New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1857-07-20
FROM BOSTON.
vur On, Own Correspondent

BosTON, Thursday, July 10, 1857.
Some eracele,s wag, in whose irreverens eyes an
seoua;ptaDce With the Partuiti"n aad habits OF tir-
,le, /, not the highest achievement Of human knoW-
edce. bs. been amusing the town by p@qunading
in THE Trareier the Cambridge Spiritual Commits
,i-n. He pretend- 20 reprint an original account Of
somewhat similar commission Of Venetian pun
dis appointed to examine and report on the Mari
ner's Compass soon after its invention in the thir
teepth century.
The account begins by stating that one Marcus
Paulus, by whom is probably meant Marco Polo,
had given out that wire balanced on q bit Of
wood did, without any visible cause, arrange itself
in line due north and south. This gross and pal
Fable absurdity, so contrary TO all experience and to
all the laws Of nature and the dictates Of common
seBee, &c. as Tie Boston Courier would say, hid
nevertheless, by the aid of juggery and the test-
moBy of cloud of witnesses ignorant OF the true art
of observing gained grca credit with the creduous
multitude, and even with some who ought tn have
known better.
At length, to check the delusion which was really
becoming serious committee of four doctors was
appointed or rather self-appointed The chief of
these was 1.-THE learned Helvetius, which is evil
IDENTIFY Swiss for AgassZ. " He had moro than
all men pryed into the sea cattle ycleped the crab
" and the turte:" and, moreover "he knew the
" relation of the Moor to the baboOn'-an sllusion
to Agsssizs chronological nisiseries. Next was the
Professor Bore, "whose intellectuals were a ma
chine to mark, out the path of the
comet. that he should not hit the moon
land who did ever chew upon the roots called
cubes And to most his teachings were cmetical
and inflicted the tOrturing dOlOrs of the calculus
(Which is a species Of gravel. And from the bit
"terless of the roots which he chewed upon, and
2
"times cholerick." A not Inaccurate description
Of Professor PIERCE.
Then there was the Alchemst HippOporos-
which take TO be Greek for the Chemical Professor
Horstord-" who taught the young Venetians mat
% the lime and the vinegar would hzzle; and though
"he might not arrive at the elixir, he well knew
"that hotOny would sometimes bring to light the
philosophers stone" Compromising together two
distinguished naturalists the writer continues:
And there Was the Doctor GhOue, cunning III
bugs and the cryptOgamie OF plants, for one 50
Young and well knowing the stars and the mys
teries of the Chaldeans" DR.. A. A. Gould, noted
for his pursuit of natural history and DIR. B. A.
Gould the astronomer are here mixed together. The
latter was on the Committee.
"And added to them to hold their treasure, was ye
noted civilian Lumpe, who would have been create
bard if urkind nature had not refused him ye power
Of language and We CITIES of imagination For ye
uunkmakers did much affect his poemes, which are
U,HbN
And ale these persons albeit somewhat egged on by
their self-esteeH,, Meet were We instruments OF
others above all of learned GrecGn, merry man
of pleasant wit albeit ne schoard, and valiant
at rotte and trencher and who, with Lunpe and
others, whom merged in things Politticke, were wont
| to play PRETTY on penny trumpet ycleped Ye
Currer.' oarrvsc tunes al ye same moment.
Lumpe and the Grecian are obviously Lunt and
FELTON,. The narrative proceeds with the COLO
Quies Of the various Doctors in true Boston
'.Currier" STYLE showing that they alone know how
10 Observe aud demonstrating, strict scientific
principles that ordinary peoples eyes were not to
be trusted that the movement OF the wire or needle
by an invisible force was absurd and Impossible.
After much talk, pro and con, the Doctors at last
gave challenge and offer to Paulus, or any OF the
believers in the compass, OF five hundred shin
plasters, Venetian coin OF great value, II they
twill make the compass to bulge an inch to
"the north under the rules and cOndi-
"tions that we will impose" Some Of the
believers would have dissu AIDED pauus (whO appears
TO represent DR.. Gardner from accepting the cha-
cnse under the pretext that the compass sometimes
refused tO work. and that only certain needles OF wire
epjoyed the magical faculty OF pointing 10 the nortl
and that ne was too little yersed III the matter 10
know all the possible and impossible conditions
Confident in his compass Pauus, like Dr. Gardner,
ran for luck in defiance of " conditions. The
Committee Of Doctors WAS too much for him. lhey
resOrted to cOunteracting influences as unwiulngy,
NJ rhaps, as did our late Cambridge COMMITTEE,
when dealing With the mediums.
"Ye comIasse settle upon table. before which,
| to protect it from ye Vaccinations OF re infamous
horde of Paulus was stretched grating of steel wre
| And 10! when they cutie cffe, by Ibis means
from their devylsbe tckes, ye conpasse would never
bulge, but pointed to we Easte, as it had been settle
| downe, though ye experiment continued and ye
civilian Lumpe held ye shnplasters in ye bosom OF his
| tune, many days.! And thus was Antichrise over
thrown and ye yng invention of ye compasse yproven
| a delusion and ye Doctors and ye blowers OF We
trumpet achieved much glory; and We grateful people
| accrued them with medales Of bulh;kes hide and
dtcreed that they might thereafter forever appear in
| public ard on We canals of Venice with pointed caps
like ye mtres OF ye Jewish priesthood, and ye sound
| of ye bells wen, with Them"
The Venetian Committee, however, had tempo
rsrily better luck than our Cambridge doctors, for
though the compass ultimately prevailed over their
| scientific arguments and demonstrations, they ap-
pear to have carried the people with them, and to
| have checked the deluson for time; while in our
day the " Investigation into the claims Of Spirit
| uasm has only resulted in calling attention to the
subject and multiplying the number Of believers
| Our INLAND PoRrs OF ESTRY.--The inhabitants