The Madison daily leader. [volume] (Madison, S.D.) 1890-current, 1898-01-18
MADE IN MINIATURE.
CURIOUS MICROSCOPIC MARvELS
ACHIEVED By INGENIOUS MEN.
Peter Ramus Tells Some Very Fishy Sto-
ries About John Muller-The Ever Grow.
ing Squad of Cherry Stone Workers.
Wonderful Knife.

Ing Squad of Cherry stone Workers.
Wonderful Knife.
Perhaps the most prevalent mania Of
men gifted with mechanical ingenuity
takes the shape Of accomplishing or at
tempting to accomplish in miniature
the mishtiest feats Of engineering that
human hands have ever set UP. The en-
thusiast III miniature regards the Forth
bridge. for example, not as a utilitarian
masterpiece, but as a model to tie fol-
lowed and copied in all the materials
supplied by "A t~hreepennv bit. and the
$50 feet of Eitfel tower neither fills his
breast with awe nor horror, but is re-
garded as a choice subject to be con-
>tructed 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
tOundS we'll fer 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 be had as "a
biCgrapher a writer of greater magma
rion than the other less fortunate genii
Of that era. Peter RamuS. the writer in
question. not only credits John Muller
with t~ashloning a wooden eagle. which
on the occasion Of the Emperor Max.
lmllian visiting Nuremberg flew out to
meet him. >aluted him in due form
however that may have been-and then
turned round and accompanied the pro-
cession 70 the city gates, but further as
sert> that the same individual turned
out an iron fly
Which, having flown o rertect roundabout,
Nth weary wings returned unto her master.
We are inclined to think. all things
considered. that Peter Ramus had the
makincs Cf d very fine creator Of excir-
Ing fiction III him and that it was a sad
pity he allowed his gift 70 lie wasted in
compiling a biography Ct a 100 wears
deceased automatic artitictr in place Of
fOr~estalllng the friend Of cur youth, NJ.
Jules Verne.
The cherry stone has been Il favorite
subject for the worker in miniature
since Hadrianus .unius saw at Mechlin
"a cherry stone cut into the form of "A
basket. III which We're II pairs of dice
distinct, the spots and numbers of which
were easily to be discerned with IA good
eye \ museum in Massachusetts has
among Its other possessions a cherry
stone containing a dozen silver spoons.
As the stone Is Ct the ordinary size the
spoons are so small that their shape can
only be admired by the aid Of q micro
scoSe. Other remarkable cherry o
are! the ones carved all over with 124
heads, mostly Of popes ard ~potentates,
and the one fashioned by a topmaker at
Nuremberg, which contains a plan Of
S~evastopol, a railway station and the
Messiah" Of klopstock, is indeed null
tum in parvo.
\ tiny vessel has been made of late
years by an Italian jeweler who came
into possession Of a pearl that nature
had caused TO take upon itself the shape
and contour Of a boat. y sail of beaten
gold studded with diamonds, a pinnacle
light Of ruby and emerald, and a rud-
der Ct 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
Il CG an upright pattern. made Of sill
Yer and gold and resting on a 30 cent
goldpiece. The diameter Of the cylinder
IS one t~ortv-ei1hth part of an inch;
stroke, II thlrty-seCOnd Of an inch:
weight, Il eighth Of a grain; bore Of
cylinder, .3l25 Of a square inch. The
engine can be worked either Iy steam
or compressed air, and-oh, shade Of
Peter Ramus-the balance wheel Of
one-third Of an inch diameter is said to
make /, go 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, We phlemen-, a 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 l pennyweight IA
grains. At this end Of the century
Sheffield can boast Of a dozen pairs Of
shears. each SO minute that they alto
gether weigh less than half a grain, if
report speaks true.
VI eAdiulItS VI IIlCICsCOEc WIllIup
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 a nutshell. In order to prove
the truth OF this a French writer named
Huet experimental III the presence Of
the dauphln, whose tutor he was in
1910. He first showed that a piece Of
sheepskin 10 by S inches can be folded
up to fit the shell Of walnut, and then
proceeded to prove that he could get $50
stanZaS OF 30 verse. to a stanZa on each
side of the paper, or $500 verses on
each side. OF the paintings in NINA
ture Carel van Mander, the sixteenth
century painter and historian, quotes
the landscape painted by Lucas van
Here's wife. This work Of art repre-
scented a mill with sails bent, the mil
Ter appearing as if mounting the stairs
loaded with a sack. A cart aud horse
were seen upon the terrace upon which
the mill was fixed, and on the road sew
eral peasants were discerned. The whole
was perfectly distinct and accurately
finished, and yet SO minute that it could