San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1889-05-11

than AN oil. fi:sli.oned- slrsei 4 ., cent piece.
which had l20 different parts, the whole
not weighing as much as a silver dime. 1t
would take a column Of The Republic to
enumerate all the dainty little time pieces
that have been invented during the past 400
years They have been made not larger
than peas and set in rings for physicians to
facilitate the counting Of the pulse They
have also been fixed in bracelets, brooches,
eye glasses tops of pencils and even in UNI
brella handles. FLASHED workmanship and
plenty of money will provide almost anything
that can be conjured up by a myriad minded
people.
INFTSITESMAL ENGINES
The enginemakers, like the watchmakers,
have also tried to attain distinction in the
matter of the diminutive In 1870 John
Penn, the eminent maker Of great steam en-
gines, who resided at Greenwich, England,
came In possession of what was then the
smallest steam engine in the world 1t stood
on a three penny piece. 1t really covered less
space for its base plate measured only three
eighths of an inch by about three-tenths.
From the extreme smallness Of the model
some Of the details were omitted, but not
enough to interfere in any way with its
tieth Of an inch in diameter, and these were
duly furnished with hexagonal nuts, which
could only be loosened by aid of q tiny wrench
made for that purpose. The weight of the
whole model, without the three penny base,
was less than the weight of the coin itself
Six years later, time of our centennial ex-
hibtion, Penn would have felt ashamed of
his three penny piece engine" had he had it on
exhibition at Philadelphia. During the prog
gress OF that great exposition, Levi Taylor,
of Indianola, Ia, placed on exhibition, "side by
side" with the great Corliss engine, an engine
perfect in all its parts, built on a twenty-five
cent gold piece, and with some Of its parts so
small as to only be seen by aid Of powerful
microscope. The entire engine weighed but
three grains In other words, it would have
taken l46 such engines to balance an ounce
avoirdupois. Three of the Penn engines
would have weighed more than l46 like that
made by Taylor.
The engine made by D. A. Buck, of Water
bury, Conn, is usually given in lists of small
things as the smallest engine in the world,
but this is a mistake The one mentioned
last above so far takes the palm for smallness.
The writer cheerfully admits that the Buck
engine is more perfect in its details than the
Iowa wonder; but the fact that its base plate
is q gold dollar forever kills its claim to being
the smallest, as the Iowa engine, as men,
toned above, uses a twenty-five cent gold
piece for the purpose. Bucks engine has l4S
distinct pieces of machinery, held together
by fifty-two screws. Three drops of water
fill the boiler to overfowing. The diameter
of its cylinder is one-twenty-eighth Of an
inch; the length of stroke, three-thirty-sec-
onds of an inch; its entire weight, four and
half grains.-John W. Wright in St. Louis
Republic
Funeral Customs
Miss Sanborn's letter in The Tribune about
the absurdities of many funeral customs is
exciting wide spread comment, In many re
spects nothing can be more anti-Christian
than a Christian funeral Around the house
of mourning there Immediately gathers an
atmosphere of hopeless gloom that is distinct
IL pagan The tone of the coincidence, the
emblenls of woe, the needless display and os-
tentatiou, and the bustling activity of the
undertaken, all are opposed alike to the spirit
of Christianity and the canons of good taste.
The undertaken, who, as a rule, means well,
is often the worst offender Every one has
some story to tell of his gaucheries. ! recall
attending funeral some time ago at which
the undertaken made his usual little speech
with reference to viewing the remains"
He concluded thus; in behalf of the
friends of the family, wish to thank those
who have SO kindly helped to make this sad
event a success, and am sure that if the
remains were alive he would heartily join in
this expression of gratitude" And | once
heard another undertaken say that certain
funeral he had conducted was very small,
being attended by only ten persons including
the remains The clergy are rarely guilty
of such improprieties except in the way of
unwise eulogies But was once present at a
funeral when the clergyman offended good
taste by beginning his remarks, "Those of
you who knew the corpse, ETC." Who will
organize funeral movement so comprehen..
sive in its character as to enlist the active CO.
operation of all the Christian denominationsl
New York Tribune.