Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1866-05-17
shows the Eastern origin Of much that is
useful and admirable: ..

shows the Eastern origin Of much that is
useful and admirable: ,ae .I..
In times of which history has failed to
preserve an account, that continent Asia J
must have been the scene Of prodigious
activity. In it were first developed those
fundamental inventions and discoveries
which really lie at the basis of the pro-
gress of the human race-.he spbjugation
OF domestic animals, the management Of
fire, the expression of thought by wri-
ting We are apt to overlook how much
man may have done; how much he must
have added to his power in pre-historie
times. We forget how many contribu-
tions TO our own comforts are Of Orien-
tai origin. Their commonness hides
them from our view.
If the European wishes to know how
much be owes the Asiatic, he has only to
cast a glance at one hour of his daily
life The clock which summons him
from his bed in the morning was the in
vention Of the East, as also we're clepsy-
dras and sundials The prayer Of his
daily bread, that he has said from his
infancy, first rose from the side Of a Syr-
ian 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 i'm
memorial, in the looms Of India. tt .
silk was stolen by some missionaries, for
his benefit from China. He could buy
better steel than that with which he
shayes himself, in the city of Damascus,
where it was first invented
The coffee he expects for breakfast was
first grown by the Arabians, and the ma
tives Of upper India prepared the sugar
with which he sweetens it. A schoolboy
can tell the meaning OF the Sancrit
words, saechaoa sandd. IL his tastes are
light and he prefers tea, the virtues of
that excellent leaf we're first pointed ont
BY the Industrious Chinese. They also
taught him how to make and use the cup
and saucer in which to serve II. His
breakfast tray was lacquered in Japan
There is tradition that leavened bread
was first made of the waters of the
Ganges The egg be 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 IN his
board let him remember with thankful
ness that Persia gave him the cherry, the
peach, the plum. If in any of these
pleasant preparations he detects the fla
vor of alcohol, let it remind him that
that substance was first distilled by the
Arabians, who have set him the praise
worthy example, which it will be his
benefit TO follow, of abstaining from its
use. When he talks about coffee and al
cohol, he is using Arabic words. A thou
sand years before it had occurred to him
to enact laws Of restriction in the use OF
intoxicating drinks, the Prophet OF
Mecca did the same thing, and what is
more to the purpose, has compelled to
this day all Asia and Africa TO obey
them.
e We crafty our taste for personal orna-
ments in the way the Orientals have
taught us-in the wearing Of pearls, ru-
bies, sapphires, diamonds. OF public
amusements it is the same The most
magnificent fireworks are still to be seen
in India and China. And as regards the
pastimes of private life, Enrope has pro-
dueed no invention that can rival the
game Of chess. au.u ,-3f
We have no hydraulic constructions
as great as the Chinese canal, no fortifi-
cations as great as the Chinese wall;
we have no artesian wells that can at all
approach in depth some of theirs We
have not resorted to the practice of OBJ
tanning coal gas from the interior of the
earth: they have borings for that pur-
nose mare than three thousand feet deep