Herrn’'s Fountain.

361

Chap. 9.]

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:b

the water, the latter is compelled to ascend through the jet pipe, as shownin the cut. The water thus forced out, falls back into the basin, and run-ning down C into B continues the play of the machine, until all the waterin A is expended. The elevation to which water in A canbe thus raised through a tube, will be equal to the perpen-dicular distance between the two orifices of C. To per-sons who are ignorant of the construction of these foun-tains, the water in the basin appears to descend, and torise again through the jet. Such is not the fact; were it so,this machine would be a perpetual motion, or somethingvery like one. Some persons beguiled by the apparentpossibility of inducing it to ascend, have attempted the So-lution of that problem by a similar apparatus. We mayas well confess that in our youth we were of the number.The younger Pliny seems to have fallen into the samemistake respecting a fountain belonging to his country Seat.

Portable fountains of this kind might be adopted as ap-propriate appendages to flower gardens, and even drawingrooms. The pipes might be concealed within, or modeledinto a handsome column, whose pedestal formed the lowervessel, while the upper end assumed the figure of a vase.Such an addition to the furniture of an apartment wouldbe a useful acquisition at those seasons when the atmos-phere, glowing like the air of an oven, scorches our bodiesduring the day, and in the evening we gasp in vain for thecooling breeze : at such times a minute stream of waterspouting and sparkling in a room would soon allay theheat and invigorate our drooping spirits—imparting therefreshing coolness of autumn amid the burning heats of" " summer; and if the liquid were perfumed with attar of roses,

N °' Fminuta 01 *' 8 or l ave nder, we might realize the 'most innocent and

delicious of oriental luxuries. The play of such a fountainmight be continued for two or three hours at a time, for the size of thestream need hardly exceed that of a thread, and by a slight modification,the jet could be renewed as often as the upper vessel was emptied, bysimply inverting the machine : or, the whole might be arranged without,except the ajutage and the vase in which the jet played. (See remarkson fountains in the fifth book.)

This fountain has been named a toy, but it is by such toys that impor-tant discoveries have been made in every age. It is clearly no rüde orimperfect device : not a first thought; on the contrary, it bears the evi-dence of a matured machine, and of being the result of a familiär acquaint-ance with the principles upon which its action depends. TJnlike olderhydraulic machines, it requires no distinct vessel within which to raise aa liquid; nor does it resemble pumps, since neither cylinders, suckers,valves or levers are required, nor any external force to keep it in motion.

Its invention may be considered as having opened a new era in the his-tory of machines for raising water, for it is susceptible of an almost endlessvanety of modifications, and of being applied to a great number of pur-poses. To understand this it is only necessary to bear in mind that therelative position of the two columns is immaterial : they may be a miledistant from each other, or they may be nearly together. The one thatraises the other may be above, below, or on a level with the latter; bothmay be conveyed in pipes along or under the surface of the ground, andin any direction : the only condition required is, that the perpendicular

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