The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1909-06-06
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

L emf z Mi you klnuly IN III u0luc
on that subject, particularly as 10 the year when
nrst USED. who designed and engraved II an tas
The st soeiety Of I the cincinnsti'
ALyRHp w. LAYTON,
The emblem Of the Cincinnati may be omitted
from consideration except In 80 far as 1t uses
the eagle. a stock design dating back 70 the Roman
republic. Its other elements. In addition to Gin
c~innatus on diverse and reverse, are the rising
sun, a city with gates open and ships coming
into port. and Joined hands supporting q heart.
The Great Seal OF the United States, Of which
only the diverse was ever cut. was adopted by
| act OF June 20, 1852. A seal In accordance With
this act was soon after cut In brass, and the carli-
est known impression therefrom is on q commits
sion dated September 10, 1782 giving Gen. WASH
Ing ton full power TO negotiate exchanges Of pris-
oners. There is no record OF the cutting OF this
seal and II Is impossible TO say by whom cut, but
II was probably done In philadelphia. In this
seal the eagle was slim and very sketchfly drawn,
the shield long and narrow and with q straight
upper line. the olive branch without fruits, the
border foliated. 1t remained In use for nifty nino
years.
In Ial. when Daniel Webster was Secretary Of
state, the seal was recut. This was slightly
smaller than that which IL replaced, the eagle was
broader and drawn with moro detail, the shield
nearly as broad as long and with two inward
curves upon the upper edge, tho olive branch
with I'VE fruits, six ar rows In the cluster despite
the provision OF the act that there should DO
thirteen. the border millcd with circles.
The seal now In use was cut In 1885 when Fred
erick T. Frelinghuysen was Secretary of State.
IL Is larger than either Of Its predecessors but
more nearly resembles the original seal. It's shield
has the straight upper line. the arrows number
thirteen and there are thirteen fruits on the olive
branch. For the nrst time this seal shows the
enort,s very successful one, 70 combine with the
neraldic displayed eagle the portraiture OF tho
American eagle.
The history Of the seal Is recorded In the Jour
nails OF Congress from the resolution of July 4,
i77o. after the reading of the Declaration OF indie
pendence. that DIR. Franklin. Mr.. J. Adams and
Mr.. Jefferson be a committee TO prepare q device
for q seal OF the U nited States OF North America
For convenience Of reference the successive
steps Will be disting uished by capital letters.
A. The committee reported August 10. l776.
a very ornate design. but 1t was not received
with favor.
b. A new committee was appointed March
Is, l7Ts. and reported May 10; the report was
sent 10 q new committee.
c. In l7s, William Barton submitted a design.
ID. simultaneously Barton submitted an al.
tentative design.
Z. Charles Thomson, the Secretary OF Con
gress. submitted a design.
=. Barton presented q design improving upon
Thomson's.
G. The &C, finally adopting the seal. June 20.
1879.
To trace ou, the history Of the seal through
these several steps II will be necessary to list
the several elements which enter into the seal.
diverse. The eagle. the shield OF thirteen
vertical stripes surmounted BY q plain blue feld.
the bundle Of arrows, the palm or olive branch.
the Z Plurbus Cnum motto. the constellation
Of thirteen stars bursting through the cloudcd
heaven.
Reverse The frustum Of a stone pyramid. the
delta eye In glory, the two notices "Annuit Corp
tbs" and -Novus ordo Seclorum."
/. The eagle. This nrst appears lneonspic-
ously In c and D.: IL assumes In Z and + approx
mately Its nnal importance.
2. The stripes. First In b. the stripes placed
dIagoually: In c and d placed horizontally: In z
they form a chevron with the point up: In F they
become at last vertical. The device Ii plainly
derived from the national ensign: the nuctuation
In their early appearance must be assumed to be
positive proof that there was no idea Of copying
the Washington coat OF arms: In further dlsproof
mention should be made OF the fact that no seal
design made use OF the stars In the blue neld
OF the shield which Is an essential feature OF tho
Washington device.
5. The Arrows. In F. and +.
l.. The olive branch. In r and p.
6. The motto. This WAS nrst on the diverse
Of A. then reappears In r and F.
o. The constellation. First In r., then In c and
d. thirteen stars as a border OF the shield, next
In e and + IN the present form.
7. The pyramid OF thirteen strata. First In
y, continued In L and not discussed in +. which
dealt only with the diverse.
8. The delta eye In glory. In the diverse Of A..
In the reverse OF C and ID. an eye In glory omit
ting the delta, In Z and F the delta restored.
and 10. The two notices. These nrst appear
in f and are not discussed In F.
The history OF the seal Is presented fully In an
able monog raph by Caillard Hunt, which was
published by the Department OF State In 1892 In
a limited edition.
Is there any reliable record OF a gun called the
Swamp Angel. used In the siege OF Charleston,
S. c.. during the clyil war, throwing a shot eight
mIles' II Is said that the gun was located eight
city What was the extreme Sanse OF me pest
The redoubt In which the Swamp Angel was
mounted was built In 1868 upon a morass OF black
mud between James and Morris islands In
Charleston harbor. The mud was 10 feet deep
and OF a particularly oozy nature. The dlniculty
OF the work gave color to the war time story OF
the subsi;e-a c! engineers who put In . reQuisi-
ton to Gen. Gilmore for the detail OF q ole OF men
twenty feet tall TO construct emplacements In
| sixteen feet Of mud" Commonly believed true Of
the Siege OF Charleston. this tale dates back to the
wars In Flanders where the troops swore 20 fam
ously. The redoubt- built wholly Of bags OF sand.
WAS placed on a platform OF heavy timbers- To
| form the gun emplacement stout piles were driven
through the mud Into the underlying hard pan.
aud upon tnib IounuAtiou tue gun piotlot" wa
constructed. The gun was . 200 FOUNDER rtned
Parrot. Tho distance OF the gun from Charles
ton was Ave miles, not eight. This was the long
est range which had ever been attained by artll-
lery IRE, and to reach the city the Swamp Angel
had TO be laid At an elevation OF SS degrees. Ono
Of It's projectles found Its way to the historic
ST. MIchael's Church and shattered the table OF
the Ten commandments on the chanoel wall
breaking them all except the sixth and seventh.
Please tell me where. by whom and In what
year the printing press was nrst Invented. also
The nationality OF Inventor. III. ID.
To not q single one Of these categorical and
interesting questions Is II possible TO return an
answer. Our earliest knowledge of the press
rests upon a German engraving Of about 1870
p~icturtng a lever press capable OF printing two
folio pages. The press. whether operated by
lever or screw. had preceded the invention OF
movable type and had long been used In block
printing. The nrst improvement of this
archetypal press was made about 1870 by Blauw
Of Amsterdam and with q few notifications
answered all needs for nearly a century and Z
half. The FIRST American improvements In
presses were the Columbian press, invented by
george Clymer Of Philadelphia In 1917. and the
Washington press. invented by Samuel Rust In
1879. The hrst power presses In America were
made BY Daniel Treadwell Of Boston In 1879, q
steam machine used by the American Bible So
cicty and a similar press used by the American
Tract Society. which was operated by mule power.
Your answer 10 the correspondent who wanted
TO know why 1900 WAS not q leap year VIII not
BE- satisfactory. as he desires to know Il think
iormulr he can tel what they arc. The eIpIa,
nation Is tina the tropical year Is not exactly