324

Strasbourg Fire-Engine.

[Book III,

In the 16th Century no place could have furnished equal facilities withNuremberg for the fabrication of, and making experiments with, hydraulicmachines. It was at that time the Birmingham of Europe . “ Nuremberg brass” was celebrated for ages. Its mechanics were so numerous that,for fear of tumults, they were not allowed to assemble in public “ exceptat worship, weddings and funerals.” No other place, observes an oldwriter, had “ so great a number of curious workmen in all metals.” TheHautschs seem to have been favorites with the genius of invention thatpresided over the city ; an aptitude for and an inclination to pursue me-chanical researches were inherited by the family. From a remark of Dr.Ägricola of Ratisbon , in his curious work on Gardening, we learn thatone of them did not confine himself to devices for throwing streams ofwater into the air ; for he contrived a machine by means of which he in-tended to raise himself into the upper regions. “ What can be more ridi-culous [exclaims the author just named] than the art of flying, sailingor swimming in the air 1 Yet we find there have been some who havepracticed it, particularly one Hautsch of Nuremberg , who is much spokenof for his flying engine. In the mean time it is well for the World thatthese attempts have not succeeded; for how should we seize malefactors!They would fly over the walls of towns like Apelles Vocales, who theyteil us saved himself by flying over the walls of Nuremberg , and the printof whose feet is there shown to strangers to this day.” The art of fly-ing was a Standard subject with Nuremberg mechanics for centuries,and several curious results are recorded, but perhaps nothing more sothan the above objection to it.

.. .... ■

I..

'%jliliüiiliiüsf[v'

aniMii l

No. 145. Fire-eugine belonging to Strasbourg , A. D. 1739.

For nearly a hundred years after the date of Hautsch’s engine thoseused throughout Europe , with the exception perhaps of a few cities inGermany , were very similar to those described by Belidor , as employedin France in his time. They consisted simply of two pumps placed in aehest or cistern that was moved on wheels or sleds, and sometimes carriedby men like the old sedan chair. These engines differed from each otheronly in their dimensions and the modes of working them. Nos. 145 and146 will convey a pretty correct idea of them during the early partof the 18th Century. The formen belonged to Strasbourg , the latter to Ypres .