70

The Fusee.

[Book I.

chanician, we think will admit, that mechanical tact and ingenuity, unaidedby scientific knowledge, could never have devised it. It exhibits a speciesof originality so unique, so simple and efficient, that evidently shows it tohave been the conception of no common m ind. At what time it was firsttaken to Europe , we have not the means of ascertaining. It has but re-cently, i. e. comparatively so, been described in books. We are notaware of its having been noticed in any, previous to the last half Century.It appears to have been introduced like several other Standard machinesf’rom the same source, so gradually, that the precise period of its first ar-rival cannot easily be determined. Considering the long period, duringwhich European nations haye maintained an intercourse with the Chinese ,the recent introduction of this machine may appear singulär ; but verylittle is yet known of that people, although an intimate acquaintance withtheir arts, would probably enrich us with treasures, more valuable thantheir teas and their porcelain.

There is a large debt of gratitude due to the Chinese , which has neverbeen sufficiently acknowledged. It is to them, we are indebted for someof the most important discoveries connected with the present state of thearts and Sciences. From them was derived the chief of all arts, frinting,and even movable types, and that invaluable acquisition, the mariner’scompass; peculiar stoves, a chain-bridges, spectacles, silver forks,b India ink, c chain-pump, winnowing machine, d besides many others; and to cor-rect a populär error, which attributes to our fellow citizens of Connec-ticut , the invention of ‘ wooden hams,’ it may as well be remarked, thatthese are also of Chinese origin. Le Comte, says they are so^adroitlyconstructed, that numerous buyers are constantly deceived; and fre-quently it is not tili one is boiled and ready to he eaten, that it is dicoveredto be “ nothing but a large piece of wood under a hog’s skin.” But ifChina has produced specimens of dishonest ingenuity, she has, in thetread-mill, furnished one of the greatest terrors to evil doers.

A large F'usee is sometimes used in place of the cylindrical roller of awindlass, especially in wells of great depth. When a bücket is at the bot-tom, and the weight of a long rope or chain has to be overcome in ad-dition to that of the water, it is accomplished more easily by winding up

““These stoves are extremely convenient, and deserve to be made known universallyin our country. Some of our Company took such stoves with them to Goltenburgh, asmodels for those who might want to ltnow their construetion.” Osbeck’s Voyage toChina , vol. i, 322.

b “Theuse of silver forks with us, by some of our spruce gallants taken up of late,came from China to Italy , and from thence to England.” Heylin’s Cosmography, Lon.1670. p. 865.

°The secret of making it, was brought by a Dutch supercargo to Göttingen in 1756,and there divulged. Lon. Mag. for 1756. p. 403.

d This was also brought first to Holland in the beginning of the 18th Century, whenceit soon spread over Europe. It was carried to Scotland in 1710. Walter Scott , hasincorporated in one of his novels, an historical fact relating to the Superstition of biscountrymen respecting it. When first introduced, the religious feelings of some weregreatly shocked at an invention, by which artificial whirlwinds were produced in calmweather, when, as they supposed, it was the will of God for the air to remain still. Asthey considered it a moral dnty to wait patiently for a natural wind, to separate thechaff from their wheat, they looked upon the use of this machine, as rebellion againstheaven, and an attempt to take the government of the world out of the Creator’shands! Constant readers of the Bible, the more superstitious of the Covenanters ima-gined it was a cunniug device of the Wicked One, the 'Prince of the power of theAir,’ and therefore one of those works, which Christians are called to guard against andretiounce ! It was introduced into America in 1761, as a “ Dutch machine for vvinnow-ing grain.” The first one, was made in Massachusetts , “by the directions of a gentlerman in the Jersies,” during the same year. Lon. Mag. for 1751. p. 273. Davis’Chi-nese . vol. ii, 361.