Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1877-01-17
ENGLISH GOSSIP.

An American character In London.
M. d. Conway, in a recent letter
from London to the Cincinnati
Commercial, says:
Among the American "charac-
terS" now residing in London is
Miss Smith. AS, however, the
name may not convey a very def
mite impression of a very pro-
nounced personality, | will add
that she is a daughter of the late
Rev. DR.. VIM. A. Smith, of Vir-
ginia, some time president of Ran
dolph Macon College, in that
State, distinguished during the
events which led TO a separation
between the Methodists Of the
North and South. | remember the
doctor well. He was one of the
cleverest casuists | ever heard. He
was in Virginia Corypheus of the
religio-political school which main
tanned that slavery was the corner
stone of civilization. His theory
was put in a brief syllogism: "What
is the principle of slavery? The
subsection of one will to another.
Then human society is impossible
without it." He was a genial old
gentleman, and interesting in con.
versation, and never knew to the
day of his death the amount OF
harm he did. | have had the honor
of several interviews with his
daughter aforementioned, Miss S,
E. j.. Smith, who has come to
England to try and show the Eng
lish the path to the Fountain Of
Perpetual Youth. This fountain
is a familiar object in our Christ
mas pantomime, but therein the
way to it is beset with difficulties
evil fairies, gnomes, dragons and
the like. Miss Smith, indeed, rec
ognizes this. In pamphlet OF
which she has circulated, she tells
me, a full thousand, called GA
New Discovery, the Law of the
Nervous System, by which it may
preserve its Freshness and Purity"
she says. "The most charming le-
gends Of mythology have their
~round-work In the imperishable
faith Sud yearning Of humanity for
continuous youth" At first sight
Miss Smiths plan Of realizing this
dream seems to be much easier
than those terrible encounters re-
lated in mythology. She finds
that the nervous fluid is o
delicate compound of oxygen, phos
phorous and fat that it expands
during waking hours, and then is
nourished from the blood vessels ;
that during sleep it contracts, and
is then devoted to casting out dead
and exhausted matter. That is the
physiological case transcendent-
ally it stands thus: "Death has
accomplished its work in life, but
the sweet flower llourshes uncon-
sumed amid the famesw Now, to
this internal fact must be added
external ones. The electricians
have established formula of the
ebb and flow of electric currents In
the temperate zone. The flow com.
mences about 4 am, with u slight
ebb about noon, followed by another
flow until about G pm, when the
long ebb begins and continues until
4 am. Nerve matter is subject to
these influences, and contracts du-
ring the long ebb. At 1880 pm.
the contraction becomes peremp-
tory. Consequently the path to
perpetual youth is that of harmony
between the nervous periods within
and the electrical periods without ;
and it consists in rising ut 4;80
am, walking a mile before break
fasting at $50, dining at 1870 sup
ping (lnxuriously on bread and
water) at 6 p.m,," and retiring at
7:3O. AS the electric currents OF
the atmosphere are sometimes LAM
guild, the judicious use of a battery
is sometime advisable, but it is still
far better than a battery to seek
"healthfnl work, and q sufficient
variety OF new sensations and emo
tions." Our best pleasures are really
the excitations OF electric particles;
but if excitements are increased too
much, a sort of lightning is formed