The Opelousas courier., 1890-08-16
NEW YORK In THE CLOUDS
nunT,TFRs I'M GOTHAM WHO SELL
DOM TOUCH EARTH.
start,ine theories as to what This
aerial Existence May Result In
stv-scraping Structures.

Aerial Existence MAY NNos"
sky-scraping Structures.
It is a fact that many a New Yorkes
does not touch earth for days. All nigne
long he sleeps in an apartment, for ex,
ample. seventy, perhaps a hundred ana
evenly feet. above the earth's surface ne
leaves it in the morning, after a ofeaA-
fast at which the chances are mourning re-
sentlv in contact with the earth mas oeeh
servsd by an elevator which,fo a certain
number of moments, maintains MN apso-
litely detached from all direct eonnectloh
with the ground. He steps brlskly 10TH
from, it to the pavement OF grants
blocks. on which he travels a short as
lance by foot-always debarreo from
contact with 'soil-to a horse car OF
| 6nallv. doubtless, to an elevated ran
road. Along this aerial tramway ne Is
| whirled amid a nerve jarring confusion
and conclusion to some altitudlnous once
building down town, where IN an ONCE
perhaps forty, perhaps eighty, possibly
fa0 feet from the earth, he passes
| his busiest hours and most taxes AIS
brain, when by reason, doubtless OF us
very surroundings, it is least ao'e ~
stand so severe a draught on Its energies
Il Is simply true, without exaggeratlon'
that such a man may pass months with
ont even coming in contact with tnat
one of the elements supposed by the
most thoughtful of the ancients to 81 1ne
first parent, the great nurse and reV1ver
of mankind. 1t is a fact, equally uuoe-
niable. that the existence OF SUCH a man,
sleeping and waking, in spent at such a
distance from this same helpful element
that there is little possibility of the earth
currents reaching him to refresh ms
faded energies and to carry away MS
waste nerve products.
Such is the startling and ingenious
theory advanced by one Of the most
thoughtful of New York's scientific men
If the earth furnishes a ground eonnec-
! tom which, in the great electrical sys-
tenn which hedges us in nowadays
wherever we turn, is a direct factor IN
completing the magnetic circuit, n oy
means of which the expert aecomplisnes
what would a generation ago nave seemed
mira6Ious. there is no reason to doubt
that contact with the earth may supply
human organism a factor, a stlmuiant
which NAV be obtainable from no other
quartet
New Workers are a people of the air
, They live, travel and work at a distance
from the surface of the as3be to which
aboriginal man was practically confined oJ
necessity. The gray matter OF neil
brains is in a condition of greater or less
conclusion owing to this phase OF tneil
being and to the consequent jarrlnE
!, around and above and beneath them.
The farmer who lives in constant con
. tact with earth, who works in it, rests OF
: IL and sleeps next it, is the ind1vldua
who for ali his kind is least susceptioi
] to nervous disorders. The sportsman
9 trapper. hunter, frontiersman. traVeie
= is blessed with much the same contlnnoo
. contiguity to the great earth-mother.
The highest fat houses in the city ar
the Osborne, the Dalhousie and tn
Dakota. The highest Office building
are the Washington, the Times building
the Mills. the Tribune and the Produc
Exchange buildings. The actual helgt
of these piles of stone, iron and brick
s~tunendous. Take the apartment house
for example.
The Osborne is fifteen stories and 10
feet high. To realize that height an
one familiar with the high curve in tt
Ninth Avenue Elevated Railroad at 1lOt
street need only remember that the rot
of the Osborne is just elghty-elgnt re-
higher than the road bed on which Il
cars run there, and along which it hi
been said one may s'hear the angels sing.
But asSthe height of the sL" road be
at that spot is seventy-eight feet, it
evident that this apartment house is mo
than twice as high as the railroad. II
latter is on a level with the tops of Il
highest buildings past which it run
v The Dakota apartment, house is on
eight stories high, but u measures II
feet in height, according to the recor'
Il of the Fire Department.
: The Times Building, by the same re
ords. is shown to be 1e4 feet from Gu
: to comb. or cornice. There are twel
stories. The Washington Building re-
listers twelve stories and 166 feet in ali
:: tude. The Produce Exchange proper
:. only 119 feet high, but the distance
:. the top OF its tower is 224 feet. 7
: Mills Building has nine stories and j
feet of altitude. These are a few exal
- ples of New York in the clouds.
DR.. Kitchener, q hundred years ago
! England, proclaimed the perils Of pa
ING through the air--or travelling
long distances. mo man. said he, sc
- travel a long distance at an average spe
of ten or twelSSs hiles an hour withe
he injuring his coe Ation and sowing sc
from which a rich harvest of suffer-
= must inevitably result" That idea
n been exploded long ago, of course,
~ human experience.
~ But any leading alienlst OF this 9
will affirm, to an intelligent question
the truth of the proposition that elm
ing stairs results in an enormous amo'
of feminine woe and that scurryi
in elevators to dizzy heights produced
many men a temporary mental unsett
ment. 81 have observed cases of seleva
dizziness" said DR.. Alan Mel
Hamilton, (which assumed distress
features and required prompt treatme
en- MANY men when IN elevator shoots g
denly up are conscious of 4 mental
wilderment. which, while speedily I
? appearing, might in time have seri
effects. The aggravated cases to VIII
{ referred were those of elevator DC
= who were finally obliged to seek OF