Newspapers / The Orphans’ Friend (Oxford, … / Dec. 13, 1876, edition 1 / Page 2
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I TILE aUTilANS’ l-TllKNl). I>ec«mkur 13, lS7i. TilE !i,l>l.:STK10i;S IKSA.^e. We recently read and approved Dr. Grisisoin's liisania Transito ry,” because it coutalns so iiiucli that will prove u.sefiii to jrliysi- cians, when called to testify in court. It is very important that no villain escape punishment on tlie plea of insanity, and it would be cruel to hang a lunatic. Med ical experts should therefore be tlioronghly posted in regard to lunacy, and we thank Dr. Gris som for valuable information and for his sensible suggestions. At the same time our faith .staggers at some of the Doctor's views, Fw example, we do not believe that Mr. Herce was crazy. He idolized his sister Hattie. Bul lock blasted her happiness and when requested to make the only possible partial reparation, he ad vised Pierce to “go to hell.” Pierce thereupon drew a pistol and compelled him to follow his own advice. The jury should have acquitted Pierce, not be cause he was crazy, but because he had performed an unpleasant duty and committed no crime. We purpose now to write a re view of Dr. Grissom’s very able essay on “The Border-Land of Insanity.” We intend to tell the truth with unfeigned affection and without partiality. For one year we boarded at the pme hotel with Dr. Grissom, anti often oc cupied the same room aiid the same bed. IVo know him well, and honestly believe him worthy of the high esteem in which he is held, and eq^ual to the great re sponsibility which his present of fice devolves upon him. Holding him in the highest personal esteem, we feel at liberty to express our opinions freely, without fearing any su-spicions of an unworthy motive. Maury’s “Physical Geography of the Sea”, openu with a grand paragraph,, but it is followed by theories which science has ex ploded. So Dr. Grissom’s opening paragraph is eloquent and beau tiful. Kead it: “Between the kingdom of Ge nius andth.e habitation ol Madness, there lies a strip of unknown breadth, which we may term the BorderJaiid of insanity. In tin's Border-land liavo dwelt great numbers of the marked men of their race. The history of those of out fellows who have had glimpses into the greatest glories and the most frightful sorrows that may befall humanity, has for n* a fascination beyond the wan- ‘ dei'inga of a Livingstone in equa- bwiiii wilds, or a Kane, aniid the frozen secrets of fire arctic North.” Here is another extract con taining' a very' important proposi- tloJi i ~ “The mind that dtVells within is a spark of the Divine es sence, destined to ,a.. life beyond tiio grave. Did I say that the nerves were the telegrapli wires of the system, and flie brain the central ioattery f True; but tlte operator is the mind, separate and independent from the machinery at its command ; and the battery, while sending forth currents of infinetice to the farthest wires, when the connection is unbroken, gives tho jangle .of unintelligent luotiou. until the directing power of tire operator impresses thought upon its qtiiverings, or direction upon its force, and registers his will in intel'liigible- hujguage.. But if the wires are suddteuly brokeiv,. or slowlj' rusted awtiy ; or if, ih tlie lapse'of time, the currents of j the baitcrv gmiv feeble, “''tl die j (iwav finally for want of the feeding acids and metals, the play of whose mutual action is trans muted to electric force ; or if tlie lightning of Heaven seize and for a while range these wires with uncontrollable force—in any and alt these cases the operator .stands powerless to express his will. But he is nevertheless still exis tent, and if the damage be not irreparable, be is ready to resume control, so far as the delicate ap paratus is readjusted and lecon- nected, and .supplied again with the pure and efficient pabulum of its operations. The proposition I assert is, tlnit tliere is no sucii tiling a.s a dis eased niiiid, where the body is in perfect health, iniplying tlie brain natural in size, unaffected in its structure or functions by disease, and supplied ivith pure blood, unvaried by excess or diminution. The mens Sana always resides in corpore sane.” The following extracts lay the foundation for the argument; “A conception of an absent ob ject is the revived impression which has been preserved in whole or part by memory. So, a lial- luclnation is an illusion that rea son does not dispel, but whicli hangs about the mind seeking admittance into tho domains of admitted truth. If we do not dismiss the momentarv sight of tlie ghostly milestone as the glare of disturbed sense, but fly before it, and every moment turn to see it pursue, we are the victims of hal lucination. That which more distinctly illustrates hallucination as disordered conception, is tlie striking fact that men whoso eyes are out may have, hallncinatii)n.s of dread visions before them, and so of the other senses.” Now comes the text attributed to Aristotle; Nullum magnum ingmium sine mixtura dementia;. But Aristotle wrote in Greek, and we should have preferred his ex act language; but perhaps the famous teacher used this text in breathing into Ids most illustrious pupil (Alexander the Great) Ids mad thirst for glory and power, though Dr. Grissom does not call him insane. Yet he must have been insane, or the text untrue. We admit that many kings have been crazy, hut we do not believe that “Philip of Macedon was once insane.” He was often drunk and sometimes liquor made him foolish and wicked. His “drunkenness was short madness,” as tlie Greeks often said ; but for clear, cool and sagacious administrative power, Philip (when sober) was remark able. He organized and equipped the army that conquered tlie world. Shall we say that Philip was insane because he sometimes held court when too drunk to decide controversies? Let us beware lest the same charge recoil upon our own countrymen. But how about King Saul, wliom Dr. Grissom calls “clearly” insane ? He was at first an ordinary man, except in size. Then “the spirit of God came upon Saul.” This was notinsanit}’. But again it is said that “ the spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the Lord troubled him.” Was this insanity ? Tho Devil entered into Judas Iscariot. Was ho in sane? Are we not.in danger of mistaking meanness for madness? Saul consulted a fortune-teller. W.is this insanity? Alas for thousands of oar vonng men and maidens, who inquire from- Foster down to the-most hldeouS'hags of Africai ■ (To he continued.) THE GRAND EODGE. This body closed its Annual Communication last Friday. 'I'here was very little variation from tlie usual routine of bu.siiiess. Mr. Blount was numbered witl> tlie Past Grand Masters, and his seat was occupied by Mr, Man- son of Wilmington. Mr. Hardin of Fay'etteville was made Senior Grand Warden and Mr. Giulger of Waynesville, Junior Grand Warden, Messrs Anderson and Bain were reelected Treasurer and Secretarv. Tlie Grand Mas ters’ appointments were exoellent- Tiie Superintendedt ot the Or phan Asylum reported 103 or phans at Oxfoid and a small sum in the Treasiiry. Tiie details of the troubles at Mars Hill and Asheville were also given. The Grand Lodge refused to take any action in regard to the Pease properly, and left it in charge of the Grand Master. But tiiere was a decided inclination to re tain the property and reopen the Asylum in the West whenev er circumstances shall render it practicable to do so. Tiie appro priation to the orplian work was tlie same as that of last \'ear. The report of the Committee on Foreign correspondence was coniiiiitted to Hon. E. G. Ileade fi.ir revision. mOUAE E.tlBREEEAS. Long before man souglit out the ingeniou.s invention known as an niiibrella for the protection of Ills corporeal existence was this of the moral type in vogue, to Father Ada n must the credit of its invention be given and though his successor’s have wonderfully improved tlie patent tlie same outlines are still discernible. Our venerable ,])arent made use of his best and indeed only friend to subserve this nnrpose in the mem orable words “ the woman whom Thou gavest to be with me,” he lias made an nmbrel'a of Eve to shield himselffiomthe showers ofa right eous God’s wrath. And his descend ants liave gone and done likewise. In imagination, let us go to church; we see before us an amia ble looking congregation, the minister announces Ids text, and lo ill an instant the little convic tion-proof inventions shoot up over tlie hearts of his hearers, he waxes warm in his expostulation, and tliey beam upon him most placidly, and so ho may ring the changes from persuasive eloquence to destroying vengeance, and the same imperturbable look greets him, for the impi oved patent of moral umbrellas were out that day, and tliey are “warranted to be proof against conviction of duty,” conscience lies snugly asleep under the protection af forded it, and tlie tempest of Di vine wrath has tlie lulling efi'ect of pattering rain on the roof, but a spasm of ]dty seizes ns when we tiiiuk how that sinner next to us ought to be drowning, and he comes nigh unto it, perched, poor fellow, over our consciences. Ana though they frequent churches, men do not leave them there. Oh no ! all the flecks of scarlet would be bleached out of self if subject ed to many such torrents, and the victim of these storms would be on the highway to spotless purity, all too soon for his temporal in terest, for there is a charm about tlie rosy hues in which sin vests itself, and approiicl'.es us and a shrinking, shuddering at the gleam of the glimmering white .Thmigli the sunshine of human sympathy only penetrates in stray beams tliis solid fabric and the- plant of love growing beaeath is a wee tiling, this is no desert waste. If you have ever observed how pois onous plants seek the shadow you will not marvel at the wild luxu riance here. Here flourishes the deadly niglit shade of hatred or the Upas of revenge steeping the soul in its deadly dews. There is not the same danger of losing tlieni that attends the ma terial kind. One ivas never known to be lost or even made way with, without great pain and anxiety. They are fast friends and guarantee a jollv gixid time to those wlio have sought refuge under them. ‘ But the dav draws on apace when they will cease to give slieltei, tliey will not avail before the tribunal of the great 1 Am, and a cry for the wanted refuge will prove as Fruitless as for the rocks and mountains to fall on ns. now DEI «U I'OM EATS. Tills strange being, so long known to the world as a rare musical wonder, mav almost be described as a wild animal born piano-crazy. lie even seems to devour his meals to the sound of imaginary music. A reportc'r at Virginia City expressed a desire to see Tom at his meals, and was accordingly taken to his room. ‘Sit down here,’ said tlie agent, ‘and keep perfectly still. Tom detects the slightes sound, and often puts people out of the room under the impression that they mean to injure him.’ The reporter seated liimself in one corner of the rooin, and in a few moments a waiter hronglit in Tom’s meal and placed it iq o:i a stand. Sliortly afterwards Torn was led In ft-oni an adjoining room and seated alongside the stand The agent then witlidrew leaving Tom and the reporter alone ! IVhen the blind musician took Ills seat. Ids features could be studied and at leisure. His head seemed to be a literal copy from the pictures of idots one sees in the phrenological works. Tliere was scarcely any forehead, his nose was lung and fiat, the moutli and jaws simply brutal. Ills yellow, sightless 63-68 rolled cun tinnally in their sockets, and tlie whole aspect of his face was fero cious and animal. Imniediatelvon seating himself, he began to drum witli his hands upon the table, as if fingering the ke}’s of a piano, at the same time linmniing an air in a low tone Next, he ran the tips of his fingers over tiie stand, and touelied in sucession a beefsteak, a dish of as|)aragus, a euji of tea and some bivad and potatoes. Satisfying liimself that a grace was warrantable, hecahniy spread his hat.ds over it, and repeated a short grace in a reverential tone and very slowly. The instant the grace was said he ohvtelied the beefsteak in botli liaiids, and, lifting it to his mouth, tore it in fragments between his teeth, seeming to swallow the pieces ivithout mastication. As soon as the steak was dis- [losed of, he began sweetening his tea with little c-nbes of sugar. He evidently likes his tea sweet, for he put sixteen ordinary cubes of .sugar in his cup, and then, stir ring tlie mixture, drank it down with a smack of satisfaction. When this was done he uttered a cry ot delight, and, turning fi-orn the table, rubbed his hands together in a sort of cliildish glee, and danced about the roo-m. Going up to the mantelpiece, tak ing Mt> notice whatever of tlie ar ticles which he knocked off. Sud- denh'he rinshed back to the table . -Jjai and made a raid on the dish of asparagus, eating the stems en tire, the white stringy part,, as well as the tender extremit3-. He next clutched a large pota to in his hand and placed it be tween his teeth, but suddenly chaiig-ed ills mind, and' castino' it down, lifted his eyes to the ceil ing, and again placed b'is hands in a position to plat''. He lield his head motionless foi- some minutes, as If endeavor- ing to catch some strat' musical fancy wliich was-drifting thvoijirh his mind. CAREVEE tuN UA.WWIN. The patriarch of an influential .school of English literature, Thomas Carlyle, lives in a simill unpretentious house on an olj dingy street in Chelsea, Engla.id, He recently received an Anurican gentleman—tliongh lie is not par tial to our nation, liaving encoun tered many- intolerable bores among our representativos—in a diawing-roonV on the second fio tr front, 'rile old man—he is in liis eighty forth year—sat in a capa cious arm-chair before a glowinu- coal fire. He was feelile, but his memory is still w-onderful, and the flow of his talk is unabated. 'Fhe gentleman thus reports in the Hartford Co»ra» wdiat ‘that old man eloquent’ .said of Darwin and his theories: ‘About tliirty y-earsago, a book was published here, called the ‘Vestiges of Creation.’ It ran (piietly tlirough five editions. Men read it with bated breath in 8 ’erice and marveled at its au lac ity. It was like a pinch ot snuff, and now' whole w-agon-loads of it are tlirown down in the public highw'ays, and theistic sneezing has become the fashion. •So called literary and scientif ic classes in England now proud ly give themselves to protoplasm, organ of species, and the like, to prove tliat God did not build tho niiiver.se. ‘I have known three genern- tions of the Darwins, graiidl'atiier, father and son—atheists ail. 'I'lio- brother of tho ])re.sent famous iiatnnilist, a quiet man, who lives not far from here, told mo that among his gvandfatlver’seffects he found a seal engraveil with this legend, ‘Omina &econchis, thing from a clam-shell ! ‘I .saw' the naturalist not many montlis fgo, told him that I luul read his ‘Origin of the bpecies’, and other books ; that he had by no means satisfied me that men were deeended from moiikoys, but had gone far t.rwards per suading-tiie that bo and his so- called scientific bretliron had brought the present gosieration of Englishmen venv liear to mon keys. ‘A good sort o.f man is th'*' Darwin, and well-nieani'jg, but with very little intellect. Ab, ifis a sad and terrible thing to see pjigh. a whole generation of men and women professing to be cul tivated, looking around in a pur blind fashion,, and finding no God in tliis Unjverse, ‘I suppose it is a reaction from- the reign of eant and hollow pre tence, professing to believe. And this is what we liave got to. AM; things from frogspawn; the gos pel of dirt the order o-f the day. ‘The older I grow,—and I now stand upon the brink of eternity —the more comes back to me the sentence in the catecliusm,, which I learned when a ehildy and the fuller and deepeir iis meaning becomes-—‘IVliiit is the great end' of man ?’ ‘To Glorify' God, and to enjoy Him. foret'er.’ e-v-ery-
The Orphans’ Friend (Oxford, N.C.)
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Dec. 13, 1876, edition 1
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