The Star-dust of the Universe.

The Star-dust of the Universe.The distinguished astronomer, Norman Lockyer, has lately read a paper before the Royal Society (London) under the title of a “Preliminary Note on the Spectra of the Meteorites,” which advances some of the boldest theories and suggestions ever offered concerning the Universe, which cannot fail to interest the readers of theJournal of Man.According to Mr. Lockyer the meteors which we have been accustomed to consider trivial or incidental matters in planetary and stellar systems, no more important than the dust which the housewife raises from parlor and chamber, are really fundamental and basic elements of the Universe, capable of generating comets, planets, suns and stars.If this idea can be entertained, meteors must be vastly more numerous than the world has supposed. Cosmical space, according to Mr. Lockyer, is filled with meteorites of various sizes, flying in many directions with enormous velocities and moving in certain orbits like larger bodies. Many observations have been made to determine the number of these meteorites. Dr. Schmidt, of Athens, in seventeen years of observation concluded that in a clear dark night an observer would see on an average fourteen an hour at one station. Other astronomers have calculated that if observations were made over the whole earth, ten thousand times as many would be seen as could be seen by a single observer. Calculating thus, it has been inferred that about 20,000,000 luminous meteors fall on the earth every twenty-four hours, besides the innumerable amount of minute bodies too small to be seen by telescopes—which some suppose to be twenty times as numerous as the visible.Prof. H. A. Newton makes some astounding estimates on this subject—that the orbit of the earth is filled with meteorites, about 250 miles apart, making a group of about 30,000 in a space equal to that of the earth. If such calculations are reliable, the query must arise, How much effect can such a meteoric shower every day in the year exert on the orbital motion of the earth, in retarding its velocity? The effect must be greatly increased if, according to Prof. Newton, the velocity of meteors striking the earth is about thirty miles a second, varying from ten to forty.From such a basis as this rises the grand hypothesis of Mr. Lockyer, who is a courageous theorist, that all cosmic space is filled with meteorites, that they go in swarms, and that not only comets but stars are formed by conglomerate aggregations of meteorites.Schiaparelli, in 1866, demonstrated that the orbit of the August meteors was the same as that of the comet of that year. It is in August and November of each year that we have the most brilliant display of meteors in two distinct groups, or orbits. Those of August come from a point in the constellation of Perseus and those in November from a point in the constellation Leo. They are believed to fill two distinct orbits or rings making an elliptical orbit round the sun. In such orbits, comets are believed by astronomers to be formed by a concentrated swarm of incandescent meteorites renderedluminous by collisions. But this hypothesis of innumerable collisions between meteorites travelling in the same orbits does not appear very plausible.This doctrine of the genesis of comets, advanced by Schiaparelli, is extended by Mr. Lockyer to the genesis of all great luminous bodies. Nebulæ, comets, stars, variable and temporary stars, are all thus brought under a general law and method of genesis. The increasing approximation and condensation of the meteorites is seen in different classes of stars. Stars of the class iii.a are not so far advanced as others.The next step in the hypothesis is that in the extreme approximation and condensation of the meteorites a degree of heat is generated which converts the whole into a mass of incandescent vapor, at a “transcendental temperature.” The maximum temperature being thus attained, a cooling process begins, which is seen in our sun and other stars of the second class. Other stars, according to Mr. Lockyer, of class iii.b exhibit spectra which show that their temperature is not so high, and the last stage is attained by stars and other bodies which have ceased to be luminous, and, therefore, are not seen, but may be recognized by the perturbations which they produce in the movements of other bodies.According to this hypothesis our solar system was once but a mighty swarm of meteorites, extending as far as the farthest planet at present. We may as well suppose its materials to have been a swarm of meteorites as to suppose a chaotic fire-mist. Mr. Lockyer supposes the clash of meteor swarms to have produced new stars, and suggests the possibility of stellar or planetary bodies coming into collision, though no observations ever made yet give an example.The destroyed planet, Sideros, discovered by Prof. Denton, illustrates that the universe has its disorder and tragedy as well as our own sphere. The time is coming when all these mysteries are to be cleared up—it will be when Psychometry is added to our telescopic and spectroscopic methods. Then will astronomy and all other sciences receive their grandest enlargement. In this task I cannot at present engage, for the limitless field of Anthropology alone is too much for a solitary scientist laboring for the advent of “The New Civilization.”

The distinguished astronomer, Norman Lockyer, has lately read a paper before the Royal Society (London) under the title of a “Preliminary Note on the Spectra of the Meteorites,” which advances some of the boldest theories and suggestions ever offered concerning the Universe, which cannot fail to interest the readers of theJournal of Man.

According to Mr. Lockyer the meteors which we have been accustomed to consider trivial or incidental matters in planetary and stellar systems, no more important than the dust which the housewife raises from parlor and chamber, are really fundamental and basic elements of the Universe, capable of generating comets, planets, suns and stars.

If this idea can be entertained, meteors must be vastly more numerous than the world has supposed. Cosmical space, according to Mr. Lockyer, is filled with meteorites of various sizes, flying in many directions with enormous velocities and moving in certain orbits like larger bodies. Many observations have been made to determine the number of these meteorites. Dr. Schmidt, of Athens, in seventeen years of observation concluded that in a clear dark night an observer would see on an average fourteen an hour at one station. Other astronomers have calculated that if observations were made over the whole earth, ten thousand times as many would be seen as could be seen by a single observer. Calculating thus, it has been inferred that about 20,000,000 luminous meteors fall on the earth every twenty-four hours, besides the innumerable amount of minute bodies too small to be seen by telescopes—which some suppose to be twenty times as numerous as the visible.

Prof. H. A. Newton makes some astounding estimates on this subject—that the orbit of the earth is filled with meteorites, about 250 miles apart, making a group of about 30,000 in a space equal to that of the earth. If such calculations are reliable, the query must arise, How much effect can such a meteoric shower every day in the year exert on the orbital motion of the earth, in retarding its velocity? The effect must be greatly increased if, according to Prof. Newton, the velocity of meteors striking the earth is about thirty miles a second, varying from ten to forty.

From such a basis as this rises the grand hypothesis of Mr. Lockyer, who is a courageous theorist, that all cosmic space is filled with meteorites, that they go in swarms, and that not only comets but stars are formed by conglomerate aggregations of meteorites.

Schiaparelli, in 1866, demonstrated that the orbit of the August meteors was the same as that of the comet of that year. It is in August and November of each year that we have the most brilliant display of meteors in two distinct groups, or orbits. Those of August come from a point in the constellation of Perseus and those in November from a point in the constellation Leo. They are believed to fill two distinct orbits or rings making an elliptical orbit round the sun. In such orbits, comets are believed by astronomers to be formed by a concentrated swarm of incandescent meteorites renderedluminous by collisions. But this hypothesis of innumerable collisions between meteorites travelling in the same orbits does not appear very plausible.

This doctrine of the genesis of comets, advanced by Schiaparelli, is extended by Mr. Lockyer to the genesis of all great luminous bodies. Nebulæ, comets, stars, variable and temporary stars, are all thus brought under a general law and method of genesis. The increasing approximation and condensation of the meteorites is seen in different classes of stars. Stars of the class iii.a are not so far advanced as others.

The next step in the hypothesis is that in the extreme approximation and condensation of the meteorites a degree of heat is generated which converts the whole into a mass of incandescent vapor, at a “transcendental temperature.” The maximum temperature being thus attained, a cooling process begins, which is seen in our sun and other stars of the second class. Other stars, according to Mr. Lockyer, of class iii.b exhibit spectra which show that their temperature is not so high, and the last stage is attained by stars and other bodies which have ceased to be luminous, and, therefore, are not seen, but may be recognized by the perturbations which they produce in the movements of other bodies.

According to this hypothesis our solar system was once but a mighty swarm of meteorites, extending as far as the farthest planet at present. We may as well suppose its materials to have been a swarm of meteorites as to suppose a chaotic fire-mist. Mr. Lockyer supposes the clash of meteor swarms to have produced new stars, and suggests the possibility of stellar or planetary bodies coming into collision, though no observations ever made yet give an example.

The destroyed planet, Sideros, discovered by Prof. Denton, illustrates that the universe has its disorder and tragedy as well as our own sphere. The time is coming when all these mysteries are to be cleared up—it will be when Psychometry is added to our telescopic and spectroscopic methods. Then will astronomy and all other sciences receive their grandest enlargement. In this task I cannot at present engage, for the limitless field of Anthropology alone is too much for a solitary scientist laboring for the advent of “The New Civilization.”

Miscellaneous.Bright Literature.—New publications have just been received which express the bright mental activity of the present time. The first number ofThe New Christianity, which has just appeared, bears the editorial names of B. F. Barrett and S. H. Spencer, and is issued by the Swedenborg Publishing Association, Philadelphia, published every Thursday in sixteen large pages, at $2 per annum. At so moderate a price it should have a large circulation. The name of Rev. B. F.Barrettis a sufficient guarantee of the literary excellence, profound thought and liberal aims of this weekly. The Association, of which Mr. Barrett is president, holds “the good of life tobe paramount to the truth of doctrine; charity superior to faith; doctrine (though it be from the Lord out of heaven) to be of no value save as ameansto this divine end—purity of heart and righteousness of life.” Hence, they have been more intent on diffusing their principles than building up a religious establishment. The Association has condensed Swedenborg’s writings into ten small volumes, in about one-tenth of the compass of the unabridged works, and has sold about 37,000 volumes, besides many thousands given away.The BostonHeraldsays of this publication that it “deserves a cordial welcome as an attempt to express, through the religious press, a wider interest in the things of this world than most of the New Church papers have aimed at, … a broader treatment of what concerns our common Christianity than has been heretofore attempted in this religious connection, and thus satisfy the New Church people, who realize that they are still in the world, as well as the no-church people, who prefer smaller doses from the abstract writings of Swedenborg, and more of the thought of New Churchmen about what all men are thinking of.”The Two Worlds, published weekly, at 61 George Street, Chatham Hill, Manchester, England, at 2d. a number, 2s., 2d. for thirteen weeks, or 8s., 8d. per annum in advance, is under the editorial control ofMrs. Emma Hardinge BrittenandE. M. Wallis. The first number is dated Nov. 18, 1887. The names of its editors are a sufficient guarantee of its ability and its noble aims. They are admired and honored in America as well as Europe, and have thousands of friends. The first number fully sustains the expectations raised by their names. There is a brightness, vigor, independence and eloquence in the editorials which are refreshing. The salutatory says: “We do not propose to inflict on readers searching for light from the higher world matterbeneathinstead of beyond the reader’s previous status of thought and education. The spiritual rostrum should be the sphere of instruction alike to listener and reader,—not the school in which unfledged and half-developed mediums seek to entertain their audiences by practicing the A B C of the oratorical art.”They say, also, “That the scope of this journal may not be misunderstood, we desire to state at once, and in advance of our future issues, that we propose to traverse, as far as possible, the wide and varied fields of human interests that might be vitalized and exalted by that knowledge of the life hereafter, which spirits alone can demonstrate. Instead of confining ourselves, therefore, to the relation of phenomenal facts and speculative philosophy, we shall endeavor to show how beneficially the spiritualistic revelations of the nineteenth century might operate through such departments of earth life as reform, science, theology, politics, occultism and the only true and practical religion, viz.: goodness and truth in the life here as a preparation for heaven and happiness in the life hereafter.” As to Occultism and Theosophy, they say: “Every article that will appear in these columns will be written byone who knows, and who willdeal with those subjects from the standpoint of practical experience.” The article on this subject in the first number is extremely interesting and instructive, in fact, the first clear and satisfactory statement that has been published. Among other facts it mentions that “Lord Lytton, the Earl of Stanhope, and Lieut. Morrison (better known as Zadkiel), and the author of Art Magic, belonged to this society,”—a secret Occult society in England, successor to the ancient societies of Egypt, Greece and India.There is no reason to doubt that theTwo Worldswill have a brilliant career, and do much to elevate the tone and enhance the reputation of spiritual science. The inspiration of Emma Hardinge Britten is of a high order, and flows into a mind which has also a strong grasp on external life. Either on the rostrum or through the press she is a distinguished leader in the spiritual movement. Mr. Wallis has also earned a high rank as an exponent of Spiritualism on its highest ethical plane.Foote’s Health Monthly.—If any of my readers are not already acquainted withFoote’s Health Monthly, published at New York, at 50 cents a year, they will find it worthy of their attention. Dr. E. B. Foote is one of the most conspicuous and worthy of America’s medical reformers. His “Plain Home Talk,” when first issued on a smaller scale as “Medical Common Sense,” sold to the amount of 250,000 copies, now under the title of “Plain Home Talk,” containing 935 pages, with 200 illustrations, the publishing company say that they issue 2000 or more copies every month. Its vast circulation is not surprising when we consider that it is almost a cyclopedia of medical information for the people at the amazingly low price of $1.50. Copies of this valuable work may be obtained from the editor of theJournal of Man, or from Dr. E. B. Foote, 120 Lexington Avenue, New York. The people need medical information, and Dr. Foote has for many years been the leader in popular medical enlightenment.Psychic Theories.—An esteemed correspondent says, “I trust you will soon have space and time in which to fully discuss theosophy, and its bold assertion that Spiritualism is but the manifestation of dangerous elementals or of the souls of those sent untimely from this life as suicides and executed criminals, who until their selfish desires are gratified, make use of ‘astral shells’ of the real spirits of our dead friends, in order to wickedly deceive us, a discouraging view.” Theosophy or divine wisdom does not make such assertions. They are but traditional dogmas which did not originate in scientific investigation. Those who make such assertions may call themselves theosophists, but they have no exclusive right to such a name, which belongs to all seekers of divine wisdom. American theosophy as represented by theJournal of Manmakes no such assertions, and relies upon investigation, never receiving the speculative notions of darker ages without evidence, whether they relate to Metempsychosis, or the garden of Eden, the burning hell, the purgatory, or the various pictures of the infernaland supernal regions which had been current in the old world before such realms were ever investigated.When my readers hear any such theories advanced, let them quietly ask for the evidence,what are the factson which such opinions are based, when were they discovered, who were the investigators, and what was their method of investigation? If such questions cannot be answered, the theories deserve little attention.Twentieth Century Science, Dawning at the end of the Nineteenth.—In the 20th century, Psychometry will become the guide of the nations. The world will understand itself. Every mile on the surface of the globe will be familiarly known.An important event anywhere will be immediately known everywhere. The planets and their inhabitants will be known, and much more known that need not be mentioned at present. The healing art will approximate perfection. Criminals will be reformed. Their number will be diminished. The juvenile nations of the earth will be more or less under the care of the adolescent and peace will be maintained.These are not psychometric forecasts, but rational inferences, from our increasing rate of progress.Comparative Speed of Light and Electricity.—The French physicist Fizeau calculated the velocity of light at 185,157 miles a second; Cornu, another Frenchman, calculated it at 185,420, and Michelson obtained 186,380 as the result of his calculation. Wheatstone, the English electrician, found that free electricity travelled 288,000 miles a second; Kirchoff concluded, from theoretical considerations, that an electrical current sent through a wire in which it meets no resistance has the velocity of 192,924 miles a second. The velocity of an electric current sent through iron wire is 62,100 miles a second; through copper wire, 111,780 miles. We think justice will be done by deciding that electricity is the faster.—N. Y. Sun.Yet practically speaking, electricity in wires is much slower. Prof. Gould found that telegraph wires at a moderate height, transmit signals at the rate of 12,000 miles a second; but if the wires are suspended high enough, the velocity may be raised to 16,000 or even 24,000 feet a second. Subterranean wires and submarine cables transmit slowly. Wheatstone’s experiments were made fifty-four years ago, and have not since been confirmed. I would say light is the faster, for electric currents are always retarded by the medium.Wonderful Photography.—Dr. H. G. Piffard exhibited in New York to a society of amateur photographers a new method of taking instantaneous photographs by means of a brilliant light made by sprinkling ten or fifteen grains of magnesium powder on about six grains of gun-cotton. When this is flashed in a dark apartment it gives light enough to take a good photograph. It will do the same if flashed out of a pistol; so that a citizen may have his revolver with a small camera on the barrel and by flashing the gun-cotton out ofhis pistol he can make a photograph of any burglar or robber in the dark before he fires a bullet.Wooden Cloth.—An Austrian has patented a process for boiling wood and cleaving it into fibres that may be spun into threads which may be woven.The Phylloxerapest, which has wrought such havoc among vineyards throughout Europe, has invaded California also. France has lost many millions, and has offered a reward of 300,000 francs for the discovery of a remedy. A Turkish farmer is said to have discovered accidentally that the remedy is to plant Sorghum or sugar-cane between the vines, which draws the phylloxera from the grapevines. It is said to have been successfully adopted already in Turkey, Croatia, Dalmatia and Eastern Italy.Falling Rents, in England.—While landlords are battling for rents foreign rivalry is destroying rent, and it is still going down. Large estates have a difficulty in getting either tenants or purchasers. The fall in prices and rents extends all over England. On a farm of 2,700 acres, in Lancashire, the tenant had been paying five dollars an acre, but he refused to take it for 1887 at two dollars and a half. Lands in 1876 were commonly valued at $260 per acre; but they would not bring over $150 to-day. The Court Journal says:The depreciation in the value of English land is witnessed by one or two statements published last week. We are, in the first place, told that within a radius of twelve miles around Louth, in Lincolnshire, there are now 22,400 acres of land without tenants. In the same shire the largest farm in England has been thrown on the owner’s hands. It is 2,700 acres in extent and the tenant paid £1 per acre. This year a reduction of 50 per cent was made to him, but finding that although an experienced and energetic farmer, that even at this reduction he could not make two ends meet, he has thrown up his farm.Boston Civilization.—During the four years ending Sept. 30, 1884, there were 971 liquor sellers condemned for violating the law, who appealed to the superior court. Of the entire number, only 19 were fined, and 729 were allowed to escape by dropping the prosecution. But the law against preaching on the Boston Common is enforced with faithful severity, and Rev. W. F. Davis has been sentenced to a year’s imprisonment for preaching without a permit. Evidently rum-selling is more popular than Protestant preaching, and pugilism is more popular than either, as the mayor and some councilmen participated in putting a $10,000 belt on John L. Sullivan, the slugger, before the largest audience the Boston Theatre would hold, on the 9th of August, 1887. But perhaps other cities are no better. Cincinnati has one liquor-selling shop to every twenty voters. The cities will not tolerate prohibition, but it is successful elsewhere.Psychic Blundering.—The Psychical Research Society held a meeting a few weeks since in Boston. Their first communication was on Thought Transferrence, by Dr. H. B. Bowditch.“It was stated that a large number of experiments had been made, but the results were of a negative value. The attempt to establish the reality of thought transferrence had not been very successful.” What else but negative results are to be expected from negative people,—people who have been in this matter mere negations for forty-five years, during which discoveries have been in progress all around them, which they have refused to look at, and refused to test by experiment. Still, if the march of mind for half a century can finally rouse the sluggard class, it is well. For “while the lamp holds out to burn,” etc. It was a Dr. Bowditch who, in 1843, certified as secretary of a committee to the facts which demonstrate the science of Anthropology, and then relapsed into an agnostic slumber and forgot all about it.Beecher’s Mediumship.—It has been generally believed in spiritual circles that Henry Ward Beecher had the inspiration which belongs to mediumship. This quality appears to have been inherited from his mother. On one occasion she was suddenly impelled to leave her apartment and rush out to an old carriage house, where she arrived in time to save the life of her youngest child, which had fallen through a carriage top and was caught in such a way that if she had not arrived then he would have been strangled.A Scientific Cataract.—The blindness of the old school medical profession to modern progress is due to what may be called a cataract formed by medical bigotry. It will require half a century to remove this cataract. We are reminded of its existence by a paragraph in the Boston Herald speaking of the cancer in the throat of the crown prince of Germany, which the faculty expect to prove fatal, which it calls “a physical disorder for which medical science has yet to discover a remedy; it is not at all likely that this fortunate discovery will occur soon enough to be of service to the heir-apparent.” This flat denial of the curability of cancer is in the same columns in which an enlightened correspondent gave ample proof of cures with names and dates. Such denials are published in a city where a diligent inquiry would reveal about three hundred cases of successful cure of cancer well attested. But alas! these cures were not made under the authority or by the disciplined followers of the old school American Medical Association and therefore they cannot be recognized or heard of. There is a dignity which cannot see or feel anything it does not wish to see or feel; which reminds us of a story of two ladies. Said Madam F., a Swiss lady, to Madam R., a French woman, “I was surprised to see you walking with Col. M. yesterday. Do you not know that he was publicly horsewhipped by Capt. D. of the Infantry?” “I do not mind such remarks at all (said Madam R.,) for I know that Col. M. is a man of honor and too dignified a gentleman to notice anything going on behind his back.”Speaking of cancer, the press and the political world are greatly concerned at the probable fate of the crown prince of Germany, attacked with cancer in the larynx, and with little or no hope of surviving. They announce as the result of the great scientific investigationprompted by this fact, a “great discovery concerning cancer.” Is it a discovery of a cure—oh no, they think they have discovered thecancer bacillus. That is science, but as for destroying the cancer bacillus they leave that to the physicians whom they call quacks for curing what the professors cannot cure.Obstreperous and Pragmatic Vulgarity.—The house of Knoedler & Co., leading art dealers in New York, has been arrested by Comstock for selling photographs of celebrated paintings from the art galleries of Paris. It is a foul mind which sees obscenity in that which cultivated people admire, and the Hoboken Evening News says very appropriately, “Of all the cranky Pharisees allowed to run at large, Anthony Comstock is the chief. He is a most unmitigated nuisance and requires most emphatic and summary suppression.”The N. Y.Home Journal, in a well considered editorial, says:“The need of a revision of the law regarding immoral publications in literature and art becomes every day more manifest. There is required especially a precise definition of what the statute is designed to prohibit. At present there is no uniform criterion. It is just what the local Dogberry and the scratch jury happen to find. Books that have had an established place in literature for generations and are found in all the great libraries of the world; pictures that represent the highest skill attained in the leading schools of Europe; reproductions of works that adorn the national and royal galleries cherished as monuments of genius to reflect the glory of the time,—these are quite likely to be brought up and solemnly condemned by our tribunals as unfit for the contemplation of our superior American virtue. But the real injustice of the proceeding follows in the infliction of fines or imprisonment on the unsuspecting vendors of the works, who naturally imagine that merchandise current in all the other markets of the civilized world would be current also here. The most respectable houses, known throughout the length and breadth of the country for their honorable dealings, are exposed to legal prosecution any moment that an officious fanatic or jealous rival pleases to bring a charge that certain works in their store have an immoral tendency.”Judge Brady, of the Supreme Court, says, “If I had been a legislator I would never have voted for this law…. It is evident that mere nudity in painting and sculpture is not obscenity. It is a false delicacy and mere prudery which would condemn and banish from sight all such objects.” Public opinion should be directed against the vice society which employs and pays such a tool as Comstock. The prosecution which he instigated against Mrs. Elmina Slenker, of Virginia, resulted in her acquittal.TheN. Y. Evening Postsays, “If there is to be a prosecution in this Knoedler case, and these prints should send some one to jail, we for our part think Anthony Comstock should be the man.”Hygiene.—Sir Spencer Wells, in an address to the Medico-Chirurgical Society of Nottingham, England, referred to sanitaryimprovements which had reduced the annual death rate from twenty-nine in a thousand to nineteen, and said that it ought to be reduced to fifteen or twelve. He then said, “And if we have—as we really have—seen the average duration of human life in Great Britain advance from thirty years (which it was half a century ago) to forty-nine years (which it is now, according to life tables), why may we not witness a still further advance? Why should seventy or eighty years remain as the usual limit of human life? Why should its natural duration under perfectly healthy surrounding conditions not be at least 100 years, with an occasional extension of some ten or fifteen years more?”“When people are made to understand that at least nine-tenths of the deaths in England are premature, the representatives of the most parsimonious rate payers will be compelled by the criticism of the public to remember that they also represent the more sacred interests of human life and happiness, and that resistance to sanitary improvements is punished by preventable disease and premature death. High local mortality is largely due to want of local information. For the tens or hundreds who are killed by murder or manslaughter, or by accident, or in battles on land or sea, thousands and millions are victims of preventable disease. When this is fully understood, no imperial Government, no local authority, will dare to incur the responsibility of such a national disgrace.”Dr. Wells then forcibly illustrated the dangerous and pestilential results of our system of burying the dead, planting the germs of diseases in the ground to come forth again, and corrupting the water supply. London alone uses 2,200 acres of land for cemeteries, and England and Wales have 11,000 cemeteries, costing for the land over $600 per acre, all dangerous to health, while about $25,000,000 are annually expended on funerals. For all this cremation was the remedy.A distinguished English physician, addressing the International Hygiene Society at Vienna, said that the gain to England in the last fifty years from improvement in health was equal to $1,500,000,000.Quinine.—This famous drug, which was once as high as $5 an ounce, has become very cheap by preserving the trees which were formerly destroyed in gathering “Peruvian Bark.” The drug may now be purchased in quantities at half a dollar an ounce. The trees now yield a crop of bark every year. The fashionable sulphate of quinine, which is most extensively used, I consider the most objectionable form of the drug. My favorite form is the dextro-quinine, made by Keasby & Matteson, Philadelphia. But quinine is not at all a necessity. It could be satisfactorily replaced by Declat’s syrup of Phenic Acid, a French preparation, which is free from the objectionable qualities of quinine. But even that is notnecessary, for we have in the willow, the dogwood, and the apple tree, three American barks, which might well replace Peruvian bark by their fluid extracts and alkaloids. To these we may add Gnaphalium (or Life Everlasting), an admirable remedy in fever, and other medicinesand combinations of value. Our slavish dependence on Peruvian bark has been due to our ignorance.Life and Death.—Perilous is the fisherman’s life. In the past year, ending October, 1887, Gloucester, Mass., has lost 17 vessels and 127 lives of fishermen, leaving 60 widows and 61 fatherless children.The Mayville family of Wakefield, Mass., begin small. Mrs. Mayville weighed but two pounds when born. Her son of 17 years, weighing 160 pounds, weighed but 24 ounces when born, and she has lately had a male baby, weighing only eight ounces. It was born Nov. 13, and appeared dead, but was revived. It was ten inches long and measured eight inches round the head and was perfectly formed. It died in two weeks, from irritation of the bowels.Mrs. Charlotte Tubbs of Caroline County, Md., recently gave birth to four babies, all of whom are alive. This addition to her family makes her the mother of nine children, all of whom were born within five years. Among the older children are two pairs of twins.—Cin. Enq.Mrs. Wm. Wright, of New Castle, Ind., recently gave birth to four children, making in all a family of fourteen children, including five pairs of twins. Who was it said that he’d rather be Wright than be President? We wouldn’t.—Norristown Herald.Dorothea L. Dix.—This noted philanthropist, whose labors in establishing asylums for the insane in America and Europe were never equalled, died last summer in New Jersey. An interesting tribute to her memory was delivered in Boston by the Rev.James Freeman Clarke, and I regret that the limited space of the Journal forbids its full republication. I can only quote this. “Being asked how she achieved such noble results in her work, she answered that she went to those whose duty it was to aid in any particular work, and was always sure that though at first they might refuse to do what they were asked, they would gradually become interested andend by doing whatever was needed.” May her example in this be followed by all friends of progress.The Drift Of Catholicism.—The purpose of the Catholic party to break up our unsectarian school system has been realized in Stearns Co., Minnesota, where their church property exceeds a million of dollars. The Catholic catechism is taught daily in nearly three-fourths of the public schools. Many of the schools are conducted in the German language, and some of the schools taught by the Benedictine sisters.Juggernaut.—It is a singular fact that at the late procession of the idol Juggernaut in India, instead of the thousand devotees who used to drag at the ropes to haul his chariot from the temple to the river, hired coolies had to be substituted, and the victims who willingly threw themselves under the ponderous wheels to be crushed to death, were entirely wanting.—Commonwealth.

Bright Literature.—New publications have just been received which express the bright mental activity of the present time. The first number ofThe New Christianity, which has just appeared, bears the editorial names of B. F. Barrett and S. H. Spencer, and is issued by the Swedenborg Publishing Association, Philadelphia, published every Thursday in sixteen large pages, at $2 per annum. At so moderate a price it should have a large circulation. The name of Rev. B. F.Barrettis a sufficient guarantee of the literary excellence, profound thought and liberal aims of this weekly. The Association, of which Mr. Barrett is president, holds “the good of life tobe paramount to the truth of doctrine; charity superior to faith; doctrine (though it be from the Lord out of heaven) to be of no value save as ameansto this divine end—purity of heart and righteousness of life.” Hence, they have been more intent on diffusing their principles than building up a religious establishment. The Association has condensed Swedenborg’s writings into ten small volumes, in about one-tenth of the compass of the unabridged works, and has sold about 37,000 volumes, besides many thousands given away.The BostonHeraldsays of this publication that it “deserves a cordial welcome as an attempt to express, through the religious press, a wider interest in the things of this world than most of the New Church papers have aimed at, … a broader treatment of what concerns our common Christianity than has been heretofore attempted in this religious connection, and thus satisfy the New Church people, who realize that they are still in the world, as well as the no-church people, who prefer smaller doses from the abstract writings of Swedenborg, and more of the thought of New Churchmen about what all men are thinking of.”

The BostonHeraldsays of this publication that it “deserves a cordial welcome as an attempt to express, through the religious press, a wider interest in the things of this world than most of the New Church papers have aimed at, … a broader treatment of what concerns our common Christianity than has been heretofore attempted in this religious connection, and thus satisfy the New Church people, who realize that they are still in the world, as well as the no-church people, who prefer smaller doses from the abstract writings of Swedenborg, and more of the thought of New Churchmen about what all men are thinking of.”

The Two Worlds, published weekly, at 61 George Street, Chatham Hill, Manchester, England, at 2d. a number, 2s., 2d. for thirteen weeks, or 8s., 8d. per annum in advance, is under the editorial control ofMrs. Emma Hardinge BrittenandE. M. Wallis. The first number is dated Nov. 18, 1887. The names of its editors are a sufficient guarantee of its ability and its noble aims. They are admired and honored in America as well as Europe, and have thousands of friends. The first number fully sustains the expectations raised by their names. There is a brightness, vigor, independence and eloquence in the editorials which are refreshing. The salutatory says: “We do not propose to inflict on readers searching for light from the higher world matterbeneathinstead of beyond the reader’s previous status of thought and education. The spiritual rostrum should be the sphere of instruction alike to listener and reader,—not the school in which unfledged and half-developed mediums seek to entertain their audiences by practicing the A B C of the oratorical art.”They say, also, “That the scope of this journal may not be misunderstood, we desire to state at once, and in advance of our future issues, that we propose to traverse, as far as possible, the wide and varied fields of human interests that might be vitalized and exalted by that knowledge of the life hereafter, which spirits alone can demonstrate. Instead of confining ourselves, therefore, to the relation of phenomenal facts and speculative philosophy, we shall endeavor to show how beneficially the spiritualistic revelations of the nineteenth century might operate through such departments of earth life as reform, science, theology, politics, occultism and the only true and practical religion, viz.: goodness and truth in the life here as a preparation for heaven and happiness in the life hereafter.” As to Occultism and Theosophy, they say: “Every article that will appear in these columns will be written byone who knows, and who willdeal with those subjects from the standpoint of practical experience.” The article on this subject in the first number is extremely interesting and instructive, in fact, the first clear and satisfactory statement that has been published. Among other facts it mentions that “Lord Lytton, the Earl of Stanhope, and Lieut. Morrison (better known as Zadkiel), and the author of Art Magic, belonged to this society,”—a secret Occult society in England, successor to the ancient societies of Egypt, Greece and India.There is no reason to doubt that theTwo Worldswill have a brilliant career, and do much to elevate the tone and enhance the reputation of spiritual science. The inspiration of Emma Hardinge Britten is of a high order, and flows into a mind which has also a strong grasp on external life. Either on the rostrum or through the press she is a distinguished leader in the spiritual movement. Mr. Wallis has also earned a high rank as an exponent of Spiritualism on its highest ethical plane.

They say, also, “That the scope of this journal may not be misunderstood, we desire to state at once, and in advance of our future issues, that we propose to traverse, as far as possible, the wide and varied fields of human interests that might be vitalized and exalted by that knowledge of the life hereafter, which spirits alone can demonstrate. Instead of confining ourselves, therefore, to the relation of phenomenal facts and speculative philosophy, we shall endeavor to show how beneficially the spiritualistic revelations of the nineteenth century might operate through such departments of earth life as reform, science, theology, politics, occultism and the only true and practical religion, viz.: goodness and truth in the life here as a preparation for heaven and happiness in the life hereafter.” As to Occultism and Theosophy, they say: “Every article that will appear in these columns will be written byone who knows, and who willdeal with those subjects from the standpoint of practical experience.” The article on this subject in the first number is extremely interesting and instructive, in fact, the first clear and satisfactory statement that has been published. Among other facts it mentions that “Lord Lytton, the Earl of Stanhope, and Lieut. Morrison (better known as Zadkiel), and the author of Art Magic, belonged to this society,”—a secret Occult society in England, successor to the ancient societies of Egypt, Greece and India.

There is no reason to doubt that theTwo Worldswill have a brilliant career, and do much to elevate the tone and enhance the reputation of spiritual science. The inspiration of Emma Hardinge Britten is of a high order, and flows into a mind which has also a strong grasp on external life. Either on the rostrum or through the press she is a distinguished leader in the spiritual movement. Mr. Wallis has also earned a high rank as an exponent of Spiritualism on its highest ethical plane.

Foote’s Health Monthly.—If any of my readers are not already acquainted withFoote’s Health Monthly, published at New York, at 50 cents a year, they will find it worthy of their attention. Dr. E. B. Foote is one of the most conspicuous and worthy of America’s medical reformers. His “Plain Home Talk,” when first issued on a smaller scale as “Medical Common Sense,” sold to the amount of 250,000 copies, now under the title of “Plain Home Talk,” containing 935 pages, with 200 illustrations, the publishing company say that they issue 2000 or more copies every month. Its vast circulation is not surprising when we consider that it is almost a cyclopedia of medical information for the people at the amazingly low price of $1.50. Copies of this valuable work may be obtained from the editor of theJournal of Man, or from Dr. E. B. Foote, 120 Lexington Avenue, New York. The people need medical information, and Dr. Foote has for many years been the leader in popular medical enlightenment.

Psychic Theories.—An esteemed correspondent says, “I trust you will soon have space and time in which to fully discuss theosophy, and its bold assertion that Spiritualism is but the manifestation of dangerous elementals or of the souls of those sent untimely from this life as suicides and executed criminals, who until their selfish desires are gratified, make use of ‘astral shells’ of the real spirits of our dead friends, in order to wickedly deceive us, a discouraging view.” Theosophy or divine wisdom does not make such assertions. They are but traditional dogmas which did not originate in scientific investigation. Those who make such assertions may call themselves theosophists, but they have no exclusive right to such a name, which belongs to all seekers of divine wisdom. American theosophy as represented by theJournal of Manmakes no such assertions, and relies upon investigation, never receiving the speculative notions of darker ages without evidence, whether they relate to Metempsychosis, or the garden of Eden, the burning hell, the purgatory, or the various pictures of the infernaland supernal regions which had been current in the old world before such realms were ever investigated.When my readers hear any such theories advanced, let them quietly ask for the evidence,what are the factson which such opinions are based, when were they discovered, who were the investigators, and what was their method of investigation? If such questions cannot be answered, the theories deserve little attention.

When my readers hear any such theories advanced, let them quietly ask for the evidence,what are the factson which such opinions are based, when were they discovered, who were the investigators, and what was their method of investigation? If such questions cannot be answered, the theories deserve little attention.

Twentieth Century Science, Dawning at the end of the Nineteenth.—In the 20th century, Psychometry will become the guide of the nations. The world will understand itself. Every mile on the surface of the globe will be familiarly known.An important event anywhere will be immediately known everywhere. The planets and their inhabitants will be known, and much more known that need not be mentioned at present. The healing art will approximate perfection. Criminals will be reformed. Their number will be diminished. The juvenile nations of the earth will be more or less under the care of the adolescent and peace will be maintained.These are not psychometric forecasts, but rational inferences, from our increasing rate of progress.

An important event anywhere will be immediately known everywhere. The planets and their inhabitants will be known, and much more known that need not be mentioned at present. The healing art will approximate perfection. Criminals will be reformed. Their number will be diminished. The juvenile nations of the earth will be more or less under the care of the adolescent and peace will be maintained.

These are not psychometric forecasts, but rational inferences, from our increasing rate of progress.

Comparative Speed of Light and Electricity.—The French physicist Fizeau calculated the velocity of light at 185,157 miles a second; Cornu, another Frenchman, calculated it at 185,420, and Michelson obtained 186,380 as the result of his calculation. Wheatstone, the English electrician, found that free electricity travelled 288,000 miles a second; Kirchoff concluded, from theoretical considerations, that an electrical current sent through a wire in which it meets no resistance has the velocity of 192,924 miles a second. The velocity of an electric current sent through iron wire is 62,100 miles a second; through copper wire, 111,780 miles. We think justice will be done by deciding that electricity is the faster.—N. Y. Sun.Yet practically speaking, electricity in wires is much slower. Prof. Gould found that telegraph wires at a moderate height, transmit signals at the rate of 12,000 miles a second; but if the wires are suspended high enough, the velocity may be raised to 16,000 or even 24,000 feet a second. Subterranean wires and submarine cables transmit slowly. Wheatstone’s experiments were made fifty-four years ago, and have not since been confirmed. I would say light is the faster, for electric currents are always retarded by the medium.

Yet practically speaking, electricity in wires is much slower. Prof. Gould found that telegraph wires at a moderate height, transmit signals at the rate of 12,000 miles a second; but if the wires are suspended high enough, the velocity may be raised to 16,000 or even 24,000 feet a second. Subterranean wires and submarine cables transmit slowly. Wheatstone’s experiments were made fifty-four years ago, and have not since been confirmed. I would say light is the faster, for electric currents are always retarded by the medium.

Wonderful Photography.—Dr. H. G. Piffard exhibited in New York to a society of amateur photographers a new method of taking instantaneous photographs by means of a brilliant light made by sprinkling ten or fifteen grains of magnesium powder on about six grains of gun-cotton. When this is flashed in a dark apartment it gives light enough to take a good photograph. It will do the same if flashed out of a pistol; so that a citizen may have his revolver with a small camera on the barrel and by flashing the gun-cotton out ofhis pistol he can make a photograph of any burglar or robber in the dark before he fires a bullet.

Wooden Cloth.—An Austrian has patented a process for boiling wood and cleaving it into fibres that may be spun into threads which may be woven.

The Phylloxerapest, which has wrought such havoc among vineyards throughout Europe, has invaded California also. France has lost many millions, and has offered a reward of 300,000 francs for the discovery of a remedy. A Turkish farmer is said to have discovered accidentally that the remedy is to plant Sorghum or sugar-cane between the vines, which draws the phylloxera from the grapevines. It is said to have been successfully adopted already in Turkey, Croatia, Dalmatia and Eastern Italy.

Falling Rents, in England.—While landlords are battling for rents foreign rivalry is destroying rent, and it is still going down. Large estates have a difficulty in getting either tenants or purchasers. The fall in prices and rents extends all over England. On a farm of 2,700 acres, in Lancashire, the tenant had been paying five dollars an acre, but he refused to take it for 1887 at two dollars and a half. Lands in 1876 were commonly valued at $260 per acre; but they would not bring over $150 to-day. The Court Journal says:The depreciation in the value of English land is witnessed by one or two statements published last week. We are, in the first place, told that within a radius of twelve miles around Louth, in Lincolnshire, there are now 22,400 acres of land without tenants. In the same shire the largest farm in England has been thrown on the owner’s hands. It is 2,700 acres in extent and the tenant paid £1 per acre. This year a reduction of 50 per cent was made to him, but finding that although an experienced and energetic farmer, that even at this reduction he could not make two ends meet, he has thrown up his farm.

The depreciation in the value of English land is witnessed by one or two statements published last week. We are, in the first place, told that within a radius of twelve miles around Louth, in Lincolnshire, there are now 22,400 acres of land without tenants. In the same shire the largest farm in England has been thrown on the owner’s hands. It is 2,700 acres in extent and the tenant paid £1 per acre. This year a reduction of 50 per cent was made to him, but finding that although an experienced and energetic farmer, that even at this reduction he could not make two ends meet, he has thrown up his farm.

Boston Civilization.—During the four years ending Sept. 30, 1884, there were 971 liquor sellers condemned for violating the law, who appealed to the superior court. Of the entire number, only 19 were fined, and 729 were allowed to escape by dropping the prosecution. But the law against preaching on the Boston Common is enforced with faithful severity, and Rev. W. F. Davis has been sentenced to a year’s imprisonment for preaching without a permit. Evidently rum-selling is more popular than Protestant preaching, and pugilism is more popular than either, as the mayor and some councilmen participated in putting a $10,000 belt on John L. Sullivan, the slugger, before the largest audience the Boston Theatre would hold, on the 9th of August, 1887. But perhaps other cities are no better. Cincinnati has one liquor-selling shop to every twenty voters. The cities will not tolerate prohibition, but it is successful elsewhere.

Psychic Blundering.—The Psychical Research Society held a meeting a few weeks since in Boston. Their first communication was on Thought Transferrence, by Dr. H. B. Bowditch.“It was stated that a large number of experiments had been made, but the results were of a negative value. The attempt to establish the reality of thought transferrence had not been very successful.” What else but negative results are to be expected from negative people,—people who have been in this matter mere negations for forty-five years, during which discoveries have been in progress all around them, which they have refused to look at, and refused to test by experiment. Still, if the march of mind for half a century can finally rouse the sluggard class, it is well. For “while the lamp holds out to burn,” etc. It was a Dr. Bowditch who, in 1843, certified as secretary of a committee to the facts which demonstrate the science of Anthropology, and then relapsed into an agnostic slumber and forgot all about it.

Psychic Blundering.—The Psychical Research Society held a meeting a few weeks since in Boston. Their first communication was on Thought Transferrence, by Dr. H. B. Bowditch.

“It was stated that a large number of experiments had been made, but the results were of a negative value. The attempt to establish the reality of thought transferrence had not been very successful.” What else but negative results are to be expected from negative people,—people who have been in this matter mere negations for forty-five years, during which discoveries have been in progress all around them, which they have refused to look at, and refused to test by experiment. Still, if the march of mind for half a century can finally rouse the sluggard class, it is well. For “while the lamp holds out to burn,” etc. It was a Dr. Bowditch who, in 1843, certified as secretary of a committee to the facts which demonstrate the science of Anthropology, and then relapsed into an agnostic slumber and forgot all about it.

Beecher’s Mediumship.—It has been generally believed in spiritual circles that Henry Ward Beecher had the inspiration which belongs to mediumship. This quality appears to have been inherited from his mother. On one occasion she was suddenly impelled to leave her apartment and rush out to an old carriage house, where she arrived in time to save the life of her youngest child, which had fallen through a carriage top and was caught in such a way that if she had not arrived then he would have been strangled.

A Scientific Cataract.—The blindness of the old school medical profession to modern progress is due to what may be called a cataract formed by medical bigotry. It will require half a century to remove this cataract. We are reminded of its existence by a paragraph in the Boston Herald speaking of the cancer in the throat of the crown prince of Germany, which the faculty expect to prove fatal, which it calls “a physical disorder for which medical science has yet to discover a remedy; it is not at all likely that this fortunate discovery will occur soon enough to be of service to the heir-apparent.” This flat denial of the curability of cancer is in the same columns in which an enlightened correspondent gave ample proof of cures with names and dates. Such denials are published in a city where a diligent inquiry would reveal about three hundred cases of successful cure of cancer well attested. But alas! these cures were not made under the authority or by the disciplined followers of the old school American Medical Association and therefore they cannot be recognized or heard of. There is a dignity which cannot see or feel anything it does not wish to see or feel; which reminds us of a story of two ladies. Said Madam F., a Swiss lady, to Madam R., a French woman, “I was surprised to see you walking with Col. M. yesterday. Do you not know that he was publicly horsewhipped by Capt. D. of the Infantry?” “I do not mind such remarks at all (said Madam R.,) for I know that Col. M. is a man of honor and too dignified a gentleman to notice anything going on behind his back.”Speaking of cancer, the press and the political world are greatly concerned at the probable fate of the crown prince of Germany, attacked with cancer in the larynx, and with little or no hope of surviving. They announce as the result of the great scientific investigationprompted by this fact, a “great discovery concerning cancer.” Is it a discovery of a cure—oh no, they think they have discovered thecancer bacillus. That is science, but as for destroying the cancer bacillus they leave that to the physicians whom they call quacks for curing what the professors cannot cure.

Speaking of cancer, the press and the political world are greatly concerned at the probable fate of the crown prince of Germany, attacked with cancer in the larynx, and with little or no hope of surviving. They announce as the result of the great scientific investigationprompted by this fact, a “great discovery concerning cancer.” Is it a discovery of a cure—oh no, they think they have discovered thecancer bacillus. That is science, but as for destroying the cancer bacillus they leave that to the physicians whom they call quacks for curing what the professors cannot cure.

Obstreperous and Pragmatic Vulgarity.—The house of Knoedler & Co., leading art dealers in New York, has been arrested by Comstock for selling photographs of celebrated paintings from the art galleries of Paris. It is a foul mind which sees obscenity in that which cultivated people admire, and the Hoboken Evening News says very appropriately, “Of all the cranky Pharisees allowed to run at large, Anthony Comstock is the chief. He is a most unmitigated nuisance and requires most emphatic and summary suppression.”The N. Y.Home Journal, in a well considered editorial, says:“The need of a revision of the law regarding immoral publications in literature and art becomes every day more manifest. There is required especially a precise definition of what the statute is designed to prohibit. At present there is no uniform criterion. It is just what the local Dogberry and the scratch jury happen to find. Books that have had an established place in literature for generations and are found in all the great libraries of the world; pictures that represent the highest skill attained in the leading schools of Europe; reproductions of works that adorn the national and royal galleries cherished as monuments of genius to reflect the glory of the time,—these are quite likely to be brought up and solemnly condemned by our tribunals as unfit for the contemplation of our superior American virtue. But the real injustice of the proceeding follows in the infliction of fines or imprisonment on the unsuspecting vendors of the works, who naturally imagine that merchandise current in all the other markets of the civilized world would be current also here. The most respectable houses, known throughout the length and breadth of the country for their honorable dealings, are exposed to legal prosecution any moment that an officious fanatic or jealous rival pleases to bring a charge that certain works in their store have an immoral tendency.”Judge Brady, of the Supreme Court, says, “If I had been a legislator I would never have voted for this law…. It is evident that mere nudity in painting and sculpture is not obscenity. It is a false delicacy and mere prudery which would condemn and banish from sight all such objects.” Public opinion should be directed against the vice society which employs and pays such a tool as Comstock. The prosecution which he instigated against Mrs. Elmina Slenker, of Virginia, resulted in her acquittal.TheN. Y. Evening Postsays, “If there is to be a prosecution in this Knoedler case, and these prints should send some one to jail, we for our part think Anthony Comstock should be the man.”

The N. Y.Home Journal, in a well considered editorial, says:

“The need of a revision of the law regarding immoral publications in literature and art becomes every day more manifest. There is required especially a precise definition of what the statute is designed to prohibit. At present there is no uniform criterion. It is just what the local Dogberry and the scratch jury happen to find. Books that have had an established place in literature for generations and are found in all the great libraries of the world; pictures that represent the highest skill attained in the leading schools of Europe; reproductions of works that adorn the national and royal galleries cherished as monuments of genius to reflect the glory of the time,—these are quite likely to be brought up and solemnly condemned by our tribunals as unfit for the contemplation of our superior American virtue. But the real injustice of the proceeding follows in the infliction of fines or imprisonment on the unsuspecting vendors of the works, who naturally imagine that merchandise current in all the other markets of the civilized world would be current also here. The most respectable houses, known throughout the length and breadth of the country for their honorable dealings, are exposed to legal prosecution any moment that an officious fanatic or jealous rival pleases to bring a charge that certain works in their store have an immoral tendency.”

Judge Brady, of the Supreme Court, says, “If I had been a legislator I would never have voted for this law…. It is evident that mere nudity in painting and sculpture is not obscenity. It is a false delicacy and mere prudery which would condemn and banish from sight all such objects.” Public opinion should be directed against the vice society which employs and pays such a tool as Comstock. The prosecution which he instigated against Mrs. Elmina Slenker, of Virginia, resulted in her acquittal.

TheN. Y. Evening Postsays, “If there is to be a prosecution in this Knoedler case, and these prints should send some one to jail, we for our part think Anthony Comstock should be the man.”

Hygiene.—Sir Spencer Wells, in an address to the Medico-Chirurgical Society of Nottingham, England, referred to sanitaryimprovements which had reduced the annual death rate from twenty-nine in a thousand to nineteen, and said that it ought to be reduced to fifteen or twelve. He then said, “And if we have—as we really have—seen the average duration of human life in Great Britain advance from thirty years (which it was half a century ago) to forty-nine years (which it is now, according to life tables), why may we not witness a still further advance? Why should seventy or eighty years remain as the usual limit of human life? Why should its natural duration under perfectly healthy surrounding conditions not be at least 100 years, with an occasional extension of some ten or fifteen years more?”“When people are made to understand that at least nine-tenths of the deaths in England are premature, the representatives of the most parsimonious rate payers will be compelled by the criticism of the public to remember that they also represent the more sacred interests of human life and happiness, and that resistance to sanitary improvements is punished by preventable disease and premature death. High local mortality is largely due to want of local information. For the tens or hundreds who are killed by murder or manslaughter, or by accident, or in battles on land or sea, thousands and millions are victims of preventable disease. When this is fully understood, no imperial Government, no local authority, will dare to incur the responsibility of such a national disgrace.”Dr. Wells then forcibly illustrated the dangerous and pestilential results of our system of burying the dead, planting the germs of diseases in the ground to come forth again, and corrupting the water supply. London alone uses 2,200 acres of land for cemeteries, and England and Wales have 11,000 cemeteries, costing for the land over $600 per acre, all dangerous to health, while about $25,000,000 are annually expended on funerals. For all this cremation was the remedy.A distinguished English physician, addressing the International Hygiene Society at Vienna, said that the gain to England in the last fifty years from improvement in health was equal to $1,500,000,000.

“When people are made to understand that at least nine-tenths of the deaths in England are premature, the representatives of the most parsimonious rate payers will be compelled by the criticism of the public to remember that they also represent the more sacred interests of human life and happiness, and that resistance to sanitary improvements is punished by preventable disease and premature death. High local mortality is largely due to want of local information. For the tens or hundreds who are killed by murder or manslaughter, or by accident, or in battles on land or sea, thousands and millions are victims of preventable disease. When this is fully understood, no imperial Government, no local authority, will dare to incur the responsibility of such a national disgrace.”

Dr. Wells then forcibly illustrated the dangerous and pestilential results of our system of burying the dead, planting the germs of diseases in the ground to come forth again, and corrupting the water supply. London alone uses 2,200 acres of land for cemeteries, and England and Wales have 11,000 cemeteries, costing for the land over $600 per acre, all dangerous to health, while about $25,000,000 are annually expended on funerals. For all this cremation was the remedy.

A distinguished English physician, addressing the International Hygiene Society at Vienna, said that the gain to England in the last fifty years from improvement in health was equal to $1,500,000,000.

Quinine.—This famous drug, which was once as high as $5 an ounce, has become very cheap by preserving the trees which were formerly destroyed in gathering “Peruvian Bark.” The drug may now be purchased in quantities at half a dollar an ounce. The trees now yield a crop of bark every year. The fashionable sulphate of quinine, which is most extensively used, I consider the most objectionable form of the drug. My favorite form is the dextro-quinine, made by Keasby & Matteson, Philadelphia. But quinine is not at all a necessity. It could be satisfactorily replaced by Declat’s syrup of Phenic Acid, a French preparation, which is free from the objectionable qualities of quinine. But even that is notnecessary, for we have in the willow, the dogwood, and the apple tree, three American barks, which might well replace Peruvian bark by their fluid extracts and alkaloids. To these we may add Gnaphalium (or Life Everlasting), an admirable remedy in fever, and other medicinesand combinations of value. Our slavish dependence on Peruvian bark has been due to our ignorance.

Life and Death.—Perilous is the fisherman’s life. In the past year, ending October, 1887, Gloucester, Mass., has lost 17 vessels and 127 lives of fishermen, leaving 60 widows and 61 fatherless children.The Mayville family of Wakefield, Mass., begin small. Mrs. Mayville weighed but two pounds when born. Her son of 17 years, weighing 160 pounds, weighed but 24 ounces when born, and she has lately had a male baby, weighing only eight ounces. It was born Nov. 13, and appeared dead, but was revived. It was ten inches long and measured eight inches round the head and was perfectly formed. It died in two weeks, from irritation of the bowels.Mrs. Charlotte Tubbs of Caroline County, Md., recently gave birth to four babies, all of whom are alive. This addition to her family makes her the mother of nine children, all of whom were born within five years. Among the older children are two pairs of twins.—Cin. Enq.Mrs. Wm. Wright, of New Castle, Ind., recently gave birth to four children, making in all a family of fourteen children, including five pairs of twins. Who was it said that he’d rather be Wright than be President? We wouldn’t.—Norristown Herald.

The Mayville family of Wakefield, Mass., begin small. Mrs. Mayville weighed but two pounds when born. Her son of 17 years, weighing 160 pounds, weighed but 24 ounces when born, and she has lately had a male baby, weighing only eight ounces. It was born Nov. 13, and appeared dead, but was revived. It was ten inches long and measured eight inches round the head and was perfectly formed. It died in two weeks, from irritation of the bowels.

Mrs. Charlotte Tubbs of Caroline County, Md., recently gave birth to four babies, all of whom are alive. This addition to her family makes her the mother of nine children, all of whom were born within five years. Among the older children are two pairs of twins.—Cin. Enq.

Mrs. Wm. Wright, of New Castle, Ind., recently gave birth to four children, making in all a family of fourteen children, including five pairs of twins. Who was it said that he’d rather be Wright than be President? We wouldn’t.—Norristown Herald.

Dorothea L. Dix.—This noted philanthropist, whose labors in establishing asylums for the insane in America and Europe were never equalled, died last summer in New Jersey. An interesting tribute to her memory was delivered in Boston by the Rev.James Freeman Clarke, and I regret that the limited space of the Journal forbids its full republication. I can only quote this. “Being asked how she achieved such noble results in her work, she answered that she went to those whose duty it was to aid in any particular work, and was always sure that though at first they might refuse to do what they were asked, they would gradually become interested andend by doing whatever was needed.” May her example in this be followed by all friends of progress.

The Drift Of Catholicism.—The purpose of the Catholic party to break up our unsectarian school system has been realized in Stearns Co., Minnesota, where their church property exceeds a million of dollars. The Catholic catechism is taught daily in nearly three-fourths of the public schools. Many of the schools are conducted in the German language, and some of the schools taught by the Benedictine sisters.

Juggernaut.—It is a singular fact that at the late procession of the idol Juggernaut in India, instead of the thousand devotees who used to drag at the ropes to haul his chariot from the temple to the river, hired coolies had to be substituted, and the victims who willingly threw themselves under the ponderous wheels to be crushed to death, were entirely wanting.—Commonwealth.

Chap. XI.—the Principal Methods of Studying the Brain.Cranioscopy, Pathology, and Vivisection, their failures recognized—Limitations of Craniology and its stationary condition—Human Impressibility explained—Its prevalence in different climates—Method of testing it.In what manner shall we proceed to study the brain? All must admit the necessity of a thorough study of its anatomy; yet, unless we learn something of its functions, this anatomy is profitless and uninteresting; hence cerebral anatomy was crude and erroneous until, revolutionized by Gall and Spurzheim, it assumed a philosophical character and became connected with a doctrine of the cerebral functions.For the study of these functions three principal methods have been adopted by eminent scientists: 1st. The method of Cranioscopy, practiced by Gall and his followers. 2d. The study of Pathological Anatomy. 3d. The mutilation of the brains of living animals. But neither Cranioscopy, Pathology, nor Vivisection has given satisfactory demonstrations, nor does the whole scope of the alleged results of all embrace more than half of the cerebral functions.The results of Vivisection have been unsatisfactory. But it has shown that slicing away the anterior and upper parts of the brain of an animal produces a state of partial stupor—a loss of its intelligence and mental characteristics, without producing any great detriment to its muscular and physiological functions; while injuries inflicted upon the basilar parts of the brain produce evident derangements of muscular action, and are more dangerous to life. Vivisection has been almost entirely fruitless for the discovery of psychic functions, but in the hands of Prof. Ferrier and the continental vivisectors it has thrown much light upon cerebral psychology, and as I shall hereafter show, has confirmed my own discoveries.Pathological Anatomy, too, has been extremely unprofitable. “The results of Pathological Anatomy (says Muller) can, however, never have more than a limited application to the physiology of the brain. We are unacquainted with the laws according to which the different parts of the organ participate in the functions of each other, and we can only, in a general way, regard as certain that organic diseases in one part of the brain may induce changes in the function of other parts; but from these facts and the results of Pathological Anatomy, we cannot always draw certain conclusions.” Mr. Solly, after commenting on the general failure of Vivisection, remarks, “From pathology we might naturally expect surer evidence; but even here the physiologist who carefully examines its records is doomed to disappointment. As will be proved hereafter, no certain light has yet shone on physiology from this source.” Cerebral pathology will not continue to be so barren a study when we have a truecerebral physiology to guide us. I find all pathological cases instructive as confirmations and illustrations of true cerebral science.The method of Dr. Gall—studying the growth and development of the different parts of the brain, as indicated by the cranium—is the most simple, rational and successful of all the methods adopted up to the present time. In his hands it has elicited a valuable and practical, though rude, system of phrenology. But Craniology or skull-study cannot perfect, nor can it positively demonstrate, the science.The observations of the craniologist are continually liable to error. The irregular thickness of the skull constitutes a great difficulty in the way of exact observations. By great expertness and accuracy of observation, he may overcome this difficulty in a great degree, but whenever the brain is subject to any remarkable influence, increasing or diminishing the activity and size of particular organs, the external form fails to indicate the internal condition, because it can change but slightly, and with slowness, after the skull is fully developed and ossified. Were the skull composed of more pliable materials, cranioscopy would be more accurate in its facts, but while it preserves a uniform exterior, the interior often undergoes remarkable changes. Convolutions that are frequently called into action become better supplied with arterial blood, expand and grow, while the adjacent portion of the inner plate of the skull becomes absorbed, and presents a remarkable indentation. Convolutions that are seldom in action shrink in size, and the adjacent bone grows in upon them. Thus the skull becomes thinner at the site of every active organ, and thicker over every convolution that is inactive. The translucency or opacity of the different parts of the skull, when a light is placed in its interior, generally indicates the active and inactive organs. Hence, many skulls of fine exterior reveal, upon interior examination, a degenerate character. Criminal heads generally present remarkable opacity and thickness in the region of the moral organs, with distinct digital impressions from the convolutions of the lower organs.Thus all craniological observations are liable to inaccuracy, even as regards development, and much more in regard to functional power. The activity, power and predominance of an organ may be essentially changed, without making any perceptible impression upon the interior of the skull, for an indefinite period. Changes in excitement and circulation, that revolutionize the character, may leave but a slight impression upon the interior, and none upon the exterior of the cranium. The external configuration of the skull is therefore not a true criterion of character when the influences of education, society, food, drink and disease have greatly changed the natural bias, although reliable in a strictly normal condition of brain and cranium.Organs which easily expand laterally by encroachment upon their neighbors, which is a common effect of local excitement, must be slow to make any impression upon the superjacent bone of the cranium. Cranioscopy, moreover, is incompetent to indicate thedevelopment of small regions or portions of a convolution; it gives but a rude survey of development. Being thus incapable of minuteness, accuracy and certainty, it cannot be considered a proper and sufficient basis for cerebral science. In the hands of Gall and Spurzheim, it had already very nearly attained its limits as regards the subdivision of organs, and the progress of their followers in discovery has been unimportant or fallacious.To what, then, can we resort, when the failures of Pathology and Vivisection are admitted, and we perceive the limited extent of the uncertain results of Craniology? Shall we not be compelled to resort to the same methods of investigation in the brain, which have been so successful in establishing the physiology of the nerves, viz.: direct experiment in exciting and arresting the action of the various masses of nervous fibre. Every sound physiologist must perceive that we are compelled to resort to experiment, or else to rest contented in ignorance of the true cerebral physiology. Muller, perceiving this, remarks, “The principle for the advancement of the physiology of the nerves then remains the same, viz.: experiment on the living nerves.”We therefore experiment on the living brain in that class of persons who are susceptible of being thus influenced; hence arises the last and most perfect method of cultivating Anthropology, by means ofHUMAN IMPRESSIBILITY.Our system of Anthropology relies, for its demonstration, upon human impressibility. Impressibility in its general sense, or the power of being affected by external agents, is proportional to the development of life. Inorganic matter is affected only mechanically or chemically—vegetation is powerfully affected by causes which would have no perceptible influence on stones or metals, and animals are affected by remote objects, by sounds, by the voice, and by other influences which do not affect vegetables. Animals of a higher grade are affected by many moral influences which produce no effect on the inferior classes, and man, having the fullest development of all, is continually receiving a variety of influences from nature and society, to which animals are wholly insensible. As man is superior to animals in impressibility, so is the man of genius or the man of superior moral sentiments more easily affected by everything that addresses the intellect or the sentiments, than the ignorant and selfish classes of society. Superior impressibility is then the result of a superior development of the organs which feel the various impressions. In the highest order of genius capacities exist which recognize a thousand subtle influences and beauties in Nature of which common minds are unconscious, and the psychic influence of a human being is instantly and thoroughly recognized.For the purpose of analytical experiments upon the human functions, we require the development of a faculty which shall feel the influences we use. We look to the various forms of Sensibility. The organ of physical sensibility is situated in the temples, immediately over the cheek bone. It feels the influences of the various objects which affect the sense of feeling in all its modifications.Heat and cold, moisture and dryness, sound, light, and all the imponderable fluids produce their effects upon this region, and the more it is developed, the more powerfully are we affected by such agencies.The portion of Sensibility which feels the influences of the human nervaura, is the highest portion of the organ, where it connects with Modesty, Somnolence, and Ideality. This we regard as the special organ of Nervauric Impressibility, because it renders the system so sensitive to the nervaura, as to be strongly affected whenever it is applied.Mental impressibility is dependent upon intellectual organs, which feel the influences of mind. The power of recognizing mental action is dependent upon the internal part of the front lobe, located just above the root of the nose. This organ gives physiognomical talent, and a ready tact in appreciating the expression of mind through the eye, countenance, and gestures. It is a channel of mental sympathy, as displayed in the intercourse of society, and in the experiments of animal magnetism. By means of this organ, a general relation is established between the mind of the operator and that of the subject, which may exist without the capacity for local impressions, which would develop particular organs. It is devoted, however, to active perception rather than to passive impression. The faculty of being mentally impressed depends also upon the region of Spirituality and Marvellousness.Mental and nervous impressibility being dependent upon these organs, it follows that a large development of the front lobe favors Impressibility, and that the occipital organs tend to diminish it. Impressibility lies in a group of organs which sustain it, and may be expected to accompany its development. Sensibility, Somnolence, Dreaming, Ideality, Modesty, Humility, Organic Sensibility, Relaxation, etc., are its natural accompaniments; hence it will be found most abundantly in those classes of society which are most remarkable for refinement, sensitiveness, modesty, diffidence, humility, or submissiveness, disease, languor, debility, and intellectual excitement. Religious excitement, love, mirthfulness, thoughtfulness, imagination, benevolence, sympathy, sincerity, faith, philanthropy, hope, epicurism, intemperance, ardor, spirituality, effeminacy, imitation, romance and, in short, all amiable, sensitive, intellectual, refining, relaxing influences may be regarded as promotive of impressibility, and their opposites as calculated to destroy it.It is fortunate that disease promotes impressibility, for it enables the sick to be relieved by manipulation, and it causes medicines to operate more efficiently upon morbid constitutions or organs, which has been fully demonstrated by the Homœopathic School of therapeutics. But impressibility does not imply disease, although it may make the system more accessible to slight morbific agencies. We find individuals occasionally, of the highest tone of health and bodily vigor, who are highly impressible. Nor does it imply mental weakness, for it is highly congenial to intellectuality, and is occasionally found among the strongest and most cultivated minds. NervousImpressibility is that condition in which the nervaura has a powerful influence—in which the action of the brain and all the vital functions of the constitution may be controlled and indefinitely changed by the application of the hands of another individual—in which we are susceptible of being totally revolutionized in character by application of the fingers to the various organs, so as to become, for the time being, miserable or gay, philosophical, felonious, murderous, angry, stupid, insane, idiotic, drowsy, hot, cold, credulous, sceptical, timid, courageous, vain, indolent, sensual, hungry, diffident, haughty, avaricious, etc.; and in which the muscular strength, secretions, circulation, pulse, respiration, senses, and morbid or healthy conditions of the frame may be changed or controlled by the nervaura emitted from the hand of the operator acting upon the brain of the subject.The number of individuals who can be thus affected is different in different places. In southern climates they are more numerous than in northern—in the pleasant weather of summer more than in winter—in lecture rooms, ball rooms and places of fervid religious worship, more than in the street and market place, where the intellectual and moral faculties are less predominant. In the Southern States of the Union, thirty or forty per cent. of the population will give at once distinct evidence of impressibility. In the more northern, about ten per cent. will give indications of an influence from the hand. A moderate degree of impressibility which is almost universal in the South, belongs to more than half in the North.Impressible subjects may be selected by the development of the organs of Impressibility, and the general predominance of the frontal and coronal regions of the brain over the occipital. The qualities already mentioned as favoring impressibility may be studied in the character, or observed in the development, as they occupy the entire anterior half of the head, givingbreadth to the temples, with height and projection to the forehead. An enlarged pupil of the eye will be one of the best symptoms, and, in connection with a calm, spiritual, gentle expression of countenance rarely fails to indicate impressibility.To test impressibility apply the fingers upon the organ of Somnolence, an inch horizontally behind the brow, with a very gentle contact; your subject, after a few minutes, will manifest a sensitiveness of the eye, and will wink oftener than usual—his winking will be repeated and prolonged, until his eyelids droop or remain closed—he is now somnolent and dreamy; and this condition may be prolonged until it becomes the Mesmeric Somnolence, or may be promptly removed by brushing the excitement off with the fingers.A very simple test of impressibility consists in passing the ends of the fingers over the palm of the hand of the subject, within one or more inches, and ascertaining whether he can recognize its passage by any impression. If impressible he will perceive a cooling sensation as the fingers pass. A more perfect demonstration is to let your subjectstand erect before you, and apply both hands gently over the forehead and moral organs, or upon the temples; then very slowly withdraw them, and continue this process until you perceive that as your hand is withdrawn, the head seems inclined to follow it as if attracted; some will move thus but an inch or two, others will be drawn forward and compelled to follow you wherever you go, or may be drawn down and prostrated upon the floor. You may accomplish the same upon the back of the head or body—the hand or any other part which is free to move; but the forehead is the best region, because the front lobe is the seat of Impressibility, and the operation cultivates that quality, by drawing excitement into the brain, and especially the front lobe, thus debilitating the muscular system and power of resistance.Apply the fingers upon the organ of Relaxation, below the cheek bone, and your subject, if standing, will become enfeebled, unsteady in attitude, and incapable of supporting as great weight as before in his extended hand. This will be counteracted by touching the region of Energy.The most painful experiments may be made by placing the hands upon the temples and face, so as to cover the regions of Sensibility, Disease, Relaxation, and Irritability—the effect of which would be to produce bodily weakness, sickness, pain, distress and general prostration; a condition, which if not relieved, might result in severe disease, but which may be counteracted by dispersing the excitement upward and backward, and by stimulating Health, Energy and Hardihood.By grasping a metallic rod firmly in the hand while the other end of it rests in the relaxed hand of an impressible person, you may transmit a current of nervaura, which he will recognize gradually entering his arm at the hand, passing slowly up to the shoulder, and then diffusing itself over the body.One may test his own impressibility by placing the palm of the hand in contact with any portion of the head or body of a vigorous constitution for about twenty minutes, and observing the different impressions imparted by different localities. If the hand be held in contact with an individual suffering from some active form of disease, resting upon the forehead or the pit of the stomach, the morbid symptoms will be very perceptibly transferred to any one of an impressible constitution; but I would not recommend the experiment to any but those who are embarrassed by a constitutional scepticism, which hinders their believing anything which is not impressed upon their own senses.An easy method of testing our susceptibility is by holding some active medicinal substance between the hands while sitting at ease (without knowing what the properties of the substance are), and holding other active substances at different times, to compare the effects which they produce upon the constitution. After such experiment, if the effects should in any case be greater than we desire, the influence should be removed by dispersive passes on the hands and down the arms.

Cranioscopy, Pathology, and Vivisection, their failures recognized—Limitations of Craniology and its stationary condition—Human Impressibility explained—Its prevalence in different climates—Method of testing it.

In what manner shall we proceed to study the brain? All must admit the necessity of a thorough study of its anatomy; yet, unless we learn something of its functions, this anatomy is profitless and uninteresting; hence cerebral anatomy was crude and erroneous until, revolutionized by Gall and Spurzheim, it assumed a philosophical character and became connected with a doctrine of the cerebral functions.

For the study of these functions three principal methods have been adopted by eminent scientists: 1st. The method of Cranioscopy, practiced by Gall and his followers. 2d. The study of Pathological Anatomy. 3d. The mutilation of the brains of living animals. But neither Cranioscopy, Pathology, nor Vivisection has given satisfactory demonstrations, nor does the whole scope of the alleged results of all embrace more than half of the cerebral functions.

The results of Vivisection have been unsatisfactory. But it has shown that slicing away the anterior and upper parts of the brain of an animal produces a state of partial stupor—a loss of its intelligence and mental characteristics, without producing any great detriment to its muscular and physiological functions; while injuries inflicted upon the basilar parts of the brain produce evident derangements of muscular action, and are more dangerous to life. Vivisection has been almost entirely fruitless for the discovery of psychic functions, but in the hands of Prof. Ferrier and the continental vivisectors it has thrown much light upon cerebral psychology, and as I shall hereafter show, has confirmed my own discoveries.

Pathological Anatomy, too, has been extremely unprofitable. “The results of Pathological Anatomy (says Muller) can, however, never have more than a limited application to the physiology of the brain. We are unacquainted with the laws according to which the different parts of the organ participate in the functions of each other, and we can only, in a general way, regard as certain that organic diseases in one part of the brain may induce changes in the function of other parts; but from these facts and the results of Pathological Anatomy, we cannot always draw certain conclusions.” Mr. Solly, after commenting on the general failure of Vivisection, remarks, “From pathology we might naturally expect surer evidence; but even here the physiologist who carefully examines its records is doomed to disappointment. As will be proved hereafter, no certain light has yet shone on physiology from this source.” Cerebral pathology will not continue to be so barren a study when we have a truecerebral physiology to guide us. I find all pathological cases instructive as confirmations and illustrations of true cerebral science.

The method of Dr. Gall—studying the growth and development of the different parts of the brain, as indicated by the cranium—is the most simple, rational and successful of all the methods adopted up to the present time. In his hands it has elicited a valuable and practical, though rude, system of phrenology. But Craniology or skull-study cannot perfect, nor can it positively demonstrate, the science.

The observations of the craniologist are continually liable to error. The irregular thickness of the skull constitutes a great difficulty in the way of exact observations. By great expertness and accuracy of observation, he may overcome this difficulty in a great degree, but whenever the brain is subject to any remarkable influence, increasing or diminishing the activity and size of particular organs, the external form fails to indicate the internal condition, because it can change but slightly, and with slowness, after the skull is fully developed and ossified. Were the skull composed of more pliable materials, cranioscopy would be more accurate in its facts, but while it preserves a uniform exterior, the interior often undergoes remarkable changes. Convolutions that are frequently called into action become better supplied with arterial blood, expand and grow, while the adjacent portion of the inner plate of the skull becomes absorbed, and presents a remarkable indentation. Convolutions that are seldom in action shrink in size, and the adjacent bone grows in upon them. Thus the skull becomes thinner at the site of every active organ, and thicker over every convolution that is inactive. The translucency or opacity of the different parts of the skull, when a light is placed in its interior, generally indicates the active and inactive organs. Hence, many skulls of fine exterior reveal, upon interior examination, a degenerate character. Criminal heads generally present remarkable opacity and thickness in the region of the moral organs, with distinct digital impressions from the convolutions of the lower organs.

Thus all craniological observations are liable to inaccuracy, even as regards development, and much more in regard to functional power. The activity, power and predominance of an organ may be essentially changed, without making any perceptible impression upon the interior of the skull, for an indefinite period. Changes in excitement and circulation, that revolutionize the character, may leave but a slight impression upon the interior, and none upon the exterior of the cranium. The external configuration of the skull is therefore not a true criterion of character when the influences of education, society, food, drink and disease have greatly changed the natural bias, although reliable in a strictly normal condition of brain and cranium.

Organs which easily expand laterally by encroachment upon their neighbors, which is a common effect of local excitement, must be slow to make any impression upon the superjacent bone of the cranium. Cranioscopy, moreover, is incompetent to indicate thedevelopment of small regions or portions of a convolution; it gives but a rude survey of development. Being thus incapable of minuteness, accuracy and certainty, it cannot be considered a proper and sufficient basis for cerebral science. In the hands of Gall and Spurzheim, it had already very nearly attained its limits as regards the subdivision of organs, and the progress of their followers in discovery has been unimportant or fallacious.

To what, then, can we resort, when the failures of Pathology and Vivisection are admitted, and we perceive the limited extent of the uncertain results of Craniology? Shall we not be compelled to resort to the same methods of investigation in the brain, which have been so successful in establishing the physiology of the nerves, viz.: direct experiment in exciting and arresting the action of the various masses of nervous fibre. Every sound physiologist must perceive that we are compelled to resort to experiment, or else to rest contented in ignorance of the true cerebral physiology. Muller, perceiving this, remarks, “The principle for the advancement of the physiology of the nerves then remains the same, viz.: experiment on the living nerves.”

We therefore experiment on the living brain in that class of persons who are susceptible of being thus influenced; hence arises the last and most perfect method of cultivating Anthropology, by means ofHUMAN IMPRESSIBILITY.

Our system of Anthropology relies, for its demonstration, upon human impressibility. Impressibility in its general sense, or the power of being affected by external agents, is proportional to the development of life. Inorganic matter is affected only mechanically or chemically—vegetation is powerfully affected by causes which would have no perceptible influence on stones or metals, and animals are affected by remote objects, by sounds, by the voice, and by other influences which do not affect vegetables. Animals of a higher grade are affected by many moral influences which produce no effect on the inferior classes, and man, having the fullest development of all, is continually receiving a variety of influences from nature and society, to which animals are wholly insensible. As man is superior to animals in impressibility, so is the man of genius or the man of superior moral sentiments more easily affected by everything that addresses the intellect or the sentiments, than the ignorant and selfish classes of society. Superior impressibility is then the result of a superior development of the organs which feel the various impressions. In the highest order of genius capacities exist which recognize a thousand subtle influences and beauties in Nature of which common minds are unconscious, and the psychic influence of a human being is instantly and thoroughly recognized.

For the purpose of analytical experiments upon the human functions, we require the development of a faculty which shall feel the influences we use. We look to the various forms of Sensibility. The organ of physical sensibility is situated in the temples, immediately over the cheek bone. It feels the influences of the various objects which affect the sense of feeling in all its modifications.Heat and cold, moisture and dryness, sound, light, and all the imponderable fluids produce their effects upon this region, and the more it is developed, the more powerfully are we affected by such agencies.

The portion of Sensibility which feels the influences of the human nervaura, is the highest portion of the organ, where it connects with Modesty, Somnolence, and Ideality. This we regard as the special organ of Nervauric Impressibility, because it renders the system so sensitive to the nervaura, as to be strongly affected whenever it is applied.

Mental impressibility is dependent upon intellectual organs, which feel the influences of mind. The power of recognizing mental action is dependent upon the internal part of the front lobe, located just above the root of the nose. This organ gives physiognomical talent, and a ready tact in appreciating the expression of mind through the eye, countenance, and gestures. It is a channel of mental sympathy, as displayed in the intercourse of society, and in the experiments of animal magnetism. By means of this organ, a general relation is established between the mind of the operator and that of the subject, which may exist without the capacity for local impressions, which would develop particular organs. It is devoted, however, to active perception rather than to passive impression. The faculty of being mentally impressed depends also upon the region of Spirituality and Marvellousness.

Mental and nervous impressibility being dependent upon these organs, it follows that a large development of the front lobe favors Impressibility, and that the occipital organs tend to diminish it. Impressibility lies in a group of organs which sustain it, and may be expected to accompany its development. Sensibility, Somnolence, Dreaming, Ideality, Modesty, Humility, Organic Sensibility, Relaxation, etc., are its natural accompaniments; hence it will be found most abundantly in those classes of society which are most remarkable for refinement, sensitiveness, modesty, diffidence, humility, or submissiveness, disease, languor, debility, and intellectual excitement. Religious excitement, love, mirthfulness, thoughtfulness, imagination, benevolence, sympathy, sincerity, faith, philanthropy, hope, epicurism, intemperance, ardor, spirituality, effeminacy, imitation, romance and, in short, all amiable, sensitive, intellectual, refining, relaxing influences may be regarded as promotive of impressibility, and their opposites as calculated to destroy it.

It is fortunate that disease promotes impressibility, for it enables the sick to be relieved by manipulation, and it causes medicines to operate more efficiently upon morbid constitutions or organs, which has been fully demonstrated by the Homœopathic School of therapeutics. But impressibility does not imply disease, although it may make the system more accessible to slight morbific agencies. We find individuals occasionally, of the highest tone of health and bodily vigor, who are highly impressible. Nor does it imply mental weakness, for it is highly congenial to intellectuality, and is occasionally found among the strongest and most cultivated minds. NervousImpressibility is that condition in which the nervaura has a powerful influence—in which the action of the brain and all the vital functions of the constitution may be controlled and indefinitely changed by the application of the hands of another individual—in which we are susceptible of being totally revolutionized in character by application of the fingers to the various organs, so as to become, for the time being, miserable or gay, philosophical, felonious, murderous, angry, stupid, insane, idiotic, drowsy, hot, cold, credulous, sceptical, timid, courageous, vain, indolent, sensual, hungry, diffident, haughty, avaricious, etc.; and in which the muscular strength, secretions, circulation, pulse, respiration, senses, and morbid or healthy conditions of the frame may be changed or controlled by the nervaura emitted from the hand of the operator acting upon the brain of the subject.

The number of individuals who can be thus affected is different in different places. In southern climates they are more numerous than in northern—in the pleasant weather of summer more than in winter—in lecture rooms, ball rooms and places of fervid religious worship, more than in the street and market place, where the intellectual and moral faculties are less predominant. In the Southern States of the Union, thirty or forty per cent. of the population will give at once distinct evidence of impressibility. In the more northern, about ten per cent. will give indications of an influence from the hand. A moderate degree of impressibility which is almost universal in the South, belongs to more than half in the North.

Impressible subjects may be selected by the development of the organs of Impressibility, and the general predominance of the frontal and coronal regions of the brain over the occipital. The qualities already mentioned as favoring impressibility may be studied in the character, or observed in the development, as they occupy the entire anterior half of the head, givingbreadth to the temples, with height and projection to the forehead. An enlarged pupil of the eye will be one of the best symptoms, and, in connection with a calm, spiritual, gentle expression of countenance rarely fails to indicate impressibility.

To test impressibility apply the fingers upon the organ of Somnolence, an inch horizontally behind the brow, with a very gentle contact; your subject, after a few minutes, will manifest a sensitiveness of the eye, and will wink oftener than usual—his winking will be repeated and prolonged, until his eyelids droop or remain closed—he is now somnolent and dreamy; and this condition may be prolonged until it becomes the Mesmeric Somnolence, or may be promptly removed by brushing the excitement off with the fingers.

A very simple test of impressibility consists in passing the ends of the fingers over the palm of the hand of the subject, within one or more inches, and ascertaining whether he can recognize its passage by any impression. If impressible he will perceive a cooling sensation as the fingers pass. A more perfect demonstration is to let your subjectstand erect before you, and apply both hands gently over the forehead and moral organs, or upon the temples; then very slowly withdraw them, and continue this process until you perceive that as your hand is withdrawn, the head seems inclined to follow it as if attracted; some will move thus but an inch or two, others will be drawn forward and compelled to follow you wherever you go, or may be drawn down and prostrated upon the floor. You may accomplish the same upon the back of the head or body—the hand or any other part which is free to move; but the forehead is the best region, because the front lobe is the seat of Impressibility, and the operation cultivates that quality, by drawing excitement into the brain, and especially the front lobe, thus debilitating the muscular system and power of resistance.

Apply the fingers upon the organ of Relaxation, below the cheek bone, and your subject, if standing, will become enfeebled, unsteady in attitude, and incapable of supporting as great weight as before in his extended hand. This will be counteracted by touching the region of Energy.

The most painful experiments may be made by placing the hands upon the temples and face, so as to cover the regions of Sensibility, Disease, Relaxation, and Irritability—the effect of which would be to produce bodily weakness, sickness, pain, distress and general prostration; a condition, which if not relieved, might result in severe disease, but which may be counteracted by dispersing the excitement upward and backward, and by stimulating Health, Energy and Hardihood.

By grasping a metallic rod firmly in the hand while the other end of it rests in the relaxed hand of an impressible person, you may transmit a current of nervaura, which he will recognize gradually entering his arm at the hand, passing slowly up to the shoulder, and then diffusing itself over the body.

One may test his own impressibility by placing the palm of the hand in contact with any portion of the head or body of a vigorous constitution for about twenty minutes, and observing the different impressions imparted by different localities. If the hand be held in contact with an individual suffering from some active form of disease, resting upon the forehead or the pit of the stomach, the morbid symptoms will be very perceptibly transferred to any one of an impressible constitution; but I would not recommend the experiment to any but those who are embarrassed by a constitutional scepticism, which hinders their believing anything which is not impressed upon their own senses.

An easy method of testing our susceptibility is by holding some active medicinal substance between the hands while sitting at ease (without knowing what the properties of the substance are), and holding other active substances at different times, to compare the effects which they produce upon the constitution. After such experiment, if the effects should in any case be greater than we desire, the influence should be removed by dispersive passes on the hands and down the arms.

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