REMARKABLE, BUT TRUE. (From the Melbourne Illustrated Post.)

Otago Daily Times, Issue 239, 25 September 1862, Page 6

REMARKABLE, BUT TRUE. (From the Melbourne Illustrated Post.)

j The daily pipers hare lately been ianch occupied t wi&diseu-sionsns to Upvalue of kerosene oil as an article of domestic consumption • and the analytical \ chemists hare been quarrelling with each other, with I truly philosophical acerbity, respecting the comparative degrees of inflammability of various specimens jof the new iliamiuatmg iuid. Dr. Afacadam and Mr. Sydney Gibbous have beeu quite at loggerheads. The one acts the alarmist; the other mildly paciSes | the public " There s gr«it clanger in using: any oil j bat Smith's,** cries one. " There's not the least r danger iuusinfr any one of fifty otlHTsatnsles besides Smi h's," retorts thj other. Between the two the much-enduring" public are sad y-puzzled to know whetherthry shall "risk it,"or not; and erery careful housewife, a:|>heseta about trimmiDg her evenin{? lamp, feels a doleful apnrebeasion of a possible etist-ophe. Bat, meanwhile, the consumption of the debate-able kerosene goes on. aud still increases • and we must suppose that it must now be taken as a settled tiling, that fhi3 best and cheapest of all portable substitutes for sunlight will hold its ground ts loan as the iaexhausible oil weiis of Canada continue to give out their supply. One of our daily contemporaries has treated its readers to a leading article— borrowed boldly but acknowledged, by the way, from the Cornhl'l Magazine—o.\ tv» history of this newly-dl-scorered P tro--team. Heteils us all aboufc-how and where it was found out, and the ainaziag abundance there is of it But iv concluding his subject he adds, that it is a I yery remarkable fact that tiii3 substance, wiiich to all I inte3t3 and purposes is new to ceranierce and science has been known in Persia from the remotest antiqui'y. Alexander the Great's victory orer Darius was celebrated by a g-and kerosene Olumiaation • and one of the most ancient Gretk myths is believed to have been eouneeted with a knowledge of petroleum gas. Thus far the writer in the Cornhill Magazine Wow, aU thii strikingly confirms what we stated in our article on " Popular Modern Superstitions ' last week, touching the real antiquity of man? of the assumed new marvels of ec'esiee. The truth 33, and it is amongst thel things "not generally known," that most of the discoveries of modern science are simply re-discoveries. We happen to have access o sources of information respecting the extent and nature of the secret 1 re of the ancients, quite as authentic as those from which the writer in tha CorrJiill drew his facts and it may be amusing, if not instructive, to our readers to set bifore them some of tha proofs that the people who lived ia the benighted days when Greece and Rome were in all their glory, knew far more about the scientific properties of iire than is generally imagined. * It is known then, that from time immemorial the Persian j aud other neijrhboriag- nations have been wor&ippsrsof Fire. In India the Parsees—which by the way is simply the Hindosanea word for Persians—zealously nmntaiathe ancient creel and ritual to this hour." Now, it ie, very presumable that a people who paid.divme l.ocours to the element of Fire regarding it as the visible syuibil of the invisible Truth aui riplcudour, would stuJy iU properties with a perseverance aad an intensity alto-ether surp issio«- that oftaeccsialexibrer of the broad field of physical *?M ae3.', / >h _c-e -^ei>itU P"*^ or Magi, as they a-e still caUed, have in fxet done this for many centimes back, and by the principle of strictly reserving all kno-.vleilge w.thin the sacred circle of the priestly class, they have carefuly haaded d>wn froai geaeratson tig -ceratbn the results of their observations an I erpm fl2i:t;. llen C 3 they came, in the course ! of time, V) posai?33 a mastery 'mr die el ment iiself which to us Siew3 little le^s than iniraeulous. The E jjrlish mi-id, it inuai hi reanrketf here, is very aot t> turn away froai statements of this kind, with an expression of cont mntuouj iucreiulity. But besides tliat simple incrwlulity i? very ofteu but another name for sne?r lgraoiaace; it explains nothing A miumaysay, " Oh, I don't believe it!" when you tell him that thftre are no less than three hundred imiiwns of people ia the Caiuesa Empire; but the iact 13 to all the &\me, xrhether he believes it or not So of tae facts about tba occult lore of the rW war- ! »upp>rs. It is attend on undoubted authority that the Persian Magi hiddisc=jvered f aad had formed into a regular SvUitiae, a^es a^o. ail the secret properties of ne. r-aeyknuw bow to kindle the iaextm<mishable s .cr^l & tm % which at this inoaieat buras on a thousaiu! altars m Pa-amlom. It wa< from them the Greeks learned the art of compounding that terrible inusae kno.vn ia ancient warfare a? the " Greek fire '* which would destroy a ship at a great cfiL ta»ice and was inextinguishable by water. The superstitious belief cherished by the Persians to this dayis that the saored fire originally fell miraculously from treaven. la thdoradesof Zjrooster it is laid down as a maxim that "to know the fire, the san, the moon, and the thunder, is the third part of the divine science." The priests knew the art of developing latent heat, aud could extract sparks from ice. They knew every bituminous substance and its qua uies,—aaptha, asphatcuua, peteoleum, paraflne benzoin, and astral oiL, throash ail their varieties'. S 5 Z\ P Tf' -a<tral 3 °^" bj lhe V3*> connects the subtly and lu-nmous 3md now so well known in. our households with the practices of the astrologers. It was held to be the product of a fluid emanadion or efflas from theaters, allied tj that mvstedous asti-al h-ht," with which th 2 magicians "wrought their mi.-Acles, an Jwhic-h moiern setence identifies with electro maguefen. 'Jhe writer in the ComftiU te:ls that the formerly drew a large revenue from the duty imposed on exported petroleum, so abundant was the sui.ply in P rsia. We may add to this the■ eiunily auth-uuc f.wt, that iuexoaustible weJs 01 th.3 oil are knt.wa to exi^t naw iv that and tbenetfiiuortug countries; aad also that in thefire-templesof(«oreia.hessh--f^lfl tin ei ias b 3en burnmjr nirht and day fro:n time imsuemoriaL Here we have the sxjnp'e and complete explanation of the rawed Vestal rire, which baraed perpetually on the alrarof Veiuisat Rome. Those knowin- old Per! sian priests were just a* well acquainted" with the I£SS*f * proi>erde3 of **« rosk od I>r. Macadam j Amongst other uses to which they applied their , occult kaowleoge was th ls of composin.-aToii U whieatti.yuippH the arroivs of the b^»mea and win A had Uie dieet of kindling the arrow fcto I flame as it speeaed through the air. Allusions to the saif-kindhng Persian arro«r are frequent in classical poetry. They also discovered 01-WoS a^Si number of meombastible substances, by mealVof which they couhl wpel the action of fire on inflWmable bodies. They rubbed the neophytes intte initiations with an oil v.-iiieii enabled them to walk unscathed through a burnia? pile, or upon red hot I ploughshares.. Asbestos and its properties was^ faamurto themes waterproof elatl^is to uT SS were, indeed, true adepts, whorea.l deeply and conI bnuously m-« Nature's infinite book of Sc^> I Aud, as we find, they anticipated us by centuries in f many ofourmost valuable scfenrifi, di4verS AU this is very remarkable, no doubt; but in addition to being remarkable it is perfectly true; and bS?2£ I more wudy known amongst enlightened EneHsh tneu of the nineteenth centurj- thauit is AuSfl[ >is valuable, and what si-.nple i-noranee mistakesfor ' Seu"Si fr; Wemay soaiedm3s *™ »**>*