New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1873-10-26

i
undiscovered planet, prognosticating it
existence, calculating its mass, end detinin
its position among the heavenly bodies
Scarcely month elapses when a German
astronomer at Berlin makes coinciden
discovery.
While the astronomers are extending tn
limits Of the universe, and have thus deter
mined with marvellous exsctness, the law
which maintain harmony in the movement
by the aid OF the microscope, has beel
enabled to discover a new world hithert
hidden from sight. With it's aid the eye
enabled to perceive nyriads Of organized
beings living and moving in molecule o
| water, or in other words miniature uni
! verse imprisoned in a rain drop.
The geOlogist has disclosed the history o
our planet, as written upon the rocks mil
lions OF years anterior to the biblical yecort
| Of the history Of mans appearance on earth
describing the actual dates at which ami
mails, now extinct, lived and fOurished. AMI
has shown that our continent was once {
| vast ocean of water.
The chemists have abandoned the vaii
hallucinatiOns, the darkened researches O
the alchemist, and by their labors have
l resped an ample harvest of unheard Of dis
coveries.. They have tabulated list O
! elements found upon our planet and shown
1 uOW every UuluS li'lue VI uCdu rs AudOc VI
/ of them. They have spread the sensitive
film of the photographers plate, and by
| the aid Of the opticians lens have fixed
| an image more imperishable than the orig
| inal. They have lent the power whicf
flashes from world TO world messages with
| a speed which suFpasses swift winged time
| himself. They have sealed up handful o1
dark grains in iron vases which. at the
touch OF an electric spark, rises in smoke
| and flame, and a voice like thunder. and az
| arm that skaters like an earthquake. pros
trating everything before it. They have
written anew the science Of chemistry. and
| in short, endowed man with a second Gre
| alive power.
We will now hasten to zee how much can
be claimed for the progress Of the science
of navigation. It would be idle for US to
dwell upon the navigation Of the alcients,
therefore We pass it by.
Up to tie time of Christopher Columbus
navigation consisted Of nothing more than
coastings, and when he mentioned his idea
of land to the westward it was looked upon
as the visionary project Of distemperea
imagination. Regardless of all opposition,
he discovered the New World-a world at
that time inhabited by a rude and barba-
rous people, in strange contrast to the con-
tinent of America OF the present day, with
its high state of civilization, immense pOpu-
lation and boundless wealth.
We come now to invite your attention TO
the power Of steam, which. as you are all
aware. was suggested by the rising Of lid
of tea kettle after the water commenced
boiling, and from this trifliDg circumstance,
of the most important OF all motor powers.
The invention of steam is claimed by
various nations, but for the extensive EN-
plOyment Of it, and its improvements, the
credit is due to England and America. The
invention of Watts began a new era in the
history of steam power, and since his time
great improvements have been made, the
most important of which was the invention
of the railway locomotive by Stevenson.
After this, railroads were constructed in all
the four quarters of the globe. and noun
tains reared their icy peaks in vain to bar
r.cade their onward route.
1t remains for US to now speak for a mo.
ment of the electric telegraph, and we shall
have then completed the claim of great dis
coveries.
In 1887 the electric telegraph first prom.
ised to become matter Of general
and practical Importance, when Pro-
fesser Morse exhibited his system on
wire half mile in length, and
in le44 it came into practical use between
Washington and Baltimore. At the pres
ent day, in America and Europe, we find
vast network of Geographic wires. extend
ing to almost every city, town, village and
hamlet. Dover and Calais are connected
by marine cable, and India, through the
means of this agent, is brought within
speaking distance of London.
The Atlantic cable was unsuccessfully
tried in 1857, and was considered by some
to be a useless expenditure Of time and
money. After thirteen years of anxious
W and oco1aaa foil II uos rpoooso
fully laid, and is now considered by an ad-
miring world as the greatest achievement Of
the age. And, through the agency of those
conducting wires, civilization is carried to
every cline, and we can read in our morn
ing papers what TRANSFERRED in Hong Kong
the day preceding.
What can we say of civilization. Has it
been confined to that little spot in Asia,
where man was first planted! No. it has
extended throughout Europe, till its light
threw halo over nations once butied in
darkness. but now powerful and great.
With it Columbus crossed the Atlantic. and
planted it upon the shores Of new world.
1t advanced majestically, step by step, and
as the forest trees receded before the wood.
mans axe civilization proceeded .ovart.
the interior, e!yia9 il. i. AXE cultivated
fields and towering cities. 1t has marched
across An entire continent, and under its
luAuCACC tdl EdoS VI tlit pYdlEit6 UaS
given place to fields of cultivated grain.
For ages have golden sands been washed
from our mountain heights. and the rivu.
cts and streams which fertilize these plains |
nave been bearing on their resistless floods !
Untold treasures into the capacious womb !
If the Vastly Deep But now we have laid |
lold Of them with hands of iron and nerves !
# steel. and bound them captive, holding
hem subject to our will, to build marble |
palaces, universities and colleges for the !
purpose of extending knowledge and !
Outstanding the whole human family.
Now, gentlemen. would ask is it reason.
bile to suppose that the noble science of
Medicine can have remained all this time
tatiOnary in the midst of this universal !
progress Does its history chronicle 70
Have those who studied i.
dded no new discoveries to what was
,nown and taught by Hippocrates! Let us
xamine and see for ourselves.
Anatomy previous to the seventeenth cen.
ury consisted of poor description of the
ccessible parts Of the human body. The
ver had always been considered as being |
be organ of anguinifcation; the veins
7ere supposed to have originated in this /
iscus. and were thought to be the ONLY
essels to contain blood.
The belief was that the blood flowed from
he liver to all parts Of the body through
be veins, and returned through the same
annals by an undulating movement. The
rteries were supposed to contain air OF
'hlch the heart was the great receiver. and
le nerves we're supposed TO radiate from
le same organ.
Now what have we come 10 in our dav!
through the means of dissection the min. |
test structure of all the organs have been
,ade GU: in the most satisfactory manner.
ne speclaf arrangement in the vessels
nd the ducts of all the glands of .he
If tubes and tesicles of the lungs, of
lie skin and other membranes. and all the
etails of the various organs which SO long
investigation have been lifted !