USA > Ohio > Hamilton County > Cincinnati > The Cincinnati miscellany, or, Antiquities of the West, and pioneer history and general and local statistics. Volume II > Part 22
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Besides these operations Henry Pearce occupies a part of the building in executing machinery for bagging and cotton factories. Much of the ma- chinery in use in Kentucky has been made here. He employs eighteen hands, and produces, say $40,000 value annually in his fabrics.
Pearces' factory is on the Miami Canal, not far from its mouth, and operates, of course, by water power. Its figure and elevation on an ap- proach from the lower end of Fifth street, renders it a striking and picturesque object.
Mesmerism .--- No. 1.
Nearly a year since, I presented in the " Ad- vertiser" of that period my views on Mesmerism, or Animal Magnetism, which, it was supposed by myself and others, had to a great extent the effect of setting this agitating question at rest. But there seems to be no limits to the reign of scepticism in this age of infidelity, and the evil spirit which was supposed to be laid to " Vex the earth no more," is as rampant as ever ; indeed bolder if possible.
It was formerly confined to private circles. It now speaks out in the press and the pulpit. Dr. Cogley has denounced Mesmerism as a phantasy and a chimera at the brimstone temple, and Bro- thers Blanchard and Dyer Burgess do not conceal their judgment, that it is the divination and sor- cery that existed among the Jews in former ages. I must, therefore, buckle on my armour, and come to the rescue once more. What Professors Bronson and Stewart illustrate in public lec- tures, let me establish by the press.
· Every intelligent and attentive observer has noticed repeatedly the power of sympathy, al- though unable to determine its cause or the ex- tent of its operations ; and all the well attested mesmeric phenomena are so many truths, con- firmatory of the principle. My design is then to collect some facts, well known and authentic, of the existence of which others are probably as fa- miliar as myself; and I shall argue the reality of Animal Magnetism from the evidence they afford.
In the state of Pennsylvania, and to the extent in which her emigrants may be found in the West, there exists a great variety of ascertained fact and practice, founded on the great principle
If a farmer there has the misfortune to cut his leg, foot, &c., in chopping wood, the axe is brought home, and hung up in the chimney cor- ner. Twice a day it is dressed with hog's fat, and after a suitable time, of which the neighbours judge by the appearance of the axe, the man is discharged cured, and fit to go to work again. So in the case of treading on a nail. The nail is carefully drawn, greased, and hung up the chim- ney, examined from day to day, and after certain changes have taken place in the surface the cure is perfected, aud the man goes to work as usual. What does this cstablish, if it does not prove the power of sympathy between the axe or nail, as the case may be, and the wound? They suffer together, and heal at the same time.
If a person burns or scalds himself, the usual recipe is, to breathe forcibly and repeatedly upon the injured part. The heat is withdrawn by the operator, to be breathed into the open air. This process of cure has been witnessed by hundreds living in this city, to say nothing of the vast numbers in Pennsylvania, who are constantly familiar with it.
Sometimes blood flows inordinately from the nose, by cutting an artery, bursting blood vessels, or any other cause which defies the skill of the regular physicians. In all such cases, a messen- ger is despatched to some individual in the neigh- bourhood, who has the gift of stopping blood. No odds if the operator has never seen or heard of the sufferer, all he needs is his name and place of residence, and the discharge is instantaneously arrested in a manner as striking and certain as it is mysterious.
It is useless to dispute the fact. It is as well attested as any result in laboratories of science or courts of justice. You need go no farther than Carthage, Hamilton county, to test its efficacy. I have a friend in that neighbourhood, Mr. John Hogendæblor, who in this manner can stop any discharge of blood, however violent.
I shall say nothing of the power of the divining rod, in hunting for water, minerals, &c .- How does it happen that, by its agency, not merely can water be found-for water may be found without it-but of a quality superior to any around it, nay, dug within five feet of it, and at a definite deptlı, frequently fifty feet nearer the surface of the earth than where the wells are dug under a different process.
Then there is the cure of the swinney in horses. I defy the ordinary farrier to reach this disease. In Pennsylvania, they take a smooth stone, and
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rub the horse on the part affected, then lay the | or of the elder bush. And I am assured by an stone on the grass, with the rubbed side down. Repeat this three times, and it is certain to work a cure.
There is the laying a charm or spell upon rifles, and bewitching people and cows, which prevails so extensively in the same state. I know there are multitudes with whom a sneer will weigh as much as an argument, who won't listen to a word on this subject. But every hunter knows to his sor- row, that when his rifle is in this predicament, he cannot kill game, and it is no joke to the poor sufferer to be ridden all night by witches, or his cows drained by that accursed race of their last drop of milk.
What shall I say of the countless operations of the moon observed in that state-perhaps else- where. I need only specify a few. The lower rail of a fence laid in the dark of the moon, is sure to become soon imbedded in the ground, while another, laid on the opposite side, shall re- main years out of ground, if laid in the light of it. Rails split more easily in the light of the moon than in the dark. Radishes planted in one period of the moon, run all up to seed, in others, run to fibrous roots. Meat boiled at the waning, shrinks, but swells at the increase. When the circle of the moon is to the earth and she appears lying on her back, it never rains, for in that position she holds all the water. But let the position be reversed, and the horns down, the rain is pouring out all the time. Mrs. M-, of Butler county, Penn- sylvania, assured me, from her own experience, that if babics diapers were rinsed in cold water, it would infallibly give the child the bellyache.
As to the mesmeric passes, I see nothing ex- traordinary in their effects. I can find iudividu- als enough among the auditory of a church, put to sleep as successfully and profoundly by the right and left hand passes,-yes, and in some in- stances without any gesture at all-of our pulpit lecturers. I had supposed this fact sufficiently known to have rendered the kindred magnetic movement perfectly intelligible.
With one singular and curious fact, and in which we can more distinctly see the working of the magnetic or sympathetic power of nature, I shall close the article.
In Pennsylvania, the inner bark of a white walnut, or butternut, is boiled down and used for medical purposes. It is as remarkable as it is indisputable, that if the bark be scrapcd down- wards, the application purges, if upwards it vo- mits. If scraped each way, it both vomits and purges. This fact is so well known, that the scraping is never confided to any persons, but those who can be depended on to scrape it the right way.
The same is equally true of the slippery elm,
intelligent sailor of my acquaintance, that salt water drawn from the ocean while the tide is ris- ing, will vomit if drank, just as surely as it will purge if taken at ebb tide.
I look upon these facts, for which I can find fifty witnesses here, and thousands in Pennsyl- vania, equally wonderful with any thing in ani- mal magnetism.
The City Council --- No 1.
In arranging for exhibition a picture gallery of the conscript fathers of Cincinnati, a distingaish- ed place must be allotted the presiding officer of that body.
The qualifications for a suitable president to the Council a. e quickness in apprehending points of order, and a degree of firmness in enforcing them, that is not incompatible with the suavi- ty of manner which will enable him to execute his duty with the necessary promptitude, without giving personal offence.
Mr. President Strong is a Buckeye, I believe, in whose family history it is a singular circum- stance, considering that Cincinnati is hardly more than fifty years of age, that both his father and grandfather are indentified with our City his- tory and settlement, they having held honoura- ble rank in the military service under Harmar, St. Clair and Wayne. It is a marked evidence of our advance in age here when we can furnish incumbents to this office, as we have twice done in rival candidates for the Mayoralty of Cincin- nati, of individuals born here.
Mr. S. presides with great dignity of manner, and with the patience necessary to listen to the long winded harangues which members, who are thus qualifying themselves as in a debating school for more dignified offices, occasionally inflict on the president, as well as other listeners, and fre- quently called to decide a knotty point of order, manifests considerable skill in unraveling its in- tricacies, and is very prompt as well as impartial in enforcing the rules of the board. What I particularly like Mr. Strong for, is his obstinacy, or what he would call firmness, I am an obsti- nate man myself, and can therefore appreciate the quality in others. I asked Jonah Martin once, who hc considered the two most obstinate, big- oted and prejudiccd men in Cincinnati: " I don't know," replied Jonah, " unless it is you and C." " The very two persons I had in view," remark- ed I, " and it is the highest compliment you could pay us, for what you term obstinacy I call firm- ness, what you consider bigotry is simply adhe- rence to principle, as what passes with you for · prejudice, is our readiness to do our duty and take the consequences.
To return to Mr. D. E. A. Strong. He is an
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eminently practical man, having been a mer- chant in active business; and with his understan- ding of the city wants, and the city interests, it is matter of regret, that he is not placed upon some of the business committees, where he could be filling a larger measure of usefulness than in presiding over the deliberations of the board.
I dislike drawing a picture, and specifying whose portrait it is, but am compelled to do it in this case. When I get among the members the likeness itself must designate the individual.
Fire Wardens.
I observe complaints made in the daily prints of the inactivity of these officers. What can per- sons expect from such men as Judge Torrence, or councilman Stephenson, two of the best among them? Do they imagine they can neglect their own business and spend six days of the week ex- amining whether the houses of a large city, such as ours, are exposed to taking fire from the care- lessness of neighbours? 'The whole system is de- ficient and defective. There are thirty-two fire wardens, about three to a ward, having general jurisdiction wherever they please to exercise it -- which, of course, is nowhere.
If we desire to have any good result from the appointment of such officers, let the institution be remodeled. Let each block in the city have its own fire warden, who will then be interested in taking care of the block; and fine him five dol- lars for every fire which results from his neglect to remove all undue exposedness to it.
Nomenclature.
By accident or design, names are sometimes placed in singular collocation, and furnish new ideas to old and familiar names Thus, we have had for years as newspaper periodicals, the Tole- do Blade, the Kent Bugle, and the Roman Citizen, These all derive their adjectives from the town or county in which they are established. The latest. thing of the kind outstrips all of them. It is the Piketonian, printed at Piketon, Pike county and edited by Samuel Pike. If Mr. P. has not yet adopted a motto, I suggest the Irish insurrection- ary device of 1798: "The Pike shall win our way to freedom."
Free Translations.
A schoolboy, reading Cæsar's Commentaries, came to the words, " Cesar transit Alpes, sum- ma diligentia;" which, to the astonishment of his master, he translated-" Cæsar crossed the Alps on the top of a diligence!" Another in the same class translated the well-known proverb, "Nemo omnibus horis sapit," as follows: " No man knows at what hour the omnibus starts."
I think, to the Cincinnati law student, who, be- ing asked to give a free translation of "Nemo re- pente fuit turpissimus," paraphrased it: " It takes five years to make a lawyer."
New Churches.
Amidst the general advance of Cincinnati in its buildings, an uncommon share of those erect- ed or in progress this year are of a public nature. The Cincinnati College, the Masonic and Odd Fellows Halls, the College of Dental Surgery, all bear date 1845. Then there are two Roman Catholic chapels ; two Presbyterian houses of worship; one for the Welsh Church on College Street; two for the Christian Disciples; and four for the Methodist Episcopal Church, constituting an aggregate of fourteen houses of public worship, most of them handsome and spacious, for one year. I doubt if this has its equal in the United States.
Price of an Opinion.
In a cold night in November, in the year 1835, a man enveloped in a large cloak rapped at the door of one of the most distinguished advocates of Paris. He was quickly shown to the chamber of the learned lawyer.
" Sir," he said, placing upon the table a large parcel of papers. "I am rich, but the suit that has been instituted against me this day will en- tirely ruin me. At my age a fortune is not to be rebuilt; so that the loss of my suit will con- demn me forever to the most frightful misery. I come to ask the aid of your talents. Here are the papers; as to facts, I will, if you please, ex- pose them clearly to you."
The advocate listened attentively to the stran- ger, then opened the parcel, examined all the papers it contained, and said: "Sir, the action laid against you is founded in justice and morali- ty; unfortunately, in the admirable perfection of our codes, law does not always accord with jus- tice, and here the law is for you, If, therefore, you rest strictly upon the law, and avail your- self, without exception, of all the means in your favour-if, above all, these means are exposed with clearness and force, you will infallibly gain your suit, and nobody will afterwards dispute that fortune which you fear to lose."
" Nobody in the world," replied the client, " is so competent to do this as yourself, an opi- nion drawn up in the sense, and signed by you, would render one invulnerable. I am bold enough to hope that you will not refuse me."
The skilful advocate reflected some moments, taking up again the papers that he had pushed away with an abruptness peculiar to him, said that he would draw up the opinion, and that it would be finished the following day at the same hour.
The client was punctual to his appointment. The advocate presented him with the opinion, and without taking the trouble to reply to the thanks with which the other overwhelmed him, said to him rudely:
" Here is the opinion; there is no judge who after having seen that, will condemn you. Give
These are admirable specimens, but not equal, me three thousand francs."
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The client was struck dumb and motionless with surprise.
" You are free to keep your money," said the advocate, " as I am to throw the opinion into the fire."
So speaking, he advanced towards the chimney, but the other stopped him, and declared that he would pay the sum demanded; but he had only half of it with him.
He drew in fact, from his pocket-book fifteen hundred francs in bank notes. The advocate with one hand took the notes, and with the other threw the opinion into the drawer.
" But," said the client, " I am going, if you please, to give you my note for the remainder." " I want money, bring me fifteen hundred francs, or you shall not have one line."
There was no remedy ; the three thousand francs were paid. But the client to avenge him- self for being thus pillaged, hastened to circulate this anecdote. It got into the papers and for a fortnight there was a deluge of witticisms of all kinds upon the disinterestedness of the great ad- vocate. Those who did not laugh at it, said it was deplorable that a man of such merit should be tainted with a vice so degrading as avarice. Even his friends were moved by it, and some of them went so far as to remonstrate with him publicly; but the only reply he made was by shrugging his shoulders, and then, as every thing is quickly forgot in Paris, people soon ceased to talk of this.
Ten years had passed. One day the court of cassation, in its red robes, was descending the steps of the palace of justice to be present at a public ceremony. All at once a woman darts from the crowd, throws herself at the feet of the procureur general, seizes the end of his robe, and presses it to her lips. The woman was looked upon as deranged, and they tried to drag her away.
" Oh, leave me alone, leave me alone!" she cried; " I recognise him-it is he-my preserver! Thanks to him, my old age is happy. Oh, you do not know, you-one day-I was very unhap- py then-I was advised to bring an action against a distant relation of my husband, who it was said, had possessed himself of a rich heritage that ought to have come to my children, Already I had sold half of my property to commence the action, when, one evening, I saw enter my house a gentleman, who said to me: 'Do not go to law, reason and morality are for you, but the law is against you. Keep the little you have, and add to it these three thousand francs, which are truly yours.' I remained speechless with surprise ; when I would have spoken and thanked him he had disappeared, but the bag of money was there upon my table, and the countenance of that ge- nerous man was engraven upon my heart, never to be erased, This man ; this preserver of my family is here! Let me thank him before God and before man."
The court had stopped. The procureur gene- ral appeared moved, but conquering his emotions, hø said:
" Take away this good woman, and take care that no harm comes to her; I don't think she is quite right in her mind."
He was mistaken ; the poor woman was not mad; only she remembered, and Monsieur Dupin had had chosen to forget.
The First Locomotive.
It is now very generally conceded, that of all the inventions of man, none holds any compari- son with the steamboat. The mind can scarcely combine a calculation which may measure its importance. Some vague estimate may indeed be formed of it, by imagining what would be the state and condition of the world, at the present day, were there no steamboats; were we still to find ourselves on board sloops, making an aver- age passage of a week to Albany, exposed to all the disasters of flaws from the " downscomer," and discomfiture of close cabins; or ascending the Mississippi in a keel-boat, pushed every inch of the way against its mighty current, by long poles, at the rate of fourteen miles in sixteen hours.
It is now almost forty years since the first steamboat ascended the Hudson, being the first practical application of a steam-engine to water conveyance. Then, no other river had seen a, steamboat; and now, what river, capable of any kind of navigation, has not been bepaddled with them? It is not my purpose to enter the list of disputants, since sprung up, striving to prove that the immortal FULTON was not the first successful projector of a steamboat. In common with the world, I can but mourn over the poverty of his- tory, that tells not of any previous successful effort of the kind. Steam, no doubt, was known before. The first tea-kettle that was hung over a fire, furnished a clear developement of that im- portant agent. But all I can say now, is, that I never heard of a steamboat, before the " North River " moved her paddles on the Hudson; and very soon after that period, when it was contem- plated to send a steamboat to southern Russia, a distinguished orator of that day, in an address before the Historical Society of this city, elo- quently said, in direct allusion to the steamboat: " The hoary genius of Asia, high throned on the peaks of Caucasus, his moist eye glistening as he glances over the destruction of Palmyra and Persepolis, of Jerusalem and of Babylon, will bend with respectful deference to the inventive, spirit of this western world;" thus proving con- clusively, that the invention was not only of this country, but that no other country yet knew of it. In fact, the invention had not yet even reach- ed the Mississippi; for it was not until a year af- ter, that a long-armed, high-shouldered keel-boat man, who had just succeeded in doubling a bend in the river, by dint of hard pushing, and run his boat in a quiet eddy, for a resting spell, saw a steamboat gallantly paddling up against the cen- tre current of that " Father of Rivers," and ga- zing at the scene with mingled surprise and tri- umph, he threw down his pole, and slapping his hands together in ecstacy, exclaimed: "Well done, old Mississippi ! May I be eternally smashed, if you han't got your match at last !"
But, as before hinted, it is not my design to furnish a conclusive history of the origin of steamboats. My text stands at the head of this article; and I purpose here to record, for the in- formation of all future time, a faithful history of " The first Locomotive." I am determined, at least that that branch of the great steam family shall know its true origin.
In the year 1808, I enjoyed the never-to-be- forgotten gratification of a paddle up the Hudson, on board the aforesaid first steamboat that ever moved on the waters of any river, with passen- gers. Among the, voyagers, was a man I had
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known for some years previous, by the name of { of the last war with England, (and may it be the Jabez Doolittle. He was an industrious and in- last,) I got a letter from Jabez, marked " private" telling me that he wanted to see me " most des- perately;" and that I must make him a visit at his place, " nigh Wallingford." The din of arms, and the destruction of insurance companies, the smashing of banks, and suspension of specie pay- ments, and various other inseparable attendants on the show and " pomp and circumstance of glorious war," had in the mean time entirely wiped from memory my friend Jabez, and his wonderful rat trap. But I obeyed his summons, not knowing but that something of importance to the army or navy might come of it. On reaching his residence, imagine my surprise, when he told me he believed he " had got the no- tion." genious worker in sheet iron, tin, and wire; but his greatest success lay in wire-work, especially in making " rat traps;"' and for his last and best invention in that line, he had just secured a pat- ent; and with a specimen of his work, he was then on a journey through the state of New York for the purpose of disposing of what he called " county rights;" or, in other words, to sell the privilege of catching rats according to his patent trap. It was a very curious trap, as simple as it was ingenious; as most ingenious things are, af- ter they are invented. It was an oblong wire box, divided into two compartments; a rat enter- ed one, where the bait was hung, which he no sooner touched, than the door which he entered fell. His only apparent escape was by a funnel- ' Notion-what notion?" I inquired. shaped hole into the other apartment, in passing which, he moved another wire, which instantly reset the trap; and thus rat after rat was furnish- ed . the means of " following in the footsteps of his illustrious predecessor," until the trap was full. Thus it was not simply a trap to catch a rat, but a trap by which rats trapped rats, ad in- finitum. And now that the recollection of that wonderful trap is recalled to my memory, I would respectfully recommend it to the attention of the Treasury Department, as an appendage to the sub-Treasury system. The " specification " may be found on file in the patent office, number eleven thousand seven hundred and forty-six.
This trap, at the time to which I allude, abso- lutely divided the attention of the passengers; and for my part, it interested me quite as much as did the steam-engine; because, perhaps, I could more easily comprehend its mystery. To me, the steam-engine was Greek; the trap was plain English. Not so, however, to Jabez Doolittle. I found him studying the engine with great avid- ity and perseverence, insomuch that the engineer evidently became alarmed, and declined answer- ing any more questions.
" Why, you needn't snap off so tarnal short," said Jabez; " a body would think you hadn't got a patent for your machine. If I can't meddle with you on the water, as nigh as I can calcu- late, I'll be up to you on land, one of these days."
These ominous words fell on my ear, as I saw Jabez issue from the engine room, followed by the engineer, who seemed evidently to have got his steam up.
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