Eastern times. [volume] (Bath, Me.) 1846-1857, 1855-07-05

cOntdincu III tne Velns OF an ADMIRED country
man! This iron suffers the common fate when
iron and air come into hostile contact No
sooner does the blood expose its pearly drops
in the lungs TO the atmosphere, than the in
sidious foe grasps il, AND strikes its fangs
deep into the minute particles of metal. The
iron cannot resist it must open IFS tiny pores
to the enemy, whom we call oxygen trusts
and bushes at its own disgrace. Thus we
find in all nature the gay contrast between
green and red; the world Of plants loves car
bon, and boists its bright color of green in
herb and tree; the higher realm of animals
needs oxygen, and it stamps their world with
thousand shades of red. As the tide Of life
sinks, and vigor declines, carbon again tri-
umPhs; and even the blood of man, when in
Its last stage of dissolution-in the bile-as-
sumes already greenish-yellow color. 1t
changes even with age and temper. The
young and the delicate have lighter blood in
the hearty and powerful it is darker. Dis
ease will, ofcourse, play wicked tricks with
our best treasures; it changes our life's cur
rent, now into deepest black, and then again
almost into pure white. The ssangre aSul, ;
claimed by the Spanish grandee, is but su-
perb sample Of human pride in all its folly !;
and poets only can speak of the crystal-clear
fluid in the veins of their gods on olympus, or
dream in German fancies Of blue blood on one,
and red blood on the other side Of the Rhine.
Nor is there much more truth in the famil-
lar phrases of the cold blood Of the north and
the warm blood of the south. Poets have here
also found happy excuse for erring man
kind in uncomfortable passions and 'hot
blood given by nature. II is sthe blood boil
ing over that pours forth torrent of fierce
curses it is the heart stung to the quick,
that inficts the fatal stab. And vet, though
our life's current may quicken when our pas
sions are excited, in reality all our crimes are
committed in 'cold blood > and the raving der
wish, who tears with beastly brutishness what
ever comes in his way, and the mad Malay,
running d-rnnck and Staying in blind fury even
his own beloved, have blood not one degree
warmer than the patient Hottentot and the
stolid Indian. Even the long ng-cherished fancy
Of cold blooded animals is not founded in
truth. Reptiles and fishes have colder blood
IT is true, than the higher classes of creation /;
still 1t is always warmer than ths element in
which they live, and in some fishes even as
warm as in man. A curious aspect of the
biood's temperature is seen in apparent DEATH
With man and all warm-blooded animals
among whom birds stand highest-,he warm
fluid favors life while there is life, but It also
aids death when once the hearts action -ceas-
es. Then its very heat hastens fermentation /;
the blood, loaded with organic matter, is by
its aid quickly dccomposed, becomes putrid,
and death is instantaneous and certain. Not
SO In cold-blooded animals; here apparent
death is frequent and Of long duration. The
lower they stand in the scale of nature, the
longer they can remain withou: any sign and
enjoyment of life. Here toad falls asleep in
cozy crag of sun-warmed stone it foreets
to awake. The rock grows and raises impen-
etrable walls all around, until the hand of man
comes to break the dismal prison and to re-
store the hermit once more TO light and life.
There learned men dry up infusoria and bury
them in miniature catacombs a drop of water
poured upon their minute bodies restores them
in moment to renewed and vigorous action.
| A German professor even took some tiny
creatures Of the family of spiders (tardigrada)
and kept them for seven long years in the
shape Of dry dust. Here also little moisture
was the magic wand, at whose touch the mys-
tic slumber was broken, and this novel Sleep
ing Beauty awakened TO new life. What a
wondrous contrast between the cold and stol-
id blood Of lower animals and the hot, kissing
stream that courses with winged speed through
the heart of man !! There, want of warmth
and vigor is safety; here, fullness of life and
abundance of heat is the very cause Of danger.
Hence the vast importance Of salt for the in
nor household Of animal and man. The wild
beasts OF the desert cannot live without it, nor
the cattle grazing on our maedows. Pliny
tells US how the most important part of the
Roman soldiers stipulated pay was his allow
ance of salt-hence saldrium, our salary-and
the Sons of the Desert of our Day still hold it
sacred. Long caravans Of camels, endless
strings of slaves, laden with the precious gifts
Of Nature, pass to and fro in the desolate re-
gions of North Africa and lest his blood
purify, as he says, the Arab dantily dis
solves his few grains of salt in az cup and drinks
it daily.
-, r