Earlier text: The VetoThe Necessity of Plenty of Sleep.
By I. D. Van Horn
A WRITER in Scribner, considering “The Relations of Insanity to modern Civilization,” speaks of the loss of sleep as a prominent cause of insanity. He says: “During every moment of consciousness the brain is in activity. The peculiar process of cerebration, whatever that may consist of, is taking place; thought after thought comes forth, nor can we help it. It is only when the peculiar connection or chain of connection of the one brain-cell with another is broken and consciousness fades away into the dreamless land of perfect sleep, that the brain is at rest. In this state it recuperates its exhausted energy and power, and stores them up for future need. The period of wakefulness is one of constant wear. Every thought is generated at the expense of brain-cells, which can be fully replaced only by periods of properly regulated repose. If, therefore, these are not secured by sleep; if the brain, through over-stimulation, is not left to recuperate, its energy becomes exhausted; debility, disease, and, finally, disintegration supervene. Hence, the story is almost always the same; for weeks and months before the indications of active insanity appear, the patient has been anxious, worried and wakeful, not sleeping more than four or five hours out of the 24. The poor brain, unable to do its constant work, begins to show signs of weakness or aberration; hallucinations or delusions hover around like floating shadows in the air, until finally disease comes, and— “Against the mind, the which he pricks and wounds
With many legions of strange fantasies,
Which in their throng and press to their last bounds
Confound themselves.”
Love Makes the Heart a Garden
WITH love, the heart becomes a fair and fertile garden, glowing with sunshine and hues, and exhaling sweet odors. Religious News and Notes.
By Editor
—One of Sitting Bull’s sons has united with the Episcopal church. —Five of the nine Cabinet Ministers of France are Protestants. —Chicago sustains the largest noon-day prayer-meeting in the world. —It has been decided in Ireland that a minister marrying himself is legally married. —Correspondents of the Baptist Banner are vigorously discussing the subject of feet-washing. —Oberlin College, Ohio, runs behind about $10,000 annually, which is made up by subscription. —“They’ve got a new church organ,”—and that is why the “Disciples” of Oakland have two meeting places. The London Hospital fund received from church collections last year the smallest amount it ever received in any year. —F. W. Conrad, D. D., editor of the Lutheran Observer, Philadelphia, has become insane. Cause—sleeplessness, induced by too much brain work. —The General Congregational Association of Missouri reports 70 churches and 41 pastors; while Minnesota has 109 Congregational ministers, 25 of whom are without churches. —The First Presbyterian church of Springfield, Mass., is 242 years old, and has had but eight pastors. In Vermont there are but nine Baptist pastorates which ante-date 1870. —Professor Mears, Bishops Peck and Huntington, and Chancellor Haven, have called a meeting at Syracuse, to take measures looking to the suppression of the Oneida Community. —Rev. Wm. Impey, the Wesleyan missionary of South Africa, who was compelled to resign on account of his views of future punishment, has been received into the church of England. —In consequence of the suspension of eight of their number for disobedience, the students of Trinity College, Hartford, refuse to attend college exercises. They have appealed from the Faculty to Bishop Williams. —An invalid aged 50 in Palmyra, N. Y., was three times immersed Feb. 2, in ice-cold water. When carried to the shore she was supposed to be dead, but was resuscitated by stimulants and other appliances. —Mr. Moody, criticising the self-conceit of some reformed drunkards, said, “You might as well be full of rum as full of egotism.” Egotism is very intoxicating to some constitutions, and often makes men act very foolish. —It seems unfortunate—so many cases. Prof. Allan Curr, who has been lecturing, and preaching to the Baptists, in San Francisco, has started east to defend his character which has been publicly assailed in Dubuque. —The Congregational church in Henniker, N. H., recently admitted some Universalists to church membership, omitting the word “everlasting” in reading the confession, to accommodate them. That may pass for Christian charity, but we have no confidence in it. —The Volksfreund, a German Catholic organ, demands a statement of the affairs of Archbishop Purcell, which it has reasons to fear may be worse than represented. German Catholics charge that the money, much of which is their own, has gone to build Irish churches. —A minister writing from Greensboro, Ala., thinks the Colored Baptists of that place are over-religious. “I believe their bell has been rung for service here every night for the last twelve months, except on Saturday; and it is frequently midnight and even later before they break up.” —A petition to the President asking him to veto the Chinese bill has been forwarded, bearing the names of the following ministers,—Briggs, Hemphill, Horford, Wells, Fisk, Pond, and others of San Francisco; and of Drs. Guard, Eells, McLean, McLafferty, Mooar, and Benton of Oakland. —The claims filed against Archbishop Purcell already amount to $3,600,000. An effort will be made by a committee of Roman Catholic clergy to have the State laws modified so that a lottery scheme will be inaugurated for his benefit. Their success, however, is considered doubtful in Ohio. —Bishop Simpson in his closing lecture in Yale noticed the scientific gentlemen who pronounced Christianity a failure, and said, “We promise that the whole world shall be brought to the foot of the Cross before an evolutionist shall find even a single monkey transformed into a man.” —The Advocate of Christian Holiness accuses the Christian at Work of making “flings at holiness.” The latter paper rather facetiously repudiates the charge, closing thus: “Further, let our brother Advocate read over that last paragraph of his, and if that is the fruit of the holiness whose cultivation he enjoins, we shall have to decline his offer of the article with thanks,—for really the good book offers us something better.” —One of the editors of the San Francisco Occident (Presbyterian), writing from Chicago, says: “Socialism and infidelity and Atheism and Spiritualism are here active and terrible powers. They have so far been held in check, and it is to be hoped that they will ever be kept in chains. But if these shackles are broken, then there will be a ‘reign of terror.’” -More sufferers of the Stockton explosion are dying. -A railroad is to be built from Jaffa to Jerusalem. -An international exposition will be held in Mexico in 1880. -A United States revenue cutter has sailed from Victoria for Sitka. -The San Francisco school scandal is to be judicially investigated. -The Afghanistans are making preparations to continue the war. -There are great fears of a crisis in the affairs of the French Republic. -The English steamer Silistria was wrecked at Salerno; eighteen drowned. -A friendly spirit prevails at present between the Turks and Russians. -Five County Court Judges are on trial in Virginia for refusing to allow colored jurors. -The anti-Chinese cause is injured in the east by the threats of bloodshed if the bill is not signed. -In Nelsonville, Ohio, Feb. 28. Mr. Lunsford and six children perished in the burning of his house. -A party of Idaho settlers, Feb. 25, stole upon a camp of hostile Indians, numbering thirty-nine, and killed all but two. -Japan, according to the geologists, has coal enough to be equal to the annual yield of Great Britain for a thousand years. -Severe shocks of earthquake were felt Feb. 25, in Italy. At Sienna two churches were overthrown, and a number of people killed. -A snow storm of unusual severity prevailed in British Columbia about the middle of February. The express made fourteen miles in twelve hours, the 17th. -Dr. Johnson said the most troublesome vice is advice. President Hayes must find it so, for almost every district has told him his duty in regard to the anti-Chinese bill. -The schooner David H. Tolck wrecked on the Jersey coast, Feb. 26. The heavy sea prevented aid reaching her in season. Under distressing circumstances the crew perished. -Bismarck does not yield to the opposition of the Reichstag. He says, "It is my duty to stick to my convictions. That is how I mean to act, and if I do not obtain immediate success I shall try again; that is all." -Last September a census was taken of the Japanese Islands. The total population of the empire was 34,338,404. Of these 1,036,771 dwell in Yeddo, or, as the inhabitants name it, Tokio, in 236,961 houses, being about 4.37 occupants for each house. -Folsom St., San Francisco, has a haunted house. The seance commences every day as the clock strikes twelve, and continues until the last whistle has sounded. A Chronicle reporter "wasn't afraid," but did not remain to see the performance through. -In Poughkeepsie, N. Y., they have successfully solved the tramp problem. Reducing it to simple terms it stands thus: 1st, a city stoneyard is provided. 2d, every tramp must work to pay for his food and lodging. Ergo, the tramps avoid Poughkeepsie. -The Pacific States and Territories produced during 1878, including gold and silver, nearly $200,000,000 of merchandise that was sold abroad. Of this enormous amount one-half went to China, one-fourth to the Atlantic States, and the other one-fourth to Europe.—Carson Valley News. -About fifty persons have been arrested in Illinois, some of them prominent citizens, for distillery frauds. Many advocate the liquor traffic because of the revenue it brings to the government. But, besides its cost in criminal courts, it defrauds the revenue more than all other interests combined. -The female pugilists of San Francisco met according to the bills, but the mild persuasion of the captain of the police interfered with the amusement. If male brutes have a right to pummel each other to death, on what principle are females deprived of the pretty privilege, when they prove to be good for nothing else? -Jury trials are great institutions. At Canterbury, England, a case was so plain that the plaintiff's lawyer refused to address the jury, and the judge considered it needless to sum up. After long consultation the jury reported that they were unable to bring in a verdict, as they could not agree. The judge was much surprised, and questioning them found they were unable to agree which was the plaintiff and which the defendant! -LONDON, Feb. 26.—Tremendous storms continue in the south of France, where hundreds of people are thrown on public charity by the destruction or inundation of their houses. In Spain the tempest lasted four days, there was much damage and loss of life. Various villages and farms in Navarre and Asturias were destroyed. A bark, name unknown, was wrecked at Corunna and thirty persons were drowned. A heavy storm prevailed yesterday throughout Italy. Dispatches from Rome report that the sea inundated a large portion of Venice. In the Piazza San Marco the water was thirty inches deep. The coast from Genoa to Naples is strewn with wrecks. Parma, Piacenza, Milan and Florence were damaged by the storm. Intemperance Reform!
By Editor
A PARTIAL reform is sometimes nearly equivalent to no reform at all. Reform in one point does not redeem the character, while other points are left unreformed. But many times we see, not merely important points neglected, but, as one evil is corrected or repressed, others are suffered to flourish and strengthen on its ruins. It is but small evidence of reform when a man stops drinking whisky and uses opium as a substitute; or to drink less intoxicants, and use a greater quantity of tobacco to gratify the unnatural cravings of a perverted appetite. We have been often pained to see those who profess to be, and probably think they are, thorough temperance reformers, oppose any effort in behalf of the cause which went beyond abstinence from intoxicating drinks. We were pleased to hear a truthful and stirring address from Mr. Townsend, a Bible Society agent, at the temperance meetings in this city; and regretted that his remarks did not receive a more general indorsement by the workers there. The following we find in an exchange. To every word we give a most hearty assent:— "A recent address of Gov. Garcelon before the Maine temperance convention calls attention to various kinds of intemperance which have generally escaped attention of reformers in that State. He has been for many years an eminent physician of large practice, and a close observer of the habits of the people. He spoke of the use of tobacco as an increasing evil, especially among the young, the tendency of which is to cultivate an appetite for stronger stimulants, besides being deleterious in itself. In addition to chewing and smoking, he says snuff-dipping is almost universal. As he added himself, this fact many are ignorant of, and it excites surprise. The use of opiates has also increased to an alarming extent. Many a man, he says, has appeared upon the stand advocating temperance who had in his pocket a bottle of laudanum or black drops, which pave the way to an early grave. The lady, too, carries chloroform and ether to moisten her handkerchief with which to allay nervous excitement. As a practicing physician and observer of human nature, he places all these forms of intemperance in the same category with the intemperate use of spirituous liquors, all of which demand correction." "Such views are very timely, and all the more needful from the fact that the temperance reformers have confined their efforts too closely to but one phase of the great evil, and, as a rule, prescribed but one remedy for that. They have proceeded too much upon the ground that if they could prohibit the sale of intoxicating drinks there would be no more drunkenness, and the work of reform would be complete." It is no doubt that facts like these caused Mr. Moody to speak so lightly of that phase of the temperance reform which inflates the partially reformed man with pride of character, and flatters him that he is a reformed man, while the lusts of depraved appetite hold him under complete control. Lay the axe at the root of the tree, and root up whatsoever is not planted by the Heavenly Father, then will the man be reformed. "The Passion Play."
By Editor
San Francisco is displayed with advertisements of this play, which is a theatrical representation of the trial and crucifixion of the Son of God. Not only the religious, but the secular, press denounced this irreverent and sacrilegious use of the passion of our divine Saviour; and we are pleased to learn that the Board of Supervisors of that city, by a unanimous vote, instructed the District Attorney to take legal steps to prevent the exhibition. Egypt and the Holy Land.
By Editor
WE had the pleasure, last Monday evening, of attending a lecture by Charles Warren Stoddard, on the above subjects. Mr. Stoddard is a Californian, and has acquired some celebrity as a traveler and author. His letters from foreign lands are scarcely excelled by any. His lecture was illustrated by large views presented on canvass by the aid of a magic lantern. He promised his audience the pleasures of a trip through Egypt and to Jerusalem and other points, without its difficulties and dangers. He fulfilled his promise as far as time permitted. We would have enjoyed it far more if we could have lingered an hour or two with some of those grand old ruins which were so faithfully represented. When Jerusalem, so life-like in every feature, burst upon our sight, we could appreciate the feelings of the children of Israel at their first sight of the Holy City and Mount Zion. We shall not soon forget the impressions which the occasion produced. THE city of Reno, Nevada, was almost entirely destroyed by fire on Sunday morning, March 2. The fire commenced a little before six o'clock, and in the space of about four hours 350 buildings were consumed. The wind was blowing a gale, and the fire spread with such rapidity that many escaped without sufficient clothing to protect them from the severity of the weather, while a number perished in the flames. The report says,—“Fireproof houses, both of stone and brick, burned like pasteboard.” In fact, there are no fireproof houses which can withstand the fierceness of a fire in a heavy gale. Only one hotel was left. All the railroad buildings, freight, cars on the track, including “a lightning train,” and almost every place of business, were destroyed. The loss is estimated at $1,000,000. Relief is being sent to Reno for the many homeless sufferers. Words of Encouragement.
By Editor
C. A. W. writes from Gaston, Oregon: "The SIGNS OF THE TIMES has been sent to me the past year through some agency, and I am very thankful to the donor. I have passed the papers to others, and believe they have done some good. I now inclose $1.00; by the time this subscription expires I may be able to renew still farther." S. S. L. writes from Valley Junction, Wis.: "Some kind friend sent me the Signs one year. It is the best paper I ever read, and I cannot be without it. Please find inclosed $2.00 for the SIGNS one year." J. H. H. S. writes from Savannah Ga., "Mr. Editor, allow me a small space to thank the kind friend who has sent at different times several copies of your interesting paper. May God bless the good friend who remembers one of Christ's humble ones." H. H. writes from Index, Mo.: "Dear Editor, I have been sending a few copies of the SIGNS and tracts to a person whose name I accidentally obtained. Through the instrumentality of these papers and tracts, he and his wife are now rejoicing in the truth. He desires some one of our ministers to come and preach in his neighborhood. Brethren of the tract and missionary societies, let us put our shoulder to the wheel, and help spread the truth. If we cannot preach, we can send the truth by the means with which the Lord has blessed us." The Great Famine in Brazil.
Mr. Herbert H. Smith, who is now in Brazil collecting material for a series of papers on that interesting Empire, to appear in Scribner's Monthly, writes as follows: 'People in the United States know little about this great famine that is raging in the northern part of Brazil; I myself had no idea of its importance until very lately. It is enough to state that it affects at least one-fourth of the whole population of the Empire; that hundreds are dying of starvation, and thousands of disease incident to exposure and insufficient food. In the city of Ceara, which will be my principal point of study, the normal population of 30,000 has been swelled to 80,000 by fugitives from the drouth-smitten interior country; and among this 80,000 the death-rate has reached the enormous figure of 300 per day. These drouths are periodical, occurring once in twenty or thirty years; it seems to me, therefore, that a study on the spot will be of very great importance; it is entirely another side of Brazil from that which I have before seen and written of.' WILL the following named persons send us their postoffice addresses immediately. We wish to send certificates of stock to some, and obtain certificates of proxy from others. A. F. Brown, Margaret Green, W. D. Stocking, A. B. Griggs, Mrs. C. E. Comstock, Mrs. E. Horn, Richard S. Rickett, Mrs. S. V. Cooper, Martha Ayers, Geo. F. Church, Harriet Poulson, M. C. Baily, Susannah Woodward, E. F. Winkler, M. L. Bowers, Christian Rasmussen, A. J. Drulard, John Countryman, H. E. Campion, R. W. Forbes, Mary Saunders, Wm. T. Hicks, Louisa Vaughn, A. A. Carter, Susan Smith, Elizabeth Hackney, Anna Haskins, Miss Elsie Smith, Miss E. L. Pond, W. W. Churchman, W. B. Stevens, F. E. Lyttaker. Stockholders' Meeting.
By James Edson White
Pursuant to Article 6, section 2, of the By-Laws of the Pacific S. D. A. Publishing Association, the fourth annual meeting of the stockholders of said Association will be held at the Pacific Press Office, Castro and 12th sts. Oakland, Tuesday, April 1, 1879, at 10 o'clock A. M., for the purpose of electing a board of five directors, and transacting such other business as may come before the meeting. By order of the President.
J. E. White, Secretary. Installment Clubs.
By James Edson White
The low price at which the SIGNS was offered to clubs on the installment plan was with the understanding that all such orders should come through the T. and M. society. Please remember: Do not send your orders and payments on installments to this Office, but send through the channel of your T. and M. Society. If there is no society in your place, we advise you to connect with the nearest one to you. You will find it a great assistance to be connected with some society. No providence preventing, Elder Waggoner will preach in San Francisco on Sabbath, March 8, and in Oakland on Sunday evening, March 9. OAKLAND—Services at the Seventh-day Adventist church, corner of Thirteenth and Clay streets, every Sabbath (Saturday) at 10:30 A. M., and Sunday evening at 7:30. Prayer-meeting every Tuesday evening at 7:30. Sabbath-school at 9:15 o'clock Sabbath morning. SAN FRANCISCO—Services at the Seventh-day Adventist church, on Laguna street, between Tyler and McAllister, every Sabbath (Saturday), at 11 A. M., and Sunday evening at 7:30. Prayer-meeting every Wednesday evening at 7:30. The Hayes Valley cars of Market street and the Lone Mountain cars of the Central railroad, cross Laguna street near the church. Business Department.
By Editor
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