The Massachusetts spy, and Worcester County advertiser. [volume] ([Worcester, Mass.]) 1825-1831, 1828-04-23
CuRIoUs CALCULATIONS AND FAcrs.

HE EYE. There is nothing more astonishing
IN the structure of the eye, than the sensibilitv
OF the expanded nerve, on which the pictures oi
| objects are impressed, The proportion betwixt
me degrees of light Illuminating an object
ny the sun, and by the moon, at equal attitudes,
IS calculated to be as 10000 to and yet the OBJ
Ject Is distinctly seen. Again, if a sheet of
~i ne cotton CLOTH six feet square, be elevated
S4,oU0 feet, the eye being supposed an inch in
diameter, the picture of the sheet on the retina,
or optic nerve, in the bottom of the eye, will be
just one eight hundreth part of an inch square,
winch rs tn. 666th part of a line,-only equal
10 the 18th part ofthe width ola common hair
ana yet the picture is perfect Query we
contemplate this picture, as psychologists sup
pose, or does the mind contemplate the distant
object?
GOLD. 4 grain of gold may be spread by the
gold beater into a leaf containing 80 square
inches; and this leaf may be divided into $780,
OO0 parts; and, by microscope, nagnfying
the diameter of an object 10 times, and its area
lOO times, the Tooth part of each Of these, that
is, the so millionth part of grain of gold viii
be visible
MATTER. Although odoriferous bodies may
keep the room continually filled with odour, yet
they lose neither Weight nor measure, apparent
~. This magnitude Of particle Of assaiutda
is calculated to be only the 3S-l 0G0 ,000,0 00,-
000,0OOO00th part Of cubic inch. 1t is sup
posed, by microscosica observation, that there
are more animals id the milt of cod fish, than
there are men on to whole earth, and single
grain of sand is larger than four millions of
them put together How much smaller must a
p.rticle CT light be 2-BOSton TrGoetier.
MELANCHOLY. There is a melancholy, no
doubt, by which the intellect is expanded while
the heart is made better; tempered sadness,
u sober earnestness which by occasionally re-
calling US to the contemplation of an ideal
world, sotens and refreshes those feelings which
habitual intercourse with society is apt to hard
en-. This is that melancholy which is the true
source of poetical inspiration because while it
refines our feelings, and enlarges the sphere Of
our conceptions, it leaves US as active as ever in
the exercise of our social duties, and thus pre-
serves that mental equilibrium, that balance of
the intellect, the feeling, and the fancy, which
is the characteristic of the highest order oi
genius. Very different are its effects, when it
Is carried to excess. Excessive melancholy,
like excessive levity is selfish feeling it rem
ders as solitary, suspicious, queIulous !; and
deadens our sympathy for others, while it in
creases our sens.bllity for ourselves. Those
social energies which should connect us with
our fellow men grow ignorant and dormant the
active duties OF lie are forgotten III the pas
siye: gradually we lose our relish for the com
mon and natural feeling, the simple mirth and
tears thatimake up the mass of human life, and
to Substitute glaring and distorted portraits,
which are the reflection of our own morbid pc
cullarties, for those simpler forms Of universal
truth and beauty, which all hearts acknowledge
at once and admire.
CoEsTAETlyoPLE. The capital the Ottoman
empire, where our ambassadors smoke, drink
coffee and dance at the most splendid balls in
the world, is exteriorly the most beautiful city
on earth. 1t IS looking upon a magic scene, to
view it in the morning from The water The
sun, rising the right behind the Asiatic hills,
throws an nconceivable brilhancy over the sea,
which is bounded on every side by verdant
shores, heaves like mass Of motion gold be-
meath It's beams. On both sides, green mead
ows and tuAed groves refresh and gladden. the
eye. And the city itself, with its brilliant,
many coloured mosques, its gardens, its ceme-
teries, where the evergreen cypress fourishes,
and its lofty, aerial minarets, towering over its
Mussulnan temples, glitters like fairy crea-
ten in the sun. Add to this the innumerabe
long gilded barges, which, with their pctur7
esque and solemn looking crews, glide over the
sea in a thousand directions and you have
scene worth sailing three Thousand miles to be-
hold-L0nd0n Reekty ReuieaC