River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1901-09-05
OLD AND NEW INVENTIONS.
History of Early Ages shows That
Ancients Were Not Destitute of
Genius in the Mechanic Arts

An official of the United States
patent office who is preparing a his
tory of that institution has been i'm
pressed with the idea that there is
little new under the sun, saws the
Baltimore Sun. He has pored over
volumes of ancient lore and satisfied
himself that the ingenuity of mod
ems was discounted by the wise men
OF antiquity. In art, in the sciences,
in mechanics our boosted progress
seems to him to have been vastly
overrated. There is not, he SAYS, a
single surgical bandage of which ex-
amples are not seen in the swathings
OF Egyptian mummies. The patent
office issues n patent for a nickel-in-
the-slot machine described by Hero
dotus." Pliny tells us of a copy of
the Iliad engraved on so small a piece
of parchment that the entire work
was contained in a nutshell. Micro
scopes of rock crystal were found in
the palace of Nimrod. Nero had
lenses made out of an emerald, with
which from a distance he watched
gladiatorial contests. The Romans,
as stated by Prof. Lanciani, had stor-
age warehouses and safety deposit
vaults.
The ancients, according to this
patent Office slpetic, were as full of
wisdom as the moderns who ignorant
ly undertook to patronize them. Their
mechanical contrivances and engi-
neering works were remarkable
Archimedes discovered many scien-
tific principles which are in use now
adays. Public works were of the
highest order. The ancient Greek wa
ter supply system showed every mod
ern improvement-such as we have
acquired only within the past ten
years. The public roads of Peru were
built of masonry, were 25 feet wide,
macadamized with pulverized stone
mixed with lime and bituminous ce-
ment and walled in by walls more
than six feet thick. A sort of tele-
graph system existed and news was
transmitted hundreds of miles in
day. When Peru was discovered"
several centuries ago its wooden and
cotton goods exceeded in fineness any
similar goods produced in Europe.
Plato knew that the earth was round;
other philosophers, now forgotten,
were familiar with the law of gravita-
ton. Astronomers before the Chris
tian era understood the rotation of
planets and knew a great deal about
comets. There is reason to believe
that the ancients used the telephone
in some form, while there is a tradi-
tion in China that the photograph
was employed by rich orientals.
Still, the wisdom of the ancients
has not discouraged modern invent
ors. Men of science and mechanical
ingenuity will continue to add to the
knowledge, the comfort and wealth
CT the world With all the progress
that has been made many contri-
vances remain to be devised before
human ingenuity realizes that its linn
it has been reached. Immense for
tunes will be made by the inventive
geniuses of the future who work out
problems which must be solved be.
fore man attains complete happiness
on this mundane sphere. What APP
pears impossible in this generation
may be in general use in the next
generation. Matters of transporta-
ton, of power, of fuel. of lighting
and heating engage at this time the
attention of thoughtful and resource
full men. There are many prizes to
be won by the successful inventors
of the future.