Litchfield enquirer. [volume] (Litchfield, Conn.) 1829-current, 1855-05-03
tbs WoRLp's PRoGREss.-It is curious

THE WoRLp's PRoGREss.-It is curious
and deeply interesting to observe how much
of the advance which mankind has made in
some of tho most essential branches of ma
terial Improvement has been effected within
the last quarter of a century and on the
other hand, in how many departments hui
man intelligence reached its eliminating
point ages Ago. 1t is not likely that, the
world will ever see a more perfect poet than
Homer, a grander statemen than Perlcles,
sublimer or more comprehensive philoso-
pher than Plato, a scul ptor equal to Phidias,
painter superior to Raphael. Certain it
is, that the lapse oftwenty or fIye-and-twen-
~ centuries has given birth to none who
have surpassed them, and TO few who have
approached them. In the fine arts and in
speculative thought, our remotest ancestors
are still our masters In science and its
applications the order of precedence is re-
versed, and our own age has been more
prolific and amazing than the aggregate Of
all the ages which have gone before us
Take two points only, the most obvious and
the most signal-locomoiion and the trans
mission Of intelligence. AT the earliest pc
Rod of authentic history men travelled as
fast as in the year 1890. Nimrod got over
the ground at the rate Of ten or twelve miles
an hour: Napoleon could 60 no faster
Between 1880 and 1910, we raised the
maximum Of speed from ten miles to seven
ty. The first six thousand years did moth
ing, or next to nothing-the next six years
did everything; reached the limits of pos
sible achievement in this direction; for no
one imagines that any greater speed is at
tainable or would be bearahe. Again; it
is probable that Abraham sent messages to
Lot just as rapidly as Frederick the Great
or George Ill. transmitted orders to their
Generals and Admirals. In 1894. the old
wooden telegraph was invented, and made
certain though partial and a slight adj
vance. But, with this exception, the rate
at which intelligence could be conveyed
had remained stationary at that of ordinary
locomo,ion on horseback up to 1910. In
lS4O4we communicated at the velocity of
twelve miles an hour. In 1850. we conf
municated over Unreasonable distances in
inappreciably ininitesimal subdivisions of
| time. The experiment was made and a
message was transmitted from Belgrade TO
| Liverpool insfanfaneously. spark given
at Dundee could fire the cannon of the In
| vaides al Paris. Here too, at single leap
we have reached the ne plus ultra of earthly
possibility. In ten years-nay. in five
We have cleared the vast space between the
speed of horse and the speed of lightning.
A California Funeral.-A miner, who
had been much respected, died some time
since at the California diggings, and it was
determined to give him regular funeral.
A digger in the vicinity, who, report said,
had once been powerful preacher in the
United States, was called upon to ofiiciate /;
and after "drinks all round" the party pro-
ceeded, with becoming gravity, to the grave,
which had been dug at distance of a hum
bred yards from the camp. When this
spot was reached, the officiating minister
commenced with an extempore prayer, du-
! ring which all knelt round the grave. SO
/ far was well; but the prayer was unneces-
saTily long, and at last some of those who
knelt began, in an distracted way, to finger
| the loose earth that had been thrown up
from the grave. 1t was thick with gold,
and an excitement was Immediately appa-
rent in the knecIing crowd. Upon this the
preacher stopped, and inquiringiy said,
+" Boys, what's that Gold J" he continued,
''and the richest kind Of diggings-the
congregation are dismissed. J" The poor
miner was taken from his auriferous grave
and was buried elsewhere, while the funeral
party, with the parson at their head. lost nc
i time in prospecting the new digging.