Democratic Sentinel, Volume 4, Number 37, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 22 October 1880 — Great Works In Olden Times. [ARTICLE]

Great Works In Olden Times.

Wendell Phillips thinks the ancients attained perfection in some arts, the knowledge of which has been lost in our time. It is certain that those most familiar with steam-power and modern machinery are puzzled to explain how the grand structures of the ancient world were erected. Builders say that no modern contractor could erect the great pyramid in Egypt, and lift the gigantic stones at the summit to the height of four hundred and fifty feet. A recent visitor to Baalbec, and the ruins of the great temple of Baal, doubts if any modern architect cauld rebuild the temple in its ancient grandeur. Three huge stones, sixty-four feet long, thirteen high, and thirteen wide, stand in a wall at the height of twenty feet. Nine other stones, thirty feet long, ten high, and ten wide, are joined together with such nicety that a trained eye cannot discover the line of juncture. A column still stands in the quarry, a mile distant, which is completed, with the exception that it is not detached at the bottom. It is sixty-nine feet long, seventeen high, and fourteen broad, and one cannot understand how it can be separated at the bottom from the quarry without breaking. The ruins of this vast temple inspire respect for the genius of former ages. [From the Allentown Democrat.] Laubach, the Hamilton street druggist, last week sold at retail two hundred and thirteen bottles of the celebrated St. Jacobs Oil, whose curative powers over Rheumatism the papers say so much of nowadays.