Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1898-04-16
MADE In MINIATURE.
CURIOUS MICROSCOPIC MARVELs
ACHIEVED BY INGENIOUS MEN.

Peter Ranus Tells Some Very Fishy Sto-
ries About John MulIer-The Ever Grow
ing Squad of Cherry Stone Workers-A
Wonderful Knife.
Perhaps the most prevalent r.ania 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 i'll miniature regards the Forth
bridge, for example, not us Il utilitarian
masterpiece, but as a model to be fol-
lowed and copied in all the materials
supplied by a threepenny bit, and the
9S5 feet of Eiffel tower neither fills his
breast with awe nor horror, but is re-
structed in miniature out of bent pen
and the shell of a walnut
OF the medieval mechanicians John
Muller, better known in the trade as
Regiomontanus, which one must admit
sounds well for one of his craft, who
lived i'll the fifteenth century, was with
out doubt the Maskelyne and Cook of
the period, or at all events he had as
biographer a 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 Il 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
scrts 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 very fine creator of excit-
ing fiction in him and that it was sad
pity he allowed his gift to be wasted in
compiling biography of 100 years
deceased automatic artificer III place of
forestalling the friend of our youth, NJ.
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 u
basket, i'll which were IA pairs of dice
distinct, the spots and numbers of which
were easily to be discerned with a good
eye" A museum i'll Massachusetts has
among its other possessions 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 topmaller at
Nuremberg, which contains a 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 IN upright pattern, made of sill
Yer and gold and resting on a 20 cent
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. 1928 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 /, 76O revolutions per minute.
In 1916 a knife was made at Messrs.
Travis & Sons, Manchester, containing
three blades, buttonhook, 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 nn inch
long and weighed l pennyweight IA
grains. At this end of the century
Sheffield can boast of a dozen pairs of
gether weigh less than half grain, if
report speaks true.
OF examples of microscope writing
there is no Ind, but ons 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 i'll the presence of
the dauphin, whose tutor he was i'll
1870 He first showed that Il piece of
shcepskin 10 by S inches can be folded
up to fit the shell of a walnut. and then
proceeded to prove that he could get 900
stanZas of 80 verses to stanZa on each
side of the paper, or $500 verses OH
each side. OF the paintings i'll minia-
ture Carel van Mander, the sixteenth
century painter and historian, quotes
the landscape painted by Lucas VAL
Here's wife. This work of art repre-
sented mill with sails bent, the mil
Ter appearing as if mounting the stairs
loaded with sack. A cart and horse
We're seen upon the terrace upon which
the mill was fixed, and OH the road sey.
eral peasants We're discerned. The whole
was perfectly distinct and accurately
finished, and yet SO minute that it could
be covered with one grain of corn.
Surely that most microscopic artist, Nj.
Jan van Beers, must be descended from
thn fair painter of that extraordinary