The Republican journal., 1872-03-28

tains he has seen the moons of Jupiter with the
| naked eye. And the ancients must have used
lenses for microscopes. Plny says he saw at
Athens a chariot and two horses so small that
they could be covered by tly's wing. They
must have been made by the aid of microscopes.
Cicero saw copy of the Illiad on sheet so
small that nut shell held it, During the siege
of Paris copies Of newspapers were photo
graphed, sent thither by carrier doves and
read by lenses. The Roman theatre covered
six acres. Nero had gem in ring through
which he watched the gadiators. That was an
opera glass. If you visit the Abbott Egyptian
Museum, at New York, they will show you the
ring of an Egyptian king, with a seal the size
of quarter dollar, engraved with figures SO
small as not to be seen without the aid of a
microscope. Michael Angelo had ring that
was carved 5000 years ago, with devices so small
that they could not be seen without the aid Of
magnitving glass. Lavard has a piece of armor
from Nneyah, made Of discs the size of dol lar,
overlapping each other; each disc has reduced
figure, upon the discs Of which are figures
that cannot be seen without a magnii fer. Lay
ard also brought home a bit of Nnevah glass
which Brewster says was part of II lescope.
Take the matter Of colors. Upon the stuc-
coed walls of Pompeli are painting, the coors
Of which are as fresh when buried over 100
years ago. After the aborer's shovel has re-
moved the rubbish, the Tyrean purple flashes
out as fresh as when first laid on The paintings
Of Sir Joshua Reynolds are already dead and
faded. Page studied twelve years to find how
Titan mixed his colors. In the Egyptian tombs
yod see pictures of Cleopatra and of princesses
with whom solomon might have talked, and
their lips are red to-day.
Consider metals. In Genesis we are told that
man conquered the metals. and on that spot
he can still do more in that way than on any
other in the world. We have all the machinery
all the chemistry, but outside of il all the
best steel. Carleton says that in India the eff
fects of the climate stopped his nice American
watch by corroding its steel. But the DamaS-
Gus blade doesn't rust, or we shouldn't see 1t at
this day. One of these at the National EXPOSE
ton could be bent, point to hilt, or put in
sheath the shape of a c0rkscrtw and come out
straight. 1t was a good deal like William II
Seward. London now sends to India for its
49, 7tVNi. ai't tillLI HAS Suti lItLhl as we
never saw. Foyager to the coast of NADIA
@asrar says the natives took old iron from the
ship and brought it back better steel than they
had on board. The natives of Africa were the
earliest and the best makers Of needles. Scott
but reproduces the fact in his Crusaders, when
he represent, trial Of strength and skill be-
tween Richard and Saladin Richards strength
divided an inch bar OF iron at blow of his
sabre. Saladin took scarf 80 light that it float
lefl two parts floating
The ancentS knew how to use the mechanical
powers. In Boston, the other day, we moved
the stone Hotel Pelham, weighing 5000 tons
II feet, and thought considerable of it. Another
building, on Hanover street. weighing II 900
tons, was moved 2S feet, and we thought some
thing of that, too. But in Egypt they moved
stone blocks weighing u 900 tons over 100
miles, Iierodotus saw temple, made of
single stone block that weighed 300 tons,
moved y miles. BruneIl says that in Gaping
Pompey'S Pillar, SOMEBODY hung 400 tons hun
dreds of feet in the air and that there Are not
more than 30 or 10 men living to-day that know
how to DO it.
An Englishman, who ought to have been a
Yankee, discovered that the pyramids have pas
sages leading from the apartments to the out
side, by which the Egyptians ventilated their
tombs before We did our houses Roman ma
sonry had no cement, and to-day you can't get
your knite-blade between its joints. And ca
nals with locks We're known Of old II num-
mics could laugh at Us, they certainly would
for building the Suez Canal, which can't be
kept clear OF sand. AT right angles TO it runs
an ancient canal that never ills up.
Railways are old, and only locomotives are
new. Where We have taii- they had grooves
Arago says the ancients had steamboats,. We
>''"r' thay n>ed steam in various ways. There
is nothing new under the sun. We slnritied
ourselves because the Yankee Hobbs picked
Rramah's lock. But he borrowed the plan
Of his lock from an Egyptian one 300 years
Old. Animal magnetism is 1900 years old. The
cold water cure il Of old times Lamb says it
Is as old as the delage, when 1t killed more
than it cured. Finy SAYS it cured Roman
Emperor Oh rheumatism. Mummies have
Teeth filled with gold. Layard has seen in MIN
evan pictures of the air full of balloons and
people looking up. The Old armories of Lon
don have models Of revolYegs ike Colts The
reason why they were not made useful was that
the brain wa ahead of the hand. Mechanical
execution was imperfect. Watt could not make
his steam engine work until improved mechan-
les gave him perfect cylinder. The Great
Eastern's engines We're made at seven toundries
miles apart and yet they went together per.
tectly Herodotus speaks Of sherry c1bbers.
The Egyptians had patent reapers, and Pliny
claims them for the Gauls. There We're light
ming rods before Franklin. The beautiful FL
ruscan gold deties the imitation of to-day The
finest French muslin has 40 threads to the
inch but mummy cloth has 80 The Deccan
muslin formerly made by the East Indian ma
tNeS, was SO tine that when spread on the grass
to bleach it could not be seen after the dew had
gathered on it, and chief once reproached his
laughter for being insutticienty covered, when
She had seven folds Of it about her.
The great difference in respect to knowledge
is that ancienty it was hoaded as an inherit
lance. The rulers tyrannzed by its means
CamhyseS heard not the people, and God let
his enemies tread out Egypt, and darkness coy-
cred the land. 1t is true the aneients had no
IL.
stamped brick like stereotype plates, 1000 years
ago, and they are there now. We make useful
what was hiddeaa ana make owedge bless
ing to the people, When Gibbon had finished
his great work, he gave thanks that civilization
would not again go back for we have fire and
iron. Would he have said it if he had known
of Mexico and Ninevah, that had both? The
glory of this century is that no one has the
right to know and ot'share his knowledge.
A STEAMBOAT SURPRISE. Since the Cam
bridge has lain in our harbor Capt. johnson
and the officers have received the courtesies
and attentions of our citizens, and have ex-
perienced as much enjoyment as possible under
the interruption of business. On Satu rday the
ladies formed plot to give them a surprise.
While the Captain and most of the officers were
passing the evening at the house of the agent,
Mr. Wells, a party numbering about 100 took