Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, W.T. [i.e. Wis.]) 1843-1844, 1843-04-01

rank, the age and social position are
frequently legible in the attitude, the
dress and other accidents Of person
which still resist the corroding influ-
ence of ages. Even of late years, sew
eral philosophers have succeeded in
the invention of methods by which
dead organized beings are enabled
seemingly to bid defiance to decay.
The nature Of the several Italian modes
of preserving animal matter in such
manner as to give it the appearance and
durability of stone, is yet unknown,
and these secret processes may consist,
perhaps, in genuine petreiaction,
rather than perpetuation OF the origin
al structures; but it has been recently
discovered in France, that by filling
the cavities and vessels Of an animal
with solution Of alumine, all decom-
position is arrested for an indefinite
time, and, by the aid of consumate art,
the appearances of life have thus been
preserved.
The favorite cat, defunct some years
ago, still sits as her own monument up
on the ottoman, and we listen instinc-
lively for the habitual purr of satisfac-
ton, as the demure looking tabby
gracefully reclines her upper eye-lash
to veil the terrors of her scientillating
glance The least wary mouse of the
cupboard would widen the circle of
its peregrinations upon approaching
the dead tyrant Of the dairy. The de-
parted infant, with the blush still bloom
ing upon its cheek, sleeps sweetly and
unchangeably within its glass, at RI
cademie Royale, life-like as when it
first smiled upon its mother. In all
this there is no. romance, but lest /
should be tempted, amidst the lowell
ness Of such pictures, to"lose sight Of
the simplicity of style best suited to
philosophy, let US assume less pre-
tending diction.
Great extremes o: temperature ap-
pear TO secure organic matter against
decay. Most persons can recall the
history of the elephant discovered en-
bedded in the ice on the coast of Sibe-
Tia. The accidental splitting OF the
superintendent mass exposed these re-
mains, which must have been buried in
their crystal tomb from the unknown
time when such monstrous creatures
roamed habitually the forests Of the
North. The action of the sun and air
upon the organized mass, when thus
exhumcd, soon brought on decomposi-
ton; the fetid odor thus generated, at
tracted the attention of the wolves
those scayengers Of the wilderness
and their 'long howl speedily led on
the natives to the scene of their antedi-
luvian banquet. The skeleton, with
some portion Of the skin and the long
hair Of the animal, now grace the cabi-
nets of st. Petersburg. Few eviden-
ces Of the preservative powers of cold
are more startling, than those occasion
ally witnessed BY the hardy navigators
Of Arctic and Antarctic regions. Yes
sells have been discovered with crews
frozen in the attitudes last assumed
during life, and remaining unchanged in
appearance after the lapse of months or
years. Who has not wept over the
narrowing picture Of the wreck of the
Mexico, where the victims of an irra-
tional and indeiensible monopoly in pi-
lotage, were found cased in ice-the
stern power Of Winter respecting the
natural affections of man, as group after
group Of the afiianeed forever united,
lovely family circles, and mothers vain
ly endeavoring to shield their offspring
in their bosoms were found, crowding
like statues the shattered deck, or crouch
ing beneath the sleet-clad bulwarks.
Such scenes unchronicled, have often
met the cold glance of the reclined
moon in regious where the Aurora glids
the treacherous grandeur of the blue
and iridescent peaks of never-melting
ice. The body of the hardy mariner
has been found, years after his decease,
with the last note upon the log-book
yet unfinished, and the new-trimmed
pen as if just fallen from the stifening
fingers!
But, it is not only in the colder re-
gions that the organization is preserved
by atmospheric temperature or other
natural chemical agents. On the arid
and burning plains of the Amazon-in
the dry, pure and lofty mountain ran
ges of Peru-in the nitrous caves of
South America and our own Western