Nero Wore Glasses

... Pliny mentions that Nero, who was myopic, used glasses when he watched the fights of the gladiators.

Anonymous, "Antiquity of the Lens," Scientific American, vol. 69, no. 7 (August 12, 1893), p. 104.

Archimedes used a Telescope

Plutarch speaks of instruments used by Archimedes "to manifest to the eye the largeness of the sun."

Anonymous, "Antiquity of the Lens," Scientific American, vol. 69, no. 7 (August 12, 1893), p. 104.

An Assyrian Lens

A glass case in the Assyrian section of the British Museum contains a piece of rock crystal formed into the shape of a plano-convex lens 1 1/2 inches in diameter and 9/10 inch thick. This was discovered in the ruin called Nimroud. It gives a focus of 4 1/2 inches. According to Sir David Brewster, this lens has been designed for magnifying purposes. The date is about 700 B. C.

Anonymous, "Antiquity of the Lens," Scientific American, vol. 69, no. 7 (August 12, 1893), p. 104.

Confucius and Lenses in Ancient China

The use of lenses has also been traced to the Chinese moralist Confucius, 748 B. C.

Anonymous, "Antiquity of the Lens," Scientific American, vol. 69, no. 7 (August 12, 1893), p. 104.

The Lens and Telescope in Ancient China

With regard to the antiquity of the lens the author [Edouard Fourdrignier in an article in Photo Club de Paris] says: "If we are to believe C. P. Gaubil, quoted by M. De Paravey in his 'Chronologie Chinois,' the Emperor Chan, who reigned 2283 B. C., used enlarging lenses in the form of a telescope in order to be able to get a better view of the planets."

Anonymous, "Antiquity of the Lens," Scientific American, vol. 69, no. 7 (August 12, 1893), p. 104.

Flying Saucers?

The other people hardly heard them. Under the leadership of the Bow Clan they began to use their creative power in another evil and destructive way. Perhaps this was caused by that wicked woman. But some of them made a patuwvota [shield made of hide] and with their creative power made it fly through the air. On this many of the people flew to a big city, attacked it, and returned so fast no one knew where they came from. Soon the people of many cities and countries were making patuwvotas and flying on them to attack one another. So corruption and war came to the Third World as it had to the others.

Waters, Frank, Book of the Hopi, New York: the Viking Press, 1971, pp. 17-18.

Natural or Man-made?

Having travelled onward several miles, I arrived at a part of the valley where the Kora makes a bend toward the cliffs on the north, leaving a space of about 200 yards in width, between the base of the rocks and the river. As I approached this spot, I was almost induced to believe that the works of the Giants were before me, for five enormous stones were standing isolated and on end, the first sight of which gave me the idea that their disposition was not accidental, and that a master mind had superintended the erection,--the group being in perfect keeping with the scene around. One of these blocks would have made a tower large enough for a church, its height being 76 feet above the ground, and it measured 24 feet on one side and 19 feet on the other. It stood 73 paces from the base of the cliffs, and was about 8 feet out of the perpendicular, inclining towards the river. The remaining four blocks varied from 45 to 50 feet in height, one being 15 feet square and the rest somewhat less. Two of these stood upright, the others were leaning in different directions, one of them so far that it had nearly lost its equilibrium.

A sixth mass of still larger dimensions was lying half buried in the ground; on this, some young picta trees had taken root and were growing luxuriantly.

Atkinson, Thomas Witlam, Travels in the Regions of the Upper and Lower Amoor, London: Hurst and Blackett, 1860, pp. 117-118, 120.

The Sun as an Energy Source Amongst the Incas

It was necessary that the fire for the sacrifice should be new, and given by the hand of the Sun, as they expressed it. For this purpose they took a large bracelet, called chipana (like those they usually wear on the left thumb). This was held by the high priest. It was larger than usual, and had on it a highly polished concave plate, about the diameter of an orange. They put this towards the Sun, at an angle, so that the reflected rays might concentrate on one point, where they had placed a little cotton wool well pulled out, for they did not know how to make tinder; but the cotton was soon lighted in the natural way.

Vega, Garcilaso de la, First Part of the Royal Commentaries of the Yncas, 2 vols., trans. Clements R. Markham, London: printed for the Hakluyt Society, 1871, vol. 2, pp. 162-3.

Nuclear Weapons in the Mahabharata? (pt. 1)

The description of the second battle is as frightening as that of the first: "Gurkha, flying in his swift and powerful Vimana, hurled against the three cities of the Vrishnis and Andhakas a single projectile charged with all the power of the Universe. An incandescent column of smoke and fire, as brilliant as ten thousand suns, rose in all its splendor. It was the unknown weapon, the iron thunderbolt, a gigantic messenger of death which reduced to ashes the entire race of the Vrishnis and Andhakas.

"The corpses were so burnt that they were no longer recognizable. Hair and nails fell out. Pottery broke without cause. Birds, disturbed, circled in the air and were turned white. Foodstuffs were poisoned. To escape, the warriors threw themselves in streams to wash themselves and their equipment. With the destruction ended, the Kuru king,Yudistthira, was informed of the power of the iron thunderbolt and the slaughter of the Vrishnis."

Noorbergen, Rene, Secrets of the Lost Races, New York: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, 1977, p. 138.

Vaishampayana said,--"When the thirty-sixth year (after the battle) was reached, the delighter of the Kurus, viz., Yudhishthira, beheld many unusual portents. Winds, dry and strong, and showering gravels, blew from every side. Birds began to wheel, making circles from right to left. The great rivers ran in opposite directions. The horizon on every side seemed to be always covered with fog. Meteors, showering (blazing) coals, fell on the Earth from the sky. The Sun’s disc, O king, seemed to be always covered with dust. At its rise, the great luminary of day was shorn of splendour and seemed to be crossed by headless trunks (of human beings). Fierce circles of light were seen every day around both the Sun and the Moon. These circles showed three hues. Their edges seemed to be black and rough and ashy-red in colour. [...] A little while after, the Kuru king Yudhishthira heard of the wholesale carnage of the Vrishnis in consequence of the iron bolt. [...]"

The Mahabharata, Mausala Parva, sec. 1.

(Ganguli, Kisari Mohan, The Mahabharata of Krishna Dwaipayana Vyasa, 12 vols., Calcutta, India: Oriental Publishing Co., 19??, vol. 12, Aswamedha, Asramavasika, Mahaprasthanika and Swargarohanika Parvas, p. 255.)

When the next day came, Samva actually brought forth an iron bolt through which all the individuals in the race of the Vrishnis and the Andhakas became consumed into ashes. Indeed, for the destruction of the Vrishnis and the Andhakas, Samva brought forth, through that curse, a fierce iron bolt that looked like a gigantic messenger of death. The fact was duly reported to the king. In great distress of mind, the king (Ugrasena) caused that iron bolt to be reduced into fine powder. Men were employed, O king, to cast that powder into the sea.

The Mahabharata, Mausala Parva, sec. 1.

(Ganguli, Kisari Mohan, The Mahabharata of Krishna Dwaipayana Vyasa, 12 vols., Calcutta, India: Oriental Publishing Co., 19??, vol. 12, Aswamedha, Asramavasika, Mahaprasthanika and Swargarohanika Parvas, p. 256.)

Day by day strong winds blew, and many were the evil omens that arose, awful and foreboding the destruction of the Vrishnis and the Andhakas. The streets swarmed with rats and mice. Earthen pots showed cracks or broke from no apparent cause. At night, the rats and mice ate away the hair and nails of slumbering men. [...] Many birds appeared, impelled by Death, that were pale of complexion but that had legs red of hue. [...] The Sun, whether when rising or setting over the city, seemed to be surrounded by headless trunks of human form. In cook rooms, upon food that was clean and well-boiled, were seen, when it was served out for eating, innumerable worms of diverse kinds."

The Mahabharata, Mausala Parva, sec. 1.

(Ganguli, Kisari Mohan, The Mahabharata of Krishna Dwaipayana Vyasa, 12 vols., Calcutta, India: Oriental Publishing Co., 19??, vol. 12, Aswamedha, Asramavasika, Mahaprasthanika and Swargarohanika Parvas, p. 255.)

The Battery in India

In the Prince's Library of Ujjain in India, there is a well-preserved document called the Agastya Samshita which dates back to the first millennium B.C. It contains a detailed description not only of how to construct an electric battery, but also how to utilize this battery to "split" water into two gases--the electrolysis of water into hydrogen and oxygen.

Noorbergen, Rene, Secrets of the Lost Races, New York: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, 1977, p. 67.

The Dimension of the Ark, Why Those Specifications?

But what about the specifications [of the ark]? you wonder. Why that specific ratio [300:50:30, length:width:height (in cubits)]? Why not, for example, 300 by 200 by 20, or some other ratio?

...

Its length-to-breadth ratio of six to one (300 cubits to 50) has great advantage over the cubic contraption of the Babylonian epic [Gilgamesh epic]. From the standpoint of stability and rolling, the ratio of 6:1 is about as nearly perfect as can be desired. Some of the mammoth tankers of today have a ration of 7:1. The shipbuilder I. K. Brunel designed the ocean liner known as the Great Britain in 1844. The vessel's dimensions were 322 by 51 by 32 1/2 feet--proportions nearly identical to the dimensions of Noah's ark. Whereas Noah's ship ranks as the first of its kind, Brunel had several thousand years of shipbuilding expertise to rely on, but all the accumulated knowledge he could draw from did not give him a better ratio than that of the ark.

Noorbergen, Rene, Secrets of the Lost Races, New York: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, 1977, pp. 65-66.