Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1890-12-27
Nothing New Under the Sun.

We pride ourselves on living in an age of dis
covery and invention and pity our ancestors
| for being born too soon. Yet much of this is
misplaced. The real truth seems to be that the
ancients knew about everything that We know,
only the knowledge was not generally diifused.
The learned man two or three thousand years
ago was so far superior to the majority that he
! was regarded as a wizard and prudently kept
his learning to himself.
In our schools at the present day we use
"Euclid's Elements Of Geometry written by
Euclid 2, 200 years ago. Euclid also wrote on
music and optics, antedating much which we
think We discovered.
The science of optics must have been pretty
far advanced in his day. because we know that
inclosed in q nutshell and it is quite certain
that it could not have been written without the
aid of n microscope.
Layard found ill the ruins Of Nineveh what
Sir David Brewster pronounced to be mag
nifying glass;, and nearly 1000 years ago the
Egyptians and Assyrians observed the stars
through q sliding tube" which we have reason
to believe WAS a telescope.
We make some very fine raZors at the pres
ent day, but we cannot make any finer steel
than that contained in the Damascus swords
and knives which the ancients used several
thousand years ago.
At the same time the people of Tyre were
such experts i'll dyeing that the Tyrian purple
remains unexcclled to this day. The Egyptians
were also wonderful Overs, and could produce
colors 30 durable that they may be called i'm
perishable.
The ancients were wonderful glass workers
and discovered 4 method of making it mallca-
BILE, which we have not been able to do. They
could spin glass into garments dye it in every
| shade of the rainbow and etch it with mar
velOus skill.
Twenty centuries before the birth of Watt,
Hero Of Alexandria described machines whose
motive power steam. He also invented
double force pump. used as II fire engine. and
anticipated the modern turbine wheel by a ma
chine he named ''Ncolpile"
Electricity derives its name from the Greek
word for amber. clectrOn, because Thales.
about 600 i. G.. discovered that amber, when
rubbed, attracts light and dry bodies. and in
| the twelfth century the scientific priests of
Etruria drew lightning from the clouds with
iron rods.
All the mechanical powers, the screw, lever.
pulley, incline plane, wedge, wheel and axle,
were known to the ancients and used in every
day life. They were expert builders, as exist
| ing relics testify.
The ancient Gauls used reaping machine.
Hobbs gave his name to lock found in the
tombs of Egypt.
Natural gas conveyed in bamboo tubes was
utilized in China centuries ago, and one of the
Monaghan authors writes of boxes which re-
peated the sound of voices of men long since
dead-an approximation to the monograph Of
In medical skill the oriental physicians of
India practiced vaccination thousand years
| ago. An3sthetics were known il, the DAYS of
Homer, and tho Chinese 1900 years ago had u
preparation Of hemp, known as una yo.' to
| deaden pain-somcthing similar to the modern
cocaine.
Coins were stamped with engraved dies 30 far
back that We have lost the record and movable
| types are said to have been known to the Ro-
mans.
In all that pertains to Scripture and painting
the ancients knew much that their superior
| ity has never been questioned and their work
remains as unsurpassed models.
! We may say with truth that much of our
boosted light and mechanical wisdom IL but the
| match put once again to the old candle of our
| ancestors. The Old times were days of war and
oppression, and the inventor hid his invention
| for fear OF being robbed. The vast majority
had no money to buy laboring device, even if
| they had brains to use it.
1t was not a practical age, and knowledge,
| rs well as wealth, was confined to the few
Nowadays an invention of value spreads over
| this world like flash Of gunpowder, and in the
l2htof modern common sense, the invention
| OF the common friction match has doubtless
done more for the good Of mankind than all
the discoveries Of antiquity.