The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, September 11, 1898, Page 18

18 THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL, SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 1898. (<) ] (] o (<] o o o HAS THE MOST REMARKABLE PAIR OF EYES IN THE WORLD. A FEW OF THE THINGS THE MAN WITH THE MICRO- SCOPIC EYE CAN EASILY DO WITHOUT THE USE OF GLASSES. I—Write the Lord's Prgyer and sign his name and the date Inside g clircle that can be covered by the end of a lead pencil. S—Write the name, George Washington, with a lead p2n- cll so very small that the connected letters will look like a halr to the observer, but under the microscope every letter will stand out distinctly. 3—Write the Declaration of In- dependence on a postage stamp so that It may easily be read under a microscope. A MAN WITH ORDINARY EYES HAS TO USE A POWERFUL MICROSCOPE TO READ WHAT GENERAL BAMBERGER WRITES WITHOUT THE USE OF GLASSES HY has not man a micro- scopic eye? For this plain reason, man is not a fiy. So wrote Alexander Pope, long years ago, and to-day. in San Francisco, the man with the microscopic g¢ye has been found, and faith, he’s scarcely larger than a fly. A diminutive body, big ‘itle and a microscopic eye—these are the varied and treasured posses- sions of General Solomon Bamberger, bookkeeper and manager of the Pacific American Decorative Company. The magnifying power of his eye is equal to the strongest microscope that ‘s made. His handwri! 1g is the smellest in the world. By placing his eye quite near an object he can, with- out the assistance of any glass what- ever, plainly discern and even exam- ine the texture and structure of an ob- ject so minute as to be invisible to the ordinary naked eye. With ‘a penc'! charpened to an infin- itesimally small point, this unusual man can inscribe a man's full name C0000000000000O00000GCC000000000000C00000C0O0O000O000000000000C0000000000000C00000000 REMARKABLE FEAT IN Schiller’s poem, will be found below. MICROSCOPIC WRITING The hair lines in the above circle are photographed from a copy of “The Greatness of the World.” On acount of the coarseness of printing ink and The text of the poem paper this extraordinary feat of the man with the microscopic eye can- not be accurately reproduced for the reader; but in the original every letter is distinct, plain, and the whole poem may be easily read. General Bamberger wrote it without using glasses to help his sight. upon a piece of p-per in writing so fine tlfat 1t lpooks like a tiny hair upon the page, and yet, under a powerful micro- gcope each letter is distinctly and per- fectly formed. Within a circle that can be covered by the end of an ordinary lead penclll, he can write not only the Lord's Prayer, but his name and the date as well. He uses for this purpose a number 1000 Gillett pen, the finest pen point made. 5 When writing, the general’s eye is not two inches from the p per, his cheek rests upon his hand, and there is scarcely a perceptible movement of the pen. His xtraordinary steadiness of nerve he attributes to the fact that he has never used tobacco in any form. A man ofered to back him a short time since in a bet of one thousand dollars that th -~ was not another man in the world who could write a hand g0 _small. He Is probably the smallest man that ever supported the dignified title of eral. In his long-tailed coat and silk hat he is a quaint little figure. His cduntenance beams with kindliness and gentleness, and it seems strange that a body of such minute proportions should be the tenement of so large a soul. Despite the sixty-five winters and summers that have passed over the little man’s head, old Father Time has treated him most kindly, for not one white halr has he dropped in passing. The general has had a remarkable career as well as an Interesting per- sonal history. He was born in Louls- ville, Ky., and when the Clvil War broke out was one of the first to offer his services to his country. Leaving be- hind him a property valued at $2,000,- 000, as a common private he commenced his scramble up the ladder of fame. Nor did he once stop until he had reached the rung upon which was in- scribed “Brevet Brigadier General.” In his capacity as private secretary to General Joseph E. Johnston, and af- terward to Jefferson Davis, most of the sceret correspondence of the war passed through his hands. He also drew the plan of the battle of Bull Run. At the termination of the war he emerged to find his property destroyed and that he had not so much as a 10-cent picce. For all his lost fortune, for the merry time he might have had, he has no regrets. He says he is a better man than he would have been had he had his vast fortune to squander in riotous living, for he frankly admits that when the war began he was rapidly progress- ing toward the canines. The general isablithesomelittle bach- elor. He has managed to steer his bark clear of the shoals and breakers that beset the sea of matrimony, although he had one hair-breadth escape. So anxious was the “woman in the case” to place the halter round-his neck that when somebody as a jest remarked that she and the general were engaged she at once sent out cards announcing their engagement. The first indication he had that the remark had ‘‘taken” was when, accosted by a friend the follow- ing day, he was offered congratula- tions. However, he managed to escape without any serious injury. General Bamberger’s eye is probably the most remarkable of its kind in the world. He wears a number four myo- pic glass, which is nearly the strongest made and which is entirely inadequate to his needs. Interesting and extraordinary as this gentleman’s vision appears to the lay mind, it must be ever more so to that of the man of science. The peculiarity of the eye lies in the formation of the retina, for an eye capable of distin- guishing objects of extraordinary min- uteness must have a retina in which the rods a. d cones are extraor- dinarily minute. A part of General Bamberger’s abnormal acuity of vision for near objects is expiained by his ex- treme myopia (nearsightedness), for a myopic eye is in a sense 2 magnifying glass. There is nothing unusual in the appearance of the eye. It is clear and bright, there is no undue distension or contraction of the pupil, nor fullness of the cornea. The writing which General Bamberger has been kind enough to do for The Call, and which, it will be seen, fills a space that can easily be covered by a nickel, will, if placed un- der a powerful microscope, be found to be the following poem of Schiller, “The Greatness of the World": Through the world, which the Spirit, creative and kind, First formed out of chaos, I fly like , on the strand Of its billows I land, My anchor cast forth where the breeze blows no more, And Creation’s last boundary stands on the shore, I saw infant stars into Being arise, ¥or thousands of vears to roll on through the skies; 1 saw them in play Seclk thelr goal far away— For a moment my fu dered on— I look'd round me, and lo! all those bright stars had flown! Madly yearning_ to reach the dark kingdom of Night, sitive gaze wan- Can Form Letters So Small That They Cannot 1 . Be Seen With the Naked Eye. 00000000000000000000000000000000000000000OOOD00000000_0000000000000600000000000000000000060000000000OOOOOOGOOOOOOOGO000000000 THE MAN WITH THE MICROSCOPIC EYE. 0002 000000C00000C0000C000O0CO0CC000C0O0CCC0000000 GENERAL SOLOMON BAMBERGER, the Man With the Microscopic Eye Oculists Declare He Has the Most Extraordinary Pair of Eyes in the World. From a Photograph. 1 boldly steer on with the speed of the light; All misty and drear The dim heavens appear, While embryo systems, and seas at their source, Are whirling around Sun-Wanderer's course. When sudden a Pilgrim I see drawing near, Along the lone path—“Stay! What seekest thou here?” “My bark, tempest tost, Beeks the Worl{s distant coast, I sail tow’rd the land where the breeze blows no more, And Creation’s last boundary stands on the shore.” “Stay, thou sailest in vain! nity yonder!” “'Tis Infinity, too, where thou, Pil- grim, would’st wander! Eagle thoughts that aspire Let your proud pinions tire! For ’tis here that sweet Phantasy, bold to i~ last, Her anchor in hopeless dejection must 'Tis In- STRANGE MARKIAGE CEREMONIES. Marriage by capture, says the Spec- tator, is symbolized more or less in ceremonies all the world over, except in such places where it is still the habit to secure a wif: by knocking her down first, as the Australian does with his “waddy” or his “nullanulia.” The Chinaman, if the parents of his in- tended are obstinate, carries her off; the Abyssinian carries his wife round her own house or to his own; and the Kabyle carries his bride across the threshold, as do also the Chinese, and the Swiss in some parts. The Druses have a regular sham fight in which the bride’s party drive the bridegroom’s into his own village; and in some Arab tribes, the Aenezes, for instance, the bride runs from tent to tent before she is caught. Crossing the threshold was and is the most critical period of the wedding day with all races, not even excepting the Anglo-Saxon. The superstitious fears of the many, always particularly alert on the occa- sion of a marriage, culminate in this final act of the drama. The lifting of the bride over the threshold or her stepping across it is the signal in Per- sia, arabia, and among the Kopts of E-~vpt for the sacrifice of a goat or a sheep. Among the Aenezes, according to Burckhardt, the bridegroom simply kills a lamb in front of his father-in- law’s tent, and the ceremony, but for the running of the bride from one tent to another, is complete. Perhaps the purest symbolical act is that of the Transylvanian Saxon bridal pair, who step over the threshold with their hand. ed together. Some of these Transylvanian customs are remark- able, and must be survivals from a very ancient period. The bridegroom never wears the shirt made for him by the bride except on his wedding day and at his burial, just as the veil of tke Japanese bride becomes one day her shroud. SEARCHLIGHTS ARE THE LATEST AMUSEMENT “Borax King” Smith, A. Schilling and other capitalists haye erected towers for them on their Lake Merritt properties. Every night they turn the for their own and their guests’ pleasure. OF MILLIONAIRES. great shafts of light on the beauties of the countryside 1 [t R T EARCHLIGHT towers rising amid beautiful grounds is the latest fad among Oakland’s milllonaires who have built palatial resi- den around Lake Merritt. Probably no svot in the center of any city in eny country admits of so much possibility in the way of the artistic and attractive as the spilendid water park which nature placed in the heart of Oakland. ‘Within the past three years the seenic country around the lake has been chosen by many wealthy Californians and retired Hawaiian planters as the place for their homes, and now a move- ment is on foot to render this beauty spot a place where the public can enjoy itself without let or hindrance., One of the most noticeable attempts to improve the shores of Lake Merritt was. that of A. Schilling, who installed an electric light plant permitting of various colored effects along the edge of the water washing his estate and elgo around his grounds. This was fol- lowed by the erection of a powerful eearchlight, which on frequent oc- casions has amused hundreds who live in the vicinity of the water park. . This searchlight was at once declared to be one of the most desirable addi- tions to the natural beauty around the lake. A little to the south, on the darkest ‘of nights, the large arc illumi- nated by the searchlight reveals with great distinctness the boathouse along- side of Twelfth street dam, the pictur- esque yachts at anchor and any car- riages that may be driving along the boulevard. A little to the north the light brings out the pretty Sacred Heart College, surrounded by anclent oaks. On Adams Point, which may soon become a public park, one of the prettiest sylvan scenes in the county can be seen on the blackest nights with a distinctness possible on a clear day. On the opposite side of the lake from the Schilling place is the palatial home of Millionaire Frank M., Smith, the “Borax King.” This is the finest and largest home in California, and the latest addition to its many attractions is a tall tower which has been erected in a Hne with Fourth avenue on a wooded hill from which a commanding view can be had of the lake and the scenery around it. This tower is just completed and in it will be at once in- stalled a more powerful light than that which has on many occasions been di- rected at the Smith mansion from across Lake Merritt. CAPITALISTS @BOUT I;AI(I MFRRITT HAVING FUN LIGHTING UP THE SCENERY AT NIGHT WITH THEIR NEW SEARCHLIGHTS. [ Al