Miscellany: Outward Influences

(Jhccrfully can I usunlly look on Ihe fading scason, evcn when it reminds me too powoiTulIy of my ownautumn; for I resolutely turn away my eyc f rom thc lone slubble, waving in the winlry wind, and tlunk only of thc n'pe, golden seed, which the sowcr will go forth to sow. - Jkit whon to the dreariness of departing summcr, is added a wcck of successive rains; whcn, day after day, the carth underfoot is slippory mud, and the sUy overltead hke a lub of cold suds; thon my nature yields itself prisoner to ultcr molancholy. I avti ashumed to confess it, nnd hundreds of times have strugglcd despcr■ately against it, unning to be conqufred by the clements, lookhxa at me witl) "evil cyc." But so it i_a protracled rain ahvays convinces me that I ncverdid any good, nover can do any; thtn I iOVe nobody,nobody loves me. Dr. FrankVm acknowledgesn similar eflection himself.ai).] philosophically conjcctures the pliysica) cause. He says animal spirits depend greatly on the presence of electricity in oui' 'iT.'.Vica; and during long continued rain, tbe dompness of iho atmospheresorbsa largo portion of it; for this' reason, headvises that a silfc waüscoat bc worn noxt to the skin; Ik beíng a nonconductor of elcclricity. Perhaps (liis prccnuüon might diininisli the nuniber of suicides in tlic foggy month of November, "when Englishmen aro so prono to hang and drown themselves." Animal mngneiism is connected, in some uncxplained way, wilh olectricity. Al! ihosc who have tried it, are probably aware Ihac Ihere isa metallic feeling occasioned by tho magnctic passos - a sort of attraclion; as ono miglit imagine the mogncland the steel lofecl, when brought nenr each other. The magnetizer passes his hands over the subject, without touching, and at the end of each operatioiï shnkos thein. precisely as if bc we re conducting ofi electric iluid. If this is the actual effect, the drowsiness, stüpörj and final insensibility, may bc occasioned by a cause similar lo that which produces heaviness and depression of spirits in rainy weather. Why it should be so, in either case,none can teil. The most lcarned have no krfowledge what electricity is; they can only lell whal it does, not koio it does it. That tho stato of thc ntmósphere has prodigious ellcct on human temperament, is suíliciently indicated by the character of nations. The Frenchman owes bis sanguine hopes. his supple liinbs, his untiring vivacity, to a genial climate; to ibis, too, in a great measure, ihe Ilalian owes his pliant gracefulness, and impulsive warmih. The Dulchman, on his Icvel marshe?, could never dance La Sylphide; nor the Scotch girl, on her foggy hills, become an improvisatrice. The French dance into everything, on overything, and over everything; for they live wliore the breezes dance among vincs,and sun the showers down gold to the piper; and druice thny must, for gladsome sympathy. VVe cali thorn of "mcrcuriiiV temperament; nccording to Dr. Franklin's theory, they are surchargcd wilh ehctricily. In language, too, how plainTy one perceives ilie iniluencc of clitnaté! All lunguages of noithern#origin, like the Kussian; Sweuiíih, and Germán, abound in consohants, and sound likc clanging metals, or tho tipping up of a cart load of stones. The southei n languages flow lü;c: a rill that movps to music; thc liquid vowels so sweetly melt into each other. - This diflerencc is observable even in the dialect of our norlhern, and soulhoni tribes c f Indians. Al the Nnrth, we find such words as C;trrytunk, Scowhegan. Norridgewock; at the South, Pnsc.tgouki, Santen, and that most musical of names, Oöèoitt.Tlie effect of cümate oh complexion á so obvious, ihntsome [liitosophers have naturnlly enough coneluded that tho clim?Ue is tho on!y cruise of diiTuieucc in cbföplè'xiöh? Thai it is the Iio.il of the sun, acting on guCcesi gunerations, throirgh tlie lapso of centimes, 'thai chars tho skin and crisps the hair in África, ihcrecnn bc liltlo doubt. South Amorica fïéfe in the saine latitude, but the effect is produced in a less degree, bocause lint continent abounds in inou'nlains, while a large porfion of África stretches out in deserts of aridals and. over vvhich nomountnin ureezes blow. All mountainous countries are inhabited by fair comploxions. Tlie Scotli, the Swieöj Ihe Hungnrians, are blupd-eyed and fair-haired. The Italian, Spaniard, and Mal tese, and swarthy. Jkit the Jews ailbrd the best test we have, with regard to the effect of climaté on complexion. As they never iniermarry with foreigners, thore is of coursc ainong them no admixlure of the blood of different races; yet the Hungarian Jew has blue eyes and fair complexion, while the Maltese Jew is dusky and a flindoo, of the same tribe, is nearly black. Cümate has had its cfiect, too, on the rcligious ideas of nat ions. Ilowstrongiy does the bloody Woden and the thunderingThor of northern mythology contrast uitli tho beautiful Graces and gliding Nymphs o[ Grecian origin. As a general rule, (sometimes aflecled by local causes,) southern nations cling to the pictured glory of theCatholicchurch, while the northern assimilate beller wilh the severo plainnessof the Protestant. lf I had beeij rearcd f rom infaney under the cloudless sky of Athens, psrhaps I might have bounded over the carih. os f niy ':elcment wero air, and mitsic but the echo of my steps." The caulion that looks whero it treadá, miglit have been changed far the ardent gush of a Suppho's song. Tlie sun-beam might have passed into tny soul, and writte itself on the now thoughlful countcnance in perpetual smiles. Uo you coinplain of tiiis, as you do of l'hrenology, and say that it favors latalisin toomuch? Í answer, no matter what it favors: if it be truth. No twu Iruths ever devourcd cach other, or evor can. Lookamong the fatrilics of your qcquaintance - you will see two brotliers vigorous, intol] ignt, atul enterprising, the tliird was like tlicm, tíll lie feil on his head, had fits, and was ever after puny and stupid. Tliere are two sunny-tempered, graceful gids - their sister miglit liave been as chcerful as they, but their father dicd suddenly, befure hur birth, and the molher's sor ruw chilled the fountain of her infant lile, and shé is nervous, dcformed, and fret ful. I.s thctc no fatality, as you cali it in tliis? Assurcdly, we are all the crealurcs of outward circumslaiice; bui this in nowise disturbs the scalc of moral responsibilrty, or prcvcnts equality of happiness. Our rcsponsibility consists in the use we mako of our possessions, not on thcir cxtenl. Salvation comes to all, through obedionce to the light they have, be it much or litlle. [Iappiness consists not ín having much, but in wanting no more than we have. - The idiot is as happy in playing Jack Straws, or blowing bubbles, all tho livelong day, as Newton was in watching the moves in the great choral dance of the plancts. The same universe lies above and around both, but "the mouse can drink no more than his fill at the mightiest river;" yet he enjoys his draught, as well as the elephant. That we are creaUires of necessity, whö that has tried to ëxért free will, can doubt? But it ts a necessity that bas power only over the outward and can never chango evil into good, or good into evil. It may compel us to postpone or forbcar the good we would fain do, but it cannot compel us to commit the evil. If a considcration of all these oulward influence teach us charity lor the deficiencies of others, and a strict watch over our uwn wcaknesses, they will perlbrm their appropriate oilice.