Central High School - EN EM Yearbook (North Manchester, IN)

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22 MAPLE LEAVES. THE ORACLE. MAVME G. SWANK. The oracle was the response delivered by a deity or supernatural being to a worshiper or inquirer, also the place where the response was given. These responses were supposed to be given by a certan divine afflatus, either through means of mankind, as in the organisms of the Pythia and the dreams of the worshiper in the temples; or by its effect on certain objects, as the tinkling of the caldrons at Dodona, the rustling of the sacred laurel, the murmuring of the streams; or by the actions of sacred animals, as exemplified in the Apis, and the feeding of holy chickens by the Romans. The oracle, situated at definite and limited places, dates from the highest antiquity and gradually declines with the decline of Animism and with the increasing knowledge of mankind. Among the Egyptians all the temples were probably oracular. In the hieroglyphic texts the gods speak constantly in an oracular manner and their consultation by the Pharaohs is occasionally mentioned. The Hebrew oracles were by oral expression, as the speech of God to Moses, dreams, visions, and prophetical denunciations; besides which there were oracles of Phoenicia, as that of Beelzebub and others of Baalim. They were also in use throughout Babylonia and Chaldaea. where the responses were delivered by dreams given to the priestesses who slept alone in in the temples as concubines of the gods. Among the Greeks, there were more oracles of A'pollo than of any other person. In these twenty-two the Panhellenic one at Delphi, which was the most celebrated, may be taken as a typical example. The divine agency at Delphi is said to have first been discovered by shepherds who tended their flocks in the neighborhood of the chasm, and whose sheep, when approaching the place, were seized with convulsions. Persons who came near the place showed the same symptoms, and received the power of prophecy. This, at last, induced the people to build a temple over the sacred spot. According to the Homeric hymn on Apollo, this god was, himself, the founder of the Delphic oracle, but the local legends of Delphi stated that originally it was in the possession of other deities, such as Gaea, Themis, Phoebus, Poseidon, Night, Cronos, and that it was given to Apollo as a present. Other traditions, perhaps the most ancient and genuine, represented Apollo as having gained possession of the oracle by a struggle, which is generally described as a fight with Python, a dragon, who guarded the oracle of Gaea or Themis. In the innermost sanctuary there was the statue of Apollo, which was, at least in later times, of gold; and, before it, there burned upon an altar an eter- nal fire, which was fed only with fir wood. The inner roof of the temple was covered with laurel garlands, and laurel was burned as incense upon the altar. In the center of this temple there was a small opening in the ground, from which, from time to time, an intoxicating smoke arose, which was believed to come from the well of Cassotis, which vanished into the ground near the sanctuary. Over this chasm there stood a high tripod on which the pythia, led into the temple by the prophetess, took her seat whenever the oracle was to be consulted. The smoke, rising from under the tripod, affected her brain in such a manner that she fell into a state of delirious intoxication, and the sounds which she uttered in this state were believed to contain the revelations of Apollo. These sounds were carefully written down by the prophetess, and afterwards communicated to the persons who had come to consult the oracle. The pythia was always a native of Delphi, and taken from some, family of poor country people. When she had once entered the service of the god, she never left it, and was never allowed to marry. In early times, she was always a young girl, but later, an old woman dressed as a maiden. Before ascending the tripod she always spent three days in preparing herself for the solemn act, and, during this time, she fasted, bathed in the Castalian well, and dressed in a simple manner. She also burned, in the temple, laurel leaves and flour of barley upon the altar. The effect of the smoke upon her whole mental and physical constitution is said to have sometimes been so great that, in her delirium, she leaped from the tripod, was thrown into convulsions, and died after a few days. At first, oracles were only given once every year, on the seventh of the month of Bysius, which was believed to be the birthday of Apollo. But as this one day, in the course of time, was not found sufficient, certain days in each month were set apart for the purpose. The order in which the persons who came to consult were admitted was determined by lot, but the Delphian magistrates had the power of granting the right of first consultation to such individuals or states as had acquired claims on the gratitude of the Delpliians, or whose political ascendency seemed to give them higher claims than others. It appears that those who consulted the oracle had to pay a certain fee. They also had to sacrifice a goat, an ox, or a sheep, and it was necessary that these victims should be healthy in body and soul, and, to ascertain this, they had to undergo a peculiar scrutiny. An ox rereceived barley, and a sheep chick-pease, to see whether they ate them with an appetite; water was poured over the goats, and if this put them into a thorough tremble, the victim was good.

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MAPLE LEAVES. 21 ‘4 ern lubricants it would be very awkward to have to melt the tallow every time the machine needed oiling, and it would be utterly impossible to run our large engines and machines without some form of liquid lubricant. Look at the manufacture of illuminating gas. In it the chemist has discovered an “Aladdin’s Lamp.” The gas is manufactured by the destructive distillation of bituminous coal and is forced through many apparatuses for its purification. The first of these purifiers is a large pipe called the hydraulic main, through which water is kept flowing. Commercial ammonia, used so extensively in medicines, is obtained from this main, for the water absorbs the ammonia gas and carries it to retorts where it is prepared for market. Hartshorn is a common form of ammonia used in medicines and the ammonia itself is a very valuable fertilizer because it furnishes the nitrogen that is essential to both plant and animal life. Coke is left as a residue in the retorts and is a source of much profit. But the real money-making by-product is coal tar. From it benzol, paphtha, creosote, pitch, cellulose and a countless number of organic substances are made. The benzol is useful as a cleanser of gloves, silks and goods which would be injured by washing. Only a few of the uses of naphtha have been given. Creosote is invaluable as a preservative of wood that is exposed to the damp. Felt roofing and asphalt pavement are some of the more common products of pitch, and cellulose is being substituted for sugar in making molasses, preserves and many other sweet compounds. In fact, the by-products of the manufacture of artificial iluminating gas are so much more profitable than the gas itself, which originally was the only product sought, that instead of having a slow fire under the distilling coal to get all the gas possible, they try to get as much coal tar as they can, even at the loss of the gas. The Armour Packing Company shows how the using of waste products has extended the industries of today. Not many years ago they were put to a great deal of expense and trouble to get rid of the refuse from butchering. They had large yards where they hauled it and buried it in trenches. Not only did the hauling and manual labor cost much, but the problem of getting enough waste space to bury it in was very perplexing as the land in cities was very valuable. Step by step they kept using up this refuse in various ways until now the only thing they do not turn to profit is the squeal. As their profits were increased by using this waste, they began to extend their business further. Large factories were built where they turned the refuse fats and greases into soaps; others were built to turn the hair and bristles into curled hair for carriages, lounges, cushions and mattresses. The better parts of the horns, hoofs and bones are made into knife handles, combs and tooth brush handles, while the poorer grades of bone and most of the blood is made into a fertilizer. The hides are made into leather, one of the necessities of civilization. From these which were waste products formerly they pay all their expenses and have the good meat as clear profit. This fact enables one to see how they can have so many enormous buildings around the Union Stock Yards in Chicago and such large branch buildings in Omaha, Kansas City, East St. Louis and Sioux City. But in order to get all this stock to their packing houses and to handle it after it is there and to get rid of it after it is packed, thousands of men and milions of dollars are used annually. For instance, they spent about two hundred thousand dollars last year for advertising alone. Travel where you will you are likely to find an advertisement of Armour. Then they have thousands of traveling men in almost all parts of the world, supplying the railroads with passenger traffic, and after the goods have been sold they furnish a vast amount of freight to be hauled, besides the hundreds of carloads of live stock hauled to the packing houses daily. And they have brought out a new industry by the necessity of having refrigerator cars to ship their fresh meat in to the various large cities of America. Still, the young man starting out for himself need not think that all the waste products are used up and that no chance is left for him to advance along that line. Look at the enormous amount of work that could be done if the tides were harnessed. I will venture to say that if every foot-pound of energy exerted by the tides was turned into mechanical work, it would do more work during the same length of time than is done by all the motor powers in the world. The solar motor is a rather new device for obtaining energy, but has proved successful in Boston and near Los Angeles, where the largest one in the world pumps water daily for irrigating an ostrich farm. But think how much sunlight goes to waste. May not someone be fortunate enough to find an easier or better way of utilizing this? And look at the energy going to waste when the wind blows. True, there are a few windmills scattered over the country, but they do not use enough of its energy to make a noticeable change in its force. If all the power of the waterfalls of the world was turned into mechanical energy, there would be no need of any other power. Besides these few examples of unused products, others may be discovered that will cause a new era in the history of the world, and bring great fame to the man or men that had the courage and ability to bring about the change.

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MAPLE LEAVES. 23 1 The Del'phians, or more properly speaking, the noble families of Delphi, had the superintendence of the oracle. Among the Delphian aristocracy, there were five families which traced their origin to Deucalion, and from each of these one of the five priests was taken. The priests, together with the high priest, or prophetess, held their offices for life, and had the control of all the affairs of the sanctuary and of the sacrifices. That these noble families had an immense influence upon the oracle is manifest from numerous instances, and it is not improbable that they were its very soul, and that it was they who dictated the pretended revelations of the god. Most of the oracular answers which are extant are in hexameters, and in the Ionic dialect, although sometimes Doric forms were also used. The hexameter was, according to some accounts, invented by Phemonoe, the first pythia. This metrical form was chosen, partly because the words of the god were thus rendered more venerable, and partly because it was easier to remember verse than prose. In the times of Theopompous, however, the custom of giving the oracles in verse seems to have gradually ceased; they were henceforth generally in prose, and in the Doric dialect spoken at Delphi. For, when the Greek states had lost their political liberty, there was little or no occasion to consult the oracle on matters of a national or political nature, and the affairs of ordinary life, such as the sale of slaves, the cultivation of fields, marriages, voyages and the like, on which the oracle was then mostly consulted, were little calculated to be spoken of in lofty, poetical strains. The oracle of Delphi, during its best period, was believed to give its answers and advice to every one who came with a pure heart, and had no evil designs; if he had committed a crime the answer was refused until he had atoned for it; and he who consulted the god for bad purposes was sure to accelerate his own ruin. No religious institution in all antiquity obtained such a paramount influence, not only in Greece, but in all countries around the Mediterranean. in all matters of importance, whether relating to religion or politics, to private or public yfe, as the oracle of Delphi. THE INFLUENCE OF ATHLETICS ON THE STUDENT MIND. W. LLOYD FINTON. In order better to comprehend this subject, it might be well to look back into history and read of physical culture and the development of athletics among the civilizations of the past. In each case the race has succumbed because of the weakness and degeneracy that follow a life of luxury, ease, and dissipation. The Pyramids of Egypt, together with what history has been able to gather from other sources, indicate that a remarkable degree of intelligence early existed in the valley of the Nile. Later came the marvelous development of Greece. Monuments of the art, science, and literature of this wonderful people have come down to us even today. They are being studied and copied as the works of genius in this, our own highly civilized age. Following this civilization we have Rome, with all its splendor and pomp, its ceremony, and its magnificence. With the downfall of Rome, there followed the barbarous age of the mediaeval period. And the next civilization of importance which sprang into life was that of Spain. At one time she ruled the world, but, like all others that preceded her, she succumbed to the luxury and weakness which is always a part of civilized life. Caesar, in his commentaries on the Gallic war, makes this point, that after the Helvetians had come in contact with the traders from civilized Rome they rapidly degenerated. In each of the above examples, without single exception, physical and mental development went hand in hand, and Vhen Greece was setting the example for the world in art and literature, her sons and daughters were enjoying the nearest appioach to physical perfection that the world has ever seen; and whenever bodily strength and development fell, the mental productiveness and success of the nation necessarily soon followed. And, with the exception of Pope and a comparatively few others, this fact, that every genius has had a good physique, has been sustained in all the walks of learning. Among the games which have the greatest capacity for developing the physique, persisting from he Olympian games of Greece to the last great tourr.a-ment at the coronation of King Edward, boxing, wrestling, sprinting, hammer-throwing and the national games of base ball and foot ball have survived. Though the latter is to some extent being opposed because of its supposed cruelty, its inherent powrer for developing manly qualities decidedly overbalance its evils. A Western professor has said that all the broken limbs and collar bones from the foot ball fields placed on a heap beside the bones of those physical wrecks who fill untimely graves because of over mental work and lack of exercise and develop ment, w'ould appear as a mole hill to a mountain. And we have all heard the remark of the great Wellington, that Waterloo was wron on the foot ball fields of Eton and Rugby. Since modern science has revealed the close relationship between mind and matter, the development of the one simultaneously with the other has been showfn; also that the centers of the brain are very closely correlated, and that as soon as one part tires out it borrows energy from the adjoining parts. A simple illustration wrill make this plainer. One day a man worked so hard in the Yale gymnasium that