advertisers as gout or heartburn, or as the consequences of "uric acid," do unquestionably, in a certain proportion of cases, afford temporary relief from some discomfort or inconvenience. They do this notwithstanding persistence in the habit or in the indulgence, whatever it may be, the overeating, the want of exercise, the excessive consumption of alcohol or of tobacco, which is really underlying the whole trouble which the drugs are supposed to cure and which at the very best they only temporarily relieve, while they permit the continuance of conditions leading ultimately to degeneration of tissue and to premature death. (Text.)—The Lancet.
(2295)
PANIC THROUGH FEAR
The New York Evening Post thus describes the condition of panic on our ships at the beginning of the Spanish War:
Almost any officer who served in the fleet
before Santiago could relate not one, but a
great many incidents that occurred where the
men of our ships would have slaughtered
each other if the good little angel that sits
up aloft (and our exceedingly bad marksmanship
at that time) had not protected us
from the mistakes (incomprehensible to
landsmen) which caused our ships to fire
at each other, at colliers, dispatch-boats,
torpedo-boats, and at nothing at all—and all
this in the clear atmosphere of the tropical
seas.
Such was the effect of the long, nervous tension that thousands of shots were fired at pure fantoms of the imagination. The broadsides of powerful battleships repeatedly burst into a furious cannonade that was arrested only with the complete annihilation of the supposed enemy. For one of our ships to approach the fleet at night was to run a grave risk. The sea was alive with Spanish torpedo-boats. Signals, lights, etc., were misunderstood or disregarded. The enemy might have obtained possession of them and displayed them for our confusion. There were many narrow escapes Several of our vessels were struck by shells, but the luck that followed us throughout the war prevented a disaster. I could mention the names of officers who have never been able to comb their hair down flat since the particular night on which they came within an ace of sinking a friend—with whom they have never since ceased to exchange congratulatory drinks. (Text.)—New York Evening Post.
(2296)
Panoply—See Armor.
Paper, Invention of—See Antiquity.
Papers, The Opinions of—See Reports
to Order.
Paralysis—See Salvability.
PARADOX
Nature is full of paradoxes. The water
which drowns us as a fluent stream can be
walked upon as ice. The bullet which, when
fired from a musket, carries death, will be
harmless if ground to dust before being
fired. The crystallized part of the oil of
roses, so graceful in its fragrance—a solid at
ordinary temperatures, tho readily volatile—is
a compound substance, containing exactly
the same elements and exactly the same proportions
as the gas with which we light the
streets. The tea which we daily drink with
benefit and pleasure produces palpitation,
nervous tremblings, and even paralysis if
taken in excess; yet the peculiar organic
agent called "thein," to which tea owes its
quality, may be taken by itself (as thein, not
as tea) without any appreciable effect—Vyrnwy
Morgan, "The Cambro-American
Pulpit."
(2297)
Joseph Hart, the hymnist, wrote "The Paradox," as follows:
How strange is the course that a Christian must steer!
How perplexed is the path he must tread!
The hope of his happiness rises from fear,
And his life he receives from the dead.
His fairest pretensions must wholly be waived,
And his best resolutions be crossed;
Nor can he expect to be perfectly saved.
Till he finds himself utterly lost.
When all this is done, and his heart is assured
Of the total remission of sins;
When his pardon is signed, and his peace is procured,
From that moment his conflict begins.
(2298)
PARASITES
Society has too many members who are willing to live on the labor of others, like the shoveler duck described in this extract:
One of the ducks has learned a convenient
