The tri-weekly standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1866-1868, 1866-05-19
Miscellaneous Selections.

EASTERN ORIGIN OF MODERN U1ILI-
TIEs.-The following extract from Dra-
per's last work, "Civil policy in Amer
ica," shows the Eastern origin of much
that is useful and admirable
"In times of which history has failed
to preserve any account, that Continent
(Asia) must have been the scene of pro-
digious activity. In it were first devel
oped those fundamental inventions aud
discoveries which really lie at the basis
fthe progress of the human race-the
subiugation of domestic auimals, the
management of fire, the expression of
thought by writing. We are apt to over
look how much man must haNe done, how
mnch he must have added to his natural
powei in prehistoric times. We forget
how many contributors to our own COM
forts are of oriental origin. Their COM
monness hides them from our view.
"Ifthe European wishes to know how
to glance at an hour of his daily life.
The clock which summons him from his
bed in the morning, was the invention
of the East, as also were clesydras and
sun-dials. The prayer for the daily
rose from the side of a Syrian mountain.
The linens and cottons with which he
clothes himself though they may be
very fine, are inferior to those that have
| been made from time immemorial i'll the
looms of India. The silk was stolen by
some missionaries, for his benefit, from
China He could buy better steel than
that which he shaves himself, in the city
Of Damascus, where it was first invented.
'The coffee he expects at breakfast
was first grown by the Arabians, and
the natives of Upper India prepared the
sugar with which he sweetens it. a
school boy can tell the meaning of the
Sanscrit words, sacch0na cd,tdu. Ifhis
tastes are light and he prefers tea, the
virtues of that excellent leaf were first
pointed cut by the Industrious Chinese.
They also taught him how to make and
use the cup and saucerin which to serve
it. His breakfast tray was lacquered i'll
Japan.
g There is tradition that leavened
bread was first made of the waters of the
Ganges The egg he is breaking was
laid by fowl whose ancestors were first
domesticated by the Malaccans, unless
she may have been-though that will
not alter the Casa modern Shanghai.
If there are preserves and fruits i'll his
board, let him remember with thankful
ness that Persia gave him the cherry,
| the peach, the plum. Fin any Of these
| pleasant preparations he detects the fla
vor of alcohol, let it remind him that
that substance was first distilled by the
| Arabi;,ns, who have set the praisewor-
thy example, which it will be his bcne-
fit to follow, of abstaining from its use.
When he talks about coffee and alcohol,
he is using Arabic words. y thousand
years before it had occurred to him to ell
act laws Of restriction III the use of intoX
icating drinks, the Prophet of Mecca did
the same thing, and what is more to the
purpose, has compelled this day all Asia
and Africa to obey them.
eve crafty our taste for personal
ornaments i'll the way the Oricntals have
taught us-in the pearls, rubies, sap
phires, diamonds. OF public amuse-
ments it is the same. The most magnif-
icent fireworks are still to be seen in In
dia and China; and us regards the past
lines ofprivate life, Europe has produced
no invention that can rival the game of
chess.
"We have no hydraulic constructions
rs great as the Chinese Canal, no fofti-
Wall we have no artesian wells that
can at all approach in depth some of
theirs. We have not yet resorted to
the practice of obtaining coal-gas from
the interior Of the earth they have bor-
ings for that purpose more than 5000
feet deep"