New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1870-09-11
4 FEv DEvBIOprErr OF SCIENCE.

| simply resurrection, however, Tor the
Swans of an earlier age record expert
ences that support the revelations of the
present Cagliostro and the earlier chem
lists were conversant with chemistry before
they knew it was a science; and the
Chaldean astrologists read the stars be-
fore they We're introduced to the laws
Of astronomy. In every age, if we
could find the record, the papyrus
would disclose that men have at all times
grappled with the mysterious forces
around them, and were only bafied as
discoveries because the appliances of
knowledge were insufficient to allow Of
exhaustive research. Chaldea had no
Ross telescope with which to explore the
sidereal heavens; but her sages watched
the celestial bodies none the less ardently
because their gaze was limited by the rude
appliances of the Assyrian epoch. And
when they died, their learning slept
awhile, only to be taken up at later
day, and again, still later, until now the
coming and going of the comet is calcu-
lated for ages behind and before us.
1t is accepted that the soul of man is
immortal and imperceptible but the
body of humanity has been consigned to
death and decay. Of the earth, earthly,
it has never been doubted by the mass Of
mankind that its outward and visible
frame was to become feast Of the worms;
but it was always held that the spirit was
above destruction. And one of the most
perplexing mysteries of revelation has
been the declaration of the apocalyptic
angel that when the last vial is opened,
the dead shall come from their graves,
whether on the sea or on the land. We
have consented to accept the prophesy,
because our capacity could not solve it
And if the mind has sometimes ques-
toned how the multitudinous dead p,,..,e
to be gathered together, ii has never done
more than to fall away from the problem
as one too solemn and too deep for human
penetration.
There have been minds, however, that
have struggled with this subject, satisfied
that to the wise all things were possible.
Ignorance is the only spirit which wor-
ships knowledge, and when the savages OF
America declared that Columbus was q
god, because he foretold an eclipse, they
followed the law which sets mind to rule
over matter. And it is only Ignorance
and superstition which stand in COW
ardly silence, while the wise men 60 down
even into the grave to tear out the secrets
that belong to the crumbling dust. God
has hidden nothing from us that belongs
to mortality. Whatever can be seen with
the eye or touched by the hand Of man,
belongs to man to know. The
shining curtain which can only
be penetrated by the eye Of faith,
conceals from the weakened vision
of the flesh all that We may not know.
Our eyes may not reach beyond the grave,
but while we can handle the mould and
preserve the dust, these things we may
seek to unfold. Whatever is Material is
ours to study-the Immaterial alone re-
fuses to be demonstrated.
But we are away from the direct subject
of this eastern discovery. Mr.. Grow, in
his ''Night-side of Nature has given to
the world some traditions about super
natural appearances in olden times, and
some scientific discoveries in later years,
which throw a peculiar light upon the
subject of the indestructibility Of mat
ter even. The light is peculiar
because it is so wonderfully explanatory
of what has always been SO great mys
terry. His theory is that the dust of the
dead forever retains the form Of the fallen
man, and that science has an agent by
which this fact can be demonstrated.
As, for instance. NJ du Chesne relates how
q Polish physician at Cracow had in his
possession a number of walls, in which
were sealed up the ashes Of certain plants.
By heating these walls, the ashes within
them at once assumed the forms
which they possessed when living plants.
At Stuttgart, in 1843, according to Etin-
ger, Swiss scholar, gave a recipe by
which the form of plants could be resur-
rected from the ashes in which they were
preserved. "The earthly husk," says
Etinger, "remains in the retort, while
the volatile essence ascends like spirit,
perfect in form, but void in substance
seems to be capable Of resurrec-
ton by cold as well as by heat, for some
nettles being distilled for the purpose Of
extracting the salts therefrom, the I've was
left in basin, and the next morning the
chemist was astonished at seeing in the
frozen refuse very image of the form OF
the nettles. Other instances are given,
but the most singular is that
where three chemists, in the reign
of Louis XIV, took from the
cemetery of the Innocents, in Paris,
some rotten earth from which they eZ-
pected to extract the philosophers stone
Placing these Wondering remains in re-
tort, on applying the test they were driven
from their experiment by seeing the forms
of men gradually arise and expand until
they filed the glass receptacles. And
physician Of Paris having dissected a
corpse and pulverized the Uranium, left
the remains on table in the laboratory
1t was afterWard reported that the shade