The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1908-09-09
INVENTIVE GENIUS
IN ANCIENT TINES
Primitive People Had Things
Which Moderns Think
They Discovered.

Although Lombroso tells us that
IMAM Is the natural foe OF all novelty
and innovation" We nevertheless like
To plume ourselves on the possession Of
Inventions and contrivances for com
fort and business expediency that were.
we Yainly imagine. unknowr to our an-
ces.ors. But do We truly possess such
inventions and contuvancesg Are we
really so far IN advance even Of those
progeruors OF ours whom we consider.
IN relation TO ourselves, comparatively
pTimitive2 can we show enough gem
ufne novelty 10 justify Us in cur con-
ceit? NJ Henry Paeorys "a French pub
licist, for his part answers in the mega
tive, and tells US something Of the in
egtiVe genius of our ancestors which
IS ~ least worth considering In his
opinion we OF today are bat carrying
out ideas that existed long years ago
in more or less crude form
A'llttle more than one hundred years
age the celebrated French scientist
Mouge. who accompanied Bonapsrte 10
Egypt. was considerably puzzled by the
discovery in the Temple Of Mehmet-
Abn. in upper Egypt. Of coils Of wiring
which lay-and had probably been lying
fer ases-in a small stone chamber,
and tangled amCns them several ivory
and bone objects which resemiied our
common drinking horns. On his ar
rival at the Pyramid of Gizeh he dis
covered in a vault 81 about the same
dimensions more coils OF wiring mat
ter. Will siUeiiaU ivory and bone horns.
The telephone was then undiscovered.
and. naturally enough, Monge did not
ur aerstand the ndture Of his discovery.
which has since, says n Facory. beer
shown TO have been nothing else but a
primitive phone.
The instrument is said to have been
In use in the days OF the Pharaohs.
II was naturally a very simple con
trivance-much resembling our toy tel
ephones-and did not cover distance
greater than two or three pliles Taci-
tus tells US that when Antony went
ashore after the battle of Actium he
was accompanied only by a captain Of
his guard. since all others had DESERT
ed him. IL is not unlikely. says the
Frenchman. that he telephoned 10 the
fair daughter Of the Pharaohs asking
her to come and comfort him in his last
agony.
We are accustomed TO consider that
Roger Bacon. the thirteenth century
monk, did a very important bit Of work
when he invented gunpowder. which n
IT'S first form wss a dangerous explo-
sive very like dynamite. Wen. now. II
you viii just look dp a reliable history
or the great Hannibal you will find
that as he made his way over the Ply
reEees and the Alps, on the march uu
from southern Spain. before ne entered
Italy. he was enabled TO expedite the
passage over boulder-bou mountain
Businesses by the use Of an explosive
which was known as oxoos. This was
not what We know as Greek fire "
which was used In the form of nand
grenades By the soldiers Of BIithrsdates
IN his long wars with the Romans. but
was akin to our own nitroEiycerin. and
was so effective III clearing the noun
tain passes that the SUBSEQUENT
msTches CT Napoleon ACROSS the Aims
ans OF Wellington acEzss thu P,rre-
ices were but child ay cOmDsred
10 what they must haNS been Ter rho
great Carthaginian.