New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1874-10-25
THE xyUMAN's CONGRESS.

4 most remarkable gathering convened
3: Chicago last week. 1t was composed Of
some Of the most talented and distiDg uished
women Of the country, who met to compare
opinions upon topics Of greatest interest to
:he wives. mothers and sisters Of the gene.
,ation. Its proceedings were characterized
Nv dignity and decorum, and degree Of
study and learning was eyinced which put
20 shame the average Of such bodies when
,nder the management Of the governing
sex. During the sitting Of the convention,
Ds. Mary Stafford Blake, Of Boston. read
she following valuable and instructive
paper on "Pre.Natal influence 1t has
excited favorable comment from the lead.
:ng papers Of the country:
If fcould place before You at this mo.
moment enc Of the finest binOcular micro.
scopes, and thereby increase your power Of
vision 1000 times, what q world Of hidden
life Of beauty and wonder would be re.
Sealed to you after you had taken a glance
of the before Unseen throng surrounding
you, How eager you would be TO concen.
trate your gaze it told you that under
your object glass was proioplasmic atom.
"a germ of life.
In the moment Of eager expectation, you
snight find yourself querying, as did the
philosophers of old, will there not be re-
Sealed to us in this germ the seat of life,
the habitat of the soul! How you would
concentrate your visual power, wipe your
eyes carefully, and adjust the eye glass,
brush it that it be not dirnmed, and then, as
if / could help you out Of the dilemma, you
might turn to me and acknowledge that you
see only pellucid atom, void of shape and
form Chagrined though am to confess it,
] should be powerless in aiding you to see
more. No human skill can decide if this
molcule contain within it the inherent some.
thing that shall enable it to develop into
she highest or lowest form of Lille; into man,
bird protozOae, or plant. 1t would seem,
IN Maudsley says, that this cell is possessed
of a memory that makes it loyal to its an
cestry. Suppose the conditions of this atom
which We are examining are favorable to
the development Of the human species, we
shall then find germ capable OF receiving
che Anatomical, physiological, pathological,
and psychological traits and tendencies pc
culiar to it's parents, or what is more eingu
lar according to the law of atovism, those
OF its ancestors dating back three or more
generations. This being the case, we'll
might Emerson exclaim: "Who shall save
us from our ancestors!" or Montague: What
monster is this germinal atom from which
we spring, carrying with it not only the
corporal form but the thoughts and inclina-
lons of our fOrefathers.'
Let me state some Of the peculiarities
pertaining to this law of heredity. This
law holds true in all life. both animal and
vegetable. In man 1t has a dual mani
testation. In the physical structure, in his
anatomy, it is shown in a marked degree
in the peculiar cranial and physiognomical
development Of the several races of the
human family. On the other hand, mental
peculiarities are no less marked. Let us
Irst note the effects OF inheritance on phys
zeal life. This law has been closely studied |
IN its relation to animals. Stock breeding
has received much attention both in
Europe and America The massive
English draught horse, the fleet racer and |
The Shetland pony, are illustrations of the |
variations that may be brought about in !
the horse.
Darwin has shown by careful selection Of |
peculiarities to be observed, that almost |
any degree of difference can be produced |
il domesticated animals.
Plant lie furnishes numerous illustrations |
OF this law. Our first apples were all |
produced from the gnarly crab. All of our |
tomato plants under cultivation. the large |
and the small varieties, the yellow and the |
red, originally came from one plant. |
celebrated trenchman has shown, by ex-
perimenting with the dancus carota. that |
siX generations were only sufficient to pro |
duce from the wild carrot our fayorite |
edible. The varied beauty of the wild |
aster has charmed your eye, its city cousin,
magnitied ten fold. with all it's varied hues.
and trained to perfection, is the handiwork
of the skilled florist. The step from the
little single aster, growing by the wayside, |
10 the large, snowy, quilted one OF your
lawns, is a long one, but the variation from
one generation to another, of which the
gardener has taken advantage in the pro-
Juction of the latter, has been exceedingly |
slow. A slight increase in size, deepening |
of q tint, delicate turning of petal, have |
been watched for, and added together
generation after generation, the result is
he present snowy aster.
The instances are rare in which any es-
pacial attention has been bestowed upon .
perfeot development Of the human species
Ne ali remember the account Of that his
ori. body guard of Frederick the Greats
ather. famous for their immense physique,
nd Tia. this commanding stature should !