The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1867-11-21

Celestial asd Terrestrial Phese1esa-sIsrai
Eject or Physical Forces.
Vesuvius = once again pouring its torrent
OF IRE through the vineyards Of Lachrymi
Christi and threatening to engulf cities - It
did In the days when the world was nrst
divided between the thoughts Of Julius Cesar
and those Of Jesus Christ There Is terror in
the valley Of Mexico also, and the people are
filed with alarm ct the threatened activity OF
volcano long extinct. whose blaze was per-
haps beacon to the adventurous Cortss and
. portent TO the falling empire Of the Monte
zumas News from the West Indies hints the
devastation Of IN earthquake in the island
memorable for It, association with the name
Of Columbus and - the arst seat Of Spanish
power In this hemisphere. From such differ
emit points on the esrth's surface come the evil
dences that there 3 perturbation within; that
the collision Of the pent-up forces has for the
time destroyed the balance. simultaneously
with these internal urbances-dependent
upon them by unknown relation-we have also
wonderful disturbances on the surface-storms
In the air Of scarcely paralleled power, hurri-
canes that have blown the sea completely over
great tracts Of land. Beyond our atmosphere,
In open space-there are storms In the stars,
too-shoals Of nebulous matter have been
lately driving across the earth's orbit, rebound
ing from the elasticity OF our atmospheric
armor, or masses Of this matter consumed by
combustion resulting from the contact or from
the heat generated BY the friction Of their flight
In oil tho great divisions Of visible nature there
b perturbation, destruction Of the common
order, perhaps arrangement Of natural and
planetary laws Yet II was long since wisely
suggested that our so-oalled discord might be
" harmony not understood" and this Il . sub
ject on which It Is hardly safe to say that what
seems 10 ~ arrangement II not order. In
whatever phrase science may state the relation
between these several wonders fthe universe
for It seems difacult 70 believe that they are
not related ono with anolr-it Is doubtful
whether the phrases can do moro than disguise
ignorance. When Moses said Of somewhat
similar wonders that the spirit Of God moved
upon the face Of the waters" he perhaps ex-
pressed the 0rst cause quite - satisfactorily ~
science can do Il even now.
Human observation has noted In every age
that there d an agreement between the great
perturbations in the physical world and those
revolutions, changes, upheavals Of society,
those disturbances Of political and moral rels-
lions that are in common view regarded as
due either to human pride, passion and ambi-
ton, or to the direct interpretation Of super
intending providence" Falling dynasties
are associated In the oldest Of human remem-
brances with the portent Of some blazing comet;
and 90 following there d hardly an i'll worthy
tho dignity Of history but has had It's attend ing
Or preceding signal In the heavens. Men
readily associated these things in the ages
when faith was governing principle-when It
was assumed that they saw God in all that
they could mot otherwise explain, and when
the physical wonder that game In the same
period was naturally taken - warning Of
some more strictly human event But this b
an inquiring rather than believing age; yet
We must still associate great stellar
atmospheric or terrestrial perturbation With
periods remarkable for human changes. We
associate them inevitably because they come
together - matter Of fact |; and then follows
the inquiry, Ii the relation merely one Of coin
cidence, or did the thinkers who CROPPED and
guessed In the early dawn Of intellectual light
"reason better than they kneww Doubtless
this inquiry Il to be answered fully only when
further discovery shall exactly develop the
nature, power and modes Of action Of that yet
comparatively unknown principle-electriclty.
II il remarkable Characteristic of this princi-
pie that II ID ct onoe cause and result Of
the greatest operations In nature, while no
more definite account can be given Of varying
states Of humanity, whether In respect to
health In the common sense or In respect to
Intellectual status, than consists In the ale
CATION Of varying electrical conditions.
Il the vis nsrvosd upon which our daily health,
opinions, acts depend, electricity Many i'm
portant experiments seem TO indicate that II IL
nothing else, and that II il differs In certain
respects Il differs only ~ it, natural medium Of
action does from those things thatare the usual
media Of electricity. Well, this power, that 20
efIectually determines for better or worse our
daily scts, d also the spirit Of the storm, and
is generated and set free In perhaps iliimltabls
quantities by those great chemical actions
Of nature Of which the volcanoes, the comets,
the atmospheric storms are only signs and
symptoms AT the very time, then, that the
volcano and the comet are blazing In their
several ways Infinite Power d setting free
an agent, impalpable save In results, that, aot-
ing through human brain and nerve, makes
our pestIlsnces a. well - our wars, and
originates the grand revolutions and changes
that illuminate human history.
In the present condition Of the political and
moral world wa NAV zee that the agreement