MANNERS AND MORALS.

79

any furniture suited in reality better to her own idea ||been frequent and occasional, they might have reformed of distinction, than would the more flimsy modern her. Had they been timely, the evil perhaps had never styles. But who ever saw a young girl (excepting a existed! Her father thought with many a father that religious one) who could resist fashion! the guidance of the daughters belonged exclusively to

The grand-mother-noble woman that she was!—the department of the mother; not reflecting how very had called her daughter with her numerous family, and closely that mother's time was employed in the more established her here, to preside and to enjoy all that immediate care of the younger children. This, too, her means afforded. Louisa was the eldest daughter was a peculiar case; for Louisa's mother had still anof the family, with one brother older than herself. other excuse, and this, without disparagement, was She was indulged in many respects; yet she deemed that she really did not know what was needed. She herself not so happy in her home as if there had had herself married before she was fifteen years of age, been fewer interlopers upon her parlor privileges. Yet and her growing family had left her no time for specuthis was a very faulty idea; and had Louisa been at lations beyond the routine of domestic duties. Yet all as religious as she ought, she would have considered there was one way by which these difficulties could the number of these little ones, being a Providential have been reconciled, and that the simplest way in dispensation, as a subject never to be meddled with by the world. Had the family been religiously trained the speculations of discontent. Had the idea been pre-from the beginning, no reader will doubt but all would sented to her in this form she would have been startled. have been well-there had been less wit and more wisBut she had never been admonished upon subjects of dom, less pride and more happiness! this kind; and whilst she had a world of regard for her young brothers and sisters, she was yet often betrayed into impatience at their necessary interferences and encroachments. She used to laugh with her female friends, and say that "she must really get married soon, for that her home grew worse and worse."

But, as I have said, in those days the world was gone mad with prosperity. This family did like most other families. The religious were few, and looked upon as a "peculiar people." At that date no wide-spreading distress affected the senses, or awakened the heart-no cloud impended in the distance—the Revolution had been achieved, independence established, and the facilities of the new trade were pouring wealth into every mart-the denizens of the "States" were in one untiring flow of prosperity-the great public were all rich! What wanted they? Not religion! Those

itself.

I have said that the family I mention had not less principle than the generality. Religion was so little "in vogue" that if a family owned a pew, paid the

Louisa was quite a beauty, and she knew it; yet being possessed of a strong and lively mind she was diverted from the idea, and never made herself ridiculous by personal vanity. On the score of her wit she was not quite so innocent. By wit we mean that were "prosperous times"-every thing took care of sharp shooting of rejoinder and repartee which is always ready and always striving for the mastery. This quality is not feminine or amiable. And those who affect to admire it in a young lady do so more in compliance with the taste which tolerates wit in other char-parson, and carried their children to church on the acters and in other situations than in that of a young lady surrounded by the domestic or the social circle. Neither would a girl of less beauty than Louisa have been forgiven for possessing so much of it. Let not my young reader forget that it is the satirist who says, "If to her lot some human errors fall,

Look on her face and you'll forget them all." This tendency in Louisa inclined her with all her good sense to prefer showy and brilliant qualities before the substantial merits of character, and worked out, as we shall see in the sequel, its own peculiar results. It was at first adopted only in a spirit of levity, but was of real disadvantage to her in the event.

Sabbath, it was thought "respectable enough." And if the parents belonged to the communion of the Church, the young people were excused-it was "not expected of them yet awhile." They were taught, as children, their little forms of prayer, and told from time to time that "if they were not good, God would not love them." And these slight observances, though much better than nothing for the children, were possibly worse than nothing from the parents-deceiving into a notion of duty performed. There was no family altar instituted-no specific duties inculcated—no plucking out of right eye sins--no pruning of the redundancies of character-no straightening of the tree to its up

referred to the test of public opinion, and that was referred to the decencies and amenities of life. How they got on as well as they did is the wonder! Yet most of them worked it out with "anguish and tribulation of spirit" at last.

I have said that Louisa possessed a "strong mindward tendency. The reformation of faults was mostly and good sense." My reader replies that she has as yet given no indications but of selfishness and folly. I stand rebuked in the expression, and confess that I ought rather to have said that she was capable of these qualities than that she acted by them, or evinced them. Such force of character, however, she was unconscious of possessing; and should she for once have been charged with weakness or folly, she would first have wondered, then resented, and then, perhaps, have admitted that it might be so. Had these admonitions

Louisa, when told that "her petulance would hinder her of a good choice of a companion," would reply, "I know I am too quick; and the man who takes me will get no angel, though the gentlemen often tell me I am one." This latter expression, irreverent as it is,

MANNERS AND MORAL S.

might then be found in every complimentary stanza || Yet she was of a very compassionate nature, and readdressed to "the fair." It would not now be tolerated garded not the sufferings of her own kind only, but for its impiety. She would add with a laugh, "I do would turn aside from a worm, or even a reptile, benot look for perfection myself, neither will I ever de- lieving with Cowper that ceive any man into believing me perfect."

Original.

ELECTRICITY.

ELECTRICITY.

In the second volume of the Repository, we noticed some of the mechanical effects of electricity-we shall now proceed to others of a somewhat different, though not less interesting nature; and, first, we may notice its influence upon, and general connection with, the animal functions. It was not until the science had been long cultivated, and had advanced in some of its departments to a good degree of perfection, that these effects began to be noticed; owing in a great measure to the difficulty of accumulating electricity of sufficient intensity previous to the invention of the Leyden jar.

81

particularly on the nervous and muscular systems. If a small shock be passed through the hands only, a slight twitching sensation will be felt, extending to the wrists or elbows. If, however, a succession of shocks be passed through the breast, involuntary sighing and tears may be produced, or violent laughter or shouting, as the circumstances are varied. A shock of sufficient power passed through any part, paralyzes that part, the rest of the system remaining unaffected. If it be a vital organ, death of course ensues, just as in the case of a stroke of lightning. Comparing these paralyzing effects with the power possessed by certain animals of benumbing or shocking whatever approaches them, it was soon conjectured that electricity was the mysterious agent in these wonderful effects. These conjectures, farther investigations have fully established. Large portions of the bodies of these animals are found to consist of an elaborate, powerful electrical apparatus, resembling, to some extent, a galvanic battery. The powers of some of these animals had been long known; and while they baffled the skill of philosophers in their explanation, were objects of superstitious dread to common minds, and usually attributed to supernatural agency. Thus the Grecian poet speaks of the torpedo. She

"Calls all her magic from its secret source, And through the hook, the line, the taper pole, Throws to the offending arm the stern control. The palsied fisherman in dumb surprise, Feels, through his frame, the chilling vapors rise— Drops the vain rod, and seems in suffering pain, Some frost-fixed wanderer on the icy plain." Modern travelers have discovered other fishes possessed of similar powers, and even far greater in degree than those possessed by the torpedo; sufficient not only to secure their prey of smaller fishes, but also to cause torpor, and even death itself, in the larger animals which unadvisedly intrude upon their domains.

This, as most are aware, consists of a glass jar, coated within and without to near the top with tin foil, or other conducting substance. The opposite coatings of this jar react upon each other in such a manner, as greatly to increase their capacity for the electric fluid. By this means, we are enabled to accumulate vast quantities of it upon a small surface. This discovery, which was accidentally made about the middle of the last century, opened a new field of investigation to the curious in science, and excited a degree of interest perhaps never before produced by any scientific discovery. The publication of it may be literally said to have electrified all Europe. For such was the eagerness of all to witness and to feel those effects, of which such strange and contradictory accounts had been given, that not only were machines immediately constructed in almost every city and village; but, for the earlier gratification of excited public curiosity, hundreds of individuals were seen traversing the country, with their electrical apparatus, drawing immense crowds wherever they moved, and giving the shock, in some instances, to thousands at once. They were even invited to the palaces of kings, and treated with almost princely honors. As a specimen of the effects produced upon some of the earlier experimenters, one grave philosopher declared, that he felt himself struck in his arms, shoulders and breast, so that he lost his breath, and that it was two days before he recovered from the effects of the blow and fright; adding that he would not take a second shock for the kingdom of France. (As to the effects of the fright there is no reason to doubt.) In another, it is said to have produced bleeding at the nose; and as a preven-silent groves; even the insect tribes are mute; all tive of still farther injury, he was obliged to resort to an active course of medicines. These imaginary terrors were, however, soon dissipated by farther experience; and, from being an object of dread, as destructive of life, it came to be the grand catholicon, the cure of all diseases. This power was exerted either directly, or by transfusing into the system the remedial virtues of those drugs, through which it was passed to the patient. But placing some of the more extravagant notions to the credit of the novelty of the subject, and the crude pholosophy of the times, there is still much that is really interesting in the effects produced. It seems to act as a sudden and powerful stimulant, VOL. III.-11

The atmosphere around us is always, more or less, charged with electricity, varying greatly at different times. That these electrical changes of the atmosphere sensibly affect both the physical and mental systems of man is perhaps beyond a reasonable doubt. Who does not remember the close and sultry-the gloomy, stupifying day, when even the birds seemed to have lost their accustomed sprightliness, and to droop in stillness, or wing their lazy flight through the

nature wears an air of languid sadness; and man's countenance seems but to reflect the general gloom? And who has not seen

The

"As from the face of heaven the shattered clouds,
Tumultuous rove the interminable sky ?"
Their darting fires extinguished, and surceased
Their dread artillery; "through the lightened air
A higher lustre, and a clearer calm,

Diffusive tremble," while "earth in her rich attire
Consummate lovely smiled."

birds hopped from branch to branch, fluttering in an ecstasy of bliss,

"While o'er the swelling mead,

The birds and flocks commingling played;"

and every nerve of animate creation seemed thrilling with delight.

Again, the well known effects upon the insane consequent upon changes of the moon, (whence their name lunatics,) familiar to all who have had experience with them, find their only solution in the electrical changes attendant upon the ærial tides, occasioned by the moon in its varied phases. So that in order to show the intimate and extensive connection of this agent with the animal economy, it is not necessary to recur to the modern theory of Animal Electricity-which has received such unbounded admiration from men of the highest abilities and deepest research, and equally unmeasured scorn and contempt from others which attributes all muscular action and all developments of mind to the proper flow of electricity, or magnetic currents.

On placing a dissecting knife on the muscles of a frog, it was observed to produce spasmodic movements of his legs. This led to other observations and experiments, which resulted in the invention of the voltaic pile and battery. All that is essential to the production of electricity by the voltaic, or as it is now more commonly called the galvanic apparatus, is that two substances, placed in communication, be subjected to different degrees of chemical action, by means of acids, for example-that substance which is most powerfully attacked being found to become positively, and the other negatively electric. The tension of the electricity so produced, as measured by its capacity of giving shocks, or affording sparks, depends entirely on the number of plates of each substance, irrespective of their size; while the quantity is governed by the extent of surface, and degree of chemical action. The effects produced by the electricity of the battery are so perfectly similar to those of the common machine, as to leave no doubt of the identity of the agent, though modified in its action by different circumstances. The common friction machine is found to produce electricity of greater intensity, and is hence better adapted to giving severe shocks, and affording sparks, whilst the battery, producing it in greater abundance, is preferable in experiments requiring only quantity irrespective of tension, or where a constant current is desired. The remaining effects of electricity which we shall briefly notice, though they may be

If we turn our attention to the vegetable kingdom, we shall find this all-pervading agent no less active here than in the other departments of nature. Although comparatively little attention has as yet been bestowed upon this branch of the science, yet sufficient is known to prove a very intimate connection between the growth and perfection of vegetation and electrical excitement—so intimate, indeed, that many have been inclined to regard it as the principle of life itself. In some experiments made upon some of the smaller vegetables, they were found to acquire in the course of a few hours, when under the influence of an electrical current, a growth which, under ordinary circum-produced by the machine, are most easily performed stances, would have required days, or even weeks. And it is a fact familiar to every observer of nature, as well as to every votary of the muses, that those storms which come accompanied by violent electrical phenomena, are those which contribute most largely to the rapid advancement of springing vegetation. It is "When to the startled eye the sudden glance Appears far south, eruptive through the clouds; And following slower, in explosion vast,

The thunder raises his tremendous voice with peal on peal, Crushed horrible, convulsing heaven and earth," that "heaven descends

In universal bounty, shedding herbs

And fruits and flowers on Nature's ample lap."

by the battery. They may be divided into the chemical and magnetic. As a chemical agent, the voltaic or galvanic currents is one of the most active and efficient that we possess. By it many chemical operations are easily performed, which would otherwise be extremely difficult, if not impossible.

Its chemical power was first observed in the decomposition of water, oxygen and hydrogen gasses being evolved at the opposite poles or wires when a current is passed through water. Other bodies being submitted to its action afforded similar results, each being resolved into its appropriate elements; one of these elements uniformly appearing at the positive pole or A still farther proof of its extensive influence is wire, and the other as uniformly at the negative. By seen in the astonishing rapidity with which the native this means, the alkalies and many of the earths, which lichens and mosses, or the less hardy plants trans- had resisted every previous effort to decompose them, ferred from more southern climes, are known to spring were proved to consist of oxygen combined with up and ripen their fruits under the intense electrical certain metals, then for the first time presented to the excitement of an arctic summer. Such are some of the examination of the chemist. But though acting with more prominent laws, properties and effects of elec-greatest energy on certain bodies, it does not attack tricity, as known previous to the commencement of indiscriminately every compound, but chooses its the present century. subjects according to certain well defined and highly curious laws.

About the year 1790 a circumstance, in itself apparently of little importance, led to a series of experiments and discussions which resulted in laying open a new field of scientific research, and to an advancement of science the most rapid, and to a succession of discoveries the most brilliant, extensive and important, perhaps ever witnessed in the progress of human learning.

Thus decomposition is effected only in those substances which are conductors of electricity. Again, those substances only are capable of decomposition, whose particles move freely among each other. Hence, in order to its operation on solids, they must be rendered liquid by fusion or solution. Even water, though acted upon with the greatest facility in its

causing them to enter into new alliances with the dissolution of older but less congenial associations; upon which, as a foundation, the whole superstructure of chemistry is reared, is owing entirely to the difference of their electrical characters.

And with every advancement of science, new proofs are presenting themselves in confirmation of this opinion. In this view, how many of the diversified operations of nature and of art, are but varied exhibitions of the power of this Protean agent? The crystalization of salt is but the orderly arrangement of its particles by this unseen hand-the light of our candles is an aggregation of electrical sparks; and our common culinary fire, is the wild lightning tamed. While the science of chemistry is thus being merged

fluid state, is entirely unaffected when rendered solid by freezing. Again, if two simple substances unite in several proportions, forming distinct compounds, only one of these compounds is capable of being directly resolved, viz., that in which the substances seem to unite in equal atomic proportions. Thus, while the chloride of tin is easily reduced, metallic tin and chlorine gas appearing at the opposite poles, the bichlorides in those that contain twice as much of chlorine, though far more easily decomposed by other means, are unaffected by any quantity of electricity. Many bodies of this class, however, may be indirectly analyzed by the decomposition of a second substance, and the union of its elements with one or both of those of the body under examination. So that either directly or indirectly, nearly the whole cata-in that of electricity, later discoveries afford strong logue of compounds, whether presented by nature or art, may be reduced. Bodies which had baffled the skill of the most ingenious experimenters, have yielded to this means of analysis; and substances have been made known, which, for ages, had eluded the most careful observation, and which, but for this means, might, for ages to come, have remained in their wonted concealment.

grounds for anticipating a similar result in reference to magnetism. These sciences have ever been regarded as nearly allied; and each new discovery, as they present themselves in rapid succession before us, is narrowing down the space that has separated them, multiplying their points of resemblance, and diminishing the number of those in which they have hitherto appeared at variance.

fixed conductor, by means of an electrical current. Temporary magnets, of great power, may be made of simple bars of iron by the galvanic current, capable of producing all the phenomena of magnetism, so long as they are connected with the battery.

On the other hand, the common magnet may be made to give sparks, to produce decomposition, to give the shock; and, in a word, to exhibit nearly or quite all the effects of common electricity. The opinion, therefore, seems forced upon us, that it is the same agent, in its different developments.

This agent, so powerful in decomposition, has The magnet, as is well known, may have its poles proved itself no less efficient in reproducing the reversed, or its power entirely destroyed by lightning. compounds it has destroyed. Thus, water submitted And, again, bars of iron, by the same cause, may be to its action is resolved into its constituent gasses: rendered magnetic. The same may be done by a if now these gasses be mixed, and a discharge of elec-powerful electrical discharge. Again, a magnet may tricity be passed through them, they are again united be made to revolve around its own axis, or around a and water is reproduced. Another most interesting class of effects is that produced upon the metals and combustible bodies generally. Even gold and platinum, the most intractable of metals, are not only easily oxydized, but are melted and inflamed by the violence of its heat. Gold burns with a white light, while that emitted by silver is a brilliant, emerald green; that of lead purple. All combustible bodies may be inflamed by electricity, and the most infusible bodies of an incombustible nature may be melted, and even dissipated in vapor. There seems, indeed, to be no limit to the intensity of the heat which the chemist This principle affords a ready explanation of the is thus able to command, except the size of his battery. magnetism of the earth. For by supposing electrical Whenever electricity is employed as a chemical currents to circulate around the earth parallel to the agent, whether in the re-solution and re-production equator, all its observed phenomena may be satisfacof compounds, or the oxydation, de-oxydation, or com-torily accounted for, the magnetism being induced in bustion of metals, the effect is exactly proportioned to the same manner as in the bar of iron connected with the quantity employed. It is equally true, that the the galvanic battery. quantity of electricity produced by the galvanic bat- That such currents actually do exist, if not a matter tery varies precisely as the amount of chemical action. of strict demonstration, is yet rendered highly probable And in every operation of a chemical nature, from by the known magnetizing power of the sun's rays. the simple evaporation of water, or crystalization Not only are the sun's rays capable of exciting such of salt, to the refined and intricate processes of the currents by means of their extensive chemical agency, chemist's laboratory, or of Nature's works, this subtle but recent discoveries in the department of thermoagent is found to be a never-failing accompaniment. electricity seem to show that their heat alone is sufThese and other facts, of a similar nature, early forced ficient for this. Whenever, by any cause, the opposite upon the minds of some of the ablest natural philoso-extremities of conducting bodies are made of different phers the belief, that chemical and electrical powers temperature, the electrical equilibrium is found to be are in their nature identical-that the peculiar affinity, disturbed. Since then the earth, by its diurnal motion, or preference of different substances for each other, is successively presenting its different sides to the