Daily evening star. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1852-1854, 1853-10-05
VARIETIES.

! TICS.-At the last sitting OF the French
Academy of Science, paper on insanity
was read by its author, NJ. Moreau. one
of the physicians present. The chief OBJ
ject of this pamphlet is to recommend the
adoption in France, as regards paupcr
lunaticS, of the plan rcSortcd to in Bel
GUM.
NJ. Moreau states that in the village of
nheel, In that country. there is colony
oil not less than seven hundred lunatics,
who are treated upon so admirable a sys-
TEN that they are perfectly harmless. and
live and labor with the same inhabitants.
whose habits they acquire-and To which
they become so attached that when cured
they are frequently unwilling to quit the
place. These lunatics are made useful in
agriculture and manufactures, and conse-
! qucntly their cost is small compared with
ordinary lunatic aSylumS. The origin Of
tins colony dated so far back as the sixth
| century, and is another verification of the
old adagc that there is nothing new under
the sun. The mode of treating the luna
tics at llanwcll, near London, was con-
Sidered, when first put in practice, rs
novelty, and yet IT was nothing but the
Hheel practice impcrfCctly carried out.
| 1t Is only surprising that this improved
mode of treatment should have been defer
, red 50 long i'll England: and it is now
evident that it is capable of great extern
sion in its application. Within the last
few years only, in that country. medical
ncn have aSccrtained the possibility of 80
chasing and occupying lmaticS as TO rem
df,rp e 4
atlvely tranquil, and thus facilitate the
curative process. For chains, whips. and
other means OF correction, kindness and
Intelligence on the part Of the keepers has
| been substituted.
SIZE OF TIE ARK.-Infidels have obiec-
ted TO the size of the Ark, and have as
serted that it is quite absurd to suppose
/ that there could be vessel constructed
large enough 10 hold all the creatures
that must have been placed in it, togetl-
cr with sufficient food-(it NAV be for six
! or twelve months water foI the fishes.
corn for the four footed animals. seeds for
the birds, and so on. Now we will take
the dimensions of the Ark from the record
OF Moses, and calculate them on the low
est possible scale. There are two def
nitions given of cubit ; one that it is Is
inches, or foot and half-the other
that it is foot : inches. We will take
it only at the lowest. Moses states that
the Ark was 300 cubitS long: this would
make it $50 feet long. or about the length
of st. Paul Cathedral, London. The
breadth of it he states to be 80 cubits:
VIC then have it 81 feet in breadth, He
| states it TO be - cubits high: so that il
was 10 feet in height. I'm other words il
was as long as st. Paul's Cathedral.
nearly aS broad, and half as high. The
tonnage of the AK, according 10 the cal
culation Of modern carpenters, must have
, been $4,000. The largest English ship
of war, the st. Vincent. for instance.
which is of a size altogether unimagin&-
bic to those who have never seen it's
/ 2,5G0 tons burthcn; so that the Ark must
have been equal to Scrcntcen first rate
ships Of rGr, and if armed as such ships
are, it would have contained much be-
yond lS,W@ men, and rovisions for them
for Is months. Button has stated that
all the four footed animals may bcreduced
to 80 pairs, and the birds to a still
smaller number. On calculation, there
fore, we shall find that the Ark would
have held more than five times the re-
quired quantity Of food, to maintain them
for twelve months.-Dr. Cummings.
U \ young noblenan, celebrated for
his hcrculean strength and rashneSs, has
made voyage from Venice to Trieste
alone, standing on two planks four feet
hy-n AL
thick, fastened by an iron clasp, and with
out any other help than a pole. He ar
rived at Trieste, seventy miles from We
nice, safe and sound, having gained his
wager.
We heard a story Of fellow who
related his experience when the Nahant
Bank failed. AS soon as heard Of it,,
says he, my heart jumped right into my
mouth, Now, thinks |, s'pose I've got
any bills on that ere bank! I'm agoner,
that's fact. So you see on coat and
put for home as fast as my legs would
carry me-run all the way. So when
got there looked, and found | hadn't
got any bills on that bank-,aor ana other.
L felt some easier"
" They have in Paris boy of seven
teen years of age, who travels long distan-
ces without stopping, with incredible ease.
He undertook some weeks since, upon
bet, to walk round the city in four hours,
following the military road which borders
the fortifcations. This road is exactly
43, 1888 yards, or "a miles and two thirds
He accomplished the distance in three
hours and 43 minutes.
OThe report Of eighty-seven mission
aries of the American Sunday School
Union, submitted on the Goth ult., shows
as follows: Sales of Sunday School Books,
S9,l4l %; Donations to Poor Schools,
5000 0l Sunday Schools visited, S04;
Sunday Schools organized, $50; Bibles
j