IV

PREFACE.

In a work of tliis kind little that is new can be expected ; I have not,however, servilely copied any author, but have written the whole as iflittle had been written before. I have sought for information wherever Icould find it; and with this view have perused more volumes than it wouldbe prudent to name. A few gleanings which modern writers have passedover have been picked up—two or three ancient deviees have been snatchedfrom oblivion, as the atmospherie sprinkling pot and the philosophical bel-lows, and some erroneous opinions have been corrected ; that, for example,respecting the origin of the safety valve. There is little room for thecharge of arrogance in claiming this much, since it is all I have to claimand it is nothing but what a little industry in any one eise would haverealized. Several deviees of my own have also been introduced whichmust speak for themselves. On referring to old Works that are expensiveor of rare occurrence I have generally quoted the very words of the writers,under the impression that some of these works will not long be met withat all. For the convenience of perusal the work is broken into chapters,and as much miscellaneous matter has been introduced, an index is added.The general arrangement and division of the subject will be found at theclose of the first chapter.

In tracing the progress of any one of the primitive arts, it is difficult toavoid reference to others. They are all so connected that none can be per-fectly isolated. I have therefore introduced such notices of inventions andinventors as seemed useful to be known : facts which appeared interestingto the writer as a mechanic, he supposed would not be wholly withoutinterest in the opinion of his brethren. In this, I am aware, it is easy toto be mistaken ; for it is a common error to imagine that things which areinteresting to ourselves must be equally so to others. As, however, allthose deviees that contribute to the conveniences of life will ever possessan intrinsic value, the hope is indulged that the following account ofseveral important ones, although it may present little attraetion to generalreaders, will at least be found useful to those for whom it is more espe-cially designed. It certainly is not what I could wish, but it is the best Icould produce. I am. sensible that it has many imperfections, and thereare doubtless many more which have not been perceived. That I haveoften been diverted from the subjects embraced in the title-page is true ;and as the whole was written at long intervals, even of years, a wantof Order and Connection may be perceived in some parts, and obscurity feitin others. All that I can offer to diminish the severity of criticism, is freelyto admit there is much room for it.

In noticing various hydraulic deviees, I have endeavored to award honorto whomsoever it was due : to say nothing of the ancients, with whom mostof t-hem originated, it may here be observed that the Germans were theearliest cultivators of practical hydraulics in modern times. The Dutch(part of that people) contributed to extend a knowledge of their inven-tions. It was a Dutchman who constructed the famous machinery at Marli,and England was indebted to another fordier first water-works at London Bridge . The simplest pump-box or piston known, the inverted cone ofleather, is of German origin, and so is the tube-pump of Muschenbroek.Hose for fire-engines, both of leather and canvas, was invented by Dutch-men. They carried the chain-pump of China to their Settlements in India ,and also to Europe . Van Braam brought it to the U. States. A Germaninvented the air-pump, and the first high pressure steam-engine figured inbooks was by another. As regaras hydraulic machinery, the Dutch havebeen to the moderns, in some degree, what the Egyptians were to theancients—their teachers. The physical geography of Holland and Egypt