~s*t EDWARD SOMERSET, SIXTH EARL AND SECOND MARQUIS OF WORCESTER. From a Bust by Mr. James Loft, Sculptor, exhibited at the Royal Academy, 1867 ; and now in the Sculpture Gallery of the Crystal Palace, Sydenham. SCIENTIFIC STUDIES: OK PRACTICAL, IN CONTRAST WITH CHIMERICAL PURSUITS ; EXEMPLIFIED IN TWO POPULAR LECTURES. I. THE LIFE OF EDWARD SOMERSET, SECOND MARQUIS OF WORCESTER, INVENTOR OF THE STEAM ENGINE. II CHIMERAS OF SCIENCE: ASTROLOGY, ALCHEMY, SQUARING THE CHICLE, PKBPETUTJM MOBILE, Ere. ttf) jjfUuetrattbe Dt'agrantg. BY HENRY DIRCKS, C. E., LL.D., F.C.8., M.R.S.L., F.R.S.B., &C. &C. AUTHOR OF " THE LIFE OF THE MARQUIS OF WORCESTER ;" " WOKCESTERIANA;" &C. LONDON: E. & P. N. SPON, 48, CHA11ING CROSS, S.W. 1879. INTRODUCTION. IT forms a necessary part of popular lectures that they should possess breadth with brevity, and interest without too great profundity. It is possible' to see a large extent of country from a lofty tower without being cognizant of every blade of grass, the perfume of blossoms, or the notes of the sweetest songsters of the groves. In like manner the popular lecturer has to present only so much to the eye of the mind as will give the prominent features of his theme, omitting those details over which the scholar, or the true lover of his subject, dwells with the affection of a fond parent over a darling child. We must look with astonishment at a man of noble birth, who in a period of civil commotion, with a monarch for his friend, and a court at his command, secluded himself during his youth in a stately ancient tower, engaged in abstruse studies and wonderful me- chanical operations ; and who, late in life, amidst the terrors of civil war was found turning his inventive faculties, like another Archimedes, to the construction of means of defence, and terrible weapons of offence. But it is only those who become immersed in studies, whether of theology, philosophy, or kindred mental pur- 2000152 iv PREFACE. suits, who can appreciate the growing appetite for what appears to unlettered men as the driest of all dry occupations. The mere pleasure-seeker knows not how much is lost, and how little is gained by sharing the most brilliant gaieties of fashionable life. Look at the ancient astrologers, whose pursuits were once as pure and noble as those of modern astronomers. Amidst wild theories, superstitious beliefs, empirical systems, and pagan divination, a rupture became inevit- able : one side adopted stellary divination or Astrology, the other Astronomy, or the simple and true study of the stars. Whatever a man's intellectual pursuits may be, he has the advantage over the mere man of fashion of being engaged in employments which the longest life cannot exhaust. But intellectual pursuits partake either of the ne- gative or the positive ; they are useful or useless, and when useless they fritter away and render nugatory the talent that might have been better employed. The Marquis of Worcester affords an eminent exam- ple of genius of a high order, grandly and effectively directed towards the advancement of man's political and social position. His contemporary, Dr. John Dee, the Astrologer, together with his friend Kelly, the Alche- mist, may be appropriately distinguished as represent- ing a class chimerically inclined, and hurtful to the well. being of society ; while a less eminent and less blame- ablo section of chimerical labourers are those of whom PREFACE. r the worst we can say is, that they waste much valuable time, energy, and fortune, through attaching themselves to mathematics, mechanics, and other learned pur- suits, only in search of marvellous, instead of useful applications. All chimeras are built on assumptions, and so far are " castles in the air ;" in many forms they are simply ridiculous ; but when they pretend to the supernatural they are pernicious and often wicked. In the two lectures now presented for his perusal, the reader will find both these topics illustrated by suitable lives and authentic evidence. H. D. London, February, 1869. I. ON THE LIFE OF EDWARD SOMERSET, SECOND MARQUIS OF WORCESTER. " He was a man, take him for all in all, We shall not look upon his like again." DELIVERED AT THE LITERARY INSTITUTION, GREENWICH, 16TH FEBRUARY, 1364. LECTURE I. THE Biographer of Edward, second MARQUIS OP WORCESTER, naturally finds some difficulty in rendering prominent the political position that nobleman enjoyed in the 17th century; or of impressing the minds of his hearers or readers with a just sense of the wonderful genius of the author of the " Century of Inventions," even although the fact be established of that remark- able man being also the true and first inventor of a veritable steam engine. When we consider the eventful period in which he lived, (from 1601 to 1667,) and his personal character, together with the social, political, and romantic inci- dents of his life, the career of the Marquis of Worcester cannot fail to interest and instruct us. He was at once the most fortunate and unfortunate of men, living in times of mingled enlightenment, superstition, and civil discord, and finally finding himself cast on the tender mercies of a corrupt Court; the possessor of a high order of mechanical genius, yet proscribed politically and theologically ; most loyal, yet falling the victim of puritanism; and closing his life neglected by a Sovereign whose father had been the chief ruin of his patrimony. Descended from the Plantagoncts, Edward Somerset, 10 MARQUIS OF WORCESTER. second MARQUIS OP WORCESTER, is supposed to have been born about, or soon after 1601, the records to establish his natal year being wanting. His father, Henry Somerset, created first Marquis of Worcester by Charles L, was married on the 16th June, 1600, at Blackfriars ; Queen Elizabeth, attending in great state, graciously danced at the wedding ball ; and the festivi- ties of the occasion were continued for three days. We obtain little information respecting the Marquis of Worcester until about the twenty-seventh year of his age, when he married Elizabeth, daughter of Sir William Dormer, eldest son of Lord Dormer of Weng, and sister of Eobert, Earl of Carnarvon. It is not known where he was educated, but it was certainly neither . at Oxford nor Cambridge. Mention is made of his preceptor, Mr. Adams, at Raglan Castle, the baronial seat of the lords of Raglan, in Monmouthshire. There is every probability, however, that he finished his education at some foreign university. His son and heir, Henry, born in 1 629, was created by Charles II. the first Duke of Beaufort, and from him the present Duke of Beaufort is the eighth of that rank in lineal descent. It was during the first or second year of his married life that he engaged the services of Caspar Kaltoff, whom he employed as a practical assistant, to work out his numerous mechanical experiments, and whom he MARQUIS OF WOECESTEE. 11 extols as an " unparalleled workman, both for trust and skill/'* There are still to be seen on one side of the Keep or citadel of Raglan Castle, the remains of grooves in the wall, probably for the insertion of large metal pipes, in some way or other connected with the waterworks which are known to have been erected there, and which were most likely carried out by Kaltoff, under his master's directions. Becoming a widower in 1635, his lordship married in 1639, his second wife, Margaret, second daughter and co-heir of Henry O'Brien, Earl of Thomond. It must have been about this period of his life that the Marquis of Worcester made one of his most sin- gular and perplexing mechanical experiments, which he exhibited at the Tower before Charles I., several of his Court, some foreign ambassadors, and the lieutenant of that fortress. As he names Sir William Balfour (who held the latter appointment from 1630 to 1641) we can arrive at an approximate date. The mechanical surprise which he states he thus presented to gratify his royal master, was no other than a gigantic wheel, 14 feet in diameter, weighted with 40 weights of 50 Ibs. each, equal to 2000 Ibs., by means of which we are left to infer that the wheel main- tained a rotatory motion, without assistance from any external aid whatever ; that it was in fact, a realization * Dedication to " The Century of Inventions." B 2 12 MARQUIS OP WORCESTER. of that long sought for curiosity perpetual motion. As he wrote deliberately a statement of this circum- stance fifteen years later, or more, which he afterwards printed, we are left without any grounds to suppose otherwise than that he deceived himself, or was de- ceived, from interested motives, by persons in his em- ployment. The circumstance is scarcely worth notice except as a singular proof that such a hallucination could exist in the mind of the same genius that perfected the first practical steam-engine. We can only say that if the mystery could be cleared up, al- though it would be of little or no value to mathematics or mechanics, it would go far to elevate the scientific character of the Marquis, though he was not the only celebrity of his time infatuated with a thorough belief in the possibility of solving the paradox. The Marquis of Worcester, born at the close of Queen Elizabeth's reign, is not mentioned as appearing at the Court of James I ; his courtier life most likely commenced later, in the reign of Charles I, who was about his own age, and with whose career, the for- tunes of both the Marquis of Worcester, and his father, family, and friends, were unhappily but too intimately interwoven. It requires a visit to Eaglan Castle fully to realise the grandeur, nobleness, and strength of that romanti- cally situated, and almost regal stronghold. It wears MARQUIS OF WORCESTER. 13 all the solemnity that antiquity can "bestow, it is so gothic, so solid, and embowered, as it were, in a constant dubious shade. Then it is so extensive in ita bounds, its apartments are so capacious, and its massy walls so lofty and so finely chiseled and proportioned, that when we consider there is no quarry within any reasonable distance, nor any river or stream for con- veyance, the whole structure assumes the mystery of absolute romance. Its historic associations also rivet the attention of every beholder who is acquainted with the part it played in determining the fate of that great struggle between the Crown and the Parliament, which commenced in 1640, and ended with the establishment of a Commonwealth. The county of Monmouth is eminently distinguished for its scenery, its green hills and dales presenting a beautifully wooded and highly picturesque landscape from every point of view. The village of Eaglan is a small unpretending hamlet, principally remark- able for its parish church, which contains the chapel of the Beauforts, the resting place of several members of the Somerset family. Peering above lofty neighbour- ing trees, the Donjon, Keep, or Citadel of Eaglan Castle is a conspicuous object ; itself very lofty and standing on a considerable eminence, it commands a most ' delightful and extensive panoramic view of the surrounding country in that fertile district. 14 MARQUIS OP WORCESTER. The Castle may be described as consisting of two portions, distinguished by two courts and two fortified arched entrances. The grand entrance, between two hexagonal towers, leads to the paved court, with the closet tower or library to the right, a withdrawing or ball-room overhead, and a banqueting or stately hall to the left, which last apartment attracts much notice from its great size and remarkable state of preservation. Externally situated is the Citadel or Tower of Gwent, surrounded with a broad moat over which there appears to have been a drawbridge on one side, and on the other, adjoining the castle a permanent stone bridge. During his youth, the Marquis of Worcester, as Lord Herbert, resided at the Castle, and may have had his laboratory, workshop, and study conveniently situated in the Citadel ; at all events, in connection with his early career, the ruined remains of the family mansion cannot be visited without intense interest. His father was a noble minded, hearty, generous man, living in princely state; an extensive and wealthy landed proprietor, and in case of need capable of defending his Citadel against any foe whatever. This last necessity made itself conspicuous between the years 1640 and 1641, when the civil war broke out. After the fatal battle of Naseby, 14th June, 1645, Charles I. three times rested at the Castle, staying there in all twenty-seven days. The strength of that fortress HAEQUIS OF WOECESTEE. 15 enabled it to resist the Parliamentary arms longer than any other stronghold its surrender following very shortly after that of Pendennis Castle. When civil war was raging in this country, when King and Parliament were in opposition, when Puritan, Protestant, and Papist sought for mastery, when cavaliers met roundheads in mortal conflict, and every man stood in fear of his neighbour, the Marquis of Worcester could no longer remain a mere student of mechanism and of mathematical problems : if like Archimedes in one sense, he was now seen, unlike him, buckling on his armour, raising troops, and doffing the student's gown to become the soldier. Alas ! his military career forms no brilliant page in the annals of his country's history. He was essentially neither a statesman, nor a military man. He was bold, courageous, and energetic, but he could neither be fierce nor ferocious on occasion. He tampered with opponents, lost means of surprise, and was ever being tricked by the cunning and chicanery of adversaries not over-scrupulous in their promises or proceedings. His very goodness of heart, urbanity and uprightness were the sources of his utter ruin. Himself incapable of deceit, he was perpetually being made the victim of it : those who appeared his assured friends, and had every reason to be so, proving in any emergency shallow, empty, and worthless. Flattered by Charles I. he became instru- 16 MARQUIS OP WORCESTER. mental in assisting that Prince from his parent's private fortune ; and when that was exhausted, the King sapped the property of the son, repaying both with titles, promises, and valueless bonds. He created the Marquis of Worcester Earl of Glamorgan, during his father's life-time ; and, inducing him to raise Irish troops to fight against English subjects, he com- pleted the Earl's ruin ; for, that untoward enterprise failing, and being followed by the fall of Eaglan Castle, and the victories of the Cromwellian army, the Marquis of Worcester had to quit his native land to seek refuge, with many other political refugees, at the Court of France. His wife, who had been residing at Raglan Castle, obtained leave from the Parliament in 1646 to flee to Paris, where the Marquis also arrived in 1648. The Marquis was proscribed both as a Papist and a rebel. Throughout his political career the religion of his father and himself had made many weak-minded men their enemies; but that his loyalty should be considered rebellion was nothing more than might be expected from the dominant party of those troubled times : although undoubtedly the result of that great moral earthquake benefited our nation. His only son, Henry, sat in the Cromwellian Parlia- ment, and this fact may, in part, explain the circum- stance that most probably induced the Marquis of MARQUIS OP WORCESTER. 17 Worcester to visit London in 1652 ; for he must have been well-advised before committing such an apparently rash act. He was immediately incarcerated in the Tower, from which he was released in two years and a quarter, no doubt on his parole, as in 1655 a warrant was signed by Cromwell to pay the Marquis of Worcester the sum of three pounds per week for his maintenance. He was utterly beggared ; what was he to do ? It seems to have occurred to him to turn his mechanical ingenuity to account, the Pretender's monetary con- sideration being insufficient for the purpose intended. This high-minded nobleman in the same year wrote his remarkable " Century of Inventions," although it was not printed until eight years afterwards. The title- page declared its production to have been " at the in- stance of a powerful friend," who was, as we have reason to think, no other than Colonel Christopher Coppley, or Copley, who had served in the Parliamentary army of the North, under the command of General Fairfax ; for agreements were drawn up between them to se- cure a participation in any benefits arising from in- troducing the steam engine, or water-commanding engine, as it was then called. It is not to the historic page, but to the calm un- obtrusive volumes of scientific record, that we must turn to be enlightened with respect to the mental and mechanical achievements of the Marquis of Worcester ; 18 MAKQUIS OP WOECESTER. and we must at the same time not overlook the fact, that many branches of science were, in his day, but just emerging from that thraldom of empiricism, which had for centuries clouded every department of philosophical research. The Marquis of Worcester was so essentially a scientific, and not a literary man, that Horace Walpole acted most inconsistently in classing him among his Royal and Noble Authors. That brilliant cynic, however, had a purpose to serve, and although he found in the Marquis a vein of pursuit of which he was totally ignorant, he presumed to criticise the " Century," and to question its author's veracity ; a charge which, if established, even in a minor degree, would serve a political purpose, by proving the Marquis to be unreliable in other respects, and thus weakening his authority in religion and politics. But the dilettante Walpole, a connoisseur in paintings and works of vertu, was, in matters of science, more ignorant of the Mar- quis of Worcester's worth, than was the equally satirical Voltaire of Shakspeare's genius. Hume, the historian, attracted by the sparkling wit of Walpole, adopted without examination, his plausible criticism, unconscious of its superficiality and absolute untruth- fulness in every respect. We would here notice the probable cause of the Marquis's indefatigable study of, and attention to, MAKQUIS OP WORCESTER. 19 practical mechanics. As in the time of Charles II., so also during the reign of his father, there is reason to believe that some distinguished public officer was appointed to superintend Government works connected with the army and navy, and that they were situated at Vauxhall. It was probably a department similar to that held in 1661, by Sir Samuel Morland, designated Master of Mechanics. Otherwise how are we to account for the Marquis of Worcester's devoting his time, his energies, and his very fortune to inventions affecting mechanical appliances generally, and particularly to those connected with naval and military affairs, and hydraulic engines ? One of his inventions (No. 56) he exhibited to Charles I. at the Tower, and of another (No. 64) being an improvement in fire-arms, he observes it was " tried and approved before the King (Charles I.), and an hundred Lords and Commons." Then his great inven- tion, the " Water-commanding Engine," was set up at Vauxhall in 1663, where it was certainly at work in 1667, or probably three years later. All these circum- stances wear the aspect of royal patronage, of public employment, and of the possession of influence suitable to the holder of a dignified position. This view of the high and honourable public official position held by the Marquis is also borne out by the petition of William Lambert, about 1664, to 20 MAEQUIS OP WOECESTEE. be found in the State Paper Office. It was addressed to Charles II. and sets forth : " That your petitioner was founder to his late Majesty of blessed memory, in Vauxhall, under the Marquis of Worcester, for gun and water-work, or any other thing founded in brass." Nothing surely can be more certain than that the Marquis's was a public situation, and his " Century" affords ample evidence of his aptitude in that respect for the post which he filled; nor can we better account for his numerous improvements in fire-arms, cannon, sailing vessels, fortifications, and embankments. His " Century of Inventions" is the mere syllabus or outline of a proposed larger work, for he concludes with the statement of his "meaning to leave to posterity a book, wherein under each of these heads the means to put in execution and visible trial all and every of these inventions, with the shape and form of all things belonging to them, shall be printed by brass- plates," the usual substitute at that time for copper- plates. It is most unfortunate that he did not live to complete his projected publication. But in common candour let it not be forgotten that, the promise thus placed before us was published in 1663, not long before the devastating plague, which almost de- populated the metropolis in 1665, and the terrible conflagration of 1666, which laid waste the city of MARQUIS OF WORCESTER. 21 London ; and that it was in the midst of the accumu- lated calamities thus inflicted on society, that his health appears to have suddenly given way ; aged, harassed, disappointed, and dismayed, he was prematurely called to his long rest on the 3rd of April, 1667; but whether he died at Vauxhall, at the family town mansion, Wor- cester House, in the Strand, or at some other place is unknown ; so little was he understood or esteemed for his intellectual capacity at the period of the Restoration. As though it were not a sufficient infliction to be ruined, dishonoured, oppressed, and neglected while living, it would almost appear that events conspired to lessen, if possible, the lustre of his memory by the dark shades of apocryphal history ; which ascribed the invention of the steam-engine to the pretended fact of the Marquis while in imprisonment, having seen a pot lid blown off by the expanding steam ; made out against him a false case of political forgery ; and, worse than all, scandal- ously forged a letter in Paris to make it appear that in 1641 the Marquis borrowed his idea of the steam engine from Salomon De Caus, during a visit to the Bicetre, at Paris. The fact that this same De Caus died at Paris, and was buried in the Church of La Trinite, in February, 1626;* shows how requisite it is for rogues to remember historical dates. On the 3rd of June, in 1663, the Parliament passed * See Worcesteriana, 8vo. 1866, page 257. 22 MARQUIS OP WORCESTER. an Act securing to the Marquis of Worcester the full benefit and profit of his " Water-commanding Engine," for the term of ninety-nine years. And in the same year he printed his memorable " Century," in the Dedication of which he alludes to the above Act, as one by which he feels " sufficiently rewarded." The " Century " is little more than a Catalogue Raisonne, although each matter of invention is as fully and intelligibly stated as was required in the Patent office specifications of the period. To give some idea of its contents, we shall enumerate only the first twenty-five. 1. Seals abundantly significant; 2. private and particular to each owner ; 3. a one line cipher; 4. reduced to a point; 5. varied signifi- cantly to all the 24 letters; 6. a mute and perfect discourse by colours ; 7. to hold the same by night; 8. to level cannon by night; 9. a ship- destroying engine ; 10. how to be fastened from aloof and under water; 11. how to prevent both; 12. an unsinkable ship; 13. false destroying decks; 14. multiplied strength in little room ; 15. a boat driving against wind and tide; 16. a sea-sailing fort ; 17. a pleasant floating garden; 18. an hour-glass fountain; 19. a coach-saving engine; 20. a balance waterwork ; 21. a bucket fountain; 22. an ebbing and flowing river; 23. an ebbing and flowing castle clock ; 24. a strength increasing spring ; and 25. a double drawing engine for weight. MARQUIS OF WORCESTER. 23 We find in the " Century " that three of the articles refer to improved seals and watches ; two to games ; two to arithmetic and perspective ; six to automata, or self-acting mechanical contrivances; no less than twenty-three to ciphers, correspondence, and signals : in short, secret writing and telegraphs ; ten to useful appliances in domestic affairs ; nine are wholly mechani- cal ; upwards of thirty-two were intended for use in naval and military affairs; and thirteen, including his Water- commanding Engine, were connected with hydraulics. It is singular that he professes "to have tried and perfected all these," words of great import in all matters of novel invention. That age was fond of patronizing what we should now-a-days be disposed to call " nic-nacs." Ingenious automata, curious toys and works of art, small foun- tains, singing birds, and similar curiosities attracted the serious attention of the virtuosi of the 17th century ; so that we need not feel surprised that the Marquis set up a speaking Brazen Head ; or that it should be of gigantic proportions, for he was always regardless of cost in such matters, and was never small where he could be great in developing his resources of ingenious contrivance. Wherever it was possible, he was mag- nificent fortifications, embankments, ships rowing against wind and tide, great floating baths, and gardens, large cannon, in short, he was princely in his 24 MARQUIS OF WORCESTER. expenditure of his private fortune on whatever he undertook to perform, whether in war or in peace. It was thus he spent, lent, and lost for his King and country 918,000. He particularly notices that he laid out on buildings and experiments at Vauxhall, the sum of 59,000. But these items are far from repre- senting his actual expenditure, although they indicate the scale of his operations ; and taken at their value two centuries back such sums manifest marvellous munificence. We have no certain key to any of his inventions, if we except two specimens of his cipher writing. One exists in the British Museum,* and there is a de- ciphered letter in the Bodleian Library, Oxford.f His noblest invention, that which must for ever embalm his memory in the breasts not alone of Eng- lishmen, but of all classes throughout the civilized world, was in operation at Vauxhall from 1663 to 1667, during his life time, and appears to have been working as late as 1670. It was ordered by the Act granted him, " that a model thereof be delivered to the Lord Treasurer or Commissioners for the Treasury for the time being, at or before the 29th of September, 1663; * See engraving and account of it in The Life, Times, and Scientific Labours of the Marquis of Worcester, 8vo. p. 398. 18G5. f Ibid, page 180. MARQUIS OF WORCESTER. 25 and to be put into the Exchequer, and kept there/' And in the 98th article of the " Century," alluding to this same engine he says " I call this a semt-omni- potent engine, and do intend that a model thereof be buried with me." Yet, strange to say, neither the one model nor the other, although zealously searched for, has come to light : and so little attention did this invention, notwithstanding its surprising utility, excite in the 17th century, that all the account we have of it, besides that by the inventor himself, is the briefest possible notice given by two foreign travellers, Sorbiere in 1663-4, and Cosmo the third, Grand Duke of Tuscany, in 1669. It is satisfac- torily ascertained, however, that upwards of seven- teen persons, all living in 1663, were more or less acquainted with the Marquis's mechanical operations at Yauxhall, and must have seen the great water-engine at work, if only as a novelty, and a matter of curiosity. Returning to the " Century of Inventions," we find it to be a journal of the fruits of its noble author's study of mechanical philosophy for nearly forty years, so that in it we may almost trace the youth and age of his mental capacity. Viewed through a modern medium we might feel disposed to discredit the genius of a man who could contrive so many curious alphabets for secret writing as those he mentions, but such systems were extensively practised in political 'and c 26 MARQUIS OF WORCESTER. private correspondence during the Civil war period to baffle the curiosity of political opponents. What may be called mechanical tricks were also much in vogue, such as singing and flying birds, artificial figures and horses, and curiously contrived watches, cabinets, locks, and keys. Unless we bear in mind the taste of the age, we shall read with surprise such an announcement as the following, in the 88th article in the " Century" : " How to make a brazen or stone head, in the midst of a great field or garden, so artificial and natural, that though a man speak never so softly and even whispers into the ear thereof, it will presently open its mouth, and resolve the question in French, Latin, Welsh, Irish, or English, in good terms uttering it out of his mouth, and then shut it until the next question be asked." No doubt the Marquis had in mind the history of the renowned Brazen Head attributed to Friar Bacon. The authors of the works on mechanical subjects published down to the 17th century, did not disdain to describe the way to manufacture automatic men, animals, and birds, with suitable joints, springs, weights, and bellows ; and therefore, the Marquis did really no more than express the character of the times, without lowering his own superior intelligence. He was seeking the patronage of royalty, parliament, MARQUIS OP WORCESTER. 27 ;md the public, and if he offered occasionally such trifles as commanded the attention of the multitude, he never in the whole course of his chequered life lost sight of his more important occupations, the concep- tions of a mind far in advance of that dismal and dark period. At the same time, that his age neglected to uphold applied science, and pertinaciously opposed whatever appeared to savour of innovation on time- honoured manufactures and trades, we cannot overlook the anomalous fact that it gave birth to Shakspeare, Bacon, and Milton ; Sir Thomas Brown, Wallis, Hook, Newton, and Boyle, together with a brilliant constella- tion of luminaries who adorned every department of our general literature. Science alone stagnated, and the construction of public works was chiefly conducted by foreign aid. The establishment of the Royal Society in 1660, however, gave promise of that improve- ment which has steadily gone on year by year to the present day. We have thus before us a broad outline of the Marquis of Worcester's birth, education, studies, and scientific pursuits. His tastes and employments were not suited to a successful political or military career, at a time when the rupture between the Crown and the Parliament rendered it necessary for every man to take the side either of the Cavaliers or the Roundheads. Both father and son displayed unbounded loyalty, c2 28 MARQUIS OF WORCESTER. although professing the Roman Catholic faith. Had they, like many other noble families, adopted the policy of taking opposite courses, the family might eventually have retained estates which were forfeited when the King was deposed, and were principally enjoyed by Cromwell. Raglan Castle was demolished, all that could be carried away was sold, the strong tower or citadel was partially blown up, its ditch left dry, and all that could be most readily spoiled was mutilated, even to the marble and alabaster monuments in Raglan Church, raised to the memory of ancestors of the family. Such ruthless destruction and pillage has failed, however, to obliterate the towers, walls, arches, chambers, and numerous vaults of that once princely residence. From the year 1601 to 1641, (forty years of his life) was a period to which he refers as his " Golden Age " in the dedication of his "Century." While that from 1641 to 1647-8, (when he fled from Ireland to France,) was the most exciting, exhausting, and disas- trous of his whole existence, and closed with utter ruin to himself and his family. He had then living his second wife, Henry, his son and heir, and two daughters. The family town mansion, Worcester House in the Strand, partly used as a State Paper Office, was eventually granted to the Marchioness of Worcester for her residence. The wearisomeness and MARQUIS OF WORCESTER. 29 distress attendant on his residence as a refugee in France during four years, was embittered by above two years imprisonment in the Tower, the result of his venturing to revisit London while proscribed by the Parliament as " an enemy and traitor to the Common- wealth," all such being threatened that they shall " die without mercy, whenever they shall be found within the limits of this nation." Burton, in his interesting Diary of Oliver Cromwell's Parliament, says in reference to the case of the Marquis on this occasion : " It was urged he was an old man, had lain long in prison, and the small-pox then raging under the same roof where he lay ; and he had not, as was said, done any actions of hostility, but only as a soldier ; and in that capacity had always shown civilities to the English prisoners and Protestants. It was therefore ordered that he should be bailed out of prison." He was probably then about fifty-three years of age, but so harassed and so worn down by fatigue that he might well appear to be a prematurely "old man." He was not, however, too old to write his " Century" in 1655, and to re-write and publish it in 1663 ; to apply for and obtain an Act of Parliament for his great invention of a steam water* raising engine ; and to get a working engine set up at Vauxhall, and project a public company for obtaining funds sufficient to extend its utility to the supply of towns, and canals, and for draining mines and marsh lands. 30 MARQUIS OF WORCESTER. The Marquis of Worcester was sincerely impressed with the capabilities and great value of his inven- tion; and it affords a striking proof of his high estima- tion and correct knowledge of the magnitude of his discovery, that he should have bowed himself before his Maker in humble adoration, acknowledging in a solemnly sublime strain his sense of obligation to the Supreme Source of all intelligence, for permitting him to become instrumental in the development of so great a mystery of nature. It is so short and significant that no apology can be required for quoting it entire : " The Lord Marquis of Worcester's ejaculatory and extemporary thanksgiving prayer when first with his corporal eyes, he did see finished a perfect trial of his Water-commanding Engine, delightful and useful to whomsoever hath in recommendation either knowledge, profit, or pleasure. " Oh ! infinitely omnipotent God whose mercies are fathomless, and whose knowledge is immense and in- exhaustible, next to my creation and redemption I render Thee most humble thanks even from the very bottom of my heart and bowels, for thy vouchsafing me (the meanest in understanding), an insight in so great a secret of nature beneficial to all mankind, as this my Water-commanding Engine. Suffer me not to be puffed up, O Lord, by the knowing of it, and many MARQUIS OF WORCESTER. 31 more rare and unheard of, yea unparalleled inventions, trials, and experiments, but humble my haughty heart, by the true knowledge of my own ignorant, weak, and unworthy nature, prone to all evil. O most merciful Father, my Creator, most compassionating Son, my Kedeemer, and Holiest of Spirits, the Sanctifier, three Divine persons and one God ! grant me a further con- curring grace with fortitude to take hold of thy good- ness, to the end that whatever I do, unanimously and courageously to serve my king and country, to disabuse, rectify, and convert my undeserved, yet wil- fully incredulous enemies, to reimburse thankfully my creditors, to remunerate my benefactors, to re-en- hearten my distressed family, and with compla- cence to gratify my suffering and confiding friends may, void of vanity or self-ends, only be directed to thy honour and glory everlastingly. Amen." Judging of the Marquis of Worcester's personal appearance from two family portraits, one when he was probably about twenty -five years of age, by Van- dyck ; the other when between forty and fifty years old, by Hanneman ; he must have been rather of a delicate frame, and in stature somewhat under the average height ; his face oval, with sharp bright eyes, and wearing a cheerful benignant aspect. His dress was, of course, the costume of the period of Charles the Second's reign, but its character has not been 32 MARQUIS OF WORCESTER. observed in either of the portraits just named, one of which represented him in armour, and the other, as was not then unusual with artists, attired as a Roman general. We infer that he laboured under a defect in his speech, from his remarking in a memorial addressed to the King that he penned it " To ease your Majesty of a trouble incident to the prolixity of speech, and a natural defect of utterance which I accuse myself of." It might be interesting to speculate how his sense of deficiency in physical strength, in eloquence of speech, and volubility of language might have contributed to the fostering of that disposition for intense appli- cation to scientific studies which became to him like a second nature. During the first two years of the Eestoration, the Marquis was in pretty regular attendance on his Parlia- mentary duties. In 1661, he was obliged to seek pro- tection so that proceedings might not be taken against him by his creditors ; and about the same time his for- feited estates were restored to him, but so encumbered and impoverished as to yield him a very insufficient in- come, if any. It was in the midst of such distractions as these that this talented inventor and noble bene- factor to his species had to maintain his social position; and, at the same time, endeavour to convince the bigoted age in which he may be said rather to have existed than to have flourished, that he was master of MARQUIS OP WORCESTER. 33 a power of such magnitude for the abridging of human labour, as the mind of man had never before conceived. It may be freely conceded that, stupendous as he himself pronounced the parent engine to be, it was but as the acorn compared to the time-honoured monarch of the forest. Just as the existence of the plant is dependent on that of the seed, so if the Water- commanding Engine, the great Fire Water-work he constructed had never existed, we might have been un- acquainted, to this day, with the mechanical application of steam, and should have been deprived in consequence of the manifold blessings it bountifully bestows on mankind. 34 ADDENDUM. EVIDENCE of the Marquis of Worcester's claim to the Invention of the Steam Engine. 1. His personal claim to have written a statement respecting it in 1655 ; his MS. being afterwards lost. 2. The Act of Parliament* which was granted him for the term of ninety-nine years, and which received the royal assent on the 3rd June, 1663. 3. His " Century of Inventions," printed from a re- written copy of his lost notes of 1655 ; and which names in the Dedication, the granting of the above Act. The following listf comprises upwards of seventeen persons all living in 1663 : 4. CASPAE KALTOFF, a confidential workman, engaged by the Marquis as his engineer in 1628, who died about 1664, and is honourably mentioned in the " Century." 5. MAETHA KALTOFF, wife of Caspar Kaltoff, who is named in letters patent dated 1672, as lately deceased. Her family was CATHAEINE, married to Claude Denis. CASPAE KALTOFF, and his unmarried sister ISABEL KALTOFF. 6. PETEE JACOBSON, a sugar refiner, who married one * For lists of the names of members on the several Com- mittees appointed on the occasion of this Act being applied for, see" The Life, Times, &c.," 8vo. 1866, pages 2545. f From " Worcesteriana," 8vo. 1866, page viii. ADDENDUM. 35 of KaltofFs daughters, had a portion of the buildings at Vauxhall, where the Water- commanding Engine was erected, and in operation from 1663, till at least to the year 1669, if not some years later. 7. WILLIAM LAMBERT, another workman, a founder at Vauxhall, in the reign of Charles I., " under the Marquis of Worcester, for gun and waterwork, or any other thing founded in brass," in 1647, and who was living in 1 664-5. 8. CHRISTOPHER COPLEY, who had been a Colonel in the Parliamentary service, and was probably an iron master, having been the proprietor of four Iron Works. He assisted the Marquis at an early period and held a pecuniary interest in his invention of a Water-com- manding Engine. Indeed it is highly probable that he was the "powerful friend" at whose instigation the " Century" was written in 1665, 9. The EARL or LOTHERDALE, written to in January, 1660, had a copy of the " Definition" of the Engine sent to him, and is promised an ingeniously contrived box or cabinet. He was appointed as late as March, 1665, to be one of a Commission to report on the affairs of the Marquis, and must, therefore, have been familiar with all matters relating to the noble inventor. 10. DR. ROBERT HOOK, the eminent mathematician, was acquainted with Caspar Kaltoff, and early in 1667, went purposely to see the engine working at Vauxhall, having read the " Definition." 11. THE HONOURABLE ROBERT BOYLE received from Dr. Hook a copy of the " Definition," sent to him with a letter on the subject. 36 ADDENDUM. 12. LOED BBERETON is specially mentioned by Dr. Hook, as being so confirmed in his doubts of the excellence of the Marquis's engine, that he had laid a wager on the subject. 13. HENRY SOMERSET, Lord Herbert, afterwards created first Duke of Beaufort, by Charles II., must have frequently seen the engine in operation. He died in 1699. 14. JAMES ROLLOCK, who wrote a poetic eulogy on the Engine about 1663, speaks of himself as " an ancient servant," having known his lordship forty years, dating back to 1623.* 15. SAMUEL SORBIERE visited the works at Vauxhall, and published particulars of the engine he saw there in 1663. 16. LORD JOHN SOMERSET, the Marquis's eldest brother, appears latterly to have lived at Vauxhall, according to a warrant dated September, 1664; and * He was the author of a pamphlet now very rare, and which is absurdly enough attributed by Horace Walpole to the Marquis of Worcester. A reprint will be found in " The Life, Times, and Scientific Labours of the Marquis of Worcester," 8vo. 1866, page 559. It contains the following intimation to the reader : " I think it not amiss to give further notice in his Lordship's behalf, that he intends within a month or two, to erect an Office, and to entrust some very responsible and honourable persons with power to treat and conclude with such as desire at a reasonable rate, to reap the benefit of the same Water- command- ing Engine." So that it is manifest a public company was intended to be established in 1663-4, to extend operations with the engine then actually raising water at Vauxhall. ADDENDUM. 37 would certainly be admitted into his brother's con- fidence. 17. COSMO THE THIKD, Grand Duke of Tuscany, in his Diary exactly describes the engine he saw at Vauxhall in 1669, " considered to be of greater service to the public than the other machine near Somerset House." 18. WALTER TRAVERS, a Roman Catholic priest, names the engine in a letter which he wrote to the Dowager Marchioness of Worcester, in 1670. 19. DR. THOMAS SPRAT, F.R.S., published in 1665, a critical work on " M. Sorbiere's Voyage into England," and could not therefore be ignorant of the Marquis's engine, as it was named by the French traveller, although Sprat omitted to notice it specially in his own " Observations." 20. Among his other contemporaries were Sir Samuel Morland, Dr. Wallis, Sir Christopher Wren, Sir Isaac Newton, and many more, who, however, (so far as is at present known,) are silent in regard to all matters relating to the Marquis. II. LECTURE DELIVERED ON THE 5TH NOVEMBER, 1868: BEING THE FIRST OR INAUGURAL LECTURE OF THE FREE LECTURES, AT THE CRYSTAL PALACE, SYDENHAM, ON CHIMEEAS OF SCIENCE: ASTROLOGY, ALCHEMY, SQUARING THE CIRCLE, PERPETUUM MOBILE, ETC. tfj Elfastrattfo Biagrams. AND RE-DELIVERED AT THE BIRKBECK LITERARY AND SCIENTIFIC INSTITUTION, 17TH FEBRUARY, 1869. ' A little knowledge is a dangerous thing, Drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring ; There shallow draughts intoxicate the brain, But drinking largely sobers us again." POPE. PREFACE. THE present Lecture, embodying a variety of sub- jects, under the general title of CHIMERAS OF SCIENCE, not only reviews them in succession, but expresses sentiments with regard to each which result from a long acquaintance with ancient and modern scientific authors ; supported by an experimental, and, not un- frequently, by a practical acquaintance with several branches of natural philosophy. The consequence of this intimacy with various scientific studies, has been a thorough conviction of the necessity of possessing a knowledge of elementary principles, before professing a belief in new doctrines, whose only recommendation is their novelty, extravagance, and inutility. Without absolutely pretending to any golden road, or short path to learning, superficial but ambitious scholars are the first to seize on first impressions, build up some grand theory, lay down certain postulates, seek proselytes, and display a wonderful amount of enthu- siasm in creating systems which, however beautiful in appearance, can boast of no solid foundation. Imperfectly educated, and shallow, but not unfre- quently highly imaginative, men, if not themselves absolute charlatans, are the easily led dupes, who be- come the admirers and abettors of every " new wind of doctrine." 42 PREFACE. Every age has been sensational. Man delights in mystery, and mysticism is a certain sign of imperfect knowledge. A classic age was not proof against the tricks and deceitful practices of the oracles, sooth- sayers and jugglers. The dark ages only served to keep alive the human desire for sensation; and less than a century ago, poor, simple, half idiotic women, were burnt at the stake as witches. The Mahome- tans had their prophet, and so have the Mormons. Mesmer had his disciples, and so have many modern Spiritualists. The Astrologer of the 17th century, is presented to us in a modern dress by the seer Zadkiel. Jacob Behmen and Emanuel Swedenborg, but represent a class that is continually dying out, yet is as continually reproduced; the authors of pious romances, theological enigmas, scientific spiritualisms, and spiritualized transcendental philosophisms. Swe- denborg introduces us to the inhabitants of the moon ; they are short, the size of a youth of seven years of age ; and they speak with a thunderous voice for want 'of an atmosphere, and not from the mouth, but from the abdomen ! But many persons admire such wanderings of a pretended inward and prophetic light. There are still living a few faithful believers in Alchemy, who earnestly look forward to the coming of the day when the grand, the glorious secret, shall be fully revealed ; not, however, to the vulgar crowd, but to the noble, true, and virtuous adept, to him, and him only. A class of Mathematicians still continues to publish PEEPACE. 43 papers and pamphlets on squaring, cubing, and tri- secting. On this subject, the reader might find some amusement in the critiques of Professor De Morgan, who wrote several papers in the Athenceum, 1865, under the title of A Budget of Paradoxes. Mechanics are still living who firmly believe in the possibility of realizing a mechanical perpetual motion, to spin, pump, or drive carriages or machinery, by means of a constantly descending weight. And, year by year, many such schemes, find their final resting place in the archives of the Patent Office. It is melancholy to reflect on the waste of mental energy, inflicted on society by such vanities as Astro- logy, Alchemy, and their kindred empirical employ- ments. Look at the centuries wasted, and worse than wasted, in studying such intellectual abortions, and in writing thousands of volumes of inanity to uphold false- hood and delude the unwary. What the sword has done physically, th^ pen and the wand of the sorcerer have done mentally, in prostrating the intellectuality of mankind. It would tend to promote the progress of society at large, if education were so far general that the acquire- ments of the middle and lower classes should act on the upper classes as a stimulant to the pursuit of those higher branches of study, which mostly fall to the lot of the nobility and men of fortune : whose birth and ample means otherwise relieve them from all incite- ments other than such as are fostered by the necessities D 2 44 PREFACE. of public office. With, title and fortune, and no ambi- tion to hold public employment, any education is thought to be sufficient that serves to obtain the usual dignities, and to give that polish which completes the accomplished gentleman. To the spread of education alone, can we look with any reliance for the downfall, or at least the diminishing of the hold on the human mind which Chimeras of every order usurp in our own, in common with every other country. Among other works that might be consulted by the curious in such matters, in the Libraries of the British Museum, the Patent Office, Chetham College Manches- ter, &c. ; may be named, on ASTROLOGY, B. Portals Works, folio, 1616; The Compost of Ptolomeus, Prince of Astronomie, 1645; W. Ramsey's Vox Stellarum, 8vo., 1652 ; The Geomancie of Maister Christopher Cattan, 4to., 1608 ; Dr. John Dee's Work on Spirits, folio, 1659 ; J. Goad's Astro-Meteorologica, folio, 1686; Godfridus's Work on the Effects of the Planets, &c., 1649; M. Manilius's System of the Ancient Astronomy and Astrology, &c., 8vo., 1697 ; John Merrifield's Catastasis Mundi, 4to., 1684; Jo. Holwells's Catastrophe Mundi, 4to., 1682 ; with many others of modern date. On ALCHEMY, Ashmole's Theatrum Chemicum Bri- tannicum, 4to., 1652; Dr. John French's Art of Distillation ; Four Books of J. S. Weidenfeld, 4to., 1685; A Philosophicall Epitaph, in Hierogliphicall Figures, 1673; George Ridley's Compound of Alche- PREFACE. 45 my, 1591 ; Roger Bacon's Art and Nature, (in French,) 1557; his Mirror of Alchemy, 1597; his Philosopher's Stone, or Grand Elixir, 8vo., 1739 ; Theatrum Chemi- cum, 6 vols., 8vo., 1659-61 ; Sandivogius's New Light of Alchymie, 4to., 1650 ; Opuscula quaedam Chemica, 8vo., 1514; The Works of Geber, 1678; Hermes Trismegistus's Works, collected in Theatrum Chemicum, 4 vols. ; Raimond Lully's De Secretis Naturae, 1541; Crollius's Philosophy Reformed and Improved, in four profound Tractates, 1657; Begu- inus (J.) Trocinium Chymicum, or Chymical Essays, 8vo., 1669; Artis Auriferae, Quam Chemiam Vocant (a collection of treatises), woodcuts, 2 vols. 8yo. 1593 ; Balduinus's Aurum Superius et Inferius Hermeticum, plates, 1675 ; Beccheri's Physica Subterranea, Lipsiee, 1738 (with supplement), 8vo., 1681-80; with many others, ancient and modern. Interesting compendious treatises will be found in Dr. Thomas Thomson's History of Chemistry, ("The National Library/') 2 vols., 12mo., 1830; Justus von Liebig's Familiar Letters on Chemistry, edited by Dr. Blyth, 8vo., 1859. And On MATHEMATICAL and MECHANICAL Chimeras, many popular notices may be found in Encyclopaedias ; and particularly in Dr. Hutton's Mathematical Dictionary, 2 vols., 4to. ; and the Author's " Perpetuum Mobile ; or, History of the Search for Self-Motive Power; with an Introductory Essay," post 8vo., 1861 ; to which work, a second series will shortly be added. CHIMEEAS OE SCIENCE, INTRODUCTION. ALTHOUGH the present lecture seems to require some introductory remarks, they must necessarily be brief our time being limited and this discourse rather discursive ; yet it is sufficiently condensed to suit the present occasion, and illustrates fully the truthfulness of the axiom that A little learning is a dangerous thing : from its tendency to inspire its pos- sessors with vanity rather than with the humility which always accompanies profound knowledge. You are no doubt all, or most of you, well acquainted with the use made of Astrology and Alchemy in the dramas of Shakspeare "The Antiquary" of the "Wizard of the North" the " Strange Story" of Lord Lytton the " Faust" of Goethe ; and are probably fami- liar with the more instructive works of Scott on De- monology, and of Brewster on Natural Magic. Now we always find that fiction is more suitable than truth for romantic writings; truth is circumscribed, but the fictions whether of Astrology, Alchemy, or any other pseudo-philosophy are erratic, the delight of poets and 48 INTRODUCTION. romance writers, being the comets and ignes fatui of many popular compositions in our light literature. There is no end of fabulous writings of the class we call novels and romances, and no end of deceptions which we patronize as tricks of legerdemain ; the one gratifies our imagination and fancy, the other takes our common sense by surprise ; but all these are harmless because only presented to us for our amusement. Delusion, however, assumes a startling character when romance in the form of mystic writings, and jug- glery in the form of pretended communication with the spirit-world demand our respect and serious attention, by claiming to have a divine origin. But hallucination of the human intellect, as we shall see, is not confined to such remote visionary speculations, and it is not un- important to remark that in mathematics, as in physics, and in other branches of investigation, there is a singular persistency in upholding errors. A contemporary astrologer, assuming the pseudo- nym of Zadkiel, tauntingly observes in his preface to a recent publication : " This is the age of inquiry ; and yet prejudice continues to press down her leaden foot upon the neck of examination in this matter" that is, Astrology. Now with this reproof before us we hope to discuss the subject with becoming propriety. 49 ASTROLOGY. THE splendour of the sun by day, the glories of the firmament by night, together with the sublimity of all celestial phenomena, attract alike the attention of the most simple and the most intellectual among man- kind. The distance, the magnitude, and the grandeur of the entire planetary system while exciting emotions of awe, reverence, and devotion among the mass of the human race, have at the same time been studied from the earliest period of man's history to the present time superstitiously by one class of observers, and scientifi- cally by another. As the telescope was not invented before the 17th century, it is evident that the study of Astronomy with- out that instrument must previously have been pursued under amazing difficulties ; and we might have ex- pected that when first used by Galileo at Venice in 1609, its introduction would have been hailed without a dissentient voice. Such, however, was not the fact, according to Sir David Brewster,* who says : " The principal Professor of Philosophy at Padua * See his " Martyrs of Science." 50 ASTEOLOGY. resisted Galileo's repeated and urgent entreaties to look at the moon and planets through his telescope ; and he even laboured to convince Cosmo de Medici, the Grand Duke of Tuscany, that the satellites of Jupi- ter could not possibly exist. Sizzi, an astronomer of Florence, maintained that as there were only seven apertures in the head two eyes, two ears, two nostrils, and one mouth and as there were only seven metals, and seven days in the week, so there could only be seven planets. He seems (eventually), however, to have admitted the visibility of the four satellites through the telescope ; but he argues, that as they are invisible to the naked eye, they can exercise no influence on the earth ; and being useless they do not exist." Such being the crude state of astronomical science in the 17th century, it must have been comparatively imperfect throughout all preceding centuries; and open to mystical appropriation and abuse by Egyptians, Chaldeans, Hindus, Chinese, and European and other ancient astrologers. Among that motley group the most learned were found strangely associated with ignorant impostors, and their activity in writing and travelling served to spread their different systems over the entire civilized world. It was not until late in the 17th century that Astrology could be absolutely de- ASTROLOGY. 51 clared to be in its decline. In England, William Lilly, the Sidrophel of Hudibras, and the most famous astrologer of his time, died in 1681, leaving behind him his Introduction to Astrology, together with many other works of the same character. Astrology is merely a philosophism, being empirical, wholly visionary, a mere fanciful system compounded of incongruous mixtures of astronomical with human events, of mythology with theology, and of facts with pure fiction. It has been variously designated Judicial, Hororary, Atmospherical, and Mundane, Astrology. It has also many off-shoots subservient to Magic or the black art, Sorcery, Witchcraft, and other pretended mysticisms ostentatiously styled occult philosophy. We may first observe that Astrology lays no claim to inspiration, but affects a very ancient unknown origin, tracing back to a dark, heathenish, and superstitious age, in the very infancy of traditional knowledge, when the boldest assertions of the seer were received as the authority of an oracle, no one daring to question their validity. Whatever is remotely possible the Astrologer accepts as a fact ; while ignorant of much around him, he assumes with the utmost complacency an intimate acquaintance with the sun and planets thousands upon thousands of miles off; yea with the sun 969,272 miles 52 ASTROLOGY. in diameter, while he himself inhabits a globe only 7,916 miles in diameter ; from which the moon is 237,000 miles distant, and the sun 400 times that distance.* And these immense bodies revolving mil- lions on millions of miles away in immeasurable space are described by him as fashioning an infant's nose, directing the fortunes or misfortunes of lovers, ordering the property of traders, meting out diseases, and im- proving or deranging man's mental faculties. And as if such puerile influences were not sufficiently pre- .posterous we are informed by the modern seer, Zadkiel, that the 12 signs of the Zodiac not only rule the several parts of the human frame, but also those of a ship, as * This portion of the subject was illustrated by means of a Diagram exhibiting the Diameters and Magnitudes of Planets, thus : ,/ O (N OOOOO !N 00 CO , O , and join B D and C D, producing the quadrilateral A C D B. I bisect A D at E, and with O as centre, and E O as interval describe the circle X T, and with E as centre, and E A or E D as interval describe the circle T. Now, to square the circle, or, in other words, to get exactly equal in superficial area to the circle X, I will show how to find it. From the point G- draw a straight line say G- m perpendicular to E D, making G- m equal Gr D. Produce G A to a point n, making G n equal to Q A G G D, and join n m. The square on n m will be the required square. I have indicated this square by dotted lines.) For example : If A 0=4, then A G=5, and G D =1'25; therefore { 2 A G G D j = { 10 1'25 ) =8'75= Gtn: and a m=l'25 ; therefore, G n 2 + G- m 2 =3i (A B 2 ) ; that is, j8'75 2 -KL'25 2 )=3i(5 2 ), or, { 76'5625+l'5625 ] = J3'125 + r25J; and this equation=Area of the Circle X; and area of the square on n m :: and it follows, that the area of every circle, is equal to the area of a square on the bypo- thenuse of a right-angled triangle, of which the sides that contain the right angle are in the ratio of 7 to 1, and the sum of these two sides equal to the diameter of the circle. In many ways I have proved this fact, by practical or con- structive geometry. PLATE IV. Duplication of the Cule. In his " Young Geometri- cian; or, Practical Geometry without Compasses," 1865, Mr. Oliver Byrne's 40th Problem is as follows : EXPLANATIONS OP THE PLATES. 85 Let A B be the side of a given cube B D. It is required to find A C, the side of another cube C E, so that the solid contents of the cube C E are double the solid contents of the cube B D. Ancient and modern mathematicians (says Mr. Byrne) have in vain attempted to solve this problem geometrically, that is, by the ruler and compasses only. Let AB=BG=GE=EQ=QP=QO:=OE=VZ. The length of the shortest side of the lesser set square ; a line of any other given length may be applied. Draw OP and VE parallel to it ; then apply the set squares in close contact, the edge OV of OVT passing through the point 0, while the points of V and Z of ZS V fall exactly on the lines EV, EZ. Then draw the line ZBC, cutting FA produced in C ; then the cube on A C is double the cube on AB. PLATE V. Trisection of an Angle. In his work entitled Young Geometrician, 1865, Mr. Oliver Byrne gives as the 39th Problem : To divide a given angle BAG into three equal angles : The line Am is made=j? q, the least side of the lesser triangular ruler ; by (II) p m is drawn parallel, and m n perpendicular to A B. Then both rulers are kept in motion, and at the same time in close contact, as represented in the figure, until p falls on the line p m, and n on the line m n; r n A passing through the angular point A. Then the angle D A B is one-third of the angle CAB. Mr. Byrne asserts that this problem is not capable of solution by the straight line and circle. Mathematicians 86 EXPLANATIONS OF THE PLATES. have in vain attempted to solve it geometrically, that is, by the ruler and compasses only. PLATE VI. FIGURE 1. Perpetuum Mobile. Desaguliers demonstrated the ab- surdity of attempting to raise weights enclosed in a cellular wheel, simply by providing for their approach in succession nearer to the centre on the ascending side, while they should be projected further from the centre on the descending side. He remarks : Those who think the velocity of the weight is the line it describes, expect that that weight shall be overpoised, which describes the shortest line, and therefore contrive machines to cause the ascending weight to describe a shorter line than the descending weight. For example, in the circle A B D a, the weights A and B being supposed equal, it is imagined that, if by any con- trivance whatever, whilst the weight A describes the arc A a, the weight B is carried in any arc, as B b, so as to come nearer the centre in its rising, than if it went up the arc B D ; the said weight shall be overpoised, and consequently, by a number of such weights, a perpetual motion produced. Now the velocity of any weight is not the line which it describes in general, but the height that it rises up to, or falls from, with respect to its distance from the centre of the earth. So that when the weight describes the arc A a, its velocity is the line A C, which shows the perpendicular descent, and likewise the line B C denotes the velocity of the weight B, or the height that it rises to, when it ascends in any of the arcs B b, instead of the arc B D : so that, in this case, whether the weight B, in its ascent be brought EXPLANATIONS OF THE PLATES. 87 nearer the centre or not, it loses no velocity, which it ought to do, in order to be raised up by the weight A. Indeed, if the weight at B, could by any means spring as it were, or be lifted up to x, and move in the arc x b, the end would be answered, because then the velocity would be diminished, and become a?C. FIGFBE 2. In "The Life, Times, and Scientific Labours of the Marquis of "Worcester," 1865, page 454, will be found a full account of the present diagram, which is intended to illustrate as far as possible, an approach to the probable construction of the wheel by the Marquis in the 56th article of his memorable " Century of Inventions." If any likely-looking method, could, more than another, render hopelessness more hopeless, surely this mechanical demonstration must prove most efficient for that purpose. Eor here, we actually produce a wheel agreeing to the terms with which Desaguliers closes his demonstration, when he suggests the only likely method to effect the end proposed, namely, perpetual motion. We find the fallen weight is absolutely " lifted up" as he desires, and " moves in the arc" he describes, and yet although he declares that then "the end would be answered" it absolutely is not answered in this instance. It is not requisite to calculate throughout the effect of the Marquis's entire number of 40 weights ; four will suffice, taking the vertical and horizontal spokes a a a a, showing two rings a and b ; one, b, 12 inches within the other, so that the wheel being, as the Marquis says, 14 feet diameter, the inner ring will be 12 feet diameter. Now let each 88 EXPLANATIONS OP THE PLATES. weight D be attached in the centre of a cord or chain of, D, b', 2 feet long, and then secure one end, as a', so the extreme end of each spoke a', and the other end of the cord, as b', to place on one lesser ring, as at b, or 12 inches from each spoke. We shall then find by admeasurement that the upper weight on the vertical spoke is 7 feet from the centre, and the lower weight 6 feet ; while at the same time there appears to be a preponderance due to the superior length of the horizontal arm A'; but against this latter we have the rising weight &' D , 1 foot from the centre, which, added to the 6 feet on the horizontal spoke, neutralizes the hoped- for eifect, and the wheel remains in statu quo. THE END. Plate 1. +OC o U -oc a +o -3 Sig House of +OC u O Exaltation of o V o HD +o u V Triplicity of Signs K) House of a* a Exaltation of +OC 4O -0* u o +OC Trinhcitv of LONDON E * F N SPON . 48. CHARING CROSS SYMBOLS PLANETS ANGELS METALS O Sun Michael Gold 3 Moon Gabriel Silver *? Saturn Cassiel Lead 7e tTupiter Sachiel Tin rf Mars Samael Iron ? Venus Ana el Coppci' Mercury Raphael Quicksilver HffschfJ o Caput ~\ & w v d r I >i 1 ? O r 1 I-J- ., , / en I auda LONDON E. A F. N. SPON . 48. CHARING CROSS .LONDON . K. * F. "N. SPOlf. 48. CHARING CROSS LONDON _ E. Jt F. N SPON. 48. CHARING CROSS Plate 5. LONDON- E. & F N SPCrN . 48. CHARING CROSS Plate 6. Fie': 1 . LONDON. E * T. N SPON 48, CHARING CROSS OTHER WORKS BY TEE SAME AUTHOR, One Volume 8vo., of 650 pages, illustrated with Steel Engravings of two unpublished Portraits and 45 Wood Engravings, price 24s, THE LIFE, TIMES, AND SCIENTIFIC LABOUKS OF EDWARD SOMERSET, SIXTH EARL AND SECOND MARQUIS OF WORCESTER, To which is added, A REPRINT OF HIS CENTURY OF INVENTIONS (1663), WITH A COMMENTARY THEREON. * * Thirty copies are printed on Large Paper, 1 vol. 4to. with INDIA PROOFS before the Letters of the Portraits, price 3. 3*. " A monument raised late, it is true, but not too late, to a great and modest genius. A national biography which illustrates and elevates our ideas of the past, and a contribution which the world will recognize to the European history of Science." Dublin University Magazine, September, 1865. " A work which displays a high order of literary ability, careful anti- quarian research, much ingenuity, and withal thorough honesty c PU " P [Lord Worcester], his life, told as Mr. Dircks has told it, is one of much interest. " Here we have an elaborate although of course not a completely exhaustive- account of his life; at any rate the most complete account of him ever likely to be written a work filled with abundant evidence of the most painstaking research, a work written in a generous ^and sym- pathising spirit, and with every attribute of conscientiousness. Engineering, 5th January, 1866. "The production of this volume is no common achievement; Mr. Dircks has undertaken to write the life of a man about whom the pub k Hlhls^think, collected some curious information, and established the claim of the Marquis to be the first constructor of a W;* The reprint of the celebrated Century oj Inventions adds greatly interest of the volume." 2* Spectator, 14th September, 1867. One Volume, 8vo., price 21s, only 100 copies printed, WORCESTERIANA; A COLLECTION OF BIOGRAPHICAL AND OTHER NOTICES, ALPHABETICALLY ARRANGED, RELATING TO EDWARD SOMERSET, SECOND MARQUIS OF WORCESTER, AND HIS IMMEDIATE FAMILY CONNECTIONS; WITH OCCASIONAL NOTES. " The present volume is, as it were, a supplement. [To. Mr. Dircks's Life of the Marquis of Worcester.] It contains what the French call 'pieces justificatives,' on which that biography was founded; and such other materials connected with the history of Lord Worcester's family and his invention of the steam-engine as will prevent, as far as possible, a repetition of the gross errors hitherto promulgated on these subjects." Notes and Queries, February 3, 1866. One Volume, post 8vo., with 130 wood engravings, price 10s 6d, PERPETUUM MOBILE; HISTORY OF THE SEARCH FOR SELF-MOTIVE POWER DURING THE I?TH, 18TH, AND 19TH CENTURIES, WITH AN INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. " The literature of this subject [Perpetual Motion] is very extensive, but scattered mainly through Patent Records and ephemeral pamphlets. We would especially refer the curious reader to a recent work by Mr. Dircks, entitled Perpetuum Mobile, to which we have been indebted for historical notices. It is extremely complete and interesting as a history." Chambers's Encyclopedia, Part 15, 1865. " A very useful collection on the history of the attempts at perpetual motion, that is, of obtaining the consequences of power without any power to produce them." Professor De Morgan's Budget of Paradoxes, No. 28. Athenaum, July 15, 1865. One Volume, post 8vo., with portrait, price 3* 6d, CONTRIBUTION TOWARDS A HISTORY OF ELECTRO-METALLURGY, ESTABLISHING THE ORIGIN OF THE AET. " In his Introduction, Mr. Dircks has clearly stated the claims of in- vention, and fairly discussed the only just grounds that can give claim to priority of invention." The Mining Journal, February 7, 1863. "In the collection of chronological and other data for the history of various branches and application of science, Mr. Dircks appears to be indefatigable." The Electrician, February 27. " It is a useful and clear digest of evidence, and apparently impartially put together." The Practical Mechanics' Journal (Glasgow}, July. One Volume, post 8vo., with two portraits, price 4, INVENTORS AND INVENTIONS, IN THREE PARTS. I. THE PHILOSOPHY OF INVENTION, considered strictly in relation to Ingenious Contrivances tending to facilitate Scientific Operations, to extend Manufacturing Skill, or to originate New Sources of Industry. II. THE RIGHTS AND WRONGS OF INVENTORS, Le- gally and Politically Examined. III. EARLY INVENTORS' IN- VENTORIES OF SECRET INVENTIONS, employed from the 13th to the 1 7th Century, in substitution of Letters Patent. " The author enters fully and effectually into the claims and grievances of the inventor. He discusses the arguments for and against the conces- sion of patent right, and examines very ably leaders in the Times on patent monopoly ; very clearly dissipating the sophism of the opponents of patent right; also Sir William Armstrong's evidence regarding ' patent mono- poly,' &c., affording an interesting and useful publication from its many excellences." The Scientific Review, September 2, 1867. " The second part of the volume discusses the right of inventors to a property in their inventions, and thus raises the question of the patent laws, and the twofold issue, whether it will be better to retain them and reform them, or to sweep them aw"ay altogether. We are bound to admit that he treats this topic in a fair spirit, and without any taint of bigotry. Mr. Dircks is a man whose opinions are entitled to a hearing." The London Review, September 21. " Mr. Dircks treats the real problem and discusses the comparative merits of the existing system, and the advantages which he, together with many others, hopes would follow on the establishment of some judicial council of inventions. The difficulties of the question are enormous, and no one will think the less of them after having gone through this volume. " The third part, or the lists of their inventions left by many great and some ingenious persons, is interesting and curious." Tlie Westminster Review, October. One Volume, post 8vo., price Si 6d, A BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIR OF SAMUEL HARTLIB, MILTON'S FAMILIAR FRIEND, With Bibliographical Notices of Works published by him ; and a reprint of his Pamphlet entitled "AN INVENTION OF ENGINES OF MOTION." "Mr. Dircks's is the first careful attempt to make posterity his (Hartlib'sj friend." Tlie Examiner, 18th February, 1865. " A scholar-like little monograph, giving all the information that can be given about a man whose name occurs in the correspondence of almost every eminent literary or scientific person of the time of the Common- wealth." The Spectator, 20th May. One Volume, post 8vo., with engravings, price 2s, THE GHOST! AS PRODUCED IN THE SPECTRE DRAMA, POPULARLY ILLUSTRATING THE MARVELLOUS OPTICAL ILLUSIONS OBTAINED BY THE APPARATUS CALLED THE DIRCKSIAN PHANTASMAGORIA. " Mr. Dircks gives us the benefit of all his progressive discoveries in the matter, from the paper first read at the British Association Meeting at Leeds, in 1858, to the more recent improvements, with full explana- tions of the machinery, apparatus, and processes adopted in these ghost dramas, and further favours the public with a number of new adaptations. As a curious description of these spectral illustrations, the book is most interesting." The Technologist, January, 1864. " A volume explanatory of the uncommonly clever and scientific " spectral illusion" which has of late fairly turned the public head." The Dubiin Builder, January 1. " A few months ago all London was rushing off to see Professor Pepper's Ghost, as it was called, but which it now appears was the pro- perty of Mr. Dircks, and from which his good name was filched in a very unhandsome manner. Here then he tells us all about it, how the spectre was raised, and how we may ourselves at pleasure call spirits from the vasty deep." The Bookseller, February 29. University of California Library Los Angeles This book is DUE Qfllfee last date stamped below.