6

The Hammer.

[Book I. wings of a fly. Its figure has always varied with its uses, and none but modern workers in the metals can realize the endless variety of its shapes, which the ancient smiths required, to fabricate the wonderfully diversified articles of their manuafcture: from the massive brazen altars and chariots, to the chased goblets, and invaluable tripods or vases, for the possession of which, whole cities contended.

The history of the hammer in its widest range, would let us into the secrets of the statuaries and stone cutters of old: we should learn the process of making those metallic compounds, and working them into tools, with which the Egyptian mechanics sculptured those indurate columns that resist the best tempered steel of modern days. It would introduce us to the ancient chariot makers, cutlers and armorers; and would teach us how to make and temper the blades of Damascus; as well as those which were forged in the extensive manufactory of the father of Demosthenes. It would make us familiar with the arts of the ancient carpenters, coiners, coopers and jewellers. We should learn from it, the process of forging dies and striking money in the temple of Juno Moneta; of making the bodkins and pins for the head dresses of Greek and Roman ladies; while at the religious festivals, we should behold other forms of this implement in use, to knock down victims for sacrifice by the altars.

Finally, a perfect history of the hammer, would not only have made us acquainted with the origin and progress of the useful arts, among the pri meval inhabitants of this hemisphere; but would have solved the great problems respecting their connection with, and migration from the eastern world.

But although we justly deplore the want of information relating to the arts in general of the remote ancients; it is probable that few of their devices for raising water have been wholly lost. If there was one art of more importance than another to the early inhabitants of CENTRAL ASIA and the VALLEY OF THE NILE, it was that of raising water for agricultural purposes. Not merely their general welfare, but their very existence depended upon the artificial irrigation of the land; hence their ingenuity was early directed to the construction of machines for this purpose; and they were stimulated in devising them, by the most powerful of all inducements. That machines must have been indispensable in past, as in present times, is evident from the climates and physical constitution of those countries. Their importance therefore, and universal use, have been the means of their preservation. Nor is it probable that any of them were ever lost in the numerous political convulsions of old. These seldom affected the pursuits of agriculture, and never changed the long established modes of cultivation; besides, hydraulic apparatus, from their utility, were as necessary to the conquerors as the conquered.

Perhaps in no department of the useful arts, has less change taken place than in Asiatic and Egyptian agriculture. It is the same now, that it was thousands of years ago. The implements of husbandry, modes of irrigation, and devices for raising water are similar to those in use, when Ninus and Nebuchadnezzar, Sesostris, Solomon, and Cyrus flourished. And it would appear that the same uniformity in these machines prevailed over all the east, in ancient as in modern times: a fact accounted for, by the great and constant intercourse between continental and neighboring nations; the practice of warriors, of transporting the inhabitants and especially the mechanics and works of art, into other lands; and also from the great importance and universal use of artificial irrigation.

Battles were sometimes fought in one field, while laborers were cultivating unmolested the land of an adjoining one.

Chap. 1.]

Hydraulic machines of the Ancients not lost.

Every part of the eastern world has often had its inhabitants torn from it by war, and their places occupied by others. This practice of conquerors was sometimes modified, as respected the peasantry of a subdued country, but it appears that from very remote ages, mechanics were invariably carried off. The Phenicians, in a war with the Jews, deprived them of every man who could forge iron. "There was no smith found throughout all the land of Israel; for the Philistines said, lest the Hebrews make swords and spears." SHALMANEZER, when he took Samaria, carried the people "away out of their own land to Assyria, and the king of Assyria, brought men from Babylon, and from Cuthah, and from Ava, and from Hamath, and from Sepharvaim, instead of the children of Israel; and they possessed Samaria, and dwelt in the cities thereof." When Nebuchadnezzar took Jerusalem, he carried off, with the treasure of the temple, "all the craftsmen and smiths." Jeremiah says he carried away the " carpenters and smiths, and brought them to Babylon." Diodorus says, the palaces of Persepolis and Susa were built by mechanics that Cambyses carried from Egypt. Ancient history is full of similar examples. Alexander practised it to a great extent. After his death, there was found among his tablets, a resolution to build several cities, some in Europe and some in Asia; and his design was to people those in Asia with Europeans, and those in Europe with Asiatics. In this manner some of the most useful arts, necessarily became common to all the nations of old; and their perpetuity in some degrree secured, especially such as related to the tillage and irrigation of the soil.

We are inclined to believe that the hydraulic machines of the Assyrians, Babylonians, Persians and Egyptians, have all, or nearly all, come down to us. Most of them have been continued in uninterrupted use in those countries to the present times; while others have reached us through the Greeks and Romans, Saracens and Moors; or, have been obtained in modern days from China and Hindostan.

It is remarkable that almost all machines for raising water, originated with the older nations of the world; neither the Greeks, (if the screw of Conon be excepted, and even it was invented IN EGYPT,) nor the Romans, added a single one to the ancient stock; nor is this surprising; for with few exceptions, those in use at the present day, are either identical with, or but modifications of those of the ancients.

It is alleged that Archytas of Tarentum, 400, B. C. invented "hydraulic machines," but no account of them has reached our times, nor do we know that they were designed to raise water. They consisted probably, in the application of the windlass or crane, (the latter it is said he invented) to move machines for this purpose. Had any important or useful machine for raising water, been devised by him, it would have been continued in use; and would certainly have been noticed by Vitruvius, who was acquainted with his inventions, and who mentions him several times in his work. 1 b. chap. 1., and 9 b. chap. 3.o

We have arranged the machines described in this work in five classes; to each of which, a separate BOOK is devoted. A few chapters of the first book, are occupied with remarks on WATER; on the ORIGIN OF VES

21 Sam. chap. xiii, 19, 22. 2 Kings chap. xvii, 23, 24. Goguet, Tom. iii, 13. Diodorus Siculus, quoted by Robertson. India page 191. See Wilkinson's Ancient Egyptians, 1 vol. 206.

Archytas made an automaton pigeon of wood which would fly. It was this probably, which gave the idea to the modern mechanician of Nuremburgh, who constructed an cagle, which flew towards Charles V. on his entrance into that city.

8

Division of the Subject.

[Book L

SELS for containing it; on WELLS and FOUNTAINS, and customs connected with them, &c.

Some persons are apt to suppose the term HYDRAULIC machines, comprises every device for raising water; but such is not the fact. Apparatus propelled by it, as tide mills, &c. are hydraulic machines; these do not raise the liquid at all; while on the contrary, all those for elevating it, which are comprised in the second class, are pneumatic or hydro-pneumatic machines, their action depending on the pressure and elasticity of the atmosphere.

The first Class includes those, by which the liquid is elevated in movable vessels, by mechanical force applied to the latter.

Water raised in a bucket, suspended to a cord, and elevated by the hand, or by a windlass; the common pole and bucket, used daily in our rain water cisterns; the sweep or lever so common among our farmers, are examples of this class; so are the various wheels, as the tympanum, noria, chain of pots; and also the chain pump, and its modifications. This Class embraces all the principal machines used in the ancient world; and the greater part of modern hydraulic machinery is derived from it.

The second Class comprises such as raise water through tubes, by means of the elasticity and pressure, or weight of the atmosphere; as sucking pumps, so named; siphons, syringes, &c.

The aplication of these machines, unlike those of the first class is limited, because the atmosphere is only sufficient to support a column of water of from thirty to thirty five feet in perpendicular height; and in elevated countries, (as Mexico) much less. Numerous modifications of these machines have been made in modern times, but the pump itself is of ancient origin.

Those which act by compression are described in the third Class. The liquid being first admitted into a close vessel, is then forcibly expelled through an aperture made for the purpose. In some machines this is effected by a solid body impinging on the surface of the liquid; as the piston of a pump: in others, the weight of a column of water, is used to accomplish the same purpose.

Syringes, fire engines, pumps which are constructed on the same principle as the common bellows, are examples of the former; and the famous machine at Chemnitz in Hungary, Heron'sfountain, pressure engines, of the latter. Nor can the original invention of these be claimed by the moderns. Like the preceding, they were first developed by the energy of ancient intellects.

Fourth Class. There is however another class, which embraces several machines, which are supposed to be exclusively of modern origin; and some of them are by far the most interesting and philosophical of all. Such as the Bélier hydraulique, or ram of Montgolfier; the centrifugal pump; the fire engine, so named because it raised water "by the help of fire;" that is, the original steam engine, or machine of Worcester, Moreland, Savary and Papin.

modern devices, as are either novelty, or the principles upon comprised in this class. ReObservations on cocks, pipes,

In the fifth Class, we have noticed such practically useful, or interesting from their which they act. An account of siphons is marks on natural modes of raising water. valves, &c; and some general reflections are added.

Chap. 2.]

Water.

9

CHAPTER II.

WATER-Its importance in the economy of nature-Forms part of all substances-Food of all ani mals Great physical changes effected by it-Earliest source of inanimate motive power-Its distribution over the earth not uniform-Sufferings of the orientals from want of water-A knowledge of this necessary to understand their writers-Political ingenuity of Mahomet-Water a prominent feature in the paradise of the Asiatics-Camels often slain by travellers, to obtain water from their stomachsCost of a draught of such water-Hydraulic machine referred to in Ecclesiastes-The useful arts originated in Asia-Primitive modes of procuring water-Using the hand as a cup-Traditions respecting Adam Scythian tradition-Palladium-Observations on the primitive state of man and the origin of the arta.

WATER is, in many respects, the most important substance known to man: it is more extensively diffused throughout nature than almost any other. It covers the greater part of the earth's surface, and is found to pervade its interior wherever excavations are made. It enters into every or nearly every combination of matter, and was supposed by some ancient philosophers, to be the origin of all matter; the primordial element; of which every object in nature was formed. The mineral kingdom, with its variegated substances and chrystalizations; the infinitely diversified and enchanting productions of the vegetable world; and every living being in animated nature, were supposed to be so many modifications of this aqueous fluid. According to VITRUVIUS, the Egyptian priests taught, that "all things consist of water;" and Egypt was doubtless the source whence Thales and others derived the doctrine. PLINY, says "this one element seemeth to rule and command all the rest."b And it was remarked by PINDAR—

"Of all things, water is the best."

Modern science has shown that it is not a simple substance, but is composed of at least two others; neither of which, it is possible, is elementary. Water not only forms part of the bodies of all animals, but it constitutes the greatest portion of their food. Every comfort of civilized or savage life depends more or less upon it; and life itself cannot be sustained without it. If there were no rains or fertilizing dews, vegetation would cease, and every animated being would perish. Even terrestrial animals may be considered as existing in water, for the atmosphere in which we live and move, is an immense aerial reservoir of it, and one more capacious than all the seas on

the face of the earth.

Water is also the prominent agent, by which those great physical and chemical changes are effected, which the earth is continually undergoing; and the stupendous effects produced by it, through the long series of past ages, have given rise, in modern times, to some of the most interesting departments of physical science.

The mechanical effects produced by it, render it of the highest importance in the arts. It was the earliest source of inanimate motive power; and has contributed more than all other agents to the amelioration of man's condition. By its inertia in a running stream, and by its gravity in a falling one, it has superseded much human toil; and has administered to our wants, our pleasures and our profits; and by its expansion into the aeriform

■ Proem to b. viii. b Nat. Hist. xxxi, 1.

A human corpse which weighed an hundred and sixty pounds-when the moisture was evaporated, weighed but twelve.

10

Religious Opinions respecting Water.

[Book I. state, it appears to be destined, (through the steam engine) to accomplish the greatest moral and physical changes, which the intellectual inhabitants of this planet have ever experienced, since our species became its denizens. The distribution of water is not uniform over the earth's surface, nor yet under its crust. While in some countries, natural fountains, capacious rivers, and frequent rains, present abundant sources for all the purposes of human life; in others, it is extremely scarce, and procured only with difficulty, and constant labor. This has ever been the case in various parts of Asia, and also in Egypt and other parts of Africa, where rain seldom falls. It is only from a knowledge of this fact and of the temperature and debilitating influences of eastern climates, that we are enabled to appreciate the peculiar force and beauty of numerous allusions to water, which pervade all the writings of eastern authors, both sacred and profane. Nor without this knowledge could we understand many of the peculiar customs of the people of the east.

MAHOMET well knew that his followers, living under the scorching rays of the sun, their flesh shrivelled with the desiccating influences of the air, and "dried up with thirst," could only be moved to embrace his doctrines by such promises as he made them, of "springs of living waters," "security in shades," "amidst gardens" and "fountains pouring forth plenty of water."a Nor could his ingenuity have devised a more appropriate punishment, than that with which he threatened unbelieving Arabs in hell. They were to have no mitigation of their torments; no cessation of them, except at certain intervals, when they were to take copious draughts of filthy and boiling water."b It was universally believed by the ancients, that the MANES of their deceased friends experienced a suspension of punishment in the infernal regions, while partaking of the provisions which their relatives placed on their graves. The Arabian legislator improved

upon

the tradition.

The orientals have always considered water, either figuratively or literally, as one of the principal enjoyments of a future state. Gardens, shades, and fountains, are the prominent objects in their paradise. In the Revelations we are told "the Lamb shall lead them, (the righteous,) unto living fountains of waters." Chap. vii, 17.—“A pure river of water of life." Chap. xxii, 1. The book which contains an account of the religion and philosophy of the Hindoos, is named ANBERTKEND, signifying, "the cistern of the waters of life."

Inhabitants of temperate climates, seldom or never experience that excruciating thirst implied in such expressions as "the soul panting for water;" nor that extremity of despair when, under such suffering, the exhausted traveller arrives at a place "where no water is." Under these circumstances, the orientals have often been compelled to slay their camels, for the sake of the water they might find in their stomachs; and a sum exceeding five hundred dollars, has been given for a single draught of it.

It is necessary to experience something like this, in order fully to comprehend the importance of the Savior's precept, respecting the giving "a cup of cold water," and to know the real value of such a gift. We should then see that sources of this liquid are to the orientals, literally "fountains of life," and "wells of salvation." And when we become acquainted with their methods of raising water, we shall perceive how singularly apposite are those illustrations, which the author of Ecclesiastes has drawn from "the pitcher broken at the fountain;" and from "the wheel broken at the cistern." Chap. xii, 6.

b

a SALE'S Koran, chaps. 55, 76, 83. Koran, chaps. 14, 22, 37. Million of Facts, p. 253.