The Tucson citizen., 1902-01-27
SOME LOST SECRETS.
FAMOUS PROCESSES THAT WERE
KNOWN TO THE ANClENTS.

; Nigh Impossible - Cement of the
Greeks and Romans.
Taking into consideration the marvel
Dus strides we have made in almost
every branch Of knowledge during the
last zoo or 600 years, 1t seems exceed
ingly strange that our forefathers
should have been able TO do things
which we find impossible and that we
cannot discover secrets which were al
most common knowledge hundreds Of
years ago. But despite the fact that
:he average modern man knows more
than did 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
derful preservation today. rs may be
seen al 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 embalm bodies, but only for tenn
pOrary preservation and. comparatively
speaking. in most unsatisfactory man
ner. Bodies which are embalmed now
adQys will not be preserved for more
than a few days at most. Very many
OF the bodies the Egyptians cmbalmed
before the birth of Christ are still so
perfect that the lines Of their faces are
still as clearly marked as when they
were first embalmed.
Sheffield turns out the finest. hardest
and most perfect steel the world pro-
duces, but even Sheffield cannot pro-
duce sword blade 10 compare with
those the Saracens made and used hun
dreds 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. y huge fortune awaits
the man who discovers the secret
which enabled the Saracens to make
sword blades so keen and hard that
they could cut in two most OF the
swords used today.
There are 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 dla-
monds that it was difficult for even a
person with expert knowledge Of da-
monds to tell that they were artificial
ly produced. whereas most Of the mod
ern artificial diamonds can easily be
and their durability Is moth
ing like so great as the old paste dIa-
monds
Probably not one out of every ten
thousand buildings standing in al
parts of the world. and built by mod
ern masons. Will still he standing 500
years hence We do not know how to
put stones and bricks together as the
ancien's did, and consequently the
buildings we raise nowadays are really
mere temporary structures and will be /
In ruins when the ancient buildings CT
thousands OF years ago, are in as good .
condition rs they are now. The secret
Is not In the bricks or the stone. but
u the cement and mortar. neither OF
which essentials can we make as the
lnclents made them.
In modern buildings the cement and
mortar are the weakest points; in
buildings which the Romans and
Creeks raised thousands of years ago
he cement and mortar are the stron-
zest points and hold good while the .
Tery stones they bind together crumble /
away With age. We cannot. with all /
our science, make such cement and /
mortar. and therefore we cannot build I
such buildings as the ancients raised.
Chemistry, one might imagine. is the
science which has. perhaps. made the
greatest strides. Yet modern chem
lsts cannot compound such dyes as
were commonly used when the great
nations Of today were still unborn.
Now and again 1t happens that search
Frs after antiquities come across frag-
ments OF fabrics which were dyed
thousands of years ago. and they are
astonished by the wonderful richness
pf the crlors of the cloths. which, de-
spite their age. are brighter and purer
lhan anything we can produce.
Modern artists buy their colors ready
made and spend large sums on pig
nents with which to color their can
Fases. The pictures of modern artists
sill be colorless when many Of the
works of ancient masters are as bright
~ they ara today. Just as the secret OF
1yeing has been lost. SO has the secret
,f preserving the colors of artists
paints. Yet the secret was known 10
very ancient artist, for they all mixed
heir own colors.
How to make durable ink is another
great secret we have lost. Look ut any
etter ve or ten years old and you will
probably notice that the writing has
faded to a brown color and is very in
4iStinct. Go to any big museum ana
you win find ancient MSS, the writing
1f which Is rs black and distinct as IL
The MSS. were written the day before