The New Orleans bulletin. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1874-1876, 1875-05-14
A sTARrL1aa THEORY.

= ting stop to the thinking apparatus OF
= dementia, rendering perception, reason on
Y memory powerless, and that upon physic
~ recovery the patients mind is found to be
absolute tabula rasa-all facts of experience
= all "saws of books" all letters and fgure
all names Of men, women and things quit
: blotted out and vanished from the parchmer
. on which parents, teachers and experienc
!. had inscribed them. In such cases the edu
cation must be renewed from the foundation
!, Even the organs of speech must learn ane,
. the faculty of utterance, and then be laugh
second time the names of most familiar oh
jects. He must then be taught the name
and sounds of letters, the construction o
written syllables, the framing Of sentences
and the connection Of words with ideas. II,
must, for the second time, learn to count hi
fingers and tell the time Of day by the dia
plate. He begins his intellectual life as ar
infant, and grows from q second childhood
to second youth in knowledge.
Should some near and dear friend be thus
stricken and thus recovering the lost stores Of
learning and experience, if arrived at that
step in his progress where knowledge of the
Mississippi River would have its fit and ap-
propriate place, we would consider it IN for
tunate if he were to attempt to read an arti-
Gle in Wares Valley Monthly, in which jetties
are discussed. He would, in that article,
come to a paragraph which would SO thor
oughly overturn and disarrange all his ideas
on hydrodynamics as to put him in imminent
danger of a relapse. After exhaustive theo-
RES on sundry seas and rivers, he would read
as follows:
The bed of the river as far up as New Or
leans, and, perhaps, higher, is from sixty to
one hundred feet below the surface of the
Gulf. What prevents the heavier salt water
OF the Gulf from wedging itself under the
fresh water of the river and underlying the
river for all of this distance? Has any one
ascertained, by actual experiment, whether
the river is not salt water at the bottom oppo-
site New Orleans :? Should this be the case.
then, it must be supplied from the Gulf.
which will have the effect of counter cur
rent. This hypothesis is strengthened by the
constant action of the tides How could it
be otherwise If so, then the current of the
river must be entirely superficial, having
bed OF comparatively dead water underlying
it. The frequent storms upon the Gulf
which rolls its heavy saline waves far up to-
ward the Crescent City, must contribute to |
this underlying bed, as the heavier wa er |
will find its way to the bottom after the forces |
that kept it upon the surface have been re-
moved and the wind has ceased.
In these few lines must be contained solid |
chunk Of scientific richnesss, or else it must
be the most arrant nonsense. Salt water is
certainly heavier than fresh water. This ia
we'll known to sailors who, upon arrival in
yellow water off the passes, treat strangers to
entirely fresh water dipped from the surface,
md In minute after to some more water
Tipped from little below the surface which
9 entirely salt, much to the surprise and dis.
,ust Of the thirsty travellers. That salt water
lows inward in an under current with the
ide, while the muddy water of the river flows
outward with the current, is evident to the
sherman who sees the top Of tree moving
gainst the surface current, its broad trunk
nd roots being forced inland by the salt tide
eneath. Salt waves do roll into the mouths
the river when the wind blows vigorously
ON the south. and where the same strong
ind blows along up the surface of the river i.
Iher waves are formed, but it SO happens
lat they are not salt water waves.
'aves that are not made of water do not ha-
bitually roll upon the surface as a cylinder :,
Ills along turnpike or q croquet ball over
haven lawn. With what manner of waves Mr..
are is familiar we do not know, but such waves
Wi If fho |
1t follow his method Of locomotion. If afloat
n miles off Southwest Pass il heavy gale
owing from the South, Mr.. Ware would be :,
ted to the crests of great many thousand .
ives without being moved perceptibly to- !.
'rd the shore. The motion of surface water :,
dulated by the wind are principally =
rtical An undulation may move forty
les from given point, but the water at that -
int will not in the meantime have moved -
rceptibly in the same direction. W.
50 much for the salt water that rolls up on -
} top Of the river to New Orleans But the :. =.
Vedging Of the salt heavy gulf water NJ
der the light fresh water of the river to the
stance of hundred miles, or to New
leans, or to Baton Rouge, is something ~
more startling. Is the Mississippi. then, ~
ouble river, flowing swift, fresh and muddy :,
the gulf on top, while running slow, salt ~
l clean in the opposite direction, as far as
W Orleans? Is it at last revealed by theo-
ical science that the sediment carried All,
inward by the current of the Mississippi,
'ugh to make good sized Missouri farm
ny twenty-four hours, refuses to sink in In
almost still salt water at the bottom of
river? Is it fact that the mighty and
,orseless current, that tears away its shores ,
make room for its rapid career, still leaves fin
deeper channel to brother current Of ito
water, moving gently in an opposite By
rise? Is it at last positively ascertained ito
Mississippi mud will not sink in salt thi
er? If thes, things are so, then have we the
reason to fear that the salt Gulf of Mexico I