The L'Anse sentinel. (L'Anse, L.S., Mich.) 18??-current, 1891-09-12
ANTIQUE INVENTIONS.
MODERN INVENTIONS KNOWN
CENTURIES AGO.
P'cnty of Thorn Arc Merely Reproduced
Mt the Patent Onlce Now-somo
Hatpins More Than TWEEN
~ Centuries Old.


sun. said Solomon the Wise. The inven-
tons of modern times were many OF
them thought OF and applied by the
ancients ages ago. Telescopes were
used by the astronomers Of Babylon
more than 8, 900 years back. The work.
manship OF many Roman coins proves,
merely by its exceeding delicacy that
the designs were made by powerful
magnifying glasses II not with the
microscope. Gunpowder, unknown
to Europe until the twelfth century.
had been familiar substance to the
Chinese and constantly employed by
them since before Christ. You can
find at the Smithsonian institution, in
the collection of remote antiquities,
many devices which are recorded at
the patent Office in Washington as new
ideas. says the Washington Star. For
example. there is fragment of a
soldiers bronze belt more than 1900
years old. bound on the edge with
leather attached by the McGill patent
paper fastener of to-day-the ingenious
little continuance that is thrust through
two or more layers OF substance and
bent down both ways to hold them to-
gether
The relics exhibited in this collec-
ton are mostly OF the bronze age,
from 2000 b. G. to 400 b. &. Among
them are razors OF bronze, some Of
which nearly resemble in form the
razors OF the nineteenth century,
while others are crescent shaped with
modern handles. They are not in
condition now to shave with. though
hardly less so than the tools employed
er who never pays a fee. Even more
wonderful is the safety-pin with which
the Roman women in the time before
Christ was born fastened their gar
ments. 1t was precisely like the
safety pin OF the year 1891 A. d., with
the little coiled spring at one end and
the catch at the other. Fish-hooks in
the bronze age were in shape precisely
what they are now. with the same
barbs and the same bends of which
the famous Limerick and Shaughnessy
types are merely copies. The ends OF
their shanks, to hold the lines. were
either flattened or looped. just as at
present. In short, they were the same
articles exactly, barring the nature OF
the metal.
In the Smithsonian collection re-
round heads more than twenty CEN
turtles old, in all respects resembling
those of to-day, though they may have
been employed merely to bind the hair
together. Also there are ordinary
hairpins. equally ancient like those
sold at goods shops on + street
and Pennsylvania avenue, and likewise
thimbles of bronze with the customary
indentations, though such implements
are generally supposed to have been
invented in the middle ages under the
name of thumb bells" Tweezers
and strainers after the modern fashion
are included in the same assemblage
of curiosities. Others OF the same
epoch are woven goods from the Swiss
lake dwellings that were built on piles,
bronzed heads from Rome actually
plated with gold, bronze buttons made
just like those Of to-day, bronze chains
with the same mesh precisely as is en-
ployed now by jewellers for watch
guards. bronze mirrors, bronze bod
kins. bronze needles, and bronze
sickles for cutting grass or grain, with
wooden handles--the originals of the
Mccormick reaper.
One of the funniest things in the col
lection is small vase with hinge at
the top for cover-iust like the mod
ern beer mug. 1t dates from before
Christ. There are also stone mClds of
the same epoch for casting bronze
knives, spearheads, hatchets sickles
and other implements precisely in the
manner followed now. An ancient
Etruscan vase shows mending with
rivets after the same methods rs is en-
ployed in this day. Even more extra
ordinary are poniards covered in ivory
perhaps hundreds of thousands OF years
ago by men Of the cnipped stone or
palaolithic ages, with reindeer and
mammoths for handles.
The Romans before the birth OF
Christ did everything with respect to
printing except to print. They made
on their pottery before baking 1t.
These types were movable, and some
times single, though not usually so.
On their lead pipe they cast inscrip-
tions in raised letters. Practically,
these would have served for printing
If their surface had been linked and
pressed upon the cloth or papyrus used
for their books and letters. II has
been said that necessity is the mother
OF invention, yet the necessity for
printing existed in as great degree
as among any people. They had a
senate, which kept its journal; they
made speeches and orations; OF the
making Of books there was no end.
Laws and DEGREES wero published to the
people; in fact at the same time a news
paper was circulated. All this was
done by handwriting. yet they had all
the materials and much OF the art OF
printing in everyday use now. But