Cheraw chronicle. [volume] (Cheraw, S.C.) 1896-2005, 1912-08-01
SEVEN WONDERS OF THE WORLD.

fI IN
Wireless Telegraphy, Telephone, Aer.
oplane, Radium, Antiseptcs and An.
titoxins, Spectrum Analysis and \.
Ray.
Sometime ago the editor of Popular
Mechanics Magazine asked nearly one
thousand scientists. representing ev-
cry European and American school OF
advanced thought, to participate in
the selection of seven wonders OF the
modern world.
The international character OF the
DOLL and the wide diversity Of opinion
of the men chosen to participate In
It resulted in some remarkable an
swers, and in a scattering OF votes
over a wide range of human achieve
ment, so that the subject which re-
ceived the largest number OF votes
was selected by little more than 35
per cent of the scientists voting and
the seventh on the final list by but a
trife more than II per cent The final
analysis OF the poll shows the ten sub
jects highest on the list were:
Wireless telegraphy PA. Telephone
1876, Aeropane 167. Radium 1s5, Anti
septice and Antitoxins 40, Spectrum
Analysis 12S, X-Ray III. Panama Ca
nal 100, Anesthesia "a. Synthetic
Chemistry 81.
Mr.. H. H. Windsor. editor Of Pop
ular Mechanics, says:
The seven wonders Of the Modern
World!
It were q far easier task for even
the learned men who shared In the
selection to name seven score than
seven. On the other hand, by night,
by day, we walk and see and breathe
amid a multitude Of wonders. which
are no wonders, to us, but only COM
monplace, because part Of our ev-
eryday existence. Today an infants
feeble voice finds its unerring way
along a tiny wire across rivers and
over plains and mountains to the one
home in millions it seeks. To US no
wonder. and our young men and wo-
men cannot recall the time before the
telephone was. They use without
thought, an instrument before which
the Seven Wise Men would have pros
trated themselves as a thing super
natural.
The Seven Ancient Wonders were
selected by the Greeks. and their right
to the title were established before
Christ was born. During all the in
tervening years no attempt has been
made to definitely revise the "Seven
Wonders" Generation after genera
tion has come and gone accepting the
decision one from the other. In fact
there was no opportunity for revis-
ion. AS the years increased civiliza-
tion ebbed ard about all the man.
made marvels we have to show for
those 1000 years Of human life are a
few cathedrals and pictures.
or the ancient wonders only one
was a practical utility-Pharos, the
4O0-foot lighthouse of Alexandria; one
was hanging garden, not for the peo-
pie. but built by queen for her SEN
sual pleasure; two were tombs; one
was a temple of beauty devoted to a
heather god; another, the Colossus OF
Rhodes. was a freakish mass of cast
metal. less than half the height of our
own Statue of Liberty, and not COM
parable in dignity; and one was a
beautiful statue to eypify certain aes-
thetic ideals. Not a single one Gre
ated for the uplifting or well-being of
the masses.
AS brute force, represented in vast
armies, was a measure of power, so
the Ancients honored the strong arm
and the mighty, inert mass. 1t would
seem that the pent up forces Of civil
ization, held in, thrust back, ruthless