, the expense whereof shall be
charged to the lost baggage account; and
shall keep a list thereof and nolo thereon the
disposition made of the same; and when
ever such articles have temaiiied on deposit
ono year, shall proceed to sell ihe same alter
advertisement in at least two contiguous
newspapers three limes during not less than
six days, and credit the proceeds lo sard ac
count ; Provided, That if such articles be
perishable and be so adjudged by an alder
man or justice ot the pence after inspection,
the same may be forthwith sold, afier adver
tisement as last aforesaid ; and for such or
der embracing all articles to be then sold as
perishable, the alderman shall receive fifty
cents, and ten cents for each additional pack
age, to be charged to such account, and if
any owner shall appear and prove property
after such sale, he shall receive from such
company the net proceeds, but all proceeds
not called lor, Fhall be a reserved fund to
defray tho passage of poor persons reluming
to their homes or places of settlement.
SEC. 20. That every passenger car ta be
legally competent for the service of carrying
passengers, and to exonorale any cirriers
thereby from default in respect thereto, shall
be constructed with wheels, trucks, and
safety-beams, with the most approved im
provements; and all axles and wheels here
after supplied foi locomotives and cars,6hall
have the name of tho manufacturer thereof
legibly stamped thereupon : Provided, That
this section shall not require the owners to
alter existing cars before the end of a year
from the date hereof.
SEC. 21. Every railroad company opera
ling within this State, shall cause a printed
copy of this act lo be framed under glass,
and kept conspicuously hung in each room
for the reception of passengers at every pas
senger station of such company, under the
penalty of five dollars for each omission, to
be recovered as other penalties of that
amount are made recoverable by (his act.
SEC. 22. That it shall be the duly of the
Canal Commissioners to comply with the
requisitions of this act, so far as the same
are applicable to the public Works of this
Commonwealth,
j INNOCENT POISONING BY ADULTERATION •
j Dr. Normandy gives a ease in which a gen
: tleman was poisoned without anv person be
ing directly responsible for the net. Tho
case WPS as follows : A gentleman was ta
-1 ken suddenly ill after eating some double
Gloucester cheese, and his medical attend
ant having with much perseverance deter
. mined to trace Ihe poison to its source, did
, so with tha following result. Tho cheese
he found had been colored in the ordinary
| way with ar.notla ; the annotta Had been
j heightened in color with a little vermillion,
, which in small quantities is a comparatively
j harmless pigment ; the vermillion had been,
i however, previously adulterated with red
lead; and hence all this mischief. The
| adulterator had been adulterated; ar.d each
person in the series of successive falsification
| worked independently of the other, and was
not of course aware of the manner in which
he was preparing poison for the public.—As
sociation Med. Journal.
A GOOD ONE. —David Crocket happened
to be present at an exhibition of uuimali
some time ago, at least, in ihe city of Wash
ington, where a monkey seemed to attract
liia particular attention, and he abstractedly
observed :
"If that fellow had on a pair of spectacles,
lie would look like Major Wright, of Ohio.
The Major happened to be jast behind
Crocket, and overheard the observation, and
gently tapped Davy on the shoulder. Turn
ing around, Davy vary formally remarked—
"l'll be hanged, Major, if I know whose
pardon to ask, your's or the monkey'a."
Little Itulcs.
Keep a bag for odd pieces of tape and
sirings, and a bag or box for old buttons. I
Have plenty of towels in the kitchen, or
Biddy will use your napkins.
Do not let coffee and lea stand in tin. i
Keep tinware dry, scald wooden ware often. •
Brass anil-irons should be cleansed, done
up in pajaer, and put in a dry place for sum
mer.
Keep a coarse broom for the cellar stairs,
wood-shed, yard, &e. Never use a carpet
broom for suah places.
A little salt sprinkled in starch, whilst
boilina, prevents its slicking ; it is also good
to stir it with a clean sperm candle.
Green tea is good to restore rusty silk. Il
should be boiled in iron—a cupfuil lo three
quarts.- The silk should not be wrung, but
ironed damp.
Glass cylindrical vessels may be cut in
two by tying round them a worsted thread,
wet wito spirits of turpentine, and then set
ting (he thread on fire.
When ihe stopper of a glass decanter is
100 tight a cloth wet with hot woter and ap
plied to Ihe neck will cause the glass to ex
pand, and the stopper may easily be re
moved.
Limo sifted through coarse muslin, and
stirred pretty thick with tho white of an egg,
makes a strong cement for glass or china
Blaster of-Paria, pulverised, is still better,
and should be stirred by 'he spoonful as it is
wattled.
English Love of Wealth.
There is r.o country in which so absolute
an homage is paid to wealth. In America,
there is a touch of shame when a man exhib
its the evidence of large ptoperly, as if, afier
all, it needed apology. But the Englishman
has pure pride in his wealth, and esteems it
a final certificate. A coarse logic rule thro'-
out all English souls; if you have merit, can
you not show il by your good clothes, and
coach, and horses? How can a man be a
gentleman without pipe or wine? Haydor.
says, "There is a fierce resolution to make
every man live according to the means he
possesses." There is a mystery of religion
in it. They are under the Jewish law, and
read with sonorous emphasis that their days j
shall be long in the land, they shall have sons :
and daughters, flocks and herds, wine and
oil. In exact proportion is the reproach of
| poverty. They do not wi-h to be misrepre
! sealed except by opulent men. All English
man who had lost his fortune, is said lo have
; died of a broken heart. Nelson said, "The
1 want of fortune is a crime which I ran never
get over." Sydney Smith said, "Poverty is
infamous in England.— Emerson.
A I'roud Position.
The London Times has an article on the
probable policy of the President elect, with
this flattering interrogatory:
"Who would noi be the President of the
United States—the choice of a nation of free
men, the object of most infinite care, solici
tude, and contention lo 27,000,000 of tho
most intelligent of the human race, the ob
ject at which every man's finger points, lite
topic on which every man's tongue descanis
—raised above his fellow men by no acci
dent of birth, by no mere superiority of
wealth, but by the presumed fiiness of his
personal qualities for one of Ihe most eleva
ted situations that a man can be called upon
to fill."
Modern Deflulilons.
Progress of Time—A pedlargoing through
| the land wiih wooden clocks.
Iligtd Justice—Juror on a murder case fast
asleep.
Friend—One who takes your money and,
then turns you out of doors,
Honesty—Obsolete; a term formerly'used
the Case of a man who had paid for his
newspaper and the coat on his back.
Independence—Owing mote than fifty
thousand dollars which you never intend to
pay.
I Lovely Woman—An article manufactured
by milliners—
"Who wants but litile hero belong
And wants that little fot a show."
Dandy—A thing in pantaloons with a body
and two Brms—a head without brains—tight
boots—a cane—a white handkerchief, two
broaches, and a ring on his lilile finger.
Natalies of Municipal (Jificers.
New York, with 629,000 people, pay* its
Mayor a salary of 53,000 a year; Philadel
phia, with 500,000 people, pave its Mayor
£6,000; Cincinnati, with 210,000 pays its
Major §2,000; Baltimore, with 200,000 peo
ple, (jays its Mayor §2,000; Boston, with
165,000 people, pays its Mayor §4,000 ; and
Chicago! with its 80,000 people, pays its
Mayor §1,200 a year. The police of New
York costs about §825,506 a year; Ibat of
Philadelphia, §546,345 ; (hat of Cincinnati,
§73,103 ; (hat of Baltimore, is §45,000; that
of Boston, §188,286; that of Chicago,
248 a year.
A VERY SINGULAR AFFAIR.—A very curious
case of confusion has taken place in a
family in Lumber Street, on Arbor Hill. A
mother and her daughter wore both con
fined on the same day, each having a little
son. In the bustle of the moment both ba
bies were placed in a rradlo, and to the
confusion of the mothers, when the young
sters were taken from the cradle, they wero
unable to tell which was tho moihor's and
which was the daughter's son—a matter
which, of course, must ever remain a mys
tery. The family is in great distress over
the affair..4Cxiny — Knickerbocker.
MEDICAL DIFFICULTIES. — By Wm. A. Alcott,
M. D —Medical men, like men of oilier pro
fessions, have their difficulties. They have
not always smooth sailing, unembarrassed
by winds, breakers or tides, which are un
favorable.
Here is a tobacco chewing or smoking pa
tient. Perhaps he has used his tobacco 40
years, till ho is fairly milhsidatcd by it
Had you called on him a few days before
he called on you, and after kindly inquiring
about his health, had you suggested, with
ever so much modesty and moderation, the
necessity of a change in his habits, he
would doubtless havo told you sarcastically,
"0, I have used the 'poisonous creatnro'
half a life-time, and am not injured by it
yet." And had you labored with him two
hours, or even a whole day, to convince
him of his error, your labor might have
been wholly in vain. But now he is sick ;
not merely a little sick, but severely so.—
His nervous system is prostrated, as well as
his muscular powers. Does he know how
much greater the prostration is for having
benumbed his nervous system with a filthy
narcotic, every day, for one hundred ani>
fifty thousand successive days ? There is
great irritation and tenderness about the
region of the liver; with seasons of nausea,
and perhaps vomiting; does he know how
much more severe his bilious affection is,
in consequence of having narcotized his
system daily for almost half a century ?
Constipation, alternated, perhaps, with oc
casional diarrhtea, is another troublesome
symptom; does he know how much of this
is owing to his long use of tobacco? In
short, he has been using medicine daily,—
for if tobacco is not a medicine, pray what
is ?—for forty years or more ; and now does
he expect other medicine, such as his phy
sician may think it needful to prescribe, will
have its wonted effect ? Is there no danger
of having his disease aggravated, rather
than relieved, by the administration of new
medicine ? Does ho not know, that no phy
sician in the world, however skilful he may
be, can so apportion his doses to the case
ot an individual who has, -for many long
years, been dosing or drugging himself, till
he has either become mithsidated, or has
passed beyond the mount of mithsidatiou
to the gulf of cachexy or general prostra
tion and helplessness, which lies beyond it?
! And does he not know, —for it not, his phy-
I sician. if he is a man who is worthy of the
I name, knows it quite too well, —that all ac
tive medicine is like a sword with two
edges, which cannot be used in the vital
domain without doing execution in some
way? for if it does not cut in one direction,
I it does in another.
j Here is a patient who lias used alcohol
all his life-time, r.rhaps, indeed, that life
jis as yet but a short ono. He is hardly 35
j years of age ; yet his constitution is as much
l impaired as that of many people at sixty,
j True, he was never intoxicated,—he would
j have shuddered, always, at the thought of a
j lurking suspicion of this sort in any human
j mind. But he lias drank his dram at fivo
! o'clock, ere rising ; at eleven o'clock, as a
j preparation for dinner; and at four o'clock
j in the afternoon, as steadily and as certain
i ly as these seasons have recurred, till his
| system is poisoned through every pore and
I fibre. And yet, till lately, be has scarcely
i felt a pain. Now, a host of exciting causes,
j as so many igniting sparks, have kindled
i into a flame all the latent predispositions
; to disease, which a long, biit # persevering
| course of transgression had induced. lie
j realizes, just now, —did he but realize it,—
I the full import of the saying of Solomon :
j " Because sentence against an evil work is
| not executed speedily, therefore the heart'
i of the sons cf men is fully set on them to !
t do evil,"
| But what can be done with him ? As
j surely as alcohol has circulated through
| every pore of his system for twenty ofthir
j ly years, just so surely lias lie been poison
| ed, as 1 said before, at every pore. The
i mucous membranes, in particular, are pois
i oned. For proof ot this, you havo but to
j lay open his alimentary canal, or his bron
j chial tubes, and what do you see but hol
low passages as red as fire—indeed, on fire —
that is. in a state of sob-inflammation ? Now
in these circumstances what can medicine
'do? or if any thing in any shape, what shall
|it be, and in what shape. l No living medi
cal man, be ho wise as the wisest of the
.present or the past, can tell. He can guess,
I and perhaps a little better than those who
| havo neither studied the human constitu-
J lion nor the nature or power of medicine.—
i But he must guess, still; it is onlj' guessing
jin such circumstances. Is there no difficul
i ty in the practice of medicine?
j Here is a female patient. She has lived
twenty years, it may be more, for I have
seen women, —married women at least,—
I who wore over twenty. But young as she
is, she is full of disease, and would gladly
be freed from at least a part of it. What is
to be done? Wo must look well to the
causes of her suffering. She has neither
drunk spirits, nor used tobacco. I recall;
she has done both. She has drunk spirits,
alcohol, whenever she has drunk cider,
beer, ale, or wine. All fermented drinks con
tain moro or less of alcohol; and though
she would not for tho world have drank dis
tilled spirits, she has not hesitated, occasion
ally, to drink fermented drinks,— wine, with
considerable freedom. I have even heard
her speak, with much emphasis, of the fu
ture triumphs of temperance, from the in
creased and very general cultivation of tho
grape, and the consequent manufacture of
large quantities of wine in this country, as
in France. Rut she has also drunk tea and
coffeo nd libitum ; and her nervous system is
[Two Dollars per Annum,
NUMBER 3.
in a most terrible condition. HoW, in sock
circumstances, is her family physician to
apportion his dose, whether allopathic, or
homoeopathic,—whethor botnnie or miner
al, —to her case 1 Is he not quite as likely
to madden, still more, her already half fren
zied brain as to allay irritation by his medi
cine..!
Or, finally, what is stiil more frequent
among us, hero is a child, 'dreadfully sick,'
with bowel complaint. As yet he has nev
er drunk alcohol, whether in one form of
another; or smoked or chewed tobacco.—*
Nor has he become, at such a tender age,
an inveterate tea or cofiee drinker. It 19
true lie lias been fod a year or two of the
most important, because most formative
stage of his existence, on the poisoned
streams of the body of another individual
and it is equally true that he has been com
pelled to breathe, for many a juvenile hour,
an atmosphere poisoned with the smoke of
another's pipe or cigar. But this, though
bad enough for incipient human life, is not
quite so bad for him as another, and in ita
results; more deadly form of treatment still,
at the hands of those who should have been
his preservers and benefactors. Lay open
his intestinal canal, and you will find it,
from beginning to end, having, as the vul
gar phrase it, an angry appearance, and,
perhaps, in some places, thickly studded
with ulcers. Is this diseased membrane a
suitable place for the exhibition of active
medicine! Will any scientific medical
man be so daring and reckless, in of
such considerations as are likely to present
themselves to his mind, in these .days,
when called to a sick child, as to venture
on what is usually called an active*Or hold
treatment! Yet he is expected to Ab some
thing—something, too, which will inspire
confidence. The parents, who have given
their dearest child saleratus, pepjler, spice,
salt, lard, butter, and all sorts of concentra
tions, and the grandparents, 'who have,
either by stealth or otherwise, give him
extra rations, at all hours, especially those
.which were unreasonable, of pie, cake,
sweatmoats and confectionery, will be the
last to bo satisfied with an expectant treat
ment. The physician knows all this; yet
lie knows that the more imminent the dan
ger, the greater the necessity of leaving
Nature so undisturbed and unembarrassed,
that she may exert the fall force of her re
cuperative power, without which recovery
will be impossible. So great will be hie
j difficulty that it should excite no surprise
to hear him say, in the deep anguish of hi*
soul, that it must be so, —if people will live
in (his temperate way, and thus irritate and
poison their solids and fluids, it were far
better to trust the issue to Nature and good
nursing, than to attempt'any thing by means
of medicine. Indeed it may be laid down,
as an incontrovertible axiom, that all forms
of medication, in such cases, are much
worse than nothing; and were society but
- aware of the facts in the case, they would
j either abandon their habits or abandon phy
sicians and medicine. Both cannot, with
safety, be retained.— Medical World.
TALL MEN.—A man by the name of Bour
bon, a native of Maryland, now in his sev
entieth year, ia residing in Kentucky,—the
father of a family unrivalled for their physic
cal development. Og, king of Bashan, and
the sons of Anak. were not many feet tailor.
Maximinis, the Thracian shepherd, who
became a Roman Emperor, rather over
topped tho Bourbons,—being nearly eight
feet in altitude, and of incredible strength.
The late celebrated jurist, tha Hon. Jere
miah Mason, of Boston, was six feet and
four inches in height. Dr. Griffin, formerly
a clergyman of l'ark Street Church, and
subsequently president of Williams College
in Western Massachusetts, was also six feet
and four inches. A farmer, quite a youth,
residing in the country not fur from this city,
who occasionally comes to market, attracts
marked attention in passing throngh tho
streets, in consequence of standing over
seven feet in his shoes. And lastly, one of
the prominent practising physicians of Bos
ton is reputed to be six feet and four inches
tall!
Kentucky and Tennessee probably furn
ishes the largest number of men above the
average height, of any State or Territory in
the Union.
But the Bourbons are extraordinary speci
mens of modern giants:—
Height. Woight.
The Father is 6 feet 4 inches ... 200 lbs.
Mother, 6" 4 " ... 285 '•
Thomas, 6" 4 " ... 230 "
James, 6 " 6 " ...215 "
Sarah, 6 " 0 " ... 165 "
John, 6 "n " ...296 "
Mary, 6 " 2 " .. . 150 "
Elijah, 6 " 3 " ...210 "
Matthew, 6 " 6 " ... 220 "
Eli, 6 " 6 " ... 197 "
Daughter, 6 3 " ... 160 "
Total height..7o feet. Weight....2298 lbs.
Entire age 557 years.
Tho family are all living except the young
est daughter, are all wealthy, and of the
first families of Kentucky. Several of the
grand children aro over six and a hall feei,
and are still growing.— Med. World.
PRO uric.—Thd" author of Notes and Qaer*
ies states that Mrs. Greenhill had thirty-nine
children by one husband, all born alire, end
were baptized—and further, they were all
at single births but ene. The last child
was born after his father's death, and grew
up to be a practising surgeon, King street,
Bloorasbury, England. He also became an
author of a work on Embalming Human
Bodies.— Exckmtg