Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1908-07-02

dence OF this OuLSJTIppIHS VI IOlduce
by reality It is not so generally
known that romance has often antici-
pated sober fact; but such is the case.
In the year 1869 the Suez canal, one
of the most important engineering en-
terprises ever undertaken, was opened
to the worlds traffic. 1t was fore
Swallowed as long ago as the sixteenth
centuary by Christopher Marlowe, one
OF the early English poets, in the fol
lowing lines:
Thence marched | into Egypt and Ar
abba,
And here, not far from Alexandria,
Whzreat the Terrene and the Red Sea
meet,
Being distant less than full hundred
leagues,
I meant to cut d channel to them both,
That men might quickly sail to India
1t may be urged with reference to
this quotation that So soon as it be
came possible to make an approXt-
mately correst chart of the world, the
advantage Of cutting through the
isthmus must have been apparent TO
many, and that MarloWe merely re-
fected the thought Of others.
This, Of course, is likely to be the
case but no such plea can be urged
against the very curious anticipation
Of wireless telegraphy by Strada, the
Italian historian, who was born at
Rome in the year 1872. Addison quo
tes Strada in one of his noted essays;
but we need hardly say that in doing
so he had no notion of any anticipa-
ton of the electric telegraph, for Ad-
olson died just a century before COM
munication by that means became pos
sible. Addison writes thus:
"Strada, in one Of his prolusiOns,
gives an account Of chimerical CORES
pondence between two friends by the
help Of a certain lodestone which had
such virtue in it that if it touched two
several needles, when one of the need
les so touched began to move, the
other though at never SO great a dis
lance, moved at the same time in, the
same manner.
He tells US that two friends, being
each of them possessed Of one of these
needles, made a kind of dial-plate, in
scribing it with the four-and-twenty
letters, and in the same manner on
the ordinary dial-plate They then
fixed one OF the needles on each of
these plates in such a manner that it
could move round without impeachment
so as to touch any Of the four-aEd
twenty letters.
Upon their separating from one all
other into distant countries, they
agreed to withdraw themselves pun Ct
ually into their closets at a certa n
hour of the day and to converse with
one another by means Of this their
invention across a Whole
continent, and conveyed their thoughts
to one another in an instant over cit
les and mountains, seas or deserts"
1t will be seen hoy close is the de-
scription of this dial instrument 70
the A B c telegraph of WheatstOne,
which, until it was superseded by the
telephone( was common use in many
Offices. But as there is no mention of
any conducting wires between the
two friends in communication, we are
justified in regarding this as being
prOphetical of the more recent tnyen-
tion of Marconi.
Roger Bacon Q21+9D may have
foreseen the possibility of making dy-
Mantle and other powerful explosives
when he wrote the following words
"A small portion of matter, about the
size OF the thumb, properly disposed
will make a tremendous sound and
coruscation, by which cities and arm
les might be destroyed"
But he does not go so far as to hint
that it would ever become possible Il
throw small parcels of explosive mat
ter upon a doomed place from a dis
lance Of seven miles or more a terri
Die example of the power of propel
1ants which we are witnessing toda!
in eastern waters.
Reference to the war in the far cas-
reminds us that the torpedo was yer,
well described by Ben Jonson nearl,
800 years ago, as the following bit o
dialogue taken from his Staple o
News, produced in 1925, will show:
"Barber-They write here of on
Coruelius-son hath made the Hollan
ders an invisible eel to swim the ha
ven al Dunkirk and sink all the snip
ping there.
"Pennyboy-But how ls't done?
"Cymbai-Tll show you, sir. 1t /
an automa, runs under water, with
snug nose and has a nimble tail mad
like an anger. with which tail sh
wriggles hetwixt the coats (ribs) O
Il ship and sinks it straight.
"Pennyboy-A most brave device t
murder their bottoms"
This extract calls to mind an anus
ing story which was current a FEY
years back with reference to the or
gin of the steam propeller A fisher
man out in a small boat had the mi!
fortune TO lose the cork from tn
small boat hole near the keel. wit
which such boats are always provided
Having nothing else at hand to ste
the leak, he thrust into the hole fror
the outside a lively eel which he ha
just caught, and the motion of tn
creatures tail, in its efforts to &c
free. propelled the boat home, an
gave its owner the first motion of tn
screw.
T,L;- -+O~y- = o,,i+o ,,,,., o,,,-I, - . /,