The Madisonian. [volume] (Washington City [i.e. Washington, D.C.]) 1837-1845, 1838-12-01

The TINE EsPLoYED IN SHAuse, AND THE Use
THAT MIGHT BE oF iT--1he poet Campoeh -
said to have calculated that who shsses himself
every day. and lives 10 the age Of three score and ten
eIPends during his life much time in the act Of shaving
as would have sUficed for learning ten languages
will test Mr. Csmpbell's assertion, And, as the Lord
President Of the New Monthly Magazine has not favored
the world with the calculation upon which his assertion
If his IL be- is founded will investigate step by step,
with which intent have this morning. Saturday, May
the 9th, $780, mnu;ed myself during the act Of shaving
The time employed was within second or TWO more
or less, nine minutes neither hurried the operation
nor fingered about It, Every thing went on, was done
in my ordinary way steadily, and without waste Of time
Nine minutes therefore, viii be about the average thne
required for shaving by Zebedean--one who shaves
himself professional operator makes quicker WORK
but he cannot be always exactly TO the tme and at the
years end as much may have been lost in waiting Tor
the barber IS gained by his CELEBRITY " hand Assum-
ing then the moderate average Of nins mnstesr nine
minutes per day amounts TO hour and three minutes
per week and tyfour hours and ihry-sx minutes per
year. We will suppose that shaver begins 10 oPe-
rate every day when he has completed his twentieth
year. many if not most men, begin earlier; they Will
do so they ambitious Of obtaining whskers; they
must do if their boards are csroty, or Of strong
growth There are then fifty years Of daily shaving 70
be computed and in that time he will have consumed
two thousand hundred and thirty hours IN the act
Of shaving himself Now let US see whether man
could IN that time acquire competent knowledge OIL
seven languages do not, OF course, mean such
knowledge as professor Person and DR. Elmsley had
attained Of Greek is possessed by Bishop bom-
field and Bishop Monk-but passable knowledge OF
living languages, such as would enable man TO read
them with facility aud pleasure, If not critically and to
travel without needing interpreter-or the use Of
French in the countries where they are spoken.
Dividing, therefore, two thousand seven hundred and
thirty, being the number Of hours which might be sp-
Poprated 10 learning languages by seven the number
Of languages TO be learnt we have three hundred and
ninety hours for each language three hundred and
ninety lessons Of an hour long-wherein 1t Is evident
that any person Of common capacity might, with com
mon diligence. learn 70 read write and speak-sufh-
ceny well for all ordinary purposes, any European
language. The assertion, therefore, though It might
extravsgant FIRST far II goes, and
is only inaccurate because il is far short Of the truth
For take notice tina, did strop the this morn
ing, bur only passed il, after the operation ten or twelve
times across the palm Of my hand, according to my
every day practice. One minute more, at least, would
have been required for sroppng There are many men
whose boards render it necessary for them TO apply to
the stop every day and for longer time and who are
Obliged to Try first and then another But let
allow only minute for this-one minute day
amounts to six hours five minutes in the year, and IN
fifty years, three hundred and fur hours ten minutes
time enough for an eighth language Observe ALSO
that some languages easy and others SO nearly
relate each other that very much less than half the
number Of hours allowed in the computation would sui
fee for learning them. II is strictly that in the
time specified man Of good capacity might add seven
more languages TO the for which that computation
formed and that person who has any remarkable
aptitude for such studies might in that time acquire
language in which there books to be procured
See reader, what the value Of time Is, when put out at
simple interest. But there is simple interest IN
knowledge. Whatever funds you have IN that bank 60
increasing by interest upon interest-hll the bank
fails.-The Doctor, Vol Y
The following thrilling incident related in the
Buffalo Commercial Advertiser as having occurred on
Lake Erie, during the tremendous gale which swept
it about three weeks agol @ t&
In that fearful night, the steamboat Constitution
Capt Appleby, amidst the terrors OF the gale
BY the glmpses caught at intervals, when the hliul
for moment broke away the anxious and watch
full commander made Of the critical situation
Of his boat, which rapidly drifting in-nnder the
hurricane power Of the gale which blew almost directly
across the ake-toward dangerous reef, from which
escape would have been impossible. He went directly
to the engineer and ordered or " more steam Inc
reply Of the engineer that there was already 40
much on as the boilers would safely bear.
Again did the Captain seek the deck, to see his Ia
boring boat making Roadway, and again returned
to the engine room. He explained to the engineer
their hazardous situation and told him that all hope was
lost, Roadway could be gained, but lett the
engineer 10 act his discretion in the crisis moment
OF reflection and his decision made. Life or death
hung on the issue. Certain destruction awaited the
boat and her devoted crew, a few brief minutes, II
she did not gain upon the driving storm.-Ih's might
be averled, if the boers-already crowded to fearful
pressure-coud yet bear heavier strain, and that he
determined to True, the awful horrors OF an
EXPLOSION were vividlv before hm-the mangied
limbs the scorched and eess bodes the death shrieks
and the groans Of the hapess victims, before his
and his ear-the alternative fearful one
yet il must be resorted to- ...
He cooy directed the heads Of two barrels of Ditto
be broken in and the furnaces were rapidly fed with
wood dipped in the highly infammabls liquid, while two
men with ladies' dashed the oil into the flames The
intense heat which these combusibles created, gene
rated with the rapdity of lightning and soon tho
resisess vapor forced up the safety valve and issued
forth with tremendous violence, its sharp Kissing heard
above the wild uproar of the waters and the storm
With desperate and determined courage which equal
led the most daring herosm that the page OF history has
ever recorded the engineer sat do,cn upon The ieper Of
The safety ualse to confne and raise the steam to the
necessary power required prope the boat against the
drifting waves In this awful situation he calmly
manned, until the predgous efforts of the engine had
forced the Constitution sufficiently of shore TO be be-
You'd the threatened danger. VI.
This intrepid act not rash and vsinglorous at
tempt TO gain the applause Of multitude by fool
hardy exposure Of life, m some racing excursion-it
not the deed Of drunken and reckless man. wick
edly needless Of the safety Of those whose lives
perled-bu it was the selfpossessed and determined
courage of whose frmness worthy OF all admlra-
ton. We give it told to us, one Of those
frequent Of real life, whose actual realities
indeed stranger than felton,
The Hundred largest Cities in the Horld-A re-
cent German publication gives the following Gu
riouS calculation respecting the hundred most popu-
lous cities in The world Among these are Jeddo,
in Japan, $4,000 inhabitants; Pekn 500 600;
London, 100000; Hans Ichon, 100000; Calcut-
Nankin, 100000; Congo kcheen, 10000 West
Chans, 100000; Constantinople, 100000 Benares,