The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1868-08-01
NEW YORKISMS.
non, os,r o,pn oOrrespondent.

Nearly two weeks have elapsed since gentle
man named Spicer sent for Seidlitz powder,
upon swallo wing which he died within quar-
Ter of an hour. Neither . coroners jury nor
a apest-mortem examination has yet elicited any
Information that Is altogether satisfactory and
conclusive. The testimony Of the principal
witnesses Is mutually confusing, If not downright
contradictory. The physician who was called
In declared the powder Mr.. Spicer swallowed
contained rs grains of arsenic; the druggists
clerk, who was arrested, takes his oath that at
least half hundred powders we're sold ideuti-
oal In the mode of their prescription, and in the
place from which they were taken, with the one
sold to the unfortunate mans servant. George
Bpicer, brother to the deceased, says the latter
had for some time past exhibited symptoms OF
probable insanity, and that he had once been
1aboring under extreme melancholy. Mrs.
Spicer's account of her husband during the day
preceding his death -ypresents him under cir
cumstances which render it not impossible for
him to have died voluntarily by his own hand.
at least three of these statements are in opposl-
ton to one another, and probably nothing more
will transpire about the affair than is known at
present.
The funny though painful accident which hap
pened the other evening to Monsieur Aujac, the
accomplished and favori'e tenor of'BSrbe Bleue'
has already become a subject of newspaper para
graph, but perhaps you may not have heard all
the particulars. In the role of Bdrbe Beue it be.
comes necessary for Monsieur Auac or at leas
he thinks 1t becomes necessary for him-to wes
an immense beard which, by being disposed in
an artlstieally homicidal manner, is greatly ex
pressive of Blue Beords remorseful and murder
Gus purpose. Tinctured with verdigris pro-
perly iutermIngled with modifying cheml
Gals, the tout ensemble IS sufficiently frightful
for all stage purposes. On Tuesday even
ing Monsieur Aujac appeared in this make
up for the eighth time. Hitherto he had expe-
rienced no inconvenience-except from the per-
spiration promoted by 30 near propinquity to
the footlights-but on this particular evening
the poisonous voice of the verdigrls began to
make itself heard, and the subtle particles,
insinuating themselves into the pores of his
skin, caused him great pain aud an almost in
supportable sensation of sickness. Next to
soldiers and 6remen drtstes are in some things
the greatest heroes. Aujac proved himself
one. He rose with the occasion and the our
tain, and it was only when that drspery fell for
the third time, and the fourth act was to be
commenced, that his powers of endurance re-
fused to last longer, and Mr.. Bateman coming
forward made the necessary explanations and
apologies physician was called in, and the
personic Blue Beard was removed to his hotel
a martyr to his devotion to an artistic makeup.
A couple Of evenings saw him out again, and
am sure the public thinks none the less of his
voice because he thought so much of his YER
digris.
Do you know that electricity and electricians,
as medical agents and operators, are be-
ginning to make themselves known here as we'll
rs in Boston, in spite of the intense opposition
of those physicians who class themselves as
belonging to the only recognized legitimate
schools? For the last sixteen years, electricity,
as a therapeutic agent, has been slowly growing
into use, and now the handsomest and most ex-
pensive neighborhoods are studded with electri-
Cal establishments, which must do an exceed
ingly good business to dePray the enormous
rents. / do not undertake to espouse the cause
too strongly, for l know perhaps little enough
about it; but have seen enough of
its professors to believe they rise
above the standard of quacks aud do
q good deal of conscientious hard work with
the majority of their patients. Their plan is to
use no medicine at all, believing as theg do tina ,
medicine does not act directly upon the system
but only at second hand by disturbing what
they term the "polarites." Neither is the
ille Ol ODe OI IueSe eleCIIlClduS
easy. He has to do good deal of muscular
work, which is a very strong contrast to the
inert suavity of the legitimates, who spend half
their working hours in writing prescripti ms,
and the other half in giving them. l have
before me well authenticated case, which
I might particalarze more closely If l
chose, of one we'll educated ply ician o
the old school, who, after having been converted
10 electricity as a therapeutic agent, and prac-
tising it with success for several years dellber-
ately sold off his baths and his batteries, and
went back to pills and powders again. "Why?"
he was asked. ''What is the reason OF this
apostacy?" ''It is too hard work. was the re-
ply. This rubbing people down, and sponging
and bathing them thirteen hours out of the
electricity. / believe it is the best and most
universal remedy under heaven; but it's too hard
work. All / have to do, now that / have
gone back to my old practice, is to drive about
fve or six hours each day, and write prescrip-
tions IN my study the rest o. the time" Well. it
was very candid in him, at least, to make the
aakno w Iedgment Better people than he have
In their time preferred cash to conscience, and
found that the more hey lost OF tue one the
more they gained of the other. In Boston see
there has been great advance during the las
year or two in the therapeutic use of electricity
and, indeed my experience informs me that il
would take a more than ordinary dose of light
ming to brighten ones wits after bewilderinG
them by endeavoring, for the first time, t
thread unguided the tangled streets of the Hub