Year: 1864

Hiding the THERMOMETERS.


[From the N. Post.l


Not long after the invention Of measuring
the temperature by means of a thermome.
ter, an interval of extreme heat occurred
which was the object Of much conversation
In little town Of Germany there was q
single possessor of thermometer, which
was consulted by all the neighborhood
several times in the course of the day. 1t
was the beginning of dog days, and instead
of becoming cooler, the weather to their
great disappointment grew little hotter
with every succeeding day, everybody was
remarking how uncomfortably warm the
season was. At last the owner of the
thermometer, Michael by name, having duly
reflected on the subject, determined to put
an end to the Inconvenience which his
neighbors were suffering, and taking down
the thermometer from the place where it
hung by the side of his door, he packed it
in cotton and hid it in little drawer, the
kee Of which he kept in his pocket. Now"
said Michael to his neighbors, we shall have
cooler weather. have put out Of the way
that rascally thermometer which marked
the temperature two or three degrees higher
every day, and you will be TO more trou-
bled with the heat The story goes that
to the end Of dog. days the good people
of katzenwinkel, where Michael lived, were
divided into two parties, those who main.
thermometer the heat had greatly abateG
and those who insisted that it hal grown
mere intense. They perspired and painted
as before, but some Of them declared that
the weather was almost cold enough for q
fire, while others were positive tha. the at.
mospherc was nearly ut blood heat. They
had no thermometer to settle the question
and so the dispute went on.


A short time since We had the means oI
measuring the price Of gold by the sales
made at the meetings Of the board Of brOk.
ers in this city. 1t was an index of the
imitation Of our currency, which told how
its volume was expanding from day to day
The goll bill, as it is called, prohibiting all
sales OF gold except in those cases in which
the contract was followed by the instant
delivery of the commodity, has just become
law. Now there will be no sales Of gold
at the board Of brokers. Michael will have
taken away and hidden the thermometer
by which we have hitherto observed to
what degree the atmosphere was heated.
The weather is just as hot, the air as sultry,
the perspiration as copious; but there is
no room to wrangle about the precise de-
gree Of the prevailing warmth. To form
some tolerably accurate notion of it We shall
be obliged to 60 about dipping our fingers
into standing water wherever We see it, and
to observe how thinly people are clad, to
what degree they affect the shade, and in
what quantities they consume ice-w water.


We have for our part no confidence what
ever in that class cf expedients to which
the gold bill belongs. They interfere with
the usual course of trade, and however
they may be recommended, they are in the
main and in their general consequences in
furious to the public interests. They are
also, in the greater number Of instances,
wholly Intellectual to prevent the mischief
which they seek to obviate. Trade, when
such necessary commodity as gold is con-
cerned, is sure to meet the utmost skill of
render new Legislation necessary. tTif6a Tf6as
speculations in gold will either hereafter
take a new form or be conducted in private.
1t is already proposed by some of the
shrewder operators to begin the selling OF
"greenbacks'' at gold rates, which would
amount to the same thing as the present
speculations in gold, but with much more
dangerous tendency. A dozen other expe-
dients, indeed, are discussed on the streets
and in the counting houses, any one OF
which, if carried into effect, would largely
defeat the purposes of the legislators. II
was NConnell, we believe. who used to
say that parliament could not make statute
in restraint of natural freedom which his
country men would not 60 round jump over
or crawl under, and we suspect that The
makers Of these statutes for regulating trade
will find that similar word might be spok
en- of them.