74
Tread Wheels Propelled, by Animah.
[Book I,
heavy weights, were moved by tread wheels, (Vitruvius , x, 4.) A figureof one is preserved in a bas-relief, in the wall of the market place at Ca-pua. a Eike other ancient devices for raising water it has been continuedin use in Europe since Roman times, and is described by most of the oldwriters on Hydraulics . Agricola figures it as used in the mines of Ger-rnany. “ To raise water from a deepe well,” says an old English writer,“some use a large wheele for man or beast to walk in.” At Nice, twomen raise the water from a deep well, by walking in one of these wheels.It is the '“Kentish fashion’ according to Fosbroke, the wheels being pro-pelled both by men and asses. The Anglo Saxons and Normans also usedthem for drawing water.
Whether the Greeks and Romans employed animals in tread wheels,we know not, but the practice is very old, and from the obvious advan-tage of quadrupeds over biped man in climbing ascents, it is probablethat they were so employed by the ancients. Oxen, horses, mules, asses,dogs, goats and bears, have all been used to propel these wheels, and toraise water by them. At Spangenburgh, water was raised from thewell mentioned in a previous chapter, by an ass. In the Isle of Wight,Eng. one was thus engaged for the extraordinary period of forty years,m raising water from a well two hundred feet deep, which w'as supposedto have been dug by the Romans. Long practice had taught the animalto know exactly how many revolutions were required to raise thebücket; when by a backward movement he would instantly stop thewheel. Goats are remarkable for scaling precipices, and therefore seemwell adapted for this kind of labor. In Europe , they are employed toraise both water and ore from mines, by tread wheels. In the Chapteron the Chain-Pump, we have inserted a cut from Agricola, representingthem thus engaged, But of the larger animals, if there is one betteradapted than another, from its conformation and habits, it is the Bear; andit is not a little singulär, that the Goths actually employed that animal insuch wheels to raise water. b
It is probable that the Chinese have from remote times employed va-rious animals in them ; this we infer from a remark of one of their wri-ters, quoted by Dr. Milne. In exhorting husbands to instruct theirwives, he encourages them in the arduows task by reminding them, that“ even monkeys may be taught to play antics— dogs may be taught to treadin a mill—cats may be taught to run round a cylinder, and parrots maybe taught to recite verses;” and hence he concludes it possible to teachwomen something! c Many ancient customs relating to the taming andusing of animals are still practised in China . The old Egyptians, had ba-boons and monkeys trained to gather fruit from trees and precipices inac-cessible to men. d The Chinese employ them for the same purpose.'Mark Antony , Nero, and others, in imitation of more ancient warriors,were somelimes drawn in chariots by lions—Chinese charlatans, both rideon, and are drawn by them, and by tigers also. (NieuhofF’s Embassy.)
Before smolte jacks were invented, joints of meat while roasting, wereoften turned by dogs running in tread-wheels. They were of a pecu-liar breed, (now nearly extinct) long backed, having short legs, and from