Southern telegraph., 1838-07-04
NOTHING is BENEATH THE ATTEN-
TIUN OF A GREAT MAN.


mon description and history could do, an
insight into the character Of the man who
raised the Mnscovites from the deepest bar
harism to the rank of civilization, and laid
the foundation Of an empire, the extent Of
which the world as yet seems little able to
comprehend.
One Of the most fatal errors to which
men are subject, is the disposition to treat
small things with contemptuous Indifference,
forgetting that great things are but an aggre-
gate of small ones, and that discoveries and
events of the greatest Importance to the
world can be traced to things most nsigni-
cant in themselves. Nothing more trul,
marks an original mind, and stamps its pos
SCISSOR as truly great man, than the seizure
of circumstances which would pass unno-
ticed by the multitude, and by subiectng
them to the analysis of his reasoning pow
ers, deducing inferences of the greatest
practical results.
The power orthe loadstone to attract iron,
has been known from time mmemorial;
accident discovered that magneiized nee
die would indicate the north, but for long
time this truth was productive of no results.
In the hands Of Flavia Cola, of Almifa, il
produced the mariners compass, an instru-
ment which has changed the whole course
Of commerce, and opened America and
Australia to the rest of the world. To men
ton only ono OF the results that the use
Of the compass in maratime discovery has
led to--it has given the potatoe to Europe,
and thus trebled the means of subsis-
t9nce.
We owe the Galvanic or votaic battery.
one of the most powerful instruments in ad-
vancing science the world has vet seen, 10
MadameaGnlvini's noticing the contraction
Of the muscles of a skinned frog accidental
~ touched by person on whom her hus-
band was at the moment making some ex-
periments in electricity. The experiments
of Calvin and Volta were followed up hv
Davy, Hare, anb SilIiman, and effects which
have astonished and instructed the world,
have heen the result. The dry galvanic
pile, in the hands of the dscoverer, De
Luc, was nothing more than scientific
plaything. Senger, Of London, a mechanic
of genius, saw the pile, and applied the
power ihus generated to moving the machn-
cry of a watch; and one constructed by him
has now run more than sixteen years with
out winding or loss Of motion.
A Chemist was at work in his laharato-
ry preparing powder for certain pur-
pose. A spark fell into his composition,
and it exploded. and from that day gun-pow-
der was discovered Some NAV question
the utilitv Of this discovery, but we do MT.
Gun-powder has materially aided the mi
ner, the founder and the chemist; it has
made war, when now carried on between
nations, much less evil than formerly;
hut, more than all, it has given Internal Or
der and tranquility to the kingdom Of En-
rope, by knocking down those strong holds
of feudal barbarism and cruelty, the cas-
lies of naughty and donneerng nobility,
and placing the weak, so far as regards
protection by lawand security to person and
property, on a level with the highest
A German peasant carved letters on the
bark of n beach tree, and with them stamp
ed characters on paper, for the amusement
of his children. Nothing more was thought
of this; bnt from il, Faust conceived and
executed moveable types; and printing, an
art that has perhaps exercised a greater in
flnence on The destiny of mankind than any
other, thus had a beginning.
Gaileo was in church at Florence,
where drowsy Dominican was holding
firth on the merits of the Virgin, and the
miracles of the Holy Church--things about
which the philosopher cared very little
The principal lamp of the church had been
left suspended in such a manner that it
swung to and fre by the slightest breath,
and caught the eye of the philosopher
The regularity of its oscillations struck
him, and the idea of employing such vihra-
tons to measure time occurred. Calico
left the church and returned to his study,
and in short time the first pendulum ever
made was swinging.
Some children playing with the glasses
of a Dutch spetace-maker, aceidcntly plac-
ed couple so that the steeple of church
appeared much nearer, and turned bottom
upwards. From this small beginning was
produced the telescope-an instrument,
which more than any other, has enlarged
the boundaries of the universe, and given
to man more exalted ideas of that Being
who spake all these worlds into existence,
About one hundred and fifty years ago an
old man might have heen seen in his study
apparently amusing himself by witnessing
the escape of steam from an old wine-bot-
tie, and then checking it instantaneously by
punging it into cold-water. There are
mnlttudos who would sneer at an observer
of nature who could stoop to notice such
tri6e; yet this expansion and condensation
of steam in the wine bottle. and the train
Of thoughts which il suggested, in the hands
Of the Marquis OF Worcester, gave birth to
the steam-engine--the most valuable pre-
sent that Science has ever made TO the
Arts. Those very men who are now filled
with delight and astonishment when they