Waterbury evening Democrat., 1894-09-26
SECRET OF THE ARK.
IT WAS REALLY CONSTRUCTED JUST
 LIKE A LEYDEN JAR.

Inc Fire That Came out of It Was Flee
 Edison and Tesla. Had They Lived at That
 Tune. Could Not Have Surpassed Aaron.
 There is nothing new on the face of the earth, and there is no doubt that electricity was well known to the Israel ties and probably to tho Phenicians The first record of electrical phenomena is as old as the Ten Commandments Moses, when he received the stone ta- bles on which the Ten Commandments were written the second time, built a box out of fir-not the common cedar or any other native woods. but firwood, which had to be imported by Phnnician merchants from the southern part of Europe. Was this choice accidental on account of the great value of the resin ous wood, or was it the choice of the best known nunconductor among the great number of various timbvrs?
 Moses had the fir box lined inside and outside with beaten gold, which con- verted the ark of the covenant into n very expensive but very perfect lcyden jar or storage battery for electricity. As gold is by 30 per cent q better conductor of electricity than copper, was the choice of gold again on account of its value, or was it an inspiration or reve- lation? So much is certain-that if Edi- son or Tesla had lived in those days they could not havo improved on the choice of material, and tho result was a powerful leydcn jar.
 How was this lcyden jar charged. was the next problem. A fire of mate rial rich in carbon was kept burning on top of the ark of the covenant, and dur ing daytime a-tall column of smoke ] guided the l2 tribes of Israel through | their wanderings and at night tall flame was equally well seen by them. Now carbon is good conductor of cleo. | tricity, and the particles of carbon float ing in the smoke would conduct suffi- | cient electricity to highly charge tho loyden jar. At least the current of cleo tricty would be amply strong, so that if a hand were held toward the ark of the covenant sparks would result. That this was done by Moses at different times is n matter of record. and that ho could always depend that his faithful Levites would obey his instructions to the letter and have the jar always charged.
 After Moses death his brother Aaron | took the matter in hand and greatly i'm proved tho electrical power of the strange battery. He had the ark of tho covenant placed in the temple and had it surrounded by poles 90 els high. or l l50 feet. These poles were covered with beaten gold. and gold chains were hung from poles tO the ark of the covenant, which made n very expensive but very complete and powerful electrical con- nection. In n country where electrical storms aru as frequent and as powerful as in Palestine at an elevation of 600 feet and reach of l5O feet of the best conductor an abundant supply of Frank. lin's electricity would necessarily al ways be on haId.
 It is very likely that Aaron knew nothing Of amp, TCs. Ohms or volts otherwise his two sons never would have monkeycd with this powerful ap paratus. and they would not have beer killed hy fire breaking out of the ark o the covenant and killing them without any wounds or burns appearing on thcil bodies.
 Any curnECr's jury of today. if i were to sit on an inquest over the bod! of Aaron's snns. would at oncc bring verdict of death by discharge of cleo tricity.
 Aaron kucE this power, and to mak' it effective all he had to do to deal dcatl from his apparatus was to remove tn, costly caEcl's hair carpets. which ar, almost perfect nonconductors of cleo tricity. and make the culprit stand oI | ferrn firru1 nantb NvnulI roSu1r instant ly by fire breaking out and leave II, wounds or burns to account for hi death. That several members of revolt ing tribes of I>racliics were thus cleo trocutcd is also a matter of record il the Bible
 Solomon in building his temple ad vanccd one step further. He found tha copper would do as we'll as gold. Fl had the temple covered with copper, an, copp, water pipes led into the cistern inside the temple.
 On the tCIuplc, or rather on its roof a number of gilt spears wero placed il vertical positions, Ostcnsibly to scare oi the birds aud 10 keep them from dCfilin tho temple hut these spears were sev eral cords hi;h. or frCm lG tn 2I feet : Such height would hardly lsc ncccs'S:.r for scar, crew. but 1t was ample to lou
 the ronf. wa; r PirC@. etc, with DOW
 erful current uT electricity.
 Franklin. tho ,lsttr!c chair lu tn
 state of New N,r;, and tho Gi>,',.v,.rr ( 1 the lcy,l,n JET I;. eff in Lcy,h P. Ger many. are all h~Ck numbers i;Istor
 only rcIr'its it's 'i. VI Iis recorded q mol; ;-C F, Wa:rs'l'd III savannah New: |