Marshall County Independent, Volume 5, Number 4, Plymouth, Marshall County, 6 January 1899 — Page 6

CONSTRUCTING THE

An Explanation of How the Wonderful Work Was Accomplished.

The ability disp'ayod !n transporting heavy jy tli ancients , o -cts fron: ! place to iIa.'- and in inising them many feet above the surface of the ground in r lie construction of temples, , palaces ami pyramids, has Ions been a j source of wonder, .--ays J. Elfreeh Watkins i?i Cassifrs Magazine, it may, indeed, be truly said that the engineers of the present era would find it difficult to perform similar feats. cen when aided by the most, improved appliances deviled through tue ingenuity levelopcd in this inventive age. So impressed with, amazement at the achievements of the ancient architects have trained archaeologists become that not infrequently the opinion is expressed that these men. whose work has withstood the ravages of scores of centuries, must have been aide! by well-devised machines, posibly operated by one or more of the generated forces. Notwithstanding these conjectures, in the many careful and thorough explorations made in late years the remains of no hoisting machine have thus far been discovered, nor has there METHOD BY "WHICH THE "Lfen found, either in the Assyro-Raby-louian enniform inscriptions, or in the 'Kgyptlati hieroglyphics, an account or description of the processes employed by the ancients in lifting heavy masses to extraordinary heights. In fact, no fquivalents for the words "derricks," "pulley." "winch," etc.. have yet been identified in these ancient records to encourage the belief iu a seaeulo sapienti. From the earliest times the erection of embankments of earth has been carried on by savage nations and primitive peoples. The earthworks left by the mound builders in America and Europe are conspicuous evidence that the digging and carrying of earth was practiced on a large scale in many localities, lonsc distant from one another, centuries ago. Let lis see how. Ly the- aid of inclined tanes of earth, the hus stones used in the construction of dolmens or crom-let-hs eouhl be put in position by tbe use of primitive appliances! The stone po-ts could be moved to the desired place ami eret ted in a vertical position. Two piles of earth arc dug from the pit in which one of the posts is to stand. The stone slab can he rolled up the inclined plane and tilted into position, and, by the use of levers and pry bars, be made to stand upright, and when the second post was erected by a similar operation, and the space between the posts and around them filled with earth, the top stone or lintel could be placed in position after being elevated to the desired height on another inclined plane, made of earth. These operations being completed, the earth could be returned to the pits from which it was dug. ami the surface o the ground leveled. The construction of the Egyptian pyramids, for centuries a matter of wonder, could have been performed by similar methods. Let us suppose that each of the stone blocks used had a rectangular base, being half as thick as wide, and that they were moved from the quarry 1o the pryamid, being first placid on rollers, and moved into position! O t h e r stone Idoeks could then have Icen transported along the surface of the ground in the same maimer, and so .could the other stones in the tame tier. An embankment at a 0 per cent or a CO per cent grade could Mien have been constituted by carrying earth from pits beyond the continuation of the boundary lines of the base of the pyramid. Over the surface of this plane, extended towards the quarry, the second tier of stones could then have been put in place; a new mbankment could ben have been constructed, and new bkeks and those behind them being put in place; and so on, by the aid of the additions to the mbankments, the remaining stones tould have been put in position., Wken the pMamii was complete, the

earth could have been removed from in front of it. the pits lilled up. restor

ing the original conditions of the surfa e of the ground, leaving no hint to gratify the explorer forty centuries alter the work was done. Let r.s see what labor this method would have involved in the construction uf the pyramid of Gizah, the largest of its kind, which is approximately let) yards high and i"U yards square at the base. As is well known, in buildin?: this pyramid, which is located three miles south of Cairo, two kinds of stone were used, limestone and red granite. The limestone was quarried at Kl Mas.-arah. forty-five or fifty miles j from Clizeh, while the red granite was brought from Assouan, near the first Cataract, over live hundred miles. Both of these quarries were located on the river Nile. Raft? laden with stene blocks could" be brought from the quarries by this means. Fpon the sloping embankment, blocks are being drawn- on sledges, pel haps equipped with rollers, to the highest point to which the structure has been built, the inclined' - r PYRAMIDS MAY HAVE

been m:iLT

plane being gradually made longer and higher with earth brought from the pits on the right and left. The highest embankment necessary 'wTien the workmen reached the top course, assuming that lt 20 per cent grade was adopted, would have been 7."0 yards long, containing about seven and onehalf million cubic yards, if the sides cf the earth embankment would stand at an angle of .10 degrees, which is not at all improbable. Assuming that one laborer could have placed two and one-half yards (about twenty barrow loads) of earth on an average each day on this embankment. I).u00 men could have built it in twelve months of twenty-five working days. It is stated that one hundred thousand men were employed for twenty years in the whole work, so that, according to this calculation, the eoiistruetioii of this embankment would have occupied only a small portion of the total time consumed. The fabo work to support the walls of the interior chambers of the pyramidst could also have been made of earth rather than of timber. It should be remembered that heavy lumber for scaffolding must have been brought over long distances, and that the framing and erection of any structure of sufficient strength to bear heavy weights would have required more skill and knowledge than the building of the pyramid itself by the method abo e described. In the great temple of Itameses II. is milLDLNT, A CROMLECH IN PHI' to be found a colossal statue of that king, which equals in dimensions and exceeds in weight any other Egyptian monolith, being CO feet high and weighing 8S7 tons, r hundredweight. It was made from a single block of red granite brought from the quarries at Assouan, lfi miles diMant, by the river Nile. At lVaalbee. Syria, are to be found the ruins of three temples', oue of J hieb has Leu given the name of

PYRAMIDS

! Trilithou, "Three-stoe-temple," fsom i the extraordinary proportions of tireo of the stone blocks found in it. ech. being over 3 feet in length, 13 fef t in height, ami proportionately thik. These stones now rest In a wall over twenty feet above tiie present surfa.o of the ground. In the solution of tiie problem of putting similar huge blocks iu place at the present day, th? utilization of inclined planes of earth in the manner just described might veil he considered by the modern engineer before, adopting a: more complex" niethod. In fact, sinco the various details of this method of construction ha 7; suggested themselves. tht writer has examined phoiotlfnuli i if I'll Ii n ri A?irtf Cft-k A it. .ua. w.u aju iki.i .vt-i mm uin; iuai iuluu nut, have hten con.straeted to a great ex ,. IV . a. L V " tent aeeoi ju3l scribed. ITntü tne d principles of the - iiersod it was less j true area were una difficult to move ar erect long blocks J of stone by these primitive methods that to place .snrxJler acits over th openings of struct ares designed in accordance with ti? types of ancient architecture, iu which tiie arch, with) a keystone, wjs Txiking. Especially wa, this true in an era when tilw value f time was not considered jnd slaves vrere to be obtained by thou-.-iandä. at small cost, to toil and sweat t gratify thi ambition and per- i petuate- sl? fame oi kings. j Happily for our race and time, the crack of tile Egyptian slave maater's. whip and the weird crie in cadence of the battalions of swarthy laborer, while tugging in tmisou to draws or hoisi. the mouolith, lias given place., to the puffing engine and the rumble of r c v L v i a g wheels; but, mayhap, in the years to come, the engineering m e t h o as in vogue at the end of this eventful century will seem almost as crude to those who will practice in the new fields uf applied science on tiie borders of which we seem to stand as these primitive methods of ihe aucieuts now appear to us. Whether the anticipations for the future shall be realized or not, and proud a. we may be of the advances mile by discovery and invention in our age, we must not forget that the patien perseverance of tie engineers ot autiquity, who. by 'jtawn and muscle, and unaided by mechanism, built wiser than they knew, have been rewardert by the preservation of au indelible record of their Achievements in the material remains of their edifices that have withstood the ravages of centuries, will fate so favor th engineer of the nineteenth Century versed in the laws of modern science, and skilled in the practice of the mechanic arts? I'ame of (ientry County. Gentry county, Missouri, which boasted of Itaving taken more premiums at the World's Fair than any other single county in the United States, is again u suhjVct for congratulations, having cauturc! a large number of the hest pivmiunis at the recent big; stock show at the Omaha Kxpo.sition. It is said by experts of high rank that the Omaha exhibit of fancy stock was larger and better than the memoraV'cy one at Chicago. -Ex. Ancient Venetian Coim. Numismatists in Imgland are much interested in tho recent discovery or ancient Venetian coins in proximity to one of the Mashonaland rivers. Tho coins in question have, in the mean time, been sent down to Natal and iuibmiited to expert scrutiny at Pietermar Ulzburg, with the result that casts of HISTORIC TIMKS. the originals are to be sent on to London. The coins have been declared to be medals struck ut Venice between ir70 and 1 "77 A. i. On one side is a fifcure of St. Mark, with the inscription, "This dukedom be thine, O Christ, and the giver be thine;" while ou the reverse are thive figures, two iu a kneeling position, the other upright, with a habt, on which the inscription is, "The Doge Aloys Mocenigo, flr)t masistrate of Venice."

MAN UN HUlttJEBACIC -

THLRE ALWAYS HAS BECN A CHANCE FOR THE LEADER. ifrr rrenrh TaUiff r.,r orr Am-ti.in WoulU lie Fariiunetl I'm? Man Sfirmi;; rhurnrter umt Vixroii I5raln "3A ' iuv or t;ue. Tli dearth of commanding iiitellct in neiriy every sphere of human activity which" undoubtedly marks the close of our century has Srurgested to some minds the doubt as to whether the :z-2? of great men has rot entirely c passed away, and whether we shall i:ot be eompel led in the futu;-e to trust to the "common sense of most" rather than to the jiuidinir jreniu of indiiTiduals of more than the ordinary the I.onjnentat or moral stature, says the I.on ,jnn i t Jon Spectator. ludeed, a whole phil- - csophy of politics has been founded ,i)n tbe dCK.trine of a kiml ot av.rage :t,unian abiilty as being a:i that is , needed in making all public decisions, ColkctSvism. which propos. to carry xtreine democracy and coramon ownF ership into all the wider avenues of life, mast of necessity bat itself on 9 this notion of the opinion or servic es f one man being as useful and important as those of another. llero"worship. it is said, represents a past order tf society; wc have no use for the grat man now, but in his place Ae I put a number of little men. and we And that the outcome is quite as good. We hold no brief for the gospel ot hero-worshio. which w TindnuhifJiv -worship, which was- undoubtedly j ied by Carlyle to an extreme which j carried cannot be accepted We do not believe that any immeasurable gulf'seporates those whom we call great men from tho.-e who are not, for all share the same nature, and the work of a Old Philippine of Foreiirn

ADOPTING

ness Grows Brisk.

The Jireat work of Americanizing ManiU is going bravely on, writes John T, McCutcheon from Manila. It. is interesting to ee Low the humbk' native is adapting himself to the customs of his conqueior. Already the signs in the streets are beins; painted; iu English, several American papers, are in the enthusiasm of infamy, iitvy third house sells American bee;, aod the Esealta in the busy morninj: hous, when it is booming with tratic. has such an American activity c,tt one. forgets he is so far away from home. The Spanish business houses are printing their adv e r t i s e ments in English, and that sterling A m erica n institution, pie, was a m o n g the first signs that Manila frvas bdng ln-ought under Anglo-HaxtJii influence. In the streets near the barracks of the soldiers the evidences of invasion arc most frequently seen. The Filipinos have been quick to detect the o p p o r Utilities of the occasion, and the n u m b e r of drinking places that have sprung few weeks makes Atomen up in Manila the lojk first each last like year, one a "boom tovVn" in its Dozens of little bars. advertising the presence. of Amer ican bevcia&es, are now m active operation wherever the soldiers rre. The bill-poster, also, is busy, and it will not take many months of American occupation to make the beautiful Lunetta say with biK. noisy signboards, such as Chicago has on the lake shore road north of Lin-o!n Park. Even now every fence has its poster advertising some new American industry cahu-

Shakespeare or a Moliere would have ! is greatest, it is interesting to observe no value whatever did it not appeal to i how strong has been the tendency to all (jf us, thereby revealing tue e.-sen- look for a guiding from the president tial community of ideas between these all through the recent war. And in great men and humbler moi als. Hat j Mexico and the whole of South Amerthere is a medium ground between j h-a we find that, so far as democracy that of exaggerated hcio-worship and j exists, it is all based on the idea (praethat of Hat, unrelieved collectivism, j tically, if not theoretically) that some which places all human services on the j one individual governs the country, insame dead level. j itiates its polity, stimulates it to acNapoleon seems to us to have divin- j lion. In Europe the two great central ed the real nature and tendency of empires are definitely governed by th:

democracy much more c car v than many of the "ideologists" he despised when he said that it meant "la carriere ouverte atix talents." Instead of conceiving the new democratic age heralded by the French revolution as involving anything like a dead level he supposed that it meant rather an Inteuser competition, but a eompHitlon on fairer terms, in which each man would be able to show the stuff he was made of and to prove what he could do. Democracy ran no more dispense with guides, leaders, powerful agents, than any previous order of society; and democracy finds that he must pay for them in some way or other. Moreover. Instead of an' resentmCDt beinjr felt by a more or Ics

i'00"1"0 lr

uuii wjnj i m p rs c-tT ine neaua of the crowd, demon;, ey ;.'-.iaim.s sach a man, eagerly xpr- t.- him, is proiunuj oeje. tfd - ,,f-.s not appear j i? ready to heap honors and reward. ! :ip n him aTul -f,1' r;'ll ws him . v .....t ,w ,t . n. i j.4 . vi-n-.- (.- tiuiik and act to: in on hi n-xn j spnmbility. At rue i,i -.-r - T.if:?rent ; jj. j us )ltllll as can b- that the Fivn.h ior a 1 demoeraey I ,n rb-- lookout ader. a man. Th- nuab!)les ovr-r the hrevfus e; miirhr almost, in the last anr.ly.-is, i solved into theone formula, accept ,v ruillions of i l'reivh people (live . - ;. h :'.der wh ' can think clearly and a-r. v i th deci- j siom" Almost anytliing wo-.thl be par- 1 j dotted in a m-'.n of ror.g character i ami vigorous brain wao could nilot ' ! the French vessel of ,-tate through thestormy seas. A glance of r the world" . dnrin... tM ,Um,...,. .t u - - - ' . ri"H Olli J vincf any careful observer that the talk about the individual ' withering1 is superficial We are cie. eived bv a? ft.w material pheno of .'scientific invent i enomena, the outcome n, Because we are ticketed and conveyed in trains or stearaers, instead of depending on our own energy, as in former days; bcause shoes are turned oiz ly machine by the million and cotton cloth by tiie hundred million yards; because the machine seems to dominate life, we think it is all mere machinery. ITecause we do not live in fortified casties, but in city streets, watched and tended by armies of public serving. we are apt to think of a vague coil1---live authority donunaciiiK all and dij reeted by none. Itut the train is i dm en by skill;! man. ihe vM jf the steamer is held by an expert, I he 'otton is spur: ami woven, the I shoes are made, because a dirwfct:; ! hrain s-tandr. behind. i Even in the gre;i American ilnoe. taey, where the fiesjjotism of the mass

illlC.W

CUSTOMS II tiagnmtayan

City linmlates the Activity Visitors and Its Busi

l.ated to supply '.'wug-ft't want. Sa-ft-i-ich men healing placards, are also sen here now, moving ia loa, solemn, single file through che principal thoroughfares. The mania; fever is capturing all th children iu town. Every night, whil. the big regimental parades ara wheeling and maneuvering C'U the Plaza d3 Hagumbayjp, the bam! playing, horses prancing, and the Lm:etla gay with throngs of carriages, the little side streets, have their evening drills V.

rVPIC'Ai. SCENK IX A STKKKT OF MANILA. DRAWN FilOM LIFE.

miniature. The juvenile Filipinos, aimed with bamboo sticks, and ranging in age from about '! to 14, are marching up and down and right and left with p.s much serious intent as tho ireat battalions on the Plaza. Nearly every boy in town knows the American bugle call:;, and the "retreat" and "tattoo" arc whistled at all hours and places. lkisfeball ,amcs are now a. regular thing. A league has been formed, and on three afternoons of the week, weather permitting, a game is played out on the diamond of the Plaza de ' wins ami intellects ot two men; ana though democracy is restless and di3contented, there is no protest against this system of sufficient strength to secure its overthrow. Jn short, look where we will among the democratic or quasi-demceratic nations of the world, we see no sign whatever of the lessening value of the individual. On the contrary, the need of individualinitiative and guidance is everywhere recognized and the services of the individual are in one way or another rewarded. The tendency will continue because it is in accordance with the constitution of human nature. The masses are quit capable ot appreciating the accomplished fact, but some one per-

sovt must h v? conceived and affiVco plisäed lt. They are quite capable of co-operating with the work of scm leader of nifn. whether political, reli-

! gious or in a.iv othrr Untier nf !ff in aar j but the Washington, the Luther, rcnst j there to sSow the way. No doubt ; uriiiuuiii'j is a- certain a iact irr a Ion- epoch to .time as any of its warmest devotees L:rve believed, but it wiit be democracy tempered by the need of the individual who can do the on thing that no einer individual can dor ;V?1M '.! rli?'tt- rr r. . . . f V - : 1 . i itiu ..maws. aiu iicismtffe vast human aggregates to carry thfra into execution. The man who Mn navigate ia invaluable, even irt a. Fi:ate ship. MARRIAGES OF TO-DAY. a here are fewer marriage in propcrpoputaiue man iormeny, ara- . : ... i i - .1 i . . i r iüeö are smaller; thev are less coher ent; they are less la-ting. In England the marriage rate fell from 17.per cent in lt to 1".2 per cent in 23S1. and from IS73 to 1SS8 the ase of men an:! women who married rot respectively fro-m 25.6 and 24.- to and: 21.7. lh rise in the numbar or divorces, 1SH0-1SS5, was universal. In 1871 England and Wales-shrw 1 j divorce to 190.4 marriages; in 1S7. 1 in 4$..$:. Prom 1S67 to 1 d:- ! Torces in the I'nited States increase'! t l-r7 per epnt. while the population iccr?aed t)0 rr wnt. One of tho cansI of change i the whole modem movement of liberation of subject from so vercign.. slaves from masters. xi ; from h.iinds and children irora par- ! eats. A mor special cause has been ! the growth of targe cities, hich com - I pletely Jiki ho enviroaaint of th j organt vta. i Men ne less dependfmt on wornMANILA. livery thin showy haptens on that pSaza, the sea front of which is called- the Lanetta. Great crowds always gather tv. watch the contcjts.and the harricane-of cheers which greets a thre-bagger ut a critical point is greater fir than those cheers that greeted the- planting of the American flag in Manila. For a momeiu the blue-shirt-d man at the bat is a greater hero th:iA Admiral Dewey, aitl then have be.. o:t or two games flayed as the termination of which the star players were carried off in triumph on tU Shoulders of their admirers. The Filipinos ather around the fringe of people xt the e-.tges of the diamond an-i wonder that's happening. If tho tima ev?r comes when the Filipinos, appreciate and cheer the game America can claim ttte-ia as faithful allies aaJ pat!Otic ettizens. A dct.ich:r.eut of tae Salvation arrujl has arrived and is occupying a tent near the Puerto de Espana. A goo 1 many Americans arc- here watching chances for investment. One firm haa bought up ail the prominent saloons in town and is simply coining money. There is a great deal of drunkenness, and the men in this condition are so demonstrative that the Spanish lad its dread living on t lie Ksvalta. All business houses are booming and prices have gone up. o far as trade is concerned a wave of prosperity is making its headquarters in Manila just at present. WNN en for their home needs, and women have resources and interests which th simple life of the country denies them. Then, too, attachments formed on slight acquaintances of underlying traits of character arc less likely to prove lasting. The number of marriages among women of higher education is less than among the uneducated. Of 1.4Sf ex-students of the chief women's colleges of England only 20$ married. Flying Mrhlue4 for XVar. The Ordnance and Fortification Hoard at Washington has appropriated $25,000 to be expended In experiments on the use of air-ships in war, both for purposes of reconnolssance and for dealing blows at the enemy. Professor Langlej', whose recent experiments with flying-machines have commanded the Interest of the scientific world, advised the board to undertake the werk, and he will assist General (Jreely in conducting it. When a man's neighbors begin ia call him "Honest" John Smith. th public naturally becomes a trifle eus-piclous.