130

Pumps of Danaus.

[Book I.

Joseph’s well. If the location of this well, its peculiar construction, di-vision into two distinct shafts, the chamber between them for the animalswhich propel the machinery, the passage for their ascent and descent, andits enormous depth, be maturely considered, it will appear, we think, thatno other machine could at any time have been used, or intended by its con-structors to have been used in raising its water; if therefore this celebra-ted well be, as supposed, a work of the ancient Egyptians, or a relic ofBabylon, then the endless chain of pots may safely be regarded as coevalwith the foundation of that ancient city, if not, as it probably is, muchmore ancient.

It was probably the ‘ pump,’ which according to tradition, Danausintroduced into Greece , a thousand years before the building of Babylonby the Persians . Düring the time the IsraeKtes were in Egypt , thisprince, in consequence of domestic quarrels, left it with his family andfriends, and sailed for Greece . They landed on the coastof Peloponessus or the Morea, and were hospitably entertained at Argos, where they set-,tled. It is said, the Greeks did not at that time possess the knowledge ofobtaining water from wells ; the companions of Danaus having been thefirst to dig them, and to introduce pumps. Pliny vii. 56. If the inhabit-ants of Greece were ignorant of wells, previous to the arrival of thesestrangers, they could certainly have had no occasion for pumps; and it !

was natural for the Egyptians, when they dug wells, to introduce their j

own country methods of obtaining water from them. i

As the word ‘ pumps,’ is not however to be understood in the restrictedsense in which it is at present used, the question occurs, what kind of ma-chines were these? 1. They must have been simple in their construction,for otherwise they would have been ill adapted to a rüde and uncultivatedpeople, and such the Greeks were while ignorant of wells. 2. They .must have been of general applieation to the wells of Greece . 3. Theywere such as, from their great Utility, were continued in use through sub-sequent ages, for they were highly prized, and the memory of their intro-duction preserved. 4. They were such as were previously used in Egypt .Now, of all ancient devices for raising water, to which the term ‘pump'could with any propriety be applied, the chain of pots is the only one that :fulfils the conditions premised. It is evident that the jantu and its modi-fications are wholly inapplicable to raise water from wells; and the tym-panum and noria are equally so. The swape is not adapted to deep wellsand those of Greece were generally such : yet as it is admirably adaptedto raise water from small depths, and was so used by the ancient Greeks ;it is probable that it was also introduced by Danaus ; as we know that itwas in common use in Egypt , in his time. (See figures 36 and 43.) Itmust however have been of extremely limited applieation to wells on ac-count of their depth. (See page 38.) The modern inhabitants of Egypt raise water with it only about seven feet; and from the figures just referredto, it is obvious that in the time of Danaus, it was raised no higher by it.but if its applieation was even extended in Greece , to elevate water fromtwice that depth, its employment in wells must have been comparativelytrifling.

It could not have been the chain pump , for it does not appear, thateither the Greeks or Romans were acquainted with that machine. Vi-truvius is silent respecting it. Nor can we suppose any thing like theatmospheric or forcing pmmp intended—even, if it could be proved that :both were then known. They are too complex to have been at all suitedto the Greeks at that remote age. Indeed they are altogether worthless .

to a rüde people, who would be unable to keep them in order, or to detect ,