The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1879-02-01

the walls of Jerusalem covered with ,;,;
lar stones used in like manner S,r,h,
goes on l" say that Archimedes erected on
the walls immense surfaces Of burning
glasses, concentrating the suns rays upon
the rigging Of the ships and setting them
on lire. The world said two hundred wears
ago, that is a lie but a scientist said j,
would be fair to try before you deny: so
they used surfaces OF burning glass four
times as large as the walls of your hall.
and melted lead three hundred feet awav
and set oak planks afire At double that dis
lance. So tonight shall deny your right
TO doubt me simply because | shall tell
something wonderful
The first thing shall take up is glass,
because there have been i've hundred hook.
published on it within the las, hundred
years shall take glass that is used in so
many ways. Did the aucients have anv
glass? A book was written .evsn,sen
years ago to show tina, they had not: bat
ninety days after the book was published
basins of glass were found in the ruins of
fompcii, and excavators broke into room
full of glass of every variety-the lie and
the refutation thus coming face to face. II
was like DR.. Lardner's book demonstrating
That a steamer could never cross the Allan
the Ocean; they brought the book out to us
IN the first steamer.
Roman, in the days of Tlbsrius came
IN his presence and flung down glass COB
let; It was glass. transparent, brilliant. but
not brittle; it was malleable; could be crush
ed IN and hammered out. was making
this statement in the presence of Prof Sill
Imam; he came to me and said, :. Thi, mat
ter of malleable glass is SO near absolutely
impossible that could never believe il I'M
less saw it,
The Arabians brought chemistry into
spain, and in their books claimed that thew
could make malleable glass. If the Lon
don Itmn can be believed land an Eng
ilsh newspaper is not like an American
Horace Greeley said that American news
papers do not claim to tell the truth. but
only the news: the London Times said there
was a kind of cloth made of glass This
kind OF cloth can be folded and crush ed in
your hand without injury to it, Now if
this is true, if it is 80 per cent correct, We
have iediscovered malleabls glass.
There is nicely colored glass in the cathe.
drals of Europe. To give al idea of the
brilliancy of the glass, the windows are as
large as the side of this room. covered with
pictures representing Old and New Tesla
msnt scenes, and when the sun strike.
through, they lean like an autumn sunset.
When one of the panes are broken, and
replaced by one of modern manufacture.
no one can fail To see that the new glass is
contemplate beside the old. But that old
glass is not to be compared with Egyptian
glass. Take an Egyptian painted glass,
and you can saw it into layers, and every
aver has upon it the original picture per-
feet, that was on the Inside, showing that
the Egyptians struck their pictures straigh,
through the glass. Take the imitation
gems. In Paris there are pearls. diamonds.
cmeralds. aud rubies, skilfully manu-
featured that none but an expert can dis
tinguish the real from the false. Egypt is
ahead, for she made gems that flowed over
Europe for centuries. deceiving the gem
cutters themselves. There was the Bar.
berini vase, eleven inches high, for which
the Duchess of Portland gave ten thousand
dollars, and which she brought to England
1t always passed for gem; like a gem
h,,lc a.,
body said it was 4 gem. Wedgewood,
hundred years ago, great master Of ce-
ramics spent twelve years in trying to
make a copy; he said that it was no,
stone, but there is not art enough IN Eu-
rope To day to tell how it was made: it il a
marvel yet how it was done.
more interesting inquiry is whether
the ancients had microscopes and tele-
scopes. The common idea is that the tels
scope was invented about three hundred
years ago b: Gilileo-the first man who
used it. Some facts in the classics go to
SHOW that the ancents had both the tele-
scope aud the microscope. Calycrates, a
Crock, said he saw in the kings treasury
golden ants, so contrived by machinery As
to run. There was chariot and three
horses that could be hidden under ily's
wings. Cicero says that Darius had 4 copy
of the Had written in such small charac-
tiers that it could be put in an egg shell.
II Cicero ever saw that, something like
Photographic machinery must have been
used. The Colossus of Rhodes was one
hundred and ten feet high, and ships sailed
under him. Standing Oh his shoulders you
wsre, it was said. furnished with an instru-
ment by which you could see the shores OF
Asia. Now no man can see the shores of
ASIA from that spot without a spy glass.
4 pirate stationed on a hill on the south.
west corner Of Sicily, watched the oppo
site coast to see when ships came out. in
order TO capture and plumber them. He
must have been provided with a spy-glass
The Roman theaters, the largest of which
we have now is the Colosseum, were formed
like An oval, and covered three acres; there !
were seats for 50. 900 persons, and standing
room for 10, 900 more. The Roman En-
peror had a seat in one corner. Nero had |
a ring through which he looked to criticiss
the gladiators; that must have been the |
opera glass. In the New York Historical |
Society's loom, there is signet ring SO
eIquisitely engraved that the figures cant !
be seen without a microscope. There are |
the figures Of nine women, four of them |
truly invisible until you put them under |
microscope. Now tho question is this: II
| can't see the figures without a micro
scope, how were they made without one >
Egypt took a wall OF granite, gilded it. |
succeed it. Although it has been under |
earth three thousand years. it is bright to |
day. Having prepared wall shs painted !
various scenes upon it. The historian said |
to the chemist, give me immortal colors," |
aud he got them. \ Frenchman who went
with Napoleon to Egypt, says the only color /
at all faded is green. The Tyrian purple |