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Idiots—How they are Educa
ted.
BT ANNA RANDALL DIEHL.
It was odg of tbe injunctions of Mohammed
to treat with kindness those on whom God had
forgotten to smile, end this is religionsly car
ried ont by thefollowers of the Prophet.
But it is not in Mohammedan countries alone
that the unfortunate clats we call idiots are
are treated with humane consideration. In those
S ortions of of the world wheie the greatest num-
er of idiots are found, popular sympathy, in
their behalf is most keenly developed.
In France, the word which applies to the
largest class is the cretins, a common corrup
tion of Chretien (Christian), the word itself be
ing a key to the kindness 6hown these unfor
tunates.
In sympathetic Ireland, the child devoid of
Bense is called a poor innocent.
It is only during this century that any sym
pathetic iflorts have been made to ameliorate
the condition of these creatures.
Once, smitten with the terrible name of idiot,
the child inspired only disgust and horror, and
deprived of all assistance, sequestered from all
society, he remained eternally plunged in the
darkness of his infirmity.
About fifty years ago, in France, Germany,
and some other portions of Europe, medical
men began to turn their attention to tbe causes
of idiocy, and the classification or gradation of
those coming under the list; and aided by
philanthropic and scientific teachers, the work
began of litting to a higher plane those who
were, in a majority of cases, provided with little
less than brute intelligence.
Gall measured heads with his callipers, and
doomed to perpetual imbecility those whose
volume of brain fell below his figures; but alas
for Gall and happily for the poor idiot, the in
terdict against him has been revoked.
In 1800 the first known systematic attempt
to train idiots was begun by Itard, who prac
ticed upon an individual case, that of a boy
found wild in the forest in the centre of France;
other efforts were made by Dr. Ferrus and Dr.
Voisin: but the first attempt to bring together
in school this class of children and successful
ly improve their condition was made by M. Se-
guin, ol Paris. 1 make a single quotation from
a French writer who has reportod the work of
this humaniatarian teacher. He says : “I have
seen, with no less gratification than astonish
ment, nearly one hundred human beings, who
but a short time since were shut out from all
communion with mankind, who were objects of
loathing and disgust, many of whom rejected
every article of clothing, others of whom were
unable to stand erect, crouched themselves into
corners, and gave signs of life only by piteous
howls; others in whom the faculty of speech
had never been developed; and many whose
voracious and indiscriminate gluttony satisfied
itself with whatever they could lay their hands
upon, even the garbage thrown to swine—
these beings, rejected by humanity, I have seen
properly ciad, standing erect, walking, speak
ing, eating in an orderly manner at a common
table, working quietly as carpenters and farm- 1
ers; gaining by their own exertions the means
of subsistence; storing their awakened intelli
gence by reading to each other; exercising to
ward their teachers and among themselves the
generous feelings of man s nature, and singing
in unison songs of thanksgiving.
‘It is a miracle—a miiacle of intelligence, of
patience, and ol love.’
The work begar in this country in 1939, when
an idiotic blind child was received at the insti
tution for the blind in Boston. He was unable
to walk, and nearly paralytic, but the great and
good Dr. Howe determined to try the experi
ment of improving the child, and a course of
treatment based upon the rules of physiology
and hygiene was followed with considerable
success. Two other children blind and idiotic
were treated by Dr. Howe, and he became con
vinced that if so much could be done for blind
idiots, still more could be accomplished lor
those who had sight.
In the report ol this work he said:
•My sympathy for them grew stronger and
stronger every dsy, and my energies were en
listed in their cause. The amelioration of their
condition became the object of my study, and I
was convinced beyond doubt that they were
capable of beiDg improved in their bodily hab
its in their mental capacities, and even in their
spritual natures.’
In the winter of 184G, by a curious coinci
dence, committees were appointed by tbe Sen
ates of Massachusetts and New Pork, each inde
pendent of the other, and propably each ignor
ant of the existence of the other, and actually
making their reports upon the same day.
From these beginnings, institution are now
in operation in New York, Massachusetts,
Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Kentucky, Ohio,
and Illinois.
It has been tbe pleasure of the writer to
visit many of these schools and to witness the
wonderful work performed.
The education of defective children is a task
of more than ordinary responsibility, and the
teacher must be endowed with more than com
mon character and ability.
The physical conditions must in nearly all
cases be scientifically considered and treated.
The feeblest sparks ol mentality must be enkin
dled, and in many cases almost created.
The training of the leeble-minded furnishes
the best proof that the lower the mental calibre
of the pupil, the higher should be the capacity
of the instructor.
The institution for the State of New York, so
cruelly called ‘An Asylum lor Idiots,’ is located
at Syracuse. It is managed by Dr. Wilbur, a
scientific phy sician of large culture and pbilan-
thiopic heart, and has been eminently success
ful.
•The State Asylum for Idiots and Imbecile
Children,’ at Columbus, Ohio, is soon to be
humanely re-christened the ‘Ohio Home for
Feeble-minded Youth.’
Ibis is in charge of Dr. and Mrs. Doren, and
it would interest any sympathetic and intelli
gent person to visit this institution.
You find the school-room resembling a play
room. The toys of the desks are flat, and each
child has something on the desk lor his amuse
ment. A little girl may be seen playing with
her doll and putting it to bed, a boy making a
lence ot slicks, a class who are engaged in
stringing buttons, others learning foirn and col
or by means ol blocks, and cups, and balls.
A good plea for the word system ol teaching
reaomg, is that it is invariably found to be the
best means ol teaching those with a low order ot
intellect, and an argument tor the introduction
ot diawing into primary schools is the success
which it meets in these schools.
At least fifteen years ago the writer said to Dr.
Wilbur:
•If these methods are so successful in devel
oping the feeblest intellects, why may they not
he made serviceable in all our primary grades ?'
A late visitor at the school at Columbus say6:
■The two boys who were exhibited by Barnum
in Cleveland and throughout the whole coun
try, as wild cbiiditn from Australia, stein this
institution. They are ol the very lowest type
of the feeble-minded, have small retreating heads
high cheek bones, big ears, grinning mouth,
and the characteristic shuffling gait ol the idiot
ic. The visitor invariably remarks: ‘You can
not possibly teach those poor creatures anything.'
Having seen them when on exhibition, 1 felt a
curiosity to know how much they had learned
in the two monthB they had been inmates of the
school. The older brother, who was known by
the stage name of ‘Zip,’ is quite unpleaamg in
appearance, suggesting to one that he may be
the missing link so long sought for. He is about
fourteen years old, and of a good height. When
I entered the class-room, he was at the black
board writing the word ‘cow.’ He had progress
ed as far as the middle of the letter ‘w, and was
learning to make one-half of the letter at a time.
This method his teacher informed me, is neces
sary in the case of many lower grade children.
At first his attention could not be held for more
than an instant. He soon learned to string but
tons, his attention receiving its first training in
the effort to find the hole in the middle of each
button. He then learned to manage the peg-
board, and to do a little with building blocks
and it was quite an achievement wheD he built
his first pen of sticks. Now he can tell the
words on the cards at sight, ©Ten such large
words as ‘blackboard/ ‘register/ and can point to
the objects they represent, thus showing he un-
derstands what he learns. I believe his teacher
expects to have him reading before long. When
shown a picture-book of animals, he recognized
many animals made familiar to him by Barnum s
Bhow, and seemed as much delighted as he would
have been to meet an old friend. He loves his
teacher dearly, and cannot be prevailed upon to
do any thing she has forbidden him. And what
seems strange, she is fond of the poor child,and
is prouder of his progress than a teacher usual
ly is of her brighter pupil. And why not ? What
skill, what ingenuity, what patience is not re
quired to awaken the small mind in such a body,
and to develop in it anything like intelligence!
These two boys have a sister in this asylum
about the same grade as themselves.*
In the Pensylvania Training-school for Feeble-
nhiiSvan ia fonnd a bov named Asher.
who is thus described:
‘He is exceedingly repulsive; in appearance
and actions more like a gorilla than a human be
ing; he is kept in a yard or a pen,where he runs
about in a naked condition ;every article of cloth
ing he tears and throws to the hogs. His men
tal condition seems almost a blank; he has nev
er spoken a word, and his temper is sudden
and violent.’ ....
We admitted Asher, and, believing him to be
human, endeavored to make him realize it also;
swings, ladders, etc., were used in various ways,
as means of diversion and employment. At first
the tearing of clothes was of daily occurrence;
in the course of time he would let a week or two
go by without such destruction. Now he sel
dom tears any thing, and almost never if it. be
in a good condition, but woe to a garment if a
button be found off or a seem ripped. He can
talk well enough to be perfectly understood by
any one who is accustomed to him, and will
never go to bed without kneeling beside his at
tendant and going through his lorm of prayer,
the language of which is incomprehensible to /
the bystander, but his devotion nevertheless is
touching. He is very ;helpful in the morning,
dressing the smaller and weaker boys of the
Asylum with surprising rapidity and dexterity,
and is as particular about their garments as
about his own; he will never dress a boy in any
hing that has not all the buttons properly sewed
on. He particularly eDjoys braiding several
strands of maDilla rope for mats, an exercise re-
cenlly introduced for the benefit of the lower
grade or Asylum inmates.
To snow in brief what is done in these schools
we quote from the report of one institution, the
Pennsylvania School for Feeble-minded Chil
dren, which is a sample of the others.
There has been admitted in all 701 inmates.
Improvement ranges as follows: taught to speak,
53; articulation improved, 253; taught to read,
254; taught to write 146; to feed themselves, 61;
taught to dress themtelves, 94: taught to walk, ;
5; ga't improved, 286; reformed from bad habits,
164; reformed from destructive habits, 302; ac
customed to some employment,241;epilepsy im
proved, 78. The Superintendent says:
•The condition of this diverse family is the
same throughout; it is that of mental enfeeble-
ment, the result in all cases of a disordered or
faulty brain structure which lies at the bottom
of all perversion of sense, the uncertainty of
judgement, the errors and eccentricities of the
moral nature, the deafness, mutism and all the
other anomalies so continually seen by us.
As to the prevalence of imbecility, there are
in England and Wales fifty thousand idiots, im
becile and harmless lunatics, and even in Mas
sachusetts, proud in her intellectual wealth and
power, the last census reported 1300 idiots and
imbeciles.
All honor to those who with their benevolent
hearts and scientific culture go down amid the
groveling blackness of night, to lift even a lit
tle way up to the light these, the most pitiable
of God’s creatures.
The Most Remarkable Lady Scientist
in the Country,
The most remarkable lady scientist in this
country at the present time is Mrs. Simeon H.
Smith, the wile of a gentleman residing in
Jersey City. She was educated at Mrs. Willard’s
famous Troy Seminary, and alter her marriage
resided some years in Chicago. Her taste for
abstruse studies early found expression iD a
collection of shells and minerals, which was tbe
germ of what is now one of the finest private
collections in the United States, and valued at
$25,060 or more. It comprises, among other
treasures, over 1,000 choice minerals, as many
fossils, and about 100 precious gems. Mrs.
Smith was nearly two years in the School of
Mines at Freiburg, Saxony, the most celebrated
institution of the kind in Europe, where she as
sociated with many of the learned scientists of
the day. In that vicinity she procured numer
ous and rare valuable specimens of silver ores,
of arsenic, spars, etc. Into some of the mines
of Europe she descended over 1,800 feet—in
one instance went down in a bucket. She ob
tained very rare specimens from the Hartz
mountains, not the least of which is a beautiful
fish-lizard—the Ichthyosaurus—some three feet
long. She has also a large number ol fossil
fishes, collected from various localities. Her
suit ot coppers is very complete; cobalt and all
metallic ores; agates of every variety, one spe
cimen is a foot in circumference; onyx, mala
chite, lapis lazuli and rhodenite in exquisite
forms. One curiosity is a perfect lizard in am
ber.
Mrs. Smith is perfectly familiar with every
feature of her vast cabinet, and imparts infor
mation in a clear and comprehensive manner.
She possesses a remarkable memory, and is
highly cultivated on all general topics. She
has contributed maDy valuable articles to scien
tific publications. She is a fine linguist,_ has
been exceptionally successful in translations
from the Frenoh and German, and is at present
engaged on the translation of a work from the
French. She is a member of the American As
sociation for the Advancement of Science, and
she was the first lady member of the Academy
of Sciences of New York. She entertains gen
erously in her pleasant home on Pacific avenue
in Jersey City. During the past winter she has
given a series of literary and musical entertain
ments which have drawn many celebrities from
New York as weil as New Jersey, her guests
often numbering as many as 200 or 300. She
haB tour promising sons, one of whom is at
present in Columbia College. She is a lady
in middle life, a little above the average height (
with a pleasant open oount enance, agreable
manners, and is one of the most noble-hearted
and benevolent of women.
The Stage.
Mary Anderson has sent $100 to the yellow
fever sufferers.
Maud Grubbs iB the name of a rising young
actress in Sherman, Texas.
Crane and Robson are to play the two Dro-
mios in Shakspeare’s ‘Comedy of Errors.’
Maggie Mitchell opens her season at the
Grand Opera House, New York, in ‘Fanohon.’
The children in Fanny Davenport’s ‘Olivia’
are to be Mable Leonard and Eva French.
Miss Gabrielle Greeley has thirteen photo
graphs of the late Montague, all taken in differ
ent positions.
Louise Pomeroy ought to be excellent as
Mamille and Olivia, both of which roles she
will play next season*
Mile. Josephine De Rosa, the finest premier
danseuse in the country, resides at 1340 Cathe
rine street, Philadelphia.
Miss May Bowers engaged at the Boston The
atre for this season, is a daughter of Mrs. D. P.
Bowers, Baltimore’s favorite.
It is stated upon good authority that there
are to be no less than fifty-four female minstrel
shows on the road this season.
Louise Pomeroy writes from Saratoga that
there is but one pretty girl there. Lou knows,
because she is herself so pretty.
W. T. Melville, the comedian, and Nell Bry
ant, had a personal encounter in New York city
on the 5th inst., in which the latter had rather
the best of it.
Little Lotta alias Crabtree, accompanied by
Old Mrs. Crabtree, is in La Porte, Sierra county,
California, where she made her first appearance
on any stage,
The Boston Theatre will open with a new
emotional drama called ‘Two Mothers.’ Louis
James will be the leading man and Mrs. Thomas
Barry the leading lady.
Alice Harrison, has captured the ‘Hub’ in
burlesque. A few nightB since in ‘Hiawatha’
she was presented with a bouquet containing an
elegant moonstone ring.
And yet another great actress from the Em
peror William’s domains. Tettenborn, a superb
German-American actress, is to open the season
at the Grand Opera House, Cincinnati.
A Vicksburg (Miss.) journal contains the fol
lowing: Miss Annie M. Reed, a Baltimore soci
ety belle, who gave several readings lust fall,
will make her debut during the approaching
season upon the stage.
Mary Anderson is to play four weeks at the
Fifth Avenue, New York. Then she fulfills a
few starring engagements, and goes with John
W. Norton’s company for the balance of the
season, visiting, almost every section of the coun
try-
During her engagement at the Fifth Avenue
Theatre, Mary Anderson will appear, for the
first time in New York, as Julia in ‘The Hunch
back.’ New costumes have been provided for
all her plays, by the costumer of the Theatre
Francais, Paris.
Booth’s Theatre. Jarretand Palmer managers,
opened last Monday, with Miss Genevieve Ward
as Jane Shore, in Mr. Wills’ play of that name,
produced for the first time in America. Shaks-
pere’s ‘Henry VIII.’ will follow later in the sea
son, with Miss Ward as Queen Katherine.
Messrs. George Vandenhoff, James H. Taylor,
and Milnes Levick, will support Miss Ward in
her impersonations.
The stars at the Fifth Avenue Theatre, N. Y.,
will become apparent in the following order: —
Thursday, August "ty Mary Anderson—visible
nightly till Beptemder 28. Madam Mojeska will
shine from September 30to November 9. Edwin
Booth will rise November 11, and emit a weird, j
lurid light till Decemcer 14. On December 16 j
Joseph Jefferson will beam upon us, the harbin
ger of a merry ne\r year.
Miss Kellogg is still in Paris and is having a
magnificent set of costumes made by Worth,
which announcement is the accepted form of
advertisement for a prima donna. If Clara can
get Worth to furnish her a voice to sing that
Polonaise in Mignon, on which she always slips
up, it will do n ore than the dresses. Filina is
too much for Kellogg, and the bills won’t any
longer be accepted as certificates.
Mrs. Croly, (Jennie June) gave a grand recep
tion to artists and literary people last week.
Miss Clara Morris came down from her retreat,
•The Pines, ‘ at Riverside-on-Hudson, ‘to meet
Miss Genevieve Ward informally,’ as read the
invitations; and there was altogether a galaxy
of clever people. Miss Ward, who is advertised
to emerge at Booth’s Theatre presently, came
late in a gorgeous dress, invented doubtless by
Worth, and so combined of white and black
striped silk and bronze-colored satin and garnet
beads as to defy analysis or description. Or
naments of gold accompanied the costume.
Years ago she appeared on the operatic stage
under the nom du theatre of Mme. Gnerrabella;
but I never had the pleasure of listening to her,
and therefore know nothing of her artistic cali
bre. She certainly looks like a tragedy queen,
and seems a well-schooled woman of society.
Monday night will settle the vital point as to
whether she can ‘act out onto the stage.’ She
makes her debut in Jane Shore—not the old
tragedy of that name, but Mr. Wills’ drama. It
has been presented in London, with an actress
named Miss Heath in the leading role, and is
said to be not only full of beautiful language,
but an exceedingly powerlul acting play.
Clara Morris was in admirable spirits, and
held quite a levee. She was superbly dressed in
white satin, made simply but elegantly, and
wore, besides ornaments of diamonds, a cluster
of scarlet flowers at the corsage. She does not
go to St. Louis on acount of the prevalence of
yellow fever, but will fulfill an engagement in
Philadelphia next month, and later proceed to
San Francisco. The managers here are very de
sirous of making an engagement with her, and
the Broadway and Lyceum offer particularly
strong inducements. I believe, however, that
she has not yet determined upon her move
ments in that regard. At Mrs. Croly’s she was,
as I have said, a center of attraction—a lionne of
the hour, and to all the complimentary things
that were said she seemed to find a ready ans
wer.
Miss Rose Eytinge is resting at her house on
the summit of Orange Mountain, a little way
back from ‘The Brow,’ where Governor McClel
lan and other celebrities have their residences.
She is in radiant health and spirits, and touch
es in glowing style upon the incidents of her
stay in London, where her reception was un
equivocally warm. She was often at the house
ot Charles Reade, on the Albert road, and re
ceived from him flattering assurances of consid
eration. She does not regret her choice of Nan
cy in Oliver Twist as an opening part, although
a recent biographer of Charlotte Cushman
chronicles the elder Booth as cnunceling that
actress against playing the character in London,
saying it would give her a ‘vulgar’ tone. No
less an authority than Robert Buchanan wrote
of Miss Eytinge, after seeing her as Nancy:
“If the art of ordinary tragediennes and cham
pion leading ladies is ‘high,' what epithet are
we to apply to the art of Miss Rose Eytinge ?
Shall we call it ‘low’ art because the theme is
low and uninviting,the surroundings so humble
and so base? Shall we, with the minor critics,
hold our pocket-handkerchiefs to our noses and
murmer references to the Victoria and the old
Coburg ? Or shall we rather affirm, as we fear
lessly feel inclined to do, that this same low art'
w |th its magic humanizing touches and its
splendid indifference to mouthing and millin-
ery—is, by virtue of its very lowness and sim
plicity, worth two-thirds of all the high art to
be seen at this moment on our national stage ?
Be that as it may, and be the critioal judgement
what it will, here, in Miss Rose Eytinge we have
a woman who, even physically, possesses us
with a peculiar sense of grandeur and repose; a
woman whom Walt Whitman would delight in
and recognize as the ‘justified mother of men;
a large-minded, vigorous, erect and noble ani
mal; over and above the animalism, so necessary
to this character, a conseorated maternal soul.
Observe her closely as she recklessly flings her
limbs about, as she reproduces with wonderful
truth, the loose and wild gestures of the class
she is depicting, and yet, never for one moment
passes the absolute line of beauty. The gran
deur of physical movement could ‘no further
go-’ ’
A LETTER.
Col. John H Seals:—The following letter ex
plains itself. Coming, as it does entirely unso
licited by you or any one connected with your
paper, I am proud of the privilege I have ob
tained to offer it to you for publication in the in
terest of Southern literature. The fair writer,
being herself a bright star in the galaxy • of
Southern talent, the praise from her ingenuous
heart is a meed which you and Mrs. Bryan have
nobly won, and richly deserve and therefore
may accept without any other feelings than those
of pride and pleasure B.
Salem, Ala., Aug., 8th, 1878.
Mabcus A. Bell, Esq.
Dear Sir:—Your letter soliciting my ‘candid
opinion of the Sunny South and Mrs. Mary E.
Bryan as a writer’ is received.
Having been so long a constant reader of the
Sunny South, I feel prepared to answer your
inquiry; and the opinion I entertain being favor
able, it is readily given and with great pleasure.
In my judgment the Sunny South ranks- with
the best periodicals of the times. Its very
name has for me a peouliar charm, and I am,
indeed, truly proud of the High position this
beautiful journal has taken and maintains in
the literary world. All honor and praise are
due to Col. Seals and Mrs Bryan for establish
ing suoh a paper in our midst. The South had
long felt a want for suoh an enterprise; and it
affords me a real gratification to say, that the
appreciation that has helped to build up and
sustain it speaks well for our proud-hearted
and patriotic southerners.
As to Mrs. Bryan, her fame is so firmly as
sured in the admiration ot the publio, that I
dare not, even if I would, express an opinion
adverse to her great genius and ability. Hap
pily, all that I can or desire to say of this won
derful woman is in heir praise. I regard her as
one of the most gifted women of the nine
teenth century. Her writings are so clear in
diction, so deep, thoughtful, and philosophical,
and. withall, so artistically graceful, they can
not fail to please all persons of taste in literary
matters. In depth and novelty of plot, her ro
mances compare favorably with the first writers
of any age. George Eliot, who is so celebra
ted for modelling character, might study with
profit the lovely and life-like portraitures of
Esther in ‘Fighting Against Fate,’or, of Melli-
cent in ‘Twice Condemned.’ Mrsa Bryan, by
some masterly strokes which she {(lone knows
how to give, makes even her ideal characters
appear as actual men and women who are bound
to us by all the tender and sympathetic emo
tions of our own nature. There are a multitude
of novelists all eager for mere distinction, but
Mrs. Bryan is one of the few who write for pos
terity.
Knowing this talented authoress to possess so
great thought, power and energy, it has long
been a matter of wonderment to me why she
has never had any of her productions bound in
book form. By not having her noble works put
up in a form to be preserved ani constantly re
ferred to in every household, she is doing her
self, her friends aDd her country a great injus
tice.
I did not design to say so much, but you will
excuse me when I say, I am almost a worshipful
admirer of Mrs. Bryan; and it is my earnest and
heart-felt wish that she will, at an early day,
make thousands of Southern hearts glad by giv
ing to the world some, at least, of her more val
uable works in book form, that they may be
preserved among our household treasures and
become our daily companions.
* * * * m * * • * •
Yours truly,
Nettie Loveless Kiekulff.
More Evidence.
IRREFUTABLE. REMARKABLE!
Astonishing Facts—The Testimo
ny of an Intelligent Physician,
Cured by Woolley’s Opium Anti-
dote--He Used as High as 60
Grains, One Bottle, Morphine in
24 Hours—Is Now Cured--Has
Abandoned the Remedy as Well
as the Morphine, and Has no De
sire lor Either—Read, He Gives
His Name and Address--Can
sensibility and produoe partial if not complete
anesthesia, as shown by the great Nelaton in the
asphixia produced by the inhalation of olilori-
form. The result is always a quieting and ano
dyne one. I further believe that this is the dem-
onstratable physiological fact in the opium hab
it The subject, by continual use of the drug
produces a chronic contraction of the oerebral
vessels, to which condition the brain (through
habit) accommodates itself, and when the drug
is left off, the cause of this contraction of the ce
rebral vessels (which has now become a second
nature) being removed, the vessels are dilated,
resulting in congestion or engorgement of the
brain, with all its peculiar sufferings, as is
shewn by hyperesthesia irritability of the stom
ach, or cerebral vomiting mania, and in many
instances even death, this congestion being pe
culiar on account of its peculiar cause. Now, if
this theory be correct, and I believe after care
ful study that it is, we can comprehend why it
is that a person after becoming addicted to the
use of opium, or its alkaloids, which have the
same physiological effect, is so utterly powerless
to remedy this wretched condition by a discon
tinuance of its use, and we can also conceive
how unscientific it is to expect him to abandon
the habit without aid. Now, tbe question arises,
how would we intelligently prescribe for this
pathological condition ? If we can find a drug
that would prevent the congestion of the brain,
consequent upon the abandoning of the opium
habit, and also relieve the unique symptons at
tending this congestion, scientifically speaking,
the end is attained, and we might expect that
the cerebral vessels would,after a long time, re
gain their normal condition, and a cure result.
The sequel of this communication will show
that in the remedy you propose, be it what it
may, we have a specific in this disease.
But another question is, whether or not this
evil is one that threatens the interest of this peo
ple? We contemplate in an enlightened way,
what man is—that he is the image of his Maker,
like a god, dwells among the stars—else how
does he view yon world,that rides through space
with lightning speed,through his own invention
—the telescope—that he catches the light and
unfolds it to an admiring world into spectres
of beauty—that even the remembrance of his
grandeur after his death, is a joy forever to the
living—and that his dignity is yet more clearly
demonstrated when we contemplate the nature
of the soul. In the language of Prof. Armick,
•Even in thought it stands in the ashes of a cin
dered world, exultant in a destiny that has just
begun,when worlds have ceased to be.’ And then
woman—the greatest and best gift of God to man.
—who, when
‘Pain and anguish wring t fie brow,
A ministering angel thou,'
or who in the shock of battle exclaims:
‘I know t'was a trumpet’s note,
And I see my brothers’ lances gleam.
And their pinions wave by the mountain
stream,
And their plumes on the glad winds
float;’
or who in her beautiful resignation and pride of
faithfulness, still clings to the drunken footsteps
of her husband until death breaks the bond,and
then goes and weeps over his discreditable grave
and forgives him ali. But all this seems as a
gem set in clay—this living temple. Yet tbis
soul even that of a Daciere, whose eloquence
was almost superhuman among the oraters of
antiquity, or some ot our more modern Senators
whose names I forbear to mention, so honored
is their memory,and that of wives, sisters,moth
ers and husbands, fathers, brothers and sons—
is to-day prostrate and trailing in the dust,shad
owed by the broken lamps, whose rich clouds of
brilliant light have been exchanged for poisoned
vapors, a sad and dismal monument of former
greatness, this too, the fruits and work of that
incubus, opium, which has fastened with such
dreaded terror, his poisoned fangs upon the vi
tals of this generation, an evil that stops not un
til the house of the soul shakes under the tem
pest, the rafters rot and give way, the roof sinks
in, and the building falls to the ground like a
palace all in ruins,with light and love vanished
and gone before. There comes up from every
city, town and hamlet in this broad land, a wild
refrain and cry for help from tLis opium fiend.
It is the most terrible disease of which I have
any knowledge; yet you have a certain, painlesE
and radical cure, demonstrated to me by an act
ual personal test. I contracted the habit of tak
ing sulphate of morphia, hypodormetically, du
ring a spell of sickness. I could see no rescue,
and had abandoned all hope of relief. I had used
as high as sixty grains of morphine in twenty-
four hours—yet your remedy has effected a com
plete cure. I no longer take the Antidote and
am now in as good health as I ever was in my
life. This I cheerfully state and with the deep
est gratitude to you, sincerely hope that my ex
perience with your invaluable remedy may lead
others in my deplorable condition to tbe same
rescue and renewed happiness.
Very respectfully your friend,
It. B. Stover, M. D.
In a letter dated April 22d, 1878, addressed
to B. M. Woolley, Dr. Stover writes as follows:
•My health has been perfect since you heard
from me. The cure in my case is a permanent
one; I have bad no occasion to use any ot the
Antidote for nearly four months, nor have I had
the least desire or call to take morphine or any
preparation of opium. Myself and wife often,
speak of you, and you may be assured of the-
very great friendship we feel for you. If you
ever meet with mislortune or trial, wheie we
can serve you in any capacity, do us the favor
to allow us to be of assistance to you. With
kindest regards of myself and wife, very respect
fully, R. B. Stover.
DOES THE WORLD MOVE 1
Any Yet Doubt ?
Moscow, Fayette Co., Tenn. I
January 21, 1878. j
C&pt. B. M. Woolley, Atlanta, Ga.
My Dear Sir: This age in which we live is
eminently a practical one. Yet it is impossible
for any system of science or art to stand betore
the intelligence of this people, flooded as they
are with intellectual light, if not sustained by
real claims of merit, confidence and respect.
These reflections are called forth by a paragraph
in yonr last leiter to me, wherein you state that
some are incredulous of the power of your opium
cure to eradicate the disease for which you rec
ommend it. To investigate this matter, and give
you the benefit of my experience and careful
study, is the object of this communication, and
more especially, as I hope that it may lead oth
ers to as complete relief as I myself have had.
I can conveive of no condition in life so de
structive to everything that makes life desirable
as the opinm habit.
To begin then, we might enquire in what way
this substance exercises its physiological action?
There are conflicting opinions, but the one that
best accords with my own views, is that of Mo-
liere and Hammond—that anemia of the brain
is present, opium producing contraction of the
cerebral vessels. A toxic dose of opinm pro
duces narcosis at once; in a small dose, the nar
cosis, is preceded by excitation. I apprehend
that in the firBt instance the stage oi excitement
is so short that it is not appreciable, the dose
overpowering the system at once—its physiolog
ical aotion being similar to that of congestion.
At first the oapilary vessels are dilated by the
stimnlns sent through the nerves supplying
the part and afterward contracted. It has been
demonstrated by Moliere that in sleep we have
cerebral anemia, and also by producing anemia,
or, in other words, that by withdrawing blood
from any part, by whatever means we lessen the
The Rev. John Jasper, of Virginia, say*. “lie sun do
move, for in de morniu’ it shines on dls side ob de hous,
whil in deelienin,on hat side ob de hous. Now, ef he
don’t move, how come he dur?” Notwithstanding Mr.
Jasper’s logic, we yet believe the world moves. When
Mr. Jasper's ideas constituted the popular belief, people-
thought that to die of small-pox or cholera, was simply
fulfilling one’s of nature's laws. Now, through vacei na
tion, small-pox is averted, while cholera, cholera morbus,
dysentery (llux), and diurrhu-a. are readily cured by tbe
use of Dr. Pierce's Compound Extract ot Smart-Weed.
Does not such evidences tend to prove that "the world
moves?” As an external remedy for cuts, bruises,
sprains, swellings, bites aud stings of insects, the Com
pound Extract of Smart-Weed has no equal. Veterinary
surgeons also employ it with marked success.
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YOUNG MEN Ml?^luillriSS 1
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