The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1869-08-21
s..
Saturday Morning. August 81, 1859.
Ths spirit OF the Present Age.

oSIuIu6y MVIu1u& b aug uht q, 40Oo.
Ths Spirit OF the Present Age.
a Taking . broad, 'compsehensiyeview Of
the world as we find it and are informed
about Is, no one can hesitate toacknow-
ledge that great, striking and marvellous
changes are taking place. There may
have been periods OF as great intellec-
tual and Of even greater religious
activity; but we affirm that never before
in the history of the world has there
been revolution so vast and general
aud farreaching as that now imminent
and partly upon us. Heretofore, revo-
lutions have changed tho relations be-
tween nations, or between the governors
and governed Of some particular country;
but now, !as revolution impends which
promises to change the aspect of the
world. 1t has been truly said, that the
spirit of the present age is cosmopolitan,
and not provincial. Itpoints to break
ing down OF the barriers that have
hitherto separated continents. China,
shaking off the dust of antiquity, looks
with longing eye to the Pacific shore,
and seeks to enter new world of ideas.
And Japan and India are confronted
with European civilization and European
phenomena" It is estimated that in
Asia there are 600,0O0,O00 of the human
race, that are either Mohammedans or
-Pagans. Through the medium of trade,
and emigration and intercourse with
Christian nations, see the possibility of
these people being converted to the
pure religion of Jesus, and look at the
matter in its sublime religious aspect.
In the departments of agriculture, COM
merce, manufactures and mechanics, con-
stant improvements are going on. And
great achievements in engineering are
consummated in sapid succession-as
witness ''the great routes across the
European continent, the railways in
India and China, the projected railways
into Asia from Russia, the Pacific Rail
road in this country, the Atlantic cables,
the Mount Gents tunnel, the projected
Darien Canal, and lastly, the great work
across the isthmus of Suez," to say no.
thing of NJ. Lesseps' suggestion that the
waters of the Red Sea may be let into
the interior of Africa by means of q
canal. thus converting the desert of Sa-
hara into large inland lake, and thereby
giving easy access to the surrounding
fertile country. This is material pro-
Nor f1,a md
of great political changes in the direc-
ton of liberal ideas and popular rights,
as witness the political events transpir-
ing in England, france, Germany. Aus
tria and elsewhere. Even in this coun-
try, an insane radicalism, that calls itself
true Republicanism, changes its proscrip-
tive features, and seems disposed to
adopt more liberal views. Truly, is the
world striding on like an Arab courser.
The result of the scientific observa-
tions of the sun at the late eclipse, goes
to show that after all it is only one huge
ball Of fused metal, embracing in its
composition almost precisely similar ele-
ments to the earth. Copper, sodium.
zinc and iron were distinctly detected by
the spectrum, as we'll as many other
metallic substances which could not be
accurately defined. In the opinion of
the savans, the sun is merely another
huge world undergoing the same cooling
process by which the earth was in time
fitted for habitation. The happy, or
unhappy consummation of this process
Us, fortunately for us, fixed at so remote
Ia period that the value of real estate and
the interests of life insurance companies
need not be affected.
SARATOGA Saratoga Seen with the
NAKED Eye" (it being woman's, is the
title of q letter in the New York Tribune,
by Miss Kate Field, somewhat of the
5character Of the "Smoked Glass"
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