The Fairfield herald. [volume] (Winnsboro, S.C.) 1849-1876, 1871-05-10
Iquirv, Industry and Literature.

1
and dealers. Nobody eve suspected
It was not n natural stone, Sardonyx.
1t was either Winkelu4n +, Wedg-
aood, | forget which, who first an.
aounced to nstonished Elr9e, within
ninety years, that tho Blrhrini vase
/ was bit of glass of humanm andfaa-
ture aud Wedgwood, the reat au-
thority and physician, after spending
twelve thousand dollars in he effort
to make copy, ends Ills. dsay upon
the subject, by the assertion ",here is
not chemistry ouough in all Europe,
either to explain how the fatberini
vase was made, or to make Nnything
like it,"
So, when you 60 to Ge,pa, they
will show you thore the SacrId dish.
1t is about fourteen inches VI lie. 1t is
green, and the Roman Catlblic le-
gend is, that it is solid enerald !;
that tho Queen. Of. She6a CAV, it to
Sol6mop and That the was on the
tablo at the time the Savior ate the
Last Supper. 1t has boon, no inde-
finite number of oenturlas; in Genoa,
and it used to be death for tny body
but Catholic priest to touch it. 10
that disastrous siege of Genoa by
Bonaparte, where $4,000 persons we're
starved to death, ([ mean thu great
Napoleon. not tho present little one),
the Jews of the ottyc of3red three
millions Of dollars for tGid single
article but Bonaparte took il to oossris
and gave it to the Scientific School
the lnsti ute and, after three.'week's
examination, that samc establishment
OF Frenchman came to the conclusion
that it wGs Not natural stone: that it
#nS 4 human product Of some sort or
other, whether Egyptian or not, they
would not determine but beyond all
explanation how it was ~ 4de. When
Napoleon fo' it went over the Alps,
and is still exhibited.
There are great many other
questions of the. Same kind. / saw,
RECENTLY, a liahifpl Of glass beads from
the ne,ghborhood Of Carthage in Af-
rica. The color OF two. OF three Of
them fully cqnalled, if it did not
transcend, the brilliancy of the emer-
aid that would be worth five hundred
dollars in the shops. One Of our mis-:
sionaries, Mr.. Day, brought EQmo
from tho rpins. Of Flhyt.au, t~Hs 5ears
ago, a small bit of glass, perhaps as
large as the bottom Of this tumbler, Of
the most incompatible emerald color
but when you held it between
you and the sun, it seemed to be gid.
ed. The minutest examination does
not detect any gold. Chief Justice
Chase was allowed to break off the
edge, in order, by inspecting til" frag.
ment, to see whether that would give
an explanation but how the effect
is produced is still unintclligible.
But a more interesting inquiry is
whether the ancients had the micro.
scope, or tho telescope. The modern
histories tell you that the telescope
is three hundred, years DID,; that
Galileo, Of F!esence, was the Grst one
to use it. And sometime when you
open Edward Everett's oration
at Albany, you will find on that
beautiful page where he paints, as he
only could paint in words, what he
calls the sublime moment.when Cali;
leo, pointed the newly-di. covered tube
at tho heavens, and for he first time,
says Everett, the moons Of Jupiter
wore seen by human eye, Well,
think [ shall convince you that the
moons of Jupiter werc seen by thous
apds. Of eyes, previously; Sir John
IIerschel says hat the point of timo
whom the moons Of Jubiter wore first
observed is the point of tlmc when
ancient astronomy ends, apd Wodern
astronomy begins. Sir vii lam
Drummond in his history of as ronopy
contends that the jews knew, that
the world was round. He thinks. he
proves that from the Old Testament :;
but if you will grant him that, one
thing is ccrtaiq--tho Asiatics hun.
drcd years before we supposed them
to have had q tele.cope, measured
timo without a. watch,.and calculated
tho nnrallax Of thu fixed stars "a yer,
delicate problem) more accurately
than Europe did hundred years
after she had the telescope. Now thu
question is how it was done and il il
a QUESTION that: bas always puzzlee
astgomamers. Stoddard, Of Conneo
tout, the missionary Of tho, Amerioar
Board, in for5ia; whiting home twen
ty years ago to London, suys, | thin]
can solve this problem. for hlv,
seen the moons Of Jnpitsr mysel
from the pauntains Of Persia in I
cfeaf hight with the naked eye an,
he goes ou to claim that tie su.le,riofi
ty in tho drync and cleaJness Of tb
atmosphere enabled Asia to Guido u
in astronomy. And undoubtedl
there is large measure Of truth imhi
speculations but there arc some fact
ip the classics which goto show tina
Sir William Drum mond was probobl
right when be claims tha, tho ancient
had tho telescope. Caller ties, q