Chap. 2.]

Ingenuity of Ancient Priests.

385

no provision for a fresh supply. Besides, as the liquid was expelled, the higher would the remainder have to be raised, and consequently unless the air received a corresponding increase of temperature the discharge from the vase might cease.

Had it not been for the Spiritalia, we should never have suspected that air was made to perform so important a part in ancient frauds, nor that its expansion and contraction had been employed to raise liquids. Notwithstanding the high opinion which history gives us of the philosophical knowledge of old priests, we should hardly have surmised that they had the art of applying this subtil fluid so ingeniously. They seem, however, to have ransacked all nature for devices; and to have become familiar with the principles upon which the most valuable of our arts and machinery are based. Astronomy, acoustics, chemistry, optics, hydrostatics, pneumatics, and hydraulics, were all pressed into their service. Even the application of steam, as a source of motive force, did not escape so that had their energies been devoted to the development of useful mechanism, the world would probably have been indebted to them for the steam engine itself.

them;

What wonders would an insight into the old temples have revealed! To have had an opportunity of inspecting the machinery, new and oldto have been present at the consultations of the priests-witnessed their private experiments-heard them expatiate on the defects of this device. and the perfect working of that-suggesting a wheel here and a spring there to have been present at their consultations respecting the suspension of water in Tutia's sieve, and witnessed the congratulations exchanged at the eclat with which that and many other trials came off, &c. &c.— would have made us acquainted with discoveries both in science and mechanical combinations that would throw some modern inventions into shade-But the tremendous evils which their impostures induced rendered concealment on the part of the priests indispensable. Exposure would not only have endangered their wealth and influence, but might have led to their extermination by an outraged and plundered peoplehence the veil of religion was interposed to screen the operators and their apparatus, and inevitable death was the consequence of undue curiosity : witness that of Alcitha, a female of Thebes, who ridiculed the orgies of Bacchus, and was represented by the priests as having been changed into a · bat; a fiction of theirs, most likely, to conceal their having taken her off. Epytus might be adduced as another example-he forcibly entered the temple of Neptune and was struck blind by a sudden eruption of salt-water from the altar; probably sulphuric or other acid secretly ejected by the priests. In this chapter we have seen they had the means of doing this by the dilatation of air within the cavities of altars.

We shall conclude this chapter with some remarks on the Spiritalia, a work that had more influence in reviving the study of hydrodynamics in modern times, than any other. This little book, like a rivulet, sent its streams of knowledge over all Europe in the sixteenth century. It stimulated, if it did not create that spirit of investigation and experimental research which then commenced and has continued unimpaired to the present time. It seems to have caused an unusual degree of excitement. Philosophers, chemists, and physicians, as well as engineers, illustrated their writings by its problems and figures. Porta, Decaus, Fludd, and others, avowedly transferred its pages to their works, while many writers with less candor and less ingenuity made use of it without acknowledgment. Of all the old mechanicians, Besson seems to have been less indebted to it than any other.

386

Contents of Heron's Spiritalia.

[Book IV. The Spiritalia formed but a small part of the writings of Heron: had all of them reached our times, we should have possessed an almost perfect system of ancient mechanical philosophy. He wrote books on clepsydra, automata, dioptrics, war machinery, engines for raising weights; and an introduction to mechanics, which is said to have been the most complete work on the subject which the ancients possessed. Taken as a whole, the Spiritalia seems more like the manual of an ancient magician than any thing else—a collection of deceptions with the processes by which they were matured. In it Heron, instead of appearing in the character of a philosopher, rather assumed (perhaps for amusement or to expose the frauds of the Egyptian hierarchy) that of a minister of Isis, initiating an acolyte into the mysteries of his profession. And numerous as are the devices described, they doubtless formed but a small part of those which constituted the active and efficient capital of the Egyptian priesthood. With the exception of an hydraulic and another organ, a syringe, fire engine, fountain of compression, three lamps and two eolipiles, (and most of which were also used for unworthy purposes) the whole may be considered as a text book for conjurers. Of the seventysix problems contained in the book, twelve relate to the working of prodigies at the altars, by air dilated by the heat of the sacred fires, &c. as already noticed; upwards of forty relate to sacrificial vases, Tantalus' cups, magic pitchers, &c. In some of these were concealed cavities, in which the liquid was retained or discharged, by closing with the thumb a minute opening in the handle. Water was poured into some and they gave out wine, and vice versa. In these we have a solution of the trick by which water was changed into wine in the temple of Bacchus, on the 7th of January at the annual feast of the god, as mentioned by Pliny. In others were disguised partitions forming various compartments in which different liquids were retained, and all discharged at one orifice (by a species of three or four-way cock) so that those in the secret could draw wine, oil, or water, at pleasure; besides many other merry conceits, as the old authors name them. There is we think among them abundant evidence that our solution of Tutia's miracle of carrying water in a sieve was the true one. It is probable that in some of these vases, specimens of the old divining cups may be found.

The ingenious reader will not repine at our inserting a specimen of a lustral vase. We have selected this because it shows that mechanical as well as hydrodynamical devices were adopted as occasions required. It shows also that the mode of increasing or diminishing the pressure of a valve to its seat, by a loaded lever, as in the safety valve of a steam engine, was known-a circumstance that may be deemed quite insignificant by some persons; but attention to such little things often enables us to arrive at correct estimates of an ancient device, and of the ingenuity and fertility of conception of ancient devisers.

Most readers are aware that holy water was derived from that of the heathen. When a worshiper was about to enter the temple, he sprinkled himself from a vase of it placed near the entrance. On some particular occasions the people were sprinkled by priests. (See an example at page 196.) Those who celebrated the Eleusinian mysteries were particularly required to wash their hands in holy water. In the middle ages the liquid was a source of considerable profit to monks, and it was even a custom for clerks and scholars to hawk it for sale. From Heron's description of the following figure, (No. 178,) we learn that heathen priests also made it a source of revenue; the vessels containing lustral water not being always open for public use, free of charge, but closed, and like a

Chap. 2.]

Ancient Lustral Vase.

387

child's money box provided with a slit at the top, through which a certain sum was to be put before the donor could receive any of the purifying contents. In the vase before us five drachma, or about seventy-five cents, were required, and it will be perceived from the construction of the apparatus that no less sum could procure a drop, although as much more

might be put in as the donor thought proper.a The device is a very neat specimen of religious ingenuity, and the more so since it required no attending minister to keep it in play. We may judge of other apparatus belonging to the old temples by the talent displayed in this. A portion of the vase is removed in the figure to show the interior. Near one side is seen a cylindrical vessel at A. It is this only that contained water. A small tube attached to the bottom is continued through the side of the vase at o, where the liquid was discharged. The inner orifice of the tube was formed into the seat of a valve, the plug of which was fixed on the lower end of the perpendicular rod, whose upper end was connected by a bolt to the horizontal lever or vibrating beam R. One end of R is spread out into a flat dish and so arranged as to receive on its surface every thing dropped through the slit. The lever turns on a pin or fulcrum very much like a pump handle, as represented. The operation will now be understood. As the weight of the rod kept the valve closed while nothing rested upon the broad end of the lever, so no liquid could escape; but if a number of coins of sufficient weight were dropped through the slit upon the end of R, the valve would then be opened and a portion of liquid escape at o;-the quantity flowing out would however be very small, not only from the contracted bore of the tube, but from the fact that the valve would be open only a moment; for as the lever became inclined from its horizontal position the pieces of money would slide off into the mass accumulated at H, and the efflux would as quickly be stopped: the apparatus would then be ready to supply the next customer on the same terms. This certainly was as simple and ingenious a mode of dealing out liquids as it was a profitable one, and after all was not half só demoralizing as the retailing of ardent spirits in modern times.

One would suppose the publication of such a work as Heron's Spiritalia must have been as distasteful to the occupants of ancient temples, as some of Luther's writings were to Leo X and his associates of the Vatican.

a In spondea, hoc est in vasa sacrificii injecto quinque drachmarum numismate aqua ad inspergendum effluit. Spiritalia, xxi.

388

On Steam.

[Book IV.

CHAPTER III.

ON STEAM: Miserable condition of the great portion of the human race in past times-Brighter prospects for posterity-Inorganic motive forces-Wonders of steam-Its beneficial influence on man's future destiny -Will supersede nearly all human drudgery-Progress of the arts-Cause why steam was not formerly employed-Pots boiling over and primitive experiments by females-Steam an agent in working prodigies-Priests familiar with steam-Sacrifices boiled-Seething bones-Earthquakes-Anthemius and Zeno-Hot baths at Rome-Ball supported on a jet of steam, from the Spiritalia--Heron's whirling eolipile-Steam engines on the same principle-Eolipiles described by Vitruvius-Their various uses— Heraldic device-Eolipiles from Rivius-Cupelo furnace and eolipile, from Erckers-Similar applications of steam revived and patented-Eolipiles of the human form-Ancient tenures-Jack of HiltonPuster, a steam deity of the ancient Germans-Ingenuity of the priests in constructing and working it— Supposed allusions to eolipilic idols in the bible--Employed in ancient wars to project streams of liquid fire-Draft of chimneys improved, perfumes dispersed, and music produced by eolipiles-Eolipiles the germ of modern steam engines.

If we contemplate the past history of man, we shall find that, with a few insignificant exceptions, the entire race has been, as it were, doomed to support an existence surcharged with misery. From the earliest periods of recorded time, we behold the great mass slaves to an organized despotism which a few crafty spirits entailed upon the species-a despotism both mental and physical-to subdue the body and enthrall the mind -political and ecclesiastical despotism. To the neglect of mental cultivation alone, these evils are to be attributed; for in every age men have had the same elements of prosperity and of happiness. The earth and its treasures have always been at their disposal, and the natural capacities of the human intellect, have probably always been the same. It is the improvement of these capacities by culture, and their degeneracy by neglect, that make all the differences in men's condition. The horrible sufferings of the myriads of human beings who have passed through a life of unceasing and unrequited toil, were owing to their ignorance, and hence the tyrants of the earth have always labored, and still labor, to keep those uninformed that are subject to their sway. Ignorance was the grand engine by which the most atrocious systems of tyranny, superstition and magic were established in ancient times; and whose influences are not yet done away.

But within the last two centuries a new era has opened with brighter prospects for the human family at large, than has ever yet dawned upon it. An era that has been ushered in by the discovery, or rather application, of a new motive agent, viz. STEAM. The wonderful effects which this fluid has been made to produce, are so creditable to the human intellect, and so fraught with consequences of the highest import to our race in all times to come, as to excite even in the most torpid minds emotions of stirring interest. Steam is changing every thing, and every thing for the better. It has opened new sources of social and individual happiness: nor is its influence confined to the physical condition of man, for by its connection with the manufacture of paper and with the printing press, it has done more to rouse and exercise the moral and

Chap. 3.]

Future Destiny of Man.

intellectual energies of our nature than any thing else; and has imparted a vigorous impulse to them, as well as to the useful arts.

vantages

As all the adderived in modern times from steam originated in attempts to raise water by it, we need offer no apology for indulging in some preliminary remarks.

What a proof is steam of the stores of motive forces that are to be found Forces that can render us incalculable service, in the inorganic world! if we would but open our eyes to detect, and exercise our energies to employ them. Who could have supposed two centuries ago, that the simple vapor of water would ever be used as a substitute for human exertions, and should relieve man from a great portion of the physical toil under which he has groaned from the beginning of the world? That it would arm him with a power which is irresistible, and at the same time the most pliant-one that can uproot a mountain, and yet be controlled by a child! Who could have then imagined that a vessel of boiling water should impart motion to machinery in every department of the arts, and be equally adapted to all-should spin and weave threads fine as those of the gossamer; and forge tons of iron into single bars with almost equal rapidity and ease-raise water from mines, in streams equal to rivers; and extract mountains of mineral from the bowels of the earth-should propel carriages, such as no horses could move, with the velocity of wind; and urge ships of every class through the ocean, in spite both of winds and waves-should be the means of circulating knowledge at the price of waste paper, and of awakening and stimulating the mental capacities of men! In a word, that a little aqueous vapor should revolutionize the whole social and political condition of man: and that after having done all this, that it should probably give place to other agents, still more powerful and beneficial, which science and observation should discover.

What a proof is steam of the high destiny that awaits our species! The most fervid imagination cannot realize the importance of those discoveries in science and the arts, of which it is merely the forerunner; the first in that new catalogue of motive agents that are ordained to change done yet the condition of men, and to regenerate the earth; for all that is is but as the twilight that ushers in the orb of day. Hitherto man has been comparatively asleep, or in a state resembling it-insensible of the rich inheritance which the Creator has placed at his disposal in the elastic fluids, and of their adaptation to impart motion to every species of mechanism. How few persons are aware that the grand invention of imparting motion to a piston by steam and other elastic fluids, is the pivot on which the chief affairs of the world is destined hereafter to turn? And the time is not distant when, by means of it, the latent energy of the gases, or other properties of inert matter, will supersede, in a great degree, the drudgery of man-will perform nearly all the labor which the bones and sinews of our species have hitherto been doomed to accomplish. There are persons, however, whose minds biased by the eternal bondage in which the mass of our race has always been held, who will startle at the idea of the whole becoming an intelligent and highly intellectual body. They cannot conceive how the affairs of life are to be continued -the execution of innumerable works which the constitution of society requires should be performed, if these helots become free. But can they, can any one, seriously believe that the all-wise and benevolent Creator could possibly have intended that the highest class of beings which he has placed on this planet-the only one capable of appreciating his works and realizing correct ideas of his attributes-that the great portion of these, should pass through life in incessantly toiling for mere