The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, March 20, 1898, Page 18

18 THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL, SUNDAY, MARCH 20, 1898. Said to Be the Work of a Roman Soldier Who Was on Calvary at the ‘I’ime. sor the picture ed th There are th ral ero: of the . ROFESSOR ORAZIO MARUCCHI, who for ten years past has )) made a special study of the “graffito,” has just discovered a U/ wonderful picture of this style of drawing in us, on the Palatine Hill, in Rome. ot of the picture is the “Crucifixion,” and Profes- \fter carefully weighing all the details connected with . of the firm belief that it was drawn by a person who wit- ve crosses, When the “grafite” was first discovered could hardly be discerned, but by careful treatment walls it has been brought out much stronger, as has the figure EERERRE XX KRR R R R E KRR RN the Palace of * * * * * * * * * * * * of Christ with the word “Crestus’ above it » The inscription is in Latin, and when translated reads: “Christ, % haying been beaten with rods, was hanged upon the cross according % to the secret customs.” OT since the discovery of the considerable doubt as to the meaning containing some unpub- of the rest of the inscription. yings of Christ has any- M. Marucchi deciphers part of been found which compares it: ‘“Crestus, virgis caesus de- * Lterest to the student of cretus mori, super palum vivus 3 tian archaeology with the % fixus est,” which is to say: #* alleged discovery in the Palace of “Christ, after having been x . on the Palatine Hill, in Rome, beaten with rods, having been representing the Crucl- % condemned to die, has been at- h occurred during the reign s tached living to the cross.” * B Various interpretations have by B R S 1, is a pic- : F een A 1 oy be el B0 P . made of other parts of it, some of the Making graffiti W habit to ich the Romans were very much ad- nd owing to it we have been dicted, fortu jing much informa- tion which we could not have obtained in any other way. nguished archaeologist, Profes- , Marucchi, the director of fuseum off the Vatican, elf for many »hy, and now he has into great prominence of the graffito ptian voted hi: ears to The picture is scratched on the level of the ground close by the angle of one of the passag which lie under the structu: ning the bridge of Cali- gula, in th rediate neighborhood of Clivus Victoriae. The building is ally made by Caligula to connect the palace with the Forum. One reason that even the archaeolo- gist has great difficulty in making out the topography of the Palatine is that it is covered with a vast series of sub- structures wi supported the palaces and which afforded rooms and passage- for the servants aves, and es- sally the soldiers. At any moment a large force of soldiers could be con- centrated at arn ) of danger. It is d that the graffito is the work ristian slave or soldier who had sed the erucifixion. not surprising that the soldiers for diversion used to scratch lines and drawings on the rough plaster of the wall. The “graffito” of the crucifixion is very crude, as is so often the case in sketches of this kind. It is believed that the picture was drawn by a soldier who took a more or less active part in the crucifixion of Mount Calvary. The figures meters high. s, and the a galler are about fifteen centi- At the right and left are soldiers mount ladders st them. Each pe the great 2dy duly in: with his na and letu was un- doubtedly intended for Pontius Pilate. The ins: rtion of twelve or fifteen be; with the word ‘“Crestus,” which is already known as a rough form of the name of Christ. There is lines being love verses. It was, how- ever, customary to add to or subtract from such inscriptions; so this objec- tion of archaeologists does not militate against the theory that the picture really represents the Crucifixion. Some contend that Professor Mar- ucchi is mistaken, and that the scene represents a ropewalk, but what ob- ject would Roman soldiers have in por- traying a ropewalk, and how does this do away with “Crestus” and Filetus? M. Marucchi makes a great point in showing that behind the central figure there seems to have been a third cross, for it is still pos- sible to distinguish a third ladder running up the same height as the others and also a third rope hanging downward like the rest. Other profes- sors say that the “graffito” represents the preparations for a battle. All doubts- will probably be set at rest when Professor Marucchi publishes a pamphlet upon® the subject. This pamphlet is in preparation. This is the second “graffito” of great note that Professor Marucchi claims to have discovered in the ten years he has been studying the “graffiti” in the pal- ace of Tiberius. The other ‘“graffito” was also a picture of the Crucifixion, in which Christ appeared with an ani- mal’s ears on his head. After long and hard study Professor Marucchi came to the conclusion that the picture of Christ was originally drawn by a Christian soldier and that afterward, in a spirit of ridicule, some pagan had attached the drawing of the ears of an animal to the figure’s head. The in- scription under the figure had appa- rently likewise been altered in a spirit of derision. A copy of the new “graffito” has been made by Professor Marucchi and pre- sented to the Pope. The “graffito” is carefully protected by a grating, and it is probable that the study of it may bring some new details to light, but at the present time the evidence points to its being an early representation of the Crucifixion. e The Berliners tell many a story of Mommsen's absent-mindedness, and he has ever been credited with not having recognized his own little son, and with having asked him his name prepara- CORNER POSITION OF THE “GRAFFITO" IN THE BASEMENT OF THE HOUSE OF TIBE. RIUS IN ROME. THE GRATING SEEN FAC-SIMILE OF THE “GRAFFITO" SKETCHED BY A ROMAN REMARKABLE “GRAFFITO" OF THE CRUCIFIXION JUST DISCOVERED. SOLDIER ON THE WALLS OF THE HOUSE OF TIBERIUS. THE INSCRIPTION IS IN LATIN AND CONTAINS THE NAMES OF FOUR ROMAN SOLDIERS, PILATE AND CHRIST. THE DOTTED LINES REPRESENT A THIRD CROSS { THAT WAS HARDLY DISCERNIBLE WHEN THE DISCOVERY WAS FIRST MADE, BUT BY CAREFUL TREATMENT OF THE WALL THE OUT- LINES HAVE BEEN BROUGHT OUT STRONGER. ; : malke in a public tram- car in which he was going to town from his home in Charlottenburg; and even said that he put his first baby into the waste-paper basket one day it cried.—St. and cov d it up because James Gazett —_— ee—————— The suicides at Monte Carlo reach an average of fifty yearly. IN THE ABOVE CUT WAS ORDERED PLACED THERE BY THE AUTHORITIES TO PROTECT THE DRAWING FROM CU- RIOSITY SEEKERS WHO THRONGED THE PLACE WHEN THE DISCOVERY WAS MADE PUBLIC. [E=F-F-FoFugegug=F=F=F=F=F=2=2=2=2=2=F=F-F-F=F=F=R=F=F=F=3~3=F=3 =2 = | '0‘35&?3,(“#000)}35'000)}13&9)Qt‘.fiQQQQQOQfi'D.OQQGQQQD.Q'QQQQ/QDfifififififififififififififififififififlfifififififififififi © STRANGE EXPERIMENTS WITH OUR NERVES. : T may greatly surprise many per- | of paper represented an enlarged dia- | sons to learn of the fact that everybody has a blind spot in each eye. Not only this, but every person has a great number of blank or nerveless spots on the skin in which there is little or no feel- ing or sensation. These facts have been developed by certain experiments carried on in Cornell University. The experimenting professors say that when you look at a great paint- ing or a play, or a newspaper, or any- thing that comes within the limits of ordinary vision, you do not see it all at once. There is a point directly op- posite your individual blind spot which is invisible to you. It is so in the best of ey The lower animals are in the same condition. As to the blank spots on the skin the professors say that you could be touched with a hot iron on one of these places and not feel any pain. Stran- ger still, these spots are scattered all over the body. They are small in size, but they are to be found on the hands, arms, face, chest, legs and feet, and, in fact, everywhere on the hu- man frame. 1In order to find them out and if possible make a map of a man’s blank skin spots, the professors in Cornell applied scalding water to the subject’s skin. In places the warm water was too painful to be borne; in others, it could not be felt at all. Blind spots are caused by the optic nerve itself. That which gives to the eyeball its most vital principle at this particular point detracts * from it. After all, we really see with the brain. The eye is merely a camera in which what we look at is photographed on the retina, or senmsitive plate, at the back. Now, the optic nerve enters through the retina, and its very en- trance causes a break in the smooth, reflecting surface of the retina. It is of a stringy nature, but the so-called string is by no means round. There- fore it enters the retina by way of what would be an irregularly shaped hole. This is the blind spot. The nerve interferes with perfect sight to the extent of an irregularly shaped spot in the retina. This spot, when en- larged through the very natural pro- cess of looking at a white wall a few feet away, appears, when outlined in black, very much like a splotch of ink about as large as a quarter of a dollar. The shape of the blind spot in different persons varies, just as does the size of their heads. In the laboratory of psychology in Cornell College there is a map of the blind spot of the eyes of Professor Tichenor. It was procured in a very curious yet very simple manner. On a blank sheet of paper several feet square there were drawn eighty mer- idians or lines, extending in a vertical curve from top to bottom. The sheet gram of the retina of the eve. The subject whose blind spot was to be | found was asked to look straight at the paper on the wall. A round piece of black paper one inch in diameter was now produced and was moved very slowly up and down the merid- jans or curved lines on the wall. By moving up one line and down the next and thus going from line to line the spot of black was sure in the end to have passed every part of the design on the wall While it was being moved along one of the lines the pro- fessor suddenly cried out: “Oh, I cannot see it now!” Then as it proceeded a little further on he said: “There, now I see it again!” Biank or dead spots in the skin are not so hard to find. They exist all over the body. When you touch any- thing, or when some hot substance comes in contact with the skin, you instantly feel it, because its bulk, in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred, covers not only many dead spots on the skin but equally as many sen- sitive spots. You are in the habit of supposing that every part of the skin is susceptible to pain induced by heat or cold, and therefore you imagine that every portion of the part touched is in pain. But if heat or cold can be conveyed to the skin through some delicate point of contact - it will be found that in the aggregate some Very extended patches of skin are verita- bly dead. In Cornell College there is a dia- gram of an ordinary man’s thigh, on which are shown spaces which are in- sensible to heat, cold or pain. In some places there are almost no sensations of temperature. Against these places you might almost lay a hot iron, and it would have but little effect. You might prick other spots with a sharp needle, and, unless you penetrated too deeply, it would not be felt. Some of the instruments are sharply pointed af- fairs, heated with boiling water. They travel forward and backward over the skin, touching every minute part of it in succession, and reproducing, by means of a pantagraph-like instrument, as the sensations of the subject indi- cate, a complete diagram of the dead spaces on his skin. In line with these experiments on dead spaces one of the biggest things Cornell has done has been to prove that we have not, after all, a varied sense of touch. That is, if any part of the body is touched we do not become aware of it by any sense of acute feel- ing in that part, but by the mental picture of the proceeding which we in- stantly form. In other words, the sense of touch in normal persons is entirely dominated by sight. Suppose you are| touched while in the dark; how do you | know where you are touched? Cornell professors assert, and say they have | proved, that in the majority of cases | it is from the picture coming in the | mind, and not by the touch at all. Aft- er all, we have a better idea of the appearance of our bodies than we, per- | haps, credit ourselves with having. If | you had not a very accurate sense of the appearance of your body, it is a question whether or not you would know exactly where any part of it is touched on occasion. The sense of touch is evanescent at best, and un- less you formed a mental picture at eonce you would not be able to locate the sensation two minutes afterward. The point can easily be proved by blindfolding the eyes and touching the hand with the end of an ordinary pen- holder. Having done so, try to find the place where you were touched without looking at it. It will be found almost impossible to do it, and the hand being only a few inches wide, even the frac- tion of an inch difference in locating the correct spot would count much in favor of the theory. In a blind man the state of affairs is still more compli- cated. If stricken with blindness he would have a memory picture of the appearance of his body, but if born blind he could not have any visual map; therefore we may have the cu- rious operation of the building up of a touch picture. The blind man, by va- rious means aside from sight, has pre- conceived ideas of the general shapes and appearances of his head, arms, legs, thorax, abdomen and other parts of his body. Hence when he is touched this introspective picture immediately looms up in his mind, and he knows that it is his knee, foot, hand or other part of his body which has been touched. In one of the big dark rooms in Cor- neli there is a curious piece of appa- ratus used in connection with these ex- periments in touch. It is a chair, the back, seat and footrest of which can be straightened out so as to form a reclin- ing chair, or when perefectly flat a table. It is operated on a pivot so that the whole affair can be spun like a top. The manito be experimented upon is asked to sit in it. Then- the gas is turned off and the walls of the room are so constructed that not one ray of light can reveal his surroundings. ‘Without acquainting him with the fact that any change is to be made the chair is moved into various positions. ‘He is made to sit, to recline and to lie down successively, and as the changes are made he is asked to st ‘e precisely the position of his body. The mistakes which some of the subjects have made have proved conclusively that when in \ total darkness we have very different sensations from what we have when in the light of day. Strange things are done with this chair in this dark room. Men are placed in it and are whirled around until they are dizzy. Then, when they least expect it, platinum wires heated to brilliant whiteness are made to glow by means of an electric current. The subject is required quickly to point out the spot at which the wire is glowing. But this, strange to say, is not always possible after the whirling of the chair. —_—————— A WORD WITH HUSBANDS. Give Your Wife a Little Praise and See How It Works. _ “If husbands only knew, or if know- ing, only cared, how very much their wordg and manners affect the temper- ature of the home world, they would never, bv word or deed, leave it en- shrouded in gloom,” argues Mrs. A. M. Marriott in an article entitled “Praise Your Wife,” in March Woman’'s Home Companion. “To most wives the hus- band is the sun around which every thought revolves. There is scarcely an instant in which his presence is not felt as she goes about her work, or even when at rest. “There is no true woman but will re- pay her husband over and over again for kind, thoughtful treatment. He is ready to call her childish, and she may seem so to him; but one thing is sure, a woman never forgets. All little deeds of love or tnoughtfulness sown by his hand yield a certain and abundant harvest. She may love her home bet- ter than any spot on earth, yet she sometimes gets so weary of the daily routine of never-ending duties that fall to her lot that she ca .not help an oc- casional feeling of envy for those who have more time for recreation, for go- ing abroad, for all the little things dear to the heart of every woman, but which the stern hand of duty most effectually debars her from enjoying. “If she is preparing the meals the way John likes this or that, or some remark he has made about some ar- ticle of food is recalled to mind; if she looks about her she sees his hats and coats hanging on the hooks, and the hats invariably wear the same expres- sion that John's face wore when he left in the morning; a jolly, good- humored look if he went away pleasant, if angry a gruff, defiant, attend -to your-own-business air takes the place of the so lately gentle pliable shapes in felt, and fairly bristle with wrath over some trifle, but still enough to obscure the sun in the little world for many a weary day, perchance, ere it is seem- ingly forgotten. “still, for all that, she would not for the whole world exchange places, even if she couid, with any other woman, leaving home and John—dear old John —as the price of her freedom from care. * * * If your wife has been a faithful and true wife to you tell her sa. </ | y >