Statue of Memnon.

377

Chap. 2.]

Carabyses desirous of ascertaining the concealed mechanism, it is said,broke the statue from the head to the middle. According to some writershe discovered nothing; while others mention an opinion prevalent amongthe Egyptians that the image previously uttered the seven mysteriousvowels, but never afterwards. Strabo has recorded a tradition that the in-jury was caused by an earthquake. He visited Egypt in the first Century,and remarks, that early one morning as he and Gallus the prefect, with manyother friends, and a large number of soldiers were Standing by the statue,they heard a certain sound, but could not determine whether it came fromthe trunk or the base ; there was however a prevailing belief that it pro-ceeded from the latter or its vicinity. The sounds finally ceased in thefourth Century, when christianity became established in the country.Some authors have supposed two different devices were employed ; oneprevious to, and the other subsequent to the mutilation of the statue ; andthat one or both consisted of springs, &c. on the principle of some of thespeaking heads of the middle ages. Heron, however, who must havebeen familiär with the image and the sounds uttered by it, attributed thelatter to air or vapor, evolved and expanded by solar heat; so that, how-ever we may speculate on the subject, in his opinion the Pharaonic priest-hood were well acquainted with the dilatation and contraction of airs byheat and cold, and with various modes of employing them. Moreover,the movements of the famous statue of Serapis and also those of the Birdof Memnon (an image which we have previously mentioned) were alsoproduced by air or vapor dilated by the sun’s heat; and we shall present-ly see that tricks on the same principle were frequently performed at an-cient altars.

Modern expositions of the mechanism or supposed mechanism of theTheban Idol are derived from the Spiritalia. That of Decaus consistsof a close vessel, of the form of a pedestal, having a partition across it bywhich two air-tight compartments are formed. One of these is half filledwith water and exposed to the solar rays—the other contains air and toits upper part are connected two Organ pipes or reeds that communicatewith the statue. A communication is formed between the two compart-ments by a siphon, the legs of which are inserted at the top and descendnearly to the bottom of each compartment. Thus when the sun warmedthe vessel containing water, the air and vapor within, became expandedand pressing on the surface of the liquid forced part of the latter throughthe siphon into the other compartment, by which a corresponding portionof air was forced through the organ pipes. A figure and details of thisapparatus form the 23rd plate of Decaus’ Forcible Movements. Pausa-nias and some other ancient authors compared the sounds to those produ-ced by the Vibration of harp strings; and Juvenal , who was exiled toEgypt by Domitian , seems to have been of the same opinion.

- - - when the radiant beam of morning ringsOn shatter’d Memnon ’s still harmonious strings.—xv. Sat.

Hence Kircher in his explanation, instead of conveying the rarefied air,or vapor through a wind instrument, made it act against the vanes of awheel, as in Branca’s steam machine, and as the wheel was thus blownround, a number of pins attaehed to its periphery Struck a series of wiresso arranged as to receive the blows. A figure of this devic.e is insertedin his CEdipus JEgyptiacus. Rome, 1652, Tom. iii, page 326.

Whatever the device was, it seems to have been as admirable in itsexecution and the disposition of the mechanism, as in its conception. Weare not certain that it was ever fully understood except by the priests of

48