The Massachusetts spy, and Worcester County advertiser. [volume] ([Worcester, Mass.]) 1825-1831, 1830-01-06
calculated for the rapid conveyance either

calculated for the rapid conveyance either
OF passengers or commodities.
The recent performances of the Rocket
and the Novelty railway carriages] give a
sudden spur to our drowsy imaginations, and
make our ideas fly as fast as the machines
themselves. These engines, with all their
apparatus. skim over the earth with more
than double the speed of the lightest and
fastest mail, drawn by the swiftest blood
horses, and driven by the most desperate
coachmen, over the smoothest roads in Eng
land. Upwards Of thirty miles per hour
Let US see-at this rate we reach Manches-
ter in an hour, Birmingham in three hours
London, Edinburg, or Glasgow in six hours
and you may glide along at this birdlke
speed with as little discomfort as if you were
sitting in ybur arm chair, reading "a volume
of the Diamond Poets, without being dis
turbed by a single jolt; nay, / believe it
would not be difficult TO write. 1.-THE length
of the journey made it worth while, l should
expect to see railway coaches fitted up with
libraries and excrutoires; but it will soon
be nearly useless to take up book for so
short journey as one or two hundred miles.
But if a speed of thirty miles an hour has
already been attained, what good reason is
there that we should not in process of time
accomplish sixty miles per hour? Nay, why
should we stop there? am not bold enough
to anticipate the time when coaches will su-
persede the telegraph, but may reasonably
expect to see them leaving the carrier pigeon
behind.
Tn well-constructed railway, like that
between Liverpool and Manchester, there
is less danger in moving at rate of thirty
miles per hour than there is in travelling at
the rate of ten miles per hour on a turnpike
road. On the railway there is not a single
turn, and scarcely single inequality. In
these respects the engineer has boldly and
wisely aimed at perfection, though he there
by incurred what many deemed an eXtrava-
giant expense. The chief sources of danger
in travelling rapidly on turnpike roads are
list, hills; I'd, turnings in the road 3D., in
equalties in the surface of the road 4th,
unruly horses; 9Th, meeting other carriages.
Not one of these dangers exist on the rail-
way, and therefore it is difficult to limit the
speed at which we may travel with safety.
ELIXIR OF HEALTH AND LONGEVITY.
In 1928, person of the name of Villars, in
Paris, gave out that his uncle, who, it was
well known, had attained very nearly to his
hundredth year, and died then only in con-
sequence of an accident, had left him GER
tain preparation, which possessed the power
of prolonging a mans life to upwards of a
century, provided he lived with sobriety and
exercised daily in the open air. When this
individual happened to observe funeral,
he would shrug up his shoulders in pity:
" If the deceased" said he, chad followed
my advice, he would not be where he now
uted his medicine gratuitously, observing
the conditions required, experienced its
utility and praised it necessarily. He was
thence encouraged to sell it at a crown
bottle; and the sale was prodigious. Now
the remedy was, in fact, nothing more than
the water Of the river Seine, slightly acidu-
lated. Those who made use of it. and were
attentive, at the same time, to regimen and
exercise, soon found their health greatly
improved. To others, who were neglected..
he would observe, " 1t is your own fault if
you are not perfectly cured; you have been
Incorporate and incident; renonnce these
wees, and you will live, at least, a hundred
years." Some took his advice; and the
very decided advantage which these latter
derived from Monsieur Villar's drops, caus-
ed him to increase rapidly in reputation and
wealth. The Able Pons extoled our qnack,
and gave him the preference to the cele-
brated Mareschal de Villars: "The latter"
said he, "kils men; the former prolongs
their existence"
At length, however, it was unfortunately
discovered that Villar's remedy was com
posed almost entirely of pure water. His
practice was now at an end. Men had re-
course to other empires of far more dan
gerous character-andt to specifics and adj
vice much less efficacious and rational in
their nature.-JounaL Of Health.
HUNTING SPIDERS. There is tribe of
hunting spiders that leap like tigers on
their prey, and, what is more extraordinary,
One of these jumped two feet on humble
bee. They approach the object of their in
tended attack with the noseless and i'm
perceptible motion of the shadow of sun
dial. II the fly move, the spider moves also.
backwards, forwards, or sideways, and that
with so much precision as to time and dis
lance that the two insects appear as if
! hnnnA tngather hy some invisible chain, or
| actuated by the same spirit. If the fly take
wing and pitch behind the spider, the head
of the latter is turned round to meet it so
quickly that the human eye is deceived, and
the spider appears to be motionless. When
| all these man9uvres bring the fly within lis
spring, the leap is made with fearful rapid
ty, and the prey struck down like lightning.
The redeeming trait in the history of these
cruel creatures is their affection for their
young.-fdmiLy Library.
Two wiskered handles with hair enough
under their chins TO make a grenadler's
cap, went to the British Institution. On
reading the inscription over the door, "No
dogs admitted" the foremost turned to his
friend and wittily observed, "You must 90
back, Fred, you see they don't admit you.''
"Oh, don't be frightened, gentlemen" said
the door keeper, "you may both come in -