Sunbury American. [volume] (Sunbury, Pa.) 1848-1879, 1851-06-28
OLD SERIES VOL. ~. NO. AO
THE PAST.


are reviying the arts Of The ancien,s,
NV oy one but we may not re-discover all
'""' 'hey knew. All record of their knowI.
euse mas passed away forever. Ever since
'"e age OF modern language. written and
PtInted, has come in, we are frpor.n,,, fall.
ing on the traces of old discoveries ,.h;ot,
had been neglected or forgotten. The Th,ue.
Tunnel was thought 10 be an enijreIv ne,
manifestation of engineering genius bu, Tho
discovery Of an ancient tunnel under the y;do
mouth of the harbor at Marseies, few
years ago, showed that the ancenls were be-
iorehand with Us. The other day, manu-.
! script OF Papin, the inventor Of the 'Diges,or,'
came to light, showing that he had discovered
methods OF deadenmg pain, and that chloro-
form is no new thing the name of the new
undiscovered treatise is citrate des Opera.
tions sans douleur." In like manner, at a
sale OF library in Paris, the other day, there
turned up dusty old manuscript, entitled,
"a treatise on Electricity applied to the trans.
MISSION Of neps," and bearing the date of
l'oo' The authors name was Lesage he
was physician, the son of Frenchmen set.
tied in Switzerland. Ii is said that in 1774, an
electric telegraph was composed of twenty
Tour separate wires, answering TO the twenty
four letters of the alphabet. This apparatus,
all imperlec, as it was, is ayerred TO have
contained and illustrated the principle of ,ha
which is now in such general use. There is
also every reason to believe, from the follow.
ing extract from the works Of Friar Bacon,
who flourished in the thirteenth century,
long before the invention of printing, that
the application of steam TO mechanical pur.
poses was quite well known to him. But
whether he derived his knowledge of such a
power from tradition, handed down from
those who had lost or forgotten the practical
use oil steam, or arrived al it though original
investigations of his own, it is impossible for
us now 10 know. The modern inventions of
the steamship, the railway locomotive, the
hydraulic machine, and the divingbell, seem
10 be quite distinctly referred TO in the fol-
lowing passage, which is of very curious in.
,erest' 81 will now,n he says, "men,ion
same Of the wonderful works Of ar, and ma.
ture, in which there is nothing of magic, and
which magic could not perform. Ins,ru.
menis may be made, by which the largest
ships, with only one man guiding them, will
be carried with greater velocity than if they
were full of sailors Chariots NAV be con-
s,ructed, that will move with incredible ra.
pdiiy, without the help of animals. Instru-
ments OF flying may be formed, in which a
man, sitting at his ease, and meditating on
any subject may beat the air with his artif.
clal wings, after the manner of birds. A
small instrument may be made 10 raise or
dePress the greatest weights. An instrument
may be fabricated, by which one man may
draw thousand men 10 him by force and
against their will as also, machines which
will enable men 10 walk al the bottom OF
seas or rivers, without DANGER" We have
certainly discovered, or revived it may be,
the steamship, the locomotive the hydraulic
machine, the atmospheric railway, and the
diving-bell; but one old patent we cannot
get up,--tor we cannot hy.-N. 4. lKseel.
iunU.