Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1912-02-27
Mistllaneuus Rmding.
THE IMPORTANCE OF WHEELS.
Medium Of All Transmitted Energy
and Necessary to Civilization.

Medium Of All Transmitted Energy
and Necessary to Civilization.
Simplicity is the chief character
istic of the most useful things the
world possesses and few among them
are more simple than wheels. Their
mechanism can generally be grasped
in moment, but in spite Of their al
most childish construction they are
mans best friends-friends on whom
I he confidently relies for a thousand
and one duties. Indeed, to such an
extent do we put our faith in them
that 1t is beyond the power of the hu-
man mind to imagine what the world
would be II wheels became non-exist-
ent. But there is no danger Of such
a calamity Detailing US, for we may be
pretty sure they will continue to re-
volve in some shape or form until
time shall be no more.
Their origin must certainly date
back to that problematical period
which Is known in the vernacular as
"the mist Of antiquity" Even the
Garden Of Eden probably contained
the germ of the idea, for the nearest
approach in nature to travelling on
wheels is to be found in the move
ments of certain round gourds. These
when dry roll along the ground rap
idly, and so transport their contained
seed to a distance. In the Eighty
third psalm is this passage: Make
them like unto a Wheel" which Is
said to refer to the wheel-like run
ming Of the gourds. 1t Is by no means
unlikely that the first wheel made was
suggested to primitive man by the
action Of these particular gourds, for
not once, nor twice, but over and over
again, inventors have found inspira-
ton In the fairyland Of Nature.
Nevertheless, be their origin what
it may, the fact remains that they
have withstood the whirligig Of time
as we'll as the ingenuity Of man; moth
ing has ever been invented to supplant
them for the particular and special
offices which they fulfill. They are
as permanently fixed in the human
economy as the everlasting hills or
the eternal sea. Undoubtedly animals
as the motive power Of every variety
Of vehicle will one of these days be
dispensed with for that purpose. When
that time arrives wheels will still be
as indispensable as they are now. or
a truth wheels have never have a real
rival, and even an Edison has not de-
vised anything to take their place,
while the weird imagination Of our
novelists, scientific or otherwise, has
not hit upon a means Of mechanical
locomotion where wheels are conspic-
uous by their absence.
Although to the casual observer
wheels may seem unimportant and in
significant, the more closely one inves-
tigates the subject the more ones Won
der grows at the amazing and abso-
iutely- necessary part they play in" the
drama Of life. 1t Will be found that
in some shape or form they are mixed
up with almost everything connected
with the worlds work, and with
good deal of its pleasure, too. Indeed,
there can be no question that the on
ward march of civilization has been
not a little due to their influence, and,
undoubtedly, the growth Of the Brit
ish empire owes a considerable debt to
them, while most Of the comforts and
conveniences we enjoy are their out
come, for machinery is the leading
feature in every kind Of manufacture,
and what would machinery be without
wheels? Therefore, 1t cannot be con-
sidered exaggeration to say that they
are the very backbone and mainstay OF
the worlds activity and life.
Even the planet on which we live
can almost be called a wheel, as 1t Is
ever revolving slowly, but surely. In
the fashion of a wheel. And almost
everything that is used as means OF
mechanical locomotion runs on wheels
our forefathers travelled in coaches
and post t-chaises, we go hither and
hither by trains. motors, bicycles, car
riages and steamboats, Of all kinds, and
to each and all of these wheels are
sine qua non. But to help in locomo-
ton Is by no means the sole mission
of the wheel, for most things Of daily
use and utility are largely controlled
and worked by its instrumentality, IN
fact, one could demonstrate that di-
rectly and indirectly, almost every
thing is indebted to it, for 1t Is often
very modest piece Of machinery, doing
it's work out Of sight, but not the less
efficiently because it is not always seen
on the surface Of things. For in
stance, miracles are enacted FOR us
by wheels in connection with the days
work. We find the proper hour 10
leave our couch by their power In the
form of a watch or clock. We bundle
out of bed and sit down to breakfast
when we find that the food we eat at
that meal wuld not have been there
except through the aid Of wheels
Then their instrumentality takes us TO
the city or wherever we want to CO.
and they are, in some way or other
concerned with every kind of business
I'm which men are engaged.
1t will thus be seen that western ma
tions live more or less in an automatic
age. but we have not yet adopted
mechanical means Of conducting our
devotions, such as the praying wheels
used by the Hamaist Buddhists who
assume that the efficacy of prayer
consists in the multiplicity Of its repe-
tition. These instruments are OF vari-
Gus ages, from small cylinders turned
by hand to huge ones driven by water
or wind. Long strips of paper with a
written or printed formula repeated
hundreds or even thousands Of times
are wrapped round these cylinders. AS
these cylinders revolve the paper roll
uncoils. and so the prayer Is said. A
traveller in Tibet speaks Of a praying
wheel holding 1,400 thin leaves. on
each side of which the prayer Is print
ed ten times. This gives $4,000 pray