The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1891-04-08
NOTHING NEW.
The AncIents Knew Almost Everything
That the Moderns Know.

We pride ourselves of 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 to be that the ancients knew
about everything 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
wizard. and prudently kept his learn
ing to himself.
In our schools at the present day we
use Euclid Elements of Geometry"
written by. Euclid 2,20O 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, be-
cause we know that Alexander the
Great had copy of the ''Iliad" in
closed in nutshell, and it is quite
certain that it could not have been
written without the aid of a micro
scope.
Layard found in the ruins of Nineveh
what Sir David Brewster pronounced
to be "magnifying-glass, and nearly
1000 years ago the Egyptians and
Assyrians observed the stars through a
sliding tube, u which we have reason
to believe was a telescope.
We make some very fine razors at
the present day. but we cannot make
the Damascus swords and knives which
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
making it malleable, which we have
not been able to do. They could spin
glass into garments, dye it 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 was
steam. He also invented a double
force pump, used as fire-engine. and
anticipated the modern turbine wheel
by machine he named "Neolpile."
Electricity derives its name from the
Greek word for amber. electron. be.
cause Thales, about 600 B. c., dis
covered that amber, when rubbed, at
tracts 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,
wedges, 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 a reaping
| machine. Hobbs gave his name to {
lock found in the tomb of Egypt.
Natural gas conveyed in bamboo
tubes was utilized in China centurie.
ago, and one of the Mongolian authors
| writes of boxes which repeat the sound
of voices of men long since dead-ar
approximation to the phonograph o
| Edison.
In medical skill the oriental ply
sicians of India practiced vaccination
| 1000 wears ago. An9sthetics were
known in the days of Homer. and th'
Chinese 1000 years ago had a prepara
ton of hemp, known as una yo," t.
deaden pain-something similar to tht
| modern cocaine.
Coins were stamped with engraved
dies so far back that we have lost tn
record, and movable types are said t.
| have been known to the Romans.
In all that pertains to sculpture AM
| painting the ancients knew so muc
that their superiority has never bee
| questioned, and their work remains a
unsurpassed models.
We may say with truth that much o
our boasted light and mechanical wis
dom is but the match put once agair
to the old candles of our ancestors
The old times were days of war ant
oppression, and the inventor hiC
his invention for fear of being robbed
The vast majority had no money tt
buy laboring device, even If they hat
brains to use it.
1t was not practical age, and tn,
knowledge, as well as wealth was con
fined to the few. Nowadays an in
vention of value spreads over thi
world like flash of gun-powder, ant
in the light of modern common sens,
the invention of the common friction
match has doubtless done more for th,
good of mankind than all the dis
coveries of antiquity.