The Nevada Democrat., 1861-11-19
The shower of Worms at Grass Valley.

long been as celebrated for ltS quartz leaos anu
suicides, as Nevada, its great rival, has for its
"Secesh" politicians and defaulters, (perhapS
that last expression is rather tautological,) has
finally added spontaneously-produced angie
worms to the list of its attractions; whereupon
the staid and sober editor of the National
whom one would be the last to suspect OF SEN
sation proclivities, indites grave article, all
most as learned and obscure as the politics OF
his paper, in which he accounts for the fact OF
the denizens of Mill street, in that deleetable
burg,lhaying entertained "angles" not "una-
wares," by advancing the stale theory Of spon-
taneous electrical production in the atmosphere
He takes the percaution to prepare his readers
for this extraordinary announcement, by intro
ducing the following fine specimen Of scientific
hifalutin:
One of the most wonderful elements in Ma
ture is the subtle fluid, which, for lack OF
better name, has been called electricity year
after year we are learning more and more OF Its
powers, until, of late it is beginning to be looked
upon as the great agent by which nearly ana
perhaps quite all the phenomena of Nature are
deyeloped. Experiments have proved that, by
its intensified artificial application not only
vegetable aggregation, but even life itself may
be produced. Experiments have proved that
by this agency vegetable aggregation may be
produced SO rapidly as to be actually seen by
the naked eye. plant, with leaves and
branches, can be produced, several inches III
height, in the laboratory, in few moments OF
time. That animal life has been called into
existance by the same agency is now SO patent
that none but chronic cavillers will doubt. ii
such wonderful effects can be artihcially pro-
duced in the study, and in our present imperfect
knowledge, by this comparatively newly d;scov-
cred agency, what may we not believe might be
wrought, under favorable circumstances, in the
great laboratory Of nature'
II these statements are correct, it is safe to
say that "no other paper has the news" Un-
less the editor of the National can point out
his authority, /, for one, shall prefer to be
ranked as a "chronic caviller." But the auda-
city Of the thing is perfectly unparalleled. The
war fever must indeed be raging tremendously,
to have deprived the editor of the National Of
his usual timidity. and led him to venture on
such desperate assertions.
But, seriously will the National give its au-
thority for all these wonderful statements ?
The theory of spontaneous generation is older
than science itself, but there is not one solitary
instance on record which has withstood the test
of scientific examination; and the more light
there is thrown upon the origin of life, the
weaker becomes the theory of spontaneous
generation, until at present, it has very little,
except Geological ignorance" to rest upon. A
few years since, a Mr.. Cross, in England, crea-
ted considerable excitement in the scientific
world by his reputed success in producing vari-
Gus species of fungi, and also a species Of the
acarUs, a small insect, by the action of cleo
tricity upon water previously deprived, as far
as it possibly could be by boiling, of all life
sustaining properties. These experiments the
editor Of the National appears to have had in
view while inditing his account of the angle
worms. But if he had ever followed up his
scientific researches, with that industry for
which he is so commended in other things, he
would have ascertained, ere this, that all Mr..
Cross experiments were exploded on the spot
Specimens Of the acarus Crossi,: ,:taken directly
from the source of their supposed development,
and examined by powerful microscope, were
found to be already impregnated. Fungi have
long since been found to be the natural (not
artihciaD production of all decomposing and
acid substances; and subsequent experiments
have shown conclusively, that where all the
conditions are observed, and all the percau-
cautions taken to prevent the contact of the
atmosphere, all such experiments as those ci
Mr.. Cross have hopelessly failed. The editor
of the National will find the whole subject dis
cussed, and its present status fully explained,
in the February number of Blackwood's Maga-
zine for 1861, by one Of the ablest scientific
pens of Europe, reviewing a work by cele-
brated French Savant, M. Pouchet, whose re-
searches and experiments in regard to this
theory have been complete and almost exhaust.
i've, but which have utterly failed to satisfy the
scientific world.
Finally, will the editor of the National tell
us whether angle-worms are oviparous or vi
viparous? whether those of three-uuarters OF
an inch in length may be fairly considered as
newborn infants, or as having past the juven.
escent period of wormhoodi whether they made
/ their terrific descent on an empty stomach, OF
had dined previouslyI As dirt is the natural
/ food of angle worms, and that does not exist
/ in cloudland, its presence in their maws would
be conclusive of their terrestrial birth.
WORTH.
CRNsURB OF EUROPEAN TEL EGRAMs.-M
| Renter, the telegraphie monopolist of EurOpe