The Mining of Herculaneum Splendid Opportunity for the Archeologist a by Professor Alfred Emerson, Art Institute of Chicago

SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN November 420 16, ]912

The Mining of Herculaneum Splendid Opportunity for the Archeologist A By Professor Alfred Emerson, Art Institute of Chicago

American explorer of large experience and fine ski has christened the virgin soil of art history-to A long and singular oblivion overtook Herculaneum Nspirit, Dr. Charles Waldstein, has advocated a com Asia Minor. Herculaneum will please stay dead ! and Pompeii after their volcanic burial in the reign of plete,A final disinterment of Herculaneum, the buri�d The mysterious underground city somehow refuses Titus, A.D. 79. The refugees from the nearer suburb Roman city at the foot of Mount Vesuvius, by inter to do this. Its strange rediscovery is too closely inter obtained the freedom of Neapolis. the Grreco-Roman national subscription. The Italian government has lent woven with the rebirth of intelligence, and of modern Naples. Posterity forgot the buried towns, although a favorable ear to part of the Cambridge professor's history itself. Let us see if this is not so. the Greek and Latin writers who relate their history proposal. It has decided to employ capable mining The resurrection of Herculaneum and Pompeii in the were easy of access and both places lay close to a busy engineers on that enterprise, who will conduct it with eighteenth century took the imagination of all Europe highway. One stroke of the pick was enough to be pneumatic rock-cutters by electric light, instead of captive. The dead occupants of the two Vesuvian ports tray the secret of Pompeii's underground survival. Its elbow-grease and torchlight. But it has rejected the conquered the modern heart. To be exact, all the new old hilltop temple of Hercules and Its tall amphitheater co-operative feature. Short of cataclysms like the and near glimpses of classical antiquity that were were, in fact, never buried at all by the cloud of light

Ruggiero's plan of Herculaneum theater.

Note scene and proscenium walls. and Prince d'Elbeuf's open well mouth.

llSlOO. Scaleof Palm8

From \Valdstien-Shoobrid&e. Beloch's plan. Reduction 0.28. Note obliteration of antique shoreline by modern lava flow, the royal palace and park. the underground Bites. baths casaand thedei papiri,recent theatrum,excavations templum, basilica, (thermre) (scaDi nuoDi)

Photo. Giorgio Sommer.

Model of Herculaneum theater on view at Resina. Reassembled bronze horse from peak of theater.

THE MINING OF HERCULANEUM

Messina earthquake, Italy prefers not to pass the hat. thrown open toward 1750 and after worked together. pumice stone which fell on that section of the shore. A'nd Italy holds all the dice in the proposed arche Stuart surveyed the antiquities of Athens. Rome gave Farther west, a deluge of volcanic mud filled every ological game. So far so good. Unfortunately, the up oR harvest of statues. A great Italian engraver cranny.. of the sister city. This blanket of wet volcanic problem has only been navigated back to the starting portrayed the majestic ruins of the imperial city in a cinders hardened to a stratum of solid rock, and is point. No sooner had the national government given thousand noble etchings. "The glory that was Greece crossed only on top by lava streams of much later a new twist to the comatose underground exploration and the splendor that was Rome" penetrated philoso ongm. The resultant condition is a sixty-five-foot 1908 1909, in and than litigation arose over the com phy, letters, the arts of design and even costume. stratum of very hard natural concrete and lava between pensation of real estate holders in the modern cities Watteau's courtly gallants and powdered belles ceased the antique and the modern street levels, as against of Portici and Resina, which crown the lava beds above to please. This convulsion of Europe's taste fore eighteen feet of loose, light gravel at Pompeii, with ancient Herculaneum. Courts are slow and timid. shadowed the later social and political revolution. upper stories of submerged constructions outcropping. Resina will . not relent. First Alfieri's "Brutus" and Chenier's "Messenian In spite of all this, Herculaneum was tapped first. Prince d'Elbeuf discovered the remains of the buried Odes"; then Goddess Reason, the Consulate and the princely foreign resident of Portici sank a well on his A Campanian town by accident in 1719, under his coun Corsican Cresar. grounds, as we have seen. As luck would have it, try seat at Portici. The impending bicentenary of that A clever Frenchman has described the beginnings of ·his men penetrated through recent lavas to the heart event promises to be a sorry celebration, with nothing modern neo-Greek and neo-Roman art under the cap of a lofty antique structure which was embellished done to revive the torpid enterprise. Archeology will tion "Empire Art Under Louis XV." He proclaims with many statues of white marble. Prince d'Elbeuf not languish on account of Mr. Waldstein's disappoint Piranesi its founder. Other big stars in the new art extracted twenty columns of coloreo stone and ten or a ment. But Italy might cease to be its chief nursery firmament bear familiar names : Wedgwood and Flax dozen gracefully , draped female figures from the thea hereafter. The world will give its better attention, as man, David and Percier, Canova and Thorvaldsen. ter and contiguous ruins. Some o� these were after scholars are already doing, to French Africa and The classical wave reached America. From Maine to ward identified as the daughters of Nonius Balbus, the Egypt, to the isles of Greece, and above all to that Missouri, Grecian porticos still add dignity the builder of the municipal court-house. Elbeuf astutely to eastern half of the vast Roman empire which Strzygow- manse and majesty to the county magnate's mansion, presented three of his statues to Austria's popular mili-

tary hero, Prince Eugene. Austria ruled Naples at this horses they found in position on that architectural the new shafts. Unpropped rock ceilings and walls fell period. Its local authorities, however, confiscated the eminence. Their royal master proved equally brilliant. in and endangered the modern town overhead. Alcu ' remainder of Elbeuf's marble harvest, and stopped his Part of the crumpled bronze quadriga was idiotically bier's activity and petty jealousy were a burden to burrowing, without pursuing the work on government converted into bas relief portraits of the king and his abler Swiss and Italian subordinates until his account. The Elector of Saxony bought the Vienna queen, and church furniture, although the heads of death in 1780. But no trained expert was ever more figures of Eugene's estate, and they are at Dresden yet. these brazen steeds surpassed those of San Marco at fortunate in his digging, and the king stood by him Twenty years later, Naples is a Spanish secundo Venice ! The bronze fragments were allowed to lie in while the crusty old captain filled his palace with the geniture, and King Charles, who afterward became a corner of the palace yard, a prey to passers-by, for spoils of Herculaneum. A Roman basilica or court Charles of Spain, is laying out a summer palace many years, even after an able artist, who was sum house 250 feet long, close to the theater, yielded some III. on the site of Prince d'Elbeuf's old chateau. His archi moned from Rome, had managed to rebuild one com fine imperial portraits of the Augustan era, and two tect opened another well, or shaft, hoping to quarry posite animal with the remains of all. All Naples marble equestrian portraits of Herculanean noblemen.

Photo. Sommer. From Waldsttin. Photo. Sommer.

Metrodorus on the senses and Philode Marble Pallas Athena found in tablinum Wrestler or disk-thrower. One mus on signs, found in the villa of of villa, near 46 on plan. Greek style of a pair found at and 74 A the Papyrus Rolls. of about 490 B. C. on plan.

�

... . ' 1- .

From W&ldstein. Outer peristyle or garden of the villa of the Papyrus Rolls. Capt. Alcubier's plan of his tunnels.

Note passage to Inner peristyle at 46, Alcubier's main shaft at 2, 3, 4, 11, his refilled scoops at 48 to 70. Also, bronze statues In sites at A. B, C., etc., and the 220-foot fishpond. Nearly all the statuary of the was recovered this garden. vllla In

THE MINING OF HERCULANEUM

broken antique marble from it for the royal limekiln. laughed at the curious medical attentions this brazen A rectangular temple yielded several Greek mono Alcubier, the king's master of the works, was more of horse required. After every hard shower, the castle chromes on marble and four big mythologies in fresco. a soldier than a scrivener. His Spanish diary of the gates were closed for the king's steward to empty its In the fifties Alcubier Worm-holed a vast private dig is quaint reading. Naples, as Shakespeare would belly with a pump. mansion, a regular Roman palazzo, with horizontal have called Charles, was very lucky. The diggers hap The same incompetence governed the tunneling ope shafts. Comparetti and De Petra have almost proved, pened this time on the topmost pinnacle of the old rations. The royal excavator bored only for artistic in a recent monograph on this building and its contents, . theater, with a big Latin inscription on it that identi treasures of a portable nature, like statuary and fresco that its first owner was one of the illustrious Pisones, fied the building as a public monument of the long-lost paintings or mosaics. Little attention was given to the and once the Roman governor of Thrace. Horace dedi Roman town. But the king's incapable servants never architectural relics or to the planning of buildings. cated his "Art of Poetry" to this man's descendants,

quite made out whether it was four or six gilt bronze Old shafts were choked again with the rubbish of PllQe up (Continued on 4!8.)

The Mining of Herculaneum PATENT ATTORNEYS

( Concluded /" 011> page "�1 . ) who continued, no doubt, t o make the villa at Herculaneum their summer h( me. They nursed literary ambitions. Their ancestor, Lucius Calpurnius Piso ClBson inus, seems to have been no better or worse than the average grafting Roman governor in partib1ls. One conceives him as a mild rival of the notorious Verres, who left no marvel of art in all Sicily INVENTORS are invited to communicate with unlooted while governor of that island, Munn & Co., 361 Broadway, New York, or F Street, Wuhington, D. C., according to Cicero's account of him. It 625 in renrd to securing valid patent protection for their Inventiona, is charitable to suppose that Piso was Trade-Marks and Copyrights registered. Design satisfied to purchase the art treasures and Patent. and Foreign Patents secured. A Free Opinion as to the probable patentability the collection of manuscripts which he of an invention will be readily given to any inventor conveyed to his H e r c u l a n e a n villa, on the furnishioe us with a model or sketch and a brief de scription of the device in question. All communications way home from his foreign service, prob are strictly confidential. Our .. Bookon Patents will be sent free on request. Hand ably at Athens. Several of his bronzes Ours is the Oldest agency f�r securin2' patents ; it have Greek inscriptions on them, and one was established over sixty-five years ago. of them, which is a copy of the famous AU patents secured throufh us are described without cost to patentee in the Scientific American. Spearman of Polykleitos by a late Athenian statuary, bears the latter's Greek signa MUNN & CO., 361 Broadway, New York St., W D. ture, A pollonios, the son of Archias. Only Branch Office, 625 F uhington, C. A Proverb of Bell Service two per cent of the 800 manuscripts dis Once upon a time there dwelt For one man to bring seven oovered in the Villa of the Pisones are on the banks of the holy river million persons together so that he Latin, all the others are Greek. It is

Ganges a great sage, by name could talk with whom he chose from these that the antique mansion takes ClassifiedAdvertising In this Advertisements column Is 75 cents a line. No than four nor more than12 its best name, The Villa of the Papyrus 1_ lines accepted. Count Vishnu-sarman. would be almost as difficult as to seven words to the line. All orders must be accom Rolls. panied by a remittance. carpet the whole earth with leather. When King Sudarsana ap The Pisones, if indeed they owned this AGENTS WANTED He would be hampered by the pealed to the wise men to instruct private gallery of sculpture, and library, AGENTS-Ask us about our snappy household multitude. There would not be possessed many fine portraits of Greek specialty line that wlll clear ou 550 to 580 week his wayward sons, Vishnu-sarman an Aluminum lJ0 . , Division 1 029, elbow room for anybody. literary and other heroes, both in marble femo:t�fli�� undertook the task, teaching the and bronze. There is a marble one of FREE SAMPLE goes with the first letter. Some thing new. Every IIrm wants it. Orders from $ 1.00 princes by means of fables and the tragic poet Euripides. The Pisones to $100.00. Nice p l e as a n t business. Big demand For one man to visit and talk everywhere. Write for froo sample. Metallic Mfg. proverbs. were playwrights themselves. Alexander Co 43S N. Clark. Chicago. with a comparatively small number .• the Great on horseback, and again, p e r h a p s , BUSINESS CHANCES Among his philosophica:i sayings distant persons would be a on f o o t , is the subject of two e x q u i s i t e KENTON, OHIO. COMMERCIAL CLUB Is of seeking industries. Will co-operate in the or- was this : tedious, discouraging and almost bronze portrait statuettes. The Pi s o s had a o Ck of new companies, :.�:��P:�gd��ai-�. impossible task. two bronze busts of Demosthenes. The L " To one whose joot is covered inscribed one has served to identify al l BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES with a shoe, a a all the extant portraits of that e l o q u e n t WISH TO MEET MANUFACTURER to manu the earth pp rs facture my patented combination furniture speci e But with the Bell System pro patriot, from the famous Vatican s t a t u e alty. two articles in one; will join partnership with new or established manufacturing concern, or will carpeted with leather. " viding Universal Service the old down. It adorned the library of the H er t ��e��', 5 � �t�� 11�� , This parable of sixteen hundred proverb may be changed to read : c u l a n e a n house, together with several other rJ��:�:�� f f.n�J'J! 1 ;'':f'il':: inscdbed bustlets of the leading Epicurean HELP WANTED years ago, which applied to walk WANTED : Experienced Mechanical Construct philosophers. Another portrait, of great ing Engineer, graduate of some good technical ing, applies today to talking. It To one who a Telephone institute, with at least ten years' practical ex has Bell energy, was named Piso by Comparetti. perience, to take charge of power plant, large explains the necessity of one tele h lips, the whole nation is manufacturing institution and branch factory at is Others called it Seneca. It is the head, equipment. Thorough knowled e boilers, engines phone system. within speaking distance. most likely, of some late Greek poet. Still and electric e uipment essentia f. Give r e f e r e n c e s a xperience. Me- another bronze, which was formerly called n � e� ��'!;lp��v �::� [��l ��: :,\ . Plato, is evidently a bearded Bacchus. INSTRUCTION A M E R I C A N TE L E P H O N E A N D TE L E G RA PH C O M PA N Y The decipherment of the charred papy LEARN JEWELERS' ENGRAVING. Taught n A N D ASSOC IAT E D COM PA N IES rus rolls themselves has revealed the pre �t�r:i �� dilection of their first purchaser for the tlceship.�.,<'�o�'tJ Catalog froo.s� :::��\��:.u�T� Engraving School.a i:� Depart%,£ ment 89, Page Bldg., Chicago. Every Bell Telephone i. the Center of the S;y.tem. doctrines and writings of one philosophical COURSES BY MAIL : Civil service, normal, academic, business, law. real estate and engineer- sect, the Epicurean. To tell the plain ti i truth, Piso's library is a horrible disap l � a ieF l g ��o ��iS�� ;�\; 3 �::g 8� i��':"�� p o i n t m e n t . Instead of l ining his pigeon PATENTS FOR SALE holes with great literature, on the pattern PATENT RIGHTS of a Double Header Lock Nut for sale, warranted to remain tight under all of President Eliot's five-foot shelf, this circumstances, easily made and excellent sale pos r'etired s tatesman read contemporary sibilities. Address 1. C. Hawes, New Milford. Conn. philosophy. His favorite authors might WANTED have been half a hundred lost Greek WANTED : One assistant master stoolmaker at Trade Marks i i at poets. They prove to have been the sort ��· I t �� o"o � � cemberg! J' 5,'i!" 1 9 1 2 , for:V/ the purposefJ' ; of:f ling,:, * the!y' abover;�� of people we used to call divines ! The position. or further mformation \i! address Com mandant, NavyF Yard. Brooklyn, N. resurrection of Lord Byron's theological Y. cun WANTED : One laboratorian at 54.00 per diem. Trade N es bookshelf in the year 2500 would scarcely A examination will he held at the Nav Brookl n, N. Y., November 25 , 1 9 1 2 , Do YOIl uSe a Trade Mark ? provoke many shouts of joy. Witness the I. l t e a onK Do YOIl own the Trade MarksYOIl use ? lines he wrote himself : Yard.��\ �Brooklyn, ��g�� {N. Y.��t.�� : �.,<'��N�� "Much English I cannot pretend to speak, MISCEllANEOUS Learning that language chietly from its MODEL AND FINE CLOCK TRAIN WORK. preachers. Estimates given. Work done bY' the hour or by You should read this booklet to obtain a definite Barrow, South, Tillotson, whom every week contract. Waltham Clock Company. Wa.Itham. I study, also Blair, the highest reachers Massachusetts. UNITARIAN LITERATURE SENT FREE and clear conce!Jtion or Trade Mark rights Of eloquence in poetry or prose. r u l I hate your poets, so read none of those." :r.!'n'1c�� ; M�� l ll. � �� g ":�at �� 1 Road, Providence.U: 1i R. I. :! 'i. : 'k .3 a most valuable busi Still , there are fragments of a speech TRADE MARK IS by Hypereides, the man who procured the ness asset. It will pay you to know how such beautiful Phryne's acquittal by unveiling marks are made valuable, and why and how her charms to an Athenian tury, and an . essay by Epicurus, and a readable treatise they are protected. The registration of trade on music by a certain P h i l o d e m o s . IRON. BRASS AND ALUMINUM Castings The labor and the risk of opening t h e s e Wood and Metal Patterns-Special or marks is explained in this booklet, which gives a b e o t f r a gi l e rolls is incredible. I saw a trained s, i e comprehensive idea of the for ��mates:l:�� furnished.:': � P.: �� Broomell. § :�� Manufacturer. tho�oug�ly reader undo one under glass at Naples. York, Pennsylvania.A. regIstration. The elements · of a trade mark Two silk ribbons held a film of collodion are discussed, and many tests to determine the in process of formation. Sections of the fully charred writing were persuaded to adhere requisites of a desirable trade mark are given. to this light foundation, as a clockwork Maxim's slowly, slowly unwound the moistened The booklet is printed in two colors volume. The reader must copy the sur Book-Free and is illustrated fifty engravings viving syllables as best he can, from his by black on black model. The decipherment and the publication Send twenty.five cents today for copy of the Herculanean texts, of the Volumina a Herculanensia, which were issued under on my book. Write Me Todayto Send You a Free Copy the imprint of the Herculanean Academy You will enjoy every word and your eyes will be Solicitors of 'Patents opened to the value of the Maxim Silencer in pre by Neapolitan scholars of the eighteenth venting report noise and reducing recoil. M U N N & C O M PA N Y, Hiram Percy Maxim. President BranchOffice, W Cl3hington. D. C. 36 1 BROADWAY, NEW YORK and early nineteenth centuries, engaged MAXIM SILENT FIREARMS 13 Colt·s Annory. Hartford, Conn. CO. Byron's "Don Juan," canto II. 1 © 1912 SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN, INC November 1 6 , 1 9 1 2 SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN 429

more attention than the exploration of the ruins did, especially atter King Charles Cleveland exchanged the crown of Naples for that of Spain in 17 59--the rock was so hard and slow to cut. Moreover, Pompeii was YouGrindstones can sharpen it-any thing-on a Cleve.. Herculaneum's triumph a n t competitor i land-the genu ne Huron and Berea quarried from 1748 on, when it also was discovered n o stC?ne - unequaIled i r , . hard ess. for u f m and identified. The Bonaparte kings of gnt a:nd Stones cut to s e to SUit� any from any iz . need, Naples, Joseph and Joachim, did much a es the l g t manufacturing for Pompeii. Not so the Bourbon rulers, the man who sharpens his to own who at one time employed only "fifteen tools. Your can tell the genuine by the trade mark asses and fifteen children" on the ruins, every stone. We when they had no royal visitor to impress. onillustrate one of our Herculaneum relapsed into a second semi power stones which is ye t liebt ronnine enooeh to be oblivion, from which it was dubiously Run Your HOD1.e on an operated by treadle. Note the strong, rieid con· rescued by Victor Emmanuel the Second's stroction. Very reasonably assignment of two thousand dollars a year Efficiency Basis priced, like all Cleve lands. If you don't know a Cleve to the new scavi d' Ercolano from his privy land dealer, write us. , purse. In C a m p a n i a , three thousand dol with the Westinghouse Motor The Cleveland Stone Co. lars clears about one buried dwelling house 642B1ckol[ BuDding AWAY with expen You may buy a Westing Cleveland. O. a year. But none of the lately explored sive human labor in the house Motor and a t t a c h buildings has rivaled the basilica of the o Balbi and the great theater, or even the home.D Much ot"- the house ments to clean silver ' and from less gasoline is the typical report Jacobson GasoUne ,Engineon V il la of the Pisones. They have not work be done with the aid grind knives, to run the ice Simpre design, few parts, light run can ning, no breakage-the favorite located even the principal street of the wherever known. o P t h eW e s t in g h o u s e Electric cream freezer, to blow the old city. It is only fair to add that the moto r--better and quicker. furnace or to ventilate. In Go od lor � mode of clearage and conservation which The most expert washer getting the W e s t i n g h o u s e more power Fiorelli, the great reformer of the Pom tban we peian enterprise in the seventies, intro woman cannot excel the work Motor to do this work you rate lt. duced at Herculaneum also, is infinitely o f t h e electrically d r i v e n are assured of a machine that Ask lor superior to the wild rummaging of the washing machine. The ma will do that is required prool. d'Elbeufs and Alcubier!!. The "new ruins" al l magneto. chine does three wa s h e s with no attel1tion upon your out of alignment are partly exposed and partly tunneled Constructed to while she does one. An un part beyond occasional lubri We have an at- shafts. tractive proposition and abroad. trained servant can run it. cation. Write for catalogue and special dealers' prices. Some day, perhaps, when curiosity ceases to lash modern explorers to dig more than The e l e c t r i c v a c u u m Let us introduce you to UCOBSON MACHINE IIFG. CO Y W ar reD. P.. •• • they can properly digest and preserve, cleaner saves servant hire. the g o o d dealer i n y o u r there wil l be a second resurrection and an hour a week will vicinity who furnish you transfiguration of underground Hercula, Half can thoroughly clean the largest the Westinghouse Motor and I, what .ome call the new Acheson Lubricant neum and of its hyperthral sister town. thatLIQUID adds to the efficiencyOILDAG" G�APHITEof any �s enJ6ne unit by increasill l' room in the house. A woman full information as to the ad Of one amphitheater and three theaters compression· reducing tbe oil consumption. pIuE'. and spark vantages of "electrical labor." carbon and valve troubles. It is sold in concentrated form f or already recovered, one s t r u c t u r e , surely, may do undignified work mixing with your oil. Ideal for Automobiles, could be put in condition for entertaining with dignity and without ef We will send his name for Motor Boats. Motorcycles, etc. Write for Booklet L·4S8. pageants. The house of the Roman con fort with the vacuum cleaner. a post card inquiry. sul could be presentably renovated with International Acheson Gra phite Co. Niagara FaIIs,N. y, Sabatino de Angelis's excellent fac-similes General .d.gentlJ Oildag,made AcA.eerm Oildag1M Company bv of its own bronze s tat ue s and graceful Westinghouse Electric & Mfg. Company J, East Pittsburgh, Penna. candelabra, plus duplicates of its trans Dept. M ported fresco paintings and mosaic floors. The decorative significance and the ar tistic charm of these things was certainly How it is constructed. how much it cOlt, it prac .. is far greater in situ than it is in the Naples tical from an architectural _And enuineeDnaw il l IlandpoinO Museum. And the tourist who cheerfully These and other important questiollO relatina 10 the otruc ture are discussed in a good, thorough, illustrated pays his half dollar at the gate turnstiles, article published inScientilic merican Supplement is nodeemable irre barbarian if he craves A 1685. Price cen by mail. from your newodeal or 10 ll Order .. from more Cicero and less Dante than: he gets MUNN & CO. , Inc., now, at the end of his melancholy pilgrim Publishers,3 61 Broadway. N. Y. age to the Gulf cities. Pompeii, in its weatherbeaten bareness, Water Supply A resembles nothing so much as the path R I FE fl;O}VPS farm troubles. Have e of an unrecent conflagration. To "isit RAM t ��p'!,.i. �f Herculaneum is to visit a mine. A blotch an ant omatlc Rife Raises water 30 ft. for eacb fo"t 0 f lall of bright sunlight still flecks the serried SpedalNotice: no trouble or pumping expense. Satisfaction IZWlranteed. Book seats of its Greek theater through Prince l t estima e. e . plans, t Free. d'Elbeuf's historic hole. The bronze horses Rif.Eqia.Co., 2533Trinib' JIq N.Y. •• were found on that piece of masonry, These sixteen descending and concave benches were part of the cavea, for which the flower On and ' after of the local population held ivory tickets on show days. Still farther down, you 1911 VacuumElectric Stationary and Portable,Cleaners Country cross five concentric ledges of more ac Homes special for use with Gasoline Engine centuated concavity. Upon these the magistrates and the p riestly colleges, the � VICTOR CLEANER COMPANY. ManaEacl1Iren. YOU. PA. bullet-headed ' duumviri and portly de curiones, the sleek augustales and purse- will proud knights, Roman knights, jostled their cushioned chairs, if the play chanced a Visible Writers il\, or to a Greek tragedy. For in that case be otherwise be L.C.SMITHS, UNDERWOODS,MFRS. PRJ OU� tc. the chorus sang and performed its evolu Anywhere for �F to �r tions in the orchestra. When the play Sht�ped s new fodllu.trntedF�:r�l'!:��i�,�;� Catalog 10. nJ��:i'linall�:ntte�� Your opportunity. .lV:r� an4exactly was a comedy or a masque or a burlesque, ce $15.00 p (Est. 1892), PnTYPKWIUTKItl U KIIIPOIUUJI 84080 If... r ka SI.(CIIIU.lIIO there were orchestra chairs. But the shape . highbrows of the period rarely got their rilht favorite Ibsens. The play was more often ANYlHINfi �m' a medley of music and morals, of de All lovers , Cllnto. pas _lVBRICAllSS:::1t8.1ll4 NoriJa at. deux and mass alignments interspersed f .. ':If.�ft.USA CJt. BlS LV8 CO with sentimental dialogue, such as we too acquired fOod MataziDe EDWARDS have a faculty of enduring. "The GARAGES Pleasures of the Enchanted Island." What �}�itROOFFor Automobilea IIIld.. . Motorcyd think you of that? Tres Louis Quatorze, literature take $30 to $200 is it not ? Often, too, the people demanded Easy to' put up. Portable. an inexpensive but ridiculous farce of All sizes. P o s t a l brinll"s notice and i!Gv lates t l\1ustrated catalOg". Harlequin and Pantaloon, learned doc 242-292 •.• ••• tor and greedy Brighella ; for this is the em IDWlRDS IIFG.CO J4jleslonA, Ciaci Ii,o. •• Oscan country where thatorm f of farce ern th selVes We W il l Make Your METAL had its birth and is popular still. What · PARTS, NOVELTIES, STAMP. flea bites have we not weathered to learn it, from Naples to Calabria ! accordingly INGSWe have large and factorySmall IJpace Articles and ernequipment!or of allgen kinds This supposed platform, which looks like -eral manufacturing purposes. Ourmod men and machInes are busy all the time and the reduced enablesus a series of noles in a tUMel floor, was the toquote attractive fil!{1;l!eson work. of "tell us of your propoSItion and we quote you prICestodJ!.y, stage. so the guide says, and we marvel you an estimate on the cost of thewIll want done.or gIve work: you faithfully when he shows us how wide A1AXIIARDWAU IFG. �, 1190 IlUTAiY IlOAI I, BUfFALO, II.Y. it © 1912 SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN, INC November. 430 SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN 16, 19H1

was by going to the other end of it with a his shrinking torchflame. It is one third Why Not Try wider across than Scala's stage at La Milan is, and was backed with a niched TheComptOIneter trial costs you nothinl!'. ? Try it on your book work-on extension of bills and in· and statued ' wall representing a conven vc:ntories- on subtraction percenta2'cs, payrolls, whole tional palace front, as the surveys of numbers. fractions anything in figures. - La It saves lots of --time and hard work. prevents errOTS. cn· Vega and the plastic model in the Resina abIes you to keep YOUf work ri"bt up to the minute witbout strain or worry. Museum show. For little is visible of all You can have a Comptometer on trial in your office for this. The back wall was often, also, hung the aakin£' - the only obliption you assume is to 2'ivc: it a tborouEh workout on all your DfUrinf. with painted drop scenes, and was flanked Here's a chance fOf you to apply the real test-the test with painted side scenery mounted on of service. Ask for particulars about this offer; also for descriptive triangular prisms that' were easy to switch FELT T AR RANT MFG. CO. booklet "Rapid Mechanical Calcu literature includinf our for changes. And over the open top of &: St.. lation." 170S N. Paulina Chicaco the house, sailors doubtless stretched great embroidered awnings to shade the specta "Sure, I Use SbnondsFil_ Wan tors, as we know they did at Rome and I t the Best I Can Get" A mecbanlc likes �ood toolabecauoe be knoWi HOW HOME STUDY WILL RAISE YOUR PAY Pompeii. how e-omuch od euier and er bett be caDwork. That'. whJ' Higher pay waits for you right ahead in present position if Two ivory play tickets have been found TOU inerease ;your value by borne study. IS room at the top &okkeeping In every calhng for the trained. and efficient. viz. the master. Commercial LaUl in the buried playhouses. One of them (Pro_o ed 81 ...... ' Full particulars in our free Complete Catalogue. Write. State SIMONDS FILES are oiledIn tbe best .bop..... hue the beat and what studies you are interested. In. specifies seat or tier 12 in the .tEschylus Stenography Banking hardest of cuttinl' teeth. areTbey eeolutely uniform. in P. III. section. Campania evidently followed the temper, most carefully hardened and accurately cut. Chicago College of Correspondence, O. Box 26P, Chicago, Tbey are made of tbe bell cutin�·tool Iteel tbat example of Athens, where statues of the science hat yet devised. . Our lYatem tborourh i napec:tion enables warrant fileof ehipped. classic dramatists adorned the scene of U8 to eye..,. I f you c:aDJlot easily �el from yourdcalcr the Sima"'" their triumphs, and gave names to sections t001l yo want. write u. direct.; Send foru " Carpenter'. Guide Boot." of the theater. One likes to think that THE NEW YORK. Roman theaters encouraged many minor SJI��. .. . Y"" _�· �"'::"�"'" Moo",",II.Y. Lottpon, social pleasures besides gratifying literary taste. doubt not that many a Hercu I lanean lover tested the precepts of Ovid's frivobus "Art of Love" on the stone benches we are n9w treading. You must

1879 contrive to meet your sweetheart. at the ESTABLISHED IN PUBLISHED EVERY WEDNESDAY SUBSCRIPTION $4.00 A YEAR circus, says the good poet. None comes The leadinf and oldest Thntrical and Motion Picture we kly paper in America. Profusely illustrated; and brifbt news and fossip; honest critici�m and reviews(" . SEND FOR FREE SAMPLE COPY. between you there. Does her cloak slip Used In every civilized clean country If you bave not been a ,ub:Jcriber try a SPECIAL THREE MONTHS' OFFER - SOc FOR 13 ISSUES. to the floor? You must dive for it. Does ear h. Best Canada 7k-Europe ON SALE AT ALL NEWSSTANDS. and cheapeston for ( 9Oc). the dust settle on her dress? You hasten homes, stores, public THE DRAMATIC MIRROR CO. t S tre et. York City and buildings. 145 W.... 45th New to dust it off. If none settles, you dust �ake. you jodepeodent of com panICS. r that. Presently she will allow you to fan Ove styles. Every lamp war. her, and to dilate on the events in pro ranted. �akes and burns its own gas. 100to 2,00 0 candle. gress. power. Agents wanted. Write to-day for cat.uogue and prices. Men Who Know It is time we ceased to eavesdrop upon RETAIL ADVERTISING Ovid's Roman lovers. The uniformed THE BEST LIGHT CO. WINDOW TRIMMING 87 Ea at alb Street. guide shows us out again. It is uP. up, c.at-. O. SHOW WRITING CARD other high class over one hundred stone steps from orches Earn from $25.00to $100.00 perweek as they pro· - No other line of study offers such great Tools are shown in "T FILESL tra pavement to the fresh night air on the H E TOO "-its pages, and will be streets of Portici ; for it has fallen dark of store publieity and assist our graduates in mailedMONG ERon receipt 375of cents in stamps. securing positions. Write 6 while we were below. It is too late now ECONOMIST for Catalogue.SCHOOL MONTGOMERY & CO. to visit the park of the royal villa 231·243 TRAINING Street New La West 3 9t1 1 Sileo!, New York City 105 Fulton York Favorita, so we drive three miles on the rattling lava pavement flags of Resina and Torre del Greco to our quarters at the Hotel du Vesuve. No time to dress. A hasty brush-down and a change of neck JUST PUBLISHED wear must serve. Alas for America's disgrace! They have dressed the dining room in . the national colors and verdure for our special humiliation, and in honor, SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN apparently, of Director Giuseppe Spinaz lr.ola's recent promotion to the archin REFERENCE BOOK spectorship of antiquities and excavations EDITION OF 1913 throughout southern Italy. Dr. Spinazzola, ' 608 1000 · ill t atio Is substantially . who is here from Paestum, is provokingly It containsbound In andand the coverus r carriesns ,a s ecial design printed In three colors modest and reticent. What more has he found there? A new Greek temple, or Hopkins R Bond Albert A. A. ussell an army ot statues? "There is still better Oompiler and Editor !or Part I. STA and Editor !or Part SCI EN· . TISTICAL INFORMATION. Editor of OompilerTIFIC INFORMATION. EditorII. of news ; but you must wait for the cham Cyclopedia of Formulas, Handbook Handyman's Workshop and Labora· pagne." The explorer's eyes confirm his of Travel, Etc. Member of the tory. American Statistical Association. extravagant promise with a merry twinkle. At last the butler. launches a battery of The staff of the American receivea ly over fifteen thousandinquiries. editorial Scientific annual Asti spumante grande marque on the covering a wide range of topics-no field of human achievement or phenomena oeglected. natural is house, and the glad secret is betrayed. The information soughtf or many cases cannot be readily found text or wow of in in books refer Parliament has voted one million francs ence. In order to supply kuowledge concrete and uSable form. two of the of the this in Editors for the exploration of Ercolano (applause). AmeDcan have, the of trained statisticians, a Scientific with aaaiatance produced remar/eable Re/er The King of Italy has been pleased to co over seventy-five thousand facts. and by ooe thousand engravings, ence &o/e. � ilhiatrated sign this appropriation, and to grant a for which the entire world has been scoured. Immense m8Slel of government material have been further allowance of one hundred thousand Free digested with care with collaboration of government officials of the highest the rank. dollars for the same service, from his per including ollicen. by competent wodd-widereputation. cabinet and assisted profeuotl of sonal resources. This credit is ' good for This Owing to the printing of an edition of copies. we are enabled to offer at a three years of operations on an imposing 10. 00 0 this. book merely nominal price.. ot the the way to judge of merita. scale. Herculaneum live again. It is The purchase book is only adequate ita will' 1913 , elaborate ahowing specimens of pleasant to be reminded, by an Italian An circular. illuatratiooa. � with four full.size samplepega. be sent on voice, that it was conceived, matured and will request. brought to the present promise of splendid 1. fruition by the admirable courage, skill THE PANAMA CANAL. Part II. WR ITE FOR IT STATISTICALPart INFORMA Ohapter VIII. SCIENTIFIC INFORMA· Ohapter and dogged perseverance of one American TION. TION. TELEGRAPHS ANDIX. CABLES. Ohapter Ohapter scholar, Dr. Charles Waldstein. POPULATION ANDI. SOCIAL WIRELESS TELEGRAPHY.X. CHEMISTRY.Chapter I. STATISTICS. Ohapter J. M. HANSON'S· ASTRONOMY AND TIME. O apt TELEPHONE STATISTICSXI. 011' Ohapter II. FARMS. FOODSh erAND II. FORESTS. THE WORLD. Ohapter Night Stonn Signals Ohapter METEOROLOGIII.Y. SPECI.AL commission of the Interna· Agency MINES AND QUARRIES.III. POSTOhapter OFFICE XII.AFFAIRS. Ohapter Ohapter Magazinethe largest in the world, furnishes .II Ohapter MACHINE ELEMENTSIV. AND tional Meteorological Committee, which PATENTS, TRADEXIII.MARKS AND : Magazines and AmuinaIY MANUFACTURES.IV. MECHANICAL MOVE· A COPYRIGHTS. m London June, 1909, proposed a LoW Pricee, and accurate, ana. Ohapter MENTS. et in in COMMERCE.V. Ohapter of storm signals for use throughout . reliable service. . ARMIESOhapter OF THE XIV. WORLD. set Ohapter GEOMETRICAL CONSTRUC'V. the world. This comprised combinations MERCHANT MARINVI. E, NAVIESOhapter OF THE XV. WORLD. TIONS. Oha'#ter Ohapter of cone-shaped symbols for use by day, Save Magazine Money RAILROADS.VII. AVIATION.XVI. . WEIGHTSOhapter AND MEASURES.VI. and of red and white lanterns for use by more night. The daytime portion of the code Our 1913 CaP erioclictalotr (44 ala lists thana 3000 Of f ... was accepted the last meeting of the It's BIGfor MONEY.sAVER,is and FREE. at Net Price Postpaid International Committee, held at Berlin to you the asking. !or large$1. 50 bas in Send U. Your Send pro8peoffUI and specimen page8. in 1910, but not yet be en put oper· H_ and Addna ation all .<' .NOW in countries (e. g., the United MUNN & CO., Inc., PUBUSHERS 361 BROADWAY, NEW YORK CITY ," M. HANSON'S MAGAZINEAGENCY States Weather Bureau s t1l l uses flag s1g. • ...... Kr. lUlls). Tbo propolOd I1Item of Jl1Jht 811·

A Parachute Bomb for Aeronautic Use Using a Frog's Leg as Wireless Telegraph tive to electric stimUli that it can be used as a sensi tive galvanoscope, allowing the very lightest electric INCE airships and aeroplanes have been added to Receiver � variations or waves to be detected. In the arrange the military equipment of nations, the want of By Our Berlin Correspondent bombsS really suitable for launching from these aerial ment above referred to it further affords the advan ALVANI'S well known experiment, which in spite, vessels has been keenly felt. The bombs that have tage of allowing its readings to be recorded. It can 01' rather because, of its being wrongly interpreted, hitherto been used for this purpose have one or more actually be employed in the following arrangement gaveG rise to the development of galvanic electricity, of the following defects : for the receiving and recording of wireless signals. has become a familiar classroom demonstration, When a bomb which is exploded by impact is The receiving station (Fig. 1) comprises the fol especially in lectures on physiology. A peculiar use 1. lowing ; E is a battery of three cells, a potentiometer P has been recently made of the phenomenon by adapting allowing the voltage in the receiving circuit to be con it to the recording of electro-magnetic waves such as trolled, is a tuning coil to which the receiving antenna used in wireless telegraphy. S A is connected, an electrolytic detector, and two Dr. Lefeuvre, professor at the Medical High SChool D R of Rennes, has, in fact, devised the following arrange ment for recording the contraction of a frog's muscle as produced by the passage of an electric stimulus through a motive nerve :. The muscle M is solidly fixed in its upper part by means of a pair of tongs, as shown in Fig. 1. The end Preparatory signal 10:45 A.M. of the sinew is connected by means of a wire to a light lever pivoted at This lever is returned to its L O. initial position, after the contraction is completed, by a weight suspended froin it, and the end of the lever, which carries a fine point, bears against a rotat ing smoked cylinder. At the very moment the muscle reparatory signal A.M . is excited through the intermediary of its nerve r 10:47 N, the contraction curve, enlarged by ' the lever, is re corded faithfully on the smok d cylinder. While many e cold-blooded animals can be used for this experiment, the muscl� of frogs' legs are particularly well adapted for the purpose, on account of the regularity of their Pr Daratory Signal form, the long duration of their excitability and the 10:49 A.M. speCial ease with which they can be severed from the Fig. 3.-Eiffel time-signals recorded by the frog's leg. body. So far from severing the mus le completely from the high-resistance telephone receivers connected up in c body of the animal, it is, however, preferable to leave series. it in position, cutting the "Achilles" sinew at its junc To the terminals B, B' of these telephones are con tion, and fixing it to the wire connecting with the lever. nected, in shunt, two wires applying the electrical stim Aasen's parachute bomb for aero In this case, the central nervous system of the animal ulus to the nerve through tbe intermediary of small N nautic use should, however, be destroyed, lest the experiment be metal hooks. The excitation of the nerve is due to the . disturbed by' motive reflexes. The sciatic nerve is self-induction currents produced in the coils of these thrown from a great height it acquires, in falling, a dissected over a short distance at the level of the thigh, .telephones. velocity sufficient to bury it so deeply in the earth, and is lifted by means of the hooks of wire supplying The tracings reproduced in Fig. 3 have been obtained before the explosion occurs, that its lateral action is the electrical stimulus. at Rennes by means of the arrangement above de annulled, because all of its projectiles are discharged This neuro-muscular apparatus is so extremely sensi- scribed and are records of the time signals given out underground instead of scattering and carrying destruc daily from the radio-telegraphic station of the Eiffel tion in every direction over the earth's surface. Tower. The distance between Paris and Rennes is 2. A bomb dropped from a moving airship has A about 185 miles. These signals comprise a prelimin initially the horizontal velocity of the vessel, which ary signal calling the attention of the observer to a may exceed feet per second. Hence the bomb will 60 subsequent signal of very short duration which marks riot fall vertically on the object aimed at, but will ' standard time. The time markings are sent out from descend obliquely and strike the ground at a distance the clock of the Paris Observatory, which is fitted with from its goal that cannot be calculated with accuracy. a contact, actuating the transmission set of the Eiffel ·The effect of the explosion,. furthermore, may · be dIm Tower. They are sent every morning at 10 :45, 10 :47 inished by two thirds, or more, by the obliquity of the B and 10 :49, respectively. The preliminary signals are axis at the moment of explosion. different for each of these markings and can be ex 3. The projectiles share the vertical velocity ac B' pressed in the Morse alphabet. The tracings allow the quired by the bomb in falling from a great height preliminary as well as the time signals to be distinctly and are therefore discharged, not horizontally, but recognized, and when choosing a very fine style and obliquely downward into the earth. Hence the useful M only slightly smoked paper, they are seen in their upper effect would be annulled even if defects 1 and 2 did part to show very fine indentations, the number of not exist. which corresponds to the rate of vibration of the trans 4. When the bomb is cleared for throwing, its safety mitting apparatus. catch or cap is released or removed. Under these condi This method of recording time signals is of remark tions a misdirected throw or other accident may pre L able accuracy. The time passing between the moment cipitate an explosion which would seriously injure or of excitation of a frog's muscle and the moment of its even wreck the airship. Fig. I.-Diagram of the receiving station. contraction is, in fact, extremely short. Moreover, In Aasen's bomb these defects are remedied in the this time-the latent period of contraction, as it is following manner : called-is a well known factor-in the present case 1. The bomb has a very sensitive contact exploder about 0.01 second-for which due allowance can be which produces an explosion the instant its tip touches made. As regards the delay due to the time taken by the softest ground, or even a water surface. Hence the the wave in traversing the distance between Paris ana bomb cannot penetrate the eartli before exploding. Rennes, this is absolutely negligible, the rate of trans 2. The bomb is provided with a small parachute mission of Hertzian waves being practically the same which qu,ickiy destroys the horizontal velocity com as th velocity of light, viz., 186,330 miles per second. municated by the airship. The bomb, therefore, falls e While this arrangement is an interesting laboratory vertically on the spot over which the airship is pass apparatus, it is hardly likely to become commercially ing, and its axis remains vertical, so that the projec practicable. tiles are discharged horizontally in all directions and produce the maximum effect, throughout an area of more than 8,00 0 square feet. Horse-power and Kilowatt 3. The parachute can be arranged to limit the British Association for the Advancement of vertical velocity of the bomb to 100 or 200 feet per HEScience adopted, as early as 1873, 746 watts as the second, as may be desired. These velocities produce equivalentT of the British and American horse-power, no appreciable effect on the paths of the projectiles, as and 736 watts as the equivalent of the metric or Conti the exploding mechanism is contrived to counteract nental horse-power, says Machinet·y. In a circular their influence. recently issued by the United States Bureau of Stand 4. The exploding mechanism is so constructed that ards, it is stated that in all future publications of this it cannot. act until the bomb has fallen 66 feet. Hence bureau the former value, 746 watts, or 0.746 kilowatt, the bomb cannot explode in or near the airship. will be used as the exact equivalent of the English The bomb, when loaded and ready for use; weighs and American horse-power. E'or scientific work, it is about 11 pounds and contains projectiles, which quite important to have the horse-power thus standard 40 0 have an effective radius of action of at least 80 to 100 ized by being expressed in the. so-called "absolute" sys feet from the point of discharge. The weight of the tem of measurement, because the common definition explosive charge is about one pound. of 550 foot-pounds per second is scientifically correct These bombs are designed for use against detach only at a certain latitude and altitude, on account of ments of infantry, cavalry and artillery. Very much the fact that the pound-weight, as a unit of force. larger explosive charges must obviously be employed varies in value as the acceleration of gravity, varies. U, for effective attack upon warships and fortifications. The horse-power when expressed at 746 watts is equal to foot-pounds per second at degrees latitude -'Translated for the from Fig. . Recordin a irele SCIENTIFIC AMEBlCAN Kriegs 2 g w ss telegraph message with 550 50 technische Zeitschrift. - the aid of a frog's leg. and at sea level.