By William R. Hopeins.
[Published in The Knickerbocker, November 1847 (30:1)]
[Edited and Annotated by Isabel Garcia for the University of Arizona Antebellum Magazine Edition Project, April 8th 2015]
Some years ago a skeleton was discovered in a cave at Gibraltar, apparently of great antiquity. The cave had no external openings, and was discovered by accident in quarrying.[1]
HIGH on a mountain-top thy tomb’s erected;
A geode[2] held thee in its hollow sphere:
A thousand glittering amethysts reflected
Thy bald and fleshless form while resting there,
Until a prying crow-bar found thee out,
A thing geologists may talk about.
The farthest mile-stone of ancient earth
Has been thy resting-place for ages gone:
Around one of the pillars of old SETH,[3]
Perchance the ruins of a world were thrown;
Guarding and veiling deep in secret there
The work of one who was of earth the heir.
Thou scaffold! round thee grew in ancient time
A man with hopes and fears like those we own;
What’s left of thee? But phosphorus and lime—
History and period, life and death, unknown!
All vanished, like the faith that once held up
The ponderous heavens upon thy mountain-top.
You could instruct us, if you could be heard,
About the motives that roused Babel’s[4] makers:
Was it an artificial island reared,
To hold its head above a flood’s wild breakers;
Kings at the top, lords on a lower stair,
The common herd below, no matter where?
Or was it but a ‘light-house of the sky[5],’
On Shiuar’s plain[6]; a huge observatory;
Giving a wide horizon to the eye
For reading astrologic mystery,
Or watching if together might be thrown
A comet sun and moon, the world again to drown?[7]
Perchance in your time in menagerie,
Some specimens of Saurians[8] might be seen:
A sober mammoth brushing flies away,
Or bat gigantic snapping at his chain;
We’ve not your zoölogic observations,
Or they might save us from some new translations.
Get Doctor BUCKLAND[9] in a fixed position,
Not dodging in and out hyena-caves;[10]
They’ll help us know if we’ve the last edition
Of earth! –or if re-bound must be its leaves;
If new Avatas[11] this old world await,
We’d best be Hindoos, and have done with it.[12]
Would that but half the tales they tell were true,
Of the ‘Bone liniment’[13] or ‘Tonic Mixture;’[14]
Of ‘Resurrection Pills,’[15] thine, blessed Tomato,
Of half the infallibles of Doctor WISTAR;[16]
We’d make you take from Hades back your journey,
And cross-examine you like an attorney!
Earth would have been a paradise regained,
If ADAM but Phrenology[17] had known;
Each erring bump duly have restrained,
And sin original repressed in bone;
Earth had perchance been free from murder’s stain,
Had EVE with skill compressed the head of CAIN.[18]
You lived too soon: a coming time shall see
Mesmeric spirits round obedient float;
And Death go limping on his weary way;
Hurt by a charge of homœopathic shot;[19]
And happy water-patients[20] thronging gain
The fountains that DE LEON[21] sought in vain.
Knew you SEMARIMIS?[22] Far as the Indian Sea
The world beneath her scepter low bowed down;
And CATH’RINE,[23] like her awful cavalry,
Swept nations into death before her frown:
Now her halls echo to the lion’s tread,
The hyena in her chamber makes his bed.
If in our day she’d lived she would have place
A matron wise her prisoners to o’erlook;
She had a way of having bumps effaced,
Not phreno-surgical, but with a stroke.
What a sublime idea is this to grasp—
To fit a man for heaven with a rasp!
Old skeleton! you cannot answer us,
And if you could, ‘t would be of little use;
You may have lived and died among a race
Whose very name is buried in the dust;
No matter; we shall soon all be with thee,
And all of all be known in vast eternity!
When PALLAS[24] stood within the Parthenon,
When glorious Athens was the queen of Greece;
Then PLATO stood at eve upon thy tomb,
To hear the hot sun hiss in western seas;[25]
Or saw in his bright shadow on the brine
The golden walls of bright Atlantis shine.
You may have died a fugitive, afar
From Rome; fleeing the persecutor’s flame,
Kindled by Pope, or Pagan emperor,
(Whose worship, faith and idols were the same;)
Or fierce ELTARIC[26] may have put you down
Into a cave, and walled you up with stone.
Ages will roll; and air elaborate
Food from our bodies for the flower and tree;
Our frames be shipped to some Australian state,
Ground for bone-dust, or carve for ivory;
The land we love and honor be forgot,
An ophir[27] lost, that none may know the spot.
Where then do souls await the judgment-day?
A vapor warm, when summer dews fall cold,
Floating upon the atmosphere, are they?
Startling the friends their shadowy arms enfold;
Trying to whisper in temptation’s hour
Of the true refuge, CHRIST the Conqueror?
When History is gray, her memory lost,
Her blurred leaves round her scattered by the wind,
If asked who built the ruins round her cast,
We’ll give some answer hard to comprehend:
Perchance some mumble of the Anglo-Saxon,
Of CEASER, CHARLEMANGE, and General JACKSON.
How carefully her scrap-book would be scanned!
And if some leaves of ALISON[28] they’d see,
And note that often-called-for British band,
Vict’ry from BONAPARTE[29] to snatch away,
They’d think the Greek and English thousands one-
The DUKE OF YORK[30] mistake for XENOPHON[31].
Spain’s but a tomb! her glory buried long,
Galvanic in her freedom’s motions be;
Her atlas o’er the red-cross flag is hung,
A jest her valor, and her faith a lie;
Her ‘Ne Plus Ultra’[32] band dissevered all,
Her columns mined and tottering to their fall.
When will wars cease? when will a Sabbath-bell
Be formed of every murder–dealing gun;
Praises to GOD from every valley swell,
And Christian spires gleam every hill-top on;
And gathered to the moles and bats alone,
Crosses and idols are together thrown?
Then shall the dove, her olive branch in beak,
Take up her peaceful flight from hill to hill;
When scymetars[33] as ploughs the field shall break,
And all the quiet earth around is still:
And tales of war and blood forgotten be,
Within a thousand years of jubilee.[34]
Genoa, August, 1847.
In 1848, just a year after “To the Skeleton at Gibraltar” was published, Captain Edmund Flint presented a discovery of a skull that he found in Forbes’ Quarry, a cave in Gibraltar that had no external openings like the cave under James Cochrane’s house (see Endnote 1). After Flint presented the skull to the Gibraltar Scientific Society, “nobody took much notice of the skull which was promptly put away in the Society’s museum” (Finlayson 508). Years later, the skull was classified as a Neanderthal. Though Darwin had not yet published the Origins of Species when this poem was published, the poem’s theme of doubting Christianity seems to foreshadow the imminent period when scientific theories and discoveries would challenge the Christian explanation of how the world was created.
In addition to Christianity, the speaker also criticizes scientific theories and practices popular in the early 19th century. Eventually classified as pseudosciences, Phrenology and Homeopathy were beginning to lose credibility around the time this poem was published. The speaker also satirizes commonly advertised quack medicine, such as resurrection pills, tonic mixtures, and bone liniment, implying that they are untrue “tales.” By imagining what would happen if significant historical figures had known these modern scientific theories and medical practices, the poem as a whole seems to suggest that even if we had a comprehensive knowledge of the past and present, “ages will roll; the air elaborate / Food from our bodies for the flower and tree” (Hopiens 392). In context of today’s new discoveries of the past as well as scientific, medical, and technological advancements, the theme of mortality remains relevant, since death is still inevitable despite these developments.
Endnotes
** Endnotes 2, 3, 7, 12, and 25 are the footnotes that were printed in The Knickerbocker
[1] The introduction could be referencing the skeleton reportedly found in a cave at Gibraltar in 1845. According to the account published in Dwights American Magazine, and Family Newspaper, for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge and Moral and Religious Principles, when James Cochrane, the Chief Justice of Gibraltar, was renovating his house, some of his workmen found a deep opening while digging near a dining room window. Descending around forty feet perpendicular to the opening, they ventured to a passage that led to a cave full of white stalactites and a human skeleton as well as bones of a dog. Some parts of the skull were petrified, but it still had a scalp with distinct veins on its left side.
[2] I HAVE supposed the cavern in which the skeleton was found to be a geode, though in fact I have never seen one larger than a shell. [Author’s note]
[3] THE pillars of SETH, supposed to have outlasted the flood. [Author’s note]
[4] In the Tower of Babel, a story in Genesis, everyone on Earth spoke the same language and they attempted to build a tower that would reach heaven. When God discovered what they were building, He gave them different languages and scattered them across the earth according to their languages.
[5] In his inaugural address on December 6, 1825, John Quincy Adams proposed that an astronomical observatory should be erected as part of his plan of internal improvements. He argued that there is not one observatory in America, while “on the comparatively small territorial surface of Europe there are existing upward of 130 of these light-houses of the skies” (Watts 59).
[6] The speaker probably means Shinar’s plain, referencing the plain mentioned in Genesis 11:1-2 where the people who built the Tower of Babel settled: “Now the whole world had one language and a common speech. As the people moved eastward, they found a plain in Shinar and settled there.”
[7] A CONJUNCTION supposed by some to have caused the flood, making an enormous spring-tide. [Author’s note]
[8] Saurian: “A reptile of the order Sauria. Now chiefly in popular use applied to crocodiles and to large extinct lizard-like animals such as the ichthyosaurus, plesiosaurus, etc.”
[9] William Buckland (1784-1856) was a geologist and a minister who tried to reconcile geological discoveries with the Bible. Buckland believed that there was evidence for a universal deluge, and hypothesized that “the word ‘beginning’ as used in Genesis expressed an undefined period of time between the origin of the earth and the creation of its current inhabitants, a period during which a long series of revolutions had occurred with successive creations of new plant and animal groups” (Oxford University Museum).
[10] While exploring Kirkdale Cave in Yorkshire, William Buckland (see previous note) found fossils of hyenas and other animals. Buckland believed that the numerous hyena fossils meant that hyenas occupied the caves during the antediluvian times. Contrary to popular opinion during this time that the remains were of the animals carried over to foreign lands by the Great Flood described in Genesis, Buckland believed that the flood merely covered the bones with a layer of mud. In 1823 Buckland’s treatise, Reliquaia Diluviane (Observations on the Oranic Remains attesting the Action of a Universal Deluge), he contends that the remains of animals in the caves were proof of inhabitants and the earth before the Great Flood.
[11] The speaker probably means “avatar.” A Hindu avatar is: “the incarnation of a deity in human or animal form to counteract some particular evil in the world.” Typically, the term references the 10 Avatars of Vishnu. An article entitled, “Hindoo Avatars,” that was published in The American Magazine of Useful and Entertaining presents detailed descriptions and illustrations of Hindu Avatars, but also claims it was an “absurd and ridiculous superstition.”
[12] I DO not know if the Hindoo Avatas involved physical as well as moral changes in the globe. I have supposed the former. [Author’s note]
[13] There were various ingredients and formulas used to create Bone Liniment, an embrocation used to treat bones. In the mid to late 1800s, American Periodicals contained numerous advertisements for Bone Liniments. Many of the advertisements featured a description of the product and testimonials below the description. According to these descriptions and testimonials, Bone Liniment was used for both animals (especially horses) and humans. Some of the illnesses the advertisements claimed that Bone Liniment could heal were rheumatism, insect stings, weakness or stiffness of joints, swollen glands, and burns. A list of ingredients for a Nerve and Bone Liniment that was printed in 1898 in the Druggists’ Circular and Chemical Gazette included: oil of origanum, oil of rosemary, oil of amber, oil of hemlock, oil of turpentine, and linseed oil.
[14] Tonic: “Having the property of increasing or restoring the tone or healthy condition and activity of the system or organs; strengthening, invigorating, bracing.” A myriad of tonic mixtures were used to treat various illnesses in the 1800s.
[15] In The Boston Medical and Surgical Journal (22.1 Feb 1840), ‘The Medical Miscellany’ section states: “A new quack medicine has appeared, bearing the new and before unheard-of name of resurrection pills.” In the 1840s, these pills became popular after William Miller predicted the second coming of Christ (Lang).
[16] Caspar Wistar (1761-1818) was a notable physician and professor in the late 1700s. He obtained a Bachelor of Medicine degree at the University of Pennsylvania and a Doctor of Medicine degree at the University of Edinburgh. After becoming a professor at the University of Pennsylvania, he wrote A System of Anatomy for the Use of Students of Medicine to assist his students’ studies. Wistar also founded a vaccine society in 1809.
[17] Phrenolgoy: “The theory that the mental powers or characteristics of an individual consist of separate faculties, each of which has its location in an organ found in a definite region of the surface of the brain, the size or development of which is commensurate with the development of the particular faculty; the study of the external conformation of the cranium as an index to the position and degree of development of the various faculties.”
[18] Cain is said to have committed the first murder when he killed his brother, Abel.
[19] Homœopathy: “A system of medical practice founded by Hahnemann of Leipsic about 1796, according to which diseases are treated by the administration (usually in very small doses) of drugs which would produce in a healthy person symptoms closely resembling those of the disease treated.”
[20] This term could be referring to the practice of hydropathy, “a kind of medical treatment, originated in 1825 by Vincenz Preissnitz at Gräfenberg in Germany, consisting in the external and internal application of water; the water-cure.” Hydropathy, now known as hydrotherapy, is still used today to treat conditions and illnesses such as arthritis, headaches, sleep disorders, nerve problems, and acne.
[21] Juan Ponce de León (c.1460-1521), a Spanish explorer, is said to have been the first European to reach Florida. According to legend, he was in search for a rumored spring or fountain that had the power to rejuvenate those who drank from it (the Fountain of Youth).
[22] Semriamis, also known as Sammu-Ramat, became the queen regent of the Assyrian Empire from when her husband, Shamshi-Adad V, died in 811 BCE; she held the throne for her son Adad Nirari III.
[23] Catherine II (1729–1796), also known as Catherine the Great, had herself proclaimed Empress of Russia in 1762 with the support of the regiments at St. Petersburg and the court. It is believed that she played a part in the assassination of her husband, Peter III, eight days after he abdicated.
[24] Pallas is another name of the Greek goddess Athena, the city protector, and the goddess of war, reason, and handicraft.
[25] SEE PLATO (I think in “The Republic,”) where he speaks of the reports that at times the Spaniards heard the sun hiss as he sank into the sea. [Author’s note]
[26]I could not find a person, term, or definition for this reference.
[27] Ophir: “the name of a country or place famous for its fine gold, which in Old Testament times was exported to Judah.”
[28] Sir Archibald Alison (1792-1967) wrote the book, History of Europe, From 1789 to 1815.
[29] Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821) was a military general and Emperor of France, who conquered much of Europe.
[30] The Duke of York: “a title given to various second sons of kings and queens of Britain since 1474, when King Edward IV gave it to his son Richard.”
[31] Xenophon was a Greek philosopher and historian, who wrote numerous influential works such as Anabasis, Memorabilia, Symposium and an Apology.
[32] Ne Plus Ultra: “The furthest point or limit reached or attainable; an impassable obstacle, limit, or boundary.”
[33] Scimitar: “A short single-edged sword with a curved blade that typically broadens before the point, used chiefly in Turkey and the Middle East.”
[34] This could allude to the thousand years described in Revelation 20:1-3: “I saw an angel coming down out of heaven. He had the key to the Abyss. In his hand he held a heavy chain. He grabbed the dragon, that old serpent. The serpent is also called the devil, or Satan. The angel put him in chains for 1,000 years. Then he threw him into the Abyss. He locked it and sealed him in. This was to keep Satan from causing the nations to believe his lies anymore. Satan will be locked away until the 1,000 years are ended. After that, he must be set free for a short time.” According to Revelation, the souls of people that were killed for speaking the word of God will come back to life and rule with Christ for the thousand years. But after the thousand years are over, Satan will be set free.
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Issue:
- November 1847