398

Ancient Tenwres.

[Book IV.

says that charcoal which has been wetted gives out more heat than thatwhich is always kept dry. (Nat. Hist. B. xxxiii, cap. 5.) Dr. Fryerspeaks of “ water cast on sea coal” rendering the heat more intense.(Travels, Lon. 1698, p. 290.)

If there was no evidence that eolipiles had been moulded into variousshapes of men, animals, &c. we might have concluded that such was thefact from what is known of the practice of the ancients. Whenever thedesign, action or movement of a machine or implement corresponded atall with those of men, it was sure to resemble them in form, if its use couldpossibly admit of it. The taste for such things was universal in formertimes, and is to a certain extent indulged in all times. It seems inhe-rent in savage people; hence their grotesque and monstrous statues or idols,speaking heads and other androidii of the old mechanics. There has infact always been a predominating disposition to imitate the human form;and in accordance with it, eolipiles were made to assume the figures ofmen, boys, &c. the blast escaping from the eyes, mouth, or other parts ofthe figure. Even so late as the seventeenth Century we are told that “torender eolipiles more agreeable, they commonly make them in the formof a head, with a hole at the mouth.” (Ozanam’s Mathematical and Phy-sir.al Recreations, English translation, London , 1708, 419.) It was in-dee'd natural that these machines should be made to resemble figures ofthe god from whom they were named. An old one is described in theEncyclopedia of Antiquities as “ made in the shape of a short fat manwith very slender arms, in a curious wig, cheeks extremely swollen, ahole behind for filling it, and a small one at the mouth for the blast.”

Most readers are aware that tenures by which lands were held in themiddle ages were often based on the most. trifling and ridiculous consi-derations. Camden has noticed a great number in bis Brittannia, and inthe description of the county of Suffolk, there is one which seems to havehad reference to the employment of an eolipile ; but whether it had or not,there is in Dr. Plott’s History of Shropshire an aecount of one of these“merry tenures” in which blowing the fire with an eolipile formed partof the duty required. The instrument was of the human form ; and de-signated, like many other domestic Utensils, by the soubriquet “ Jach.’’“ Jack of Hilton, a little hollow image of brass, about twelve inches high,with his right hand on his head and his left on pego,” blows the fire inHilton-hall every new year’s day, while the Lord of Essington drives agoose three times round it, before it is to be roasted and eaten by theLord of Hilton or his deputy. In some accounts it is stated that theimage blew the fire while the goose was roasting, which is more proba-ble than the other. The custom is supposed to have been continued atHilton-hall from the tenth or eleventh to the seventeenth Century. Thisimage is considered by some writers as an ancient idol.

From the above use of eolipiles it will be perceived that there is asimilar analogy between them and machines to raise water by steam,- asbetween pumps and bellows ; every device for blowing a fire having oeenused to raise liquids.

It will readily be imagined that these blowing images offered too manyadvantages to escape being pressed into the secret Services of the temples,eVen supposing they did not originate in them. By charging the interiorwith different fluids the results could be varied according to circunr-stances, and if an inflammable liquid was employed, as oil, spirits of wine,turpentine, &c. &c. streams and flashes of fire could be made to shootfrom any or every part of the figure. Enough is known to convince usthat such things were often done. Notwithstanding all the care of the