The Nashville daily union. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1862-1866, 1866-04-27

Eastern OFiSiu OF Modern Jtliltless
The following extract from Diapers
last work, "Civil Policy in Emericl,"
shows the Eastern origin of much that
10 useful and admirable:
ain times Of which history has failed
to preserve any account, that continent
(Asis) must have been she scene Of
prodigious activity. In il were first
developed those fundamental inven-
tions and discoveries which really lie
at the basis of the progress Of the hU-
man race-the subjugation IF domes
tic animals, the management Of FIRE,
the expression Of thought by writing
We are apt TO overlook how much man
must have done, how much be must
have added 10 his natural powers in
pre- historic times We forget how
many contributors to our own comforts
are Of Oriental origin. Their common
ness hides them from view.
of the European wishes to know
how much he owes the Asiatic, be hes
oaly to cast a glance at an hour of his
! daily life. The clock which summons
him from his bed in the morning, was
an invention of the East, as also were
clepsydras and sun-dials The prayer
for his daily bread, that he has said
from infancy, first rose from the side Of
Syrian mountain. The linens and
cottons with which he clothes himself,
though they may be very iiue, are in
lerior to those that have been made for
time immemorial in the looms OF India
| The silk was stolen by some miBsiona-
| ries, for his benefit, from China He
could buy better steel than that which
he shayes himself, in the city Of Da-
mascus, where it was iirst invented
"The coffee he expects at breakfast
was FIRST grown by the Arabians, and
the natives OF Upper India prepared
the sugar with which be sweetens it
A schoolboy can tell the meaning Of
the SAnscrit words, Sacchord caafI If
his tastes are light and he prefers tea,
the virtues Of that excellent leaf were
hrst pointed out by the industrious
Chinese. They also taught him how TO
make and use the cup and saucer in
which 20 serve IL tbs breakfast tray
was lacqutred in Japan
There Is tradition that leayened
bread was first made Of the waters of
J the Ganges. The egg he is breaking
was laid by fowl whose ancestors
, we're first domestoated by the Malat-
cans, unless she may have been
; though that will not alter the Case
modern Shanghai IL there are pre.
serves and fruits in his board. let him
remember with thanktulness that Per
STA gave him the cherry, the peach, the
! plum u 10 any of these pleasant pre-
r parsGOns be detects the flavor Of aico
/ bol, let il remind him that that sub
y stance was hrst distilled by the Ara
3 bians, who have set him the praise
: worthy example which it will be his
d ben, Il 10 follow, of abstaining from its
use When he talks about coffee ans
i alcohol, be Is using Arabic words
]. thousand years before IL had occurred
h 20 him 10 enact laws Of restriction II
r. the use Of intoxicating drinks, Ia,
e Prophet OF Mecca did the same thing
: and, what is more 10 the purpose, ha
J, compelled TO this day ali Asia an,
= africa 10 obey them
d I'VE Crafty our taste for personal or
q nAments in the way the Ouentals hay,
q taught us-in a. pearls, rubles, sap
= phTes, diamonds OF public amuse
. ments it Is the came The most mag
nihcent fireworks are still to be seer
=. in India and China; and as regards tht
.- p2sumes OF private life, Europe has
p produced no invention that can riya
q the game Of chess
We have no hydraulic construction.
>, IS great az the Chinese Canal, no FORTH
!. cauous as extensive as the Chimes,
,l Wall, We have no artesan wells thai
= can al all approach in depth Of some O
theirs, We have not yet rezorted &,
a the practice Of obtaining coal-gss from
the interior Of the earth, they hay,
IS boriugs Tor that purpose more thas
e 5000 feet deep