The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1853-06-24

sheer exhaustion would not repudiate the debt
of gratitude such a blessing would impose on
them.
FATAL EFFECTS OF THE LATE EXCESSIVE HEAT.
Excessively hot weather ceases to be a mat
ter of amusement when it is attended with the
fatal consequences Of the terrific heat Of last
Wednesday. The unprecedented list Of deaths
from this cause. which we published yesterday
morning, is really appalling, and suggestive Of
serious inquiry and seasonable precautions
against the possible recurrence OF such fatali-
ties yet again during the present summer.
1t will have been observed that the victims
Of the heat Of Wednesday were almost entirely
from that class Of our people whose daily routine
is hard labor in the full blaze of the sun, rem
dered doubly powerful by the reflection from
the brick walls and pavements by which they
were surrounded. And another suggestive
fact is, that the sufferers in question, with here
and there an exception, were from Ireland.
The first precaution, therefore, we have to re-
commend, is to the employers of these outdoor
laborers, in view of still another such terribly
hot visitation as this last. Let the out
door laborer have a respite Of an addition
al hour or two, or even three hours, in the
hottest part Of the day and if it can be
allowed on no other terms, it were better to
make up the deficiency in the evening
or in the morning. for we presume that
labor is pretty generally regulated in this city
by the ten hour system. By going to work an
hour or two earlier, and by holding on in the
afternoon an hour or two later. two or three
hours, judiciously, to laborers and employers,
might be deducted from the heat of the day. At
all events this rule might be applied to a con-
siderable saving Of life during these occasional
paroxysms of dreadful heat, which seldom last
longer than TWO or three days without creating
the relieving elements of a thunder storm.
But the fact that nearly all the recent victims
from coup de soleI were foreigners, and mostly
from Ireland, should admonish their country
men that the summer sun of America cannot
be safely defed at all times, without acclima-
tion. The midsummer of Great Britain and
Ireland is the mildness of spring compared with
the last three days in New York. Not even the
native of the heart Of Germany can work with
IMMUNITY for five or six hours in the sun, among
bricks and mortar, with the mercury above
ninety degrees. Our immigrant laborers
should remember this; and beware, of all
things, when overheated, Of drinking too
much cold water. Whatever may be the
virtues of the Maine Liquor law, we undertake
to say that to a man exhausted by his labor and
the heat, a pint of iced water is more dangerous
than the plain Croton qualified with a little
brandy, Notwithstanding that hard drinking is
certain destruction. When a sense of exhaus-
ton to the laborer in the sun is coming on, the
the best course is perhaps to knock off and
rest till a reaction has taken place. Nor do we
believe that a suspension of the incessant
smoking, which is practised among our Euro
pean born laborers, would be at all to their dis
advantage. A man with a pipe in his mouth
from morning till night. from one years end to
another, can hardly possess the same vigor and
elasticity in his nervous system as the man who
smokes not at all. The volumes which have
been written by men of science upon this sub
ject confirm on the strongest proofs this view
ofthe pernicious effects of inveterate smoking.
We throw out these hints for the benefit of
all they may concern. Certain it is, that with
proper precautions on the part of laborers and
employers there would be few. if any. deaths
from coup de soleii. even with the thermometer
at ninety-fve degrees in the shade, as it stood
for some hours on Wednesday last.
CAN THIS BE so?-We republishthe oted, her
day, a paragraph from the Freeman's Journal,
purporting to be from good authority, to the
effect that certain parties in the United States
were in negotiation with Santa Anna, and had
in fact agreed to sell him 4 considerable lot of
old ~muskets, lately the property of the govern
ment. Can this be go? If so, is this lot OF old
muskets the same lot that was sold to Kossuth
or the lot that was to be supplied at one time
to the Cuban Glibusters ? Are there men in
Wall street, or elsewhere in this country, that
can aid in getting up a foreign war for the pur-
pose Of creating with the enemy a market for
the sale Of a lot of second hand or third hand
muskets? It don't seem possible that such a
-pcculatioD could originate in that street.
What has been done with Kossuth's mus
kets, and the flibusters' muskcts? We ask
again, are either Of these lots the lot that
has been or is to be sold to Santa Anna
or is it another lot. bought at fifty cents and
sold at two or three dollars a piece? What
has become Of all those old muskets? II is
charged that Santa Anna has got hold Of thcn.
Can this be SO?