Grand River times. [volume] (Grand Haven, Mich.) 1851-18??, 1856-06-04

of national legislation and elevate it into an
element Of strife between different sections Of
the Union. 1t contends, that under our
system Of government, the control Of their
domestic affairs belongs to the people under
their state and municipal organizations, and
that when the National government under
takes to wrest it from them, it robs them OF
one of the most essential attributes Of self
governmena
And precisely at this point the difference
between Democrats and Black Republicans
on this Kansas subject begins. The Demo
Gratis insist that, in accordance with the fun
damental principles Of their faith, the actual
inhabitants Of Kansas shall control the ques-
ton of the existence of slavery among them,
subject only to the provisions of our National
Constitution. The Republicans, true to their
traditional party, instincts of distrust Of the
people, insist that they shall not, but that
they shall be deprived of the right Of gov
erning themselves on this point and submit
to Congressional control. Here lies the 0hole
Kansas issue. 1t is simply aQuestion of
selfgovenment. The Democrats, as usual,
take the side Of the people and stand up as
the defenders Of popular rights. The Wings,
or, as they choose to call themselves, Repub-
lcans, take the opposite side and seek to de-
prive the people of their essential political at
tributes. This battle must be fought out,
and it may as well come in its present form,
as any other. 1t must be settled whether
our people shall, in their State and local or
ganizations, retain the control Of questions
of purely local and domestic character, or
whether their rights in this respect shall be
absorbed by the National Government
The Democratic party has then its stand
not new one indeed, but in unison with its
past history-and it will not recede from it.
There can be no danger in predicting that
the issue of the contest will be on the side of
popular rights.
A PHYSIOLOGICAL CURIOSITY.
who have read the modern works on physiol-
ogy, or any of them, will remember well the
case of st. Martin, Canadian, whose stom-
ach had been wounded, so that an opening
was formed directly into it, and DR.. Beau
mont, of the u. S. Army, was enabled to do
something for science by the opportunity Of
observing the whole process of DIGESTION
The opening was about three-fourths of an
inch in diameter This st. Martin, after
having been quarter of century lost to
the scientific world, has suddenly appeared
in New York, where he is now stopping and
submitting to experiments. He is fifty years
old, and in good health. The New York
Post relates experiments tried with this in
dividual on the 26th ult:
"The first performed was that of intro
ducing the thermometer into the stomach,
through the opening, from which its temper
ature was ascertained to be 101 Fahrenheit.
DIR. Bunting next introduced into the stom-
ach the gum elastic catheter, and extracted
nearly an ounce and-a-half of gastric juice,
which was presented to DR.. Griscom, and
examined by him, and others, as to its taste
and other properties The third experiment
consisted in causing the patient to drink two
tumblers of water, which was Immediately
afterwards poured out through the orifce in
to basin held by DR.. Bunting. The expe-
riments being concluded, various questions
were propounded to DR.. Bunting in regard
to the time consumed in the digestion of va
rious foods. In reply he observed that the
carrot would consume between five and six
hours, while rare roast beef would digest in
an hour and half Melted butter would
not digest at all, but float about in the stom-
ach. Lobster was comparatively easy of di-
gestion. Upon application of the gastric
juice to piece of purple tissue paper, the
color at once faded. In relation to the pa
tients health, DIR. Bunting observed that it
had been uniformity. excellent, he having,
since his recovery from the first effects of the
wound, supported large family by his daily
labor"
ASKING TOO MUoH.-A young couple were
sitting together in a romantic spot, with birds
and flowers round about them, when the fol-
lowing dialogue ensued:
"My dear, if the sacrifice of my life would
please thee, gladly would lay it at thy
feet" ezI ra ie.
"Oh, dear sir, you are too kind! But it
just reminds me that l wish that you would
stop using tobacco"
+ "Cant think of it. It's habit to which