182
ON LOCKS AND KEYS.
been inserted, and the impediment to the drawingback of the bolt removed by raising up so many ironpins that fall down into holes in the bar or boltcorresponding to the peg in the key.”*
The above discovery, and also the figure of onebeing sculptured among the basso-relievos of theGreat Temple of Karnac, prove it to have been inuse in Egypt for above four thousand years, duringwhich period it does not appear to have undergoneany sensible change. It was first described by Etonin his “ Survey of the Turkish Empire, ” published in1798 ; but it was not generally known in Western Europe , until the French invasion of Egypt , at thebeginning of the present century, when a furtheraccount of it was given by M. Denon, in his greatwork on that country.
From a letter which appeared in the “ Journal ofDesign and Manufactures,” for July, 1850, p. 160,signed “ W. C. Trevelyan,” it appears that this pin-lock has been found elsewhere than in the East; hesays, “ It is remarkable that the locks which havebeen in use in the Faroe Islands , probably forcenturies, are identical in their construction withthe Egyptian . They are, lock and key, in all theirparts made of wood ; of which material, if I mistakenot, they have also been found in Egyptian Cata-combs, and’ so identical with the Faroese in struc-ture and appearance, that it would not be easy todistinguish one from the other.”