174 BRAMBLES AND BAY LEAVES. 



his own life, the effects of nitrous gag upon the human frame when 

 inhaled into the lungs, has resulted that grand auxiliary to surgery 

 which, first manifesting itself in the inhalation of ether, has ripened 

 into a judicious use of a more safe and certain agency. Enter the 

 room where anguish racks the frame almost beyond its strength, and 

 in an instant, by a magic; talisman, the agony is charmed away — the 

 frame, a moment since convulsed, lies calm and tranquil as an infant' s 

 sleep. Visit the scene where science rescues life by surgical means, 

 or where a limb is forfeited to save the frame. No fear, no pallor, 

 no clenched teeth, nor hard-drawn breath, nor moan of agony, tell 

 how a brave spirit struggles with torture that might awe the boldest. 

 A placid smile rests on the patient's face, and in complete repose he 

 lies entirely free from pain ; and wakening, learns that, in that brief 

 pause of consciousness, the incubus which weighed upon his very soul, 

 and checked the beating of his heart, is gone — has passed away as in 

 a dream — through the subtle influence of this magic spell. 



So has science, like an angel of peace, flung down her golden 

 gifts on man, surrounding his life with wonder, and awakening 

 within his heart a noble sentiment of thankfulness, and a recogni- 

 tion of the wisdom and benevolence of the Creator of all things. 

 As vice creeps back to its dark den and hides its head from the dazzling 

 light of knowledge which is now beautifying the world ; as human 

 life is lengthened by a wider appreciation of its woith, and the banish- 

 ment of habits and prejudices which heretofore have robbed it of its 

 music and its years ; as slavery and serfdom sink on one hand, and 

 freedom, fresh from its grassy sleep of centuries wakes up upon the 

 other ; as war with its red hand and blighting breath sinks down to 

 die upon the turf whereon the nations meet in amity, and sign a con- 

 tract of eternal friendship without state parchment, but on the tablets 

 of their living hearts ; while these things herald the dawn of a new 

 era of liberty and love, let us cherish the blessings which science has 

 bestowed upon us ; nor dim, with the feuds, follies, or wrongs, the 

 rainbow colours of the half-circle of years which have just dawned 

 upon us. 



