The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1871-03-09
aaqellnppon,.
CFron the Paper. Feb. So,h'l
THE LOST ARTS"
address aorwendeII PhiIIips.

ScAt pIC6SuSc WHICH OlCcIO Says 10 oO cS-
'ential to the perfect orator. His style
Of oratory IS calm, dehberative, incisive,
and emphatic. There is an entire ab-
sence of rant and violence, and, instead,
we have an orator as cool, unembarrass-
ed, and unimpassioned as statue He
is not dIffusely ornate, like Rufus Cheate,
nor ponderously brilliant like Daniel
Webster. He is as precise as Judge, and
strength lies in his mastery powers of
and generalization. Like Grat-
tan or Chatham, he often gives US the sum
tolal Of an grafton in single short, pithy
sentence. His lecture, the Lost Arts"
was composed some tWenty-three years
ago. That period was the rosy dawn of
his young ambition. Everything is paint
ed in rainbow hues. But the subject is
net cverdrawn. The lecture is nothing
more than 8 splendid philippe against the
unfounded clains-of modern
progress. His claim for the antique is
grand, scholar-like, and unanswerable.
He spoke of the present as an age of self
conceit, and referred in his peculiar sar-
castle way to the way Judge Story used to
preface his lectures. He would invaria-
bly, lead off with the declaration that
This is q most extraordinary age" The
same thing is quietly assumed in hun
dred ways: but in reality it is the veriest
sham. What have We that is worth hsv-
ing that the ancients have not7
"with all the Earnered wisdom OF earth and time"
what is the status of our progress, and
wherein arts, science, &C., greater than
those nations who long since have lain
down in the sepulchre Of ages.
Mr.. Phillips referred to one of the ear
lest industries-Glass. It was nothing
new. Plate, and cut, and ground glass,
which we can never hope to equal, are
buried IN the ruins of laYa-bound Pompeii.
The glass which the ancients had, with a
golden tint, modern chemistry very w:so-
ly says nothing abont. Malleable glass,
which can be broken and again hammered
together as strong as ever, is something
on which chemists are ominously silent
The engineering marvels mentioned by
Herodotus, have never been equalled,
nor explained. They had sidewheel
steamers, as may be seen on the marbles
of Nineveh. They have mowers and
reapers now. at Vienna, more than one
thousand years old. Photography was
known to the physician Gslen 1000 years
ago. Balloons as perfect as any sent
from Paris, can be seen to-day on the
marbles OF Nineveh, representing the
populace looking up at them.
The glass beads from Carthage our ar
lists have never pretended to initiate
Lissius says that on the Egyptian mar
bles may be seen bas-reliefs of the spin
ming wheel, and most Of the similar indus
tries of modern civilization. The electric
telegraph was known In 1880 and proba-
bly, much earlier Franklin's tightening
rod Is nearly three hundred years old
SHERRY cobblersl were drank by Xerxes
soldiers-and the extract was purer thar
the fire water" of to-day. The ancients
invented language-and that is feat re-
quiring more intellect and genius than the
invention OF the steam engine.
There IS not chemistry enough In Eu-
rope to make another Barbarine vase, OF
explain the one made. The theatres like
the coliseum are as marvellous IN design
construction, and massiveness. The mon.
arch of all ruin could seat $4,000 and 8
theatre in the Albambra 10000. The Sc.
cret of the stucco composition OF the an.
clients is, and probably will remain mys
terry. Nero had his sardonyx ring, anC
his opera glass, for scanning the butchery
which "graced q Roman holiday" The
secret of the manufacture of the Tyrear
purple has died with its inventors. They
had all the mechanical powers, and knew
how to use them better than We, sincG
they could transport blocks of masonry
weighing 1000 tons, one hundred anC
fifty miles. They ventilated even theil
tombs, while we have not learned to ven
tilate our dwellings Canals were knowI
in Egypt 4,00e years ago. Railways
made TO run in stone grooves are oldel
than christianity. Mettallurgy is the frs
known of the arts as we read in Genesis
and the art is found only there in perfec
ton to-day. The wisdom of Athens, the
commerce OF Phenicia, the science o
Egypt, and the valor of Rome Will Away
remain proverbs. The art of mixing col
ors was carried to great perfection
among the ancients, but it perished Will
them. This is the general drift of Mr.
Phillips remarks. He shows conclusive
ly the hollowness of our yain-gloriou
boasting about advanced science, DC
Nearly all our valuable knowledge
s'neW wine in old bottles" Our astrono
nay to day is full of mist and mystery
and there is little doubt but that tn
whole science is a budget OF blunders
After three thousand years Of speculation
and experiment, it is now doubtful wheth
er the sun is the centre of the system
| Medicine, which more than any othe
science concerns our Elves, liberties an
purssit of happiness" is nought but !
bundle of irreconcilable experiences
Science in the words of the creates
physician of modern times, Sir Astle
Cooper, founded esl conjeAtstTe, Improve
1 Ia aasgr1-rH
In law, the sarcasm OF Pascal. tha
"three degrees Of latitude overthrow a
/ Jurisprudence" has not lost its price, @
truth. Chemistry and the spectroscop
gives US new views of the beat of star
but of what avail is that save 10 compll
cate further all physical phenomenl
Are the calculations of Cambridge an
Harvard half as reliable as those of th
Chaldean star gazers forty centuries ago
We boast of our mills, and factories, an
one thousand and one material industries
but greater than these lie buried ami
the sands of their everlasting pyramid
We may look out from among the broke
pillars of Babylon on such marvels (
masonry as the world will never sc
again. Our government IS but a repet
ton of the effete systems, and polite
1 lesltu liIOH44 IuC SnALOc
thirty centuries ago. Our philarthrop
is strict sighted benevolence, whic
sweeps the distant horizon for objects {
charity and compassion, but is as blind 6
bat to the misery and destitutio
abounding at its own doors. In our civ
zation, triumphant right becomes sceeT
ted might, and the nation that Is nc
constantly armed to the teeth must tax
the risk of being trampled out like IrC
land and Poland. We have the eptha.
moscope to examine the minuteet strut
ture Of the human eye; the larynKscep
which lays open to our view the intern,
organs Of respiration; the spyneograpl
with which we trace with perfect accurs
cy every pulse wave of the human hear
the esthesiometer by which we can regis
ter the change of sensibility in every POI
tion OF the nervous system; but of wins
avail is all this when the average durG
ton Of human lite is no longer three scol
years and ten, but its length is actuall
lessening until the reliable average hard,
exceeds thirty years. Mr.. Philips say
that in knowledge the ancients were 81
perior to as, but the superiority of Il
age lies in the recognition OF the brothe
hood of the race. This is good enough
rhetorical flourish, but it sadly lacks
basis of fact. We don't see il in practit