Burlington free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1827-1865, 1846-05-08
For the Frankfort Commonwealth
ORIGIN OF THE MAGNETIC TEL
EGRAPH.

| ORiOAN OC tie MADNE IlC TEL.
EGRAPH.
New discoveries are but the recovery Of
lost arts, and the "march Of mind" of our
age though seemingly a forpard, is very
often only retrogradc movement, Mr.. Ed.
itor.
! II you will, at a leisure moment, read the
24lst Number Of the Spectator, published on
December 9Th. I'LL, you will be much
amused at divers conceits and fancies therein
contained, and will not fail to obse. sc how
much the folks of that day were like the
present. And, If You have a passion for
comparison, you may run out the history OF
our race through the modern, the middle and
lie primitive ages, and your research wilI
br'ng you to the conclusion, that man is prrt.
" mnch the same animal now, that he al.
ways was Examine him anatomically. and
yon will find his bones, nerves, muscles. sin.
ews and brain evident casts from the same
original Adamc dies. Inspect him with a
ph'!osop'ic cye-study his passions, schemes
and plans, and You will find them all work.
ing after the old model. Look q, his means
OF accomplishing his ends, and you will dis.
Germ IN them, substantially, the same imple-
ments that we're used by Noah and his i'm.
mediate descendants. Shoud>yonr mind be
disposed in its self compIacency, to adop,
the idea, that this is the most favored age of
the world, and that the march of science has
burst asuoder the veil that concealed the
mysteries Of nature, just hold your horns a
little while, and point US out a structure equal
to Solomon's Temple, or even few of the
ppk tl,at has,
ages OF time, the Goth and the sword We
have not gone ahead in Architecture that $
certain. Look at the huge stones in ancient
ruins in Egypt, brought from quarries 800
miles distant, and while all wonder at the
power by which this was done, all agree that
the art is lost. Ii is so, also, Of the carving
on ancient obelisks, on which, no modern
mechanic can make tool of sufficient TEN.
per even to make an impression.
The modern world thought for long time,
that the ancients knew nothing about glass,
but recent discoveries have settled that point
against Us. Printing is claimed for the mod.
ems, hut The Chinese dispute the fact. OF
gunpowder, the question may be raised
whether j, was i Monkish discovery, or graz
'nito"s present from the Devil, but come it
whence it may, the Art Of war is the same
now that II was in the days Of tive Roman
Iegions. Cesar would have held Buonapric
a light hustle, and any one of his Licuien-
ants would have been "a inll match for Wei.
linelon. or history, poetry, eIoquence
sculpture, and SD on, it would not be SAVING
too mucl, to affirm that Tacitus vas a better
historian than Charles J. lngersoll; that Cic.
ero and Drmoslhenes could favorabIv com.
pete with Cays and Allen; and messages
could be found in Homer and Virgil TO
match any thing in the Mountain Muse or
the Fredoniad. In the science of medicine.
after wonderful departures from the practice
OF the Patriarchs, Doctors are marching
back again 10 first principles. Cold water
that was found to be very good for Adam and
Eve, is now found to be excellent for their
remote posterity; strong drink that was bad
tor Noah and made him expose himself, has
again come under the ban of the facuIty;-
and that give. nOthing-at.all system is revi.
we'd ny new sect, who can cure every Thing
ny giving as near 10 nothing as is attainable
ny altrltlon. dilulon aud infinite division of
matter. Some, too, Nebuchadnezzar like.
go about the fields and fence corners, TO look
tor life. preserving herbs, and have found
many things there, as Ncbuchadnczzar did.
that will sweat, pukc and purge and they
have already brought down the caIomel and
tarlar.men from table spoon TO tea spoon
doses. Morals, some say have greatly i'm.
proved. Perhaps they have, but il would b.,
curious thing to inquire what part of the
Decalogue would bear innovation 10 make j,
more applicable in our purcr days. A slighr
experiment would probably cause the whole
human race TO pray for its nactment, and
conventions would be called TO sustain each
commandment, similar to the ore that has
recen''y been held To sustain the efficacy and
integrity OF the fourth. Appearances do
point little that way now, we mean to.
wards greater perfrclabilny, for modern
sympathy has found out that il is cruel TO
hang man for murder or TREASON, and thai
II Is h"neficent legislation To slarve the fami. |
lies OF honest mechanics, in order that ras.
Gals may live comfortably in houses bniIt for
them by the State. The anci-nts thought
and rot along iolerablv well, bv
tue galIows, the galies and lransporlatIon.-
The benevolence OF the 18Th century is &C.
tive in finding out how to better the condi.
lion civilians, or to screen them from nun.
"ihe man was deranged or in
a "somnambuIic state" is now the consola-
lion society has for deeds that shake il to
centre, and cause every hair TO stand on end
with horror
But all Of this is getting away from the
Magnetic Telegraph" which is denomina-
ed, par-excellence, the wonder Of the age. .
hat this great invention was known to Stra.
Ia Is manifest from the following extract
rom the number of the Spectator above al.
uded to, which Mr.. Addison calls "chimer. !
CAL" Sfrdda mentions the magnet and the a
'eedfes, and only omitted TO name the ,cires.
or the thing was so common in his day, that .
'e deemed il idle 10 mention what was known I
o every body. Mr.. Addison made a sus. I
esiion for the benefit Of lovers-but that is "
oi needed in our country, where cupid has !.
Dng since got the " hang" Of moving fas, u
no"sh-io Aberdeen, New Albany or Tex. .
s, as the case may require. PAST. :
ESTRADA, IN one of his 'Prolusions,' gives II
" account OF chemical correspondence be- 81
"'"n Two friends, by the help Of a certain b
''ds'o"', which had such virtue in il, lla, if II
touched two certain needles, when one Of is
re needles so touched began to move, the u
'her, though at neper so great distance, Il
'ovsd ~ the same time, and in the same W
tanner. lie Tells us that lie two friends. n
r'ng each OF them possessed Of one of these Y
eedles, made Kind of a dial plate, insert a