Fairhaven herald. [volume] (Fairhaven, Wash.) 1890-????, 1890-09-05
ANCIENT ENGINEERS.
THEIR FEATS OF SKILL WHICH MOD
ERNS CANNOT EQUAL.

Oh Ouf BnN VA Ltuet ohH ~ ASsA-
thoidi's Conclusions About the Colossus.
The bumptiousness of the modern engi-
neer gives little offense, because it Is honest
and guileless.
1t Is waste Of time to ask him how the
powders of Stonehenge were conveyed to
their resting place, how the walls Of Fie-
sole or Mycene were built; these marvels
represent the power which lies In the brute
force Of multitudes, and there's an end Of
the question. Engineering now Is an art
and q science, with which the rude work
Of the savages has no sort Of connection.
One must not inquire why he takes il for
granted that Stonehenge, for example, was
built by savages, where the brute multi
tude came from, how they subsisted on
Salisbury Plain, or why IL Is necessary to
assume that they were unacquainted with
mechanics.
All that is chose jugee-beyond dispute.
II you cite records Of antiquity which tell
Of works he cannot rival that fact alone IL
proof that the record is a lie; for how can
It possibly be that mere Greeks and Romans
should have been able to do what the build
ers Of the Eiffel tower and the Forth bridge
cannot accomplish We had an amusing
instance of this feeling lately. The in
geuious NJ. Effel and the artistic NJ. Bar
tholdi have been gravely bordering the
Colossus of Rhodes-measuring 1t and
weighing it as per description; and they
conclude that the thing was simply impos-
sible.
THE COLOSSEUM.
1t could not have been set up, to begin
with, and when set up it could not have
stood the pressure of the wind. This Is
demonstrated by all the rules Of modern
science, and he who does not admit the
demonstration must be prepared to show
that two and two do not make four. Those
antique personages who professed to have
seen the Colossus were victims of an ocular
delusion or flat story tellers, and that
greater number who mention il incident
ally, as we might mention the ruins OF the
Colosseum, were credulous gossips The
fact is that Messrs. Eiifel and Bartholdi
argue in the fashion usual with engineers
Not all of them would pretend that they
know any law of nature which applies in
such case. But very few would listen
patiently II it were urged that the ancients
knew some laws with which they were I'M
acquainted.
So il appears, however, to the disinter-
ested student, and we can bring forward
evidence enough. II it be true that the
Colossus of Rhodes is really proved Elm
possible" according to the best modern
authorities, this is good illustration to
begin with, for its existence is as well au-
thenticated as the temple at Delphi and
the statue of Olympian Zeus, or the Tower
Of London, for that matter, to one who
has never seen it. By some means it was
set up, and by adaptation Of some natural
laws 1t was made TO stand until an earth
, quake overthrow IL. One Is embarrassed
. by the number and variety Of illustrations
to the same effect which crowd upon the
mind.
Since the Colosseum has been mentioned
we may choose examples of the class. Il
M. Eiffel prepared to put an awning over
Trafalgar square when the sun shines, and
remove it promptly without the aid Of Q
central support Of steam engines or even
! chains, The area Of the Colosseum IL GER
tainly not less. This may seem a trifing
matter TO the thoughtless because they
: have never considered it. Roman engineers
covered in that vast expanse with some
wooden material, and they worked the
ponderous sheet so easily and smoothly
that It was drawn and withdrawn as the
2 sky changed. The bulk of it must have
weighed hundreds Of tons, all depending
BY ropes from the circumference. But the
ancients thought so little Of this feat that
they have left us only one trivial detail Of
the method.
ALExANDER's GIGANTIC TENT.
So Julius Caesar stretched an awning
above the Forum Romanum and great parI
of the Via Sacra in the space of singh,
night. Have any Of our modern engineer
pondered the contemporary descriptions o.
Alexander's durbar tent before Babylon
: That, again. appears to have had no cen
n trail support IL was upheld, says Ply
!. larchus, by eight pillars Of solid gold. o
the glorious plenishing within we have no
= to speak, since our theme is mechanics
o Around the throne and the great courtier
,, stood 500 Macedonian guards; in a circl
beyond them 800 Persian guards; beyon,
these again 1000 archers To fix ten
which held 1900 soldiers on duty witt
arms and Announcements, surrounding, Il
y successive circles, the most gorgeous Orr
entail court that ever was, with hundred
Of satraps, councillors, generals, eunuch
Z. and slaves, would perplex a mechanical
Of the Nineteenth century.
re He will reply that the story Is false
must be. because he could not match Il
Happily the awning Of the Colosseum
stands beyond dispute, and Alexander
TENT Is u tfndli HdttcT CouhpaEcd with linn
But we undertook to deal with the engin
,e eering of the ancients in connection wit
the theatre, having CHANGED on that elias
of illustration. Pliny tells how Metellu
q Scaurus, Edie built wondrous edifcs
o. which stirred his rival, G. Curio, to franti
y jealousy. It may be worth while in pas
n ing-since we are all SO much interested 1
:. the theatre nowadays and think 80 muc
ne Of our new ones TO tell what sort Of
ID building that was which Curio set himsel
n TO Guido. It had $50 marble columns, eac
D, 50 feet high and SO feet apart. Above 2,0l
oi bronze statues stood among them n
y stage had three floors. ~ was usual-th
:. lowest paved and fitted with marble, u
err second with glass, the third gilded, bosrt
lis and all. Il held 5000 people.
r. Such was the wonder which Curio =
n solved to beat, and feeling himself unab
&c 10 vie in outlay he summoned the ensil
re sers Of the period to design somethin
"a which would "fstch" the public Th<
~ built two enormous theatres Of wood, 60
ut 10 contain an audience Of 5000 whic