Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1894-05-24
THE LORE OF LONG AGO.


clients Were Sot So Ignorant.
The yaingloriou- spirit Of the nineteenth
century mGck5 ut nc assumption that the
anciruts knew nCthing worth knowing
that the modern do not know and bonsts
over its own particular achievements rs
things unique II viii not, AZ II whole
admit that many Of its discoveries arc only
SC many rydiscGYcriCs, and that the most
absolutely true axiom is chat there Is
nothing now under the sun. >" Tho deliver
into ancient records, however meets with
good many surprises For instance, in
one of the transactions Of the New York
Academy Of Sciences there Is this reference
to ancient Egyptian chemistry: "The
earliest chemical laboratories of which
we have knowledge are those that were
connected with the Egyptian temples
Each temple had its library and labora-
tory, commonly situated in u definite part
Of the huge structure. In these labora-
tories the priests prepared the incense, oils
and other substances used in thu temple
services, and on the granite walls We're
carved the recipes and processes. There
also we see the processes of gold washing
and smelling, the use Of bowpipcs and
Of double bellows, various forms of fur
nacrs and crucblcs, having II shape quite
similar to those in use today, The skill
Of the Egyptians in glass manufacture is
also depicted on monuments dating back
to $500 B. &. -
There are older records even telling Of
other things that people still moro ancient
knew The prevention Of smallpox by vac
cination is supposed to DC of modern ori
gin The British army surgeon, Il. pringlc
thn f1IlnWiDr Atntpnlp1t
before the archaeological Society Of
British Scientists: Vaccination, SO far
from being modern discovery, was
known ages ago to the Hindoo nation
Listen to this extract from an old lIindoo
work: 'Tho smallpox produced from the
uddcr Of the COW will be Of the same mild
nature as the original disease. Tho poX
should be Of good color, filled with II clear
liquid and surrounded with II circle of red
There will DO only slight fever Of one
two or three days, but no fear need be en-
tcrtaincd Of smallpox as long as life con
tinucS -
That this same nation has long known
and used the lately rcdiScovCrCd forces Of
mrsmcrsm and hypnotism is II fact too
widely proved for moro than u passing
word Other things there arc long ago
kllOWll 10 llllS INQUIRER bl lilc lliiI lpllS'
AS write have before me an English
translation Of u very old tantric work from
the original Sanskrit by the llindoo Pan
dit Rama Prnstd. In it may he found the
ancient lIindoo philosophy as regards tho
finer forces of nature. Among its pages |
find definite reference to and explanation
Of such things as the intcrstcllar ether; It's
general properties and subdivisions; the
laws Of vibration; the circulation of the
blood and of the nervous fluid; the ncrv
Gus ccntcrS and the general anatomy of
the body; the rationale of pSychomctry
and of occult phenomena, and II good
many other things besides of which mod
crn science nH yet knows little or nothing
The port ions treating of vibration are cS-
pccinlly interesting and remind one of j.
w Kccly's ideas on that subject. In fact,
Kccly would seem to be ON the road to tho
rcdiscOvcry of concepts presented In this old
liindoo work some thousands of years ago
The llindoos, warned by past experience
Of the skcptcal and material nature of
western science, are chary of giving up the
records of their past achievements in
science, hut from late advccs | understand
that there is now In process of translation
an old Snnskrit work ON medicine. Its
appearance will doubtless add still moro
to western chnRrin. Arena.