Sprinkling Pot.

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Chap. 3.]

it; and not tili tlie moutli emerges into air do the contents rusli out andleave the bücket alone in his hands. This is one of those circumstancesthat has occurred more or less f'requently to most persons in every age. Itwould be absurd to suppose that the groups of oriental females who,from the remotest times, have assembled twiee a day to visit the fountainsor rivers for water, did not often perform the experiment, both incidentallyand by design. They could not in fact plunge their water pots (which wereoften without handles) into the gushing fount without occasionally repeatingit; nor could Andromache and her maids fill buckets to water the horsesof Hector , and daily Charge pitchers in the stream for domestic uses, with-out being sometimes diverted by it, But the phenomenon thus exhibitedwas not confined to such occasions; on the contrary, it constantly occurredin every dwelling. An ancient domestic like a modern house-maid, couldhardly wash a cup or rinse a goblet by Immersion, without encountering it.Besides the vessels named, there were others that formed part of the or-dinary kitchen furniture of the ancients, (see figures of some on page 16)the daily use of which Would vary and illustrate it. These we r e longnecked and narrow mouthed vases and bottles, that retained liquids wheninverted like some of our vials. Others were still further contraeted inthe mouth, as the Ampulla, which gave' out its contents only by drops.To the ordinary use of these vessels and to incidental experiments madewith them, may be traced the origin of our fountain lamps and inkstands,bird fountains, and other similar applications of the same principle.

The Suspension of a liquid in inverted vessels by the atmosphere, wastherefore well known to the early inhabitants of the world, whetherthey understood the reason of its Suspension or not; and when in subse-quent times philosophers began to search into causes and effects, the phe-nomenon was well calculated to excite their attention, and to lead them toinquiries respecting air and a vacuum : it is probable that if did so, for theearliest experiments on these subjects, of which we have any accounts,were similar to those domestic manipulations to which we haVe alluded,and the principal instrument employed was simply a modification of a gob-let inverted in water. This was the atmospheric ‘ sprinkling pot ,’ or‘ watering siphon,’ which is so often referred to by the old philosophers,in their disputes on a plenum and a vacuum. It has long been obsolete,and not having been noticed by modern authors, few general readers areaware that such an instrument was ever in use, much less that it formedpart of the philosophical apparatus of the ancient world.

The interesting associations connected with it and its modifications en-title it to a place here. Indeed were there no other reason for attemptingto preserve it a little longer from öblivion, than that indicated at the closeof the last paragraph, we should not feel justified in passing it by. It ismoreover, for aught that is known to the contrary, the earliest instrumentemployed in hydro-pneumatical researches. Its general form and usesmay be gathered from the remarks of Athenagoräs respecting it. Thisphiloso)>her, who flourished in the fifth Century, B. C. made use of it toillustrate his views of a vacuum. “ This instrument (says he) which isacummated or pointed towards the top, and made of clay or any othermaterial, (and used as it often has, for the watering of garaens) is, in thebottom very lahge and plain [flat] but full of small holes like a sieve, butat the top has only one large hole.”® When it was plunged in water, theliquid entered through the numerous holes in its bottom ; after whichthe single opening at top was closed by the finger to exclude the air; the»__

1 As quoted by Switzer from Bockler, Hyd. 167.

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