National opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1865-1874, 1867-06-28
Taking the Nineteenth Century Down
aPeg.


fries last month, OH "The Good Old
Times" We extract the following
passage:
"Men did as many Intellectual
feats 1000 and 5000 years ago as are
done in the present TINE. If it be
true that man was only 81 improveG
gorilla, we don't hcd & at he bore a
greater resemblance 70 it then than
now for his own part, he believed
there were more monkeys now than
then, and p' ssibly the gorilla might
not 50 much represent the race from
which we sprang as the destiny to
which we are Fastening. Abrah I'M
ne believed to be as thorough bred
a gentleman aSany IN the nineteenth
century Jacob as good a man OF
business as they wonld .ud on the
Liverpool Exchange; while Joseph
was a statesman, and Moses q legis.
latOr, worth a great deal more in
their time than all our lords, com.
mons, and town councils put togeth-
er.
1--WE think we do all things on
grand Scale, and acockney will boast
that the largest theatre in London
will hold four thousand people;
! thirty thousand would scarcely have
! filled the coliseum of Rome. St.
Georges Hall, Liverpool, is justly
regarded as very magnificent
building, but it is only reproduc-
1
! ton OF IA very little bit of the baths
OF Diocletian, which were nearly a
quarter OF mile square, the whole
structure being a great deal larger
than our house of Parliament.-
Some moderns said if the people OF
the ancient times could revisit the
earth. they would he very much as
toniShed. He had no doubt they
would, but he would be very sorr,
if they did, iii case they should only
laugh at us. Possibly our great
grandfathers, who lived in that stu
pidest ofall centuries. the eighteenth,
would be astonished, but not the
men OF two thousand years ago.
"Ne thought we had made great
progress III sanitary science, bat he
believed we were at q disadvantage
compared with the ancients. IN
Rome alone there We're 100000 pub
lie baths, and it never had more
than half the population n Lou.lcn
They had hot and cold Sapor baths
and something like our Turkisl
baths: and what was better still
the people constantly used them
We boast of our civil engineering
but 1t was questionable if 1t had al
Nanced much since the time when
the Romans built their aJueducts,
which were carried over valleys, sup
ported on thousands OF arches. or
tunuelled for miles thr Jugh the sol
id rockville the greatest scientific
w1lll was IT quned to give the sup
ply the proper grade.
There was great talk about
= that wonderful triumph OF genius,
bringing tie water OF Loch X atrin,
to Glasgow, but the quantity of Wa
ter delivered to every inhabitant .
Rome was ten times the water sup
I'li't W i@o''toli. ~ u dbNu'l''It Su
ply OF water was Il special character
istic OF ancient cities. We oitcl
read OF the Inhabitants of Il beseise,
city suffering from hunger bu
rarely If ever, from thirst. Ant
there was no oNclciowulng. Nine
vah contained GO0,0OO inlabitants
but the / Iopuh,ion Of London was
for its area, five times as dense IL
that of Nincvah. The ancients did
not allow the dead to be buried
within the walls OF their cities--a
practice only beginning to be aDol
ished with us.
''ln point o! cleanliness. also, the,
were more careful than We are. II,
read the other day Of some peopl
taking cholera from washing tn
clothes oi some persons that ha'
!, died of that malady. According. L
! the Mosaic law these clothes shou)'
have been buried. Moses woul,
!, no, allow people to live III house
that were unhealthy, but ii was NJ
use turning the people ont and al
lowing the house to stand he kney
!, people would live in it If 1t rGmaln
j. ed, and so he said: Down with ev
cry stick and stOuc OF it,
ain the matter OF sewerage th
;, Romans were superior to us. Th
l city was bullt on arch IS for the pul
: pose of complete sewerage, an
v there yet remains a sewer III Rom
50 wide that cart loaded with ha
might pass through it. Exccllcu
:. aud we'll contrlved drains had bee
h discovered III Nmevah and Mhe
|. towns. The refuse OF the cities Wa
i to bc buried III open pIsias. Tn
o hand looms of three thousand year
o ago produced cloth OF as fine quaint.
I. III pollt Of texture, color, and siyl
\ as we can prouucc, and the Hlndoo
Il and some of the Africans knew TIE
+. PROCESS Ol manufacturing steel Whlcl
(, led them 10 L.uk with cVdicmpt, diit
II to reject MS rotten, the specimens oI
r these metals wllch We sent lheil'
j., In all these points the past coIlllar'
: Ell iaN orabA VITA the present.
: .No douut the present lliid us
;. nchurXriuelits. II had the printing.
- press ana railroads, telegraph, ano
extcusiye manufacturers. lie be
ll.,,u that its superiority consisted
more IN the greater powci OF produc
non, and u the wider ditlusioii Vi
w,aithand knowledge than obtained
| ia the past, rather than Ia the IN