St. Landry clarion. (Opelousas, La.) 1890-1921, 1891-03-21
IT rs OUT OF SIGHT.
ONE OF THE RFUL.AcHIEyEMESTs
OF ADVANCED PHOTOGRAPHY.
New Delfa

New Delta
Mr.. Frank A. Wiehee OF the special
treasury agents Office in this city has
very interesting article in last weeks
issue of the Journal OF Lockport, n. Y.
It is as follows:
DIR. Andrew W. Smyth, superintend-
ent of the United States mint in this
city has a piece of glass about one
inch wide by two inches in length, on
which, in space no larger than the
fractional part of the end of hair, the
Lords prayer is neatly and legibly en-
graved. Under a powerful magnifying
glass the letters appear clear and dis
tinct, every '.t' crossed and every sin
dotted. The entire prayer occupies
but one-fortieth of the space of the
end OF hair, or l ,4o5, 900 part of an
inch, the entire space being smaller
than the point Of the finest cambria
needle, and wholly indistinguishable
to the naked eye.
The doctor also has another small
piece of glass on which the second
chapter of ST. John, composed Of 2O70
letters, is engraved in space of 1-260O
part of an inch. These are believed to
be the only specimens ofthe kind in
this country, and were procured in
Europe by DR.. smyth after several
months patient waiting, and at no
small expense. They are the prodnc-
ton of an old English blacksmith
whose dissolute habits are such that
but small portion of his time can be
devoted to the business, and even then
much difficulty is experienced in per-
suading him to the task.
The engraving is executed by means
of lever, or pantograph, which is
operated at a distance of several feet
from the glass, the lever being diamond
pointed and manipulated through a
system of the finest and most delicate
machinery, the artist being aided by
the highest power magnifying lens.
They are certainly the most wonderful
exhibit of infinitesimalism ever seen in
this country, and DR.. Smythe should
be induced to place them on exhibi-
tion at the Worlds fair in 1892.
A very few only of DR.. Smyth's many
friends have been favored with view
of these specimens of mans skill and
ingenuity. DIR. Smyth, the happy
possessor of these little gems, is one of
the most learned and distinguished
men of this country, being recogniz-
ed authority in this section on medi-
cine and surgery, deyoting much time
@o 81 0yfh Ht,a3
doctor has made a careful computa-
tion and shows conelusiveiy that the
Lords prayer, consisting of 227 letters,
is engraved by the point of diamond
on a glass plate and is comprised in
space or parallelogram measuring the
9O0th by the 450th part Of an inch
linear, which, it is obvious, must be
equal to the 455, 900 part of superb
cial inch, being the space occupied by
the 227 letters. Now, as the English
Bible and Testament contain about
3,50O,0 900 letters (strictly 1850, ,4SV it
is easy to show that if engraved the
same size as the Lords prayerd would
be possible to write the entire Bible
and Testament nearly twenty-six times
in one square inch. For the satisfac-
tion of the mathematician it may be
briefly stated and proved by the simple
arithmetic and sublime rule of three.
Thus if 227 letters occupy the 1900
part of square inch, how many times
could we write 100000 letters of the
same size in square inch? The an
swer is 254 times. It seems incredi-
BILE, if not beyond the power of human
conception, yet it IS true.
The direct tax bill, which has just
passed both houses and been referred
to conference committee for adjust
ment, is the same as that passed by
Congress three years ago, but vetoed
by President Cleveland. The history
of the direct tax is as follows: In
1861, the United States government
levied war tax of $40, 600, 600, to be
paid as direct tax by the States. 1t
was generally collected throughout
the North, but not in the States em-
braced in the Southern Confederacy,
except where the Federal lines extend
ed over part of their territory. The
new law proposes to cancel the un-
paid portion of the tax and to refund
to the States the sums which were
paid. The law provides that each State
receiving this money shall in turn re-
fund.it to the individuals who paid it,
holding it in trust six years for this
purpose, after which the balance will
revert to the State. The sum which |
will accrue to Louisiana under the law
is $685., ,SS6.65, being larger than that
of any other Confederate. State, and
the most of it will be due to eitizensI
of New Orleans and few parishes on
the lower coast. 1t is just and
equitable law, and ought to have been
passed long ago. President Cleveland's
veto was much more creditable to his
party zeal than to his sense of right
and justice.-Baton Rouge Advocate.
London, March 6,-The House OF
Lords passed to second reading yester-
day the Archbishop of Canterbury
bill for the discipline of the clergy,
which is designed to give the church
facilities for the suspension or expul-
sion of clergymen who may be, convict
ed of immortality. Hitherto the pun
ishment of such men has been an ex-
tremely difficult and costly process, in
volving great deal of red tape and
forlnalities.
Mr.. Balfour has abandoned his idea
of visiting Ireland during the Easter