Chap. 8.]

Cistern Pole.

57

told, were so much struck with admiration of his conduct, that they ordered ten mina, [one hundred and sixty dollars] to be paid him out of the public treasury.

The conduct of Cleanthes explains the secret of the great celebrity of many ancient philosophers, and shows the only means by which eminence any department of human knowledge can be acquired: viz. by industry and perseverance. Besides his poverty, which of itself was sufficient to paralyze the efforts of most men, he was so singularly dull in apprehension, that his fellow disciples used to call him the ass; but resolution and application raised him above them all, made him a complete master of the stoic philosophy, and qualified him as successor of the illustrious Zeno. Democritus beautifully expressed the same sentiment, by representing Truth as hid in the bottom of a well; to intimate the difficulty with which

she is found.

Analogous to the conduct of Cleanthes, was that of Plautus, the poet, who being reduced from competence to the meanest poverty, hired himself to a baker as a common laborer, and while employed in grinding corn, exercised his mind in study. The same may be remarked of Asclepiades and Menedemus, two Grecian philosophers, who were both so poor, that at one period, they hired themselves as bricklayer's laborers, and were employed in carrying mortar to the tops of buildings. Asclepiades, was not ashamed to be seen thus engaged, but his companion "hid himself if he saw any one passing by." Athenæus, says they were at one time summoned, like Cleanthes, before the Areopagites, to account for their manner of living-when they requested a miller to be sent for, who testified that "they came every night to his mill, where they labored and gained two drachma."

No. 8, in the last engraving, represents a modern Greek female drawing water. It is from a sketch of Capo D'Istrias' house. See the Westminster Review for September, 1838.

CISTERN POLE.

This simple implement, may be thought too insignificant to deserve a particular notice, but as it is extensively used in our rain-water cisterns, and is no modern device, we are unwilling to pass it. It was known to the Romans. Pliny expressly mentions it, when speaking of various modes of watering gardens. He says water is drawn from a well or tank, "by plain poles, hooks and buckets," B. xix, 4; and that it was a domestic implement in old times as at present, in raising water from cisterns, is proved by the discovery of some of the hooks at Pompeii. Lard. Arts, &c. i, 205. Having mentioned the rain water cisterns of the Romans, it may be observed, that they were as common in Pompeii as they are in this city, every house having been furnished with one.

As Pliny's account of these cisterns may be useful to some mechanics, especially masons, we shall make no apology for inserting it. "The walls were lined with strong cement, formed of five parts of sharp sand, and two of quicklime mixed with flints; the bottom being paved with

the same, and well beaten with an iron rammer." B. xxxvi, 23. Holland's Trans. The composition of this cement, differs from that which Dr. Shaw says has been used in modern times in the east; and which he thinks is the same as that of the ancients. He says the cisterns which were built by Sultan ben Eglib, in several parts of the kingdom of Tunis, are equal in solidity with the famous ones at Carthage, continuing to this day (unless where they been designedly broken,) as firm and compact, as if they were just finished. The composition is made in this manner: they take two parts of wood ashes, three of lime, and one of fine sand, which after being well sifted and mixed together, they beat for three days and nights incessantly with wooden mallets, sprinkling them alternately and at proper times, with a little oil and water, till they become of a due consistence. This composition is chiefly used in their arches, cisterns and terraces. But the pipes of their aqueducts, are joined by beating tow and lime together, with oil only, without any mixture of water. Both these compositions quickly assume the hardness of stone, and suffer no water to pervade them. Trav. 286.

If the Romans wished to have water perfectly pure, they made two and sometimes three cisterns, at different levels; so that the water successively deposited the impurities with which it might be charged. From this, we see that the recent introduction of two cisterns for the same purpose, in some of our best houses, is a pretty old contrivance. It in fact dates far beyond the Roman era. The famous cisterns of Solomon are examples of it. Rain-water was frequently boiled by the Romans before they used it. Pliny xxxi, 3. This was also an ancient practice among older nations. Herodotus, says the water of the Choaspes, which was drunk by the Persian kings, was previously boiled, and kept in vessels of silver. B. i, 188.

CHAPTER IX.

The Pulley: Its origin unknown-Used in the erection of ancient buildings and in ships-Ancient one found in Egypt-Probably first used to raise water-Not extensively used in ancient Grecian wells: Cause of this-Used in Mecca and Japan-Led to the employment of animals to raise water-Simple mode of adapting them to this purpose, in the east. Pulley and two buckets: Used by the Anglo Saxous, Normans, &c.—Italian mode of raising water to upper floors-Desagulier's mode-Self-acting, or gaining and losing buckets-Marquis of Worcester-Heron of Alexandria-Robert Fludd-Lever bucket engine -Bucket of Bologna-Materials of ancient buckets.

PULLEY AND SINGLE BUCKET.

We now come to the period when some of the simple machines, or mechanical powers, as they are improperly named, were applied to raise water. When this first took place, is unknown: That it was at an early stage in the progress of the arts, few persons will doubt; but the time is as uncertain, as that of the invention of those admirable contrivances for transmitting and modifying forces. It was among the devices by which the famous structures of antiquity were raised; and Egyptian engineers under the Pharaohs, were undoubtedly acquainted with all the combinations of it now known. Had Vitruvius neither described it, nor mentioned its applications, a circumstance which occurred at the close of Cleopatra's life, would have sufficiently proved its general use, in the erection of elevated buildings under the Ptolemies. The Egyptian queen,

Chap. 9.]

Pulley and Single Bucket.

59

59

to avoid falling into the hands of Octavius, took refuge in a very high tower, accessible only from above. Into this, she and her two maids, drew up Antony, (who had given himself a fatal wound,) by means of ropes and pullies, which happened to be there, for the purpose of raising stones to the top of the building. But the pulley was an essential requisite in the sailing vessels of Egypt, India and China, in the remotest ages. Neither trading ships, nor the war fleets of Sesostris, or previous warriors, could have traversed the Indian ocean without this appendage to raise and lower the sails, or quickly to regulate their movements by halliards. The ancient Egyptians, says Mr. Wilkinson, "were not ignorant of the pulley." The remains of one have actually been disinterred, and are now preserved in the museum of Leyden. The sides are of athul or tamarisk wood, the roller of fir: part of the rope made of leef or fibres of the date tree, was found at the same time. This relic of former times, is supposed to have been used in drawing water from a well. Its date is

uncertain.

There are reasons which render it probable that the single pulley, was devised to raise water and earth from wells, and probability is all that can ever be attained with regard to its origin. But may not the pulley have been known before wells? We think not, and for the following reasons: 1. Most barbarous people have been found in possession of some of the latter, but not of the former; and in the infancy of the arts, man has in all ages, had recourse to the same expedients, and in the same order. 2. Wells are not only of the highest antiquity, but they are the only known works of man in early times, in which the pulley could have been required or applied. 3. The importance of water in those parts of Asia where the former generations of men dwelt, must have urged them at an early period to facilitate by the pulley, the labor of raising it. That it preceded the invention of ships, and the erection of lofty buildings of stone, is all but certain; but for what purpose, except for raising water, the pulley could have previously been required, it would be difficult to divine. It seems to have been the first addition made to those primitive implements, the cord and bucket; and when once adopted, it naturally led, as we shall find in the sequel, to the most valuable machine which the an

cients employed. By it the friction of the rope in rubbing against the curb, and the consequent loss of a portion of the power expended in raising the water, were avoided, and by it also a beneficial change in the direction of the power, was attained: instead of being exerted in an ascending direction, as in Nos. 8 and 9, it is applied more conveniently and efficiently in a descending one, as in the figure.

oxen.

Notwithstanding the obvious advantages of using the pulley, it would appear that it was not extensively used in the public wells of the ancients, except in those from which the water was raised by No example of its use has occurred in the No. 11. Pulley and Bucket. Wells of Herculaneum or Pompeii. Nor does it appear to have been employed to any great extent by the Greeks; for with them, a vessel by which to draw water, was as necessary a utensil to their mendicants, as to the modern pilgrims and fakirs of Asia. The poorest of beggars, Aristophanes' Telepheus, had a staff, a broken cup, and a bucket, although it leaked. This custom therefore of carrying a vessel, and cord to draw water, shows that no permanent one was attached to their public wells, which would have been

the case had the pulley been used. If such had been the custom, neither the mendicant Telepheus, nor Diogenes the philosopher, would have carried about with them, vessels for the purpose.

It is not easy to account for the partial rejection of the pulley by the Greeks in raising water, when its introduction would have materially diminished human labor. It certainly did not arise from ignorance of its advantages, as their constant application of it to other purposes, attests; and there is reason to believe, they adopted it to some extent in raising water from the holds of their ships, in common with the maritime people of Asia. It was indeed used in some of their wells, but only to a limited extent. The principal reason for not employing it in public wells, was probably this-With it, a single person only could draw water at a time, while without it, numbers could lower and raise their vessels simultaneously, without interfering with each other In the former case, altercations would be frequent and unavoidable; and the inconvenience of numbers of people waiting for water in warm climates a serious evil. The rich, and those who had servants would always procure it, while the poor and such as had no leisure, would obtain it with difficulty. The large diameter of their wells and those of other nations, it would seem, was solely designed to accommodate several people at the same time. These reasons it is admitted, do not apply to the private wells and cisterns of the Greeks and Romans, in which the pulley might have been used; but those people followed the practice of older nations, and from the great number of their slaves, (who drew the water) they had no inducement or disposition to lessen their labor.

A bucket suspended over a pulley, is still extensively used in raising water from wells throughout the world. The Arabians use it at the well Zemzem; the mouth of which, is " surrounded by a brim of fine white marble five feet high, and ten feet in diameter; upon this the persons stand, who draw water in leathern buckets, attached to pulleys, an iron railing being so placed as to prevent their falling in."b

Apparatus precisely similar to the figure in No. 11, are used by the Japanese and other Asiatics. Montanus' Japan. 294.

The pulley has but recently given place to pumps, in workshops and dwellings, and in these only to a limited extent-being confined chiefly to a few cities in the United States and Europe. In France and England, it was a common appendage to wells in the interior of houses, during the last century; and in such cases it is still extensively used throughout Spain, Portugal and other parts of Europe. It is very common in this country, and also in South America.

But the grand advantage of the pulley in the early ages was this;-by it the vertical direction in which men exerted their strength, could be directly changed into a horizontal one, by which change, animals could be employed in place of men. The wells of Asia, frequently varying from two to three, and even four hundred feet in depth, obviously required more than one person to raise the contents of an ordinary sized vessel: and where numbers of people depended on such wells, not merely to supply their domestic wants, but for the purposes of irrigation, the substitution of animals in place of men, to raise water, became a matter almost of necessity, and was certainly adopted at a very early period. In employing an or for this purpose, the simplest way, and one which deviated the least from their accustomed method, was merely to attach the end of the rope to the yoke, after passing it over a pulley fixed sufficiently

Lardner's Arts, &c i, 138.

b Crichton's Arabia. ii, 219.

Chap. 9]

Application of Animals to Raise Water.

61

high above the mouth of the well, and then driving the animal in a direct line from it, and to a distance equal to its depth, when the bucket charged with the liquid would be raised from the bottom. This, the most direct and efficient, was, (it is believed,) the identical mode adopted, and like other devices of the ancients, it is still continued by their descendants in Africa and Asia. Its value in the estimation of the moderns, may be learned from the fact, that it is adopted in this and other cities for raising coals, &c. from the holds of ships; for which and similar purposes, it has been in use for ages in Europe. It has also been used to work pumps, the further end of the rope being attached to a heavy piston working in a very long chamber or cylinder.

No. 12. Ancient and Modern method of raising water in Asia.

This was probably one of the first operations, and certainly one of the most obvious, where human labor was superseded by that of animals, and in accomplishing it, the pulley itself was perhaps discovered. This mode is common in Egypt, Arabia, India-through all Hindostan, and various other parts of the east. Mr. Elphinstone mentions a large well under the walls of the fort at Bikaneer, from fifteen to twenty-two feet in diameter, and three hundred feet deep. In this well four large buckets are used, each thus drawn up by a pair of oxen, and all worked at the same time. When any one of them was let down, "its striking the water, made a noise like a great gun." But simple as this mode of raising water by animals is, it is capable of an improvement equally simple, though not perhaps obvious to general readers. It was not however left to modern mechanicians to discover, but is one among hundreds of ancient devices, whose origin is lost in the remoteness of time. It is this-Instead of the animal receding from the well on level ground, it is made to descend an inclined plane, so that the weight of its body contributes towards raising the load. This is characteristic of Asiatic devices. At a very early period, the principle of combining the weight of men and animals with their muscular energy, in propelling machines, was adopted. We shall meet with other examples of it.

The addition of another bucket, so as to have one at each end of the rope, was the next step in the progress of improvement; and although so simple a device may appear too obvious to have remained long unperceived, and one which required no stretch of intellect to accomplish, it was one of no small importance, since it effected what is seldom witnessed in practical mechanics-a saving both of time and labor. Thus, by it, the empty vessel descended and became filled, as the other was elevated,