New Orleans daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1851-1866, 1861-01-07
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The old achemsts wasted their Ijye4 in tbc nm.
SUI OF Two unattatnable objects--the phosophers
stone and the elixir Of life tile former 10 tr iii
@ mo goa and the latter to bestow perpetual
youul. 10 Is now known that the turning Of Ali
metals INTO gold Ronid haze greatly a;miufabed
instead Of adding to the wealth OF mankind for II
sola we're made 50 abundant, il would no longer
answer the purpose Of money and for nae III iha
artS 1t ~ Less valuable than iron IT. NAV M ttat
men VIII some time be brought to the belief that
uInfadng youth would be no blessing, but with orr
laSnt, - Hohid De received as the greatest boon
which it is possible to imagine. -
Modern science does NOT expend itg efforts IN tha
pursuit Of these chmeras; but while it ID famiIiar
with maryels Of which the ancient aIchemists
c3uin form no conception, its own future is not
wholly nnadorned with the dreams of ROMANCE /
Had some superior intelligence appeared to one Of
the long, bearded old Arabs among his retorta and
&rncibles, and prophesied the achievements which
the human race were destined to make within 4 few
hundred years, how utterly incredible would have
been the prophecy.
Looking down the future, he would have said.
=" 1t shall be ascertaned that Arabia, the Red Sea
al the countries that yon have ever heard of, are
not at rest, and are constantly rushing away To-
wards the east more swiftly than the flight or ali
arrow from a bow. The distance from us to the
sun IS such that horse, running 20 miles an hour,
wlthont rest day or night, would require more than
5O0 years to make the journey, and yet this dis
lance shall be measured with a rod and line.
Though this fiery orb 10 as large as 600 globes
the SIZE OF this earth man shall measure its mighty
and the sum gifts tons shall be told Hidden from
the eyes of all who have ever lived, deep sunk in
the depths Of space, he shall behold countless
myriads OF other suns, and shall approximately
compute the uncomfortable distances which sers-
arate thera from u.s. SWarTnng in the dust beneath
our feet, in The air breathe in the interior If
our own bodies, in every stagpant pool he shall
discover multitudes of living beings, OF strange
and curious structure, whose numbers cast those
of the visible inhabitants Of the earth into insfqn
ficance. He shall put iron into condition III
which it shall become incorruptible as gold
and thus shall Your long sought philosophers stone
be discovered. The impaIpabfe yapor which rises
from water he shall harness to his chariot wheels
be shall make it dig his mines, grind his corn saw
his wood, weave his clothes, and drive his ponder
GUS iron ships over the stormy sea to rreat CONT
the rock shall leap from its firm bed and rush head
long through the air. He shall lay his hand upon
the solid mountains and they shall yaWn open to
hi9 passage; he shall be borne through them In
ease and comfort with velocity nuattainabIe 30
the Reetest steed. The sunbeam shall become liz
mostfathtul limner, and the thGnderboltof heaven
the obedIent servant OF his will in silence it shall
glide swiftly forth, beaMng his messages of busi-
ness, of pleasure, or Of caprice to the ntternost
parts of the earth in the tHinkling Of an eya.''
me MODERN student OF science, to whom these
incredible marVels are accomplished and familiar
facts seems less hopeful CT the continued trfnDls
of human intelligence than were the ancient aIehe Il
mists; but there are some ardent imaginatons that
love to sweep forward and revel in dreams Of the
future power OF our race: though the widest
flights of the most fertile fancy are tame when com
pared with the accomplished achievements Of the
past. These minds conceive that mans power Of
transporting his body from one place to another
has BY no means reached its ultimate limit; that
he will not only move more swiftly over the earth.
but that he will sail through the air and sWeen
under the sea. In their view, as the coal fieIds
fail, man will bore through the solid crust Of the
earth and warm great cities with its internal fires
The appliances Of industry viii continue 10 be
multiplied till all are able to command leisure and
thus to secure mental cultivation. With the re-
moval of ignorance and the temptations of poverty,
vice and crime shall cease, ana
and war shall be brought TO an end
and intelligence, comfort, prosperity, virtue peace
and happiness shall be the common Inheritance Of
all. Higher still! As the decay of old age il
caused by the gradual accumulation Of solid demos
lts in the system, and as there known solvents
of these deposits, some of the boldest ina ginatious
behold the future filed with the brightest Of all
hopes-the promise of perpetual youth.