The Tucson citizen., 1902-05-15
SOME LOST SECRETS.
FAMOUS PROCESSES THAT WERE
KNOWN TO THE ANCIENTS.

Gus srg!dea NE have made "a almost
every branch OF knowledge during the
last 200 or 900 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
entsts 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, as may be
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 embalm bodies, but only for tenn
porary preservation and. comparatively
speaking. In most unsatisfactory man.
ner. Bodies which are embalmed now
adays will not be preserved for more
than few days at most. Very many
Of the bodies the Egyptians embalmed
! 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 to compare with
| those the Sa-1cens 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. A 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 n dozen different methods
Of making artificial diamonds, but none
! of the stones produced by these meth
| DDS can compare with those made OK
| old French paste, the secret OF which
| ls lost So perfect were paste dla-
monds that II was difficult for even a
person with expert knowledge Of dia-
monds to tell that they were artificias.
ly produced, whereas most Of the mod
ern artifcla, diamonds can easily h"
detected. and their durability Is moth
ing like so great as the old paste dia-
moDds.
Probably not one out of every ten
thousand buildings standing In all
parts OF the world. and built by mod
| ern masons. will still be standing 900
| years hence We do not know how to
put stones and bricks together as the
ancients 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
/ il not In the bricks or the stone. but
| In the cement and mortar. neither OF
which essentials can we make as the
ancients made them.
! In modern buildings the cement and
mortar are the weakest points; In
buildings which the Romans and
Greeks raised thousands of years ago
the cement and mortar are the stron-
gest points and hold good while the
very stones they bind together crumble
away with age. We cannot. with all
our science. make such cement and
mortar ana 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 ayes aS
were com monty used when the great
nations Of today were stiil unborn.
Now and again II happens that search
ers after antiquities come across fragN
rnents of fabrics which were DYED
| thousands of years ago. and they are
astonlshed by the wonderful richness
! OF the cclors 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 Dig
| ments with which to color their can
vases. The pictures of modern artists
will be coDorless 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 10
/ every ancient artist, for they all mixed
their own colors.
+ How to make durable Ink is another
great secret we have lost Look Mt any
.etter five or ten years old and you Will
probably notice that the writing has
fnded to a brown color and Is very in
distinct Go to any big museum nno
sou will find ancient MSS. the writing
Of which Is as black and distinct as II
The MSS. were written the day befor"
yesterday. ~
The secret OF glass blowing and tint
-, A.. 80 ,.o& aDtirolv lost There are