The Arkansas banner., 1849-10-09
CHEMISTRY Fea GIRLS.
pY 2. THOMPSON, i. D.

SoMffhtHg th0t IsteyH J0"titN bHVNt0 tNtN0-- ms is properly styled utiitarian age, for the inquiry, "What profti" meets everywhere. It has en. tered the temples of learning aud attempted to thrust ant inpoftant studies becaus their immediate con nec.ion with hard money profits cannot be demou- strated. There Is one spot, however, into which it has not SO generally intruded tself-the female ac- ademvthe last refuge of the fine arts and fine fol- lies. Thither young ladies are too frequently sent, merely to learn how to dress tastefuliy and walk gracefully play, write French, and make waxen pumes and silken spiders-all pretty, but why not inquire "what Prefitf'
 take my pen, not to utter dissertation on fe- male education, but to insist that young ladies be taught chemistry. They will thereby be better qualified to superintend domestic affairs, guard against many accidents 10 which households are subject and perhaps be instrumental In saving life. We illustrate the last remark by reference merely to toxicology.
 The strong acids. such niirie mariatic and sul phurc, Virulent posOns, yet frequently used in medicine, and the mechanic arts. Suppose a child, In his rambles among the neighbors, should enter cabinet shop and find saucer of aqaa Joriis (nitrc acid) upon the work bench, and in his sport seize and drink portion of It. He is conveyed home tn great agony The physician Is sent for; but he arrives the child is corpse. Now as the mother presses the cold clay to her breast and lips for the last time, how will her anguish be aggravated to know that in her medicine chest or drawer some eal cined magnesla, which If timely administered, would have saved her lovely, perchance her first aud only boy. o, what are all the bouquets and
 fine dresses in the world to her, compared with such knowledgef
 Take another case A husband returning home, on summer afternoon, desires some acidulous drink. Opening . cupboard, he n small box, labelled "salts of lemon," and making solution of this, he drinks 1t freely Presently he feels distress sends for his wife and ascerains that he has drank . solution of Oxac acid, which she has procured Co take stains from linen. The physician is sent for; but the unavoidable delay attending his arrival is fatal. When he arrives, perhaps he sees upon the very table on which the weeping widow bows her head, piece of chalk, which. if given in time would have certainly prevented any mischief from the poison.
 corrosive sublimate Is the article generally used to destroy the vermin which sometimes infest our couehes. A solution of it is laid upon the floor in . tea-cup, when the domestics 20 down to dine, leaving the children up stairs to play; the infant crawls 10 the tea-cup and drinks Now what think you would be the mothers joy, if having studied chemistry, she instantly called to recollection the we'll ascertaned fact that there is in the hen nest antdote to this poison. She sends for eggs, and breaking them, administers the white. Her child recovers, and she weeps for joy. Talk to her of noves-Ons little book of natural acience has been worth 10 her than all the novels iu the world.
 Physicians in the country rarelycarrv scales with them to weigh their prescriptions. They admins ter medicines by guess, from teaspoon the point of a knife. Suppose a common case. physician in . hurry leaves overdose of tartar-emetic, 1 (generay the first prescription in of bilious fever,) and pursues his way 10 another patent ten miles distant When the case becomes alarm | ing messenger is despatched for the doctor and another to call In the negabors to the Buffeser die. Now there Is, in a canister the cupboard, l and a tree that grows by the door, remedy for this distress and alarm-a means of saving the sick man from threatened death. A strong dccoc ton of young hyson tea, oak bark, or any other astrngent vegetable will change tartar emetc into harmless compound.
 Vessels of copper often give rise to poisoning Though this metal undergoes but little change in a dry atmosphere it is rusted if moisture be present. and it's surface becomes covered with a green sur face--carbonaie or the proxide of copper, poison ous compound. It has sometimes happened, that a mother has. for want of knowledge, poisoned her family. Sourkrout when permitted to stand for some time in a copper vessel has produced death iu a few hours. Cooks sometimes permit pickles to remain In copper vessels, that they may acquire a rich green color, which they do by absorbing poi
 
 Families have often been thrown into disease by eating such dainties, and many have died, in some instances without suspecting the cause. The lady has certainly some reason to congratulate herself upoa her edacatio, if under such circumstances, she knows that pickles rendered greentby verdigris are poisonous, and that the white of an egg is an antidote
 Illustrations might be multiplied, but our space forbids. Enough has been shown, we hope, to con vince the utilitarian that knowledge of the chem istry is an important element in the education of the female sex; that without it they imperfect ly qualified for the duties devoying upon them in the domestic relation, and poorly prepared to meet it's emergencies.