Daily Los Angeles herald., 1878-09-17
Mr.. Adams's Lecture.

Good Templar Hall was filled
last night by large, intelligent
and discriminating audience to
listen to the lecture of Mr.. D. M.
Adams on "Early Civilization in
the Orient, with a glance at
Cyclopean Art" given In aid Of
the sufferers from yellow fever at
the South.
Judge Widney presided and
opened the proceedings with few
happy remarks, introducing Miss
Mollie Simonds, who read some
passages from Longfellow's Hia-
wath descriptive of the advent of
famine and fever to, and the subse-
quent death of, Minnehaha-cer-
tainly a very felicitous selection
in very acceptable manner. Mr..
Julius Lyons followed Miss
Simonds, reading very graphic
editorial from Memphis paper
telling the story of desolation and
death which now sits like night.
mare on that devoted section. Mr..
Burke, accompanied by Mrs. STRAIT
ton, was then to have sung, but tie
failure to End the key OF the piano
gave Judge Widney an opportuni-
~ of telling very neat auecdote
aud Mr.. Burke chance Of dis
playing his unaided vocal powers,
which he did very creditably in
deed.
Mr.. Adams succeeded Mr.. Burke
and proceeded to read a lecture re.
plete with interesting suggestion,
ingenious argument and facts
which he had collected aud ar
ranged with great care in support
of the thesis that the ancients in
the arts and sciences were the su-
periors of the boasted moderEs. He
claimed that it was a mistake 10
suppose that there were no wonders
In this goodly earth until steam
had been applied to locomotion and
electricity had been developed as
the modern ariel. Even should
the telephone and phonograph
prove all that was claimed for
them, the triumphs of antiquity
in science and art would not be
dwarfed.
AMr. Adams, iu a brief disserta.
tion, dwelt upon the superiority OF
Greece aud Rome to the mOdefns
In many of the arts and sciences,
aid notably in those finest of all
the arts, sculpture and architecture.
rhe poetry, the oratory, the phil
o,0phy of Greece had never been
approached In the modern world,
any more than it's architecture So
far had we retrograded In the last
respect that architecture had even
been called one of the lost arts
Back of Rome and Greece was
disclosed q boar and venerable civ
ilization, from which Rome and
Greece had drawn most of their In
spiration aid knowledge. ant
which had it's home In Egypt
Chaldee and India, the latter tht
cradle of the human race and of III
arts and sciences.
The lecturer then gave q graphic
picture of the highly advanced CIV
ilization of Egypt, of Its dyes, IL
manufactures of glass, its rivers di
verted from their courses by sys
tenn of engineering which hue
never been rivaled, its artificia
lakes, Its artesian wells, its mono
IiLbs, obolisks aud pyramids. W.
regret that we are FORBIDDEN, by
lack of space. from giving even ,
skeleton sketch of this interesting
discourse. Iu that portion Of thu
lecture devoted to Cyclopean art h'
instanced, in the ruins of tn
Temple Of tie Sun ut Baalbec
where two columns of ston'
one hundred aud ten fee
high. separated by q distance
of ninety feet, were capped by al
enormous mass of stone. over ninet!
feet long, twelve feet wide ant
nine feet thick. How were thes
enormous masses OF dead weigh
moved, sometimes from distance
OF FIVE hundred miles, and put II
place at such enormous heights
All the boasted resources OF mod
ern science were impotent to SOW