and we believe in the real opinion of the majority of Whigs who have no ends to serve but that of the party's success and the country's peace and welfare, is entitled, above all others, to the first choice of the Conventionthe opposition is of the same character; made more effective, however, by the sup tematic detraction and slanders of his enemies and the enemies of the Whig party, which no vigorous application of his mighty intellect to the hardest work in the administration of the affairs of the nation, and in his own and others' private affairs in which he is called to act, no active and beneficent interest in literature, science, and art, has been or is able to shame into silence or repentance. the Convention who have heretofore committed themselves to speculative objections to such resolutions upon the defensive. They would, too, in all probability, embody some interpretations of the measures abstractly objectionable, although being of no practical importance. But, above all, their passage would be regarded, however unjust-posed effect among the people of the sysly, as a sectional victory, and so present an issue directly opposed to the very spirit of the adjustment measures themselves, which were intended as concessions in equity to each party of whatever was just in their respective claims. Considering the question, therefore, from this abstract point of view, it must be apparent that the true policy to be pursued by the Convention would be to leave the question as it stands, and take for granted the fact that it requires no Thus, then, we say, the differences that further action, or expression of opinion; will exist among the members of the Conand this, we trust, will be seen and admit-vention being confessedly of this personal ted by all, when the Convention assembles. character, and not of principle, there should But as practical men, we must not rely upon be no difficulty in agreeing upon such a abstract views, but consider contingencies statement in relation to the measures in that may arise. And this brings us, in the question as would be satisfactory to all. second place, to consider the question, supposing it is deemed necessary by any that some expression of the sense of the Convention should be made upon the subject, what that expression should be? We have referred to the history of the agitation in the State of New-York, and again put upon record the statement which the contending parties agreed to, with a view to the contingency now under consideration. To meet, then, this case, we would point to that precedent as showing the possibility of making a statement that would satisfy all parties. But, lastly, supposing that some gentlemen have committed themselves so far, or have such unreasonable fears upon the subject, as to deem it incumbent upon them to introduce resolutions directly and simply affirming the finality and inviolability of the adjustment measures, as long as either section considers them necessary in the form they now stand: what then should be done? We answer unequivocally and unhesitatingly, they should be immediately passed. As we have said, we trust such resolutions will not be introduced, for we know there is great danger by so doing of There is less difference of opinion now kindling into a flame the embers which are than there was then. Indeed, we think we now, as we have shown, rapidly expiring. have shown that there is no practical differ- Yet, if they are introduced, there is no safe ence between any considerable bodies in the or honorable course left but to pass them. party, but that the only obstacle to entire To reject them would be to falsify, the on harmony now arises from personal objects, all hands admitted, position of the party. predilections for men, and the desire to It would be saying that the settlement is not inflict punishment upon those with whom made or not acquiesced in. A gloom would there has been collision in the contests of be cast over the entire country, foreshadowthe past. ing the coming of another storm of sectionWe know that the opposition to Mr. Fill-al strife and bitterness. A letter addressed more in this State is entirely of this charac- to us by a gentleman of Tennessee is so ter. The most strenuous opponents that much to the point in this connection that we have met have nothing to say against we must take the liberty of quoting from bis administration, but admire the wisdom it, and commending its views to the good and firmness that have characterized it. To- sense of the members of the Convention, wards Mr. Webster-who, in our judgment, of all shades of opinion. "Suppose, in the National Convention, these resolutions | in either the nomination or the election. It has should be rejected, would it not throw been their wish, and still is, to fight the battle on upon the party, during the entire canvass, the burden of explaining their position, and subject them to the ceaseless attacks and catechisms of the opposite party-thereby distracting the public mind, and throwing completely into the background our glorious national principles ? The Democratic party will seize with avidity every pretext that may assist them to avoid issue with us upon the measures of the American system. Its past history warrants this assumption. I give its leaders credit for sagacity enough to perceive the growing popularity of the Compromise measures in all sections of the Union; and they will make a desperate attempt to use them as vehicles to convey them to political power. They have tried coalition with secessionism in the South and with abolitionism in the North, until they have satisfied themselves that it is unavailable as a means of permanent success." These sentences were written when the matter did not appear so entirely settled, in fact, without resolutions, as it does now. But should it be so introduced to the Convention that a negative vote upon it would have the effect to unsettle what we suppose by general assent to be settled, then these views are worthy of the most serious consideration. The admissions now made by those from whom there is or has been any thing to fear are of so positive a character, that we cannot see how they can refuse to give in their assent to, or at least acquiescence in, the measures under consideration in a definite form, if called upon to do so. The following appears in an organ which has always been considered the strongest exponent of their views in the State of NewYork. It is in reply to comments made by other journals on the election of a majority of Scott delegates at the primary elections just held: "The discomfited Silver-Gray organs seek to have it believed that the triumph of Gen. Scott's friends at the primary elections is nothing but a triumph of Free-Soilism. They know this to be untrue. They know that the nomination of Gen. Scott has never been advocated on Free-Soil grounds, or with any reference at all to feelings of opposition to slavery. On the contrary, those who have worked to secure the present result in the State, have from the first and throughout earnestly contended against mixing the slavery question the old Whig grounds, such as the Whigs of the nation can unite upon, and such as they have always been united upon. They have said and still say, 'Let us leave this whole matter just where it is. It is not to be expected that all Southern Whigs and all Northern Whigs should agree in their opinions upon slavery. Nor is it necessary that they should agree. There is no question involving slavery now before the country. But there are other questions of great importance, as to which all Whigs are agreed, upon which a decision will be made in the approaching election. Let us unite, then, as Americans and as patriots, to secure such a decision as we believe will be most conducive to the well-being of the country.' "Such is the language and such the aims of the friends of Gen. Scott in New-York. What an aband that class of papers, to say that the victory surdity, then, for The State Register, The Express, we have achieved is one of distinctive Free-Soilism. These journals must know that what they say is not true. Fillmore is based on his having stood by the Com We This is from the New-York Tribune of the 21st of May. We have emphasized some of the expressions, to call attention to the indignant manner in which they repel the imputation that there is any want of acquiescence in the "compromise measures," or that the result is in any way attributable to opposition thereto. After this, it will surely be asking no sacrifice either of principle or profession to call upon them to join in a general expression of the sense of the Convention on the subject, if that should be deemed necessary to effect the very purpose they avow in the quotation we have made, namely, the securing of that unanimity of action and sentiment which will compel the enemy to fight us upon the solid grounds of the principles which divide the two great parties; and not upon the shifting quicksands of a sectional issue in which both alike may be engulfed, honor and patriotism swallowed up, and the country left a prey to internal discord and civil strife. As the partisans of no faction, but desiring only the success of the party, no matter who may be selected as its chief, because we believe this to be essential to "the safety, honor, and welfare of the nation," we plead for union and conciliation in our ranks. We ask of the South not to demand what is unnecessary, and of the North not to refuse from a mere punctilio to put their signature, as it were, to an agreement which they are already fulfilling, and have avowed their willingness to fulfil, should it be required. We think that a point has at last been reached where our severed ranks may approach each other near enongh to be again firmly united. A few conciliatory words only are needed. We look to the great National Convention about to assemble to accomplish this, not only by giving us the right man for the occasion, but by such posi tive expression as will satisfy all doubt upon the question that has distracted us; or by such wise silence and harmony as will confirm what we have endeavored to show is the fact, that the party has and does acquiesce in the adjustment made, and will see it faithfully executed. A heavy responsibility will rest upon any delegates to that Convention who shall destroy this hope of the nation for the purpose of revenging any personal disappointment, or for any selfish aggrandizement. Let such remember that they hold their positions for the country's and not their own gratification and good, and that the people will hold them responsible if, through their perverseness, want of patriotism, or dishonesty, the great party should be divided and defeated, on which depends the great cause of protection to the national industry, the safety and development of our internal intercourse and resources, sound finance and economy; and the conservation of those principles of wisely regulated liberty, national self-independence, and the "divine right" of man at home or abroad, upon which were founded this most perfect of all the governments of the world. RESEARCHES OF BARON REICHENBACH ON THE 46 'MESMERIC," NOW CALLED THE ODIC FORCE.* It is not yet a hundred years since the grand discovery of the composition of water, and not twenty since the completion of the magnetic telegraph. We stand upon the threshold of science; we see before us a boundless prospect of discovery; the laws of the material universe are not yet fully investigated; upon those of life we have but just entered; facts have been observed, but the laws have thus far eluded us. The laws of electro-chemistry, of the composition of bodies, of temperature, (thermism,) and the mechanism of solids, fluids, and gases, have been detected through a haze of hypotheses; but for these the connecting links are, in many respects, deficient. It is known that all bodies, without distinction, are affected by magnetism and electrism, and that both magnetism and electrism depress and exalt the nervous energy of the human body. The relations of chemism (the decomposition and recomposition of bodies) were connected with electrism by Davy, and by many European savans, and, in our day, by the researches of Faraday. The laws of atomic mechanism, of elasticity, of solidity, and gravitation, were reduced to mathematical formulas, but remain, in many respects, together with the phenomena of temperature, entirely separated from chemism and magnetism. The effects of light upon the human eye were reduced, by Sir David Brewster, to three elements, the red, yellow, and blue; otherwise we had no theory of light, and only an "undulatory hypothesis" of its motion, disconnected from all other hypotheses. We know, indeed, that chemical action (chemism) elicits all other physical phenomena; that thermal changes, in fact, all changes and motions of bodies, are attended with electrical and magnetic phenomena; in a word, that every particle of matter lies in universal equilibrium with every other particle, and the least motion of an atom disturbs all its physical relations. It has been observed that the heating of a bar of iron not only affects its chemical relations and affinities, increasing its disposition to combine with the oxygen of air and all other negative substances, but that it destroys its magnetic power, causes it to emit light, and alters its electrical relations at the same time with its volume and hardness. In a single experiment, the heating of a bar of iron, all the physical laws of matter are illustrated. Philosophers foresaw the final connection of all physical phenomena, but cannot yet give a name to that connection. Meanwhile, a class of phenomena more immediately important than those of magnetism, or light itself, have remained uninvestigated. The effects of the magnet, of the human hand, and of various physical operations, upon the nervous system, have been consigned over to empirics, and treated by the learned as a mass of inextricable absurdity or of superstitious delusion. Empiricism has ruled, without invasion, a vast domain of knowledge. The limits of the senses are still uncertain; have hardly been made a subject of inquiry. Whether the effects of the magnet were a delusion or a reality, or whether, by the exaltation of the senses of sight and touch, phenomena might not appear to some persons that remained imperceptible to others, were questions even unasked. Simultaneously with the great discoveries Physico-Physiological Researches on the Dynamics of Magnetism, Electricity, Heat, Light, Crystallization, and Chemism, in their Relation to VITAL FORCE By Baron Charles Von Reichenbach. The complete work, from the German second edition, with the addition of a Preface and Critical Notes, by John Ashburner, M.D. First American edition. New-York: J. S. Redfield, Clinton Hall. Boston: B. B. Mussey & Co. 1851. of Liebig regarding the laws of animal and vegetable growth and decomposition, Baron Reichenbach of Vienna commenced a series of observations upon the physiological effects of the magnet, in order to understand and reduce to certainty the pretended sensibility of certain persons to the power of the magnet and of crystals. The series of papers illustrating the observations of the Baron were composed for the periodical of Liebig, the Annalen. These observations were begun in 1844, and continued, almost without intermission, for a series of years upon a vast number of subjects, under the advice and criticism of some of the most learned and judicious savans of Germany. Their results are contained in the volume before us, translated in England, and republished, a few months since, in New-York. researches, that cold and heat, electricity, medicines, and food, are not the only material agents that react upon the human nervous system. He was enabled to detect remarkable and uniform effects from magnets upon a very large number of persons. He gives a list of not less than sixty individuals, some of high standing in the scientific and social world, and of all ages, sexes, and conditions, affected by the magnet, and who felt its approach and movement over their bodies, without contact. This point established, he proceeded to an examination of the lights seen by the sensitive over magnets. His first experiment was upon a person confined to a dark room with illness, who saw a phosphorescence or luminosity upon the furniture of the chamber. With this subject, he was enabled to detect fiery bushes and clouds of light issuing from the poles of an open magnet; and by a repetition of the experiment upon fifty or sixty different individuals, during several years of investiga tion, he established the luminosity of the magnet beyond a doubt or question. The old observation of the effects of a magnet upon certain highly nervous and sensitive temperaments was repeated by the Baron, whose laboratory and scientific apparatus allowed him to pursue all the necessary investigations without hindrance or interruption. He soon discovered that This luminosity presented phenomena to great numbers of persons-in fact, a much the more sensitive class of subjects, espelarger proportion than would be supposed, cially to somnambulists and the cataleptic, of the healthy as well as of the sick, and of when awake and observant, of a brilliant males as well as females, many of them and regular character; and the Baron finalrobust persons, who had hardly known ill-ly discovered, not only that all the subness-were susceptible to an influence then called "magnetic," because it was supposed to have its residence in the magnet. jects whom he tested in his dark chamber agreed in their representations, but that the perfection in which they saw the lights (called by him "odie lights") was in proportion to their natural sensibility of sight, heightened only, in some instances, by nervous illness. His final and most satisfactory series of experiments enabled him to analyze these lights, reducing them to the prismatic colors, and assigning the places of each at the poles of excited bars of iron, according to the points of the com The magnet, which ought to be a large one, capable of supporting at least ten pounds, is drawn downwards from the face to the knees, and produces peculiar sensations of cold or warmth, "resembling a cool or a gently warm breath of air." Sometimes this feeling is attended with sensations of pricking or creeping in the skin. In men more rarely, in women and children very frequently, these sensations pass. are strongly perceived. Nervous depres- The appearance of the "odic flames," sion from any cause, especially among wo-"glow," and "smoke," was more delicate men and men of sedentary habits, produces the most vivid susceptibility. These sensations, in extreme cases, where there is a disposition to catalepsy and somnambulism, or to any variety of hysteria, sometimes rise to an extraordinary intensity, and throw the subject into rigid spasms. By these experiments, the Baron satisfied himself, and those who followed his and pure than that of common fire, and the colors like those of steely iridescence, or sometimes of the rainbow; not that they actually varied, but were seen more or less perfectly, according to the varying suscep tibility of the eyes that beheld them. The differences were only of more or less. When great flames were seen rising from the poles of powerful magnets, or other |