Newspaper Page Text
302
the kind however, was produced until 1821,
and this was upon a steel plate softened by
the process discovered by Mr. Perkins the
famous and ingenious American engineer,
then residing in London. In 1821 Mr. Tur
ner engraved a portrait on one of Perkins’
plates which met the approbation of Sir
Thomas Lawrence, and in 1822 some splen
did engravings were produced and prizes giv
en by the society mentioned. Since that
time —in the short period of 28 years, the art
has spread over the whole civilized world
embellishing all our parlor periodicals and
adorning our choicest and richest annauls,
1 i
WATERPROOF FOR BOOTS.
Put a pound of tallow and a half pound of
rosin in a pot on the fire; when melted and
mixed, warm the boots and apply the hot
stuff with a painter’s brush until neither the
sole nor the upper leather will suck in any
more. If it is desired that the boots should
immediately take a polish, dissolve an ounce
of wax in a teaspoonful of lampblack. A
day after the boots have been treated with
the tallow and rosin, rub over them this wax
in turpentine, but not before the fire. Thus
the exterior will have a coat of wax alone,
and shines like a mirror. Tallow or any oth
er greese becomes rancid, and rots the stitch
ing as well as leather; but the rosin gives it
an antiseptic quality which preserves the
whole. Boots and shoes should te so large
as to admit of wearing cork soles. Cork is
so bad a conductor of heat that with it in the
boots the feet are always warm on the cold
est stone floor.
FACTS IN PHYSIOLOGY,
A man is taller in the morning than at
night to the extent of half an inch, owing
to the relaxation of the cartilages. The hu
man brain is the 28th of the body ; but in
the horse only the 400th. Ten days per an
num is the average sickness of human life.
About the age of 30, the lean man generally
becomes fatter, and the fat man leaner. Rich
ter enumerates 600 distinct species of disease
in the eye. The pulse of children is 180 in
a minute, at puberty it is 80: and at 60, it is
only 60. Dr. Lettom ascribed health and
wealth to water, and happiness to small beer,
and disease and crimes to spirits. Elephants
live 200, 300, and even 400 years. Bats in
India are called flying foxes, and measure six
ieet from tip to tip of their wings. Sheep,
in wild pastures, practice self-defence by an
array, in which rams stand foremost, in con
cert with ewes and lambs in the centre of a
hollow square. Three Hudson’s bay dogs
draw a sledge loaded with 300 lbs. fifteen
miles in a day. One pair of pigs will in
crease in six years 119.160, taking the in
crease at fourteen times per annum. A pair
of sheep in the same time would be but 64.
A single house fly produces in one season 20,
080.327 eggs. —The flea, grasshopper, and
locust jump 200 times their own length; equal
to a quarter of a mile for a man.
| |
GROANING AND CRYING,
A French, surgeon lately published a long
dissertation on the beneficial influence of
groaning and crying on the nervous system.
He contends that groaning and crying are
the two grand operations by which nature
allays anguish, and that he has uniformly
observed that those patients who give way to
their natural feelings, more speedily recover
from accidents an.i operations, than those
who suppose it is unworthy a man to betray
such symptoms of cowardice as either to
groan or cry. He is always pleased by the
crying and violent roaring of a patient during
the time he is unoergoing a severe.surgical
operation, because he is satisfied that he will
thereby soothe his i *rvous system as to pre
vent fever, and ens re a favorable termina
tion, From the bji it hysterical and other
patients (nervous,) ;ve from groaning and
crying, he suppose hat by these processes
of nature, the supei mdant nervous power
is exhausted, and th he nervous system is
in consequence ren i calm and even, and
the circulation of th food greatly diminish
ed. He relates ac;; fa man, who by cry
ing and bawling, re i his pulse from 120
to 60 in the course < > hours. That some
patients often hayt _>reat satisfaction in
groaning, and that 1 rical patients often
experience great re’ . torn crying, are facts
no person wi • ,y. As to restless,
hypocondrical eubje< those who are nev
er happy but when tl ~ > under some course
of medical or diete. atment, the French
surgeon assures the: i they cannot do bet
mr than groan all ni id cry all day. Fy
following this rule,; serving an abstemi
ous diet, a person wi c dually escape dis
® TFEIE IB K 1 1L II IF 818 ®&& B IF IF B *
ease, and may prolong life to an incredible
extent.
1 mm >
VELOCITY OF LIGHT.
Light travels with the amazing velocity of
192,000 miles in a second of time. It may
be interesting to know how philosophers have
been able to determine, with such certainty,
that light really travels with thisamazing ve
locity ; for the fact is known as certainly as
any phenomenon in nature. The method
adopted was the following: —The eclipses of
the satellites or moons of the planet Jupiter
had been carefully observed for some time,
and a rule was obtained, which foretold the
instant, in all future time, when the satellites
would glide into the shadow of the planet,
and disappear, or again to emerge into view.
Now it was found that these appearances took
place sixteen minutes and a half sooner when
Jupiter was near the earth, or on the same
side of the sun with the earth, than when it
was on the other side ; that is to say, more
distant from the earth by one diameter of the
earth’s orbit, or path in the heavens which it
takes in revolving round the sun, and at all
intermediate stations, the difference diminish
ed from the sixteen minutes and a half, in ex
act proportion to the less distance from the
earth. This proves, then, that light takes
sixteen minutes and a half to travel across
the earth’s orbit, and eight minutes and a
quarter for half that distance, or to come to
us from the sun. This being its amazing ve
locity, it may, for all useful purposes on the
earth, be regarded as passing between bodies
instantaneously; and it is for this reason
that we perceive the flash from a gun at a
distance, for a perceptible time, before we
hear the report, and why we may count sev
eral seconds between the appearance of a
flash of lightning, and hearing the thunder
which follows.
Cause of Waves.— The friction of the
wind combines with the tide in agitating the
surface of the ocean, and, according to the
theory of undulations, each produces its ef
fect independently of the other. Wind how
ever. not only raises waves, but causes a
transfer of superficial water also. Attraction
between the particles of air and water, as well
as the pressure of the atmosphere, brings its
lower stratum into adhesive contact with the
surface of the sea. If the motion of the wind
be parallel to the surface, there will still be
friction, but the water will be smooth as a
mirror; but if it be inclined, in however small
a degree, a ripple will appear. The friction
rises a minute wave, whose elevation protects
the water beyond it from the wind, which
consequently impinges on the surface at a
small angle; thus each impulse combining
with the other produces an undulation which
continually advances.
Cause of Dark Dolor of the Skin. —The
| darkness of complexion has been attributed to
i the sun’s power, from the age of Solomon to
this day :
“ Look not upon me, because I am black,
! because the sun hath looked upon me;” and
there cannot be a doubt, that, to a certain de
gree, the opinion is well founded. The in
visible rays in the solar beams, which change
vegetable color, and have been employed with
such remarkable effect in the Daguerreotype,
act upon every substance upon which they
I fall, producing mysterious and wonderful
| changes in their molecular state, man not ex
cepted.
Effects of Heat on Gutta Percha. —The
great peculiarity of this substance, and ihat
which makes it so eminently useful for many
| purposes, is the effect of boiling water upon
i it. When immersed for a few minutes in wa
iter above 120° Fahrenheit, it becomes soft
and plastic, so as to be capable of being
I moulded to any required shape or form,
which it retains upon cooling. If a strip of
it be cut off and plunged into boiling water,
.it contracts in size, both in length and
breadth. This is a very anomalous and re
markable phenomenon, apparently opposed
to all the laws of heat.
Function Os The Skin. —ln a very cu
rious experimental paper, Dr. Ducross shows
that a coating of gum-lac put on the skin of
animals, causes them to die in a longer or
shorter time by producing convulsive move
ments -similar to epilepsy. When the ani
mals coated with gum-lac were subjected to
electricity they died in a much shorter time.
He next tried the effect of metalic coverings
as he entertained the notion that, because
they had opposite electrical properties, ani
mals co coated would die with symptoms of
an opposite nature. He therefore cut off the
hair from some animals and covered them
with thin plates of tin (tin-foil) and found
that they perished with symtoms of debility
the reverse of what he had noticed when the
coating consisted of a resinous substance.
When the tin was coverd with a coating of
gum-lac the animals perished still more rap
idly. He then placed under the influence of
electricity some of the animals covered with
plates of tin and found that so long as they
remained connected with the electrical cur
rent s their vigor appeared to be restored ; but
that whenever it was arrested they appeared
ready to perish.
A Column (L'mtcl) to JTnn.
LIFE INSURANCE.
The Philadelphia correspondent of Hark
er’s Delawarian, tells the following amusing
anecdote about Life Insurance :
One day last week, a well dressed portly
gentleman, apparently from the country, en
tered one of our Life Insurance offices, ex
pressed a wish to have his life insured, It
was after office hours, and the place was in
charge of a couple of clerks, who with a par
ty of friends, were making merry. Giving
each other the wink, they proceeded forth
with to examine the applicant, One of them
who styled himself the President, addressed
him as follows:
“Were you ever sick ?”
“Yes, sir.”
“ How long since I”
“Thirty-three years and a half.”
“What was your disease?”
“ The measles.”
“ How long was you confined to your
bed?”
“ One whole night.”
(Addressing one of his companions) “ sat
isfactory on the score of health. Now, sir,
we will proceed to examine your body. You
will please to divest yourself of your cloth
ing.”
“ Do what, sir ?”
“In common parlance, strip yourself.”
Our hero grumbled a little, but at length
yielded, and soon presented an appearance
beating Dr. Collyer's models all hollow. The
committee then proceeded to test his strength
by giving him sundry boxes and bundles to
lift. This was followed by a test of agility,
running, jumping, climbing, &c. The poor
victim, utterly ignorant of the trick, went
through the ordeal very continuously. For
three hours the process was continued, when
the patient half dead with fatigue and fright
was pronounced “rejected because he could
not jump six feet on a level.” The fellow
hurried on his clothes and shinned, having
probably had enough of life-insurance.
THE HARDEST KICK YET.
There is an attorney practising in our
courts, who has attained great notoriety,
among numerous other things, for bullying
witnesses on the opposing sides of the cases,
when he is concerned. As it would not be
polite to give his full name right out in the
crowd, we will merely call him “ Wayke,”
for short.
There was a horse-case —a very common
case upon our magistrates’ dockets—trying
before ’Square Snellbanker, one day in which
Wayke happened to be engaged.
A slow and easy witness had been called
to the stand by the plaintiff, who, in a plain,
straight-forward manner, made the other side
of the case look rather blue. The plaintiff’s
attorney being through, Wayke commenced
a regular cross-examination, which was cut
short in the following manner:
“ Well what do you know about a horse ?
You a horse-doctor ?” said the barbarian, in
his peculiar contemptuous and overbearing
manner.
“ No, I don't pretend to be a horse-doctor
but 1 know a good deal of the nature of the
beast.”
“ That means to say that you know a horse
from a jackass, when you see them,” said
Wayke in the same style—looking knowing
ly at the court, and glancing triumphantly
around the crowd of spectators, with a tele
grahphic expression, which said 1 “now I've
got him on the hip.”
“The intended victim gazing intently at his
legal tormentor, drawled out —
“Oh, yes, as—jest so — I'd never take you
for a )torse /”
The Supreme Court of the United States
could not have preserved its gravity through
the scene that followed, The “lick back”
produced a regular stamped o, and the bushel
of suspender buttons that stuck to the ceiling
above, brought a regular showe rof plaster
upon the heads below. Everybody was con
vinced, that whatever the attorney might be,
the witness was a hossP’ —Cincinnati Des
patch.
EDITOR’S DEPARTMENT,
ATHENS: SATURDAY, FEB. 3, i 849
Common Schools.
The importance of the Common School system is
too apparent to require argument; and if the peo
ple of the South are not absolutely indifferent to
their best interests, considered prospectively, they
will speedily make some efficient movement to se
cure the benefits of the system in every section of
their territory. We will not enter into the details
of its results wherever it has been fully tested, al
though statistics are not wanting to afford over
whelming proof that it is eminently useful. Our
object is rather to awaken the public mind to the
inefficiency of the measures hitherto adopted to pro
mote Education in Georgia, and we may add, in
contiguous States. Our State fund for Education
al purposes has been so unwisely expended, that it
is questionable if any good result has been achieved
by it. Ample in amount to have laid the founda
tions of Education broad and strong, from our
mountain ranges to our sea-coast, it has been frit
tered out, with as little regard to responsibility and
consequence, as if it had been originally bestowed
simply for the depletion of the State Treasury.—
We are not now alleging a charge of unfaithfulness
on the part of those entrusted with its disburse
ment. The fault lies beyond their action, in the
system of which they are but the agents.
Where, in all the territory of Georgia, is the Free
School, under the State patronage, which can be
pointed out as an exponent of the utility of her Ed
ucational appropriation ? We think there is none.
We know, from extended observation, that there is
a sad deficiency of rudimental instruction in our
midst. The Schoolmaster may be “ abroad,” but
most assuredly he is not “at home” in many parts
of the South. Thousands of boys and girls are pos
itively growing up in ignorance in the middle of the
nineteenth century, in one cf the oldest States in
our National Confederacy—
“ One of the old thirteen!”
as her poet, Charlton, expresses it. And why is
this 1 We answer, for the want of intelligent, libe
ral, enlightened legislation on the subject of Com
mon Schools. Our legislators are responsible for
the backwardness of Georgia in this matter, and the
time is at hand, when the people will call them to
account for their unfaithfulness to the true interests
of the State. What avails it, that they legislate
for internal improvements—for rail roads and navi
gation —for banks and manufactories —if they utter
ly refuse to legislate for the diffusion of knowledge
among our people 1 The advances they may make
in all the great physical reforms of the age, will be
immature and unstable, if they neglect to “give the
people light”—not “light” in the political sense,
but “ light” which is the beautiful symbol of knowl
edge.
That system of legislation is alone truly republi
can, which provides amply for the intellectual wants
of those it seeks to benefit—for since the purest re
publicanism is the best liberty, and the best liberty
consists only with the highest development, both
physical and intellectual, of its possessors, that can
not bo genuine republicanism which retards, nay,
which renders almost impossible, the proper mental
culture of the people. Hence we insist that there is
a radical defect in our legislation, which refuses to
the people a system of Common .School Education
suited to the spirit of the age and adequate to its
largo demands. In this respect, some of the mon
archies of Continental Europe are far in the advance
of our position, and foster with a far more liberal
zeal and care one of the essential elements of that
exalted Liberty we profess to prize so highly.
We earnestly desire to awaken public attention
to this great want of the South, and to enlist abb
pens in its advocacy, until the people shall arise and
demand of their legislators the boon they have with
held from them.
We have no excuse whatever for further inaction,
or for longer delay. The need of Common Sehco*
is positive — it is imperative; aud Massachusetts,
New York, and other States, have, “ in the full tide
of successful experiment,” a system than which no
better can be devised by years of study. EDe 010
cess which attends the working of the system there
in use, is so great in its measure, and so valuable m
its character, as to urge us, with a trumpet-tongue*
to “go and do likewise.”