The pioneer express. [volume] (Pembina, Dakota [N.D.]) 1883-1928, 1890-09-12
ANCIENT ENGINEERS.
Their Feats Of Skill Which Modsrns
Cannot EQUAL

engineer gives little O1ense, because
1t is honest and guileless.
1t is a waste of time to ask him
how the powders of Stonehenge were
conveyed to their resting place, how
the walls OF Fiesole 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 o science, with which the
rude work of the savagcs has no sort
of connection. One must not in
quirc why he takes it for granted
that Stonehenge, for example, was
built by savagcs, where the brute
multitude came from how they sub
sisted on Salisbury Plain, or why it
it is necessary to assume thut they
were unacquainted with mechanics.
All that is chosejugee-beyond dis
pute. lfyou cite records OF antiqui-
ty which tell OF works lie cannot ri
val that fact alone is proof that the
record is n lie: for how can it posi-
bic he that mere Greeks and Romans
should have been able to do what
the builders of the Eiftel tower and
the Forth bridge cannot accomplish?
We had an amusing instance of this
feeling lately. The ingenious NJ.
Eiflcl and the artistic NJ. Bnrtholdi
baye been gravely pondering the
Colossus of Rhodes-measuringi it
and weighing it us per description;
and they conclude that the thing
was simply impossible.
THE COLOSSEUM.
1t could not have been set up, to
begin with, and when set up it conld
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 demonsfra.
ton must be prepared to show that
two and two do not make four.
Those antiqne personages who pro-
tessed O have seen the Colossus were
victims OF IN ocular delusion or fiat
story tellers, and that greater num-
her who mention it incidentally, as
We might mention the ruins of the
Colosseum, were credulous gossips.
The fact is that Messrs. Eiffel and
Bartholdi argue in the fashion usual
with engineers. Not all of them
would pretend that they knew any
law ofnature which applies in ouch u
case. But very few would listen pa
tiently ifit were urged that the an
clients knew some laws with which
they were unacquninted.
So it appears, however, to the dis
interested student, and we can bring
forward evidence enough. II it lie
true that the Colossus of Rhodes il
really proved impossible" accord
ing to the best modern authorities,
this is agood illustration to begin
with, for its existence is as well au-
thenticated as the temple ut Delphi
and the statue of Olympian Zeus, or
the Tower Of London, for that mat
ter, to one who has never seen it. Hy
some means it was set up, and by
adaptation of some natural laws it
was made to stand until an earth
quake overthrow it. One is embar-
raised by the number and variety of
Illustrations to the same effect which
crowd upon the mind.
Since the Colosseum has been men,
toned We may choose examples of
the class. Is NJ. Eiffcl prepared to
put an awning over Trafnlgnrsqunre
when the sun shines, and remove it
promptly without the MD ofa CEN
trail support OF steam engines or
even chains? The area of the Colos-
scum iscertainly not less. This may
seem tritling matter to the thought
less because they have never consid-
cred it. Roman engineers covered
i'll tlatvast eXpanse with some wool
en- material, and they worked the
pon'erous sheet so easily and
smoothly that it was drawn and
withdrawn MS the sky changed. The
bulk Of it must have weighed hun
dreds of tons. all depending by ropes
from the circumference. But the
ancicnts thought so little OF this feat
that they have left us only one triv-
ial detail of the method.
ALEXANDER's GIGANTIC TENT.
So Julius Cesar stretched an avn
ing above the Forum Romanum and
great part of the Via Sacra in the
space ola single night. Have any OF
our modern engineers pondercd the
contemporary descriptions of Alex
ander's durbar tent before Babylon?
TEat.nIain, appears to have had no
centrtlsupport. TWAS upheld, says
Phylnrchus, by eight pillars ofsolid
gold. OF the glorious plenislling
within we have not to speak, since
ourtlcnc is mechanics. Around the
throne and the great courtiers stood
500 Macedonian guards: in IL circle
beyond them 500 Persian guards;
beyond these again 1000 arclers.
To fix II tent which held 1000 soldiers
on duty with arms and accourtre-
ments. surrounding, in successive
circles, the most gorgeous Oriental
court that ever was. with hundreds
OF satrmps, councillors, generals,
eunucils and slaves. would perplex
mecianicinn of the Nineteenth centu.
ry.
He willreply that the story is false
~liluSO III, tcCituSt lc COuiu NOU
match it. Happily the awning of the
Colosseum stands beyond dispute,
and AlcNandcr's tent is IL small mat.
ter compared with that. But we un-
dnrtook to deal with the engineering
of the ancicnts in connection with
the theatre. having CHANGED on that
class OF Illustration. Pliny tells how
Mctcllus Scnurus. Eddie, built n Won
lrous edifice, which stirred his rival.
G. Cnrio, to q frantic jealousy. 1t
may bcworth while in pa ssing-since
we are all SO much interested in the
thcatrenowalays and think 80 much
OF our new ones-to tell what SORT of
n building that was which Curio set
himself to out.lo. 1t had 800 mar
BILE columns, each 80 icct apart.
Above 1000 bronze statues stood
among them. The stage had three
floors, as was usunl-the lowest paved
and fitted with marble, the second
with glass. the third gilded. boards
and all. 1t held 10000 people.
Such was tho wonder which Curio
resolved to beat. and feeling himself
unable to vie in outlay he summoned
the engineers %! the period to design
something which would "fctch" the
public. They bnilt two enormous
theatres OF wood, each to contain an