New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1854-09-12

own stupidity alcos.
Now. in order that the pVblic may effectively
protect itself against these pernieious practices II
is not necessary for every person to become
.killfl operative chemist. so as 20 be abc 10 ex'
anime every article or substance that he may have
occsst to'procure or use. But it is necessary
that kpo \ ledge of tn science should become
more general that there should be better aP'
probation OF the temptations it offers aud the
dangers If threatens when confined to the com-
narrative few. Every school in the community
which teaches pupils from fourteen to twenty
wears old, ought to have a department of working
Chemistry. in whicbthose who have aptisudes ia
in this direction should be taught the simple opera
tors of testing. and become familiar with 50 much
of the practice of the science as will enable them
to a, tect aud expose the more co cmOn and uni
v,rsal frauds, from which the community suffers.
The exp, nse Of the little apparatus necessary for
this purpose and Of teachers competent to use II
would be repaid hundred fold ia dollars ani
cents to the patrons Of such school in the i'm
munity they would secure from the fraudulent
practices of merchants and others with whom
they have constant dealings.
Moreover, Chemistry explains the nature,
powers and offices of the food, water, aud air
which we introduce into our systems at the rate
of thousands of pounds each year. What we
breathe and why we breathe had never been
known were it not for Chemistry. She tells rs
that each adult man takes iato his body IN tae
course OF year twelve or fifteen thousand hogs
heads of air, sni that life results from the vital
changes which its elemental gases produce upon
the material organization. She says thai the
chemical energy OF air is the motive power OF
animal life; that when the living mechanism il
overchargei with it, "a may be done artfcially,
the vital mechanism is over-driven ia all ia func-
tions whea it is under-charged, as in ascending
mountains at great nights, where the atmosphere
is much rarer than at the sea level, or ia close
apartments where the air is rarfed by heat or the
natural proportion of its oxygen the lite-sustain-
ing element is in any way diminished the strength
fails and both mind and body break down under
slight exertion; and that when we breathe an at
mos phere contaminated with impurities the sys'
tenn is disordered its powers become perverted
and depressed, its health invaded and the founda-
tons of fatal disease laid. Can it be supposed
that if people knew these things, that is. if they
had clear and distinct understanding Of them as
of other veritics and realities, they would build
houses without adequate provision for the supply
Of pure air, or consent to be crowded as quietly
as unreasonDg cattle into sealed and unventilated
churches, theaters, assembly rooms, railroad
cars and steamboat cabins, where the putrid air
is laden with poison and death There needs
only that light be scattered upon this subject to
secure revolution in the popular practice.
The question Of the origin and nature of Alec
hClic liquids and their effects upon the human
constitution is also one which belongs to Chemis-
try and to che ieal physiology to olucidate and
decide. Among scientific men who understand
the subject there ia little If any conflict of opinion
about it. Alcohol, when pure, is a mortal poison
when diluted and weakened, as in ordinary liquors,
its nature is not changed: it is still a poison
disOrgaRiziOg sgent-haying no more business in
the healthy human system than any other poison.
Gus drug. Indeed, the very word which every
body employs to describe the fleets it produces
iB'o5irdicd-is derived from Latin word which
signifies poisoned. Let the people understand
this; let then have through the inspiration Of
science. realizing sense of the sacredness
of msns bodily ard mental constitution, aud the
folly of trihing with it aud we shall cease to see
the materials of Gods bounty which are de-
signed for healthful nutrition, changed by the
w0ntOn iniquity of man into deadly poison.
We explain these truths at length, because ws
regard them as Of the highest moment, and we
trust that by this means the public may be some
What reused to them. But they need frequent
and persistent teaching: aud we call the atten-
ton of lecture committees of Lyceums AMI
Young Mems Associations to the subject They
ought to provide lectures upon Chemistry in its
IN 'st interesting and important applications
its dry technology, but its living truth. There's
a prevalent impression that chemical lectures
are necessarily dry and unsttractive-less enter
tanning to the people than those upon literary
subjects. But literature affords no topic which
is more capable Of awakening and sustaining the
utmost attention of popular audience than the
laws aud relations Of the vegetable aud animal
world when presented in the light of recent
chemical discoveries. Lecturers may fail-the
smatterer from incapacity aud the learned Col /
lege Professor from want of adaptation, az he !
rarely lives upon the peoples plane, but still, |
with the demand for ttem, class of genuine
popular instructors in this most necessary and /
important science cannot fail to grow up.
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