The Sun.
London, England, 1821-10-10 00:00:00

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NUMBER 9087.]

V• • WILLIAM HETHERINGTON'S 4RITY
- TO THE BLIND: •

Christ's Hospital, Oct. 2, 1821.
SITITER EA S 'the above-named Gentleman
_ . in his lifetime enabled the Governors of this Hospital
to pay Annuities of Ten Pounds to each of FIFTY BLIND
PERSONS, in the hope that his example would be followed
by other benevolent characters. The Governors give this
public notice that, from the very munificent additions made to
Mr. fretherington's original fund, more than 500 blind persons
are in the receiptof these Annuities.

A Committee will sit in the Counting House of the said Hos-
pital some time in the month of November next, to fill up such
vacanc?s-as may then -have occurred Since the Election in
November last.

Petit stare to be had at the Counting House aforesaid from
the 7th day of October to the 3rd day of Novernber annually be-
tween the hours of Ten and Four (holidays excepted) for any
blind persons _duly qualified, upon the personal application of a
friend.°

The leading qualifications are hereunder stated, and unless
..the partieS can respectively prove themselves to be strictly with-
in the same, applications on their behalf will be entirely fruit-
less, via.:—

Birth in that part of the United Kingdom called England
exclusive of Wales and the Town of Berwick Upon, Tweed,
Age Fifty years and upwards.

Total Blindness for the space of the last three years.
Residence the last three years at least in their present place
of abode or parish.

Income (if any) to be under the yearly value of twenty
pounds.

Those who have ever begged, received alms, or are deemed
objects for parish relief, are excluded from the benefit of these
Charities, the Donors having expressly declared the same tor
such only as have been respectably brought up, and who want
some addition• to make life more comfortable under their finis.
fortune-.of blindness.

THOMAS IVILBY, Clerk.
• From the great extent of this Charity, it is found imprac-
ticable attend. to Letters.

Tills Day was published, price 7s. in boards,
The Second Edition, with additions, of
PECIMENS of the RUSSIAN POETS ;
KY translated by JOHN BOWRING, F.L.S. With preli-
rnioary Iteuiarks and Biographieal Notices.
Printed for R. Minter, No. 72, St. Paul's Chuteliyard, and
A. Constable and Co. Edinburgh.
" This Work is a very interesting Volume; not only from
its entire novelty of subject, but on account of its real and
int rinsic:nierit: It warns our hearts—critics as we are—to
think that such poetry as this should find its way into the
cottages of the Russian peasantry, illuminating them, is it
cannot fail to do, with the rays of pleasure and coutent."—
(London Magazine, March, 1821.)

,FOR'THE,SUN.

METEMPSYCHOSIS.

Mr. EDITOR,—The Pythagorean doctrine of
Metempsychosis hat been deservedly ridiculed, as 'absur and
unphilosophical. It is indeed difficult to conceive bow a man
endowed with so much genius, and so much sagacity, as Pytha-
•goras, could have adopted and promulgated an opinion so con-
trary to common sense, as that of the transmigration of souls.
That he should haVe been made acquainted with it by the Gymno-
aophists of India, amongst whom it prevailed, seems highly pro-
bable, and it is even possible that he employed Some expres-
sior:.s, in the lessonS he gaire to his disciples, from which it was
inferred that he had become a convert to that belief. It must
be remembered, however, that all the knowledge we possess
concerning the Sage of, Samos, is derived from the writings of
his disciPles only, who are allowed to have, in many instances,
disfigured the doctrine of their Master. May we not, there-
fore, surmise, that they have done so upon this particular
point?
Few of the, philosophers of antiquity possessed a mind more
sagacious, more penetration, than-Pythagoras, and none de-
lighted more in the investigation of nature. The proCess of
decay and reproduction which is constantly in action, and the
consequent circulation of every particle of matter, cannot, there-
fore, have escaped his observation, and it seems more probable
it was this process he designated under the name of transmigra-
tion, than.to imagine Pythagoras capable of a monstrous ab-
surdity.
This constant circulation of each particle of matter, and its
reproduction under different forms or modifications, is indeed
well worthy the attention of the philosophic mind. That it
does exist in nature, is almost a self, evident truth, and the
necessity of its'existence is easily demonstrated. The world was
created by. a superior Being, for the purpose of enduring a
certain penod of time. It was formed of elements few in num-
ber, because Omnipotence needs not many tools to accomplish
itspurposes., but capable of being modified into an almost
endless variety of forms, nature, &c. because the wisdom
of the Creator is no less infinite than his power. Every
substance that exists, therefore, either in the • animal, the
vegetable, or the mineral world, is formed, or exists, such as
it is, in consequence of some particular arrangement of the
elementary particles of which it is composed. There are sub-
' stances, at the same time, subject to a decomposition, which,'
whilst it makes room for individuals of their own speci,:,s,
leave their component parts at liberty to combine with others,
and to form thereby other and very distinct substances. This
process of destruction and of reproduction, by which the same ele-
mentary particles are differently modified, and appear under
different forms, &c. is in constant action, so that no sooner is
one body destroyed, than the elements •of which it was com-
posed enter. into the formation of other substances, and thus;
by a very simple process, is the existence of the present order of
things secured, until it shall please • the Auttioa of Nature to
destroy the work of his hands. That this circulation of the
same elementary particles must necessarily exist, maybe in-
ferred from this, that the elements were all created at one and
the same time. Noyes no subiequent creation has taken place,
the substances that now exist can be formed only of the de-.
merits that were then created, and that have theFfore •been in.
'constant circulation, or paasing through various modifications,
since theday when they Were first drawn from chaos. We have a
familiar example of the circulation. or changes.of the elements,
in that of water. Raised by the action of the solar rays
upon the wide' surface of the ocean, it is carried up, in the
form of vapour, to the summit of the loftiest moun-
tains. There, condensed into water, it forms springs, from
which .issue the streams that carry if back into the ocean, to
commence a new circulation.
wThat this circulation is a.generaL
law of nature May be. inferreo net only from the above fact,'
but from a very similar one observed 'utile blood of animals,
and in the sap of vegetables. The proofs of its existence
might be moreover, and more philosophically, drawn from the
clynnical process of the composition and clectimposition of
bodies; but to detain, these curious phenomena would swell this
*article much hieyOnd the usual limits of a letter. Enough, I
trust, has been said to prove that such a circulation does exist ; '
and it is hoped that no liberal mind will refase to admit, that,
if Pythagoras taught the doctrine imputed to him, it was this.
circulation of the *leriients he had in view, and not..the absurd
doctrine of the transmigration of souls. I should imagine his
idea on this
.subject to have been this :—Plants feed on the soil
upon which they grow,: a portion of which is therefore changed
into their substance. Animals feed .upon these plants, which
now become 'the flesh of these animals. When animals
the particles of which they were fornied are :Kt free. Some"
unite with the earth, while others mix with the hi: of the at-
-mosphere, and all await the fresh combination which shall
'again put theM into circulation.
Ewhurst.

A: P.

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 10, 1821