Muscatine journal. [volume] (Bloomington, Iowa) 1849-185?, 1853-09-16
VOL. VINO. 16.


The material universe is an object
which in all ages mas excited both won. :,
der and speculation. And such is its
vastness, its magnificence and beauty.
that the longer it is contemplated ths
more is admiration minded, and the
more eager our curiosity becomes to
understand its origin, its nature and its
laws. Hence, at no former period has
the spiri! Of physical inquiry been more
active than at the present moments and
the secrets aAd wonders Of the physical
universe are being every day more fully
laid open 10 our view. The entire ag-
gregate of matter OF which the universe
is composed is beyond all human
computation. The mass of the sun is
354 1886 times that of the earth; but
even that is little compared with the
mass Of some Of the stars, one OF which,
in the constellation Lyra. is said to
have diameter Of about 1900, ,O00, 900
of miles bulk which. until the dis
covery of Neptune, would have filled
up with one solid mass the whole com
pass Of our known planetary system
And yet this is but an atom compared
with the whole mass ofexisting matter.
There il, however. in matter, a wonder
Of an opposite kind to that of the stu
pendous masses in which it is distributed
througd space-that is, the atomic form
10 which it is reducible.
We can obtain only an approximate
knowledge Of an atom, or the ultimate
form Of matter. We have first to travel
down q descending series of objects. the
distinguishing feature Of which is their
minu,eness. For instance ,tropoli, or rotten
stone, Pre- cured from Bilin, in Bohemia.
consists almost entirely Of animalcules,
in the proportion Of about Al ,O00, ,O00.-
900 to cubic inch, "the shield Of each
one weighing aboutthe one thousand one
hundred and eighiy-seventh millionth part
Of grain. At every stroke that is
made with this polishing powder several
millions. perhaps tens Of millions, ofper-
feet fossils arc crushed to atoms. -
Inconceivably small. however, as ate
these fossil animalcules. there are living
tribes Of still surprising minuteness.
To these drop Of water is an ocean a
cubic inch, it is computed, being capable
Of containing thousand times as many Of
these monads as there are human beings
on the face Of the globe! Now these
creatures. SO astonishingly small that to
detect and observe them requites the
utmost power of the microscope, are not
in themselves indivisible points, but COM
pound, bodies, with perfectly organized
skeletons and all the apparatus Of SEN
tient existence.
particles of matter which enter into the
structure of each individual monad! II
it is, in its minute self. a world of
contrivances and adjustments, what shall
We say of the atoms of which the exquis-
ite edfice is bull: up? AS their numbers
would probably battle the powers of our
arithmetic to compute, their minuteness
must be equally beyond the powers
of our imagination to conceive. We
seem, however, to descend yet another
step, hen we come TO the fact that
grain of musk will continue to yield
odor, by throwing off fragrant particles,
for twenty years without any sensible
diminution of its weight. What,
then, must be their number and size
And .he PARTICLES of light contend
with those Of fragrance for the palm OF
infinitesimal minuteness. "Dr. New
entyt computed that more than six bill
ion times as many particles Of light
fow from candle in one second of time
as there are grains Of sand in the whole
earth. supposing each cubic inch of it
to contain one million" Any further
illustration of the minuteness of an
atom must assuredly be superfuous.
since not the most piercing vision.
though strengthened by the most pow
erful microscope, could detect one Of
these PARTICLES if separate from the rest.
Ponx EArINo.-The Jews, Turks.
Arabians. and all they who observe the
precept of avoiding blood and swine's
flesh, are infinitely more free from dis
ease than the Christians, more especially
do they escape the opprobria Of the
medical art. scrofula, gont, consump-
tion, and madness.
The Turks est great quantities Of
honey, and pastry, and much sugar; they
also eat largely, and are indolent. yet
do not suffer from dyspepsia, as the
Christians do. The swine-fed natives
Of Christendom suffer greater devas,ations
from painful tubercular disease Of the
bowels. (dysentery,J than from any
other cause. Under my own observa.
,ion, and in my own experience, those
persons who abstain from swine's flesh
and blood, are infinitely more healthy
and free from humors. glandular diseases
dyspepsia. and consumption; while in
those districts. and among those classes
Of men where the pig makes the chief
article OF diet. tabercular. mall its fofms
of erup:ions. sore legs and eyes, and
abscesses, most prevail. 1t is aremark-
able coincidence, that Prince Edwards
Island. has climate exactly similar TO
that Of Great Britain, yet the inha bitants
are not consumptive, neither is the pig
here cultivated.-Parry on Diet.
COLONEL SLEIGH, author Of the last
book Of travels in America. thinks "that
fros, and exposure te the cold in North
America will tan the skin in tenth
part Of the time tropical sun would.
have seen many people in the West
Indies, though constantly exposed to tho
sun, with compilations as fair as untrav-
eled Englishmen. But in northern