Baton Rouge tri-weekly gazette & comet. [volume] (Baton Rouge, La.) 1865-18??, 1867-05-16
Taking the Nineteenth Century
Down a Peg.

| l.
recently delivered at Dumfries, by
the Rev. Hugh Stowell Brown, of
Liverpool
Men did as wonderful intellectual
feats 5000 and 5000 years ago as
are done in the present time. IF it
be true that man was only an i'm
proved gorilla, we don't find that he
allowed a greater resemblance to it
then than now for his own part, he
believed there were more monkeys
now than then, and possibly the
gorilla might not SO much represent
the race from which we sprang as
the destiny to which we are hasten
ing. Abraham he believed to be as
thoroughbred gentleman as any in
the nineteenth century Jacob as
good man of business as they
would find ON the Liverpool Ex-
change; while Joseph was states
man, and Moses a legislator, worth
more in their time than all the Lords,
Commons and Town Councils put
together. -.....
ave think we do all things on
grand scale, and cockney will
boast that the largest theatre in
London will hold 1000 people; go
600 would scarcely have filled the
Coliseum of Rome. st. Georges
Hall, Liverpool, is justly regarded
as a magnificent building, but it was
only a reproduction of very little
bit of the baths of Diocletian, which
were nearly quarter of a mile
square, the whole structure being a
very great deal larger than our
House of Parliament. Some mod
ems said if the people Of the an
Gent times could revisit the earth.
they would be very much astonisbed.
He had no doubt they would, but he
would be very sorry if they did in
case they should only laugh at as.
Possibly our great fathers who lived
in that stupidest Of all centuries-the
eightsenth-would be astonished,
but not the men of 1000 years ago.
1--WE thought we had made great
progress in sanitary science, but he
believed we were at disadvantage
compared with the ancients. In
Rome alone there were 500 public
baths, and it never had more than
halt the population of London.
They had hot, cold and vapor baths,
and something like our Turkish bath,
and, what was better still, the peo-
pie constantly used them. We
boosted of our civil engineering, but
it was questionable if it had adj
vanced much since the Romans
built their aqueducts, which were
carried over valleys, supported on
thousands of arches, or tunneled for
miles through the solid rock, while
the greatest scientific skill was re-
CURED to give the supply proper
grade.
"There was great deal of talk
about that wonderful triumph of
genius, bringing the water of Loeb
katrine to Glasgow, but the guam
tity of water delivered to every in
habitant of Rome was ton times the
water supply of London. An abun-
dant supply of water was special
characteristic of ancient cities. We
often read of the inhabitants of be-
sieged city suffering from hunger,
but rarely if ever from thirst. And
there was no overcrowding. Nine
veh contained six hundred thousand
inhabitants, but the population of
London, was, for its area, five times
as dense as that of Nineveh. The
ancients did not allow the dead to be
buried within the walls of their
cities-a practice only beginning to
be abolished with us. In point of
cleanliness, also, they were more
careful than we are. He read the
other day of some people taking the
cholera from washing the clothes of
persons who had died of that malady.
According to the Mosaic law these
clothes should have been buried.
Moses would not allow people to live
in houses that were unhealthy, but
it was no use turning the people out,
and allowing the house to stand he
knew people would live in it if it
and so he said: "Down
with every stick and stone of it.
"ln the matter of sewerage the
Romans were superior to us. The
,ity was built on arches for the pur-
BOSE of complete sewerage, and there
yet remains sewer in Rome SO wide
hat cart loaded with hay might