The spirit of democracy. [volume] (Woodsfield, Ohio) 1844-1994, 1854-08-30
The Primitive Man.

10 have created, in the beginning. sue
y men and women as we find the huma
race, in their physical condition, now /,
: be. Examine the book OF Genesis, whic
contains the earliest annals of the huma
family. As is commonly supposed. it com
prises the first twenty three hundredsan
sixty. nine years OF human history. Wit
chlldllke simplicity, this book describes III
> infancy OF mankind. Unlike modern. his
tories, it details the minutest circumstance
of social and individual life. Indeed it i
rather series of biographies than his
tory. The false delicacy of modem time
did not forbid the mention Of whatever wa
done or suffered. And yet. over all tha
expanse Of time-for more than one -thirt
part of the duration oi the human race-no
single instance is recorded Of child borr
blind, or deaf, or dumb, or idiotic, or m al
formed in any way! During the whole pc
riod. not single case Of natural deatl
in infancy. or childhood, or early man
hood is to be found. Not one man or wo
man died Of disease.
The simple record is, "and he died." or
he died ''in good old age. and full o
years." or. he was "old and full Of days.
No endemic, nor even epidemic disease
prevailed, showing that they died the natu
raj death ofdistempered ones. Through al
this time [exoept in the single case ofJob
in his age, and then only for day or two
before his death it does not appear tha
that any man. was i'll, or that any old lady
or young lady ever tainted.
Bodily pain from disease is nowhere
mentioned. No cholera infantum. scarla.
tina. me easles, smallpox-not even q tooth.
ache! extraordinary thing was il for
a son to die before his father, that an in.
stance Of it is deemed worthy Of special
notice; and this first case of the reversal
Of natures law was two thousand years
after the creation Of Adam. See how this
reversal of natures law has for us become
the law; foEshow rare is it now for all the
children of . family to survive the parents
Rachael died AT the birth Of Benz amin; bui
this is the only case Of puerperal death
mentioned in the first twenty -four hundred
yearssof the sacred history; and even this
happened during the fatigues Of patri-
archialjourney, when passengers were mol
waited along in the saloons OF rail-car and
steamboat. Had Adam. think you. tuber.
culous lungs? Was Eve fat-chested, or
did she cultivate the serpehtine line Of
grace in cursed spine2 Did Nimrod ge,
up in the morning with furred tongue, or
was he tormented with dyspepsias Had
Esan ,hesgout or hepatitisa Imagine how
the tough old Patriarchs would haye look
ed at being asked to subscribe for lying
in hospital. or an asylum for lun aiics, or
TN eye and ear infirmary, or school for
idiots or deaf.mutes. What would their
eagla-vision and swift.footednsss have
said to the project of blind asylum or an
orthepedic establishment? Did they suf.
fer any of those revenges OF nature again 8,
false civilizalionl No! Man came from
the hand of God so perfect in his bodily
organs. so defiant of cold or heat, Of
drought and humidity, so surcharged with
vital force, that it took more than two
thousand years of the combined abomina-
lions of appetite and ignorance; it took
successive ages Of outrageous excess and
debauchery. to drain him OF his electric
energies and make him even accessible TO
disease; and then it took ages more to
breed all these vile distempers which, n ow
nestle, like vermin,. in every organ and
fibre OF our bodies!
During all this time. however, the fatal
causes were at work, which wore away,
and finally exhausted the glorious: and
abounding vigor OF the pristine race. AT
least as early as the third generation from
Adam, polygamy began. lnier-marriages
were all along the order OF the day. Even
Abraham married his half sister. The
basest harlotry was no, beneath one OF the
Patriarchs. Whole people, like the Moa-
bites and Amorites, were the direct fruit
Of combined drunkenness and incest be-
tween father and daughters. The highest
pleasures and forces Of the race gradually
narrowing down into appetite and incon.
tinence. At length. its history became al
most too shocking to be referred to. If its
greatest men, its wisest men, its God ia.
vored men, like David, could be guilty. OF
murder for the sake Of adultery, or, like
Solomon. could keep seraglio Of a thou.
sand wives and concubines, what, black
ness can be black enough to paint the por.
traits OF the people they ruled, and the
children they begat!
After the Exodus, excesses rapidly de.
voloped into disease. First came cutane
Gus distempers-leprosy. boils. elephanti.
asis, &c.-.the common effort to throw yis-
cerel impurities 10 the surface. As early
as King Asa, that royal malady, the gout,
had been invented. Then came consump.
lions, and the burning ague, and. disorders
Of the visceral organs; and pestilences. or,
as the Bible expresses it, "great plaques
OF long continuance, and sore sickness
and Of long continuance;" until in the
time of Christ, we see how diseases Of all
kinds had become the common lot of man.
kind, by the crowds that flocked to him to
be healed. And so frightfully. and so dis.
gracefully numerous have diseases now
become, that if we were to write down their
names, in the smallest legible hand, on the
smallest bits Of paper. there would not be
room enough on the human body to paste
the labels.-E Extract: Horace Mann's In.
augural ADDRESS.
DANGERs7;;Itis dangerous to lean gainsi
. wall during thunderstorm, because the
lightning will sometimes run down wall,
and if person were leaning against the
wall, the lightning would leave the wall
L H., St> L. -