Weekly Trinity journal., 1878-11-30
THE EAGLE AS A NATIONAL
EMBLEM.

ter, was ever regarded rs an emblem Of
dignity and might. OF all Che teathored
tribe the eagle scars the highest; and of
all others, also, it ha, the strongest and
most piercing sight. When we reco',sct
that an eagle will ascend moro than ~
milo In perpendicular height, and from
that great elevation will perceive its uu
suspectng prey, and pouuce on it with
unerring certainty; and when we sea
some birds ,cYuiuizing, with almost mi
creseopic ncoty, an object close at hand,
we shall at once perceive that he posses
ses tho power otaccommodating his sight /
to distance in n manner to which our eye /
is untitled, and Of which it is totally iu- /
capable. l we take a printed page we
shall Gnd that there is some particular |
distance, probably ten inches, at which |
we can read Tho words and see each letter
with perfect distinctness but we move
a page to distance Of forty inches we
shall find it impossible to read it at all a
scientiac man would, therefore, call ten
inches the focus Of focal distance of our
eyes. We cannot alter this focus except
by the aid OF specno'cs. But an cagle /
has the power OF altering the focus OF his |
eyes just MS be pleoses no has only TO |
look at an object at a distance Of two feet
or two miles ia order to sec il with per-
feet dI~tucmess. The ball Of the eye Is !
surrounded hy fifteen littlo patos sclorot-
ic bones. They form complete ring
and their edges slightly overlap each
other. Whom no looks at detantoGect
this little circle Of bone expands, and the
ball OF the eve being relieved from the
pressure becomes lullor; and WHOM he
looks alta very near oNec, the little bones
press together, ANA the baU OF tho eye S
squeezed into rouudyr or moro convex
form. The effect is worry familiar 10 cy
/ ybody. A person with very round eyes
+ is near sighted, and only secs Clearly au
object that is close to him and porsou
with lat eyes, MS in old age can SEQ moth
/ ing clearly except at u distance. The
corle, by the mere win, can mnhe his
eyes rouud or fiat, and SEQ with equal
clearness ata distance. Tho species ol
the eagle are many. The largest i, the
imperial cagle Of South America. nISI
an eagle was trapped in Rosshire, Scot
land, which measured from tip tc tip of
the wing eight feet two inches, oud the
SPAN Of his claws was seven and quar-
ter inches.
The ougn ot the doyice OF tho eagle
on National and Royal banners may bc
traced to very early times. 1t wns the
ensign Of the ancient Kings OF Persia
and Babylon. The Romans adopted
many other figures on their camp stand
ards but c. Morius, b. G. l02, made
the eagle alono the ign Of the lcgons,
and confined the othor figures to the co..
horts. TIE Roman oaglsi wore gold or
silver aguros ia ralcvo, about tho size O,
q pigeon, and whore borne ON tho tops OF
spear-, with their wings Displayed, and
frequently with thundcrbolt in their
iaioua. When the army marched the
eogo was always visible to the legions,
and when IL cncamped tho eagle was
placed before She pue.orium or lent OF
tho 9euoal Tho caglo on tho summit
of an ivory stad' wa. also tho symbol OF
the Consular dignity. From the Ro.
mans, tho French under the Empire
adopted tho cugie Tho Emperors Of
the Western Roman Empire used Il
black eagle, those OF the En-t golden
one. Since the time OF the Romans at
most every State that hes assumed th,
designation of AN Empire has taken thl
eagle for its military symbol. Austria,
PRUSSIA, Russia, Poland and France al
took the eagie. The two headed eagle
szuiesa double Empire. Chnrlemagn'
was the first to use 10, for when he be
came master Of tho whole of the German
Empire ho added the second head to The
eagle, A. ID. 602, to denote That the Em
pires of Romo and Germany were united
in him. The eagle is an emblem OF tor
ttude and magnauimity, mud has beer
universally preferred as tho continental
emblem Of sovereignty, Eagios aro fre
quenty found on ancient coins and med
ais especially on those Of the Ptolemie.
Of Egypt and the Scienoidae Of Syria.
An eagle wth'the word coasccrato in
dicates the apotheosis Of an Emperor
The United States have adopted the
bald eagle, which Is very largely distib-
uted over North Ame.ica, and is re
markably noble IA aspect. The eagle Of
the now silver dollar does not seem to
resemble ths bird OF our country. The
artist should have copied from the gold
eagle Of tie United States, which is a
most excellent likeness OF the HoitetuS
peio9icbe.
During tho Franco pruasinn War tho
Germans captured ll3 eagles three ct
which wore decorated with tho Gross Of
the Legion Of Honor. This decoration
IS only given to The eagles Of those
French troops who have particularly dis
taguished themselves in war; by con
quering standajds, etc, In the whole
French army there were only eight thus
decorated a. That time,
The lectern IN many a Christian
Church is a carved eagle sometimes
gilt. The selection is founded on the
supposed hostility OF the eagle to The SER
pont and is said TO have been the emblem
Of John the Divine. Queen Christians
proverb, "Eagles catch no aies,' is a
good one. "Yo Chat are men, do not
waste your strength on tiaes," is it.
J meaning.