The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1898-01-27
MADE In MINIATURE.
CURIOUS MICROSCOPIC MARVELs
ACHIEVED 6Y INGENIOUS MEN.

Peter Ramus 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 mania Of
men gifted with mechanical ingenuity
takes the shape Of accomplishing or at
)lmpting to accomplish in miniature
the mightiest fcats 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 a model to be fol-
lowed and copied in all the materials
supplied by threepenny bit, and the
085 feet of Eiffel tower neither fills his
breast with awe nor horror, but is re-
garded as q choice subject to be con.
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 we'll for one of his craft, who
lived in the fifteenth century, was with
out doubt the Maskelyne and Cook of
the period, or at all events he had as q
biographer q writer Of greater imagina-
tion 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, salutCd 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,
I 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
r compiling a biography Of 100 years
= deceased automata artifiCer in 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 a
: basket, in which were Ia pairs of dice
: distinct, the spots and numbers of which
t 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 30 small that their shape can
II only be admired by the aid of a micro,
: scope Other remarkable cherry stones
}, are the ones carved all over with 1874
le heads, mostly of popes and potentates,
D. and the one fashioned by topmaker al
4 Nuremberg, which contains plan o.
Sevastopol, a railway station and th'
- "Messiah" of Klopstock, is indeed mul
tum in parvo.
III A tiny vessel has been made Of lat,
years by an Italian jeweler who cam,
a. into possession Of pearl that nature
n had caused to take upon itself the shap,
as and contour of a boat. A sail of beateI
Of gold studded with diamonds, binnacl
w light of ruby and emerald, and rud
n der of ivory complete the structure
! which weighs less than an ounce al
- told We recently saw it stated that tn
smallest steam engine in the world i
NJ one Of an upright pattern, made Of sil
Id yer and gold and resting on a 25 cen
ge goldpiece. The diameter of the cylinde
e. is one forty-eighth part of an inch
10 stroke, one thirty second Of an inch
20 weight, one eighth Of a grain; bore o
=. cylinder, 1925 Of square inch. Tn
~ engine can be worked either by steam
or compressed air, and-oh, shade 0
10 Peter Ramus-the balance wheel 0
Id one-thild of an inch diameter is said t
IN make l,760 revolutions per minute.
In 1916 knife was made at Messrs
Travis & Sons, Manchester, containing
three blades, butronhook, saw, punch
screwdriver, box, corkscrew, hook ant
le gimlet, two phlemens, species Of Ian
D. Get, picker and two more lancets with
y ring at the head. The knife, we learn
~ was only eleven -siEtcenths Of an inc
N long and weighed | pcunyweight !
no grains. At this end Of the centur
e. Sheffield can boast Of u dozen pairs @
shears, each so minute that they alto
in gether weigh less than half grain,
n, report speaks true.
OF examples of microscope writin
there is no end, but ons Of the most ia
nous is mentioned by Pliny, who sal
-, that Cicero had once seen Homer
" "Iliad" in nutshell. In order to prov
na lu the truth of this French writer name
Huet experimental in the presence c
o the dauphin, whose tutor he was i
1870 He first showed that piece c
sheepskin 10 by s inches'can be folde
a up to fit the she'll of "a walnut, and the
e. proceeded to prove that he could get 20
va stanzas of 80 verses to stanza on eac
. side of the paper, or $500 verses O
r each side OF the paintings in minia
Vi ture Carel van Mander, the sixteent
u century painter and historian, quote
at the landscape painted by Lucas va
al Here's wife. This work of art repre-
he sented a mill with sails bent, the mi
he ler appearing as if mounting the staii
m loaded with a sack. A cart and hOrs
~ were seen upon the terrace upon whic
- the mill was cd, and on the road seN
no eral peasants were discerDed, The whol
'ts was perfectly distinct und aCcuratel
nd finished, and yet SO minute that 1t coul
il be covered with one grain Of corr
of Surely that most microscopic artist N
to Jan van Beers, must be descended froi
m the fair painter Of that extraordinar
work Of art. London Standard.
Her Explanation.
"This building - said the little cit