THE MONTHLY MISCELLANY, AND JOURNAL OF HEALTH.. EDITED BY W. M. CORNELL. "Multa ferunt anni venientes commoda secum."-HORACE. "Health consists with Temperance alone."-POPE. VOL. I. BOSTON, JANUARY 1, 1846. No. 1. INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. CUSTOM has rendered it necessary for us, on issuing the first number of a new paper, to say something of the course which we design to pursue, and of the character and nature of the undertaking for which we solicit the approval and patronage of the public. Being thus necessitated, in the language of Tully, "De me pauca dicam," to say a few things about ourselves, we will proceed to the work. We have heard a story of a clergyman, who was laid under an ecclesiastical injunction that he should not preach; to meet which, when the people, on a certain occasion, had assembled, he told them he should not preach, but he would read a passage of scripture, and tell them what he would say if he did preach ; and then spent the hour in fulfilling this promise. So, we cannot say what we may publish, owing to the small dimensions of our work and the little experience we have had (though we have had some) in the chair editorial. But, if we had room and ability, we would make it of a miscellaneous and newspaper character, and say something of christianity, morals, education, the best methods of instruction, government, both family and civil, temperance, equal rights, agriculture, manufacturing, commerce and marine interests, literature, news, reviews of books, &c. &c. We do not know that we shall speak of half these subjects, but we may say a word upon all of them. We shall try to make our work chaste in sentiment, decent, if not elegant, in diction, and fair and legible in execution; striving to convey instruction, and afford profitable entertainment to all who may take the trouble to read what we publish. We do not intend to deal in personalities, or slanderous insinuations. Towards our brethren of the press, we hope to be always courteous and respectful. In our reviews of books, and criticisms in general, we design to encourage merit, rather than make it an object to seek and find out faults. One object to which we would devote a portion of our pages, is the means of preserving health, and thus forestalling and preventing disease. In this respect, we would, if we could, make our Journal what no one, with which we are acquainted, now is; for, while there are, at present, many able medical and professional periodicals, we know of no one specially devoted to the preservation of health. To accomplish such an object, we would endeavor to enlighten and instruct the people in this art, by treating, in a familiar manner, of the natural laws to which the human frame is subjected; embodying plain precepts for the regulation of the physical agents necessary to health; showing in what circumstances of excess and misapplication, they become injudicious and destructive; discussing the properties of the air, in its several states of heat, coldness, dryness, and electricity; the effects of different articles of food and drink; the manner in which the senses and brain are the most beneficially exercised, and under what circumstances they are morbidly impressed; bathing and frictions in invigorating the constitution and remedying disease; the influence of various climates and localities; the importance of dietetic rules; absence from intoxicating liquors; and physical education, its vast importance for the lives of child 1 H ren and the happiness of their parents. Such are some of the subjects to which we may attend. We have laid our foundation broad enough, and mean to make the work just what its title imports—a Miscellany, treating of things in general, as circumstances may bring them before us. In what relates to health, this Journal will always be found in opposition to empiricism in all its forms, and maintain the importance of a class of educated and thoroughly trained men for physicians. Many of the articles which we shall publish will be original; others selected. A large number of literary and professional gentlemen have assured us of their approval of the plan of the work, and their cooperation in extending it, by their contributions to its columns. Being thus assured of the aid of kind and competent friends, having formed our plan, we embark in the enterprise, trusting that a liberal and enlightened public will give us as much patronage as our work shall merit, and if we do not succeed, it will be chargeable to our own incompetency, or inactivity, rather than to the want of a proper interest in the community, when what should interest them is duly laid before them. BOSTON COMMON. It scarcely need be said, that the beautiful steel engraving which we have placed as our frontispiece, is a fine representation of Boston Common. We were about writing an editorial upon the Common for our Miscellany, when a friend put into our hands a beautiful and neat little volume of the title of this article, which we have read with much pleasure. It is worthy of being widely circulated. We make the following quotations from its pages, for the double purpose of giving notoriety to the book and contributing our mite to increase its circulation, and for enriching our columns and rendering more interesting and pleasing the splendid engraving which will be found in the first part of this work. The book is for sale by Charles Tappan, 114 Washington Street.-ED. BOSTON COMMON was one of the original town fields. The records of Boston contain some interesting facts connected with its early history. The principal part of what is now the Common was called originally "Colburn's field," from the circumstance that "W. Colburn" lived near it, and not from any ownership on his part. The present boundary of the Common by Beacon Hill seems to have been fixed as early as March, 1640, by the following vote of the town: “Hereafter there shall be no land granted either for house plot or garden to any person, out of the open ground or common field, which is left between the Sentry Hill and Mr. Colburn's end, except three or four lots to make up the street from brother Robert Walker's to the round marsh." It is supposed that this field " by W. Colburn" had acquired the name of The Common as early as 1646, and that this place is intended in the following vote in May of that year, namely: “No dry cattle, young cattle, or horse, shall be free to go on the Common this year but one horse of Elder Oliver." In 1787, the present southeast corner of the Common as far west as the burying-ground, and consisting of two acres and one eighth of an acre, was conveyed to the town by William Foster, and thus the Common was formed into its present size and shape. The whole enclosure within the present fence contains fifty acres and twenty-two rods. We cannot say how many speculators have in their own minds laid out the Common for houses and shops. But let them despair. The Common has never been owned by an individual since Chickataubut, the Indian sachem, "did give, grant, sell, alienate and confirm unto the English settlers all that tract of land known by the name of Boston."* From an early period in the history of the town the Common was set apart for "a training field" and other purposes. By a clause in the city charter, the government of the city are prevented from selling the Common, or Faneuil Hall. The elms and buttonwoods which adorn the Mall, are among the most interesting of the features of the Common. The trees on the eastern side of the Common bear marks of the greatest age. They undoubtedly belong to the same original grove with those which are now separated from them by Park street on one hand and Boylston street on the other. The Park street survivors look like the older members of the family. Those on the corner of Boylston street make an extremely beautiful arch over Tremont street. The part of the city near the Common once abounded in that noble ornament of American scenery, the elm. This tree is identified with the history of Boston and of our revolution. *The Indian Quitclaim, 1684-5. The famous old elm near the centre of the Common is said to have been old when it was discovered by the first settlers. At least it was growing when they came, and has survived them and the contemporary trees. That tree is to antiquity with us what a pyramid is in Egypt. It is like the pillars of Hercules, bounding the unknown ages which preceded the arrival of the Pilgrims. The tree bears marks of decrepitude. An iron clamp has for some time held one of its principal limbs to the main trunk, but the nails are drawn out by the increasing inclination of the limb to the ground. A rope in the tops is endeavoring to prolong the hold of another of the limbs to the tree. A palisade defends the superannuated monarch from sacrilegious hands. That tree was once a component part of this great American wilderness, which is now called the new world; but it is pleasant and useful to remember that we too live in the "old world." It is sublime to think of the grandeur of these old solitudes. The Common is adorned by a pond of fresh water, which modern refinement would fain call Crescent Pond, but we venture to predict that the Frog Pond will never be thus sublimated out of its name. It is good to see a thing keep its old, homely title in the days of its prosperity and glory. We believe that there are few places whose children remember the scenes of their home with more varied interest than the children of Boston. Robert Treat Paine could not forbear to sing, "Whate'er in life may be my varied lot, The Common with its malls for hoops, and ball, and marbles,. and wicker carriages, its Frog Pond for boats and skating, its hills for coasting, its new cut grass, its training days and military parades, and fireworks, the governor taking his chair at "artillery election," and all its varied entertainments, contributes as largely as any place can do to the formation of those youthful impressions which make childhood happy, and the remembrances of it pleasant. One of the most interesting features in the environs of the Common is the State House and Park street Church. They stand together like the lawgiver and the priest of ancient Israel; -they are our MOSES and AARON, watching over the puritan metropolis. Every one with true puritan blood in his veins will be glad to know that the steeple has the ascendancy over the dome by about ten feet; a just emblem of the silent ascendancy of moral and religious influence amongst us over law and force. |