The Pickens sentinel. [volume] (Pickens, S.C.) 1871-1903, 1881-01-13
SpecuIatIons as to the Future Life.

SpeculatIOns as to the Future Life.
Years ago, in the days of Bishop But
ler, very much stress was laid upon the
analo9ies i'll nature illustrating, and sup
, porting the idea Of future life, and the
| treatlses then written were models of in
tellectual power and patient research. A
| great impression was produced, not only
upon uneducated but educated minds.
Since that period science has progressed
| with giant strides, and at every step has
| so largely added to the list of striking
analogies or incidental proofs, that the
| illustrations of early date seem few in
number and dwarfed in proportion and
| force. The idea Of an unseen immaterial
existence involves, also, the idea of un-
seen activities and correspondence in the
rayless realm. The most stolid of us can
not fail to be impressed with the beauti-
| tul analogies which recent scientific dis.
| covery affords. Do we not every day
| converse with unseen friends long dis
tances away, do we not recognize their
| familiar voices, in homes separated from
US by rivers, woods, and mountains?
These voices come out Of the darkness,
guided by frail wire which science pro-
vldes rs pathway. Even when the cur
tain of night is drawn about us the
voices are heard, and we have not
the shadow of doubt of their integrity
| and identity.
And further, have we not analooies of
sight which startle us by their signifi-
cameo? Is it not true that when abroad
we are open to the view of unseen OBJ
| servers long distances from us, and our
every act and movement known? The
| excellence Of optical instruments is such
| that we have seen the motion Of the lips
OF persons In conversation, while sitting
on house balcony three miles distant,
the observed, of course, wholly uncon-
sclous or being seen by any one. If our
friends III this life, dead to us (hidden as
they are by the shroud of space), can be
seen, and we can hear their voices, their
shouts of laughter, the words of the
hymns they sing, the cries OF the little
ones III the mothers arms, is it very ab-
surd to anticipate time when those
dead to us by the dissolution of the
body may, by some now unknown tele-
| phone, send us voices from O. realm close
at hand, but hidden from our mortal
eyes.
We have no proofs to offer that this
realm Of the departed, this home of the
soul, Is close at hand, but it is certainly
more reasonable and sensible to adopt
this hypothesis than tho popular one of
n material world or place, somewhere
atar off in the depths of space. One
view seems possible, the other absurd.
-BoStom Journal Of Chemistry.
The Harmless, Useful Toad.
A writer in the London Journal gives
some interesting statementc respecting
the toad. In the matter of feeding. he
says the toad is not very particular
either as to quality or quantity. Any
thing that creeps or crnwls will do for
him--wOod lice, beetles, spiders, slugs,
worms, even snails with their shells, are
put out of sight rs if by magic, for he
has q peculiar way of taking his prey. He
watches the moving insect for second
or two, then. suddenly darting OUT his
tongue while ut q distance of one OF two
inches, the insect is snatched up md
swallowed instantly. One evening he
gave one wasp and bumble-bee; both
were snapped up directly they COM
menced to movo, apparently without
causing the toad the slightest discomfort
though they must have reached his stom-
ach in q tolerably active condition.
In pl0nt-houses, especially forcing
houses, where insects increase their num-
bers SO rapidly at all seasons, the toad's
hS1 VICES are GSpcclully FiluttDle; huO IL II
suitable ladder, made of marrow board
with bits of lath tackled on it two inches
apart, be set in n corner, slanting from
the floor to the stage, he will climb it.
and thus be enabled to make himself still
more useful.
But perhaps tho most remarkable fact
concerning tho toad is, that though he
can, and does, eat q great deal he can
exist a long time without eating any
thing. Years ago he buried one for q
month in the earth, as nh experiment,
and when dug up it was apparently Us
well as ever. More recently, having been
bothered with myriads of wood-lice in an
early cucumbcr-house, and not, being
able to find toads in February, he, later
on, when they became plentiful, buried
three III nine-inch pot, with slate on
the top, eighteen inches under ground,
that he might have them handy for the
next early forcing season. But that sea-
son he did not require them, so they re-
manned buried until the following one,
and were then, on being taken up, ap-
pareDtly not much the worse for their
eighteen months fast, though they
didn't have any ice-water or alcoholic
baths.