The weekly Thibodaux sentinel and journal of the 8th Senatorial District. [volume] (Thibodaux, Lna. [i.e. La.]) 1875-1898, 1898-01-22
MADE IN MINIATURE.
CURIOUS MICROSCOPIC MARvELs
ACHIEVED 5Y INGENIOUS MEN.

Peter Ramus Tells Some Very Fishy Sto.
ries About John MuIIer-The Ever Grow.
Ing sqead CT Cherry Stone Workers.
Wonderful Knife.
Perhaps tho most prevalent mania of
men gifted with mechanical ingenuity
takes the shape Of accomplishing or at
tempting to accomplish in miniature
the mightiest feats CT engineering that
human hands have ever set up. The en-
thusiast in miniature regards the Forth
bridge, for example, net as a utilitarian
masterpiece, but as d model to Le fol-
lowed and copied in all the materials
supplied by d t~hreepenny Bit, and the
$50 feet Of Eidel tower neither fills his
breast with H0r horror, but is re-
garded as q choice subject to be con-
ssrueted in miniature out Of bent pen
and the shell Of a walnut.
OF the medieval m~echanicians John
Muller, better known in the trade as
Regiomontanrs, which one must ADMIT
sounds well for one Of his craft. who
lived in the fifteenth century, was with
out doubt tie Maske!yne and Cock of
the period, CT at all events lie had as q
biographer Il writer Of greater imagina-
ton than the other less fortunate geaii
OF that era. Peter Ramus, the writer in
question, net only credits John Muller
with ~fashionlng a wooden eagle, which
on the occasion Of the Emperor Max
imilian visiting Nuremberg flew out to
meet him, saluted him ii due form
however that may have bcen-and then
TUNED round ard accompanied the pro-
cession to the city gates, but further as
serts that tho same individual turned
out an iron fly
Which, having flown a perfect roundabout.
With weary Wings returned unto ler master.
We are irclined 10 think, all things
considered, that Peter Ranus had the
makings Of d very fine creator Of excit-
ing fiction III him and that it was'a sad
pity he allowed his gift to bc wasted il
compiling a biography Of a 100 years
deceased auto.lata artIficer i'll Mace of
forestallirg the friend CT cur youth, NJ.
Jules Verne.
The cherry stone has been a favorite
subject fer the worker in miniature
since Hadrianus Junius saw at Meehlin
"a cherry stone cut into the form of a
basket, III which were Ii pairs of dice
distinct, the spots and numbers Of which
were easily to be discerned with 4 good
eye" a museum i'll Massachusetts has
among its ether possessions a cherry
stone containing a dGZen silver spoons.
AS the store IS of the ordinary size the
spoons are SO small that their shape can
only be admired by the aid Of a micro
scope. Other remarkable cherry stones
are the one carved all over with 1874
heads, mostly of popes ard potentates,
and the n fashioned by q topmal.er at
which contains a plan Of
S~evastopol, q railway station and the
Messiah Of Klopstcck, is indeed null
tum in parvo.
A tiny vessel has been meae of late
years by IN Italian Jeweler who came
possession Of d pearl thut nature
had caused u take uloa itself tie shape
and confoCr IF & boat. 4 sail Of beaten
gold stuGacd with diamonds, d tinnacle
light OF rally aid emerald. and = rad
der Of livery complete TIE structure,
which weighs less than an CGi4ca al
told. We recently saw it stated t!3@t he
smallest steam engine III TIE wtrId is
one CT an uLrickr PATTERN, made u sill
yer III geld and resting on a % cent
goldpieco, The diameter of the cylinder
Is n fogty-eightn raIt Vi ~ inch;
stroke, one thirty-secaEd e ar inch;
weight, Il eighth of q grain; bore Of
.5125 Of q square incn. The
engine can be Wcrkcd either II steam
ar compressed air. and-oI, shade Of
Ramus-the balance wheel OF
'ne-third OF an inch diameter IS said to
make l,7C0 revolutions per minute.
In 1916 a knife was made at Messrs.
Travis & Sons, Manchester, containing
hree blades, buttonhook, saw, punch,
box, corkscrew, hook and
two phlemens, a species Of Ian
et, picker and two more lancets with a
Ing at the head. The knife. we learn,
Vas only eleven sixteenths of an inch
ana and weighed ! pennyweight IA