The San Juan islander. [volume] (Friday Harbor, Wash.) 1898-1914, 1910-06-17

kany Secrets They Possessed 49,
Lost to 1EoAsrn Tf1es. . #
Many secrets the ancients posno1
are lost to modern times ana many
things they did cannot be sQualed to-
day. Thousands Of years ago ~
Egyptians used to embalm the bo61oa
Of their dead kings and nobility -
perfectly that the bodies are In W0A-g
derful preservation to-day. a. may -
seen at the British museum. Clever 80
We are in this age, we cannot do the
same. The valuable secret il lost. and
modern science cannot recover the iOgt
knowledge. Bodies embalmed now
adays will not be preserved for more
thar few years at most: very many
ef the bodies Of Egyptians embalmed
before the birth Of Christ are still 20
perfect that the lines Of the faces are
marked az clearly az when they were
first emDalmed.
Sheffield turns out the finest. hard
est and most perfect steel the world
produces, but Shefield cannot produce
sword blade to compare with those
the Saracens made and used hundreds
of years ago, and the Saracens never
possessed the machinery we have. nor
had the advantage Of knowing SO
much about metals as we are supposed
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
would cut In two most Of the swords
used In our army to-day.
There are dozen different methods
Of making artificial diamonds, but
none of the stones produced by these
methods can compare with those made
of old French paste, the secret OF
which Is lost. So perfect were paste
diamonds that 1t was diflicult for even
a. person with expert knowledge Of
diamonds to tell that they were artt.
ficially produced, whereas most of the
modern artificial diamonds can be de-
tected easily, and their durability ia
nothing like so great as the old paste
diamond.
Probably not one out of every ten
thousand buildings standing In all
parts Of the world and built by modern
masons will be standing 500 years
hence. We do not know how to put
stones and bricks together as the an
clients did, and consequently the build
ing we raise nowadays will be in ruins
when the ancient buildings In Greece
and italy. which were built thousands
of years ago, are in as good condition
as they are now. The secret is not in
the bricks or stone, but In the cement
and mortar, neither of which essen
tails can we make as the ancients
made them.
Chemistry, one might imagine, u
| the science which has made the great
est strides in the last FIVE or six de-
cades. Yet modern chemists cannot
compound such dyes as were common
" used when the great nations Of to
| day were still unborn. Now and
again it happens that searchers after
ANTIQUITIES come across fragments Of
fabrics which were dyed thousands Of
years ago. and they are astonished BY
the wonderful richness Of the colori
! OF the cloths, which, despite their age
are brighter and purer than anything
| we can produce.
Modern artists buy their color1
ready made and spend large sums Of
money on pigments with which to
color their canvasses. The pictures Of
modern artists will be colorless when
many OF the works Of ancient masters
are as bright as they are to-day. just
as the secret Of dyeing has been lost.
so has the secret Of preserving the col
ors Of artists paints. Yet the secret
was known to every ancient artist. for
thew all mixed their own colors.