The Waterbury Democrat., 1939-07-14

eA4aaat Lit. D, President of Funk < Wagnalls Company and author.)
 BY DIR. wILFRED FUNK
 The Emperor Nero, who fiddled while Rome burned, had an eleva- tor 120 feet high. He also in- vented the champagne cooler :. always had his wine brought to the table in a large metal bucket packed with snow.
 Hot dog stands were common in Rome 1900 years ago and cafeterias, too, with lunch counters, and leather-covered metal seats.
 Unbreakable glass, not the shat ter-proof variety, was invented in the reign of the Roman Emperor Tiberius around 34 A. D. The unlucky inventor was beheaded for fear this glass might be used for plates, bowls, etc., and so supplant gold.
 Egyptians manufactured artificial eyes $500 years ago {. The iris and pupil of glass, the white skin of the eye out of ivory, and often- times pearl or feldspar.
 Even as early as 1900 B. O., sym thetic pearls were moulded for the lucky shopgirls of Greece out of lime, magnesia and silicate. 
 Modern ice cubes are thousands of years behind the times Mil- leniums ago the East Indians made ice a-plenty by the vaporation and radiation of water placed in shallow vessels of porous clay.
 Vaccination for smallpox was done before the time of Christ.
 Hero of Alexandria, at the time of Christ, made the first penny in- the-slot machine for vending water in the temple.
 The swastika, which Hitler calls a Nordic symbol, was an early mark on the pottery of the ancient Jews The principle of the steam tur- bine engine was worked out and harnessed by Hero of Alexandria 1900 years before James Watt saw the steam bubbling from his moth- er's kitchen kettle.
 Cleopatra, Queen of Egypt plucked her eyebrows, pencilled and darkened them with antimony paste =. She used the same rouge as your daughter does today, made of paste of perfumed iron oxide |. She had lipstick and painted her finger nails and toe nails a deep dark red Other Egyptian girls bobbed their hair and had perman- ent waves.
 The cold cream used today was invented by the Roman physician and chemist, Galen, II centuries ago.
 Teeth were pulled out in ancient Assyria to cure rheumatism.
 Teeth were pulled out in ancient Asyria to cure rheumatism.
 The Rome of 1900 years ago had it's traffic problems .. The streets were so congested that the Com missioner of Vehicles had to order all heavy trucks carrying timber. brick, building stone, cement and such, to move only at night.
 The shops at this time carried a modern line Silk dresses. wool lined slippers. raincoats. parasols, leather wallets, hair nets, aprons, rugs, needles, safety pins, and other notions.
 The Roman of this day had steam heat. The steam was routed from & central furnace somewhere in the cellar. ran under the floor of the bedroom, through tiled pipes, and circulated through air-spaces in the walls.
 He had soup and towels, too, tooth powder on his toothbrush, a comb and brush, raZor-de-luxe. and hair lotion He dictated to a stem ographer in any one of the three systems they had at that time.
 The oldest bathub. so old that Helen of Troy may have bathed in 1t. is a photographic reproduction of one of our own.
 The first "modern" swimming pool, apparently for public use, has been found in tlC ruins of the city of Kish in Sumaria. too old to date This pool was equipped with an entirely up-to-date circu- lating system.
 Limestone kitchen sinks have been found in Egypt, 4500 years old They are built into the walls.
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