The Fairfield herald. [volume] (Winnsboro, S.C.) 1849-1876, 1871-05-10
Desportes & Williams, Proprietors..
two thousand Eyears.

uuS Hlto elue tntuloect w "haV "c Vail
daily comfort, and upon our progress
what we Yankees especially pride our
selves. Well, every scholar knows
that scattered up and down ancient
history ore many curious statements
Of marvellous things done by old
,hemists and mechanics. Two hum
dred years ago, before science got on
to it's feet, our predecessors, unable
either to do these things or to explAin
how they were done, bad u ready way
Of getting out Of the difficulty. They
put note at the bottom OF the page,
IN which they said Here tho au-
thor les 1t was very convenient
escape. 1t proceeded, you perceive,
on this idea: | know everything that
anybody ever kuew, and whoever uu.
dcrtakes to know anything don't
know, lies. Well, that is hardly tom-
mon sense, certainly not criticism.
In what [ am going to say to you
to night, borrowed, the whole of it,
from the best authorities, I shall not
allow that you have any right to
doubt m,, s,lely on the g;ound that
the statement strikes y3u rs wonder
fuI for [ maintain that whca, in our
old books, whose authors show good
srnso aud love Of .ru.h, and capacity
Of investigation, you fnd ten stories,
nine Of them credible and natural,
and the tenth marvellous, you have
n, right IT, thr1w that tenth story cat
Of the window instantly. Commonsease
and philosophy tell you that you
should pause and soc whether the
'dvanciug soieuos of the age may not
ouabie you to explain il because it is
wordeiful fact, noticeabIe, at any
rate, that all the old writings that
we rejected coutemptuously two hun
dred years ago, are taking their places
again as reliable. Hel odvtus, the
old Greek who wrote history four
hundred years before Christ, earned
then the name of the Father of His.
tory; he was christened over again
the Father Of Lies, because the mar
row science and superficial knowledge
of the day found about every third
page Of the old Greek utterly unintel.
ligib!c. But every invention we
have made, and every geographical
discovery we have made, confirms and
explains the old Greek, and to-day he
has gone up again and resumed his
old Manic. Now, I conteud that our
grandfalhers had no right to niug
Herodotus under their heel, until
they had absolutely demonstrated, not
merely cohjectired Whist he stated
was too mafvelloas to be true. And
as there is very large amount Of
literature upon this subject, and one
might lecture upon it week instead
Of an hour, | shall conGns what
have to say to two or three distinct
poiiits apd tie frst elemeht to Which
[ shall }efer, Shall be
Glass.
The material which in 80 many forms
ministers to daily comfort as in do.
mostio utensils and window glass, and
especially 10 the microscope or tsles-
cope enlarges tho Bounds Of science
so much. Did the ancients know any.
thing about glass I Well, this curious
material Is ole of The rcadiest fllus.
trations Of that self con:conceit to
which have referred. When you 90
to Naples they will show you volume
ab, ut as large as a Wsbster's dictiou.
cry, written by learned Neapoliten,
the purpose of which is to show that
the ancients had no, glass, and fbc
Worthy soul proved Il tC his own salts !.
faction but the very spring that his
book was printed, the peasants who
were digging in the ncighboring city
of Pompcii (buried, you recolleot,
seventeen hundred years ago under
the ashes Of vesu7ius) broke ipto q
room full CT glasses. II had ground
glass aid plain glass and cut, window
and blown and coloyeH gfa6s-eyerS
variety. It WAS glass makor's shop,
aud the lie dnd the refutstiou Cd ne
faoa 10 faco. II was liko Dr.. Lard.
ner's book which he PRINTED IN Lon
don in 1886 aid Demonstrated Chat
steamboat could oy no possibility
GROSS the Atlantic. They brought
it in the first steamer that camo
over. (Langh,er.) Instead, however
Of not knowing any thing about glass,
this curious material is the Gibraltar
Of the lost ITS for it is utterly iuds.
pntab!e, aud a1'mo& an uraiatutable
and almost an uudispu,ed fact, that
the chemistry Of the ancients wrought
with .his material as We h,ye never
been able to do since. TIE, first two
statements t4ut1 offer you are Dor.
rowed entirely fam records; afte,
that shall mainly rely on works
not records.
LITERATURE.
You know We gos our first idoas o|
Chinese history from tho Jesnits
Ibey were tho Arst to break int,
China, aud in lotteTa homo to tho su
periop OF the order translated withir
hinety years into French, we have th'
first glimpse Of Chinese art. The,