Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1901-10-19
SOME LOST SECRETS.
FAMOUS PROCESSES THAT WERE
KNOWN TO THE ANCIENTS.
Things Thnt Our Forefnthers Were
Able 20 Do Tint We Now Find Well
Nigh Impossible - Cement of the
Greeks cnd Romans.

Greeks cnd Romans.
Taking into consideration the marvel
Ous strides we have made in almost
every branch Of knowledge during the
last 2CO or 800 years, it seems exceed
ingly strange that our forefathers
should have been able to do things
which we find i'm sossible and that we
cannot discover secrets which were al
most common knowledge hundreds Of
years ago. But despite She fact that
the average modern man knows more
than lid the learned men of long ago
there are mysteries of knowledge and
science which our most advanced sci
entiStS cannot solve.
Thousands Of years ago, for Instance,
the Egyptians used to embalm the
bodies of their dead kings and nobility
so perfectly that the bodies are in Won
dcrful preservation today, as mny he
seen at the British museum. Clever as
we are in this age, we cannot do the
same. The valuable secret is lost and
modern science cannot recover the lost
knowledge. We can, of course. and we
do cmbalm bodies, but only for tem-
porary preservation and, comparatively
speaking. in Il most unsatisfactory man
nCr. Bodies which are cmbalmCd now
adnys will not be preserved for more
than a few days ut most. Very many
Of the bodies the Egyptians cmbalmed
before the birth of Christ are still 80
perfect that the lines of their faces are
still as clearly marked as when they
We're first embalmed.
Sheffield turns out the finest, hardest
and most perfect steel the world pro-
duccS but even Sheffield cannot pro-
ducc a sword blade to compare with
those the Saracens made and used hun
drcds of years ago, and the SaracenS
never possessed the machinery we
have or had the advantage of knowing
so much about metals as we are sup
posed to know. \ huge fortune awaits
the man who discovers the secret
which enabled the SaraecnS to make
sword blades so keen and hard that
they could cut in two most of the
swords used today.
There are a dozen different methods
OF making artificial diamonds, but none
of the stones produced by these meth
DDS can compare with those made of
old French paste, the secret of which
is lost. SO perfect were paste dia-
monds that 1t was difficult for even
person with expert knowledge of dia-
mondS to tell that they We're artificial
ly produced, whereas most of the mod
ern artificial diamonds can easily be
detected, and their durability is moth
ing like so great as the old paste dia
mOndS.
Probably not one out of 0very ten
thousand buildings standing in all
parts of the world, and built by mod
ern maSonS, will still be standing 800
years hence. We do not know how to
put stones and bricks together as the
ancicntS did, and consequently the
buildings we raise nowadays are really
mere temporary structures and will be
In ruins when the ancient buildings of
Greece and Italy, which were built
thousands of years ago, are in as good
condition as they are now. The secret
Is not in the bricks or the stone. but
III the cement and mortar, neither of
which essentials can we make as the
ancicnts made them.
In modern buildings the cement and
mortar are the weakest points; in
buildings which the Romans and
Of
the cement and mortar are. the stron-
gcst points and hold good while the
very stones they bind together crurnble
away with age. We cannot, with all
our science, make such cement and
mortar, and therefore we cannot build
such buildings as the ancients raised.
Chemistry, one might imagine is the
science which has, perhaps, made the
greatest strides. Yet modern chem
lists cannot compound such dyes as
We're commonly used when the great
nations of today We're still unborn.
Now ard again 1t happens that search
Crs after antiquities come across frag-
ncnts OF fabrics which were dyed
thousands of years ago. and they are
astonished by the wonderful richness
of the colors of the cloths, which, de-
spite their age, are brighter and purer
than anything we can produce.
Modern artists buy their colors ready
made and spend large sums on pig-
ments with which TO color their can
vases. The pictures of modern artists
will be colorless when many of the
works OF ancient masters are as bright
as they are today. Just as the secret of
dyeing has been lost, so has the secret
of preserving the colors of artists
paints. Yet the secret was known TO
every ancient artist, for they all mixed
their own colOrS.
How to make durable ink is another
great secret we have lost. Look at any
letter five or ten years old and you will
probably notice that the writing has
faded 10 q brown color and is very in
you will find ancient MSS, the writing
Of which is as black and distinct as if
the MSS. were written the day before
yesterday.
The secret OF glass blowing and tint
Ing is not yet entirely lost. There are
ftill few men who can produce glass
work equal 10 the things of this kind
which the ancients turned out hun
hreds of years ago. But the average
glass manufacturer cannot produce
anything that could At all compare
with some of the conmoner articles
the Egyptians. and later, the founders