Southern shield., 1850-08-17
VOL. XI.
From the Philadelphia PennsylUanian.
 An Interesting Narrative.

fitted out by the munhcence o1 NIT. OIli, nell, New York merchant, and has started under the auspices of the General Govern ment; which by authority of Congress, has consented that the officers of our navy shall lead the daring enterprise. Among these officers we observe the name ot Surgeon Elisha K. Kane, son of Hon. John K. Kane, of this city, who volunteered for the ser vice, and is now principal surgeon ot the expedition. We saw the announcement of his name among the officers with surprise. He has long been suffering from comblna- ton of inirmities, the result of series of adventures, such as few men living have undergone, and such as still fewer would voluntarily embark in out of pure love ot danger, and the pecularities of other parts of the globe. Having enjoyed the acquain- tance of this brave young man. we are able to state what follows of his career, even it we should use that which was commun- | cated to us in semi-confidential intervals. | No American of his age has ever seen as much of the perils of the world, or of the world itself He was surgeon of the Ameri- l can legation to China, and on his way to the celestial regions, he spent some weeks on foot tramp through the orange groves of Brazil, and about month in tiger-hunt- | ing near Bombay.
 Hence, after dozen unsuccessfulattempts to smuggle himself in the forbidden land of China, he went over to the Philippines, and by the aid of the good monks of the inte- rier of Manila, explored its fastnesses and volcanic wonders. He was the first man 10 descend into the great crater of the Tael, lowered down two hundred feet over the brink, by bamboo rope tied round his middle, and brought back bottle full of it's ulphur waters, burning off his boots in the lava cinders. Leaving China, after second visit, in which he encountered shpwreck, he passed to India as physician of the Dremendhar Drogore, and was palanquined / for three months through the wonders of ismountain architecture, the ancient glories of Candy, the stupendous passes of the Chant country, visiting Madras, Pondcher ry, and every spot that we have read of in the trial of Warren Hastings. Next, to Upper Egypt, and Abyssiria, crossing the { desert on his camel to the basis of Jupiter Ammon, climbing at break neck risk to the top stone of the sounding Colossus of Mem non, and exploring the tombs of the Pha- raohs for fortnight or three weeks, with Professor Lepsius and his associates Wrecked again while passing down the Nile, and wounded in an encounter near Alexandria, he pushed across to Greece, and traversed every scene of classic inter- est, climbing to the Hippocrene Spring, and sleeping on the shore of Marathon. He returned by Italy, France, and England, fn faxU oEc on the coast of Africa. Renewing here some acquaintances which had been formed in Brazil, he was allowed to inspect the entire machinery of the slave trade, and to pass up into the interior, under the frman of Desouza, the great intermediary be- tween the chiefs of the slave making districts and the Brazilian carriers. The coast fever was his pay for this trip, and he was sent home by Commodore Read, invalided. 1mperfectly patched up from the effects of this visitation, he volunteered for service with the army in Mexico, and was ordered, with dispatches, on a dare- devil race, through the country our troops had left, to overtake Gen. Scott. Availing himself, at Perote, of a miscreant escort of jaii-birds, that General Worth had employ ed as spy company, he got into series of fights, in the last of which he received the swords of Gen. Gaona and Gen. Torrejon, and had his horse killed under him, and was himself desperately wounded, while pro- tecting the lives of his prisoners against his own men. Since then he has been cruising, and practicing hydrography on the coast survey, up to the moment of receiving his telegraphc dispatch, accepting his urgent profier of services for the Arctic expedition. He had the rice fever in the Canton river, the plague in Egypt, the yellow fever at Rio, the congestlve at Puebla, and the Afri- can fever on the coast. These, and wounds, and an organised disease of the heart, which he has had from boyhood, have been his preparations for the hazard he is en- counterng now.
 Altogether his history is eventful and thrilling for so young man, and induces us cordially to hope that he may return from his last adventures with new honors and restored constitution.
 FATAL MIsTAKE.-Recently gentleman by the name of Hall was killed by the taking of corrosive sublimate instead of calomeI. The mistake was that of the apo,hecary We suboin the prescription of the physician for calomel, with one for corrosive subli- mate. It will be seen that there is some resemblance but not enough to excuse careful man from falling into such terrible error:
 Prescription for CalomeE--Sub Muriate Hydar. TO-" For Corrosive Sublimate:-l "Murlate Hyder. Fost." In England, such cases are considered in the light of man. slaughter, and in one instance there of very