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. 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.

In

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

per

might be put in as the donor thought proper. 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 upend 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 so 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 usesHeraldic device-Eolipiles from Rivius-Cupelo furnace and eolipile, from Erekers-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.

389

intellectual energies of our nature than any thing else; and has imparted a vigorous impulse to them, as well as to the useful arts. As all the advantages derived 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 in the inorganic world! Forces that can render us incalculable service, 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 the condition of men, and to regenerate the earth; for all that is yet done 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

390

Benefits to be derived from Steam.

[Book IV. food; and undergoing privations and sufferings to obtain it, from which the lowest animals are exempt? Assuredly not. Had such been his design, he would not have created them with faculties expressly adapted for nobler pursuits.

It is the glory of modern science, that it calls into legitimate use both the physical and mental powers of man. It rewards him with numerous forces derived from inanimate nature, and instructs him in the application of them, to all, or nearly all, the purposes of life; and eventually it will require from him no greater amount of physical toil, than what conduces to the full development of all the energies of his compound nature. It is destined to awaken that mass of intellect which has hitherto lain dormant, and been all but buried in the laboring classes; and to bring it into active exercise for the benefit of the whole. And for aught we know, the "new earth," spoken of in the scriptures, may refer to that state of society, when science has thus relieved man from all injurious labor-when he will walk erect upon the earth and subdue it, rather by his intellect than by the sweat of his brow-when the curse of ignorance will be removed, and with it the tremendous punishment that has ever attended it. Then men will no longer enter in shoals into a new state of existence in another world, as utterly ignorant of the wonders of creative wisdom in this, as if they had never been in it, and had not pos sessed faculties expressly adapted to study and enjoy them.

There is no truth in the observation of some people, that all discoveries of importance are already made; on the contrary, the era of scientific research and the application of science to the arts may be considered as but commenced. The works of creation will forever furnish materials for the exercise of the most refined intellects, and will reward their labors with a perpetual succession of new discoveries. The progress which has been made in investigating the laws that govern the aqueous, atmospherical, mineral and vegetable parts of creation, is but a prelude to what is yet to be done—it is but the clearing of the threshold preparatory to the portals of the temple of science being thrown open to the world at large. There is no profession however matured, no art however advanced, that is not capable of further improvement; or that, so far as we can tell, will not always be capable of it. If an art be carried to the utmost perfection it is capable of in one age, discoveries in others will in time be made, by means of which it will be still further advanced; for every improvement in one has an effect, more or less direct, on every other.

The benefits already derived from steam, then, are but as a drop to the ocean when compared with those that posterity will realize; for if such great things have been accomplished by it in one century, what may not be expected in another? and another? It has been calculated that two hundred men, with machinery moved by steam, now manufacture as much cotton as would require twenty millions of persons without machines; that is, one man by the application of inorganic motive agents can now produce the same amount of work that formerly required one hundred thousand men. The annual product of machinery in Great Britain, a mere spot on the earth, would require the physical energies of one half the inhabitants of the globe, or four hundred millions of men: and the various applications of steam in different parts of the world now produce an amount of useful labor, which if performed by manual strength would require the incessant exertions of every human being. Hence this great amount of labor is so much gained, since it is the result of inorganized forces, and consequently contributes so much to the sum of human happi

ness.

Now if such results have been brought about so quickly and by