The Western Georgian. (Rome, Floyd County, Georgia) 1838-18??, March 03, 1838, Image 1
'wraJL 4aJL *<®kw 'Myrff -
JAMES A- WRICrIIT, Editor.
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SAMUEL S- JACK.
Tci*him.
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M I N <J K I. I. A N Y .
TALE OP A CHEW! IST.
The advancement of know ledge is i
lhc triumph of truth, and, as such, is :
the eventual interest of mankind; in-:
asmuch as the extension of reason is
by its very definition, tin* necessary
object of rational beings. 'l’imid
theologians ha\e trembled on the
confines of some topics which might
lead to dangerous discovery; forget
ful that religion and truth, if not i-,■
■dentical, are at least, inseparable.
iSome nice A sensitive die uist have • <
forborne the search of the ne plus ul-'
tra in alchemy, dreading that, as gold
is the great f oundation ol w ickedness !
on earth, the indefinite increase of
that metal might be the unlimited •
multiplication of human e\ iJ; but for
getling that in all human affairs.from
fluids up to theories, there is a spe
cific gravity in all things which keep
constant the level of terrestrial ope
rations, and prevents die restless
brain of man from raising any edi
fice. in brick or discovery, high en
ough to be thr ruin ofhi.i own spe
cies. 7o me, however, the one con
sideration, that the eternal search of
knowledge and truth, is the vury ob
ject of our faculties, has been the j
main spring of my life, and although
my individual sulferings haxe. been
far from light, yet at their present
N.listanee, the contemplation gives me
pleasure, and 1 have the satisfaction
to reflect, that 1 am now in posw s
«ion of that art w hich is continually
employed, day and niglrt, for the be
nefit of the present generation and
rtges yrt to come.
I was born in the Semlaiuogorod
of Vo scow ; and forUut years applied
intensely to chemistry. I confess
the failure of my eminent predeces
sors prevented my attempting the
philosopher’s stone; ray w hole th >*ts
were engaged on the contemplation
of gravity—on that mysterious invi
sable ageat which pervaded the uni
verse-—wlucb made my pen drop
from my fingers—the planets move
round the sun—and the very sun it
self, w ith its planets, moons, and sa
tellites, revohe forever, with myriads
of others, round the final centre of
universal gravity—that mysterious I
spot, perhaps the residence of those
particular emanations of Providence
which regard created beings. At
length I discovered the actual ingre
dients of this omnipresent agent. It
is little more than a combination of
carbon oxygen, hydrogen, and azote;
but the proportions of those consti
tuent parts had long baffled me, and
|l still withhold them from my species
i for obvious reasons.
! Knowledge is power, —and the
next easy step from the discovery of;
the elements, was the decomposition :
of gravity, and the nutralization of
its parts in any substance at my plea-!
sure. I was more like a lunatic than I
a rational chemist; a burning furor J
drove rue to an immediate essay of
my art,'and stripped me of the power
and will to calculate on consequen
ces. Imagine me in my labaratory.
I constructed a gravitation-pump—
applied it to my body—turned the
awful engine, and stood in an instant
the first ol’ all created beings; devoid
of weight ! Up sprung my hair; my
arms swung irctu my sides above
the level of my shoulders, by the in-,
voluntary action of the muscles ;
which were no longer curbed by the
re-action of the weight. 1 laughed
like a fool or a fiend—closed my
arms carefully to my side, coinprcs-j
sod or concealed my bristling hair
under my cap. and walked forth from
my study to seek some retired spot
in the city where I might make in
stant experiment of a jump. With I
the greatest difficulty I preserved a
decent gait, 1 walked with the unea
sy unsteady motion of a man in wa-|
ter, whose toes might barely reach I
the bottom; conscious as I was of my i
security, 1 felt every instant appro- <
beusive cf a fall. Nothing could;:
have reconcikd me to the disagree
able sensation I experienced, but the
anticipation of vaulting unfettered:
•into the air. 5 stood behind the ca
thedral of the Seven Toweis; nobo
dy was near; 1 looked hurridlv a
round, and made the spring ! 1 rose
with a slow, uniform motion ; but
gracious .heaven ! imagine my hor
ror and distress, when I found that
nothing Iwjt tire mere resistence of
the air opposed my progress ; and
wlu'ii at last it stopped my flight, I
found myself many hundred feet a
bove the city; motionless, and desti
tute of users means of descent. J
tore ms hair, and cursed myself, for
overlooking so obs ions a result. Mv
{screams drew thousands to t'c sin
gular sight. I stretched my arms to
wards the earth, and implored assis
tance. Poor ikvff ’ I knew it was
impracticable.
Rut conceive the astonishment of
the people ! I was too high to be per
sonalis known; they called to me,
and I answered; but they were una
bh to catch the import, for sound,
like myself, rises better than it falls.
1 heard myself called an angel, a
ghost, a dragon, a unicorn, and a de
vil. 1 sass a procession of priests
come under me to exercise me ; but
i had Satan himself been free of gra
vity, he had been as unable to des
cend at their bidding as myself. At
length the tickle mob began to jeer
me the boys threw stones at me.
and a clever marksmau actually
struck me on the side with a bullet:
it w as too high to penetrate; it mere
ly gave me considerable pain, drove
me a few feet higher, and sunk again
to the ground. Alas ’ I thought,
would to God it had pierced me. for
even the weight of that little ball
would ha\e dragged me back to
earth. At length the shades of cve
\ umg hid the city from my sight: the
AV isd o m , Ja s t ice, a as. d Rlodcratioii.
ROME, FLOYD COUxATY, GEORGIA, IHARCK 3 9 2 838.
; murmur of the crowd gradually died
away, and there I still was, cold, ter
rified, and motionless; nearer to hea
ven than such a fool could merit to
rise again. What svas to be the end
of this ! I must starve and be stared
at ! I poured out a torrent of incohe
rent prayers to heaven; but heaven
seemed as deaf as I deserved.
Imagine my joy when a breeze
sprung up, and 1 felt myself floating
in darkness over the town : but even
now new horrors seized me; I might
be driven downwards into the Mosk
wa and drowned; I might be dashed
against the cathedral and crushed.
Just as I thought on this, my head
struck violently the great bell of Bo
ris Godunuff; the biowand the deep
intonation of the bell, deprived me
for some minutes of life and recol
lection. When I recovered I found
I way lying gently pressed by the
breeze, against the balustrades; I
pulled myself carefully along the
church, pushed myself down the last
column, and run as stright as my
light substance would permit me to
my house. With far greater joy
than when I had been disrobed of it,
I speedily applied a proper conden
sation of gravity to my body, fell on
my knees to thank heaven for my de
liverance, and slunk into bed, thor- ’
oughly ashamed of my days perfor
mance. The next day, to escape
suspicion, I joined the re-assembled
crowd—looked upward as serious as
the rest, gazed about for yesterday’s
phenomenon, and 1 dare say was the
only one who felt no disappointment |
in its disappearance.
Anyone w< uld imagine that after
this trial, I should have burnt my
pump, and left gravity to its own op
erations. But no 11 felt J was re
served for great things; such a disco
very was uo every (lay occurrence, |
and J would work up every energy
of my soul rather than relinquish this
most singular, though frightful, field
of experiment.
1 was too cautious to deprive my
self again entirely of gravity, hi
fact, in my late experiment, as in oth
ers, when I talk of extracting my gra
vity entirely, I mean just enough to
leave me the same we ight as the at
mosphere. Il’uJ 1 been lighter than
that, 1 should have risen involuntary
upward, like an air bubble in a buck
et. E’-en as it was, I found myself
inclined to rise and fall with every
variation of the atmosphere, and I
had serious thoughts of offering my
self to the university as a barometer,
that by a moderate salary, 1 might
pass the remainder of my days in
tranquillity aud honor. My object
now was merely to render myself as
light as occasion required: besides, 1
found that by continual contact with
the earth and atmosphere, I always
inbibed gradually, a certain portion
of weight, though by extremely slow
and imperceptible degrees; for the
constituent parts of gravity, which I
have mentioned, enter largely, as ev
ery chemist knows, into the compo
sition of allcafths and airs : thus in
mv late essay ,1 should certainly have
eventually descended to earth with
out the intervention of the breeze ;
indeed, I should probably have been
starved first, though my body would
have at least sunk dow n for the gra
tification of mx friends.
Three furred coats and a pair of
skates I gained by leaping at fairs in
Sloboda, and subsistence for tiirec
weeks by my inimitable performance
on the tight rope; but when at last J
stood bare-foot on a single needle,
and balanced myself head dow nw ard
on a bodkin, all Moscow rung with
applause. But the great object of
all my earthly hopes was to gain the
affections of a young widow in the
! Kremlin,whose heart I hop’d to move
by the unrivalled effects of my des
pair. I jumped head-forcma-Jt from
a chair on tiie hard floor ; twice I
sprung into a well, and once I actu
ally threw myself from the highest
: spire in Moscow. I always lay sense
less after my fall, screamed at my re
vival, and counterfeited Severe con
tusions. But in vain ! I found my
person or pretensions disagreeable
to her, and determined in some great
pursuit to forget my disappointment.
A thought struck me. I knew that
mortal man had conceived nothing
so sublime, and yet it was in my
1 power ! I prepared a large tube, and
bound myself round with vast bales
of provisions, which, with myself, I
severally divested of gravity. It was
a bright moonlight night. 1 stood in
my garden, with a weightless xvatch '
in my hand, gazing on the heavens •
through the tube. I am confident
there was in my face the intripid air
of one who on great occasions can
subdue the little feelings of the heart.
I had resolved on visiting the planet
Venus, and had prudently waited till
she was in that part of her orbit
which was most distant from the sun
and nearest the earth; the first of'
which might enable me to endure
the heat of the atmosphere, and the
latter to subsist on the stock of pro
visions 1 could conveniently carry.
In fact, I had no doubt but that ow
ing to the extreme cold of a great
part of the journey, the evaporations
from the pores of my body would be
little or nothing, and could, conse
quently, subsist on a trilling meal. I
had arranged some clastic rods of
steel to project me with considerable ,
velocity along the tube, the moment
the planet should face it* and by sim-'
pic multiplication, 1 was enabled,,
from the given velocity of projection
and the known distance of the plan
et, to compute to a day, the period
of my arrival there. In fact, 1 took
double provision, partly from over
abundant precaution, and partly to
support me on an immediate return,
in case 1 found the heat oppressive.
7’hc moment approached—arrived I
'Fhe planet stood shining on me
down the tube. I looked w ildly round
me for a last farewell, and was on
flic point of loosing the springs,
w hen a horrid doubt flashed on me.
United saints of Constantinople!
should a light breeze blow me from
the line ol projection, aye, even a
single inch, 1 should shoot past the
planet, fly off into immeasurable
space and darkness from eternity,
whirl raving along cold uncomforta
ble chaos, or plunge headlong into
the sun itself! A moment more, and
I had been lost. 1 stood fixed like a
statue, with distended lips, gazing on
the frightful plannet; my eyes swam
round—my cars rung with hideous
sounds, all my limbs were para!ized;
I shrieked w ildiy, fainted, and should
have.sunk to earth, had I not been
utterly devoid of weight. But, life
less as my body stood, my thoughts
still teemed w ith the frightful hor
rors I had escaped : my phrenzy
bore me on juy voyage, and to this
day the recollections of the delirium
arc fresh on my mind. Methought
i was on the very journey 1 had me
ditated ; —already the earth had fad
ed to a twinkling speck, aud Venus,
with an expanded disk, lay glittering
before me : unhappy being ! I had
committed blunder on blunder; I had
forgot the motion of the planet her
self, and the effects of refraction and
the aberration of light, and I saw. at
’ the distance of manv hundred miles.
that I should exactly missher. It
was even so; imagine the horrors of
my drcam, when, after a bitter jour*
, noy of twenty-throe millions miles, I
{exactly missed her by a foot; —had
I there been a tree, a bush, or a largo
1 stone, I might have saved myself. I
strained my powerless fingers at the
planet in vain;—l skimmed along the
surface rapidly, and at length found
myself as swiftly leaving it on one
, side aS I had approached it on the
other. And then I fancied I was
rushing quickly towards the sun, and
iin an approach of some years, the
{horrid anticipation of approaching
combustion. Well, I thought 1 pas
sed safely and unscratchcd by the
sun, and launched past him into in
finite darkness, except where a stray
comet, carrying fuel to the sun, flash
ed a few years’ glitter on my path.
Sometimes, in the uttef silence of
this boundless solitude, some k:rgo
unseen body would whitz.by.me with
a rushing whirl, rolling iii its orbit
even here, beyond the reach of light,
yet still obeying the universal laws
of gravitation; —alas, how 1 envied
that mass its gravity. And then 1
heard strange sounds, the hisses of
snakes aud the shrieks of evil spirits,
but saw nothing : sometimes 1 felt!
my body pierced, and bruised, and
blow n about by the w inds; and heard
my name screamed out at intervals
in the waste : and then all would pass
aw r ay, and leave me still shooting
silently on in the same black, hope-*
less, everlasting track.
After this my phrensy turned, and
methought 1 stood even on the sur
face of the planet Venus. Tho
ground, if ground it’was, seemed no
thing but color ; 1 stooped to touch
it—my hand passed unresisted thro*
the surface. There was a perpetual
undulation on its face not of sub
stance, but of color: every hue 1 had
seen xvas there; but all were light,
pale, and fleeting; blue faded into
violet, violet to the lightest green,
green into gentle silver, in perpetual
and quick succession. 1 looked
round for the inhabitants of this
strange place;—methought they too
were colors; 1 saw innumerable form
of bright hues moving to and fro ;
they had neither shape nor substance
—but their outline was in continual
change, now swelling to a circle,
sinking to an oval, and passing thro*
every variety of carve ; emitting the
most glittering coruscations, and as
suming every diversity of tint. But
all these forms were of the brightest
and most powerful colors, in oppo
sition to the pale surface along which
they floated. But there was order
in their motions, and 1 could disco
ver they were rational beings hold
ing intercourse by faculties we nei
ther have nor can conceive; for at
one time 1 saw a number collect a
bout a pale feeble light, w hose coru
scations grew less frequent, aud the
vividness of its colors faded:—at
last it seemed to die away, and to
melt into the surface of the planet
from very sameness of colour ; and
then the forms that stood about were
for some time feeble and agitated,
and at last dispersed. This 1 thought
is the death ol an inhabitant of the
planet Vends. 1 watched two bright
colors that seemed to dance about
each other, floated in the most win
ning curves, and sparkled as ihey
passed. Sometimes they almostraet;
drew back, and again approached.
At the end, in shower of light, they
swam together and were blended in
to one lorever. There is love then,
1 thought, even in this tinsubstantial
clime. A little after, I saw vast
troops of hues collect and flash vo-
Sce last page*
Vo J. I— NO 7.