CONTENTS.

Xlll

Rise and descent of marine animals— Jaculator fish—Llama—Spurting snake—Lamprey—Bees—

The heart of man and animals—Every human being a liviug pump: wonders of lts mechamsm,and of the duration of its motions and material«—Advantages of studymg the mechamsm of am-.. 244

CHAPTER III.

Forcin* puraps with solid pistons : the syringe : its uses, materials and antiquity—Employed by theHindoos in religious festivals—Figured on an old coat of arms—Simple garden pump—Single valveforcing pump—Common forcing pump—Stomach pump—Forcing pump with air vessel—Machineof Ctesibius : its description by Vitruvius—Remarks on its origin—Errors of the ancients respect-ing the authors of several inventions—Claims of Ctesibius to the pump limited—Air vessel probablyinvented by him—Compressed air a prominent feature in all bis inventions—Air vessels—In He-ron’s fountain—Apparently referred to by Piiny—Air gun of Ctesibius —The hookah - - 259

CHAPTER IV.

Forcing pumps continued : La Hire’s double acting pump—Plunger pump: invented by Moreland ;the most valuable of modern improvements on the pump—Application of it to other purposes thanraising water—Frictionless plunger pump—Quicksilver pumps—Application of the principle ofBramah ’s press by bees in forcing honey into their cells. Forcing pumps with hollow pistons:employed in French water works—Specimen from the works at Notre Dame—Lifting pump fromAgricola—Modern lifting pumps—Extract from an old pump-maker’s circular—Lifting pumps withtwo pistons—Combination of hollow and solid pistons—Trevethick’s pump—Perkins’s pump - 271

CHAPTER V.

Rotary or rotatory pumps: uniformity in efForts made to improve machines—Prevailing custom tocouvert rectilinear and reciprocating movements into circular ones—Epigram of Antipater —An-cient opinion respecting circular motions—Advantages of rotary motions exemplified in variousmachines—Operations of spinning and weaving; historical anecdotes respecting them—Rotarypump from Serviere—Interesting inventions of his—Classification of rotary pumps—Eve’s steamengine and pump—Another dass of rotary pumps—Rotary pump of the l6th Century—Pump withsliding buunent—Trotter’s engine and pump—French rotary pump—Bramah and Dickenson’spump—Rotary pumps with pistons in the form of vanes—Centrifugal pump—Defects of rotarypumps—Reciprocating rotary pumps: a French one—An English one—Defects of these pumps - 281

CHAPTER VI.

Application of pumps in modern water works : first used by the Germans—Water works at Augs-burgh and Bremen—Singular android in the latter city—Old water works at Toledo—At London Bridge —Other London works moved by horses, water, wind and steam—Water engine at Exeter—Water works erected on Pont Neuf and Pont Notre Dame at Paris —Celebrated works at Marli—Error of Rannequin in making them unnecessarily complex. American water works : a historyof tiiem desirable—Introduction of pumps intowells in New-York city—Extracts from the minutesof the Common Council previous to the war of independence—Public water works proposed andcommenced in 1774—Treasury notes issued to meet the expense—Copy of one—Manhattan Com-pany—Water works at Fairmount, Philadelphia ------- 293

CHAPTER VII.

Fire engines : probably used in Babylon and Tyre—Employed by ancient warriors—Other devicesof theirs—Fire engines referred to by Apollodorus —These probably equal in effect to ours : Spiri-talia of Heron: fire engine described in it—Pumps used to promote conflagrations—Greek fire aliquid projected by pumps—Fires and wars commonly united—Generals the greatest incendiaries—Saying of Crates respecting them—Fire pumps the forerunners of guns—Use of engines in Rome —Mentioned in a letter of Pliny to Trajan, and by Seneca, Hesychius , and Isidore. Roman fire-men—Frequency of fires noticed by Juvenal—Detestable practice of Crassus —Portable engines inRoman houses—Modern engines derived from the Spiritalia—Forgotten in the middle ages—Su-perstitions with regard to fires—Fires attributed to demons—Consecrated bells employed as Sub-stitutes for water and fire engines—Extracts from the Paris ritual, Wynken de Worde , BarnabyGooge and Peter Martyr respecting them—Emblematic device of an old duke of Milan—Firemen’sapparatus from Agricola—Syringes used in London to quench fires in the 17th Century—Still em-ployed in Constantinople —Anecdote of the Capudan Pacha—Syringe engine from Besson—Ger-man engines of the 16th Century—Pump engine from Decaus—Pump engines in London —Extractsfrom the m'iuutes of the London Common Council respecting engines and squirts in 1667—Experi-ment of Maurice mentioned by Stow the historian—Extract from ‘ a history of the first inventers’ 302

CHAPTER VIII.

Fire engines continued: engines by Hautsch—Nuremberg—Fire engines at Strasbourg and Ypres —Coupling screws—Old engine with air chamber—Canvas and leather hose and Dutch engines—Engines of Perier and Leopold—Old English engines—Newsham’s engines—Modern French engine—Air chambers—Table of the height of jets—Modes of working fire engines—Engines worked bysteam. Fire engines in America : regulations respecting fires in New Amsterdam—Proclamationsof Governor Stuy vesant—Extracts from old minutes of the Common Council—First fire engines—Philadelphia and New-York engines—Riveted hose—Steam fire engines now being constructed.Devices to extinguish fire without engines—Water bombs—Protecting buildings from fire—Fire escapes—Couvre feu—Curfew bells—Measuring time with candles—Ancient laws respecting firesand incendiaries—The dress in which Roman incendiaries were burnt retained in the auto da fe - 323

CHAPTER IX.

Pressure engines: of limited application—Are modifications of gaining and losing buckets andpumps—Two kinds of pressure engines—Piston pressure engine described by Fludd—Pressureengine from Belidor—Another by Westgarth—Motive pressure engines—These exhibit a novelmode of employing water as a motive agent—Variety of applications of a piston and cylinder—Causes of the ancients being ignorant of the steam engine—Secret of making improvements in the