The intelligencer. [volume] (Lexington, Mo.) 1887-1891, 1888-11-10
SLIGHT CIRCUMSTANCES.
The Great Changes which Are
Sometimes " rOught by TrifIes.
IFrom the New York News.


OF France for nearly twenty years
Louis Philippe, king OF the French .haG
u son, the duke of Orleans, and heir tc
the throne, who always drank only 8
certain number OF glasses of wine
because even one more made him tipsy
On memorable morning he forgot to
count the number of his glasses and
took one more than usual. When
entering his carriage he stumbled
frightening the horses and causing
them to run. In attempting to leap
from the carriage his head struck the
pavement anu he soon died. That
glass of wine overthrow the Orleans
rule, contiscated their property, and
sent the whole family into exile.
If Mr.. Greenville had not carried, in
l765, his memorable resolution as to
the expediency of charging stamp
duties on the plantations of America
the western world might still have
been under British rule. In connection
with this matter, there is another,
albeit remarkable, circumstance which
may be told in Thackeray's own
words: "lt was strange" said he,
"that in a savage forest of Pennsylvania
a young Virginian officer should fire a
shot and waken up war which was to
last for sixty years, which was to pass
his own country and pass into Europe,
to cost France her American colonies,
TO sever ours from us and create the
great western republic; to rage over
the old world when extinguished In the
new, and of all the myriads engaged in
the vast contest to leave the prize of the
greatest fame with him who struck the
first blow"
If the nose of Cleopatra had been
shorter, says Pascal, the condition OF
the world would have been different.
His meaning is that if Cleopatra had
had nose short to deformity she
would have failed to attract Antony,
who would not have been drawn into
the conduct which eliminated in the
loss of the battle of Actium, which loss
made way for the close of the Roman
republic in the Inauguration of the
Roman empire.
The grea. failure of the potato crop
In Ireland can not be called a slight
circumstance, yet it was comparatively
slight compared with the momentous
changes which it brought about, for
the repeal OF the corn laws was hasten
ed by the potato famine. AS Lord
Beaconsfield has observed: "This
mysterious but universal sickness of q
single root changed the history OF the
world"
Many men have been drawn to their
destination by the most trivial occur
rences. Fenimore Cooper became a
lot fa1a ,hol
One evening, while reading novel, he
threw it down, saying: 81 believe
could write better book myself
"Let me see you do it," SAID his wife
with smile. In few days he had
written several chapters of "Precau.
tion," which, when finished, he pub
lished at his own expense. The novel
attracted little attention.; but it gave
Cooper an inklfng of his capacity for
story telling, and "The Spy" the next
novel, appealed 30 strongly to the
patriotic sympathies of his countrymen
that it became success. Hawthorne,
too, was induced to write "The Scarlet
Letter" by remark of his wife.
Glotto, one of the early Florentine
painters, might have remained a rude
shepherd boy if sheep drawn by him
upon stone had not attracted the
notice of Cimabue. Had his friend and
companion escaped the thunderstorm
at Erfurt, Luther might have been a
lawyer.
To exhaust the list of discoveries
which might have been made through
slight circumstances is beyond oul
power. A few, bowcver, may be
noted. Porcelain was discovered by
an slchemist while he was trying 10
find mixture of earths that would
make durable crucibles. If a watch
makers apprentice had not held up
some spectacle glass between his thumb
and finger, telescope lenses might
ut YER have been known and if the shop
of London tobacconist had not been
destroyed by fire Lundyfoot snuff
would certainly not have given JOY to
thousands of snuff takers. If few
drops of aquatortis had not been
dropped upon the spectacles of q
Muremburg glass cutter, etching on
glass might still have remained un-
known. Had not the wife of an
English paper maker accidentally let a
blue bag tall into a vat OF pulp, blue
laid paper, the invention which
brought fortune to the paper maker,
might have still TO be invented.
LithOgraphy, too, was perfected
through suggestions made by accident.
These few instances, which are not so
well known as many others, and
which are not intended to be represen-
tative, we have jotted down at random.
Doubtless many of the most important
invention due to tritling circumstances
will be familiar 10 our readers.
A well known Paris scientist, DIR.
Delaunay, has made some curious dis
coveries which show the connection
between little and great things. To
ascertain the qualities of an applicant
cook, he says it is sufficient to give her
a plate to clean, a sauce to make, and
watch how she moves her hands in
either act. If she moves it from left to
right, or in the direction of the hands
of watch, you may trust her; if the
other way she is certain TO be stupid
and incapable. The intelligence of
people may also be gagged, the doctor
further says, by asking them to make a
circle on paper witha pencil ,and nothing
The good students in q mathematical
class draw circles from left to right.
The interiOrity of the softer sex, as
well as the male ounces, is shown by
their drawing from right to left.
Asylum patients do the same. In q
word, says the doctor, centrifugal
are characteristic of intelli-
gence and higher development; GEN.
Lripetal are a mark of incomplete
evolution. A person, as his faculties
are developed, may even come to draw
circles liz different way from what he
did in his youth.
Sir Walter Scott, when walking
along the banks of the Yarrow, saw
Mungo Park throwing stones into the
water and anxiouslv watching the
bubbles that succeeded. In reply 10
Scott's inquiry as to the object of his
the great traveller said he
was thinking how often he had thus
ried TO sound the rivers of Africa, by
how long time had
elapsed before the bubbles rose TO the
surface. This was q slight circum-
stance, but the travellers safety fre-
luently depended upon it.
Now that electricity is used for so
many purposes, tho slight pressure OF
mail button frequently effects wonders.
So 1t is, as has been well obser, ed, with
h0 machinery of human life-a slight
circumstance frequently produces the
most momentOus results.
- - ---------4-
ROUND TO GET EVEN.
From the Virginia, New, Enterprise
A man namal Wahotar w bp uo