Phenix gazette. [volume] (Alexandria [D.C.]) 1825-1833, 1831-11-09

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| common uses, Welded Will, more or less readiness
or wrested with reluctance, from the mine, the
forest, the ocean, and air. Such are the nrst
fruits Of reason. Were they the only or the Prin-
ciple ones, were the mere acquisition OF power
over the materials, and the less gifted animals
which surround US, and the consequent increase
af our external comforts, and our means oil pre-
servation and sensual enjoyment, the sum OF the
privileges which the possession OF this faculty con-
ferred, we should after all have little to plume
ourselves upon. But tins is so TAR from being the
case, that every one who passes his Tile IN t'iera-
BILE ease and comfort, or rather whose whole time
is not a%nxiousIy consumed in providing the aoso-
lutte necessaries of existence, is conscious of wants
and cravings in whica the senses have no part, OF
a series of pains and pleasures totally distinct in
kind from any which the infection of bodily mis-
cry or the qualification Of bodily appetltes has ever
afforded him; and ifhe has experienced these plea
sures and these pains in any degree Ut intensity,
he will readily admit them to hold a much higher
rank, and TO deserve much more attention., than
the former class. Independent of the pleasures
of fancy and imagination, and social converse,
man is constituted a speculative being; he con-
templates the world, and the objects around him,
not with a passive Indifferent gaze, as a set OF
phenomena inwhich he has no further interest than
rs they affect his Immediate situation. and can be
rendered subservient to his comfort, but as a sys-
tenn disposed with order and design. He ap-
proves and feels the highest admiration Oh the
harmony Of ITS parts, the skill aud efficiency OF Its
contriYances. Some Of these, which he can best
trace and understand, he attempts to initiate ana
finds, that to a certain extent, though rudeiy'ana
imperfectiv, he can succeed. Ill others, that al
though he can comprehend the nature oil the con-
trivance, he is totally destitute OF the means OF
- Ill -, .iln.c nnat, and fhpSp pyl-
IDENTITY the most important, though he sees the ef-
feet produced, vet the means by which it is done
are alike beyond his knowledge and control. =
Thus he is led to the conception of a Power and
an Intelligence superior 10 his own, and adequate
to the production & maintenance of all that he sees
in n%ature-a Power & Intelligence to which ne may
well apply the term %infiuite. since he not only sees
no actual limit to the instances IN which they are
manifested. but finds, on the contrary, that The
farther he inquiries, and the wider his sphere OF
observation extends, they continually open upon
him in increasing abundance; and that az the stu
DIV of one prepares him to understand and appre-
ciate another, refinement follows on refinement,
wonder on wonder, till his faculties become be-
wildered in admiration, and his intellect Tails
back OH itself in utter hopelessness OF arriving at
an end.
One more passage we cite. to show how hap
PLY the discourse imparts instruction., and cxem-
pli6es the triumphs of human genius, in setting
Is in array the resources OF nature against her.
self" in order to devise remedies against the
dangers and nconvsniencies" that beset Us thro'
life. In this view," says our philosopher, we
might instance
The conductor. which, 10 countries where
thunder storms are more frequent and violent
than in our own. and at sea, (where they are at
tended with peculiar danger, both from the great
er probability Of accident, and its more terrible
consequences when it does %occur,) forms a most
real and efficient preservatlve against the effects
of lightnings:-the safety lamp, which enables US
to walk with light and security while surrounded
with an atmosphere more explosive than sunpo"-
dcr:-the life boat, which caunot be sunk, and
which offers relief IN circumstances Of all others
the most distressing to humanity, and OF which a
recent invention promises to extend the principle
to ships of the largest class:-the hght house,
with the capital improvements which the lenses
of Brewster and Fresnel, and the elegant lamp
of Lieutenant Drummond, have conferred, and
promise vet to confer, by their wonderful pow
ers, the one of producing the most intense light
y ct known, the others of conveying it undlspers:
ed to great distances: the discovery OF the dis
infcctan, powers of chlorine, aud its application
to the destruction of miasma and contaSion:-
that of the q%uinine, the essential principle in
which reside the ~febrifnge qualities OF the Peru
Wan bark, a discovery BY which p%osterlty is yet
to benef, in its extent. but which has already be-
gun to ditfuse comparative comfort and health
! through regions almost desolated by pestlfcrous
exhalations:-and, if we desist, it is not because
the list is exhausted, but becausea sample, not a
catalogue, is intended.
One instance more, however. we will add, to
illustrate the manner in which a most familiar Ell
feet. which seemed destined only to amusc chill
dren. or. at best. to furnish a PhIlosophic toy.
may become a safeguard of human life. and a ire
medy for a most serious and distressing evil. In
needle manufactures, the workmen who point
the needles are constantly exposed TO the Excess
siyely inmate particles Of steel which Fly from the
grindstones. and mix, though imperceptibie to
the eve as the finest dust, 10 the air, and are IN
hailed with their breath. The effect though i'm
perceptble on a short exposure, yet bcing con-
~s,antly repeated from day to day, produce, a con-
stitutional irritation dependent on the tonic pro-
perties of the steel, which is sure to terminate IN