The Ohio Democrat. (Logan, O. [Ohio]) 1886-1906, 1891-02-21
NOTHING NEW,
Tho Ancisnts Knew Almost Everything
That the Moderns Know.


rho Ancients Knew Almost Everything
That the Moderns Know.
We pride ourselves on living in an
age of discovery and invention, and pity
our ancestors for being born too soon.
Yet much of this Is misplaced, says
William Alva. The real truth seems tc
be that the ancients knew about every
thing we know, only the knowledge
was not generally diffused.
The learned man 1000 or 5000 years
ago was SO far superior TO the majority
that he was regarded as q 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 9, 200 years ago. Eu.
cid also wrote on music and optics, an
tedating much which we think we dis.
covered.
The science of optics must have been
pretty far advanced in his day, because
we know that Alexander the Great had
copy of the "Iliad" inclosed in a nut.
shell, and it is quite certain that it could
not have been written without the aid
of microscope.
Layard found in the ruins of Nineveh
what Sir David Brewster pronounced to
be a ''magnifying-glass," and nearly
1000 years ago the Egyptians and Assy.
rians observed the stars through q
''sliding-tube," which we have reason
to believe was telescope.
We make some very fine razors at the
present day, but we can not 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 in dyeing that the
Tyrian purple remains unexcelled to
this day. The Egyptians were also
wonderful dyers, and could produce
colors so durable that they may be
called imperishable.
The ancients were wonderful glass.
workers and discovered a method OF
making it malleable, 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 marvellous
skill.
Twenty centuries before the birth OF
Watt Hero of Alexandria described ma
chimes whose motive power was steam.
He also invented double force pump,
used as fire engine, and anticipated
the modern turbine wheel by machine
he named "Neolpile."
Electricity derives it's name from the
Greek word for amber, electron, be-
cause Thales, about 600 B. c., discov-
cred 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 everyday life.
They were expert builders, as existing
relics testify.
The ancient Gauls used reaping-
machine. Hobbs gave his name to a
lock found in the tomb of Egypt.
Natural gas conveyed in bamboo tubes
was utilized in China centuries ago. and
one of the Mongolian authors writes of
boxes which repeated the sound of
folSCS VI ilSh lollS SlhCC uCdu- an dp-
proximation to the phonograph of Edi-
son.
In medical skill the oriental physicians
of India practiced vaccination 1000
years ago. Anesthetics were known
in the days of Homer, and the Chinese
1000 years ago had preparation Of
hemp, known as una yo,' to deaden
pain, something similar to the modern
cocaine.
Coins were stamped with engraved
dies so far back that we have lost the
record, and movable types are said to
have been known to the Romans.
In all that pertains to sculpture and
painting, the ancients knew so much
that their superiority has never been
questioned, and their work remains as
unsurpassed models.
We may say with truth that much of
our boasted light and mechanical wis
dom is 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 ajority
had no money to buy laboring device,
even if they had brains to use it.
1t was not a practical age, and the
knowledge, as well as wealth, was con-
fined to the few. Nowadays an inven-
ton of value spreads over this world
like flash of gunpowder, and in the
light of modern common sense the in
vention of the common friction match
has doubtless done more for the good of
mankind than all the discoveries of an
tiquity. Chicapo Times.