The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1895-02-09

Leicester, Master of the Horse.
Mary of Scotland had her watches.
In those days there was great variety
in the shape of the watch. A favprite
shape was that of skull; another
was that of a coffin. We have de-
scriptions of several of Mary's watches.
There was one coffin shaped in case
of crystal. There was another in which
cat gut supplied the place of the inte-
rior chain in the modern watch. One
very marvellous piece of workmanship
in the form of skulls the property of
the Dick Lauder family. TWAS orig
inally the property of Mary Queen
of Scots, and was bequeathed to
Mary Setoun, her maid of honor,
February Z, 1887. On the forehead
of the skull are the symbols of death,
the scythe and the hour glass. At
the back of the skull is Time, and at
the top of the head are the Garden
of Eden and the Crucifxion. The
watch is opened by reversing the
skull. Inside are the Holy Family,
angels and shepherds with their
flocks. The works form the brains.
The dial plate is the palate. Another
skull shaped watch which belonged
to Mary was gift from her husband,
Francis III.
Arnold, of the Strand, presented
George III. in 1864 a watch of his
own manufacture set in ring. Later,
in ITO, he presented the king with
small repeating watch, also set in
ring, the cylinder of which was made of
an Oriental ruby. The Car of Rus
sia when he heard of these mites of
watches, offered Arnold a thousand
guineas if he would make one for
him, but the artist would not con-
sent.
Miniature Mechanism.
There is acherry-stone at the Salem
(Mass.) Museum, which contains one
dozen silver spoons. The stone itself
is of the ordinary size; but the spoons
are SO small that their shape and
finish can only be well distinguished
by the microscope. DIR. Oliver gives
an account of a cherry stone on which
were carved one hundred and twenty
four heads, so distinctly that the
naked eye could distinguish those
belonging to popes and kings by their
mitres and crowns. 1t was bought in
Prussia for fifteen thousand dollars,
and thence conveyed to England,
where it was considered an object of
so much value that its possession was
disputed, and it became the object of
a suit in chancery. One of the Muir
emberg toy makers enclosed in a
cherry which was exhibited at
the French Crystal Palace, plan of
Sebastopol, railway station, and the
messiah" of Klopstock. In more
remote times, an account is given of
an ivory chariot, constructed by Mer-
needles, which was SO small that
fly could cover it with his wing; also
ship of the same material, which
could be hidden under the wing of a
bee. Pliny, too, tells us that Homer's
Had, with its fifteen thousand verses,
was written in so small space as to
be contained in a nutshell; while
Elan mentions an artist who wrote
distich in letters of gold, which he
enclosed in the rind of kernel of
corn. But the Harleian MS. men
tions greater curiosity than any of
the above, it being nothing more nor
less than the Bible, written by one
Peter Bales, chancery clerk, in so
small book that it could be enclosed
in the shell of an English walnut
Disraeli gives an account of many
other exploits similar to the one of
Bales. There is a drawing of the
head of Charles II. in the library of
st. Johns College, Oxford, wholly
composed of minute written charac-
tiers. which at small distance resem-
BILE the lines of an engraving. The
head and the ruff are said to contain
the Book of Psalms,in Greek, and the
Lords Prayer. In the British Muse
UNI is portrait of Queen Anne, not
much larger than the hand On this
drawing are number of lines and
scratches, which, it is asserted, COM
prise the entire contents of thin
folio.
Advances in Mechanical Science.
In all departments of mechanical
science there has been advance.
Mechanical improvement has come to
the aid of the philosopher, and the
necessities of the philosopher have
stimulated mechanical genius. Medi-
cal science in all its branches has
gained by improved instruments, and
the improvement of the instruments