Chap. 18.]

Peruvian works in Metals.

171

though it be only forty-two years at this day since those waters forsook their course; yet neither the loss of so necessary a provision as water, which was the refreshment of their lives, nor of that stream which supplied the temple of the sun, their god, could by nature or religion conserve in them the memory of so remarkable a particular. The truth is, that it is probable that the undertakers or master-workmen of those water works did communicate or make known to the priests only, the secret conveyances of those waters; esteeming every thing which belonged to the honor and service of the temple to be sacred, that it was not to be revealed to common ears, and for this reason perhaps the knowledge of those waters might dye and end with the order of priests."

"At the end of six or seven months after it was lost, it happened that some Indian boys playing about the stream, discovered an eruption of water from the broken pipe; of which they acquainting one the other, at length it came to the knowledge of the Spaniards, who, judging it to be the water of the convent that had been lost and diverted from its former course, gave information thereof unto the friars, who joyfully received the good news, and immediately labored to bring it again into direct conveyance, and conduct it to their garden. The truth is, the pipes lying very deep were buried with earth, so that it cost much labor and pains to to reduce it to its right channel; and yet they were not so curious or industrious as to trace the fountain to the spring head. That garden which now supplies the convent with herbs and plants, was the garden which in the times of the incas belonged to their palace, called the garden of gold and silver; because, that in it were herbs and flowers of all sorts, lower plants and shrubs, and taller trees, made all of gold and silver; together with all sorts of wild beasts and tame, which were accounted rare and unusual. There were also strange insects, and creeping things, as snakes, serpents, lizards, camelions, butterflies, and snails; also all sorts of strange birds, and every thing disposed, and in its proper place with great care, and imitated with much curiosity, like the nature and original of that it represented. There was also a mayzall, which bears the Indian wheat of an extraordinary bigness, the seed whereof they call quinia. Likewise plants which produce lesser seeds, and trees bearing their several sorts of fruit, all made of gold and silver, and excellently representing them in their natural shapes. In the palace also, they had heaps or piles of billets and faggots made of gold and silver, rarely well counterfeited. And for the greater adornment and majesty of the temple of their god the sun, they had cast vast figures in the forms of men and women and children, which they laid up in magazines or large chambers, called pirra; and every year, at the principal feasts, the people presented great quantities of gold and silver, which were all employed in the adornment of the temple. And those goldsmiths whose art and labor was dedicated to the sun, attended to no other work, than daily to make new inventions of rare workmanship out of those metals. In short they made all sorts of vessels or utensils belonging to the temple, of gold and silver, such as pots, and pans, and pails, and fire shovels, and tongs, and every thing else of use and service, even their very spades and rakes of the garden were made of the like metal."a

The author of Italy, with sketches of Spain and Portugal,' Phil. 1834, enumerating some of the curiosities in the museum of Madrid, re

The mission of Messrs. James, Bowdich and Hutchinson, sent by the British government to Ashantee, found the king and all his attendants literally oppressed with em bellishments of solid gold, with which their persons were nearly covered. most common utensils were composed of that metal.'

Even the

172

Original Inhabitants of Peru.

[Book I. marks: "what pleased me most, was a collection of Peruvian vases; a polished stone which served the incas for a mirror; and a linen mantle, which formerly adorned their copper colored shoulders, as finely woven as a shawl, and flowered in very nearly a similar manner; the colors as fresh and vivid as if new." Vol. ii, 211.

the

It is difficult after perusing the history of this interesting people, to reconcile the state of the arts among them at the Spanish invasion, with the opinion, that Manco Capac arrived from Asia at so late a period as the 12th century. If he was the enterprising and intelligent man that he is represented to have been, and there is every reason to believe he was, it is impossible that as an Asiatic, he could have been ignorant of the saw, auger, files, of fitting wooden handles to hammers, of nails, scissors, the crane, windlass, pulley, the arch, iron, &c : or having a knowledge of these things, that he should not have introduced them, or at least some of them. But if the Peruvians were also ignorant of the swape, noria, or chain of pots, the objections to such an opinion are greatly strengthened. From what part of the eastern world could such a man have come without having a knowledge of these machines, and yet be acquainted, as he was, with all the essential features of oriental agriculture? Machines too, of the utmost importance in Peru, where rain was generally unknown, and water scarce and valuable as in Egypt itself-and machines more necessary than any other, in furthering the objects he had in view. While a doubt remains respecting their employment, we should suppose that he really was, as surmised by Garcilasso, a NATIVE, who by the superiority of his understanding, and by a subtile deportment (the more effectually to carry out his measures) persuaded the people that he came from the sun. Indeed, the state of the useful arts generally among them in the 15th century, implies that they had not had any permanent connection with Asiatics for many ages; but that they were gradually recovering a knowledge of the arts, which in very remote times had been practised by nations then extinct; and hence the paucity of their tools and the peculiarity of some of their devices, as their quippus or historical cords, their modes of computation, &c. Moreover, neither the Mexicans nor Peruvians had reduced the lower animals to subjection, at any rate not for agricultural purposes; and though they had neither the horse, the ass, nor ox; yet the former had the buffalo, an animal that has been used from the remotest ages to plough the soil. This circumstance alone is sufficient to show that they did not derive their knowledge of agriculture from Asia, within the time generally supposed, if at all.

Who can reflect on the civilized people, that in remote ages inhabited these continents, without mourning over their extinction, and the loss of every record respecting them? A people, whose very existence would have been unknown, had not some relics of their labors (like the organic remains of animals whose species are extinct) yet resisted the corroding effects of time. When we examine the ruins of their temples, their cities, and other monuments of their progress in the arts, our disappointment amounts to distress, that the veil which conceals them, is not, and perhaps cannot be removed. Strange as it may appear, we are almost as ignorant of the mysterious Palenque, and hundreds of other cities, equally and some of them perhaps much more ancient-as of the builders of Babeland we know about as little of their early inhabitants as if they had been located on another planet.

END OF THE FIRST BOOK.

BOOK II.

MACHINES FOR RAISING WATER BY THE PRESSURE OF THE ATMOSPHERE.

CHAPTER I.

ON machines that raise water by atmospheric pressure-Principle of their action formerly unknownSuction a chimera-Ascent of water in pumps incomprehensible without a knowledge of atmospheric pressure-Phenomena in the organization, habits, and motions of animals-Rotation of the atmosphere with the earth-Air tangible-Compressible-Expansible-Elastic-Air beds-Ancient beds and bedsteads-Weight of air-Its pressure-Examples-American Indians and the air pump-Boa Constrictor -Swallowing oysters-Shooting bullets by the rarefaction of air-Boy's sucker-Suspension of flies against gravity-Lizards-Frogs-Walrus-Connection between all departments of knowledge-Sucking fish-Remora-Lampreys-Dampier-Christopher Columbus at St. Domingo-Ferdinand Columbus -Ancient fable-Sudden expansion of air bursting the bladders of fish-Pressure of the atmosphere on liquids.

WITH the last chapter we concluded our remarks on machines embraced in the first general division of the subject, (see page 8) and now proceed to those of the second; viz. such as raise water by means of the weight or pressure of the atmosphere. These form a very interesting class they are genuine philosophical instruments, and as such may serve to exhibit and illustrate some of the most important truths of natural philosophy. The principle upon which their action depends was formerly unknown, and even now, a person, however ingenious, while ignorant of the nature and properties of the atmosphere, would be utterly unable to account for the ascent of water in them. Having no idea of the cause of this ascent, except the vague one of suction, he would feel greatly embarrassed if required to explain it. And when informed that there really is no such thing in nature as suction, but that it is a mere chimera, having no existence except in the imagination, the task would be attended with insuperable difficulties. Perhaps he would have recourse to a common pump, to trace, if possible, the operation in detail; if so, he would naturally begin with the first mover, or the pump handle, and would look for some medium, by which motion is transmitted from it, to the water in the well; but, however close the scrutiny might be made, he would be unable to detect any; and as a matter of course, while a connection between them, i. e. between the mover and the object moved, could not be discovered, it would be impossible for him satisfactorily to account for the phenomenon. If "a body cannot act where it is not present," as the sucker of a pump, on water at a distance from it, how could such a person account for the ascent of that water in obedience to the movements of the sucker? And how could he explain the process by which it was effected,

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Ascent of Water in Pumps incomprehensible

[Book II. while he could find no apparent communication between them? The fact is it would be difficult for him to point out any closer connection between the pump rod and the water in the well, than between a walking cane in the hands of a pedestrian, and water under the surface of the ground over which he stepped; nor could he assign a conclusive reason, why the liquid should not ascend and accompany the movements of the latter as well as of the former.

He could perceive no obvious or adequate cause for the elevation of water through the pipe of a pump, there being no apparent force applied to it, or in the direction of its ascent, no vessel or moveable pallet going down, as in the preceding machines, to convey or urge the liquid up-and hence he could no more comprehend how the movements of a pump box (sucker) above the surface of the ground, should induce water in a well to rush up towards it, than he could explain how the waving of a magician's wand should cause spirits to appear.

Long familiarity with the atmospheric pump, makes it hard for us, at the present day, to realize the difficulties formerly experienced in accounting for the ascent of water in it. Suppose the cause yet unknown and unthought of it certainly would puzzle us to explain how a piece of leather (the sucker) moving up and down in a vertical tube, whose lower orifice is in water, some twenty-five or thirty feet below it, should conjure that water up. Such a result is opposed to all experience and observation in other departments of the arts; nor is there any thing like it, in the machines we have examined in the preceding book. The mechanism by which motion is transmitted from them to the water, is obvious to the senses a tangible medium of communication is established between the force that works them and the water they raise; whereas in the pump, an invisible agent is excited, whose effects are as surprising as its mode of operation is obscure. 'Tis true, a tube (the pump pipe) is continued from the place where the sucker moves to the water, but it remains at rest, or is immoveable, and therefore cannot transmit motion from one to the other; it is merely a channel through which the water may rise-it does not raise it.

But if, in order to establish a connection between the sucker and water, the former were made to descend through the pump into the latter, still the difficulty would not be overcome. The sucker in that case would act much like one of those buckets, used in some wells, which has an opening in its bottom to admit the water, and covered by a flap to prevent its return. (The sucker is in fact, merely a small bucket of this kind, and is so named in some countries.) In both cases the water would be raised which entered through the valves-the bucket would bring up all it contained, and the sucker all that passed through it into the pump; so far the operation of both is clear, and as regards the raising of the water above the valves, would be the same; but it is the ascent of a column of water behind the sucker that requires explanation-a liquid column that follows it as closely through every turn of the tube, as if it were a rope, having its fibres at one end fastened to the sucker and pulled up by it. What is it that makes this water ascend against a law of its nature-against gravity? Were the cohesion of its particles such that it could be raised by a force applied only to its upper end, then indeed the difficulty would be diminished; but in that case, it would follow that a similar column would ascend after a bucket when drawn out of an open well; and further, that a traveler might then make use of a liquid walking stick, to assist him in his journeying.

Baffled thus in our attempts to find a solution here, we perhaps would

Chap. 1.]

Without a knowledge of Atmospheric Pressure.

175

begin to think, that when a liquid is raised in the pipe of a pump, it must be by some force acting below, or behind it, a force a tergo, as it is named, and of which all the preceding machines are examples. Thus when a bucket of water is raised from a well, the force is applied behind it, i.e. to the bottom of the bucket, through the cord, bale, and sides, to which it is attached. It is the same in the screw, the force continually elevating a portion of it immediately behind the water; and in the tympanum, noria, chain of pots, chain pump, &c. it is the same; the vessels or pallets go below, i. e. behind the liquid and urge it up before them. It is the same in all ordinary motions. I wish to examine a small object laying at the foot of my garden: now I cannot by moving this ruler in its direction, in the manner of a pump rod, induce it to move to me, nor can it ever be so moved, until the force of some other body in motion behind it impel it towards me. It is the same in the case of a stubborn boy, who not only refuses to move as directed, but opposes the natural inertia of his body to the change, and therefore can only be impelled forward by some force applied directly or indirectly behind him, by dragging or pushing him along. In this way, all the motions in the universe, according to some philosophers, are imparted or transferred; those which appear exceptions being considered modifications of it. Still however, the difficulty of establishing a connection between the movements of the sucker in the interior of the pump at one end, and this force, whatever it might be, acting on the water, outside of it, at the opposite end, would remain; and we should probably at last impute this ascent of water (with the ancients) to some indefinable energy of nature, both fallacious and absurd; nor would this be surprising, for in the absence of a knowledge of the atmosphere and of its properties, there really is as great a MYSTERY in the movements of a pump rod being followed by the ascent of the liquid, as in any thing ever attributed to the divining rod, or to the wand of Abaris.

In order to understand the operation of machines belonging to this part of the subject, and also the principle upon which their action depends, we must leave, for a few moments, the consideration of pumps and pipes, and all the contrivances of man, and turn our attention to some of the Creator's works as they are exhibited in nature. This may perhaps be deemed a departure from the subject; it is however so far from being a digression, that it is essentially necessary to ascertain the cause of water ascending in this class of machines, as well as to understand the philosophy of numerous natural as well as artificial operations, that are performed by apparatus analogous to them; as the acts of inspiration and respiration, quadrupeds drinking, the young of animals sucking their dams, children drawing nourishment from their mothers' breasts: bleeding by cupping, by leeches, or by the more delicate apparatus of a musketoe's proboscis; and if things ignoble may be named, the taking of snuff, smoking of cigars and pipes of tobacco, and also the experiments of those peripatetic philosophers, who perambulate our wharves, and imbibe nectar through straws from hogsheads of rum and molasses.

Every person is aware, that the earth on which we live is of a globular or spheroidal figure, and that it is enveloped in an invisible ocean of air or gas, which extends for a great number of miles from every part of its surface. This hollow sphere of air is named the atmosphere, and is one of the most essential parts in the economy of nature. It is the source as well as the theatre of those sublime meteorological phenomena which we constantly behold and admire. It is necessary to animal and to vegetable life. Its material is the breath of life' to all things living. It is moreover the peculiar element of land animals, the scene of their actions, the