572

APPENDIX.

images—they were named “ teraphim,” a word signifying “blowers,” fromtcraph, “ to blow" So also the eolipilic idol Pusterich was named frompusten, “ to blow.” (See p. 399.) Eolipiles, like the Lares, were locatedon the hearth, and as they were avowedly made and named after a god,(Eolus,) and were designed to imitate him in producing blasts of wind,(Varro makes the lares gods of the air,) it was natural enough to adoptthem as household deities. Rachel was evidently an intelligent and veryshrewd woman; and as we have no reason to suppose she was an idolaterafter having lived twenty years in the same house with Jacob, (if indeedshe ever was,) it is not at all likely that she coveted the images as idols,but only as domestic Utensils of real Utility—Utensils which she had longbeen in the habit of using, and such as were highly desirable in setting uphousekeeping for herseif.

Expansive Force of Steam, p. 409. The Stoics , says Plutarch , attri-buted earthquakes to aqueous vapor generated within the earth by subter-ranean heat. (Opin. Philos.) No stronger proof that the ancients werefamiliär with the force of steam could be desired : the idea could neverhave occurred except to men practically acquainted with the irresistibleenergy of this fluid when confined. If by no other means, we may besure they had frequent proofs of this energy in the rupture of eolipileswhen their vents were closed. The hypothesis of Plato respecting theconversion of water into air and fire, (mentioned below,) shows him tohave been a close experimenter on steam at different temperatures. Theold theory of boiling springs being forced from the interior by steam, im-plies also an acquaintance with devices for raising water by it.

Identity of Steam and Air, pp. 395-400, 418-421. This erroneousopinion doubtless dates back to the early ages, during which it led to theinvention of eolipiles, and to the first mechanical application of aqueousvapor, viz. to blow fixes, instead of wind from bellows. It is singulär,however, that such an opinion should have been maintained at so late aperiod as the close of the 17th Century—that modern as well as an-cient philosophers should have taught that water rarefied by heat wasconverted into air, and that air Condensed by cold was returned intowater. Besides the examples already given, we add a few more. Of theelements into which philosophers formerly resolved all things material,viz : earth, water, air and fire, Plato suspected the last three were butmodifications of one ; at any rate, he supposed they were convertible intoeach other—that water attenuated by heat was dilated into air, (steam,)and that this by a higher temperature became an invisible and glowingfluid or fire. (Plutarch, Opin. Philos.) Plutarch himself, in his Treatiseon Cold, observes, “ aire when it doth gather and thicken is converted intowater, but when it is more subtile it resolveth into fire ; as also in thelike case, water by rarefaction is resolved into aire.” Plinv, in speakingof winds says, “aire is gathered into a waterie liquor.”' The sweatingof walls, breathing on glass, moisture on the outside of a tumbler of water,&c. were considered proofs that cold Condensed air into water. Lord Bacon , in his Sylva, Expers. 27 and 76, speaks of “ the means of turningaire into water,” and Exp. 91, relates to “ the Version of water into aire.”Norton, (a Contemporary of Bacon, ) in his “ Rehearsal of Alchemy,” versi-fies the old doctrine thus :—

Bat ayre condens’d is turn’d to raine,

And water rarefied comes ayre again.

Wind-Müls, p. 418. These were known in England in the 13thCentury. At the battle of Lewes , A. 1). 1264, “ there was many a modre