The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1888-08-24
TWO SMART YOUNG MEN.
Queer Enterprises That Astonished
London in tho Last Century.
From the Westminster RevietC.

From the Westminster ReuieU.
Cox's extraordinary enterprise, which he
set going i'll l77l came rather under the
head of lunacy than of swindling. HIS
fixed idea was to combine tho wealth and
luxury of Asia with the mechanical inven-
tions of Europe in series of extra ordinary
artificial productions. To realize his mon
ster whms he devoted considerable pr-
vate fortune and an imaginative bent
which was far above tho comnlon, and
loaded with his fantastic commands tho
most skillful engineers, inventors, clock
makers, goldsmiths, and jewellers in France
and England, lie thus, ere long, saw him
self in possession of a vast collection of
marvels and masterpieces, finished to the
highest perfection OF tho art workers
powers.
Cox's scheme was to transport all those
to Asia for sale to eastern potentates He,
however, kept the collection-not al unfit
precursor of those modern shows which we
call exhibitions-some nine years in Lon
don, where he charged half guinea for
inspecting it. Gold, silver, diamonds and
other stones were worked into all sorts of
animals forms-camels, elephants, and so
on-which moved md seemed to breathe;
birds that sang, ducks that swan, game
that ran about in thicket. A castle six
feet high, which cost over 100000, was
destined for the great mogul, and copy
Of it was actually sent to Pekin for the
emperor of China. But debt, with its
lengtheniug chain, fatally encompassed the
visionary; he never could realize more
than a fraction of his large scale Asiatic
programme; only a part of his collection
rot to India, and the rest was sold up in
London.
Then there appeared in 1880 that king of
native quacks, the Scotch DR. Graham, with
his occult celestial bed. which cost-or so he
Tic in, Doll Mol b1
called the temple Of health and hymen, of
which deities he called himself the high
priest This temple was decorated with
glass Of all cocrs, precious vases filed with
rare perfumes, statues Of the human form
divine in their groves of blarney costume,
| and the rest of it.
His book on tho principles of Health
cost half guinea and recommended clean
| illness, moderation, early rest and early
rising; sleeping in the light, especially i'll
moonlight; singing, drinking his divine
| balm at "only a guinea the BOTTLE" and
sleeping, first at 100 guineas a night and
| then for Il $50 note, in tae marvellous and
ceeStia! magnetico-electric bed, the first.
the only one in the world, or which ever
had existed. 1t was situated in the holy of
| holes, in front of his charming hermit
| age.n II was isolated on six massive and
| transparent columns and covered by a vast
canopy of brass roads, which communicated
with an enormous electric machine lodged
| in an upper amber.
In the bedposts were inserted vases of
ether, which was at first volatilized and in
finitely subdivided by the electric fluid and
| then breathed with the atmospheric air by
| those who chose to pay Dr.. Ora ham for a
nights lodging. Tue sheets were of purple
and sky-blue satin, and the mattresses per-
! fumed with the mosU precious essences of
Araby. The electric cylinder conducted
into the bed chamber and into
every part CT the bed the all divine
celestial, electric fire-the fluid which ami
mates and WHITES everything-in-
Guiding "She," and in this case "He," too;
| for it sounds like vulgarized ante-climax
to the African tale. To all this was added
the melodious tones, or ''toons," OF the har-
monica, the soft sound Of the flute, the
charms of agreeable song ard the melliflu-
Gus notes OF the organ. Tho farce drew a
host of wealthy gulls until 1884, when
Graaam showing the better part of valor,
sold off everything by public auction and
safely retired with his gains.