Even egg shells are valuable, for
aliopath and homeopath alike agree in regarding them as the purest of
carbonate of lime.
History of Big Ships.--In the history of mankind several vessels
of extraordinary magnitude have been constructed, all distinctively
styled great, and all unfortunately disastrous, with the honorable
exception of Noah's Ark. Setting aside this antediluvian craft,
concerning the authenticity of whose dimensions authorities differ,
and which, if Biblical measures are correct, was inferior in size to
the vessel of most importance to modern shipowners, the great galley,
constructed by the great engineer Archimedes for the great King Hiero
II., of Syracuse, is the first illustration. This ship without a name
(for history does not record one) transcended all wonders of ancient
maritime construction. It abounded statues and painting, marble and
mosaic work. It contained a gymnasium, baths, a garden, and arbored
walks. Its artillery discharged stones of 3 cwt., and arrows 18 ft. in
length. An Athenian advertising poet, who wrote a six-line puff of its
glories, received the royal reward of six thousand bushels of corn.
Literary merit was at a higher premium in the year 240 B.C., than it
is to-day. The great ship of antiquity was found to be too large for
the accommodation of the Syracusan port, and famine reigning in Egypt,
Hiero, the charitably disposed, embarked a cargo of ten thousand
huge jars of salted fish, two million pounds of salted meat, twenty
thousand bundles of different clothes, filled the hold with corn, and
consigned her to the seven mouths of the Nile, and since she weighed
anchor nothing more has been heard of her fate.
Pages:
513
514
515
516
517
518
519
520
521
522
523
524
525
526
527
528
529
530
531
532
533
534
535
536
537