Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1860-07-20
MISCELLANEOUS READING.
Joppa.

Joppa is one OF the oldest cities in
Palestine, if not in the world When
Joshua divided Canaan among the twelve
tribes, he gave Joppa (Japho) to Dan;
and Hebron, another city Of great age,
was given to Ashur. From the. remotest
antiquity, it was the principal a-port
of Canaan, as it is to this day. Though
thirty miles distant, it was the nearest
sea- port to Jerusalem. In building the
temple, Solomon brought wood from Le-
banon this way: "We will bring it to
thee in floats by sea to Joppa, and thou
shalt carry it up to Jerusalem" 2 Chron.
ii. l6. When Ezra rebuilt the temple,
he again brought cedar trees from lie.
banon to the sea {harbor) of Joppa."
Ezra iii. 7. From then till now, Joppa
has continued to be the chief seaport Of
Palestine All persons going to Jeru-
salem by sea, land here; and all the mer-'
chandise comes through this port. This
traffic has greatly increased its popua-
ton of late years, so that it is now
equal to that of the Holy City-l5,000.
The city is built on low ledge of
rocks which extends into the sea. On
this it rises, and recedes from the coast,
assuming somewhat the shape of a cone,
around which large gardens of orange
and pomegranate trees spread out.
From our steamer in the harbor its white
houses and green groves gave it the ap.
pearance of fairy city, embowered amid
dowery, fragrantgroves Numerous wa
ter-wheels, worked by oxen, donkeys,
and mules, pump great quantities of wa
ter to irrigate these gardens. In its
rear, the landscape slopes out into the
pastoral plain of Sharon. to whose roses
Solomon aludes in the Csnticles. The
city has but one principal street, into
which all its trade is crowded 1t
swarms with men, mules, and donkeys,
shrieking, ,braying, in front ofthe bazaars.
Hither come merchantmen from the land
of the Philistines, along the sea-coast to
the south, and the Arabs from large
scope Of country, sometimes filling the city
with lawless, murderous crowd.
The harbor Of Joppa is like boil.
ing cauldron, always in commotion. Of
ten when the sea outside is perfectly
calm, the tumbling waves 10 the barbor
make it dangerous for vessels to land.
The UNIVERSAL META4oRPHosIs If a
wafer be laid on surface of a polished met
al, which is then breathed upon, and-if.
when the moisture of the breath has evapo-
rated, the wafer be shaken of, we shall find
that the whole polished surface is not as it
was before, although our senses can detect
no difference; for If we breathe again upon
it the surface will be moist everywhere ex-
cept on the spot previously sheltered by the
wafer, which will now appear Us o spectral
image on the surface Again, and again we
breathe, aud the moisture evaporates, but
still the spectral wafer reappears. This ex-
pertinent succeeds after lapse of many
months if the metal be carefully put aside
where its surface cannot be disturbed. fla
sheet of paper, on which key has been
laid, be exposed for some minutes TO the sun
shine, and then instantaneously viewed in
the dark, the key being removed, q fading
spectre of the key will be visible. Let this
paper be put aside for many months where
nothing can disturb it, and then, in dark.
ness, be laid on plate of hot metal, the
spectre of the key will again appear. In
the case Of bodies more highly phosphores-
cent than paper, the spectres Of many differ
ent objects which may have been laid on it in
succession WILL on warming, emerge in their
proper order. This is equally true of our
bodies and our minds. There are cases on
record of ignorant women. in states of in
sanity, uttering Greek and Hebrew phrases,
which in past years they have heard their
masters utter, without, of course comprehen-
ding them. These tones have long been
forgotten the traces were SO faint that, un-
der ordinary conditions. they were invisible;
but these traces were there, and, in the in
tense light of cerebral excitement, they start
ed into prominence just as the spectral i'm
age of the key started into sight on the APP
plication of heat We are involved in the
universal metamorphosis, Nothing leaves US
wholly as it found us. Every man we meet,
every book we read, every picture or land
scape we see, every word or tone we hear,
mingles with our being and modi6es it,
AN ERRONEOUS ASSUMPTION The fact
that some Of the most distinguished men of
the United States are not much indebted
for their position 70 scholastic training has
given rise to common notion that the dis
tnguished youth at the College or Universe
ty generally falls behind in the competitions
of the world 1t is undenable that some
of our first statesmen, lawyers clergymen,
&C., have been men who did not enjoy the
benefits Of thorough early education
This is not true, however, of the public men
Of America generally, especially in the
Southern States. The subject was discuss
ed some years ago in the British Parliament,
and, on that occasion, the historian Macau
lay pretty effectually exploded the fallacy
to which we have referred. lie trayersed
the field of Parliamentary history from the
days of Montague and Bolingbroke to those
Of Canning and Peel. and the latter period
Of Lord Derby and Gladstone-all of whom
had taken high collegiate honors. The ablest
Governors OF India were Hastings, Metcalfe,
Wellesley and Peterborough, each Of whom,
he said, had been eminent at Westmlnls-
ter. or Eton, or Oxford, or Cambridge. At
the bench and the bar, he enumerated Mans
field, Eldon, Stowell. Gibbs. Tentenden,
Lyndhurst, Baron Anderson, Justice Maule,