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Chap. 14.] Early employment of Animals to raise Water.

the tympanum, places the men in a similar one, and this Interpretation ofthe text has been generally followed. It is corroborated by öther ancientauthors, and by Yitruvius himself, in Book x, cap. 4, where he speaks ofa wheel to raise weights, ‘by the walking of men therein,’ that is, thecommon walking crane. Philo, who was Contemporary with Vitruvius ,or flourished shortly after him, mentions a wheel for raising water, whichwas turned by the motion of men’s feet, ‘by their ascending successivelythe several Steps that are within it.’ Tread wheels are mentioned alsoby Suetonius , and Strabo speaks of some for raising the water of the Nile,which were moved by a hundred and fifty slaves. Mr. Newton, the En-glish translator, supposed the men walked on the outside of the wheel,like the modern tread mill. It is very probable that this mode was inuse among the ancients, for it is common in Persia and other orientalcountries, particularly China , where it is undoubtedly of great antiquity.Barbaro has figured the screw, as propelled by men pulling down spokeson the periphery of a wheel attached to it, or by treading on them.

About eighteen years ago, a person in this city, (N. York,) took out apatent for employing animals to propel such wheels. A horse was placednear the top and yoked to a horizontal beam fixed behind, and againstwhich he drew. In January, 1795, a Mr. Eckhardt obtained a patent inEngland for ‘A Method of applying Animals to Machinery in general.’His plan was to employ cattle and all other bulky animals to walk on thetop of large wheels; he also proposed a fltexible floor, like an endless chain,which passed over two wheels, and formed an inclined plane on whichanimals walked, and to increase the effect, they drew a loaded cart be-hind them. a Sixty years before this, viz. in 1734, Mr. W. Churchmanexhibited before the Royal Society , a model of ‘A new Engine forraising Water, in which Horses and other Animals draw without any lossof power.’ This engine was a series of pumps worked by a large treadwheel, on the top of which horses were made to draw against a beam towhich they were yoked. He also proposed to employ horses at the sametime within the wheel. b But the contrivance was even £hen an old one, forin Agricola, a horse is figured imparting motion to bellows by walkingwpon a tread wheel.*

There is a passage in the second chapter of the Koran, which throwssome light on the early employment of animals in raising water. Amongthe ancients, it was a prevailing custom when they sacrificed an ox, or aheifer, to select such as had never been broken to labor : hence the direc-tion of the Sibyl to Eneas.

Seven bullocks yet tmyokcd, for Phcebus choose,

And for Diana, seven unspotted ewes.

The Israelites also, were instructed to offer “ a red heifer without spotwherein is no blemish, and upon which never came yolte.” “ An heiferwhich hath not been wrought with, and which hath not drawn in the yoke.”One which, according to Mahomet, was “ not broken to plough the earth,or water the field.” Now this Interpretation is not only consistent withthe text of Moses , but is exceedingly probable, for the Arabs have un-doubtedly preserved with their independence and ancient habits, traditionsof numerous transactions referred to in the Pentateuch , the particulars ofwhich are not recorded ; besides it indicates, what indeed might havebeen inferred : viz. that the principal employment of animals in the earlyages, was to plough and irrigate the soil. But when in process of time,

“Repertory of Arts. Lon. 1795. Vol. ii. b Phil. Trans. Abridged by Martyn, viii, 321.'De Re Metallica, 169