The Ouachita telegraph. [volume] (Monroe, La.) 1865-1889, 1886-09-04

It Is, Of course possible, as already
remarked, that Bacon possessed the
Inauguration, the fancy, tho humor to
have drawn the character Of Falsta6,
but can any one conceive It poeslble
that grave philosopher, having Inn.
agined such character, would put
into his mouth q discussion Of one Of
the most momentOus aud surprlsing
discoveries ever made. And yet the
author. of the Second Part Of Henry
VI does that very thing. FalstAt1,
discussing {Act. w., scene 81 merits Of
sack, maintains that its efiectA-
The warming Of the blood, which before
pale, which is the badge Of pusillAnimity
and cownrdice; but the sherris warns it,
and makes it course from the inwards 70
the parts extreme.
Ir"Romeo aud Jultet'' (tv. y, Friar
Laurence describes the properties Of
the sleeping potiou:
When presently through all thy veins shall
A cold and drowsy humor for no pulse
Shall keep his native progress. but surcase.
Romeo requires Of the apothecarry
". ~:
dram Of poison such soon-spreading gear
As will disperse itself through all the veins.
Juliet gives her experience Of the
effect OF the Friar's potion (iv. 81:
have faint cold fear thrills tn rough my
veins
That almost freezes up the heat of lite.
In Corioianus d.: ~ Menentus relates
a fable to the discontented pleabeians of
Rome, In which the stomach is made
TO say:
Isend it through the rivers Of yonr blood,
Even to the court, the heart--to the Senate,
the brain;
And through the ranks and offices of man,
The strongest nerves. and small inferior
veins
Frog, me receive that natural competency
Whereby they live.
Hamlet's father, in reciting It.; 81
how he was poisoned, presents the idea
of the circulation of the blood most
unmistakably:
Upon my secure hour your uncle stole,
With juice Of cursed hebenon in vial,
And in the porches of mine ear did pour
Holds dis puch an enmity With Slood aof1 Of
That swift as quicksilver. 1t courses though
The natural gates and alleys Of tho body.
Lucianus reiserates the same idea In
less elaborate figure in the play
which Hamlet has acted before the
King.
Finally. in Julius Cesar Nt.:2)
Brutus declares to Portia;
You are my true and honorable wife,
AS dear to me as are the ruddy drops
That visit my sad heart.
These quotations clearly establish
the fact that the author Of Shakes.
peare's plays entertained not merely q
very clear idea of the fact that blood
did circulate through the body, but
that he possessed definite and positive
knowledge rs 10 how and by what
means the circulation was maintained.
1t is equally clear shat grave philos.
opher like Bacon, who sacrificed his
life In the attempt to establish from
personal observation the preservatfve
properties Of refrigeration, would have
been perfectly quiet in his philosoph-
ical writings upon so valuable and SO
important discovery, and given it to
the world only in theatrical presentat
tions.
This is so obvious that the PROPOSE
ton has only to be stated to command
acquiescence,
But the author of Shakespeare's
plays must have made another exceed
ingly important discovery In natural
science which, II known to Bacon.
would surely have been treated of at
length in the writings of that philoso-
pher. This discovery was neither more
nor less than the theory OF the attrac-
ton OF gravitation. In sTroilus and
Cresstda' Gv.: 3), when protesting her
constapcy, Cressid says:
Time fOrce and deaib
Do to this body what extremes you can;
But the strong base and building of my
love
Is as the very centre of the earth,
Drawing all things toi
L. not the conclusion perfectly
irresistible that Bacon could not have
known os these two important laws of
the human frame and OF nature, and
made no reference to their existence in
his works avowedly devoted to the
augmentation OF scientific knowledge
and the arnelioration of human Ills?
Is 1t not clear as the sun that the |
writer of Shakespeare's plays did pos |
sess this knowledge?
II these facts be admitted, 1t must be |
admitted further that they Demon |
strated it to have been absolutely !
impossible that these plays could have
been written by Bacon.
II Ia u0f left fO conjecture t0 infer.