The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1883-08-16
EDITORIAL NOTES.

One wonders, sometimes, ON meet
ing people of certain type, that the old
doctrine of metempSychoSiS is not re-
VlYed. Or is it that Darwinian theory
OF reversion sufficiently explains the
apparent revival OF the life of some
back century in living persons? There
are women who only seem capable of
bearing these prodigals, possessing in
marked degree the traits of some re-
mote ancestor who disappears again
IN the next generation. There was
an Earl of Buchan, a hundred years
ago, who believed that he had fought
at Agincourt, Crecy, Marston Moor.
and wherever any of his ancestors
fought, and who would speak as fam
lliarly of what he had done on those
battle-fields as he would of run with
the hounds a week before.-The Critic.
A band of genuinely savage Apa-
ches was shows at the recent Santa Fe
fair. 1t was a hard matter to get
them to go there. They had seen few
white faces except behind a raised
musket. When the wagons were
ready to start several of the foremost
braves, who had been almost persuad-
ed to make the trip refused to go
along. The sight o, railroad train
awed the Indians into explanations
OF "De sa-ra-ta-ra" (wonderfuD, many
times repeated with whispered breath.
These barrel-breasted fellows, who
would face bear empty-handed, were
afraid to step into the cars, and the
squaws cringed behind their trem-
bling lords. At last they suffered
themselves to be led falteringly
aboard, and, as the train moved off,
they covered themselves with their
blankets and dropped panic-stricken
between the seats.
ID. M. Bennett, the late editor of the
Truth Seeker newspaper, is buried in
Greenwood cemetery, New York, in a
lot purchased by his widow. A mon
ument, devised by the widow, is about
ready to be placed over his grave.
Bennett, as is generally known, was a
violent antagonist of Christianity, and
on his tomb his widow has had en-
graved extracts from his writings, il
Illustrating his views as to religion.
The trustees of Greenwood object to
this, saying that Greenwood is a
Christian burying ground and no
monument shall be reared there that
dlscreditS or casts reproach on the
Christian religion. The widow Ben
nett says she has paid for the ground
where her husbands body rests, and
will appeal to the courts to test her
right to erect in Greenwood any kind
of a monument she desires.
"As quick as lightning" is phrase
well chosen to illustrate an inconceiv-
able rapidity, but of those who use the
expression, probably very few appre-
ciate its full meaning, for Sir Charles
Wheatstone has shown that flash OF
lightning lasts less than a millionth
part of a second. This is vastly more
rapid than our perception of the flash,
and at least one-tenth of a second
must according to Prof. Swan
before our sluggish sight can take in
the full effect of the light. On account
of the slowness of our perception we
never see the light at its real lnten-
sity. Prof. TAFT has suggested that
the full brilliancy must be in some
degree comparable with the sun, as
Wheatstone's and Swans data prove
that the apparent brightness of the
landscape as lit up by lightning
flash is less than one-hundred-thou-
sandth part of what it would be were
the lightning permanent. The appar-
ent brightness, it should be men
toned, was shown by Swan to dimin-
ish in about the ratio borne by the
length of time required for US to per-
ceiYe it.