Chap. X. SAN FRANCISCO. 571 
CHAPTEK X. 
San Francisco — Elements and Character of Society — The Romance of Utili- 
tarianism — A List of Crime and Bloodshed — Points of Comparison — 
Californian Life distinguished by extraordinary Acuteness of Intellect 
and Energy of Action — Strange Remedies for strange Evils — Satisfactory 
Result of a social Experiment — Natural Character of the Environs of San 
Francisco — The Climate and its moral Influence — Excursions in the 
Vicinity — The Redwoods — Scenery of the Coast Range — San Jose — 
Artesian Wells — Quicksilver Mines of New Almaclen. 
San Francisco may be considered as representing the 
combined elements of Californian society. All classes of 
the population of the State, — all nations from which indi- 
viduals were drawn thither by the attractive power of 
gold, — all grades of human civilization, — every develop- 
ment of character which can take place under the con- 
flicting circumstances of a period of fermentation like the 
present, when the noblest and the basest qualities rise into 
prominence ; — all these fill the thoroughfares of the city. 
Every European, many Asiatic, and some American 
languages, meet the ear while you are walking in the 
streets. This apparent chaos of heterogeneous elements 
has been brought together, and is kept in motion, under 
the great form and system of Americanism, with its rest- 
less labour, its ever-active spirit of speculation, and its devo- 
tion to utilitarian purposes. Here, however, the realism 
of American life has become so complete that it may be 
said to have reached the zenith, where, like any other 
moral principle, it takes the character of its opposite, 
assuming a tinge of poetry and fiction. It is the romance of 
utilitarianism, which has its heroes just as well as a more 
ideal system of social interests — its heroes, its sufferings, 
