The Meeker herald., 1915-05-22

WeF9 % tut1U9S su1s sUSy WS'ASS
oarnsts. Flint, etssl and Iron and
Did Other Wonderful Things.
II II written that when the Roman
ships besieged Syracuse Archimedes
burned them to ashes by means Of mir
rors, and Proclus II also said to have
destroyed the navy Of vitalian when
those galleys besiesed Byzantium. BY
means OF burning glasses. And there
Ii the wonderful story Of l'tolemy's
mirror. which. placed on the tower Of
the Pharos ut Alexandria. represented
accurately everything that transpired
In all Egypt. on both land and water.
with which an enemy's feet could be
seen 100 leagues away.
Descartes branded the story of Archi
medes' mirrors as fabulous. But Ktr-
cher believed 1t to be true and made
many experiments to prove his con
tention. He tried the effect Of a num-
Der Of plane mirrors and with tve Of
the same size. placed In frame. con
trived to throw the rays reflected from
them to the same spot at distance OF
more than 100 feet. and the degree Of
hent obtained led him to conclude that
by increasing the number of mirrors he
could increase the heat to any desired
degree. He made . voyage to Syra
cuse to inform himself exactly Of local
conditions From his observations he
was convinced that the Roman galleys
could not have been more than thirty
pnces. or less than 100 feet from the
nYon~ u,hn,n AACh1vn oAx,~ toh han
unique engine Of destruction
Button constructed machine con
sistiug Of a number Of mirrors. and
In bis 6rst experiment. using twenty
four mirrors. be set Ore to pitch and
tow at q distance Of seventy feet
Then. with . kind Of polyhedron. CON
sistins Of 1853 pieces Of plain looking
glnss. each piece SIX inches square.
boards OF beechwood were set on nre
at a distance Of ii5 feet Next there
were employed $50 plain mirrors. each
eight inches long and six broad. and
with all the mirrors In use wood
could be ignited at distance Of 225
feet The last machine Of this nature
constructed by Buifon contained 400
mirrors. each six inches square. and
with the rays from this he could melt
lead and tin At distance Of i5O feet
The most powerful burning mirror Of
modern times waa constructed by one
Penn. an English nrtisan- He succeeded
in producing burning lens no less
than three feet in diameter. and this
cost the man who was financing the
experinent upward Of $500. Its pow.
er was astonishing. and the hardest
and most solid substances. such a.
Iron. dint and steel. melted like wax
when exposed to its immense focus,
only few seconds being required A
diamond weighing ten grains was ex-
posed to the rays for thirty minutes
and was reduced to SIX grains by the
process. During the operation the
stone opened and foliated like the
leaves Of flower and emitted whitish
fumes: but when 1t had closed again
1t still bore polish and was Identical
In shape. though four grains lighter
and proportionately smaller. Ten cut
garnets melted and ran together in
q few seconds. In fact. nothing was
found that could resist the terrible
beat generated. This remarkable ma
chine was afterwagd taken to China
BY an ofYlcer connected with the Brit.
tsh embassy and finally lost sight Of
With these modern experiments to
consider. the tale Of the burning Of
Marcellus' ships seems more probable.
La Brocquiere. traveller Of the hf.
teenth century. says that at Damascus
- thuk
nified objects .'like burning glasses"
The telescope was not Invented till
early in the seventeenth century.
This would seem corroborative evt
dence concerning Ptolemy Euergetes'
mirror. which La Brocquiere does not
mention and Of which he perhaps nev.
or heard. Abulfeda. In his description
Of Egypt. says that the wonderful mir
ror was made Of Chinese iron and that
soon after Mohammedanism prevailed
the Christians destroyed It BY strata
gem
In work published at Marseilles In
1853 Father Abbat argues ingeniously
In favor Of the probable existence Of
the mirror. but contends that It's pow.
er waa far less than recorded in the
legend.
-If this mirror existed" he says. ut
Ii proba BILE that 1t was the only one Of
its kind and that no other means had
then been found Of viewing distant
obtectz distinctly. 1t must therefore
have been considered az great won
der In those times and must have Oiled
with astonishment all who saw its ef.
been greslter than those Of small tel
eecope - 1t IL natural to thing
that those effects were exaggerated be
youd all probability and even possibili
~. as commonly happens to rare and
admirable machines and inventions -
Emmett Campbell Han in Cleveland
Leader.