The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1866-05-18
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Tho following extract from Diapers last
work. uCivil Policy in Auierica,n shows the
Eastern origin of much that is useful and ad.
mirable:
preserve any account, that continent Asia
must have been the scene of prodigious ac
tiritv. In it we're FIRST developed those fun
damental inventions and discoveries which
really lie at the basis of the progress of the
human race-the subjugation Of domestic an
imals, the management of FIRE, the expression;
of thought by writing. We are apt to over
look how much man must have done; how
much he must have added to his power in
prehistoric times We forget how many con-
tributions to our own comfort are OF Oriental
origin. Their commonness hides them from
our view.
If the European wishes to know how much
he owes the Asiatic, he has only to cast
glance at one hour Of his daily life. The clock
which summons him from his bed in the morn
ing, was the invention of the East, as also
were clepsydras and sundals. The prayer
for his daily bread, that he has said from In
fancy, first rose from the side of Syrian
Mountain. The linens and cettons with
which he clothes himself, though they may
be very fine, are inferior to those that have
been made, from time immemorial, in the
looms Of India The silk was stolen by some
missionaries, for his benefit from China. He
could buy better steel than that with which
he shaves 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 natives of
Upper India prepared the sugar with which
he sweetens it. A school boy can tell the
meaning of the. Sanscrit words, saehdra
cdntla. If his tastes are light and he prefers
tea, the virtues of that excellent leaf were
first pointed out by the industrious Chinese.
They also taught him how to make and use
the cup and saucer in which to serve it. His
breakfast tray was lacquered in Japan.
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 tLa. will not alter the Casa modern
Shanghai If there are preserves and fruits
on his board. let him remember with thank
fulness that Persia gave him the cherry, the
peach, the plum. Ii in any of these pleasant
preparations he detects the flavor of alcohol,
let it remind him that substance was first
distilled by tie 4rabians. who have set him
the praiseworthy example. which it will be
for his benefit to follow, of abstaining from
its use. When he talks about coffee and al |
cohol, he is using Arabic words. A thousand |
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.
We crafty our tastes for personal orna.
ments in the way the Orientals have taught |
us-in the pearls, rubies, sapphires. dia
monds, Of public amusements it is the
The ,,oUptHoapf nrowarEo
still to be seen in India and China and as
regards..the pastimes of private life, Europe
has produced no invention that can rival the |
game of chess.
We have no hydraulic construction SO great
as the Chinese canal, no Notifications as ex
tensve as the Chinese wall we have no ar
tesian wells that can at all approach in depth
some Of theirs. We have not yet resorted 10
the practice of obtaining coal gas from the in
terror of the earth; they have borings for
that purpose more that 5000 feet deep.