CONTENTS

BOOK I.

PRIMITIVE AND ANCIENT DEVICES FOR RAISING WATER.

- CHAPTER I. -

The subject of raising water interesting to philosophers and meehanics—Led to the invention of thesteam engine—Connected with the present advanced state of the arts—Origin of the useful artslost—Their history neglected by the ancients—First inventors the greatest benefactors—Memorialsof them perished, while accounts of warriors and their acts pervade and pollute the pages of his-tory—A record of the origin and early progress of the arts more useful and interesting than allthe works of historians extant—The history of a single tool (as that of a hammer) invaluable—Inthe general wreck of the arts of the ancients, most of their devices for raising water preserved—Cause of this—Hydraulic machines of very remote origin—Few invented by the Greeks and Ro-mans—Arrangement and division of the subject - - - - - 1

CHAPTER II.

Water—lts importance in the economy of nature—Forms part of all substances—Food of all animals—Great physicai changes effected by it—Earliest source of inanimate motive power—lts distribu-tion over the earth not uniform—Sufferings of the orientals from want of water—A knowledge ofthis necessary to uuderstand their writers—Political ingenuity of Mahomet—Water a prominentfeature in the paradise of the Asiatics—Camels often slain by travelers, to obtain water from theirstomachs—Cost of a draught of such water—Hydraulic machine referred to in Ecclesiastes —Theuseful 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 stateof man, and the origin of the arts -------- - 9

CHAPTER HI.

Origin of vessels for containing water—The calabash the first one—It has always been used—Foundby Columbus in the cabins of Americans —Inhabitants of New Zealand , Java , Sumatra , and of thePacific Islands employ it—Principal vessel of the Africans—Curious remark of Pliny respecting it—Common among the ancient Mexicans, Romans and Egyptians—Offered by the latter people ontheir altars—The model after which vessels of capacity were originally formed—lts figure stillpreserved in several—Ancient American vessels copied from it—Peruvian bottles—Gurgulets—

The form of the calabash prevailed in the vases and goblets of the ancients—Extract from Persius ’satires—Ancient vessels for heating water modeled after it—Pipkin—Saucepan—Anecdote of aRoman dictator—The common cast-iron cauldron of great antiquity: similar in shape to thoseused in Egypt in the time of Rameses—Often referred to in the Bible and in the Iliad—Grecian,Roman, Celtic, Chinese and Peruvian cauldrons—Expertness of Chinese tinkers—Crcesus and theDelphic Oracle—Uniformity in the figure of cauldrons—Cause of this—Superiority of their formover straight-sided boilers—Brazen cauldrons higbly prized—Water pots of the Hindoos—Womendrawing water—Anecdote of Darius and a young feraale of Sardis—Dexterity of oriental womenin balancing water pots—Origin of the canopus—Ingenuity and fraud of an Egyptian priest—Ecclesiastical deceptions in the middle ages - - - - - - - -14

CHAPTER IV.

On wells—Water one of the first objects of ancient husbandmen—Lot—Wells before the deluge—Digging them through rock subsequent to the use of metals—Art of digging them carried to greatperfection by the Asiatics—Modern methods of making them in loose soils derived from the East— Wells often the nuclei of cities—Private wells common of old—Public wells infested by banditti—Wells numerous in Greece —Introduced there by Danaus—Facts connected with them in themythologic ages—Persian ambassadors to Athens and Lacedemon thrown into wells—Phenician,Carthagenian and Roman wells extant—Csesar and Pompey’s knowledge of making wells enabledthem to conquer—City of Pompeii discovered by digging a well—Wells in China , Persia , Palestine,India and Turkey —Cisterns of Solomon—Sufferings of travelers from thirst—Affecting accountfrom Leo Africanus —Mr. Bruce in Abyssinia—Dr. Ryers in Gombroon—Hindoos praying forwater—Caravan of 2000 persons and 1800 camels perished in the African desert—Crusaders - 24

CHAPTER V.

Subject of Wells continued—Wells worshiped—River Ganges — Sacred well at Benares—Oaths takenat wells—Tradition of the rabbins—Altars erected near them—Invoked—Ceremonies with regardto water in Egypt , Greece , Peru , Mexico , Rome, and Judea—Temples erected over wells—The

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