Houma Ceres. [volume] (Houma, Parish of Terrebonne, La.) 1855-18??, 1857-05-16
r1i,s. lll'|''
Living Polyglot.

VI AnSmOiy ucluS CoiiAou W q pclicCtlOu
j almost inconceivable. Thus Macanlay
in an incredible short space OF time has
been known 10 memorize completely the
muitifarious and ihcongruons contents Of
q number Of the London Times. and the
English lawyer, John w. Smith, could
repeat fifteen hundred lines Of poetry after
one perusal.
/ Perhaps the migh,iest memory ever
possessed by any human being was that
Of Cardinal Hiezzotand, the Librarian of
the Vatican to Rome. The following
description efthe accomplishments of this
wonderful man is eivsn'by a German phi
lologist who visited him:
The vastness Of the range Of language
which he had mastered borders closely on
the incredible and, what appear, hardly
less marvellous, this enormous store has
not only not produced any Bable.like
Fconfasion in his head, but on the contrary
lies completely at his command, so
that without the least effort, and without
any observable interval, he passes from
one realm of language to another, as light.
~ as bird hops from spray to spray. He
is familiar with all the European langua.
ges; and by this we understand not only
the old classical tongues aud the first class
modern ones that is to say, the Greek
and Latin, the Italian, French, Spanish,
Portuguese, German, and English; his
knowledge embraces also the language Of
the second class, viz: the Dutch, the
Danish, and Swedish, the whole Sclavonic
family. the Russian, Polish. Bohemian or
Czechish, and Servian, the Hungarian,
and Turkish; and even those Of the third
and fourth class, the Irish, WEIGH, Alba
MAN, Wallackian, Bulgarian and lllyrian,
are equally at his command. On my hap.
pening TO mention that had once dabbled
a little in Basque, he at once proposed that
we should set about it together. Even the
Romani Of the A lips, and the Lettish, are
not unfamiliar to him ; nay he has made
himself acquainted with Lappish, the Ian
guage of the wretched nomadic tribes of
Lapland although he told me he did not
know whether it should be called Lappish
or Laplandish. ras..d mod ..r.-. 7.7
80. /" Passing along to Asia, it is true that
ne does not claim acquaintances with all
the dialects Of this vast region, with its
desolate steppes, and its fallen degenerate,
and fast decreasing population but new
ertheless, even here, there is hardly one
OF the more prominent languages, especi-
ally those which fall within the circle of
European intercourse. that has escaped
his grasp. Thus he is master Of all the
languages which are classed under the
lndo- German family the Sanscrit and
Persian, the khordish, the Armenian, the
Georgian he is familiar with all the
members Of the Semitic family, the He.
brew Arabic, Syriac, Samaritan, Chaldee,
the Sabaic, and even the Chinese, which
be not only reads but speaks. e As re.
CARDS Africa, and its Hamatic races, the
recent revival Of intercourse, with that
country, and especially with Egypt and
Absinia, have facilitated the extention Of
Of his acquaintance with its languages.
He.knows the Cop,ic, Ethiopic. Abyssin-
ian. Amharic, andAngelese. cannot
from my own knowledge say whether he
has acquired any Of the native languages
Of America, except the Californian but
| have. been told that even while he was
in, Bologna, he learned some, Of these
from an ex.Jesuit who had sojourned as
missionary on that continent "A, ,e,if 49,.
aAl haiii s-~->~7--~-.oe--@--SI@ hfot srss !,
81 How FIRES ARE ExrlNeursHED IN
C1NcINNArl.-'rhe Cincinnati ENQUIRER
states that. the loss in that city by fire,
over, insurance, during the last year,
amounted to but 926, 626, and that loss ,
was by the destruction Of single edifice,
The Peoples theater. The, Enquirer thus
describes the manner in which : FIRE is
in Cine innati $, bsqqoia 81 ieilfl :
The alarm is sounded and the locality I
81 The fire indicated. Immediately the f
horses are hitchsd by iwelI.pa and trust. q
worthy men, who never sleepat their q
posts, and the seven huge, smoking, lum. 9
bering but easily managed machines, tear ].
through our streets, creating, like cosnets, D
steam As they 60. and marking their cour.
res by fiery stream. Arrived near the d
scene Of the fire, the engines arc posted, .
probably several squares of, exactly over 8
be huge cisterns constructed At the cor.
hers Of all the streets, and with one or two r
nen In wxfch the Annins nd loan an ~