The pioneer press. (Miller, Hand County, S.D.) 1893-190?, 1898-02-03

Perhaps the most prevalent mania OF
men gifted with mechanical ingenuity
takes the shape of accomplishing or at
tempting to accomplish in miniature
the mightiest feats Of engineering that
human hands have ever set up. The en-
thusiast in miniature regards the Forth
bridge, for example, not as utilitarian
masterpiece, but as model to be fol-
lowed and copied in all the materials
supplied by threepenny bit, and the
$50 feet of Eiffel tower neither fills his
breast with awe nor horror, but is re-
garded as choice subject to be con-
structed in miniature out of bent pen
and the she'll of walnut.
OF the medieval mechanicians John
Muller, better known in the trade as
Regiomontanus, which one must admit
lived in the fifteenth century, was with
out doubt the Maskelyne and Cook Of
the period, or at all events he had as
biographer writer of greater magma
ton than the other less fortunate genii
of that era. Peter Ramus, the writer in
question, not only credits John Muller
with fashioning wooden eagle, which
on the occasion of the Emperor Max
imilian visiting Nuremberg flew out to
meet him, saluted him in due form
however that may have been-and then
turned round and accompanied the pro-
cession to the city gates, but further as
serts that the same individual turned
out an iron fly
Which, having flown perfect roundabout,
With weary wings returned unto her master.
We are inclined to think, all things
considered, that Peter Ramus had the
makings Of q very fine creator of excit-
ing fiction lii him and that it was sad
pity he allowed his gift to be wasted in
compiling a biography of 100 years
deceased automatic artificer in place Of
forestalling the friend of our youth, M.
Jules Verne.
The cherry stone has been favorite
subject for the worker in miniature
since Hadrianus Junius saw at Mechlin
"a cherry stone cut into the form of q
basket, in which were ii pairs of dice
distinct, the spots and numbers of which
were easily to be discerned with good
eye" A museum in Massachusetts, has
among its other possessions a cherry
stone containing dozen silver spoons.
AS the stone is of the ordinary size the
spoons are so small that their shape can
only be admired by the aid of micro
scope. Other remarkable cherry stones
are the ones carved all over with 1874
heads, mostly of popes and potentates,
and the one fashioned by topmaker at
Nuremberg, which contains plan of
Sevastopol, railway station and the
messiah" Of Klopstock, is indeed null
tum in parvo.
A tiny vessel has been made of late
years by an Italian jeweler who came
into possession of pearl that nature
had caused to take upon itself the shape
and contour of boat. A sail of beaten
gold studded with diamonds, pinnacle
light Of ruby and emerald, and rud-
der Of ivory complete the structure,
which weighs less than an ounce all
told. We recently saw it stated that the
smallest steam engine in the world is
one of an upright pattern, made of sill
goldpiece. The diameter of the cylinder
is one forty-eighth part of an inch;
stroke, one thirty second of an inch;
weight, one eighth of a grain; bore of
cylinder, 1916 Of a square inch. The
engine can be worked either by steam
or compressed air, and-oh, shade of
Peter Ramus-the balance wheel Of
one-third of an inch diameter is said to
make l,760 revolutions per minute.
In 1916 knife was made at Messrs.
Travis & Sons, Manchester, containing
three blades, buttonhock, saw, punch,
screwdriver, box, corkscrew, hook and
gimlet, two phlemens, species Of Ian
Get, picker and two more lancets with a
ring at the head. The knife, we learn,
was only eleven sixteenths of an inch
long and weighed / pennyweight IA
grains. At this end of the century
Sheffield can boast of dozen pairs of
shears, each 80 minute that they alto
gether weigh less than half a grain, If
report speaks true.
OF examples of microscope writing
there Is no end, but one of the most IA
nous is mentioned by Pliny, who said
that Cicero had once seen Homer's
"Iliad" in nutshell. In order to prove
the truth Of this French writer named
Huet experimental in the presence Of
the dauphin, whose tutor he was in
1870. He first showed that a piece Of
sheepskin 10 by 8 inches can be folded
up to fit the shell of a walnut and then
proceeded to prove that he could get $50
stanzas Of 80 verses to stanza on each
side OF the paper. or 800 verses on
each side. OF the paintings in NINA.
ture Carel van Mander, the sixteenth